How come no reviews?

[mlbdude]

I am constantly running accross people and review sites talking about SnapStream. Usually, they will mention towards the botom something about MythTV and/or Microsoft MCE but nothing about Sage. Is it because Sage is a newer product?

Do you guys send out "press kits" (free copies with hardware) to popular review sites? Am I just being impatient? I feel like I am in on something great and it bothers me that other people have no clue.

[dkardatzke]

A lot of people are aware of SageTV but we don't always get the coverage we deserve because of the lack of national EPG support. Of course this will be a non-issue November 1st. We are already planning new PR efforts around the national support and the upcoming version 2.0.

I would recommend that if you come across any PVR articles or reviews that you send an e-mail to the writer/publication so they become aware for the future. I'm aware of a number of pending reviews from different sources but it always helps to have customers help us build up the awareness.

So consider this my plead to every satisfied customer to talk us up as much as possible in other forums and to journalists, websites, etc. to get more coverage for SageTV. So far word of mouth as been our only weapon and it's been working great since we launched SageTV in March. As we grow, we will begin to focus more efforts on targeted marketing and PR but in the meantime we need everyone's help to spread the word.

Thanks,
Dan

[sundansx]

I would suggest that you run with the idea of bundling a OEM PVR-250 card with the software to lower the entry cost of setting one of these up. The cost of the whole package was a hurdle when I first looked at a package deal.
Some may say "Hey this is a good deal compared to a TIVO or replay TV". This is only partially true. I have seen an RCA PVR product set top box for under 300 on the outpost.com page. At $174 for a package deal, it is competitive only if you do not consider the cost of the PC. I have a friend that is looking at making a low cost PC + SageTV setup (he has a laptop right now) and it will cost him over $400 for the whole setup. I would be willing to replace my DVCR card (because of intermittant lip-sync problems lately recording one of the woman's shows) with a PVR-250 if the price was right.

[rcleav]

Watching TechTV's Call for Help Today prerecorded on my SageTv based HTPC today and Leo mentioned SageTv and the competitor’s product. Although not a great endorsement of computer based PVR’s in general they do give you a link from there show notes.

[frank2056]

I wasted a lot of time trying to get the Snapstream software to work for me. I only found Sage TV after doing a Google search. Maybe a Google ad would help? (Hey, maybe that's how I found Sage TV).

Frank

[sticky]

Any of the major hardware sites would good.. hardocp.com, toms hardware, anandtech.

HTPCnews.com is a new site that accepts readers submissions although it is off to a slow start.

I will post it in the [H] forums.

[Mike Young]

In response to the comment regarding the cost of SageTV vs TIVO, (or Replay for that matter)...... I did the math too. what you might not be considering is what you GET vs those options. Sure you can GET a box for 300 bucks but it will likey be a 30hr box, plus you will pay access fees, plus if you are in a remote area like me, you will spend $20 a month on toll charges for the EPG download. You will also have NO upgrade capabiltiy, yes I know you can hack the box to put a larger hard drive in, I did that myself, but what do you do when the modem gets fried ? or your kids drop the propreitary remote a couple times and its broke ? - you pay $90 for a new one like I did, or the propreitary IR blaster is broke ? you pay $40. Not to mention that when new technology becomes available the TIVO and REPLAY are paperweights. $400 for what you are getting and the expandability is a bargain! I dont think any of the pre-built solutions will play DVD's or MP3s or allow direct Burning straight from the box.