Why o Why is SageTV so difficult to set up?

[sainswor99]

Originally Posted by SomeWhatLost

I don't know that waiting would help, every time I would remove a source and re-add it, it would come up with different channel id's for the same channels...



silly question, but for all you sagers who think the thread topic is silly, or that sage is easy to set up: what PVR type app have you set up that was more difficult than sage? ie what do you consider hard???

I've only worked with BTV and SageTV, and while I concede that SageTV does have some complexities (as well as some quirks in the overall setup of things), setting up the EPG was (IMO) no more or less difficult in Sage than BTV.

[ghostlobster]

Oh man, you have no suffered until you have tried setting up Media Portal! My experience is documented here.

What OTA signal are you trying to get? ATSC? Is it up and working now? If not, head to the fridge, grab a beer, swing by the pantry and grab a few pretzels on the way back...now, deep breaths...find the happy place...sip the beer, munch the pretzel...then smile.
OK...so, what tuners are installed? Is the HDHR working? Are you certain you followed Silicondust's instructions verbetim? The HDHR is a different animal and is not indicative of a typical install. There are a few extra steps required.
As far as the HDWonder, I have no clue. I don't even know if it's supported in Sage.

[SomeWhatLost]

the HDHR is setup, it worked fine with BTV...
and yes I did go into the HDHR and set it talk to Sage instead of BTV... well technically, I forgot that minor issue the first couple of tries...

everything seems all up and running now... well almost... the HD200 isnt detecting commercials, the edl files are there, but the HD200 seems to be ignoring them... if I go to recorded shows on the server, the shows have the CS logo and look happy, do the same thing from the HD200 and there is no logo, and no comskiping... (note this was working when using my PC as a test server, so I must of forgot to do something... but what???)
oh, and I lost channel 11 WTTWDT... not sure where it went, or if it will ever come back, but that seems to be an HDHR issue, not sage...

oh and the HD blunder works almost fine with sage, bad audio delay (couple seconds... extremely noticeable), doesn't like changing channels (it hangs), etc... but if you ignore those couple of minor() problems, its just great


but the ATI is just a BDA tuner, sage claims to support BDA tuners, so it should be a non-issue...


I remember meedio... don't think I was doing TV at that point... mediaportal was cool too, myHTPC started my whole miss-adventures...
and I would love to forget xlobby...

[planetc]

Originally Posted by SomeWhatLost

no comskiping... (note this was working when using my PC as a test server, so I must of forgot to do something... but what???)

Comskip playback plugin? Included with SageMC but not in the default STV

PS, You got it easy really, lol try doing the epg in the uk. First time I did it I didn't realise it takes a little while to update either and I kept playing with it too, ending up with multiple channel entries in the guide. This was on top of the learning curve I had to follow for xmltv, and we didn't have the xmltv import plugin back then either

[stryker]

epg, no bother if you have one lineup and take OTA data....... but by God as soon as you try and do anything clever such as have freeview and freesat here in the UK then it gets painful that first time and then eventually just a pest when your used to it.

I think sagetv need to totally revamp how linups are managed or at least provide a nice little external app to help manage them..... heaven help you when you have one channel provided by multiple different tuners.... and channel ordering is not as easy as it could be.

[SomeWhatLost]

Originally Posted by planetc

Comskip playback plugin?

well, I guess I do since it works on the server... just not on the HD200, do I need to install it there too? how? I don't remember needing to install it on the HD200 before?

[rswoods]

Originally Posted by SomeWhatLost

...just not on the HD200, do I need to install it there too? how?

Same way you installed it on the server. Setup/Detailed/Advanced/Manage STVI plugins. Easy peasy

[SomeWhatLost]

Originally Posted by rswoods

Same way you installed it on the server. Setup/Detailed/Advanced/Manage STVI plugins. Easy peasy

I don't remember needing to do that last time, but hey seems like an easy enough thing to try...

[LoopyWolf]

Sfag, I'm not a technical expert just a sageTV user and owner. All I am offering is sympathy

I'm really sorry you're having trouble setting up SageTV. Before I found SageTV I spent about a year wrestling with things like LinuxMCE, Windows XPMC and other outings, all unsatisfactory or too hard to setup

I know how it feels, how frustrating

-LL2

[lfilomeno]

I feel for guys having setup problems. I went thru that myself. But I could not stopped myself at tweeking this, changing that, adding this, drivers updates; too many things at once too keep trac of it that in the long run, will mess an otherwise working SageTV server. I just rebuilt the server and treat it like an appliance; no updates, no changes, no upgrades. Once I got it to work to my wife likings (not to mines), I pretty much shrink wrapped the config and leave it alone. All the viewing is done via the extenders. Once I dicipline myself to not fiddle around with the server, my SageTV setup problems went away.

[PeteCress]

Originally Posted by sfag

Why o Why is SageTV so difficult to set up?

My experience as a new user is that it's fairly easy to set up - but the instructions are poor. Maybe 2.5 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Yeah, I'm just playing word games.... It was difficult for me too.... but the actual actions that need tb performed are pretty simple... it's the lack of adequate instructions that makes it harder than it needs to be.

I can't write instructions worth beans myself.... but I attribute that to the fact that I'm an application developer.

IMHO the task calls for somebody with pro-level English-language skills and no technical bent.