What can the HD200 do that the HD100 CAN NOT?

[WarlordBB]

I'm struggling between buying an HD200 or a Blu Ray player.

Right now, I rip most content for playback for my wife and me and we watch via my HD100 in the bedroom and also use HD100 as an extender for my SageTV Server connected to my SA STB via R5000 HD.

Our main viewing is 90% family/kids in the living room via direct SA STB and a PS 3 for DVD purposes.

I burn most of the content I rip to DVD for my wife to play for the kids in the PS 3 when I'm not here because she can understand that.

Since I've only ever used the PS 3 for DVD/Blu Ray playback, and since I've recently become aware that I have a "rare" CECHA01 model that's going for $350 easily right now, I've decided to sell the PS 3 and replace it with a Blu Ray player with Netflix support for a more WAF solution.

Now I've started to think, since I've already got all this ripped content and since I rip everthing initially anyway, and since she's already familiar with the SageTV Extender menu, and since I'm looking for an excuse to get an HD200 anyway , why not just get an HD200 to use for my bedroom viewing and cycle my HD100 off for use in my living room.

So, what I want to know is, other than improved hardware meaning playback at high rates may work better, are there any improved/added capabilities/features with the HD200 that would make it a compelling choice?

IOW, from what I've been reading recently, other than the forced subtitles issue which _may_ not work on the HD100 but does on the HD200 (mainly because of not "official" support of BD for HD100?), there's not anything the HD200 can do that the HD100 can't do. Both can do Netflix/Hulu? Both can do Blu Ray (though some have had issues with playback on the HD100).

I'm going to be spending at least $150 on the Blu Ray player because I want the Netflix support, and the HD200 is down to $179 right now, so...

Thoughts?

[Clift]

If you get $350 for the PS3, you could swing both the Blu-ray player and the HD200

[WarlordBB]

Originally Posted by Clift

If you get $350 for the PS3, you could swing both the Blu-ray player and the HD200

Well, I've already made the point that we can sell the "kid's DVD player" as she calls it, get something easier for her to use (she still has a time working the PS3 controller to get a movie going) AND put some change back into the general fund so-to-speak so that's what I'm hoping to do.

If there's no compelling reason to upgrade to an HD200 if you already have an HD100, then I'm just going to make life easier on myself and get a Blu Ray player. If I could live without the Netflix et. al. support, I could be in the $120 range and look like a star by banking about $200. But since I really want the Netflix et. al. support, I'm looking at about $150-$170 and now you're talking a HD200 price.

HOWEVER, with the HD200, I'm going to have to live with some of the wife's comments of "why couldn't you just got a regular DVD player" if she has any problems with the HD100.

I'm willing to deal with that if I'm getting an HD200 out of the deal IF along with that comes more than just "faster, stronger".

IOW, what can the HD200 do that the HD100 _CAN NOT_ do? I'm having trouble finding anything.

[WarlordBB]

I replied in an "Upgrade to HD200" thread in the Media Extender forum but I'm starting to think that the right place to pose this question is here in a separate thread.

My question is simple, _other than_ "faster, stronger", if you have an HD100 already, is there anything you get with an HD200 that you don't already have? Features? Capabilities?

Everytime I think I've found something, I find a thread that's basically, "yea, you can do that with the HD100 too like XXX".

* Posts from multiple threads moved & merged *

[paulbeers]

The HD100 can play Blu-ray's somewhat. Out of the box experience isn't as good as the HD200. The HD200 is faster at rendering the GUI (at least it feels faster, I haven't done a 1:1 comparison). HD200 has the standalone mode which is nice for portability as I can take one of my HD200's with me with a hard drive full of "stuff" and watch it anywhere (including my Expedition). If the HD100 is working fine for you, then there really isn't a need to upgrade. In my case all my HD100's were moved to secondary tv's (aka office/bedroom), so they weren't necessarily upgraded just moved...

[Ken C]

Originally Posted by WarlordBB

Well, I've already made the point that we can sell the "kid's DVD player" as she calls it, get something easier for her to use (she still has a time working the PS3 controller to get a movie going)

Or, you could just buy one of these,

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-PlayStati.../dp/B000M17AVO

[sic0048]

The HD-200 can actually work without the powersupply failing.

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

(This from someone that has 4 active HD-100s between myself and the setup a made for my parents and 2 more that I just bought that are waiting to be installed - so I'm not against the HD-100. At least the HD-100 can be fixed for about $5 when the power supply does fail).

[WarlordBB]

Nice catch Ken C. Would have worked but I already have $375 instead of a PS3 now - gotta love CL

So... looks like there's no compelling "feature" or "capability" of the HD200 that the HD100 does not have. I think I'll keep my HD100 in the bedroom, do what I've been saying I'd do for a LONG time and tweak it till it's working like it can the best, and buy a $120 Blu Ray player and be a hero for putting $255 back in the rainy day fund.

Unless I'm missing something...

[tchapin]

Why buy a blueray player if what you really want it for is netflix?

Why not get the HD200 & install the Playon plugin so that you can get Netflix, Hulu, etc through SageTV?

Keep it in the family!

[WarlordBB]

Well, the point is, I already HAVE an HD100 that I can install the Playon plugin for. So getting an HD200 doesn't buy me anything there.

