Just switched to Sage on my HTPC server - questions

[APillowOfClouds]

Hi All, I just finally took the plunge and ditched BeyondTV for good in favor of Sage on my life HTPC server. Thanks to all who gave me pre-advice, now that it's live I have some questions below - there's a lot of them I know, TIA for the help.

1. What exactly does "Standby" do, is it putting the PC to standby or just Sage,

2. Is there a way to eliminate the Setup and Standby choices on the client menu so my SO doesn't accidentally mess stuff up?

3. Originally on my server I had used the service control to enable and start the Sage service - but it seemed like I still had to run the actual user interface as well. What's the purpose of the service control program?

4. When I play a show again, how do I quickly reset it to the beginning of the show? Seems like this should be simple but I couldn't figure it out.

5. How do I see what's currently recording?

6. How do I adjust volume steps?

7. When changing channels is there a way to scroll up a few channels to see what's on without actually changing the channel? BTV did this and it was handy

8. On the "Sage Recordings" screen is there any way to eliminate the picture of the show and the listing of episodes and devote the whole screen to the list instead?

9. When I tune channels, if I go too quickly Sage and my box seem to get confused, i.e. if I go from 121 to 122 it might go to 12 and then to 112 then to 2 i.e. it gets out of sync - what's the easiest way to fix that?

10. Is there a way to tell Sage to automatically play a dvd when one is inserted?

Thanks very much! So far I am VERY HAPPY AND IMPRESSED with Sage. Although it will take me a while to get over my fear of pressing "Live TV" - on my BTV server that one often required a reboot afterwards

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by APillowOfClouds

3. Originally on my server I had used the service control to enable and start the Sage service - but it seemed like I still had to run the actual user interface as well. What's the purpose of the service control program?

Why did it seem like you had to run the UI? What wasn't happening if you didn't?

The purpose of service mode is to run the recording engine and media server in a separate process from the UI, so that it's always running even if you exit the UI (or if the UI crashes). The Service Control applet is just a small user-friendly tool for enabling and configuring service mode. (You can also configure the service directly from Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.)

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by APillowOfClouds

4. When I play a show again, how do I quickly reset it to the beginning of the show? Seems like this should be simple but I couldn't figure it out.

Mark a show Watched and it should start over from the beginning next time you play it.

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by APillowOfClouds

5. How do I see what's currently recording?

Click the red REC icon and it will take you to the Recording Schedule screen. This includes currently recording shows (at the top of the list) as well as upcoming recordings.

[APillowOfClouds]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

Mark a show Watched and it should start over from the beginning next time you play it.

I knew it was simple thanks

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by APillowOfClouds

Hi All, I just finally took the plunge and ditched BeyondTV for good in favor of Sage on my life HTPC server. Thanks to all who gave me pre-advice, now that it's live I have some questions below - there's a lot of them I know, TIA for the help.

1. What exactly does "Standby" do, is it putting the PC to standby or just Sage,

Just Sage.

2. Is there a way to eliminate the Setup and Standby choices on the client menu so my SO doesn't accidentally mess stuff up?

There are a couple options, depending on what you want. You could use nielm's dynamic menu plugin to remove them. Or you could edit the STV in Studio, and just delete the two buttons.

3. Originally on my server I had used the service control to enable and start the Sage service - but it seemed like I still had to run the actual user interface as well. What's the purpose of the service control program?

The Sage "backend" (recording, scheduling, database engine) can be run either as part of the UI, or as a service. The service control app enables that service option. Basically it's just a GUI so you don't have to go into services.msc to do it.

7. When changing channels is there a way to scroll up a few channels to see what's on without actually changing the channel? BTV did this and it was handy

Seems like someone created a miniguide plugin.

9. When I tune channels, if I go too quickly Sage and my box seem to get confused, i.e. if I go from 121 to 122 it might go to 12 and then to 112 then to 2 i.e. it gets out of sync - what's the easiest way to fix that?

I'd submit a bug report, seems like Sage shouldn't be interrupting one channel change with another.

[APillowOfClouds]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

Why did it seem like you had to run the UI? What wasn't happening if you didn't?

Setup was a bit hectic but looking back on it, I guess the thing was that the web interface add-on, which I had to use to import my old BTV shows, did not want to start until I ran the Sage UI. Maybe I judged too quickly, I didn't try to start a client machine, I just figured since the web interface came up as soon as I ran the Sage UI that Sage must not have been running.

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by APillowOfClouds

Setup was a bit hectic but looking back on it, I guess the thing was that the web interface add-on, which I had to use to import my old BTV shows, did not want to start until I ran the Sage UI. Maybe I judged too quickly, I didn't try to start a client machine, I just figured since the web interface came up as soon as I ran the Sage UI that Sage must not have been running.

If you added the web server to SageClient.properties, then yeah, it won't run until you start the UI. If you want it to run in the service process, add it to Sage.properties instead.

[pjpjpjpj]

Heh, I read the original post and thought "plug-ins, plug-ins, plug-ins". They solve almost all of those questions....

[APillowOfClouds]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

If you added the web server to SageClient.properties, then yeah, it won't run until you start the UI. If you want it to run in the service process, add it to Sage.properties instead.

Ahhh. Got it, thanks. I'll switch that when I get home.

[APillowOfClouds]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

Heh, I read the original post and thought "plug-ins, plug-ins, plug-ins". They solve almost all of those questions....

I was actually looking at SageMC earlier and it seems to address some of my concerns. Not sure how the WAF is going to be though when I ask her to learn another new interface