Finally shut down my Sage Server after 7 yrs

[davefred99]

Well its a sad day but I finally pulled the plug on my Sage server Today. I have had my system up for Seven years but about about 6 months ago I set up an MCE system using a Ceton Echo for an extender. Even today Sage is more powerful but I rarely use it anymore because mine and my wifes viewing habits are mostly record watch and delete DVR stuff so MCE does just fine with that. I would have stayed with Sage if they were still in business but NO new development or products will ever come so it is end of life. MCE is not a whole lot better but it at least is still semi supported and some new products are available for it like the Ceton extenders and xBox 360's.
If Google ever brings it back to life I may come back but for now I will just leave my Sage server off and sitting in my closet as a back up just in case.

So Long Sage its been good but time to move on.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by davefred99

Well its a sad day but I finally pulled the plug on my Sage server Today. I have had my system up for Seven years but about about 6 months ago I set up an MCE system using a Ceton Echo for an extender. Even today Sage is more powerful but I rarely use it anymore because mine and my wifes viewing habits are mostly record watch and delete DVR stuff so MCE does just fine with that. I would have stayed with Sage if they were still in business but NO new development or products will ever come so it is end of life. MCE is not a whole lot better but it at least is still semi supported and some new products are available for it like the Ceton extenders and xBox 360's.
If Google ever brings it back to life I may come back but for now I will just leave my Sage server off and sitting in my closet as a back up just in case.

So Long Sage its been good but time to move on.

Good luck...


I am not quite ready to give on on Sage will continue to use it for as long as my Cable company Cooperates and I continue getting my subscribed channels copy freely. If and when that ends I will move on to my cable company DVR and not Invest anymore money on my HTPC.

[brainbone]

My SageTV server is still "running" but I haven't used it in months, so I don't know if that counts.

I was looking at a Centon Echo and MCE, but Windows 8 does not support non-Microsoft extenders -- so its future looks bleak.

We seem to be in a DRM encumbered limbo, especially if you want live TV, and recordings available on all your devices. Luckily, I don't watch live TV.

[mayamaniac]

I can't ever switch to MCE because it doesn't support MKV and various other video codecs/formats I need.

I will continue to use SageTV until EPG support is stopped, and since Jeff (Narflex) is still using SageTV in his home, I doubt EPG support will end anytime soon. But even then, if a reliable EPG plugin is available, I would still use SageTV. So basically, I'll use SageTV until it becomes too much of a hassle to keep it running.

I think the future replacement for SageTV will be something Google related, whether it is Android powered or Google Fiber/TV.

[tvmaster2]

three years after its demise, and with all the headaches...nothing beats SageTV.....STILL!

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

three years after its demise, and with all the headaches...nothing beats SageTV.....STILL!

Three years? I only count two years...

[matt91]

Originally Posted by KeithAbbott

Three years? I only count two years...

Almost two years to the day:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56074

[davefred99]

I would have probably stayed with Sage TV if HD-300 extenders were still available but I refuse to pay the extorted prices folks are getting for used end of life products with no warranty or future support.
MCE has a lot of faults and short comings but it at least for now has some supported extenders and is still being distributed. As far as MKV & other file support I can get that if I need it outside of MCE but mostly I just want a DVR & extenders minus the Cable rental fees and it does that pretty well for now.
I will hang on to my Sage licenses and if things change I can always come back.

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by davefred99

I would have probably stayed with Sage TV if HD-300 extenders were still available but I refuse to pay the extorted prices folks are getting for used end of life products with no warranty or future support.

Most of the prices I've seen in the forum Marketplace postings aren't "extorted". I bought one for the original price. Also, with more people abandoning SageTV, prices should drop as more people will be selling their gears.

[davefred99]

Originally Posted by Wayneb

So if you bought a classic vette or some other car in the 60's, new and you held onto it till now, would you sell it for what you paid for it? Supply and demand, no one would pay $300 for an HD300 unless they thought it was worth it.

I do not see the Hd-300 as a classic vette. I look at it more like a used refrigerator (appliance). Its good and it works maybe better than the new models but it wont last for ever and there are no replacement parts for it. Some day it will break and then you have to move on. But in my case I do not own one instead I had a classic Chevy ( HD-100) and it is barely hanging on with about 300,000 miles on it plus my main car ( aging Sage Server) needs a major overhaul. I loved them both but they just are not going to last forever so I bought a Ford instead.

