How much work has your PVR been?

[stanger89]

In relation to my other question about if you're happy or not:
http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=21727

How much "work" has your PVR setup required? Was it hard to setup? Do you have to do a lot of maintenance?

[jsonnabend]

There's no "setup was simple, but I'm still tinkering to get acceptable performance/pq". That would describe my ongoing experience.

- Jeff

[millers_35]

Setup was a little tricky with the different decoders and stuff like that. Mainly because I didnt know what alot of the stuff was. But running the default Sage decoders is worked perfectly right out of box. Mine is running really stable I only mess with it cause I like to and to make improvements. Well Dirk, Mike and others make the ui improvements I just enjoy and appreciate.

Miller

[SprDtyF350]

Setup was a little tricky in the old days but now is pretty simple. Used to be an adventure getting all the hardware to play nice. Now my server just runs and runs and runs..

Now if we could get a standard user interface that was intuitive I could watch other people use it without having to explain how to do everything.. SageMC is a great example of easy.

[paulbeers]

I only use Analog Cable, so the setup is easy as pie. Heck I am in the process of "downgrading" my server and I had my new server setup and running within about 15 minutes! If you go with the Sage server/Wired MVP route, the installation and setup is easy as pie with no big problems. Full Clients and stand alone clients are a little more difficult due to needing to play with codecs/network/possibility of unstable hardware/etc.

Here is always my reasoning: Negating cost. For a standalone box, go Tivo. If all you want to do is watch and record from one tv, then you are set. If you want to record in one place and watch from multiple tv's, Sage is the way to go.

[jbarr]

For me, setup was a little tricky, but not due to SageTV. It was only tricky because of all the other software and hardware components required to make everything work. I built an HTPC from scratch, so my work obviously was a bit more requiring setup and tuning of drivers, codecs, IR receivers, etc. That said, the overall setup was fairly easy.

To me, probably the most frustrating part is tuning picture quality. By building from scratch, you really need to understand how all the components interact. It's not simply a matter of adjusting brightness or hue on my TV--it goes way deeper. With 2 sources (analog cable and digital cable STB) callibration needed to be done on each source, and using the histogram method, it was very doable, but it was tedious.

But as far as SageTV itself, the setup was really a breeze. In my opinion, SageTV is not really an easilly installable setup for a novice, but it can be done.

The good thing is that in the near future, I may be asked to buid two more SageTV-based HTPC's for family members. If so, I've learned enough to make those isntalls pretty simple.

Oh, and as far as tweaking, I only tweak because I can...

[jsonnabend]

Originally Posted by SprDtyF350

Now if we could get a standard user interface that was intuitive I could watch other people use it without having to explain how to do everything.. SageMC is a great example of easy.

+1 (twice, even)

One shouldn't have to be a computer geek to operate Sage. The babysitter test is the real test of a UI, IMO.

- Jeff

[Polypro]

I voted "trickier than normal/only mess 'cuz I want to". It was tricky only because:

1. It was my first PC build.

2. Unrelated HTPC stuff had to betweaked (I had/have to run a custom BIOS for the MB to be stable), etc...

I started in June of '05 and had it ironed out by Nov '05...it's been TiVo stable since then. The next one I build will be cake

P

[iwanthtpc]

I say trickier than normal b/c I agree with jbarr that adjusting picture quality was tedious, and I'm still not completely satisfied with my results. And really that's not entirely the fault of Sage, more of the hardware. I also think the UI could use some work, but hey, I'm not going to complain b/c I could always use SageMC.

Overall, my experience with Sage has been really good, it has been rock solid.

-Charlie

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by jds23

As far as the UI is concerned, I think it would be nice if Sage got a skilled graphics designer on board (for a short contractual basis) to design a completely new one.

The problem with a ground-up redesign of the default UI is that it would break all existing STVIs. One of the things that makes Sage great is the large library of third-party add-ons. To avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater, changes in the UI have to be evolutionary, not revolutionary.

[jbarr]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

The problem with a ground-up redesign of the default UI is that it would break all existing STVIs. One of the things that makes Sage great is the large library of third-party add-ons. To avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater, changes in the UI have to be evolutionary, not revolutionary.

Then why not just create new "themes" that would re-color some things and/or replace some graphic elements? Case in point: The different recording "indicator" images (Live TV recording, Manual recording, Favorites.) I really like how SageMC handles this with improved images. Obviously a complete UI re-design would break lots, so why not just improve upon what's there already?

[Menehune]

My older version took more time to setup since I wanted to play around with different setups, but my current setup is much simpler, so it was easier to upgrade.

Other than monthly backups (I haven't gotten around to looking into an automated solution) and removing commercials for shows I want to archive long term, the system has been hands off.

[bcjenkins]

In order to take advantage of all the add ons and everything, you have to do a lot of reading. Because of this, I noted the install as hard but easy to maintain.

B

[Narflex]

I'm still trying to figure out how I should answer this poll. My first PC PVR setup I built 5 1/2 years ago took me an immense amount of work and tremendous amounts of tinkering(development) to get up to snuff. I even had to build my own IR blaster/receiver back then. That one ran 'TV Master', the precursor to SageTV. It recorded in glorious 320x240 resolution using software encoding.

I'll stop my threadjacking now.

[trini0]

I started out with BTV last year, and was satisfied with it.
Then turned to Sage for an all in one media solution earlier this year.
While Sage was relatively simple to set up, I had to tinker with it
trying to make it work under a limited user account (BTV did, but I gave up on Sage).
There were other stuff that I had to tinker to make it do what I wanted, but
overall it works out the box.

[Keenan]

Originally Posted by jsonnabend

There's no "setup was simple, but I'm still tinkering to get acceptable performance/pq". That would describe my ongoing experience.

- Jeff

That describes my experience so far as well, if I can get the 1080i stuttering problem solved, then my Sage setup will easily do the lion's share of DVR/PVR'ing. Right now I still have to rely on my S3 as the primary recorder.