Comparing Sage to Snapstream/Beyond TV?

[pchallin]

Hi!

I'm looking for a summary of the pros and cons of Sage vs Snapstream/Beyond TV vs Hauppage Bundled SW.

Is there such a thing? or can we discuss this here? Are there other alternatives out there that a smart consumer should be considering that have other advantages and disadvantages?

Background about me:
I've had a Win250PVR card for almost 6 mos. The included software seems to work ok (scheduler is a little clunky).

I tried Snapstream(Beyond TV) and liked it -- very slick recorder / EPG interface. Liked the way it cataloged the recordings and managed the diskspace.

[mlbdude]

There are lots of good things about either. If you don't need a lot of features or expandability BTV is a great product. Sage has more PVR features though so check the feature list at each products website. One thing to keep in mind is if you are going to use this on a PC or a HTPC. BTV is geared more toward a PC and Sage is geared more for a HTPC.

Also BTV does not manage or categorize recordings at all. It just lists them all together.

[krwren]

Originally posted by pchallin
Hi!

I'm looking for a summary of the pros and cons of Sage vs Snapstream/Beyond TV vs Hauppage Bundled SW.

Is there such a thing? or can we discuss this here? Are there other alternatives out there that a smart consumer should be considering that have other advantages and disadvantages?

Background about me:
I've had a Win250PVR card for almost 6 mos. The included software seems to work ok (scheduler is a little clunky).

I tried Snapstream(Beyond TV) and liked it -- very slick recorder / EPG interface. Liked the way it cataloged the recordings and managed the diskspace.

For me it was a simple choice. I have a tivo that I was very happy with. I switched for the multi tunner support. Beyond promises to support two cards in the future, but that is just not enough. For my needs I need 3 cards, maybe 4. I tried Myth for this but it just required to much work and upgrades and did not come with a good program guide (Screen scrapper that had to be fixed everytime they changed the website).

Wren

[Cayars]

This is not correct. BTV is going to support multiple tuner cards. However, it appears they will not be doing network encoding in the next release.

[Cayars]

Originally posted by mlbdude
There are lots of good things about either. If you don't need a lot of features or expandability BTV is a great product. Sage has more PVR features though so check the feature list at each products website. One thing to keep in mind is if you are going to use this on a PC or a HTPC. BTV is geared more toward a PC and Sage is geared more for a HTPC.

Also BTV does not manage or categorize recordings at all. It just lists them all together.

I've seen you saying this before. I don't get it. If anything, I'd think it the other way around. With Sage you have to edit files to make changes. You have to drop to windows to actually delete files, etc.. With BTV you can do everything from inside the GUI or from the web admin which is more like TIVO IMHO.

Carlo

PS regardless of each of the products roots they are both "merging" in feature sets

[EJDeHaemer]

In my usage model, I never drop to windows to delete files. I allow SageTV to manage the disk usage. This is on a dedicated HTPC and have two drives that are dedicated to storing recorded shows. So I am not concered about watched shows still being on the hard drive, just as long as SageTV removes them when it needs the space to record new shows.

You can think of the drive as a Cache where items are only evicted when space is needed for something new.
-ejd

[mlbdude]

The only items you have to go to text files for in Sage are advanced after the fact items. BTV is starting to move into the HTPC market more by adding screens to their full-screen interface but too much is still in the web admin. Sage also has better remote support by exposing more commands. Lack of Overscan support is the biggest hint that BTV was not initially designed for HTPC users.

Deleting a file in Sage from the FS is completely unnecessary. You don't see that many Tivo owners navigating their FS.

I do agree that both applications are merging into the others space, but when making a purchase decision I would always judge what is available now.

[msm]

see below - double post

[msm]

You have to drop to windows to actually delete files, etc..

You can delete from the Sage menu. The only time you cant is files that Sage Itself has not created. I'm not sure if this has changed yet as the last week i have been working on some code so have not had the change to try out V2. Also, in V2 all setup functions are accessible through the GUI via remote control- i'm not sure if they are in Snapstream yet, as previously you still had to use a mouse, keyboard combination (although you could this via the web interface i think)

I would agree totally that both are merging towards a common feature set. I have always preferred Sage, and find it fits what i want to do perfectly. I can't wait to try the new music features (not tonight though as Six Feet Under is due to record and i dont want to miss that . I try Snapstream now and again but it doesn sit comfotably with me for some reason. Both offer trials, give both a go and see what you like. Bear in mind that users of this forum will normally plump for Sage, and on Snapstream will plump for Snapstream...horses for courses and all that.

