Converting from MCE - what can I expect?

[MCEConvert]

Hi!
For a variety of reasons I'm looking at converting to SageTV. My current MCE setup is that I have an NVidia Dual TV tuner connected to 2 DirecTV stbs. I am also using the My Movies plug-in which lets me watch all of my ripped DVDs from my NAS. So my question is....will this all work with SageTV? Can I just shutdown MCE on my box and install SageTv and I'm good to go? Will I need a new remote or will the one with the NVidia Dual Tuner card work?

Thanks!

[nebulink]

I am in the process of switching from MCE to SageTV. I really never use the computer connected to a tv. I use extenders. Therefore I can not answer you exact questions but I can tell you this. The interface is quite a bit different and will take some time to get use to. It is not as intuitive as MCE. Sage uses different terminology for various tasks so there is a learning curve.

I believe the MCE blaster is not compaitible with sage as far as I know.

You will end up having to purchase a USB-UIRT and setup multiple zones. In order to do this you will have to hack the .ir file to accomplish this task. Don't expect any documentation on how to do this since multizone support is not handled directly through the Sage UI. (A big mistake in my opinion.)

There will be a learning curve for the family therefore I am doing extensive testing and working on ways to make sage behave somewhat like MCE does.

Everyone here seems to like the add-on theme SageMC since it looks like MCE 2005. I tried it but it locked up Sage and I basically had to reinstall Sage.

Good luck. I truly think sage provides more flexibility but it is not for the average user.

Terry

[MCEConvert]

Thanks Nebulink. To try this out....can I install the trial version on the same MCE box and just shutdown MCE? Let me know how your usability testing goes. The wife has lived through Tivo and MCE and now (possibly) Sage so I have to make sure its worth the learning curve.

[MCEConvert]

BTW...I googled Sage and MCE remote and found this on this forum:

I went into Sage and told it I was using an MCE remote and it worked like it was supposed too. So yes the MCE remote and Blaster will work on XP Home sp2

Here's the full thread: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17261

[nebulink]

Hey, thanks for the link.

Right now I have ran into a huge stumbling block that will stop me from converting to SageTV. If all tuners are in use you will get an error that states other clients are currently using the tuner(something like that) and you never get the option that there is a viewing conflict and let you take over one of the tuners. The only way you can get control of a tuner is by going around and makeing sure the clients that are using the tuners are turned off. There is no way to simply take control of a tuner.

It seems silly to me to have to have a tuner for every extender just so you can have the ability to take control of a tuner. Can you imagine, I have 6 tv's and it would cost me a fortune on a monthly basis to have 6 dish network stb's plus the expense of another usb-uirt.

I am also running into a problem with the ability to FF .dvr-ms files. Every time I try to FF or FF2 I get sent to the beginning of the TV show. Therefore you loose the ability to ff through commercials. There may be a fix for this I just haven't looked yet.

[nebulink]

Originally Posted by MCEConvert

Thanks Nebulink. To try this out....can I install the trial version on the same MCE box and just shutdown MCE? Let me know how your usability testing goes. The wife has lived through Tivo and MCE and now (possibly) Sage so I have to make sure its worth the learning curve.

Yep, you can install SageTV on the same box as MCE.

[tmiranda]

nebulink - It sounds like you have the video options set to "Display Video on Menus Always". This means each client will always grab a tuner and begin recording. Go to Setup->Detailed Setup->Multimedia->Video Menu Options and change "Display Video on Menus" to "If Active" or "Never".

[nebulink]

I set this to never and I still get error -6 or -9 (something like that). Apparently there is no way to take control of a tuner that is already in use. To me this is a bad design. It may work well for people that have cable and have the ability to connect several tuners to their system to eliminate any conflicts. But, this is not practical for people that have satellite.

[mickp]

Originally Posted by nebulink

I set this to never and I still get error -6 or -9 (something like that). Apparently there is no way to take control of a tuner that is already in use. To me this is a bad design. It may work well for people that have cable and have the ability to connect several tuners to their system to eliminate any conflicts. But, this is not practical for people that have satellite.

Hi Nebulink,

I think there might be another problem going on with your system. When watching live tv and attempting to change to a channel that no tuners are currently recording (and there are no spare tuners) you should see a prompt asking whether you would like to cancel a particular recording. Some experiments on my system (I'm running four tuners atm) indicate that this works for both scheduled and live tv recordings.

I use sagemc but am pretty sure that this behavior is also part of the regular stv.

See the attached .jpg for a pic of this dialog. Note that it only asks about one recording at a time. If you select 'Do not watch' on a multi tuner system the dialog will show the next recording that could be cancelled (I hope that made sense).

