Beyond Media Discontinued - Snapstream is PVR-Only Now

[Brent]

After leaving their HTPC front-end product on the vine to shrivel up and waste away, Snapstream is finally ceasing sales of Beyond Media. BeyondTV and their Enterprise product will be their focus going forward (already was really).

The only real change from the past two years here is that they will no longer let people make the mistake of spending $50 on a program that is dead.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by Brent

After leaving their HTPC front-end product on the vine to shrivel up and waste away, Snapstream is finally ceasing sales of Beyond Media. BeyondTV and their Enterprise product will be their focus going forward (already was really).

The only real change from the past two years here is that they will no longer let people make the mistake of spending $50 on a program that is dead.

Can we call Beyond TV dead yet? I realize it still works as a DVR but who wants JUST a DVR? Buy a Tivo if that's all you want! While I've never been super impressed with Sage's audio player (at least the stock gui) at least it has one!

[Brent]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

Can we call Beyond TV dead yet? I realize it still works as a DVR but who wants JUST a DVR? Buy a Tivo if that's all you want! While I've never been super impressed with Sage's audio player (at least the stock gui) at least it has one!

It's definitely not dead yet, but its popularity had dropped significantly - mostly because of their failure to include the HTPC features most of this niche market demanded. I'm fairly close to many of the hard-core users there (the ones that remain at least) and a good number of those remaining say they are looking elsewhere or at least considering it. There are others though that are fine with BTV and what it does. Some of those folks are using Meedio along with BeyondTV and are satisified.

I think Snapstream's focus is on their Enterprise product. They'll continue the consumer product (BeyondTV) as long as there are customers to buy it because there are many features that have synergies with the enterprise product and development time and cost is low that way.

Thats only my opinion so take it fwiw.

[Ryokurin]

If only they also kill the firefly as well. That software hasn't been updated in years. I know you can go in and create new profiles in xml, but heck, even streamzap occasionally throw out some updates to their software, while theres has been untouched for years. I don't even know if it works in Vista.

[emveepee]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

I realize it still works as a DVR but who wants JUST a DVR? Buy a Tivo if that's all you want!

Even TiVo is considering other media http://gizmodo.com/5056067/a-sneak-p...user-interface

Martin

[evilpenguin]

Yeah, I wouldn't count BTV out yet. They just released a sweet upgrade for their included webserver that allows you to watch your TV shows via Silverlight. Essentially it turns your HTPC into your own private Hulu, which I think it far better solution for remote watching than placeshifter.

[mistergq]

This is a decision that should have come a long time ago, at least a year ago. I am not sure why they continued to sell it for at least the past year.

As to those who stay, there are some that just want a more than 2 tuner TV viewing program such as a TIVO or DVR from their cable company. They also like they can remove commercials from their programs and archive them. They are also fine with switching between two programs if they do want htpc.

I don't understand those that say that Sage is "buggy". I think there is a learning curve, but its not that steep. And I think the ultimate proof is the WAF from BTV to STV. With BTV, my wife never watched live tv. Now she only puts on the cable STB if something is wrong with the Sage. I am actually debating about returning the STB by our HD tv now that the HD PVR is working so well.

[Brett]

Originally Posted by Brent

It's definitely not dead yet, but its popularity had dropped significantly - mostly because of their failure to include the HTPC features most of this niche market demanded.

I thought its popularity dropped because I stopped making plug-ins and posting there

...oh fun times...

Currently have neither BTV or Sage running, but in the coming months I plan to build a new PC. Weighing my options now...

-Brett

[Brent]

Originally Posted by Brett

I thought its popularity dropped because I stopped making plug-ins and posting there

Well actually.... some only stayed with Beyond Media as long as we did because you gave us hope of a HTPC front-end

Currently have neither BTV or Sage running, but in the coming months I plan to build a new PC. Weighing my options now...

-Brett

Let us know if you need help/advice or whatever Brett. Love to see you join the community!

[jgourd]

I use BeyondMedia every day for the DVD Library plugin. If I could get Sage to do the same thing I'd never go back to BM.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by jgourd

I use BeyondMedia every day for the DVD Library plugin. If I could get Sage to do the same thing I'd never go back to BM.

You can get SageTV to do the same thing. Using the SageMC UI, the "My Videos" Library works much the same as DVD Library. That was the last thing holding me back before I switched to SageTV and I'm very happy with my setup now.

[btrcp2000]

@mistergg-

FWWI My solution to the occasional sage hiccup vs the WAF was to buy a lifetime-activated replaytv from ebay for about $150. That keeps me from having to pay the cableco for an stb plus it's of course a dvr. We have it set to record the vital things that keep my marriage running smoothly (ie, her shows) in case sage or the server crashes, and it skips commercials.

[Brent]

I follow most of the HTPC software programs with a focus on SageTV, BeyondTV, Media Portal, VMC and GBPVR. I occasionally read a post on a forum that sort of gets under my skin. Here's an example I just read on the SS forums inside a post about SS stopping the sales of Beyond Media and going on to say they will not be adding ANY non-TV/PVR functionality to BTV:

I tried Sage a few weeks ago [again], and the stock interface is BUT UGLY. I also ran into a HD-PVR conflict issue that prevents your music being played. Also, I think of myself as tech savy, and I was unable to get the Sage MC to work, try as I might.

BTV is definitely the hands down winner for me.

