Any USB HD Tuners Compatible with v4?

[jchiso]

I have a WindowsXP-based system on which I'm trying to add an additional OTA HD tuner. I'm out of PCI slots, so I bought a VBox USB 3560, which while it works in WindowsXP (SP3) using WatchHDTV, does not show up as a source in Sage's setup. Is there a way to get this thing to work in v4.x or is there another USB device that works?

[jchiso]

In the interest of providing definitive documentation even in the absence of any expressed interest, I am able to get an ATI TV Wonder HD 600 USB to work on a v4.0 system.

• Model: VisionTek TV Wonder HD 600 USB
• OS: Windows XP with Service Pack 3
• Driver: ATI (AMD) Version 9.9, Dated 11-Sep-2009

The VisionTek packaging included an installation CD for the driver as well as a Catalyst package and a media playback front-end. I tried to limit my installation to the driver but it would not install properly and complained that I needed to install XP Service Pack 2. The drivers I installed were from the ATI website, since those on the VisionTek site were the same date as those on the CD, and installed without incident. I selected to install only the hardware drivers.

Just thought this may help someone who may be in a similar situation.

[toricred]

I think the question is why are you sticking with v4.x? Even the upgrade to v5.x was free.

[jchiso]

I preferred the old interface and wanted to continue to run client mode on a v4 system. At the time I asked if it was possible to run v5 with the v4 interface and was told I was not.

[stanger89]

I don't remember the interface changing much since V4.

[jchiso]

I believe v5 introduced the current interface. I asked about using the old interface here...

[stanger89]

I remember V1 had a different interface, and then V2 it changed, but I don't remember any significant changes since the original V2 interface. Looking back at an old V2 review, it looks a lot like 6.6 today. Are you using 1.4 still?

V1:


V2:


V6:

[gplasky]

Version 4 interface-not really different from today.



Gerry

[stanger89]

I see we've got a pictoral odyssey through SageTV versions If we had V5 I think we'd have ever version released

[gplasky]

v5




Gerry

[gplasky]

So I did a little research in looking back thru the betas. Version 3 introduced HDTV but was never released. There weren't a lot of HDTV cards back then and I don't think there were any USB types available.
Example of cards supported from early release notes back in Sept. 2005:

HDTV fixes:
Support for the FusionHDTV5 Gold Plus ATSC and FusionHDTV3 Gold-T ATSC.
Support for multiple ATSC cards of the same model (used to crash).
Fixed a crash bug with the VBox USB-A 3560 encoder.
Properly recognize the VBox USB-A 3560 BDA capture device.
Reliably pick the first audio sub-stream for playback instead of picking the substream which offers the earliest codec information.
Fixed some AC3 audio glitches.
More robust TS stream parsing.
Various stability fixes with HDTV capture and playback.

Version 4 was released instead (along with Studio) right after version 3 was canceled. (Right after beta testing)

I don't think version 4 or maybe even version 5 is going to give you the support you're looking for in todays USB or Network HDTV tuners. (network such as HDHomerun dual tuner). I think you're going to have to bite the bullet and get to the latest version.

Gerry

[jchiso]

Originally Posted by stanger89

I remember V1 had a different interface, and then V2 it changed, but I don't remember any significant changes since the original V2 interface. Looking back at an old V2 review, it looks a lot like 6.6 today. Are you using 1.4 still?

V2:


No. Version 4 used the v2 stv, depicted above. That's what I'm using.

Originally Posted by gplasky

...I don't think version 4 or maybe even version 5 is going to give you the support you're looking for in todays USB or Network HDTV tuners. (network such as HDHomerun dual tuner). I think you're going to have to bite the bullet and get to the latest version...

The TV Wonder USB works under Version 4, the VBox Cat's Eye USB 3560 apparently does not, at least not with the more recent drivers. I had seen posts where others had it working under v4 Sage using older drivers, but I was not able to roll back or uninstall to earlier versions. For the record, the Cat's Eye USB works as expected under v6.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by jchiso

V2:


No. Version 4 used the v2 stv, depicted above. That's what I'm using.

Technically it used the V3 STV, I know for a fact it used SageTV3.stv, because V4 was the first public, non-beta version to support STVs. But yes V3 looked like V2.

But what's the big difference? Nothing significant has changed, the icons have been tweaked a little bit, channel scanning/mapping has been drastically improved....

