What Would You Ask SageTV?

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

- Make it a real HTPC, not a great DVR with other HTPC functionality being just mediocre.

That's one of the things I was specifically looking for, but I really didn't see much about it. Hopefully tomorrow's talk about online services will have something more about this.

[wado1971]

Originally Posted by Clift

.....but some of the things we enjoy about a windows/mac/WHS will go away for us non-linux users...

Also not for my home BUT I just put together an Xmas list for Dad. USB-Server/tuner/hd200/+spare parts for the headless machine.

I'm too lazy to review the article (which was great brent!) but did I hear correct that the HD200 just needs a software upgrade to be wireless n?? Hardware already present??

[Brent]

Originally Posted by wado1971

...did I hear correct that the HD200 just needs a software upgrade to be wireless n?? Hardware already present??

It would need a firmware update which isn't available yet. And then you would need to purchase a supported (we don't know which ones are supported yet) USB Wireless-N dongle.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

That's one of the things I was specifically looking for, but I really didn't see much about it.

For example, what kind of things are you looking for?

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Clift

I agree this was a great review. I, too, am excited and concerned to hear about a USB bootable SageTV distro. Sounds great from a simplicity standpoint, but some of the things we enjoy about a windows/mac/WHS will go away for us non-linux users...

Yeah, my initial impulse was "cool!", but then I realized I'm an insane person who'd want to run additional stuff on it, like Squeezecenter, and maybe a VM for J River Media Center.

The only thing I question about it, is it still requires people to put together a PC/hardware to run it. The concept is for example great for my parents, except for the fact that it would be stupid for them to run two PCs no more than they'd use either.

On the plus side, if they include things like Online Capacity Expansion and the like in the "RAID", it could be some great competition to unRAID

[PGPfan]

Originally Posted by stanger89

On the plus side, if they include things like Online Capacity Expansion and the like in the "RAID", it could be some great competition to unRAID

Except that us unRAID users know that there is more to 'unRAID' than merely "Online Capacity Expansion".

[Fuzzy]

The fact that they are developing a standardized server distro setup (in the form of the USB Server) means that there is an easy door open for 3rd parties (or sage themselves) to make cheap, appliance-ready server hardware, using JUST what is needed. BIOS pre-setup to boot from USB.. buy the mini-server, buy a sagetv USB, pop the USB into the server (A nice internal USB compartment for this would be killer), plug it in, and set up the sources through the wizard... excellent!

[stanger89]

Well of course But I was thinking along the lines of unRAID is popular for being a "plug-n-play' NAS mainly, this Sage USB key would be quite similar, plus having DVR and media server capabilities

unRAID Plus $69 - 6 drives, arbitrary size, no media server capabilities
unRAID Pro $99 - 20 drives, dito /\
SageTV Linux Media Server $?? (<100?) - ?? drives, same size req?, Full sage capabilities...

And if Sage goes with some sort of RAID+LVM think like Infrant/Netgear, it gets somewhat close to unRAID in terms of drive flexibility. It will just remain to be seen just how flexible the Linux Media Server version is. Maybe it will have new/better plugin support that would flow back into the "standard" products, that would be cool

[evilpenguin]

Originally Posted by Brent

For example, what kind of things are you looking for?

Mostly just my usual grumbles about music and photos being bare bones.

[rlvogel322]

Good job Brent!

Also, a thanks to Jeff for taking the time to answer questions .

[Graygeek]

Originally Posted by rlvogel322

Good job Brent!

Also, a thanks to Jeff for taking the time to answer questions .

I'll second that!

Brents blog was the initial spark that got me to leave BeyondTV for SAGETV and I never looked back.

The great support from Qain and George are second to none!

Thanks!

[MitchSchaft]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Yeah, SageTV has it's faults and takes some heat for stuff, but you're absolutely right, spend some time with the SW, especially the betas and working with bug reports and seeing feature requests come through, and it's clear that SageTV (and obviously Jeff specifically) really has a level of commitment to the community that's rare in the industry.

Recently moving over from Microsoft's media center, I can tell you this is truth!

[reggie14]

I posted a longer comment in response to the article on Brent's site, but since people are already talking about the USB boot drive here, I'm copying that part of my comment over.