This was posted by a guy who never ever posted a comment on the SageTV forums and is talking about a HD-PVR conflict issue that I've never heard of. I run SageTV (with SageMC) on my main setup and run BTV on a test PC for beta testing and can say without a doubt that SageTV's HD-PVR implementation is much better at the moment. I'm just flabergasted that he posted that...
EDIT: After thinking about it, I'm thinking his installation of Arcsoft overrode the mp3 codec and that caused his "music conflict" so that is a legit problem. Thing is, there is a very easy fix that he would have been told if he asked.

And then to say he couldn't get SageMC to work??? That one really ticks me off because its pretty simple. I'm not going to respond over there, but it really ticked me off.

I totally understand people not switching HTPC apps because of the differences between said apps and their familiarity with them etc, but dissing on them without any truth or validity makes me mad.

/rant

[mikejaner]

So, did he mean the Sagetv interface is anything but ugly?

[cat6man]

for what it's worth, i've personally never seen the value in beyond media, but i don't mix my TV and music/other systems, plus i have an aversion to using PCs, with all the windows/bugs/virus baggage they carry, in my recreational tv/music life.......your mileage may vary.

i prefer to use network media players for video playback at each tv, and while they have their own set of problems, i am quite happy with a combo of BTV + network media players..........i might be happy with sage + network media players but my BTV experience has been excellent (knock on wood.......)

i do follow some of the sage forums as i have a lot of respect for the technical skills found here...........this is where i first ran into things like firewire recording and the hdhr, which led some of us on the btv user community/forums to create plugins (e.g. BTV-externinator) to provide things like hdhr recording capabilities before it was officially support by BTV.

btv and sage are both neat products, with different business strategies.
both are cool, in my opinion......no need for anyone to bash the other.
remember, the enemy is not sage or btv, it is the cable companies that want
to lock us into renting their generally pathetic excuses (tivo excluded) for consumer products and the M$ who want to put a DRM tax on everything we watch.

[back to your regularly scheduled discussion]

[SWKerr]

I usually refer to it as Butt Ugly but then that is what SageMC is for. You can make it look how ever you want with SageMC but if you can't get it to work then you are indeed screwed.

The UI is whatever your personal taste is. I worked at a furniture store in college and one day they delivered a red velvet wraparound sofa with a matching mirrored coffee table. I laughed my butt off for 20 minutes. I sold two that day. There is no accounting for tastes people are different.

Personally I don't think there is a step by step guide for how to load plugins in Sage that is particularly easy to use. I think the tech savvy could figure it out from what is in the forums but it is by no means user friendly. I suspect this guy is the kind of tech savy guy that keeps my technical writer employed. I can figure it out given step by step instructions.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

Personally I don't think there is a step by step guide for how to load plugins in Sage that is particularly easy to use. I think the tech savvy could figure it out from what is in the forums but it is by no means user friendly...

Okay, I'll address that one. There is a section of the SageTV manual that explains the process, there is a sticky at the top of the forums that addresses that and just in case it was missed, here is how you add UI's (STV's) and Plugins (STVi's)

UI (STV) Installation (an example of this would be SageMC):
Go to Detailed Setup>Advanced>SageTV Application Package STV
Select the STV that you just downloaded
You'll see a pop-up that says "Load New SageTV Application Package STV?"
If you really want to, you select "yes" If you made a mistake select "no"


Plugin (STVi) Installation (examples of this are netflix plugin, PSE Photos etc):
Go to Detailed Setup>Advanced>Import SageTV Application Package STVi
Select the STV that you just downloaded
You'll see a pop-up that says "Import New SageTV Application Package?"
If you really want to, you select "yes" If you made a mistake select "no"

That's it. I'm not sure what is complicated about that unless people are somehow getting confused between STV's and STVi's

[Djc208]

Well, to play devil's advocate for Sage MC there's a Zip file to uninstall into the correct location too.

And last time I did a fresh install and setup there were extra menu items turned on by default that are blank and it took me a little bit to figure out how to correct that.

But nothing that someone who's already made it that far couldn't figure out. The only two things about SageMC that are an issue (IMO) is that there's almost too much there, which can be confusing, and it's not kept up to date as well as the stock STV.

[mickp]

SageMC is about as difficult to install as an alternative skin for btv (unless things have changed since I last used it).

It would be nice if Sage would provide a menu option for importing custom stv's from a zip file though. Maybe there could be an online addin browser.

Mick.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by mickp

SageMC is about as difficult to install as an alternative skin for btv (unless things have changed since I last used it).

It would be nice if Sage would provide a menu option for importing custom stv's from a zip file though. Maybe there could be an online addin browser.

Mick.

That's actually a really good idea. To make the Plugin (STVi) and UI Addon (STV) update as easy as possible, I think something like this in the default "detailed settings" would be nice:

Move STV and STVi install items out of "advanced" and make their own menu item - call it "Add-Ons" or something like that.

Change the menu item titled "SageTV Application Package (.STV or .XML file)" to "Load Replacement UI (STV)"

Change the menu item titled "Manage STVI Plugins" to "Plugin Management (STVi)"

Allow for loading of zipped files so that SageTV simply extracts and loads the zipped contents and puts the contents where they need to go. You could take this further by using some unique file extension for those zipped files and call them .spi .sui or something like that so that they wouldn't be confused with non-compantible files
For example
All STV's zipped as ".sui"
All default STVi's (plugins) zipped as ".spi"
All SageMC STVi's (plugins only for the SageMC UI) zipped as ".smc"

This would ensure someone didn't accidentally try to import the wrong thing into the wrong place. You could even build in a warning message to tell the user what they did wrong if they try to import a default plugin into SageMC etc.