Community Comments on Google's Acquisition of SageTV

[Fuzzy]

I'm betting most HD300 users haven't even encountered the bugs you are talking about (I know I'm not aware of any).

[stanger89]

If you look around you'll find plenty of talk about people seeking out arbitrary firmwares that may or may not work better with HBR bitstreaming, I'm definitely not the only one.

I guess maybe it's time I finally bite the bullet and seriously save for a Kaleidescape. I bet there I won't get told my issues aren't real/important because "most people" don't see them.

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by stanger89

... I guess maybe it's time I finally bite the bullet and seriously save for a Kaleidescape. I bet there I won't get told my issues aren't real/important because "most people" don't see them.

That's alot of saving, more like an intense bonus to get that sysetm. I for one care about HBR, just dropped a lot for a new flat screen, and more to come on a new AVR. I am with you on the sound front!

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by stanger89

If you look around you'll find plenty of talk about people seeking out arbitrary firmwares that may or may not work better with HBR bitstreaming, I'm definitely not the only one.

I guess maybe it's time I finally bite the bullet and seriously save for a Kaleidescape. I bet there I won't get told my issues aren't real/important because "most people" don't see them.

Why don't you just get a Dune or something? Full menu support and everything.

[Skybolt]

I think everyones issue here, If your looking at the Echo, is not wanting two solutions to do the same thing. I mean I have 5 Sage systems in use today. I was looking to replace that with 5 Echos. So now I would need 5 Echos and 5 Dunes? Doesn't make sense. For me I am going to keep running Sage for stored content and use the Echo for live/recorded tv.

I wish I never heard the word CableCard at this point.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by stanger89

I guess maybe it's time I finally bite the bullet and seriously save for a Kaleidescape. I bet there I won't get told my issues aren't real/important because "most people" don't see them.

No-one is telling you your issues aren't real or important. Of course they are - to you. I, for one, would never think of putting an HD300 in my living room, mostly because the UI is painfully slow compared to a client, so i never even noticed a problem with HBR audio (as I'm sure many other have not as well). I get perfect bitstreaming from my client in the living room, so it isn't an issue FOR ME. That is all I was saying. I also pointed out that many people would still gladly purchase new HD300's, even if nothing was changed on it since last June - which is what I meant by market-presentable.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

I think everyones issue here, If your looking at the Echo, is not wanting two solutions to do the same thing. I mean I have 5 Sage systems in use today. I was looking to replace that with 5 Echos. So now I would need 5 Echos and 5 Dunes? Doesn't make sense. For me I am going to keep running Sage for stored content and use the Echo for live/recorded tv.

I wish I never heard the word CableCard at this point.

I was saying if someone were to COMPLETELY do away with their sage system. Then you could go the dune/what ever other tv box you choose route. I wouldn't unless I absolutely had to. I've got everything on one box now, why would I want to change that?

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Why don't you just get a Dune or something? Full menu support and everything.

I couldn't care less about menu support, I've sort of been looking at the Dune, and it's getting better but they don't sound quite fully baked still.

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

No-one is telling you your issues aren't real or important. Of course they are - to you.

Sorry, I've heard similar things too much on AVS from a few who feel they need to defent and promote HTPCs to such an extent that they seem to almost want to bury any talk of them not being the greatest thing ever.

I, for one, would never think of putting an HD300 in my living room, mostly because the UI is painfully slow compared to a client, so i never even noticed a problem with HBR audio (as I'm sure many other have not as well). I get perfect bitstreaming from my client in the living room, so it isn't an issue FOR ME.

Do you get that in Sage or do you have to jump out to TMT or PowerDVD? Because I can't stand PowerDVD and I don't very much like TMT either.

That is all I was saying. I also pointed out that many people would still gladly purchase new HD300's, even if nothing was changed on it since last June - which is what I meant by market-presentable.

My point was regardless of if people would buy it, if you sell it, people expect support and Google clearly doesn't want to provide any support for Sage beyond basic troubleshooting.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by stanger89

I couldn't care less about menu support, I've sort of been looking at the Dune, and it's getting better but they don't sound quite fully baked still.

Sorry, I've heard similar things too much on AVS from a few who feel they need to defent and promote HTPCs to such an extent that they seem to almost want to bury any talk of them not being the greatest thing ever.

Do you get that in Sage or do you have to jump out to TMT or PowerDVD? Because I can't stand PowerDVD and I don't very much like TMT either.

Depends on the movie/rip. If it is ripped to MKV (which most of mine are), then it plays back in Sage. Otherwise, for full bluray rips or direct playback from disc,(usually movies that I want menus, or 3D movies) I launch TMT... though I don't know how it makes a difference - in my setup, you really can't even tell you are in one or the other short of a different timebar, and different reaction to the FF and RW buttons. The buttons on the remote do essentially the same thing. I never 'interact' with TMT. It is launched direct from sage into the movie, and pressing the EXIT button on my remote brings be back to the sage home screen.

