Radio Tuner, why not?????

[Homebuilder]

Most of us are using hauppauge tuners with a radio receiver. THe hauppauge software can tune in off-the-air radio signals, why doesnt SAGE?

I ask this not because I am assuming it is too simple an addition and too needed an addition to not already be in sage. Is it a legal question? DRM question?

If it isnt a legal thing, or even if it is... I would really appreciate this functionality. I mean we can play ripped CD's but not tune in a station, just doesnt make much sense. Radio is the last "big" thing missing from sage.

A radio tuner would not have to have location specific tuning. Would not need to have a seek or scan, just let us pre-program stations we want...

Just a thought.

Anyone? anyone?

[DFA]

If it can be done, that would be fine. However, we have a crap load of music off the cable STB (something like 50 channels) all grouped according to taste and mood. Also, get on-screeen artist triva / info along with it (better than LSD-like visualizations IMHO). The music channels are digital as well. I seriously doubt we would fall back to OTA FM.

DFA

[Polypro]

I'm waiting on a Sirius plug in A program called Snaptune can use the Hauppauge FM tuner...a plug in could probably be written for that as well.

P

[Humanzee]

Originally Posted by DFA

If it can be done, that would be fine. However, we have a crap load of music off the cable STB (something like 50 channels) all grouped according to taste and mood. Also, get on-screeen artist triva / info along with it (better than LSD-like visualizations IMHO). The music channels are digital as well. I seriously doubt we would fall back to OTA FM.

DFA

ok, thats fine for you, but the point is a lot of us have the hardware in our sage machines and we can't use it at the moment. Also, I don't know about your cable/sat provider but I havn't heard any local traffic reports or syndicated programs on cable audio.

[Deadbolt]

Originally Posted by DFA

If it can be done, that would be fine. However, we have a crap load of music off the cable STB (something like 50 channels) all grouped according to taste and mood. Also, get on-screeen artist triva / info along with it (better than LSD-like visualizations IMHO). The music channels are digital as well. I seriously doubt we would fall back to OTA FM.

DFA

Maybe 'we' wouldn't, but I and maybe a few others wouldn't mind recording talk radio shows to listen to at home later or to burn for road/air trips.

[briands]

Does anyone know if it a fundamental hardware limitation? Does sage "tie up" the card even when not recording? Has anyone tried to use an external tuner ap while sage is running?

[DFA]

Originally Posted by DFA

If it can be done, that would be fine.
DFA

Note that I did NOT say I was opposed to it. Just pointing out that wide spread need may not exist for at least some of the reasons I've stated. Many others have high quality OTA FM available through their audio gear which would also trump the HTPC solution.

Irregardless, I think it should be on Sages's radar in order to round out the "Media Center" concept along with a few other things.

EDIT: I would imagine that Sage developes their roadmap based on a combination of factors (not necessarily in this order):

1) Expressed and perceived desire of their user base.

2) Features offered by PVR competition.

3) Ease of implementation

Even if easy to implement and offered by a competitor, if only a handful of individuals are after the feature, it may not get any attention. This is a business reality when deicding how to expend resources.

Promoting its cause in this forum is a valuable means to achieve point #1. OTOH, it can also serve to show the lack of interest! That knife cuts both ways. Honestly though, not trying to rain on the "Radio" parade.

DFA

[Motofreak75]

I for one, would love this feature, I just picked a couple Sirius radios and thats all I listen to these days, in my house and on the road, I would love to get sirius working with a FM tunner. on my HTPC.

[DFA]

Motofreak75:

Off-topic, but I note your dislike for the A180. Briefly, what has been your OTA HD experience with the card?

I have one but is currently being checked out by Aver. Have never gotten a peep out of it. Aver is sending replacement although they claimed it worked on the test bench.

DFA

[Humanzee]

FYI, there is a command line radio interface posted on sourceforge but I think its only for one particualre FM USB tuner.

[mayamaniac]

BeyondTV has FM support, but from what I remember, its a very poor half-assed implemenation of radio support. You can only listen, there is no recording feature, which means no timeshifting or saving it to listen to it later.

There's a software called Replay A/V, it can record anything from radio shows to streaming videos. Maybe a plugin for that would be good. The software is not free though, its $50.

[Mike]

Beyond tv and if I'm not mistaken MCE support the radio tuners. If its something that you would really like to see, I'd recommend sending in a feature request.

MBrew

[k9k9]

Originally Posted by Polypro

I'm waiting on a Sirius plug in A program called Snaptune can use the Hauppauge FM tuner...a plug in could probably be written for that as well.

P

I think a Sirius or XM plugin would be much nicer than FM support... there's less commercials.

[Deadbolt]

It would be so sweet to have FM tuner support that is encoded as MP3 instead of big mpeg2 files...and can be placeshifted. Is there guide data out there for FM radio like for TV? It would be great to have the same search, catagorize, favorites, etc. that tv shows have.

[dbfresh23]

Maybe they are working on FM support? If i go into my Music Menu and select the option to view by title I see both of my capture card's tuners in the list - Clearly labeled as an FM tuner. There aren't actually any options to tune stations though, it just wants to be played like a normal music file if I click on it.

[k9k9]

dirmon2 and SA or comskip on FM would probably have to follow..

[briands]

Originally Posted by k9k9

I think a Sirius or XM plugin would be much nicer than FM support... there's less commercials.

But there is that nagging $10/month

[ChePazzo]

I would LOVE this feature!!

I tape Redskins games and burn them to DVDs. I would love to add a secondary audio track with Sonny & Sam to my DVDs!

Ok, so that's kind of a special situation, but if you could record sports from FM and placeshift the audio to any other PC, that would be GREAT!! esp since Redskins don't stream the local radio on nfl.com (I have to listen to the other teams' audio).

[Narflex]

I'm surprised no one's figured this one out yet. I thought it just didn't work anymore, but I just tried it and I got radio playback in SageTV. This is NOT officially supported, but I figured you all wouldn't mind knowing about it because with the Studio you might be able to make it usable.

Here's a very hacky way to get radio playback in SageTV:

1. Be sure you capture card has an FM radio input and you've got an antenna hooked up to it (there's usually a separate input for FM)
2. Go into Media Center->Music->Music by Song Title
3. Select one of the 'FM Radio' sources. There'll be two for each input. One will work and one will not. One way you know you've picked the wrong one is if you go to the OSD menu (Ctrl+V) at that point and you see static.
4. Open the Studio with Ctrl+Shift+F12 and then select Tools->Expression Evaluator. This allowed me to tune to KROQ 106.7 FM:
ChannelSet(106700000)

Have fun!

[Mike]

You are a sly cat!