Migrating from BTV

[Khristopher]

I've been using BTV for almost 3 years now and have been reasonably happy with it.

The lack of development on Beyond Media, and the asinine money grab attempts from SS has forced me to look elsewhere for HTPC software.

What do I need to know before moving to SageTV? I currently have one BTV Server setup, Three BTV Link licenses, and Two Firefly remotes. Here are my questions.....

Am I able to use my FF remotes with SageTV without too much hassle?

What do I need to do to watch SageTV remotely on another computer over my LAN (and WAN if possible)?

Do I need to buy a separate license for every remote computer I want to watch SageTV on?

Thanks!

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by Khristopher

What do I need to do to watch SageTV remotely on another computer over my LAN (and WAN if possible)?

Do I need to buy a separate license for every remote computer I want to watch SageTV on?

There are two different products (and licensing models) for watching SageTV from another computer.

SageTV Client is designed for local LAN use and offers many configuration options for optimizing video playback. The UI executes locally using the resources of the client PC. The SageTV Client software must be installed on the client PC and is licensed per seat, i.e. you must buy a client license for each PC you install it on.

SageTV Placeshifter is designed for WAN use, although it works over LAN as well. It has few configuration options and uses a generic decoder and renderer, so it may not take full advantage of the client PC's hardware. The UI executes on the server and sends screen images to the client. The Placeshifter software does not need to be installed on the client PC; you can carry a working installation on a portable disk or USB stick and run it from there. Placeshifter is licensed per connection, so with one PS license you can run it from anywhere, so long as you have only one PS client connected at a time. For more than one simultaneous connection, you need more than one PS license.

PS and Client licenses are two different beasts and are not interchangeable.

See this FAQ for more about Client v. Placeshifter.

You can also connect to SageTV without a PC using a Hauppauge MediaMVP and access live TV or recorded content using the same SageTV UI as in SageTV Client or Placeshifter. Like Placeshifter, this requires an Extender/Placeshifter license for each simultaneous connection.

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by Khristopher

I've been using BTV for almost 3 years now and have been reasonably happy with it.

The lack of development on Beyond Media, and the asinine money grab attempts from SS has forced me to look elsewhere for HTPC software.

Former BTV user here also, and I reached the same conclusion as you did more than two years ago. Welcome to SageTV.

Am I able to use my FF remotes with SageTV without too much hassle?

Yes, I use it with Girder ($50, not free) but there are
other free alternatives like HIP.

What do I need to do to watch SageTV remotely on another computer over my LAN (and WAN if possible)?

Three options:
Media Extender (Hauppuage MVP)
SageTV Client
SageTV Placeshifter

There's a fourth unofficial method via nielm's WebServer plugin to directly watch recordings and listen to your music directly from a web browser.

Do I need to buy a separate license for every remote computer I want to watch SageTV on?

Yes for SageTV Client, no for SageTV Placeshifter. As above poster said, Placeshifter licenses reside on the server.

[jphipps]

I am also a former BTV user, and switched because of lack of BM support.

The FF support is very good, if you search google, you can find a Sagetv profile for the firefly software which support most functions and can be customized to switch buttons and re-assign the current buttons.

I curreny use the MVP from Hauppauge, and has a very good picture and all of the functionality of the client and PS except for DVD playback.

I also have 4 PS license because they are based on connection and can connect from any PC, and the client is licensed at the client level and is only good for that PC/MAC.

The only downfall for Sage is that most of the functionality that you would want has to be added through plugins such as Web interface and SageMC to emulate MediaCenter ( I am not a big fan of the default interface...)

Overall I think Sage is light years ahead of BTV and is adding additional functionality every couple of months and seems to be dedicated to the product...

[Fluffdaddy]

Originally Posted by Khristopher

The lack of development on Beyond Media, and the asinine money grab attempts from SS has forced me to look elsewhere for HTPC software.
Thanks!

What part of their fee policy do you find disagreeable?

[waltraud]

Originally Posted by jphipps

I curreny use the MVP from Hauppauge, and has a very good picture and all of the functionality of the client and PS except for DVD playback.

If you rip your DVDs to harddisk the MVP will be able to play them. It will also play AVIs but youll need a fairly powerful PC for this because they have to be transcoded to MPEG2 in realtime.

[bcjenkins]

The SageTV web plugin allows you to play ripped DVDs over the web and you can watch live tv from it if you start a recording first then watch.

Also, Sage is the only product I know of which is triple platform capable.

B

[Khristopher]

Originally Posted by Fluffdaddy

What part of their fee policy do you find disagreeable?

They preach and preach that their "point releases will always be free".....but then they went and added the DVD Burning Plugin (which IMO isn't a plugin at all.....it's part of the BTV Server code which only becomes active when the registration key has the appropriate flag on the Snapstream server), and charge extra for it.

