Community Comments on Google's Acquisition of SageTV

[Fuzzy]

If you've already got a working sagetv system, I fail to see how purchasing cablecard tuners, and an xbox, saves you money over sticking with the working sagetv system. I honestly don't see how you can even "sink more money into" a system that you can't purchase currently.

[gplasky]

And why hold off purchasing a new TV? No matter what system you use or choose to go with in the future your TV will provide the connections you should need with HDMI being what you need for the future.

Gerry

[korben_dallas]

Not so much saving, but sinking money into an unsupported system (and yes I have concerns about cablecard the same).

Little things are already starting to break in SageTV. Even some of the community developers are voicing their reservations about continuing plugin development. People get nervous spending money and/or time on an unstable ecosystem.

The TV situation is tied to the client problem. If used HD300s were available for <$200, then I wouldn't be so concerned. But I'm not going to spend $300-$400 on a used unwarrantied product. I can't get easy Blu-Ray playback with a PC client. Do I buy a Blu-Ray player too? Or a Playstation?

And what happens when there are Windows 8 problems with SageTV ?

I'm just saying that it is not as simple as "a working SageTV system will last forever".

[wayner]

Things are definitely slowing down. What was the last new plugin released? Maybe ADM in early July? The Diamond forum used to be very active but it hasn't had a post since Oct 7.

[jptheripper]

sorry, but this is just dumb and simplistic. I cant name a single electronic/computer type device that i ACTIVELY use that is more than 5 years old. So will sagetv last forever? no. Neither will your tv, or your cellphone, or etc..
If you are concerned about windows 8, stay on windows 7. We still use XP 10 years later. If you system works, dont upgrade.
A working sagetv system will work, as is, for as long as most average PC components last. Don't screw with it, but also don't have unrealistic expectations.

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

Not so much saving, but sinking money into an unsupported system (and yes I have concerns about cablecard the same).

Little things are already starting to break in SageTV. Even some of the community developers are voicing their reservations about continuing plugin development. People get nervous spending money and/or time on an unstable ecosystem.

The TV situation is tied to the client problem. If used HD300s were available for <$200, then I wouldn't be so concerned. But I'm not going to spend $300-$400 on a used unwarrantied product. I can't get easy Blu-Ray playback with a PC client. Do I buy a Blu-Ray player too? Or a Playstation?

And what happens when there are Windows 8 problems with SageTV ?

I'm just saying that it is not as simple as "a working SageTV system will last forever".

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

I'm just saying that it is not as simple as "a working SageTV system will last forever".

It doesn't have to last forever, it just has to last until something better comes along (hopefully from Jeff).

[HelenWeathers]

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

Little things are already starting to break in SageTV.

You've been off world too long man. Nothing has broken in my SageTV installation. Maybe it's your hardware??

[wayner]

Youtube access breaks from time to time. So far, I believe, Opus4 has put out patches but they aren't as timely as they used to be.

[korben_dallas]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

sorry, but this is just dumb and simplistic..

and..

Originally Posted by jptheripper

We still use XP 10 years later. If you system works, dont upgrade.

Kettle, meet pot.

My home network does not exist in a SageTV vacuum. And I am not the only one. No, the sky is not falling. But you guys need to get some perspective why people are not puting as much into SageTV as pre-Google.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

and..



Kettle, meet pot.

My home network does not exist in a SageTV vacuum. And I am not the only one. No, the sky is not falling. But you guys need to get some perspective why people are not puting as much into SageTV as pre-Google.

But most of ours do. Not the whole network, per se, but most of use have a SageTV Server, that for the most part, functions as just that.. a SageTV Server. It does that function just as well in XP as it would in Windows 8. there is no compelling reason to touch that system, aside from eventual hardware failures (in which case, just replace, and continue as is). Sage's core functionality has no end date. The EPG can be sourced elsewhere, even most the changes Andy does to keep youtube working are all in the STV, and can technically be modified/fixed by a 3rd party.

As for putting money into an 'unstable ecosystem'... the quieter things get, the more stable the ecosystem becomes. Software does not NEED constant changes to be stable... it's just the opposite.

