Comparison of WinTV and SageTV?

[espertus]

I recently got a Hauppauge PVR-350 and am playing with SageTV and the included. It's not obvious to me what features SageTV provides that WinTV doesn't. Is there a comparison list/article anywhere?

[jmeeks]

SageTV provides

an EPG.
Multi Tuner Capability.
Ability to run as Server/Client on a Network.
Favorites and Itelligent recording and one touch record scheduling.
Watch recorded content while recording another show. (I'm not sure whether this is exclusive to SageTV though, WinTV may be able to do this.)

Those are just a few things I can think of that SageTV provides that you can not get with the WinTV2000 application that came with your PVR350 card.

[salsbst]

SageTV works well for a dedicated home theater PC. WinTV is kind of a toy app that has no real use, from what I could tell, in a dedicated HTPC. The user interface of WinTV is completely counterproductive when it comes to Tivo-ish/ReplayTV-ish/SageTV-ish PVR features.

Also, WinTV becomes unstable when there is a VNC client connected to the machine on which it is running.

If I were Hauppauge, I would bundle SageTV right quick before I lose another customer to my inability to develop software.

Those are my 3 cents (a penny extra because I so strongly dislike WinTV software).

[Crazedz]

Don't hold back salsbst... Tell us how you really feel

Seriously though have you tried posting that on the wintv forums yet? Just asking considering it i would probably get one if it came bundled with the better software myself. Or if they at least lower the price on it to make it worth replacing the crappy software it comes with.

[rrussell]

SageTV:
Integrated program guide and recording scheduler, not loosely tied together web-based separate applications.
Will follow a show around if it is preempted or otherwise rescheduled.
Can specify to record only first-runs or only reruns or both, and it won't record the same episode 2wice.
Can use hardware decoding to playback if available.
"One-touch-recording" names your recording after the show's real name, not "DVR001_1.mpg" or whatever.
Much nicer interface (Example - what's with that little "popdown" vcr control thingy if you want to pause WinTV2K? This is a PVR - it should be buffering from the get-go! And if you're full screen and you hit pause, it pops back to windowed, opens the little panel, and then back to full screen? C'mon!)
Support to control other IR devices - satellite dish, etc.
Real-time detailed program information.

WinTV2000:
Uh. Sorry. I got nothing.

(Point of interest - I could NEVER get WinTV's recording scheduler to work. Never. No matter what I tried to schedule, it told me it conflicted with something already scheduled. WOW, that pissed me off. Their tech support was laughable, too. ARGH! OK.. deep breath... happy place.. happy place... Better now... whew!)

[salsbst]

Originally posted by Crazedz
Don't hold back salsbst... Tell us how you really feel

Seriously though have you tried posting that on the wintv forums yet? Just asking considering it i would probably get one if it came bundled with the better software myself. Or if they at least lower the price on it to make it worth replacing the crappy software it comes with.

No, I didn't try. I bought my 1st 250 b/c it had great reviews as a companion to SageTV. I only launched WinTV because I was having trouble getting audio working properly with SageTV at first. That's when I found out what a nightmare WinTV was. Anyway, the audio problem was due to a driver bug present on the drivers that come with the card. To my eyes, WinTV was not designed to be a serious PVR application and, to my mind, posting about it on Hauppauge's site would be a waste of the fragile tendons in my wrists.

Regards,
Stuart