[nyplayer]

Originally Posted by Wayneb

So if you bought a classic vette or some other car in the 60's, new and you held onto it till now, would you sell it for what you paid for it? Supply and demand, no one would pay $300 for an HD300 unless they thought it was worth it.

For $300 dollars you can by a mini client. I would not buy any of the Sage extenders at this point I would rather invest my money and build a mini client.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by davefred99

If Google ever brings it back to life I may come back but for now I will just leave my Sage server off and sitting in my closet as a back up just in case.

Sometimes when you turn off a computer, unplug it, and store it for a long time, when to try to turn on the computer, it won't start up anymore. It's kind of like a car that sits in storage for a long time. We did that with many servers at work, and many of them have problems after being stored, unplugged for a long time.

You should take an image of the computer and store the image on several hard drives. The hard drives should be occasionally spun up. Or, maybe you could send the image to cloud storage too. It might take several weeks to send it to Carbonite or a service like that.

Otherwise, if you ever decide you want to use it again, you might find that you can't power up the computer or it won't boot into Windows anymore. When you could recover the image onto possibly the same computer or a different computer. It helps to have an imaging product that can recover an image onto different hardware.

Dave

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by KeithAbbott

Three years? I only count two years...

well, it feels like an eternity....but no one has created a better choice yet

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

well, it feels like an eternity....but no one has created a better choice yet

Has anyone of you had the chance to try THIS new Stephane's DVR solution?

Thanks
Eddy

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by Wayneb

Some people like the idea of an ultra low power, hassle free extender and some people like building a PC for the job.

I'm not going to attempt to convince anyone that a PC client is better than an extender, since it's very much like pro-choice and pro-life arguments: no side will ever convince the other. However, I did want to highlight one thing about extenders versus PC clients, specifically the "hassle free" point. A PC client may take a little more time to get set up (and does much more, which, in my opinion, is a big plus) and an extender may be nearly plug and play, but the extender is hassle free only until it dies. Then, the hassle now becomes "do I potentially pay big bucks for a new one?" or "do I change my entire DVR solution?" The headaches involved in either of those decisions weigh more heavily on my mind than any I had to deal with on the PC client.

The above scenario actually played out for me when DirecTV and Tivo severed their ties years ago and I was determined to stick with something I felt was simple and had a great user experience. I couldn't get a new DirecTivo unit, so when issues arose, I had to choose between paying to have the DirecTivo repaired or changing my solution (HTPC, DTV's DVR, cable co's DVR, Cablecard Tivo). I had the DirecTivo repaired twice, to the tune of ~$600 (total). When it died a 3rd time, I was livid and settled on Sage, swearing never again to rely on proprietary hardware. I've been happy ever since.

Just my little story...

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by routerunner

Has anyone of you had the chance to try THIS new Stephane's DVR solution?

Thanks
Eddy

looks funky...I'll try anything when I have some time. Maybe a thread should be started?

[routerunner]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

looks funky...I'll try anything when I have some time. Maybe a thread should be started?

Yes, you're right may be a new thread would be better, be my guest

One feature I particularly like about the Stephane's DVR is the ability to record all the streams of a particular transponder so that with one tuner you can record all the channels within that frequency, something that normal PVR do...

Eddy

[Skybolt]

Originally Posted by mayamaniac

I can't ever switch to MCE because it doesn't support MKV and various other video codecs/formats I need. ...

I don't want to hyjack this thread, but you should do some more research. I have my 7Mc server playing anything and 360 support is limited DVD rip bit rate.

davefred99: Check out TheGreenButton.tv or AVS. for more info on file support. I also agree that MCE is not the holy grale of DVR's either. I sold my SageTv setup off last week after not using it in almost 6 months. It is very sad what Google has left us with. Those who want full HD are forced to move on after so many years of excellant use from Sage.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

I don't want to hyjack this thread, but you should do some more research. I have my 7Mc server playing anything and 360 support is limited DVD rip bit rate.

Did you ever return your Echo? I did back in February.

Do you have blu-ray rips? If so, what are you doing to play them back? Did you transcode them or do you have a different box to play them back on?

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by Skybolt

davefred99: Check out TheGreenButton.tv or AVS. for more info on file support. I also agree that MCE is not the holly grail of DVR's either. I sold my SageTv setup off last week after not using it in almost 6 months. It is very sad what Google has left us with. Those who want full HD are forced to move on after so many years of excellant use from Sage.

I just want to point out that many of us are still getting full HD in Sage today. Nobody has forced me to move on at all.