Another MCE Convert?

[camens]

Just received my HD-PVR from Hauppauge which is why I am looking at switching to Sage. I downloaded the demo and everything looks great! Interface is very well done.

My first question is about Movies. In MCE I used a great plug-in called MyMovies. Anybody seen this or used it and and is there a similar plug-in for Sage? The interface as it stands now is actually pretty good, but I like having categories, genres, etc.

My second question is about saved TV. I have copied all my TV Show DVD's (Star Trek, Seinfeld, Dexter, etc) to my server. I use a plug-in for MCE called MyTV which gives me a great interface to access each season. The Sage method of just showing each file is quite cumbersome. Just thought I'd check to see if there were any plug-ins to make this easier. I have 15 different series with 3-6 seasons in each with 20+ episodes in each of those. This can be a nightmare to manage.

Thanks alot,

[Brent]

Hi camens and welcome! I think you'll like SageTV and the community around here is great.

Originally Posted by camens

Just received my HD-PVR from Hauppauge which is why I am looking at switching to Sage. I downloaded the demo and everything looks great! Interface is very well done.

My first question is about Movies. In MCE I used a great plug-in called MyMovies. Anybody seen this or used it and and is there a similar plug-in for Sage? The interface as it stands now is actually pretty good, but I like having categories, genres, etc.

I'll tackle the first question. My solution for the movies thing was to switch to a user-modified interface called SageMC (sometimes called SageMC 16x9) which is outlined in this article

[DOS64K]

I'll second Brent's suggestion of SageMC. As an MCE/VMC convert from a while back, I can tell you that I'm very satisfied with Sage.
While the plugins aren't as numerous (yet), most folks I think just find Sage more reliable, flexible and the HD-100 extender is the bomb.
Toss in the Haup HD-PVR, (which VMC doesn't support yet) and you have a killer combination!

FYI on the "MyMovies" comment. SageMC does have a pretty good setup for movies (genre, etc.), it's just not as polished as MyMovies (again, yet).

As for the TV collection, I'm not aware of any plugin for Sage that does what you're looking for. Check the Downloads section to verify.

[camens]

Thanks guys. SageMC looks pretty good. I'm going to give it a try and see how I like it.

[ColumbusGEEK]

I have been using VMC since it came out and I am floored at how much better SageTV is. I have been telling all my nerdy friends about it.

[infocus13]

What is VMC? Vista Media Center? Is Sage really that much better?

[timnelsonic]

I can't comment on Vista MC but I'm very glad I switched from MCE for XP a few months back. SageTV took a lot more messing about to get it working right, but the capabilities far exceed MCE. I'm running 2 HD tuners via HDHomerun, a DirecTV HD tuner via the Haup HD PVR, and I'm about to add another. As mentioned earlier, the HD extender is terrific. The CPU load is nothing and the system is much more stable than Microsoft's solution.

The best part is that everything is recorded to recognized/portable formats (MP2, MP4, etc.). I can move files from one machine to another, to my handheld, to my wife's ipod, etc., w/o all the hassle of Microsoft's formats and DRM.

I'm not an MS-hater -- I used MCE successfully for a couple of years -- but the flexibility, simplicity, and stability of SageTV is MUCH better (once you get it running).

[ColumbusGEEK]

Same here timnelsonic. I use Vista Media center since it came out and found it to be the best solution for my needs, but when I lost data AGAIN recently due to stupidity--it was time to go back to the well and see what was new.

2 years has really allowed Sage to do a lot of growing up. I can think of very few negatives.

[camens]

After a bunch of reading it seems most if not all former MCE users were happy with the switch to Sage. For that reason I am giving it a go.

I have the HD PVR and everything went smooth, except live TV is choppy. I have better than average hardware, and the HD PVR works fine using the supplied software, just having trouble getting it to work in Sage. I'll keep trying and hopefully I'll have it working soon.

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by camens

After a bunch of reading it seems most if not all former MCE users were happy with the switch to Sage. For that reason I am giving it a go.

I have the HD PVR and everything went smooth, except live TV is choppy. I have better than average hardware, and the HD PVR works fine using the supplied software, just having trouble getting it to work in Sage. I'll keep trying and hopefully I'll have it working soon.

Is it just live TV that's choppy? Is the same program choppy if you play it back later? If it is, can you tell if the problems occur in the same places in the recording each time you play it back?

Also, when watching live TV, try skipping back 10 - 20 seconds. Does it remain choppy then?

Aloha,
Mike

[TechJunkie]

I am considering on moving to SageTV from Vista MC. Right now I am looking at all the options SageTV has to offer. I have recently started useing MyMovies2 enjoy it. Would perfer MCML interface, but that might be coming. I have tweeked my setup of MyMovies so the database is running on a server (Without the MyMovies Application) instead of my MediaCenter PC. I briefly review the documentation to develop addon to SageTV and would be interested on creating a SageTV interface from the MyMovies Database. Does anyone know if anyone is working on this themself?

Thanks

[Brent]

Originally Posted by TechJunkie

I am considering on moving to SageTV from Vista MC. Right now I am looking at all the options SageTV has to offer. I have recently started useing MyMovies2 enjoy it. Would perfer MCML interface, but that might be coming. I have tweeked my setup of MyMovies so the database is running on a server (Without the MyMovies Application) instead of my MediaCenter PC. I briefly review the documentation to develop addon to SageTV and would be interested on creating a SageTV interface from the MyMovies Database. Does anyone know if anyone is working on this themself?

Thanks

I'm not sure what you are asking but let me give it a try...
There is no MyMovies interface that works with SageTV of SageMC, but it would be a welcome addition if you or someone you know wants to do it.

I use SageMC's movie cataloging/organizing feature along with DVDProfiler for a comparable functionality. It does work and satisfies my families needs although I'm hoping for some improvements so I can sort by date added or date released in addition to the existing genre and title sort. Does that answer your question?

[ColumbusGEEK]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

Is it just live TV that's choppy? Is the same program choppy if you play it back later? If it is, can you tell if the problems occur in the same places in the recording each time you play it back?

Also, when watching live TV, try skipping back 10 - 20 seconds. Does it remain choppy then?

Aloha,
Mike

Never been choppy for me and I am using less then stellar equipment.

2 pvr-150's
old ata HDs
1.8ghz cpu with a gig of ram.
I can record 2 shows and watch a movie or a recorded show no problem, and I even run comskip immediately, not after the show is over or at night.

You must have something wrong somewhere.

[TechJunkie]

Originally Posted by Brent

I'm not sure what you are asking but let me give it a try...
There is no MyMovies interface that works with SageTV of SageMC, but it would be a welcome addition if you or someone you know wants to do it.

I use SageMC's movie cataloging/organizing feature along with DVDProfiler for a comparable functionality. It does work and satisfies my families needs although I'm hoping for some improvements so I can sort by date added or date released in addition to the existing genre and title sort. Does that answer your question?

Yes that answers my question, thank you. I just made the plunge into SageTV. I am a .net developer by trade and have been looking into Java development so I can build an add-in for sageTV that will pull info from my MyMovies database. There is a lot of great information the MyMovies database and it would be great to tap into it along with the location of the DVD file structures for playback.

[mherce]

Originally Posted by TechJunkie

Yes that answers my question, thank you. I just made the plunge into SageTV. I am a .net developer by trade and have been looking into Java development so I can build an add-in for sageTV that will pull info from my MyMovies database. There is a lot of great information the MyMovies database and it would be great to tap into it along with the location of the DVD file structures for playback.

That would probably push me into buying SageTV. If you do that and I go with SageTV, I'll put the time into writing screen files so that the display matches.