First Impressions - very happy!

[Steerpike]

First of all, wanted to say how wonderful I think SageTV is! So many programs I evaluate don't deliver, or are incredibly difficult to get working, or whatever. I downloaded SageTV last night and within an hour was recording on one PC, watching the image on my laptop via my wireless (802.11g) network!

Wanted to give a few first impressions. I'm an IT/programmer guy, with years of experience fooling with stuff, so I can usually make most things work; one or two things about the initial install/config of Sage might be worth considering for newbies.

1) Client Connection to Server. At first I could not get the client to connect to the server without disabling the XP SP2 firewall on server completely. Finally figured that I needed to add 'SageTVService.exe' to the windows XP SP2 firewall exceptions list. This is not in the SageTV 4.1 manual. The manual does explain that certain ports need to be enabled, but setting that up in XP SP2 firewall is not as easy (are they tcp or udp, for example). While XP SP2 is not the 'only' firewall, it's probably the one most people are using by virtue of it's being pre-installed and configured. I first went to the firewall config and added SageTV.exe, and SageTVServiceControl.exe (these two are presented by the firewall because they have corresponding UI's, I believe). It wasn't until after some more poking around that I finally 'browsed' for 'SageTVService.exe'. I think this could trip up a number of Newbies.

2) Deletion of material. I'm still trying to figure this out in detail, but I had some bad experiences with recorded material getting deleted. First of all, I went to 'Watch Live TV', and realized it was something I wanted to record; I could not see a 'record now' type of button, but then I realized that SageTV is 'always' recording current live tv, by virtue of how it works. Great, I thought - it's already being recorded. But then, when I started poking around in the Program Guide, I noticed that the 'live TV' capture of the show I was watching (and wanted to keep) had been deleted (replaced by whatever show I was now looking at in the program guide). I ended up going to 'Schedule Recordings', and 'Create Timed Recording' to record the show I was currently wanting to capture - but this seems obtuse. So I'm very comfortable with the way Sage records shows in the future, but not so sure what I'm supposed to do about recording (or more to the point, keeping!) the 'current' live show.

3) Variation on the above - let's say I've scheduled a recording from 2pm-4pm; at 3pm, I start watching the show. In this case, I go to Watch Live TV, and I am watching the program while it's being recorded. What if I'm watching the show and discover the show is over at say, 3:15pm; - I want to stop the recording in progress, but keep what's already recorded; in light of accidental deletions above, I'm gun-shy to click anything!

4) Finding the right Channel Lineup. I live in the SF Bay Area, and use Comcast Cable. In my particular neighborhood, there are at least 5 Comcast services listed for my zip code, and none of them are obvious. I had to go through the rather tedious process of configuring one, then reviewing the channel lineup, only to discover it was not the right one. I ended up short-circuiting the process and using 'zap2itlabs' to find my lineup, then choosing it in Sage. It would be good if there were some way to do a quick preview of the list of channels associated with the choice before having to 'commit' to it and incurring the delay for download (in my case, all the 'low number' channels are the same across the selections, but the 'high numbers' are different - eg, 473 for VH-1 Classic, etc). This is just a one-time inconvenience.

Anyway, it's an awesome, wonderful program, far better than I had hoped; just wanted to share some 'first impressions' (you only get one chance to experience a program for the first time!).

[GTwannabe]

Yes, SageTV is definitely a great PVR application. I've never had the server portion lock up or crash. The client bombs sometimes, but stability is improving with each new release.

I do have a few complaints about Sage:

1. Upgrading versions uninstalls and reinstalls the SageTV service - This is annoying because I need it to run as a Windows user instead of Local System to access my UNC shares. Every time I upgrade I have to reconfigure the service

2. Channel surfing with multiple tuners - It's nearly impossible to determine which tuner you're currently watching. If you channel surf with both tuners idle, Sage will only use 1 tuner. If I'm watching a Live TV intelligent recording, it's logical that I'd want to channel surf on a free tuner during commercials. I'd really like a "switch tuner" feature like on my buddy's DirectTV TiVo. Another way to fix this would be to allow one tuner to be designated for LiveTV only.

3. Media Center - SageTV's media center is just awful at this point. There aren't any control buttons for music playback. As a result, if you use the mouse/keyboard, you can't stop or pause music playback.

4. Media support - SageTV doesn't seem to want to play WMV videos out of the box. As a result, I don't use "imported videos" function to full effect as it can't see half my video collection.

Frey is very good about improving the software though, and they don't make you pay for upgrades. SageTV as an all-in-one media center still has a ways to go, but the PVR part is quite good now.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Steerpike

2) Deletion of material. I'm still trying to figure this out in detail, but I had some bad experiences with recorded material getting deleted.

3) Variation on the above - let's say I've scheduled a recording from 2pm-4pm; at 3pm, I start watching the show.

For number 2 & 3, make sure to check out the Quick Start Guide in the PDF manual, starting on p. 18 for v4.1. It covers the basics for live TV, and creating Manual Recordings and Favorites.

If you are watching live TV & want to keep the recording, use the Record command to turn it into a Manual Recording.

By default when IR is off, live TV recordings are deleted soon after the show is over. See p. 230 (in appendix C) regarding keeping those bits of recordings. But, partial recordings may still not show up in the recordig list unless they are Manual Recordings.

- Andy

[wjohn]

Originally Posted by GTwannabe

3. Media Center - SageTV's media center is just awful at this point. There aren't any control buttons for music playback. As a result, if you use the mouse/keyboard, you can't stop or pause music playback.

I agree, it has a long way to go. However, if you select "Visualizations", you will see the control. If not, just click on the display.

Edit:

The Visualizations choice is not always available, if you don't see it, click on Artists and you will see it.

[Steerpike]

I read through the quick guide, and can see how to convert 'Live TV' into a recording; great. I could not see how to STOP recording a current recording. I just had a live example of this; I set a recording of a show from 4-5pm. At about 4:30pm I started watching the show, and realised I really didn't want it. Try as I might, I could not find a way to stop the recording! For already completed recordings, I can 'Delete this recording', but that option is not available for 'in progress' recording. I can view the 'record options', but the options don't include stopping it.

(I should add, I'm only using the on-screen menus; I have not got my IR working yet, something I'm working on!).

[GTwannabe]

Originally Posted by Steerpike

I read through the quick guide, and can see how to convert 'Live TV' into a recording; great. I could not see how to STOP recording a current recording. I just had a live example of this; I set a recording of a show from 4-5pm. At about 4:30pm I started watching the show, and realised I really didn't want it. Try as I might, I could not find a way to stop the recording! For already completed recordings, I can 'Delete this recording', but that option is not available for 'in progress' recording. I can view the 'record options', but the options don't include stopping it.

(I should add, I'm only using the on-screen menus; I have not got my IR working yet, something I'm working on!).

Pressing "Stop" on the remote should in theory stop the recording. However, it's been my experience that pressing "Stop" on an Intelligent Recording show will not do anything but bring you to the main menu. Even if you select "Don't Like", the program continues to record until completion.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Steerpike

I read through the quick guide, and can see how to convert 'Live TV' into a recording; great. I could not see how to STOP recording a current recording.

See this question from yesterday: How to stop manual recording?

- Andy

[Steerpike]

Hmm - the plot thickens! I now have another recording in progress, and this time, under record options, I see 'Cancel this recording' !

I think the difference is, the current recording (the one I can stop) is a manual recording, while the other one (the one I could not find a 'stop' for) was a scheduled recording.