What does this all mean!?!?

[d2tw4all]

So I'm quite familiar with open source, but just trying to understand what this is going to mean? I was an avid Sage user when it was a commercial product, and have a big fat box filled with frontend gear, my Hauppauge HDPVR, etc. that I mothballed when Sage went to Google. I'm tired of paying a gillion dollars for Verizon DVR's, so if there is hope for Sage and to use my gear again, I'm interested... I just happened to pop in here after being super annoyed at crappy VOD that won't let me fast forward, and I noticed the announcement...what timing!

So, will there be binaries available of the latest version that will work on the legacy frontends etc? Thinking of getting a new server built but don't want to waste the time if there isn't anything new coming.

Thoughts guys? I LOVED SageTV, wife acceptance factor was even high, which is RARE... Would love to put back into use my investments in the proprietary SageTV hardware!

Tom

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by d2tw4all

So I'm quite familiar with open source, but just trying to understand what this is going to mean? I was an avid Sage user when it was a commercial product, and have a big fat box filled with frontend gear, my Hauppauge HDPVR, etc. that I mothballed when Sage went to Google. I'm tired of paying a gillion dollars for Verizon DVR's, so if there is hope for Sage and to use my gear again, I'm interested... I just happened to pop in here after being super annoyed at crappy VOD that won't let me fast forward, and I noticed the announcement...what timing!

So, will there be binaries available of the latest version that will work on the legacy frontends etc? Thinking of getting a new server built but don't want to waste the time if there isn't anything new coming.

Thoughts guys? I LOVED SageTV, wife acceptance factor was even high, which is RARE... Would love to put back into use my investments in the proprietary SageTV hardware!

Tom

You know your sage setup could have still been in use this entire time. Sage going to google didn't break any functionality for existing systems.

[d2tw4all]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

You know your sage setup could have still been in use this entire time. Sage going to google didn't break any functionality for existing systems.

I didn't want to take the chance that it would up and stop working, not get EPG updates, etc... I hear you though. Doesn't answer the question though ;-). Has anyone compiled the latest version that is available to download/install? I assume no licenses are required any longer?

Tom

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by d2tw4all

I didn't want to take the chance that it would up and stop working, not get EPG updates, etc... I hear you though. Doesn't answer the question though ;-). Has anyone compiled the latest version that is available to download/install? I assume no licenses are required any longer?

Tom

On linux, yes. Windows, not entirely. You can install the latest windows verison, and drop in the newer sage.jar file compiled from the source, and it will work as sagetv v9. That said, there's not really a reason to do so at this point, just use the v7.1.9.256 (latest release), as there's no real new features in v9 at this point. I'm sure there will be at some point, and by that time, hopefully we've got some decent windows installers. but until then, throw in sage v7, and enjoy all the goodness you've always had from it.

[nyplayer]

I guess I to was also hoping that when it went Open Sourced that Binaries would have been provided... So I could setup another test environment without needing Keys and try getting EPG data from different sources.... see if the epg sources were a viable solution.

[ckewinjones]

SageTV has been open sourced, but it will take a bit of time before the code base can be turned into a product suitable for users to download and install. In particular we do not have Windows binaries and installer.

But it is early days yet -- it's only been ten days since the open source code was made available. My advice would be to monitor the forum and look for the announcement that the Windows installer is available.

In the meantime, if you have an existing SageTV license you can still download and install SageTV v7. A lot of us have successfully used Sage continuously since the Google acquisition was announced, and it has been remarkably stable. In particular, the EPG data have been continuously available and Jeff has promised ample notice would be given before Google would "pull the plug" on the EPG data. And if and when they do, there are other sources of program data that Sage can use.

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by d2tw4all

I didn't want to take the chance that it would up and stop working, not get EPG updates, etc... I hear you though. Doesn't answer the question though ;-). Has anyone compiled the latest version that is available to download/install? I assume no licenses are required any longer?