There would have to be a compelling feature or something I was missing in order for me to put up with the non-WAF factor of, for example, the subtitle issue in the MKV file that is currently being discussed:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46765

I've seen a lot of variations of this where you wouldn't have issues with a Blu Ray player, it'd just work.

If I'm going to have to put up with non-WAF issues, I need to get more out of it than JUST faster than HD100.

If you don't have an HD100, I'm sure the HD200 is all that and a bag of chips.

Guess this is a dead issue. Might as well order the Blu Ray player now.

[mistergq]

I am not sure what to tell you. I think where everyone is getting confused is if you have two tvs, the assumption is you would have two Sage devices, one for each tv. There is also an implicit question of why don't you have two Sage devices?

Having said that, it sounds like that is not a priority for you and your family. You have to understand that is not how a lot of people that post on this board view the world. So you are going to get a result of buy an HD200 and a bluray player.

If you came here looking for an answer of you don't need an HD200, then you came to the wrong board. I have 2 HD100, and 2 HD200. One HD100 is dead, the other is still working. The other 2 HD200 are fine and preferred device. Why do I prefer the HD200? Because it reboots faster, it seems more responsive, and I just like it. In fact, at some point of replacing the HD100 with an HD200, just because.

Btw: I also have a Bluray player on the main tv of the house and an HD200, plus an Xbox360 and Wii.

[WarlordBB]

Our main viewing is 90% family/kids in the living room via direct SA STB and a PS 3 for DVD purposes.

I thought I explained things in the OP pretty well.

I've been using SageTV since 2004. I certainly understand the awesomeness it provides. I also can certainly afford a Blu Ray player AND a HD200. Hell, I've put several thousand dollars into my SageTV situation over the years just like I'm sure most SageTV enthusiasts have.

However, I've learned to be frugal these days.

So I decided NOT to buy a HD200 unless there was some advantage (other than faster) over my HD100, thus the title of this thread to help me figure that out.

So it really doesn't matter what my situation is but I'll elaborate. I happen to use ONLY the provider's set-top box and previously a PS3 for DVD's in my living room to avoid situations where I'm not home and the wife can't make things work. I'm not fond of going back to the days where I'm on the phone with her going, "is the server on, are you only getting a black screen". As wonderful as SageTV is, there's still too much to go wrong.

So like I said, in an effort to be frugal I was going to limit myself to one purchase of $150-$170 to solve the problem of now not having a way to play DVD's in the Living Room.

However, can it not be as simple as wanting to know the answer to the question?

[WarlordBB]

For the record, I caved. My HD-200 will be here Thursday. I've decided that I'm going to go the extra mile and try to setup my HD-200 and SageTV Server as foolproof as possible and take whatever steps I can to make sure all content is ripped, recorded or online and available before being needed.

The main turning point was when I realized that nobody here is clamoring for DVD's or Blu Ray's within seconds of me bringing them home. For that matter, they don't even know when I have new stuff.

Also, if I make it just as (or hopefully easier) for my wife to play movies for the kids, she's not going to care one way or the other.

mistergq: even though I mostly disagreed with your post because I still thought the question was worth asking, it was part of your post that ultimately changed my mind. When you said, "that is not how a lot of people that post on this board view the world" it helped me remember that I used to push SageTV to its fullest.

So that's what I'm going do now.

[mistergq]

Originally Posted by WarlordBB

For the record, I caved. My HD-200 will be here Thursday.

Awesome

mistergq: even though I mostly disagreed with your post because I still thought the question was worth asking, it was part of your post that ultimately changed my mind. When you said, "that is not how a lot of people that post on this board view the world" it helped me remember that I used to push SageTV to its fullest.

Hey, I can be a royal pain in the ... And remember, I clicked on your thread so apparently there was some validity.

[Beefcake550]

Warlord, this is after the fact, but I can say that I've been using SageTV since v2.0 and had a brief hiatus while I used WMC.

That said, I hated the calls from the wife about debugging the current problem of theday while I was at work so they could watch TV.

I have found a HUGE change in reliability once I built a WHS machine to be a SageTV server and HD200s as clients. Since doign this over 1.5 years ago, the WAF is WAY UP. I even asked her the other day "what could be better" and she said "nothing off the top of my head". Sure, I've had to reboot the SageTV server a few times, but it definitely seems like the seperation of the recording and playback devices is responsible for most of the improved WAF.

Good luck. I think you have made the right choice. I use my HD200 to playback TV, DVDs, and BluRays. Good stuff.

[grauchy]

Originally Posted by Beefcake550

Sure, I've had to reboot the SageTV server a few times

I run a scheduled reboot every night at 3AM on my server and I have a lamp timer on my HD-PVR to reboot that at the same time. I found that those two items have significantly improved my reliability.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by grauchy

I run a scheduled reboot every night at 3AM on my server and I have a lamp timer on my HD-PVR to reboot that at the same time. I found that those two items have significantly improved my reliability.

I also have a scheduled reboot every 3 days at 4AM on my server. I just restart my server, not my HD-PVR, but it seemed to basically fix all of reliability problems I was having with firewire and HD-PVR recording.