Stay or Bail ?

[APillowOfClouds]

Originally Posted by slowpoke

I was using Mediaportal for about a month with streamedmp skin - really liked it but ran into a system freezing issue - about once or twice a week... back to sage for now. Sage really does work very well... I'm hoping the google buy-out actually will add to what Sage offers - I'm optimistic about the buyout. Having said that, I will keep playing with mediaportal as a backup. Maybe when this version of mp comes out of beta it will be rock solid. (Love all of the plugins for MP - really missing grooveshark and tv series with sagetv)

MediaPortal doesn't have a plugin for the MediaMVP do they?

[heffneil]

Originally Posted by bunch92

My system is working fine, so I will stick to it for a long time .... in fact, I just bought my first HD300 for $100 on ebay today to complete my setup.

I think the most interesting thing in this thread was the hd300 from ebay for $100!!! I see one for over $400 now! Amazing.

[sub]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

As far as I know there is nothing like the sagetv extender. Nothing at all. Some have said gbpvr can use the mvp from hauppauge, but that is a pretty old device.

The MVP is an old device, but GBPVR/NPVR also support the NMT devices like Popcorn Hour A100/A110, eGreat M34A - these use a modern Sigma chipset, play just about everything, and do HD (both playback and GBPVR/NPVR UI).

[SWKerr]

Originally Posted by sub

The MVP is an old device, but GBPVR/NPVR also support the NMT devices like Popcorn Hour A100/A110, eGreat M34A - these use a modern Sigma chipset, play just about everything, and do HD (both playback and GBPVR/NPVR UI).

Those models appear to all be out of production now. You have to pick one up used as far as I can tell. Also: I don't think NextPVR has any extender at this point. The posts on the forums seems to indicate that he is still looking for a good candidate to support it.

From what I have read, I think there will probably be and extender for NextPVR at some point but for now it does not support them.

[sub]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

Those models appear to all be out of production now. You have to pick one up used as far as I can tell.

The EGreat device is still readily available. The PCH devices are the previous generation, and no longer being manufactured, but you can also get these if you look around. I guess you could say both of these extender devices are more readily available than the Sage Extenders at this stage

Also: I don't think NextPVR has any extender at this point.

What do you mean? Do you mean like our own branded hardware? Thats not going to happen. The NextPVR project is a non-commerical, and the software is free. That sort of model obviously isnt going to fund development of extender hardware.

Instead our extender model is to support other manufacturer's standard off-the-shelf extenders.

The posts on the forums seems to indicate that he is still looking for a good candidate to support it.

We already support a few really good extender devices, but we are currently investigating new hardware options for the future.

From what I have read, I think there will probably be and extender for NextPVR at some point but for now it does not support them.

??? As mentioned, it supports several extender devices. Infact, GBPVR/NextPVR has supported extenders longer than Sage. It first supported the MVP way back in 2004.

[speck55]

Originally Posted by APillowOfClouds

Sage/Google if you are listening, the OVERWHELMING theme in every "what should we do" thread on here is that all of us have tried all sorts of other software and Sage beats all of them hands down.* So maybe don't do away with it just yet. Just slap a Google doodle on it and ship 8.0. We'll buy it.

*=Except for maybe DVBViewer

+1 to you, Sir! Couldn't say it better if I tried.

Me being someone who due to this google madness paid ebay prices for HD300's to finish my build, after posting admant amounts of pissing and moaning on this forum, and to Google directly, who doesn't respond to any sort of email, bit the bullet and finished the build.

Here's to hoping the plugin repositories stay up, and the community keeps developing plugins. 3rd party dev's: your efforts do not go unnoticed, unused, or unappreciated. Google: you obviously have an endgame in line here, and that's great. Don't kill our setups and community doing it, please?

[SWKerr]

Originally Posted by sub

The EGreat device is still readily available. The PCH devices are the previous generation, and no longer being manufactured, but you can also get these if you look around. I guess you could say both of these extender devices are more readily available than the Sage Extenders at this stage

What do you mean? Do you mean like our own branded hardware? Thats not going to happen. The NextPVR project is a non-commerical, and the software is free. That sort of model obviously isnt going to fund development of extender hardware.

Instead our extender model is to support other manufacturer's standard off-the-shelf extenders.

We already support a few really good extender devices, but we are currently investigating new hardware options for the future.

??? As mentioned, it supports several extender devices. Infact, GBPVR/NextPVR has supported extenders longer than Sage. It first supported the MVP way back in 2004.

Perhaps I am just confused because of the name change from GBPVR NextPVR or even nPVR.
But since you seem to know:
Will the v2.0.3 of NextPVR work with the Egreat EG-M34A (which does seem to be available for about $200)

Also: what about plugin support? something like MusicBox4. Will it run on the extender.