With their latest beta, they're pulling another stunt like this and frankly I've had enough of it. They promised Integration atleast 2 years ago now.....and have yet to fulfill that promise. It irks me that they find it so easy to sweep their promises under the rug and look for other ways to nickel and dime their customers to increase their revenue.

I've had enough and it looks like Sage will end up working well for me.

[Khristopher]

Does Sage work out of the box with an MCE remote? Is it easier to set this up instead of a Firefly remote?

If so, I might as well dump my two FF remotes with all of my BTV licenses and pickup a couple MCE remotes instead.

[waltraud]

Originally Posted by Khristopher

Does Sage work out of the box with an MCE remote? Is it easier to set this up instead of a Firefly remote?

If so, I might as well dump my two FF remotes with all of my BTV licenses and pickup a couple MCE remotes instead.

MCE Remote support ist integrated into SageTV. You just have to set the remote type to "MCE Style Remote"

I have one and it works fine.

PS: It wont work with the MVP.

Edit: Getting the drivers installed might be a different story. (if your not using XP Pro or MCE). Search the forums. I think there was s thread which explained how to install them.

[Khristopher]

Are there any remotes with "just work" with Sage? And if not, what are other people using?

I have the option of using either XP Pro or XP MCE (which is installed on my current HTPC).

I also saw the option to run Sage on a Windows Home Server box and that definitely intrigues me as well!

Can SageTV stream to a PocketPC at all? I've got a TyTN with WM6 and have this ability with BTV.

[bcjenkins]

Windows MCE remote and IR dongle work OOTB.

http://www.amazon.com/Remote-Control...6936080&sr=8-3

You can view recordings on the WM6 with Orb and Nielm's web server.

b

[Khristopher]

Nice! Thank you everyone for your help.

I just bought a copy of SageTV 6 on eBay and look forward to dumping SS and their inferior product as soon as I can get my new server built!

[MarcP]

Khris, I'm in the same boat as you, dude. I am really fed up with everything Snapstream and their lack of care. I once tried SageTV 5 last year and skipped it.

Just downloaded the trial of SageTV 6.1 and I'm 99.56723% sold! I had an MCE remote laying around, plugged it in and it just worked. Now I have a learning curve to apply what I'm used to with BTV on SageTV so I have some questions to the gurus paying attention.

1 - When I set a show as a favorite, SageTV goes to record all first runs and reruns by default. How do I change that to be only first runs by default? It's a pain having to manually change that everytime.

2 - In the same vein as question 1, how can I set an auto-padding of 2 minutes before and after the show by default?

[Khristopher]

Originally Posted by MarcP

Khris, I'm in the same boat as you, dude. I am really fed up with everything Snapstream and their lack of care.

I couldn't agree with you more!! The more I read through the forums here, the more I'm seeing that Sage is LIGHT YEARS ahead of BTV.

Integration is one of my biggest problems with BTV/BM, so I'm looking forward to getting Sage installed and running.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Khristopher

I just bought a copy of SageTV 6 on eBay and look forward to dumping SS and their inferior product as soon as I can get my new server built!

Welcome to the forum and to SageTV, but just so you know: The EULA you will find in your SageTV directory (EULA.txt) specifically states that licenses cannot be resold. Buying a license that is being resold by someone on ebay is not a legal license and does not support SageTV.

- Andy

[waltraud]

Originally Posted by MarcP

2 - In the same vein as question 1, how can I set an auto-padding of 2 minutes before and after the show by default?

To be able to set a default padding you need to install an additional plugin/import (STVi)

You can find it at http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18877

You install it be importing it into the current STV
Detailed Setup -> Advanced -> Import SageTV Application Package.

If you are looking for more customizations there is a full list available at http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18877

[MarcP]

Originally Posted by Khristopher

I couldn't agree with you more!! The more I read through the forums here, the more I'm seeing that Sage is LIGHT YEARS ahead of BTV.

Give the SageTV MediaMVP client a try if you ever had issues with the community-hacked version for BTV. My MediaMVP was once useless, now it's completely back to life.

[Khristopher]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Welcome to the forum and to SageTV, but just so you know: The EULA you will find in your SageTV directory (EULA.txt) specifically states that licenses cannot be resold. Buying a license that is being resold by someone on ebay is not a legal license and does not support SageTV.

- Andy

As it turns out, the key is for an Upgrade only so I've filed a complaint with PayPal also citing the EULA as a reason for refund.

Thanks

[Khristopher]

Originally Posted by MarcP

Give the SageTV MediaMVP client a try if you ever had issues with the community-hacked version for BTV. My MediaMVP was once useless, now it's completely back to life.

Right now I've been using Desktops to provide BTV Link to various TVs. The MediaMVP solution is exactly what I want and will be looking into purchasing a couple!