It's Bye Bye SageTV

[meep]

Well, following a tempestuous 2 year affair with SageTV, I've decided to call it a day. I've enjoyed the experience in a nerdy sort of way but have finally decided that frustration and endless tweaking us not healthy.

The SageTV system is appealing on many levels: it handles multiple media and distributes around the house in a flexible fashion. However, it's core function is TV viewing and it just didn't work smoothly for me. I invested time and money following the guides, purchasing DigiGuide, trawling through the forum posts, trying to make sense of outdated and community level WiKis. In the end, it turned out to be too much effort just to watch TV.

I purchased a SkyHD box a few months ago and it just works out of the box. Of course I'll miss the multi-room capabilities of Sage, the multimedia features, the web connectivity etc. but I won't miss the hassle.

Maybe some day someone will come up with a system that works outside the US or maybe I'll move there. In that case, I'll jump right back in.

On a final note, many thanks to everyone who helped me in any way on my journey, particularly those that inhabit the uk forums - I would have given up a long time ago were it not for the enthusiasm and breadth of knowledge exhibited there.

All the best

Peter

[cychou]

Sorry to see you leave, but I am not sure how far behind you I am.

I am used to tweaking, but the DVB-T support in SageTV is just not solid enough for me. Hopefully Qian will have something solid soon before I follow your steps.

[GJSNeptune]

I'm right behind you if Support can't help me get the wireless to work on my HD200. I just got it last Thursday. Haven't even gotten to use it on my TV. It shipped with a 2008 firmware, and with the firmware updated, it times out before connecting to my network. They need to get their act together, or I'm requesting a full refund and a pre-paid shipping label.

[JonSS]

I tried Sage last year but had so many issues with the EPG and even had tech support with remote access try to sort things out. I agree Sage is amazing especially with the extenders but I was spending way to much time trying to make it work properly. With all the constant upgrades, which is great, I could not imagine how much more time I would have spent adjusting.

I went to Vista Media Center (far from perfect - but for Tv is fine) which I find great because it works without much tinkering. Not as open as Sage for Codec support and extenders etc, but with Windows 7 it should get closer and I can just use my PS3 for any other streaming that I need.

[Brent]

Sounds like most of you having problems are having issues with EPG and such in non-North America areas - correct? I would consider that one of SageTV's weaknesses.

Originally Posted by GJSNeptune

I'm right behind you if Support can't help me get the wireless to work on my HD200. I just got it last Thursday. Haven't even gotten to use it on my TV. It shipped with a 2008 firmware, and with the firmware updated, it times out before connecting to my network. They need to get their act together, or I'm requesting a full refund and a pre-paid shipping label.

GJSNeptune,
What firmware are you using? Sounds like you have something set wrong on your side - point me to your forum post where you describe the problems your having.

[GJSNeptune]

Originally Posted by Brent

Sounds like most of you having problems are having issues with EPG and such in non-North America areas - correct? I would consider that one of SageTV's weaknesses.


GJSNeptune,
What firmware are you using? Sounds like you have something set wrong on your side - point me to your forum post where you describe the problems your having.

I'm using the latest, 20090903 0.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44390

I emailed Support on Friday, and got a response asking for logs. Hopefully they'll email me back today. I've tried everything I can think of on my end. The HD200 is timing out on its connection attempts, and I'm not the only one.

[meep]

Originally Posted by Brent

Sounds like most of you having problems are having issues with EPG and such in non-North America areas - correct? I would consider that one of SageTV's weaknesses.

You got it in one. It's so messy to get channels set up etc. When it works it works great but it's too time consuming and fiddly.

Peter

[pjwerdna]

I agree about the channel setup.

Got to retune all 4 DVB-T tuners on my system on Wednesday!

Not looking forward to that! What was the process again?
* shutdown sagetv
* Wipe all tuneing info from properties
* restartsage & do a channel scan.
* shutdown sagetv
* Wipe all tuneing info from properties
* copy new frq file for all other DVB-T tuners
* restart sagetv
* Dont scan just enable/disable channels and change physical channel number to match the frq file
* Repeat channel mapping for each tuner

Erm! I think!

Fortunately I got XMLTV import setup long ago using some importer thats nolonger available.

In theory you can just let Sagetv pick up the guide data from the DVB-T guide. But Ive found that very unreliable and tends to only pick up "now & next" prgrams which means a lot of recording get missed.

[doc]

Originally Posted by pjwerdna

I agree about the channel setup.

Got to retune all 4 DVB-T tuners on my system on Wednesday!

Not looking forward to that! What was the process again?
* shutdown sagetv
* Wipe all tuneing info from properties
* restartsage & do a channel scan.
* shutdown sagetv
* Wipe all tuneing info from properties
* copy new frq file for all other DVB-T tuners
* restart sagetv
* Dont scan just enable/disable channels and change physical channel number to match the frq file
* Repeat channel mapping for each tuner

Erm! I think!

Fortunately I got XMLTV import setup long ago using some importer thats nolonger available.

In theory you can just let Sagetv pick up the guide data from the DVB-T guide. But Ive found that very unreliable and tends to only pick up "now & next" prgrams which means a lot of recording get missed.

Yup that about sums it up. I use Stephane's importer so as long as I use the same channel numbers the new frq files should be all I need to change.
I never have to go into the channel setup to map channels.

It should take about 15 mins I think from start to finish.

One day I should write up a guide - when I get the time!

[mickp]

Originally Posted by doc

Yup that about sums it up. I use Stephane's importer so as long as I use the same channel numbers the new frq files should be all I need to change.
I never have to go into the channel setup to map channels.

It should take about 15 mins I think from start to finish.

One day I should write up a guide - when I get the time!

I'd also thoroughly recommend Stephane's importer. Recent versions of Sage also make things easier by providing an interface to allow assigning the same guide source to multiple tuners. The workflow I've used when needing to re-scan is:

• Remove existing sources in Sage
  
• Add one of your tuners but select the option for not using a guide source
• Scan for available channels
• Review scanned channels in live tv and note the number for the ones you want
  
• Open Stephane's importer and update the channel numbers to match what you've got tuned
  
• Re-import your xmltv via the importer
  
• Remove and re-add your tv source in Sage. This time add them using the lineup from Stephane's importer
  
• Elect not to scan for channels
  
• Add additional video sources and select that you want to use the same guide source as used by the other tuners
  
• Rinse and repeat for all additional tuners

It's also worth noting that here in Australia the networks have finally agreed to provide a reasonable 7 day guide in the DVB stream. I'm not sure whether the same goes in the UK. If you're happy with the over the air DVB guide you can just skip the xmltv import altogether. Just select that you would not like to use a guide source and you're done.

Mick.