New SageTV Server - what customizations to use?

[ONLYinHD]

New SageTV user, fresh install of XP and SageTV, I'm using SageTV ver 6.3.10 with the standard STV (SageTV3.xml). I have the demo version of PowerDVD Ultra 8 for watching DVDs on the server pc. I am completely thrilled with the abilities of this setup! I've never had such easy access to my music, photos, recorded tv, and MPEG2 video files that I've created or collected over the years! Fantastic system so far. But it is still the stock system...

I've been so impressed with the Sage community and their willingness to help and spend serious time it seems (maybe it's simple stuff to you...) to fix an issue or discover a solution.


Which customizations would you recommend? Note, my server is headless and I access Sage exclusively via MediaMVP boxes (I have 3). So whatever you suggest must (MUST) be compatible with MVP.

Here is a wish list but please feel free to suggest additional stuff if you think it'd be cool or useful.

1. Internet radio (free - I don't want it enough to pay)
2. DVD ripping
3. DVD burning of recorded TV shows (and other media files sometimes)
4. Send a message to another MVP user realtime (like a text-based intercom)
5. Choose which tuner to view when switching to live tv
6. Choose which tuner to use for a particular recording chosen from the guide or search
7. Auto-download of select online videos (Cranky Geeks for example), on a schedule, say every night or each Friday night at 3am
8. Playback controls like slow motion, AB repeat
9. Play a DVD that is in the server drive (watch it on the MVP)
10. Play a DVD ripped to the hard drive

[ONLYinHD]

A friend suggested I just try SageMC and see what that does.

Does anybody recommend doing that?

[QueOnda]

I use Sagemc. I like the GUI. It is totally customizable with other addin's to get different functionality. Head over to the this thread: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7953

to read alot about customizations.

[pjpjpjpj]

I would start by installing neilm's dynamic customizable menus. It adds "upcoming recordings" and a disk space monitor to the default STV, as well as little pictures for various menu items... but if you prefer the clean default STV look, you can turn off the recordings and monitor, and delete all of the little graphic images from the folder that they come in, and then you will be back to the stock STV, but with the ability to move items around from screen to screen, and also to add links to new add-ons without doing any Studio work.

For functionality, I also highly recommend adding the miniguide, multi-function stop, and "change tuner name in parallel view" (listed under v5.0 add-ons). And, of course, the Webserver add-on that lets you access Sage from anywhere.

Then, depending on your wants and needs, there's comskip, IMDB search, MovieTimes, RSS Reader/Web Page Viewer, Weather Report Suite... Several of these are much easier to set up if you have the dynamic customizable menus already installed (you just add a link on whatever screen menu you want the new item).

And if you want to work the "hack" for your extender, there's Pandora Radio...

[evilpenguin]

Comskip is practically a must in my book.

All you need is Comskip, Comskip Monitor, and SageMC or the Comskip STVi and you'll be skipping commercials like a pro

[photon]

Originally Posted by evilpenguin

Comskip is practically a must in my book.

All you need is Comskip, Comskip Monitor, and SageMC or the Comskip STVi and you'll be skipping commercials like a pro

I'm not looking to hijack the thread but I'm also new to SageTV and this thread of customizing it is right where I'm at with Sage also. SageMC looks good so I'm glad to see that listed here. I was just looking into how to skip commercials. I see that there are two choices for doing this. Comskip looks like it is the most mentioned and probably the way for me to go but I wonder if you have you tried Show Analyzer also? Are Comskip and Show Analyzer comparable or are they stronger in different areas? Will Show Analyzer even work with SageMC?

[evilpenguin]

They're both great tools so I just recommend trying them both out and seeing what works best for your shows.