I can't find a video demo of how the current version looks. Everything posted is about 2 years old. I did see something with a Roku plugin that was functional. (Not pretty but functional) Seems like Boxee would be a better platform for a plugin.
Any videos that show how the current version might look on an extender?

[sub]

The name did change last year from GBPVR to NextPVR, to reflect a major rewrite of the application. The name is officially NextPVR, but a lot people shorten it to NPVR.

Yes, 2.0.3 (and the current 2.1.4) release work with the Egreate EG-M34A.

Most plugins work on the Extenders, including the MusicBox 4 plugin. The only reason a plugin wouldnt work on an Extender is if the plugin developer had coded in the use of something that is only available on the PC, like running some other application on the users desktop (like running Internet Explorer, or some third party media player etc).

I dont think I've ever seen any NextPVR UI videos. If I get time in the next couple of days, I'll try to make one. If you've seen any screenshots though, thats what it looks like on an NMT extender. Its pretty much exactly the same as on PC, but with animations disabled.

[emveepee]

Originally Posted by sub

I dont think I've ever seen any NextPVR UI videos. If I get time in the next couple of days, I'll try to make one. If you've seen any screenshots though, thats what it looks like on an NMT extender. Its pretty much exactly the same as on PC, but with animations disabled.

I captured this video from the PCH to my HD-PVR, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tXiOhDCFXs (watch at full HD for best effect). It focuses more on LiveTV (selecting from the EPG, moving between channels and tuners, prev channel, changing by number) and shows some analog and ATSC (the HD Letterman) output. Obviously with only one HDPVR, I can't show HD-PVR LiveTV doing this but the recording at the end is an HD-PVR recording and LiveTV looks the same and the speed is the same.

Some UI element you will see are the main menu, the EPG and navigation, the OSD EPG during LiveTV, navigation the recordings screen, the recording playback popup and a little metadata and meta art.

Martin

[emveepee]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

Also: what about plugin support? something like MusicBox4. Will it run on the extender.

It sure better, since I wrote the extender client and MB4 and I run it primarily from my PCH. It should handle most audio formats too, even formats not supported by the native PCH, as they are converted to PCM.

Martin

[SWKerr]

Originally Posted by emveepee

I captured this video from the PCH to my HD-PVR, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tXiOhDCFXs (watch at full HD for best effect). It focuses more on LiveTV (selecting from the EPG, moving between channels and tuners, prev channel, changing by number) and shows some analog and ATSC (the HD Letterman) output. Obviously with only one HDPVR, I can't show HD-PVR LiveTV doing this but the recording at the end is an HD-PVR recording and LiveTV looks the same and the speed is the same.

Some UI element you will see are the main menu, the EPG and navigation, the OSD EPG during LiveTV, navigation the recordings screen, the recording playback popup and a little metadata and meta art.

Martin

Man that was like watching TV in the early 80s and my dad was holding the remote. I was getting dizzy with all the channel surfing. It certainly showed the playback capabilities of live TV and some DVR functionality.

Can you post something with a little more menu navigation showing music and movies so we can get a feel for the entire experience. Something showing the setting up of recorded TV would be useful.

[AWS]

I'm really not thrilled about Google's buyout; but I'll give them a shot to see what they do. Slightly leaning towards bailing.

[EDUB]

Google has been moving into the streaming TV market for awhile now it seems.
They're acquiring streaming technologies left and right including an offer for Hulu.
I assume it'll be a year before they incorporate all the acquired technologies into TV's or possibly a set top box. More than likely it'll be a charge service with integrated components. I don't believe they'll touch the HTPC market.

[emveepee]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

Man that was like watching TV in the early 80s and my dad was holding the remote. I was getting dizzy with all the channel surfing. It certainly showed the playback capabilities of live TV and some DVR functionality.

Can you post something with a little more menu navigation showing music and movies so we can get a feel for the entire experience. Something showing the setting up of recorded TV would be useful.

I don't think these little snippets really show what NPVR can do, if I had to base SageTV's functionality on what I've seen on YouTube you'd agree too. The capture delay is not natural and the keystrokes are always a little behind. On my YouTube page with the previous video there are several older videos showing the speed on GB-PVR which isn't too bad and sub has improved on this for NPVR.

As sub wrote, your best bet would be to try the PC client and understand that the NPVR and the plugins will look and feel the same on the extender, just a little bit slower then a current PC.

Martin

[mistergq]

Originally Posted by emveepee

I don't think these little snippets really show what NPVR can do, if I had to base SageTV's functionality on what I've seen on YouTube you'd agree too. The capture delay is not natural and the keystrokes are always a little behind. On my YouTube page with the previous video there are several older videos showing the speed on GB-PVR which isn't too bad and sub has improved on this for NPVR.

As sub wrote, your best bet would be to try the PC client and understand that the NPVR and the plugins will look and feel the same on the extender, just a little bit slower then a current PC.

