BeyondTV User Scared To Switch To SageTV

[MrLarkins]

Hi, First post here.

I have been a BeyondTV user for many years and frankly I love it. Its slick, simply and trouble free.

However... I just purchased a Colossus to replace my buggy HD-PVR. But BTV doesn't support consumer products anymore, only their enterprise. So I'm looking for an alternate.

I've looked into Windows Media Center that came with my win7, but the Colossus is still buggy there. Seems SageTV has it all worked out.

But to be honest, I'm scared to switch. I guess I don't like change. I'm here looking for reassurance that SageTV > BeyondTV. I purchased BTV for $40, awhile back, and I see STV is almost double that!

What should I expect? What should I purchase? What should I do?

[SWKerr]

I switched years ago and believe me you will not miss it after you get used to the new interface. You can really install both on you system just setup BeyondTV not to start automatically so there will not be competition over the tuners. That way you can always go back.

SageTV has a free trial so you can check it out. Search the forum for how to import your BTV recordings into Sage. I would also add the Diamond plugin and the Batch Metadata Tools plugin. You will also need to setup the commercial skipping manually as well as it does not come builtin to Sage.

With the Colossus I would not say that SageTV has it all worked out. Mine has run great with the 7.1.5 beta and a nightly reboot but some people are still reporting probems especially when also using the HD-PVR. Be prepared for some instability until Happauge gest the drivers fixed. Also: Try HDMI input. Some people are having success with it depending on there Cable\Sat equipment.

Download the Beta and give it a try.
Lastly: MCE still sucks.

[jbrandon]

I started with SageTV many years ago, used BTV up about two years ago when BTV stopped supporting the end user of the product. I tried to get a license for Beyond Media and could not so I came over to SageTV. Quite frankly I don’t remember why I move away from SageTV other than the interface was a little nicer with BTV. I miss some aspects of BTV but with little or no support SageTV is right up there with the best.

I’d say make the move but be aware there is a little bit of a learning curve…

Jim

[MrLarkins]

yea, I saw that free trial on STV, so I downloaded it. The install was LOOOOONNNNGGGG!

Cool how it incorporates pics, videos, tv, and music...although, I've got an extensive movie library and the home videos have been mixed with the 3 different folders of movies. In BTV I could browse by FOLDER, but STV throws it all together. Maybe I did something wrong in the setup. I guess I have 21 days to figure it out.

[SWKerr]

Folder view is still an option just not the default. The way Sage handles movies is much better. Use the standard UI for a few days then read about the Diamond plugin.

[mayamaniac]

Originally Posted by MrLarkins

Hi, First post here.

I have been a BeyondTV user for many years and frankly I love it. Its slick, simply and trouble free.

That's because BTV is such a limited softwares, and they never expanded the features. SageTV would be trouble free too if it didn't have a gazillion features, and they are constantly adding more features at the core or through third-party developers. Many users here at some point switched from BTV, myself included. Frankly, I never understood the love for BTV, it was a decent product, but I never missed it since I switched to SageTV. And I made the switch before the whole integration drama.

But to be honest, I'm scared to switch. I guess I don't like change.

You know that's a character flaw and not some proud rule to live by right?

I'm here looking for reassurance that SageTV > BeyondTV. I purchased BTV for $40, awhile back, and I see STV is almost double that!

Yeah, but considering how often (very) they update the product and rarely charge for license upgrades, I think you will get your money's worth. This is one company that doesn't seem to want to rip people off. An example of that is when they released the new HD-300 extender, they priced it lower than the previous HD-200 model.

What should I expect? What should I purchase? What should I do?

It doesn't seem you have much of a choice. Just make the switch like the rest of us former BTV users that did it years ago. There are many knowledgeable people here that will help you along the way. You are not alone.

[SWKerr]

GeekTonic had a how to on how to convert.

http://www.geektonic.com/2008/01/how...hows-into.html

[rlvogel322]

Hi Lark,

I didn't switch from BTV (MythTV for me) but you'll find a lot of helpful people here to help.

Sage is very powerful.

Rick (IBrew)

[MrLarkins]

can someone direct me to the thread that would help me install my Colossus in SageTV setup? I'm at the input screen and all choices give an error message. I have Component + Optical...which option do I choose? How do I account for USB-IRT tuning of my DTV STB?

[jptheripper]

make sure you are running beta 7.1.2 or 7.1.5 (preferred) then choose component+spdif

[MrLarkins]

well, I downloaded the 21 free trial from the site and I don't have a clue what version it is. and I can't find anything in the interface that tells me. there's no update button I've found either...

i googled for sagetv beta and found the download page...thanks!

new problem...got a picture, but no sound from the colossus. i am using optical...so do i choose component or component+SPDIF?
i do have sound from home videos that playback through sagetv

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by MrLarkins

well, I downloaded the 21 free trial from the site and I don't have a clue what version it is. and I can't find anything in the interface that tells me. there's no update button I've found either...

The version number is embedded in the filename, e.g. SageTV_V7_0_23Setup.exe. You can also find it on the System Information screen in the Setup section of the Main Menu. There is no built-in update feature for the software itself; it will alert you with a system message when a new release is available, but not for betas.

