Some experiences of SageTV 6.4

[buzzy]

I thought it may be worth posting my experiences of SageTV 6.4.

I'm a SageTV user from several years ago. I initially purchased version 2 and then upgraded to 3, then 4. I stayed on 4 because it did what I needed: behaved as a PVR for analog TV.

Recently I moved countries, and I now have DVB-S reception. I figured I'd rebuild my PVR to use DVB-S and see how Sage version 6 works. I did a clean install of WinXP, the Hauppauge drivers, and other ancilliary software, and installed Sage 6.4.

Trying to configure Sage to support DVB-S was a nightmare. I needed to search through the forums and apply country-specific registry tweaks before Sage would identify the adapter and scan correctly. Then I had to search on the forums all over again to find how to specify the LNB settings and the like - editing config files this time, rather than registry tweaks.

Once the adapter was recognised and configured, I wanted to configure program listings. Unfortunately, Sage doesn't pick up EPG data via the DVB-S cards, so you have to use a third party tool to grab listings from somewhere and put them into XMLTV format. That I can understand, but then I had to find an XMLTV importer, because Sage doesn't have an inbuilt XMLTV importer.

The user manual briefly mentions XMLTV support, but points to a website that hasn't been active for some time.

I spent a good six hours configuring SageTV, and in the end I couldn't get a picture or sound. I gave up and installed another product; one with a configuration UI that allowed me to specify what country it was in, how my LNB should be configured, and automatically import EPG data either via DVB or by pointing at an XML file. Clean and simple, and I was up and running in around 30 minutes.

What I'm getting at is this: SageTV 2 was brilliant. I could forgive the manual configuation of XMLTV import engines and any other other rough edges. Analog TV reception worked, and it worked well. With version 6 I expected things to be more complete and more polished. I expected DVB support to work as well as Analog did in version 2. I expected a GUI driven configuration without having to edit config files and search forums for obscure user-contributed hacks. I expected things like EPG data via DVB. Most of all, I expected a picture and sound.

I fully expect I'll get some flames for this. It's meant as a critical assessment, not a pointless bashing or a troll. I realise Sage has a dedicated user base, and that it works well for a lot of people. In the end, I'm just not willing to fork over money for the upgrade to 6. Maybe a later release will address these problems. I hope so.

Cheers
Buzzy

[cychou]

I started on version 2 for analog capture as well, and I finally upgraded to version 6 for the support of DVB-T (I am in Australia). The upgrade is not exactly a joyful one. I still don't think the digital capture in Sage is as solid as for analog capture.

Judging from the hardware carried by the Sage online store, it definitely support domestic market much better (no DVB capture card at all). For overseas (outside of US) users, you are basically on limitted support.