SageTV vs. DirecTV HD-PVR - Who Wins?

[KarylFStein]

I'm waiting to see what the HMC30 "whole house server" looks like if/when it comes out. After seriously considering a switch to a provider's DVR, I decided I'd be giving up too much now doing that. I still think I'll dump cable just for the cost savings, (keeping SageTV), but haven't gotten around to it yet. If only we could get SageTV built-in to a provider's DVR .

[Fuzzy]

I'd be content with a Dish network or DTV receiver (PCIe?) that could work DIRECTLY with sage (I don't care if it requries DRM).. as long as it can do the following within the DRM:

Provide for full-quality local playback. (in home) This is to the HD-200 or other SageTV Clients.
Provide low-quality remote playback. (Out of home) this is to Placeshifter/mobile device.
Preferably provide a low-quality DRM-free option, that could primarily be used to feed comskip/SA.

Those requirements are actually based on what the opencable specs currently call for. They DO allow unprotected low-quality output, but that feature hasn't really been implemented anywhere yet.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Those requirements are actually based on what the opencable specs currently call for. They DO allow unprotected low-quality output, but that feature hasn't really been implemented anywhere yet.

Yes and I am still surprised by that I have known that as well and keep thinking surely MS would at least offer downrez to a portable player of drm content but nope.

[Fuzzy]

All they would REALLY have to do is create a 'drm removal' filter, that is DRM certified, that would downrez the video and put it on a non-protected filter pin. Then let someone else deal with it after that.

[jsonnabend]

No, no, no. I'm an attorney. I've been conditioned to argue. .

The analogy holds because a failed HDPVR (or HDPVR-Sage combination) renders the whole setup useless. It's like a car that has good tires, nice body, and working radio but won't go anywhere.

I agree, though, that where you come out on all this is how much your system works and how bothered you are by tweaking an maintenance. The fact that I'm still using HDPVR-SageTV tells you where I come out on that one.

- Jeff

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by jsonnabend

It's like a car that has good tires, nice body, and working radio but won't go anywhere.

So it's an Italian car then. Fix it again, Tony.

[dweith]

SageTV wins! I currently have two of the previous HD model H23-700 DVR boxes which have all the same features, and I have them to record programs I may want to watch or need to watch live programming. Also, if you want to stream from one DirecTV box to another it is an extra $3/month charge. I run two SageTV Media Center rigs for all the recordings I convert and keep. Both with two H23-600 HD boxes that use usb/serial links to change channels. The DirecTV DVR boxes do not have nearly the same features as SageTV. With the open architecture that SageTV has for plug-ins it only spurs innovation. In v7 the plug-in feature installs all items necessary to run. Installing ComSkip, metadata, web GUI and custom interfaces has never been so easy. The days of hunt, download, install and troubleshoot are just about gone. A PC DVR solution is going to have more issues in my opinion due more to the owners than the product. I don’t surf on them, careful with driver updates, blow out the dust a few times a year and they just run. Prior to SageTV I used MS Media Center, BeyondTV and even had a couple of old ReplayTV DVR boxes. If you did not get v7 in beta, do the upgrade it is worth every penny. The only issue I had going from v6.6 to v7 was the need to increase the Java heap size to 1024m with a Windows registry entry. I would think it should be an option during the install, who knows maybe the release product will.