Martin

Thanks for the posts Martin.

Any ETA for an extender on Hauppauge HD MVP or something like WD Live?

[sub]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

Can you post something with a little more menu navigation showing music and movies so we can get a feel for the entire experience. Something showing the setting up of recorded TV would be useful.

Its not a great video, but you can check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhZINoWUIc4. This was from a PCH A-100 NMT extender, captured via a Hauppauge Colossus. It shows a few more of the screens you might be interested in. Ignore the black border around the outside - my extender was configured for a TV with a bit of overscan.

[slowpoke]

Originally Posted by APillowOfClouds

MediaPortal doesn't have a plugin for the MediaMVP do they?

No - as far as I know no extenders are supported. I am now back and forth between Sage and MediaPortal - Mediaportal is working well with the HDPVR and has a ton of great plugins - love the navigation and skins. I've been a Sage user of almost 5 years so this is a big move for me. I'm hoping Google/Sage come back strong with more of a commitment and development resources and Android integration - I'll be hanging around here for a while to see what develops.

[SWKerr]

Originally Posted by slowpoke

No - as far as I know no extenders are supported. I am now back and forth between Sage and MediaPortal - Mediaportal is working well with the HDPVR and has a ton of great plugins - love the navigation and skins. I've been a Sage user of almost 5 years so this is a big move for me. I'm hoping Google/Sage come back strong with more of a commitment and development resources and Android integration - I'll be hanging around here for a while to see what develops.

I just finished a weekend playing with MediaPortal.

One OTA tuner and one HD-PVR with DirecTV H20. The setup for the OTA tuner was not very painful because you could scan for channels but adding DirecTV and HD-PVR was ridiculous. You are supposed to key in all the 100+ channels by hand. There is no import function. You also have to map the defined stations to you EPG feed so make sure you name channels consistent to you EPG source. There seem to be very few current post on the forums from people using the HD-PVR and DirecTV. Even less for Dish. The MediaPortal setup seems to be much more DVB focused where you can scan for the channels and download the EGP in stream.

I used the HD-PVRs blaster for the test and that work fine. I had to disable the Hauppauge remote program which caused errors with the HD-PVR. Once I disabled the remote it seemed to record well and seemed quite stable of the long weekend. Seems like the Hauppauge remote receiver causing issues with the HD-PVR is one that SageTV may have had as well. (Did not research)

Overall not a bad user experience but at this point I am giving MediaPortal a thumbs down by itself. The XBMC plugin is nice but only worked on one machine. It also does not have full TV functionality yet. Perhaps in a year they will be there.

The MediaPortal UI better out of the box than nPVR but still not as good as SageTV. Add in SageTV plugins and there is no comparison.

StreamedMP: the StreamedMP plugin seems to put the GUI on par with some of the best SageTV GUI plugins. There is a BIG BUT here in that as far as I can tell the setup an maintance of all the extra show and movie metadata is maintained separately on each client machine. After setting it up on the server it all had to be done again on the client. This may have been user ignorance but I did not see where I could use the setup from the server.

Playback: The client machine seems to stutter and skip a lot. I could pause and go back and it would play fine. This same machine plays SageTV flawlessly. The servers are different as I did not want to pollute the production SageTV server but truthfully the test rig is a better machine but with just less disk space so I don't think this is hardware related.

BluRay Rip: I only keep one out there for testing purposes as I usually recode them to something smaller for the library. I could only play Despicable Me back in French or Spanish. No English option at all. I think this is a TrueHD audio issue in MediaPortal but it works fine on the same machine in SageTV. The picture looked good for the two minutes of French I was willing to listen to.

Comskip: Easy setup on the server side but I could not get comskip working on the client machine. There is a known limitation here for client PCs with what looks like a complicated workaround that I have not tired yet.

Delete after watch: I can't for the life of me find any way to delete something other than with the delete key. It is not in the GUI. ??? Must be missing something here.

I am going to go play with NextPVR before going back and trying to work on the issues I encountered. They may be fixable but out of the box there were a few rough edges. The big ding on MediaPortal for me is the lack of extender support and the un-centralized setup of the StreamedMP. Those would be major issues for me. If the XBMC piece worked better and I could get XBMC on an extender then I would probably jump ship but that looks to be a good ways off right now. For now not even seriously considering a move to MediaPortal but will continue to tinker.

I can write-up a more detailed review if there is interest.

[SomeWhatLost]

I just tried out DVB Viewer...
kinda crap really..
menus don't really make sense...
movie listing thing doesn't even compare to Plucky's SMM...
no extenders (and no, upnp is not an 'extender')

be a great way (maybe) to add DVB support to sage?

[Graygeek]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

I can write-up a more detailed review if there is interest.

Geektonic is always looking for articles from others, this info would make a great writeup for submission to Bret. Then your work would not get lost deep in this thread