Community Comments on Google's Acquisition of SageTV

[Wirenut]

My thoughts exactly.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by phelme

As a society we've been conditioned, of late by smartphone app-age I believe, that software needs to be moving like sharks to be viable. That's crap. I think people mostly want updates for "the pretty" these days anyway.

But of course my views on software were formed in the Paleolithic era of computing.

+1

[IVB]

Originally Posted by phelme

As a society we've been conditioned, of late by smartphone app-age I believe, that software needs to be moving like sharks to be viable. That's crap. I think people mostly want updates for "the pretty" these days anyway.

But of course my views on software were formed in the Paleolithic era of computing.

The problem isn't that software needs to move for movements sake, its that nothing is an island but rather part of a larger ecosystem. IE, when Hulu came out, we needed a way to stream that inside Sage. And Netflix. And AmazonPrime.

I hear ESPN wants to go to the local level, not just ESPN1->10 with various regional stuff. That most likely will *not* be broadcast, but rather streamed. That could be a different vehicle, or subscription, or ..., and either PlayOn or SageTV would need to react.

Or, what if Google Music offers <xxx> next as a means of leapfrogging iTunesMatch/iCloud? What mechanism would we have for playback inside SageTV?

Somewhere over WashingtonDC an RIAAFly or DMCAFly will flap its wings, (or perhaps in the Cayman islands, and it'll be an AnyHDFly), and in californa there will be a hurricane over GoogSage.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by IVB

The problem isn't that software needs to move for movements sake, its that nothing is an island but rather part of a larger ecosystem. IE, when Hulu came out, we needed a way to stream that inside Sage. And Netflix. And AmazonPrime.

I hear ESPN wants to go to the local level, not just ESPN1->10 with various regional stuff. That most likely will *not* be broadcast, but rather streamed. That could be a different vehicle, or subscription, or ..., and either PlayOn or SageTV would need to react.

Or, what if Google Music offers <xxx> next as a means of leapfrogging iTunesMatch/iCloud? What mechanism would we have for playback inside SageTV?

Somewhere over WashingtonDC an RIAAFly or DMCAFly will flap its wings, (or perhaps in the Cayman islands, and it'll be an AnyHDFly), and in californa there will be a hurricane over GoogSage.

And even if sage HAD still been around as a company, we still wouldn't/didn't have 'official' support of any of those streaming services.

[david1234]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

And even if sage HAD still been around as a company, we still wouldn't/didn't have 'official' support of any of those streaming services.

I think people forget that there is no one product that can consume all of the streaming services you might want.

Until the content companies agree on a streaming standard- which won't happen.

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by david1234

Until the content companies agree on a streaming standard- which won't happen.

They probably also want to use their own DRM/encryption and such, making it harder for third party to get access...

[IVB]

but the fact is that it IS viewable from inside SageTV now. Had the software been a "set it and forget it", we would not have a single GUI to view all video options, and we wouldn't have been tripping over Sage's assimilation since we could just go get WMC and be done with it.

[Fuzzy]

Everything that makes those things viewable from in sage is done via 3rd party plugins. Those can (and have been) continue to innovate without any future changes to the sagetv core. That is the single saving grace for the sagetv ecosystem. If things had stopped with v6, we would not be in NEAR as good a shape as we are with v7. Most the improvements in v7 had to do with making it easier for 3rd party plugins to do, frankly, anything they want. There were features added that no-one has really even fully tackled yet (like the 3D rendering). If SageTV had to freeze at a particular version, 7.1.9 is a good place to stop. The only problem currently is the licensing issues. If a modified .exe removed the licensing requirements entirely, I'd be perfectly content to have zero future influence from Jeff or anyone at Google, and would still feel comfortable setting up friends and family with sage.

[mguebert]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Everything that makes those things viewable from in sage is done via 3rd party plugins. Those can (and have been) continue to innovate without any future changes to the sagetv core. That is the single saving grace for the sagetv ecosystem. If things had stopped with v6, we would not be in NEAR as good a shape as we are with v7. Most the improvements in v7 had to do with making it easier for 3rd party plugins to do, frankly, anything they want. There were features added that no-one has really even fully tackled yet (like the 3D rendering). If SageTV had to freeze at a particular version, 7.1.9 is a good place to stop. The only problem currently is the licensing issues. If a modified .exe removed the licensing requirements entirely, I'd be perfectly content to have zero future influence from Jeff or anyone at Google, and would still feel comfortable setting up friends and family with sage.