Tom

The Open Source Version (Sage 9) does not require licenses to install or run. However, a valid license key is still required if you want to access the "free" EPG data provided by Sage/Zap2It.

The SageTV software itself will no longer check for a valid license key, but the EPG server checks now (this means you can't access EPG data during the trial period after a fresh install of Sage 6 or 7 anymore). The EPG server doesn't care if the license type is the same as the Sage version you are using (so in theory you could use a Sage Version 6 license intended for Windows with a Sage Version 9 server running on Linux), so this opens up some new possibilities for people going forward.

There are of course ways to get EPG data from other EPG sources if you don't have a valid Sage license, such as the Schedules Direct plugin (currently works with Sage v7, but I don't think it has been updated for v9 yet).

I would expect over the next few months there will be a lot of progress on v9. I know that getting binaries and installers working is a top priority, as is ensuring a way for new users to get access to some sort of EPG data. If you read through the forums, there has been a tremendous amount of activity in the last week or two. Some of the other areas getting a lot attention right now include support for 64-bit Java, support for alternate platforms (such as Raspberry Pi), updating the build environments to use more modern tools, updating the dependencies to use more modern versions of everything,...

[d2tw4all]

So before I had an HDHomeRun for unencrypted recordings, and the Hauppauge HD-PVR with a single box for encrypted stuff. The HDHomeRun died on me, but I'm wondering if there have been any advancements on this? FIOS TV is my provider...

Tom

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by d2tw4all

So before I had an HDHomeRun for unencrypted recordings, and the Hauppauge HD-PVR with a single box for encrypted stuff. The HDHomeRun died on me, but I'm wondering if there have been any advancements on this? FIOS TV is my provider...

Tom

HDHR Prime with a cablecard can get most channels on Fios I believe, then an HD-PVR connected to a HD Cable Box for the protected content. Works out really well unless your provider is one that sets everything as Copy Once or higher.

[Narflex]

Originally Posted by d2tw4all

So before I had an HDHomeRun for unencrypted recordings, and the Hauppauge HD-PVR with a single box for encrypted stuff. The HDHomeRun died on me, but I'm wondering if there have been any advancements on this? FIOS TV is my provider...

Tom

Your HDPVR itself probably didn't die...it's more than likely the power supply. I've gone through probably close to 10 power supplies for my HD PVRs. But I did a fix this past weekend that'll solve it forever....someone suggested just jacking into the 5V power supply via a molex connector in my server, so I used 2 dead HD PVR power supplies for their cables...soldered them up to a molex connector...and voila!

[d2tw4all]

Originally Posted by Narflex

Your HDPVR itself probably didn't die...it's more than likely the power supply. I've gone through probably close to 10 power supplies for my HD PVRs. But I did a fix this past weekend that'll solve it forever....someone suggested just jacking into the 5V power supply via a molex connector in my server, so I used 2 dead HD PVR power supplies for their cables...soldered them up to a molex connector...and voila!

HD PVR is fine, it's the HDHR that is having issues.

I thought CableCard is only good if the device is certified? I used to use the HDHR right on the FIOS coax and got all the OTA available stuff... Does CableCard add more channels?

Tom

[thomaszoo]

Originally Posted by d2tw4all

HD PVR is fine, it's the HDHR that is having issues.

I thought CableCard is only good if the device is certified? I used to use the HDHR right on the FIOS coax and got all the OTA available stuff... Does CableCard add more channels?

Tom

CableCard is great for the channels that are "Copy Freely". [Disclaimer: I may have some of the following terms wrong but the concepts should be right].

The channels are still "encrypted". For the channels that are "Copy Once" or "Copy Never" that is when you have to have device certificaion. I have a CableCard tuner and it works great (up to 4 channels at once). I just can't use it for the premium channels like HBO.

And I would check out the power supply for the HDHR, too. They are also notorius for going bad.

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by thomaszoo

CableCard is great for the channels that are "Copy Freely". [Disclaimer: I may have some of the following terms wrong but the concepts should be right].