[will]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Software does not NEED constant changes to be stable... it's just the opposite.

I seconds that.

[brandypuff]

i was just going to order another extender today when i found out about the purchase by Google. Nice of them to email their customer to let them know about the buyout before it happened. Here it is 4 months later and I never knew it happened. Now I'm SOL for any future with SageTV! great....

[ybrew]

Originally Posted by brandypuff

i was just going to order another extender today when i found out about the purchase by Google. Nice of them to email their customer to let them know about the buyout before it happened. Here it is 4 months later and I never knew it happened. Now I'm SOL for any future with SageTV! great....

Not really.

Search these forums a bit. You may not be able to buy any more licenses, but that doesn't mean you can't still add competent playback options to your arsenal.

There's a thread just starting up here about watching recordings via Plex. Very polished UI. It can be a bit lacking in some areas, but for simply playing back recordings it looks very nice. It's free software that'll run on a computer, a Roku and the upcoming GoogleTV 2.0

And then there's the Sage App for Boxee created by a few smart folks here. It's free, and has the familiar sage interface so super easy to use (and setup).
It'll run on a PC running the free Boxee software or it'll run on Boxee hardware. The Sage App for Boxee might not have all the features of the regular client, but it too makes a great playback tool for watching your recordings.

I didn't get an email either when sage was sold (I know some folks did). But that doesn't mean your sage setup is dead. The EPG will work until at least next summer. Work has already begun on replacements for that. And Andy (I believe) just finished work this weekend on an updated STV for weather since the Weather Channel is no longer providing this info for free.

For now, sage still works as it always did, and folks have done a lot of work to make sure it continues to work for a long time. Enjoy it.

[tvmaster2]

true...but it was still a little bush-league the way it was done. Sorry, personal opinion

[nycjoe]

here's why it is sometimes preferable to be using software that is under active development. it seems much more polished than the sage web UI.

http://vimeo.com/32063038

[pingmustard]

I just found out googleTV bought out sageTV. It reminds me of Microsoft tactics to buy out the competition. It's one thing if Google never ventured into GoogleTV to start with, but the fact that GoogleTV has NOT done so well makes this buyout motive a bit questionable. I wouldn't be surprise if they just want to squash the competition, and try to salvage their GoogleTV by incorporating STV features. Based on GTV2 snapshots, Google is better off just taking STV and salvaging GTV instead :P I guess I may run back to MCE in the future.

Google should have left STV alone. It's just another negative to their image that they have to do this dis-service to the community. Then again, I've only tried GTV 1... Maybe the GTV2 will be great, but I have my doubts.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by pingmustard

I just found out googleTV bought out sageTV. It reminds me of Microsoft tactics to buy out the competition. It's one thing if Google never ventured into GoogleTV to start with, but the fact that GoogleTV has NOT done so well makes this buyout motive a bit questionable. I wouldn't be surprise if they just want to squash the competition, and try to salvage their GoogleTV by incorporating STV features. Based on GTV2 snapshots, Google is better off just taking STV and salvaging GTV instead :P I guess I may run back to MCE in the future.

Google should have left STV alone. It's just another negative to their image that they have to do this dis-service to the community. Then again, I've only tried GTV 1... Maybe the GTV2 will be great, but I have my doubts.

Microsoft is hardly the first company to acquire another company. That's basically how the system works. Also, this happened almost 6 months ago, and your sagetv system works just the same as it did then, such that you had no idea it had even happened. so what's the problem?

[pingmustard]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Microsoft is hardly the first company to acquire another company. That's basically how the system works. Also, this happened almost 6 months ago, and your sagetv system works just the same as it did then, such that you had no idea it had even happened. so what's the problem?

The problem is my sagetv didn't work the same as 6 months ago... I had to update to fix YouTube issues. I can only hope the takeover doesn't block updates to STV and hence kill it.

[darcilicious]

There was just a release to update the weather feed issue. It's hardly dead yet, Jim

[phelme]

Originally Posted by will

I seconds that.

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.