I hope that day will happen, I would certainly like to have HD300's more, but I would gladly take Sage Client licenses and roll my own over having no more SageTV

[PhilH]

Originally Posted by mguebert

I hope that day will happen, I would certainly like to have HD300's more, but I would gladly take Sage Client licenses and roll my own over having no more SageTV

+1

[thoronodor]

I really like the the user interface of SageTV software. Alas, it only works on my PC. I have no media extenders as far as HD100, HD200, or HD300 goes, and it is not only hard to find this hardware, the price is usually prohibitive. Is it possible to use the software with hardware not designed for SageTV? From reading this thread:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56369 , it seems pretty nigh impossible, since the hardware has embedded chip firmware enabling handshaking between the pc running the SageTV software, and the hardware extender components.

I've been following the SageTV forums for a couple of months, but only just now registered to post this question. There seems to be a lot of swell folks who post on these SageTV forums. I applaud you on your intelligence and mutual support, especially in light of SageTV being gobbled up by Google. You are making the best of this situation.

Too bad owners of small efficient companies like SageTV don't just realize they have a reasonably good life. Why are owners like this tempted by tons of money to risk ending a small company that has such a strong loyal customer base.

[Fuzzy]

There are a few people working on alternative viewing options for those with working sage systems. There is a booxee plugin that does a pretty good job of replicating the default SageTV interface, and others working on a Plex solution. There has for a while been an Android app that may end up working on GoogleTV hardware.

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

There has for a while been an Android app that may end up working on GoogleTV hardware.

While TaSageTV can be installed on GoogleTV 2.0, it doesn't have access to local files for direct playback. As for streaming to it, it doesn't look like many media players are compatible with GoogleTV yet... In other words, the 2 persons who have tried haven't been able to stream to it yet...

[davidjames]

I wasn't sure where to put this but here is as good a spot as any. My biggest fear when Google dumped SageTV into the toilet was my extenders would die and render SageTV almost useless for me. Actually my biggest fear at that time was Google would dump SageTV, but that's pretty much not a fear so much as a reality.

Anyway, my HD200 is dying. I switched HDMI cables today and bam, no more HDMI or Component. Yeah, I tried different cables reset the HD200 etc. etc.

Now only composite works.

I knew I was buying into a niche thing with SageTV, but hoped it was at least large enough to have some staying power.

[Mckinsey01@gmai]

A sad day, rip sage.

[mistergq]

Originally Posted by Mckinsey01@gmai

A sad day, rip sage.

They are actually more valuable because you can sell them now to people that want additional licenses.

[mistergq]

Originally Posted by davidjames

I wasn't sure where to put this but here is as good a spot as any. My biggest fear when Google dumped SageTV into the toilet was my extenders would die and render SageTV almost useless for me. Actually my biggest fear at that time was Google would dump SageTV, but that's pretty much not a fear so much as a reality.

Anyway, my HD200 is dying. I switched HDMI cables today and bam, no more HDMI or Component. Yeah, I tried different cables reset the HD200 etc. etc.

Now only composite works.

I knew I was buying into a niche thing with SageTV, but hoped it was at least large enough to have some staying power.

Have you tried the HD200 on a different TV?

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by Mckinsey01@gmai

A sad day, rip sage.

The fact that it took you over 6 months to notice/react, I guess it can't be that bad...

[cncb]

Originally Posted by mistergq

They are actually more valuable because you can sell them now to people that want additional licenses.

Not really - Sage has never confirmed that selling licenses is ok and have even allowed moderators of this board to suggest possible legal action from Sage/Google: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56334

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by davidjames

I wasn't sure where to put this but here is as good a spot as any. My biggest fear when Google dumped SageTV into the toilet was my extenders would die and render SageTV almost useless for me. Actually my biggest fear at that time was Google would dump SageTV, but that's pretty much not a fear so much as a reality.

Anyway, my HD200 is dying. I switched HDMI cables today and bam, no more HDMI or Component. Yeah, I tried different cables reset the HD200 etc. etc.

Now only composite works.

I knew I was buying into a niche thing with SageTV, but hoped it was at least large enough to have some staying power.

some smart, technical engineer who knows how to fix things with a soldering iron could make quite a business repairing these things, you know? Say $30 to estimate, and then deduct from final price if repairs are done?