The channels are still "encrypted". For the channels that are "Copy Once" or "Copy Never" that is when you have to have device certificaion. I have a CableCard tuner and it works great (up to 4 channels at once). I just can't use it for the premium channels like HBO.

And I would check out the power supply for the HDHR, too. They are also notorius for going bad.

That's right. As long as the CCI flag is set to "copy freely" the HDHR-Prime can tune the channel and save it to your hard drive with no encryption or other DRM and you can play it back in Sage (or pretty much anywhere). It's up to the individual cable provider to set the CCI flag. They can set it differently for every show if they want, but most just set it the same for every show on a given channel.

From what others have posted on these forums, Verizon Fios recently started setting the "Copy Once" flag for the Fox networks (including FX, Fox news, Fox sports, etc.). But supposedly pretty much all the other non-premium channels are copy freely.

I have Comcast (not FIOS), so can't confirm this.

[Narflex]

And I'm on Verizon FIOS myself (in LA) and all of the channels are copy freely/copy once EXCEPT for Cinemax and HBO and a couple other ones they recently changed (FX, NatGeo, Fox Sports....basically all the non OTA Fox channels).

[d2tw4all]

I had no idea you could record so many channels on FIOS using a cablecard/HDHR... Anybody know of an ethernet based HDPVR? The big problem that I have is that my wife wants ondemand, which makes me at least need to have a fios box where my TV is (at this point I only have 1 TV that we watch). Given that, I'll need to have the HDPVR USB, SageTV Backend, etc all by my main TV to be able to use ondemand. Be nice if I could locate something that recorded component like the HDPVR but was ethernet so I could move the Sage backend to a more convenient location... Guess I could try one of those ethernet USB extenders, but was hoping technology had advanced some in the 4 years I've been away from this stuff...

Thoughts?

Tom

[d2tw4all]

The HDHomeRun Prime looks pretty sweet, especially when coupled with a cablecard. Definitely didn't have that before, and from the sounds of it, I could record most stations. This is intriguing...

Tom

[Fuzzy]

The core market for the hdpvr is gamers, so they've only ever made a USB version. That said, I have just started the first steps of using a small embedded device, like a raspberry pi or pogoplug to connect an hdpvr via Ethernet. Not sure yet how well it will work, of when I'd have it ready.

[wayloncovil]

With the Raspberry Pi 2 being so affordable and powerful, I see a time where someone will release a Sage specific distribution ready to go for the Raspberry Pi 2.

What would be really nice is if there was an enclosure that could hold a Raspberry Pi 2, a few Hard Drives and a TV Tuner Card/Device of some kind.

You could buy the kit to put together or already built and ready to go. Just sign up for Schedules Direct and you're ready to go.

[dinki]

Originally Posted by wayloncovil

With the Raspberry Pi 2 being so affordable and powerful, I see a time where someone will release a Sage specific distribution ready to go for the Raspberry Pi 2.

What would be really nice is if there was an enclosure that could hold a Raspberry Pi 2, a few Hard Drives and a TV Tuner Card/Device of some kind.

You could buy the kit to put together or already built and ready to go. Just sign up for Schedules Direct and you're ready to go.

I was thinking of a client only when I started this thread. I'd be surprised if the RPI would have enough memory/horsepower to run a full blown Sage server install, but I would be happy to be proven wrong.

*EDIT* Oops. I thought this was my RPI client post but the comment is still the same.

[Fuzzy]

A pi would likely make a good enough client for most uses.. I don't think I'd ever consider it for a server. For me, one of the major advantages of using a PC DVR in the first place is the ability to do with my media as I please, including streaming it elsewhere. A Pi wouldn't have anywhere close to the power required to do the transcoding necessary to do that.

What SageTV, LLC did do at one point, is work towards developing a 'server on a stick', which was essentially a bootable USB drive with a preloaded linux install w/sagetv that could be used on any general purpose PC hardware.