Originally Posted by stanger89

My point was regardless of if people would buy it, if you sell it, people expect support and Google clearly doesn't want to provide any support for Sage beyond basic troubleshooting.

That's really all Sage has ever offered, support wise, anyways. It's not like they ran a large phone call center for support - I think they had, at most, 6 employees in the entire company.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

That's really all Sage has ever offered, support wise, anyways. It's not like they ran a large phone call center for support - I think they had, at most, 6 employees in the entire company.

But they would go back and forth by email (with the devs) and they would fix things and release new software/firmware. Google has no interest in that. They seem to have kept George there as troubleshooting tech support, but anything that requires more just gets sent off into a black hole never to be seen again. If they were still selling HD300's, that level of support would be expected.

[paulbeers]

In a lot of ways, I'm glad Sage stopped selling all Sage Software and hardware (even if I wish I could have picked up a couple more HD300's). I wouldn't want Sage doing what BeyondTV did: Selling their consumer software licenses well after they stopped supporting them. People who weren't paying attention really got burned on that.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

In a lot of ways, I'm glad Sage stopped selling all Sage Software and hardware (even if I wish I could have picked up a couple more HD300's). I wouldn't want Sage doing what BeyondTV did: Selling their consumer software licenses well after they stopped supporting them. People who weren't paying attention really got burned on that.

Yeah, but that's why early in the acquisition, we were really only asking for Client licenses (mostly as replacements for eventual extender failures). This would not bring the uninitiated into the fold, but would at least allow current customers to maintain, and even expand, their systems. If the marketplace forum hadn't opened, I'm quite certain there would be a slew of client keys floating around the net 'fixing' the issue in ways that only the internet can.

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

In a lot of ways, I'm glad Sage stopped selling all Sage Software and hardware (even if I wish I could have picked up a couple more HD300's). I wouldn't want Sage doing what BeyondTV did: Selling their consumer software licenses well after they stopped supporting them. People who weren't paying attention really got burned on that.

They still affected a small number of customers, and at the time, you heard their complaints on the forum. These people are customers who just got started investing in SageTV, and they just got it up and running and haven't bought client licenses and extenders. So all of a sudden, they couldn't buy that extra client license or that extra extender for the bedroom, or they couldn't upgrade to the new v7 at the time, etc.

Since then, Jeff did addressed most of these issues. First, he allowed v6 customers to upgrade to v7 for free. And then a few months ago, he allowed people to sell licenses and hardware in the SageTV Marketplace forum. So yes, even though a small number of customers got screwed after the Google acquisition, Jeff did do the right thing in the end, unlike what Snapstream did.

[panteragstk]

I just wonder if once the fiber project is up and running (and stable) that Jeff and co will actually be able to work on "our" sagetv. There has never been any mention of "our" version stopping development, just a hiatus (from what I've seen jeff say on g+ and here.) I doubt he'd string us along when he knows that Kansas City is the only test bed for Google Fiber. I could also be totally wrong.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I just wonder if once the fiber project is up and running (and stable) that Jeff and co will actually be able to work on "our" sagetv. There has never been any mention of "our" version stopping development, just a hiatus (from what I've seen jeff say on g+ and here.) I doubt he'd string us along when he knows that Kansas City is the only test bed for Google Fiber. I could also be totally wrong.

As long as Brent@GeekTonic (who lives in KC) is happy, Jeff is happy.. :-)

[wayner]

He used to be one of the most frequent posters here but he has been kind of MIA for the last little while.

[Rob]

I hope Panteragstk is right and it seems possible. I had high hopes for the Ceton Echo, but now that they have laid an egg, I'm going to hope what Panteragstk has said works out before my extenders start failing (until then I am very happy with my current Sage setup).

[mechling-burgh]

I'm hoping that Google creates an extender for there new dvr boxes and that will be backwards compatible with the sagetv server software. I have a feeling they must have a plan to use this dvr boxes for more than just Kansas City.

[brainbone]

Originally Posted by mechling-burgh

I have a feeling they must have a plan to use this dvr boxes for more than just Kansas City.

We'll likely see a version of it that will work over any broadband connection, but it will not be compatible with any of our existing hardware or software, unless it's Android based -- and even then, products that are unable to run the most recent Android OS at the time will probably be incompatible.

It will be a cable TV alternative, not a device to augment cable TV like Google TV was.

[Fuzzy]

And then those existing broadband companies will start throttling bandwidth from google's servers, making it a poor option.