[jchiso]

Here's the TV Wonder USB installed on the v4 system:



And the VBox Cat's Eye USB 3560 on a v6 system (shown as "Vb35xx capture"):

[gplasky]

And technically the last version 4 beta, 4.1.14 became the version 5.01 released version. ANnd most of the changes from 4 to 5 were fixes. I just don't see the advantage of running an old 4 version. Especially when you can't take advantage of some of the newer tuners. (Or better support with older tuners with newer drivers.)

Gerry

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by stanger89

Technically it used the V3 STV, I know for a fact it used SageTV3.stv, because V4 was the first public, non-beta version to support STVs. But yes V3 looked like V2.

But what's the big difference? Nothing significant has changed, the icons have been tweaked a little bit, channel scanning/mapping has been drastically improved....

Correct. Even today if you look in SageTV's STV directory the "Originalv2" directory along wtih the Originalv2.stv from Oct, 2004 is still there. I think version 3 brought about the "SageTV3" directory in the STV folder in about 2005.

Gerry

[jchiso]

Originally Posted by gplasky

And technically the last version 4 beta, 4.1.14 became the version 5.01 released version. ANnd most of the changes from 4 to 5 were fixes. I just don't see the advantage of running an old 4 version. Especially when you can't take advantage of some of the newer tuners. (Or better support with older tuners with newer drivers.)

Gerry

I stated this in the other thread I referenced in Post #6, above.

I have a couple of clients that are used almost exclusively as PVRs, so the STV2 [interface] is ideal; from the streamlined info bars, to the clean, unassuming Guide, to the click-and-play interface.

I am aware of and use the features in the 6.x system, but I don't have a need or desire to incorporate the changes and features used in later releases in most of my systems and clients. The upgrades from v4 to v6 greatly changed the features and capabilities of the product, and truly took it to being a Media Center.

My intent of this thread was not to identify ways to replace v4 systems, it was just to see if it was possible to expand their functionality in this regard.

[gplasky]

There's nothing stopping you from loading the Originalv2 STV in the directory I mentioned in the above post with Sage v6.6.2. I just did and everything appears to work fine. I'm not sure how many of the current plugins work with it. (It just doesn't see the current STVs in the SageTV3 directory so you'll have to edit the .properties file if you want to return to a newer STV.)

Gerry

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by jchiso

I stated this in the other thread I referenced in Post #6, above.

I have a couple of clients that are used almost exclusively as PVRs, so the STV2 [interface] is ideal; from the streamlined info bars, to the clean, unassuming Guide, to the click-and-play interface.

Unfortunately I have no idea what any of that means. Seriously, I'm at a loss for what's so different since V2.

What do you mean "clients", you mean SageTV Client or like customers?

Don't know what info bars you're talking about.

The guide, as best I can tell is identical.

And don't know what you mean by click-and-play...

I am aware of and use the features in the 6.x system, but I don't have a need or desire to incorporate the changes and features used in later releases in most of my systems and clients. The upgrades from v4 to v6 greatly changed the features and capabilities of the product, and truly took it to being a Media Center.

They also brought tons and tons of bug fixes and other behind the scenes enhancements. And it's reasonably trivial to hide/disable any of the new functionality.

[jchiso]

I did not want to make this a comparison of v4 versus v6, or an exercise in pointing out the features of subsequent releases. I simply wanted to add another OTA HD tuner without disrupting my existing systems and paying for features that I would subsequently disable or bypass. I have two v4 "servers" that have performed flawlessly for me for years. My main server has made, literally thousands of successful captures, and has not been a victim of any of the bugs that have been targeted in later releases.

When I say "clients" I mean systems running instances of SageTV Client. My main server has four SageTV clients that routinely connect to it and another v4 server that connects to it in client mode using the -client parameter. I do have a 6.4.3 server that is used as a front-end in a dedicated media room, supports an HD-100 Media Extender and gets occasional use as a local and remote Placeshifter.

My secondary v4 "server" (the one to which I added the USB HD tuner) is used in standalone mode for it's own content and in client mode for the main v4 server's content. I do not connect to this server with external clients. If I were to upgrade this server to v6 I would lose the ability to connect to the main v4 server unless I upgraded it (and the four SageTV Clients) to v6 as well. So all told I would pay $80, do two server upgrades, four Client upgrades and have to change the interfaces on any or all of them to make them suitable.

Fortunately, I was able to find a hardware device that works with the least bit of disruption and provides the full level of desired funtionality for me.