I know some of you are excited about the SageTV Linux boot drive, but I’m a little skeptical about how successful the product will be, both at its objective of making SageTV easier to setup, and of how many units it will sell. The biggest problem, in my eyes, is that it doesn’t address the hard part of setting up Sage: the configuration. What Jeff described only addresses the problem of installing Sage, for basic users at least (which are the ones that really need help). I know Sage is working on making Sage easier to configure (take a look at the channel setup changes), which I think is great, but I kind of think this Linux boot device is just going to be a big distraction. It seems like for something like this to really work as intended it’s going to take a lot of manpower, and I’m not sure Sage is up to it. You’d want to test it on lots of hardware platforms, which Sage doesn’t have, and keep the image up to date with security patches, updated drivers, other bug fixes, etc., which would take manpower Sage can’t spare.

I’m not sure who would really buy this either. A lot of new users start using Sage on a box that’s already doing something else. They’re not going to want to take their existing Windows HTPC, completely dump what they’re going with it, and jump into Sage head first. Existing users already have a setup that works, and probably won’t feel like starting over. And, people willing to shell out the kind of dough for a complete new Sage system with extenders probably wouldn’t really mind buying a license for Window Home Server while they’re at it.

I think the WHS version of Sage already addresses the niche that Sage is trying to target here. I’d say Sage should push that product a bit more for now. Down the line, if extenders have the CPU power, I think it would be interesting for Sage to come up with an out-of-the-box solution using an HD200-like device that supports NAS recording drives and USB tuners. That actually would bring the entry cost down for consumers.

Am I missing something here? Do you think the Linux boot drive would actually make things noticeably easier?

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Yeah, my initial impulse was "cool!", but then I realized I'm an insane person who'd want to run additional stuff on it, like Squeezecenter, and maybe a VM for J River Media Center.

The only thing I question about it, is it still requires people to put together a PC/hardware to run it. The concept is for example great for my parents, except for the fact that it would be stupid for them to run two PCs no more than they'd use either.

Personally, I don't see why offering a usb thumb drive solution is better than a WHS. It's essentially the same thing, but you can do more in a setting familiar to more people. That said, it's great to have options; if it make the company stronger it's a good thing.

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

Hopefully tomorrow's talk about online services will have something more about this.

Hulu is convenient, but the quality is crap and the experience (i.e. invasive ads) reminds me why I like farming tuners. Even Netflix (the best thing currently) has pretty bad selection and the quality isn't great (so/so PQ and 2 channel audio).

Sure online content is the future, but so are space colonies and rocket cars.

[evilpenguin]

I wonder if this USB-bootable SageTV was born in that discussion a few years ago where people were talking about running a Sage Server on a NAS with PCI slots. I remember Narflex jumped in and sounded intrigued by the idea. It's certainly more feasible now that the HDHR/HDPVR are around.

If that's the case, I wonder if my next SageTV server could be the off the shelf NAS I just bought to support my current server

[wado1971]

Originally Posted by reggie14

Am I missing something here? Do you think the Linux boot drive would actually make things noticeably easier?

Absolutely!
Why Linux? - In a way the same question could have been made for the hd100/200.
I definitely see a nas type device with similar setup ease as the hd200 taking over the 'server' role in the future. Plug in a network cable/drives/usbTuner and it finds your extenders and auto configures. Not to mention the $savings ($99 min for whs). Seems like he's trying to introduce the non-geek. Let's not forget the fact that SageTV will be in complete control of the operating system running the server - read stability, less problems, less tech support.

The first thing I do with a M$ product is update to the latest service pack and then download all the bug fixes and that's just the start of it. My Dad simply gets stuck inserting the MS OS disks! Think-Non-geek..

[babgvant]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

If that's the case, I wonder if my next SageTV server could be the off the shelf NAS I just bought to support my current server

There is no way the geode proc in that box will ever be able to scan h264 for commercials in any meaningful time frame

[wayner]

The HD200 has a good amount of life left in it and we’re getting more SageTV HD200’s in stock so definitely not running out. We are not planning to deplete our inventory or anything like that.

One thing that is implied in the article is that if Sage runs out of HD-200s then it likely means that there is a new extender on the horizon.

[MitchSchaft]

Originally Posted by babgvant

Sure online content is the future, but so are space colonies and rocket cars.