Originally Posted by MrLarkins

i googled for sagetv beta and found the download page...thanks!

See the SageTV Beta Test Software section of this forum.

Originally Posted by MrLarkins

so do i choose component or component+SPDIF?

Component+SPDIF for component video with optical audio.

[MrLarkins]

yea, thats what i figured...but still no audio i've moved some of my colossus questions to the other area of this forum

here's hoping sagetv is for me

[Audacity]

Lastly: MCE still sucks.

Really? Aside from not having a client application (the only extender currently is a XBOX 360) I think 7MC is pretty nice. I especially liked their zoom-and-pan screensaver that uses the pictures in your collection.

I'd put this another way (as someone who has now used all 3 as their primary PVR system).

MrLarkins, SageTV is a feature rich product, and is optimized for the detail oriented individual. The user interface has come a long way, but it is still well short (in my opinion) of 7MC. There are all sorts of options and tweaks that I see SageTV users do that I haven't seen done in any other PVR community. Things like configuring your Java heap size to be just right, or how you should format your hard drive (for recorded content) with a 64k cluster size.

I can totally see how these things would frustrate some users, and those users would end up being happier with other products. In my case I moved to SageTV because it offered an option that other PVR solutions didn't: official support for a Canadian EPG, and you can use a PC as an extender (this was the big one for me).

Most importantly, you will find a number of knowledgeable and helpful people in the SageTV community.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with SageTV overall after having used it for a few weeks now. Unfortunately I'm still experiencing some issues with poor playback performance on SageTV client machines. Hopefully sooner or later that will get resolved.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by Audacity

I can totally see how these things would frustrate some users, and those users would end up being happier with other products. In my case I moved to SageTV because it offered an option that other PVR solutions didn't: official support for a Canadian EPG, and you can use a PC as an extender (this was the big one for me).

Most importantly, you will find a number of knowledgeable and helpful people in the SageTV community.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with SageTV overall after having used it for a few weeks now. Unfortunately I'm still experiencing some issues with poor playback performance on SageTV client machines. Hopefully sooner or later that will get resolved.

I too have used all three and I have found Sage to be the best solution for me. MS has never really provided good support for Canada in MCE in several ways (ATSC is not supported in Canada - which may not matter in Edmonton but does in T.O., CGMS-A issues) and one of the few advantages that MCE has over Sage is CableCard but that doesn't help Canadians.

Regarding your client confit issues, if these are at TVs then just buy Sage extenders. You will likely get them to work properly but extenders are just so much easier to deal with.

[Audacity]

Originally Posted by wayner

Regarding your client confit issues, if these are at TVs then just buy Sage extenders. You will likely get them to work properly but extenders are just so much easier to deal with.

The problem with Sage extenders is that I cannot get Netflix, Hulu, etc (web video) to play on them. I find that recorded TV is making up a much smaller share of my "TV" viewing time than it did in the past, and streaming video is making up a much larger share. This is the primary reason I migrated away from XBOX 360 extenders, they don't have a web browser.

I'm not sure that extenders are that much easier to deal with though. When my "extenders" were small quiet HTPCs running BTV Link, they were pretty reliable.

Now, going back to using PCs, when I want to watch "TV", more often than not I'm using a browser. It's pretty clear to me that streaming video is the future. That said I'm not quite ready to eliminate broadcast TV altogether (yet) so I purchased SageTV to replace 7MC. I did have to do a OTA hack for 7MC, but it really wasn't that difficult, it took me about 30 minutes. On the other hand, I've invested hours of my time in troubleshooting this stuttering video problem. I never had such a persistent problem with BTV or 7MC.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by Audacity

The problem with Sage extenders is that I cannot get Netflix, Hulu, etc (web video) to play on them. I find that recorded TV is making up a much smaller share of my "TV" viewing time than it did in the past, and streaming video is making up a much larger share. This is the primary reason I migrated away from XBOX 360 extenders, they don't have a web browser.

You can get Hulu, Netflix, etc in Sage but it is not ideal since it uses Playon. Unlike PCs extenders don't have any moving parts and don't need updates, virus scans, video driver tuning, quips driver issues, etc.

But I understand what you are saying and I have an old HTPC in my HT setup. It is running Win7 MCE but I rarely use it unless my Sage system is down for maintenance or I want to watch Netflix or Hulu.

[Audacity]

You can get Hulu, Netflix, etc in Sage but it is not ideal since it uses Playon.

It was actually after setting up PlayOn (to use via a XBOX 360 resulting horrible video quality) that I decided that it was time to get away from extenders and just get a device with a browser.

Another point is that (if you're a Canadian) you need to use a VPN connection if you wish to use Hulu. PCs can make their own VPN connections whereas extender devices generally don't have VPN clients built into them.

[wayner]

I use a service called usvideo.org that works by changing your DNS settings to fool Netflix, Hulu et al into thinking that you are in the US. But the way that PlayOn works is that you just need to do this config for the PlayOn server. If Sage ever had built-in Netflix support then it would become a different story but then I would just have to change the DNS settings on my router.

[Audacity]

wayner,

Have you figured out a solution to the video quality problems with playon?