Mick.

[nebulink]

Here's the error I get when I try to change the channel. Am I doing something wrong?

[mickp]

Originally Posted by nebulink

Here's the error I get when I try to change the channel. Am I doing something wrong?

Hmm. I see what you mean. I can try swapping to the standard stv (at a time when it won't impact waf) and see if I get the same results.

You might want to check out the sagemc stv. Many people (including myself) prefer it to the stock sage interface. Perhaps the channel change behavior that I indicated is one of those things that is unique to sagemc.

Someone who regularly uses the stock stv may jump in here to let us know if there should be an option to interrupt live tv.

Mick.

[tmiranda]

nebulink - OK, I now see what you are experiencing. I never get that because nobody in the house ever looks at "Live TV" anymore. I think the only way around your problem (other then to get more Satellite STBs) is to wait until you have enough recorded shows built up so that you do not use the "Live TV" function. I know, that's ugly.

[autoboy]

Your problem with tuners is a general problem some have with SageTV. Most of us never watch LiveTV anymore, but those that do get annoyed when their kids don't press stop when watching LiveTV. The only fix for this is to get more tuners and to train your family to hit stop. With 6 tvs in the house, you should expect to need more than 2 tuners. In general, you will find that sageTV is much more flexible than MCE, but there are some things MCE does better.

[vividweb]

You could install the WebServer plugin, it allows you to remotely stop an MVP. I don't think it can do clients, but then you could install VNC on your PC clients to remotely connect and stop them.

I think the "live TV" error that you are getting is probably the only way the system could be designed, otherwise you would constantly have people stealing the tuner from one another, what's to stop someone else from grabbing it from you after you have changed the channel?

[autoboy]

With 6 TVs and 2 tuners I can see some fights breaking out if someone steals a tuner from the other. This way it is first come first serve.

[nebulink]

All I can say is try MCE and see how nice and graceful it handles viewing conflicts. Microsoft actually does a very nice job with this feature.

I guess even microsoft can do some things right.

[nebulink]

Originally Posted by vividweb

You could install the WebServer plugin, it allows you to remotely stop an MVP. I don't think it can do clients, but then you could install VNC on your PC clients to remotely connect and stop them.

You can't run the webserver plugin or vnc from a HD-100. And it doesn't make much sense to carry a notebook around throughout the house to disconnect a client.

I think sage was built primarily for people with cable. Then you can connect multiple tuners at a very low cost. could you imagine the expense of having 6 Satellite STB's? that is expensive.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by nebulink

You can't run the webserver plugin or vnc from a HD-100. And it doesn't make much sense to carry a notebook around throughout the house to disconnect a client.

I think sage was built primarily for people with cable. Then you can connect multiple tuners at a very low cost. could you imagine the expense of having 6 Satellite STB's? that is expensive.

I have 5 cable box STB's and that ain't cheap either.

[Jesse]

Hi,

I would have to check my bill, but I do believe D* charges $4.99 per month for each additional box. E* can't be much different.

You have six tv's, but do you have enough people living in your home to use all six at once? If not then how about one tuner for each viewer? If you do have six viewers then how would you get by with only two STB's?

Do you want the option to just steal a tuner from some other person who is already watching live tv? I am guessing that is not the case. I am thinking that when other family members are done watching tv they are leaving sage "awake" and tuned to live tv. If this is the case then I can see where it would be nice to have the option to just grab the tuner. Since sage will not allow that you will need to get them to remember to put sage to sleep when they are done watching. I do not know what you are using as far as remote controls, but perhaps you could have whatever IR signal shuts down your tv's also put sage to sleep.

As for SageMC (which I use on all three of my clients) you need to keep in mind that you will need java 1.6 for it to work (ie NOT the version that the sage installer includes). I believe the latest java is 1.6 update 3. Once you have it installed I would un-install the version installed by sage (1.4?). You also need to be sure and download and install the SageMC Full Install Package (20+ MB in size), not just the latest dev build.

In Detailed Settings/Advanced/SageTV Application Package be sure and select "SageTV3-sagemc.xml" and not "SageMC_169.xml."

Just taking a stab at it and trying to help. I hope you get it all working well.

Jesse

[Jesse]

Hi mceconvert,

I am not an MCE user, but I do believe you will have to disable some services for sage to work on an mce machine. I believe it has to do with mce not allowing other applications to take control of the tuners.

Before you install sage I would uninstall any versions of java you have installed and get the latest Java installed rather than use the version included with the sage tv installer.

HTH

Jesse