Another alternative, that is free, is here

Bear in mind that the last option is in beta, so if you dont want problems stear clear, though it is a remarkable piece of software!

I always feel uneasy about discussing other software on this board, but really feel that the two major players are both making fantastic software, its really about what you prefer. With version 2.0, I think Sage still has the edge on features, and it suited pefectly to my needs, but it is in the beta stage so dont expect it to be fool proof atm.

[stanger89]

You might want to look at this:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...etv+snapstream
Although it's a little old on the SagTV front, 2.0 is/will be much better than 1.4 already is.

[pawn]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...etv+snapstream

[Cayars]

Originally posted by msm
You can delete from the Sage menu. The only time you cant is files that Sage Itself has not created. I'm not sure if this has changed yet as the last week i have been working on some code so have not had the change to try out V2. Also, in V2 all setup functions are accessible through the GUI via remote control- i'm not sure if they are in Snapstream yet, as previously you still had to use a mouse, keyboard combination (although you could this via the web interface i think)

Yea but the problem is that it doesn't remove the shows it creates also! It will remove them from the list but not from the disk. Even if what you said is true about it only deleting shows that it itself created this is still a bug/problem. There is no reason in the world to let the user think the shows are deleted but not delete them.

There are plenty of valid reasons why the files should get deleted from the disk and not just removed from "list" even if SageTV will manage this on it's own. In today's age with all these other cool products like the MediaMVP player, etc.. SageTV needs to do what it says it's going to do.

This is one of my big gripes I have against using SageTV as my main machine and why I use BTV for that (I own both), because it actually deletes the files and the second thing is that the wife likes the interface of BTV better (I know SageTV 2 )

Carlo

[Brett]

Originally posted by mlbdude
There are lots of good things about either. If you don't need a lot of features or expandability BTV is a great product.

Oh yeah all that expandability Studio will provide, right? I will stick with the API beyondTV is releasing any day now, instead of waiting for that to materialize, thankyou very much.

SlimD

[pawn]

Originally posted by SlimD
Oh yeah all that expandability Studio will provide, right? I will stick with the API beyondTV is releasing any day now, instead of waiting for that to materialize, thankyou very much.

SlimD

Not sure what you mean by this. Are you doubting the imminent release of Studio? That shows you haven't been paying attention. Only of one of the developers of SageTV and BeSnapTStream can be said to promise something and take an unreasonable amount of time to deliver. I leave it to you to guess which one.

And personally, the latest 2.0.11 Beta looks to me like it already rivals BSnapTStream for asthetics, but has features the competition can't touch. Just my opinion, of course.

[Opus4]

Originally posted by pawn
Not sure what you mean by this. Are you doubting the imminent release of Studio? That shows you haven't been paying attention.

Pawn -- in case you missed the whole thread regarding SlimD's conspiracy theories about how Studio doesn't exist due to lack of screeen shots, here's a tip -- don't bother arguing with him about it, as that will get you (and us) nowhere.

- Andy

[ErsatzTom]

*run screaming* Not another thread gone bad!!!



t

[Brett]

I am not saying another thing...I am unsubcribing from this thread right now. Since I didn't get a screenshot of studio my point was made. I have nothing to add to the conservation.

SlimD

[justme]

Originally posted by SlimD:I am not saying another thing

Oh, I hope thats true. I'm getting tried of threads being destoyed by the same post.

Anyway back to the thread topic. You should always use the trial of any software. Especially something like a PVR software, it's just a very personal thing. Look at the Tivo verse ReplayTV situation. Some people just like a certian style. In the end as long as there are no personal showstoppers* then go with whichever feels right to you. As has been mentioned both are moving toward each other, and at this point I don't think either is a bad choice. It just goes to show competition is good.

*For the best feature comparison you can't beat the AVSforum thread linked to above.

[mlbdude]

Again my comments were based on current versions. Not any impending items from either company. I referred to Sages ability to use Overscan, ffdshow, DScaler, Multi-tuner, Client Server, and Intelligent Recordings. If your requirements are simple you may not want those. Some of use like to tweak and play though so it is nice to have lots of options.

Based on some statements in this thread some obviously have simple requirements so BTV may be right for them. Others may want more.

I run BTV on my second HTPC in the bedroom. It is a good product and I enjoy using it.

[falchulk]

Cayars, delete in sage just removes the recording from the list. Sage will decide to delete the file on its own at a later date. You dont have to provide intervention. You seem to be a good guy but you always seem to put a slant to BTV. Not suprisingly, I see you posting over there very often.