Getting Tired of Win 7 Media Center

[thusband]

And all the little problems that I'm experiencing. These aren't show stoppers but it's like whacking the mole.

I want to try SageTV but have a few questions.
Will the trial effect the installed Win 7 Media Center?
Is the installation really as involved as this from MissingRemote?
If SageTV records all live TV (not just the scheduled stuff) does that recording get deleted when you stop watching?

I want to have a PVR for OTA, be able to watch DVDs (no Blu-ray I guess) and Netflix streaming. I'll probably run Netflix through Roku on a separate HDMI and control it with my Harmony 880. See any problems with that?

Many thanks

[gambitpvr]

Will the trial effect the installed Win 7 Media Center?

It shouldn't affect it. I ran the trial on my Win7 box before installing on my server and they seemed to coexist fine. Just exit the media center before installing or running SageTV

Is the installation really as involved as this from MissingRemote?

No. Looks like they used the most complicated way possible to do the install and put in a lot of extra stuff. Basically, just install the latest Java client. Install SageTV. The configuration wizard will walk you through setting up your recording folders and tuners. After setup is finished, if you have video files that don't play, then look at installing additional codecs or tweaking the built-in playback options.

If SageTV records all live TV (not just the scheduled stuff) does that recording get deleted when you stop watching?

Yes, live TV is recorded as you watch it. That's what lets you rewind, pause, etc, on live TV. The files are deleted when you stop watching. If you want to save the live show, you can enable 'recording' and that will save it as if you scheduled the recording.

I want to have a PVR for OTA, be able to watch DVDs (no Blu-ray I guess) and Netflix streaming.

That shouldn't be a problem. You can watch DVDs or rip them to your hard drive to watch. OTA, Cable, etc, Sage doesn't care, they both work the same for recording. It's just a matter of setting up the tuner card correctly.

I'll probably run Netflix through Roku on a separate HDMI and control it with my Harmony 880.

Your Harmony should work fine. I use a Harmony One in my living room and a Harmony 700 in my office. I've used them on both the Sage client and the HD300 media extenders.

If you install PlayOn, you could stream Netflix thru SageTV. PlayOn is a separate 3rd party application that has to be purchased separately and can be put on your sage server ( http://www.playon.tv/ ). The premium version does Netflix, Hulu and various other channels but, you either need to buy a monthly subscription or a one-time 'lifetime' subscription. SageTV has a free plugin to integrate it. It basically does a lot of the same streaming functions as a Roku box. However, I believe Roku currently streams Netflix at a higher resolution.

Hope that helps.

[thusband]

Great! Thanks a lot. You answered all my questions. I think I'll go with Roku as I already have their box but disconnected it for WMC.

Sounds like SageTV might be my answer.

Thanks again.