BeyondTV User Scared To Switch To SageTV

[wayner]

Other than the fact that PlayOn doesn't give you HD I don't really have quality problems, shows typically look OK through PlayOn via Sage.

[CollinR]

I switched however long ago this profile is ~04 maybe, was a BTV user for quite some time at that point.

NO REGRETS!

I can't believe I was with BTV for as long as I was.

[MrLarkins]

WELL, I'm going on 2 days so far and the hardest part is learning the controls. I find myself pushing buttons as if it were BTV and get frustrated when I realize its Sage. For example. Recorded shows is easy is BTV, but in sage, its in two different places, i.e. videos and tv...

fast forward is different, although i could probably configure that differently. in btv, i push FF for x1, again for x2, again for x3 and again for play. in sage I push FF i get a 10 sec skip and thats it. what about smart skipping commercials?

now, i really like how it incorporates all videos. it searched all my pic folders and found videos of my family that have been hidden...we spent 2 hours today just watching home videos of our kids from way back...very cool.

oh, and someone mentioned cool plugins? how bout changing the images when hovering over the main menu items?

[SWKerr]

Unlike BeyondTV Sage does not come with a commercial detector built in. In my case I had already changed to a external commercial detector in in my BTV days because the built in one was not very good.

You will need two things to make commercial detection work.
1. A program to run the commercial detection software.
2. The Comskip Playback Plugin to recognize the edl files generated that mark the commercials.


The Plugin called "Comskip Playback" will look for the edl files created by the commercial detection software. Once installed it has a lot of different options for how to skip commercials. It can skip automatically and you can select to stop any number of seconds before or after a commercial. If you do not have it set to auto skip the right navigation button lets you skip to the end of the marked commercial.

Related to this you can change the default behavior of the FF and Skip buttons on the remote. I have mine set to 1 minute skip forward and then 15 seconds skip back which mimics my old Dish DVRs. The options to set it how you want is in the detailed setup.

There are a number of options for how to setup a commercial detector but I recommend the Plugin called Commercial Detector when just starting out. You may also want to get the donators version of comskip as it does a better job on the h.264 files used by the Colossus.
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...Commercial+Det

Hope this helps.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

Unlike BeyondTV Sage does not come with a commercial detector built in. In my case I had already changed to a external commercial detector in in my BTV days because the built in one was not very good.

You will need two things to make commercial detection work.
1. A program to run the commercial detection software.
2. The Comskip Playback Plugin to recognize the edl files generated that mark the commercials.


The Plugin called "Comskip Playback" will look for the edl files created by the commercial detection software. Once installed it has a lot of different options for how to skip commercials. It can skip automatically and you can select to stop any number of seconds before or after a commercial. If you do not have it set to auto skip the right navigation button lets you skip to the end of the marked commercial.

Related to this you can change the default behavior of the FF and Skip buttons on the remote. I have mine set to 1 minute skip forward and then 15 seconds skip back which mimics my old Dish DVRs. The options to set it how you want is in the detailed setup.

There are a number of options for how to setup a commercial detector but I recommend the Plugin called Commercial Detector when just starting out. You may also want to get the donators version of comskip as it does a better job on the h.264 files used by the Colossus.
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...Commercial+Det

Hope this helps.

If you install the CommercialDetector UI from the "UI Mod" secion of the Plugin Manager, it will automatically install everything you need.

[MrLarkins]

ok thanks. I have installed it, but haven't been able to try it out...we record about 1 show a day.

my next two questions are:
1] is there a web interface that I can access and do searches and schedule recordings?
2] the online section is kinda sad. what about specifics like survivor or csi shows? those are online, but not listed in the online section. is there a way to add specific online things?

[wayner]

1. Yes - you will need to install the SageTV Web interface via the Plugin manager. There is also a mobile web interface that is optimized for phones that can also stream video to iPhones and iPads.

2. Look into the PlayOn plugin - another addin.

[MrLarkins]

ok, how do i access the web interface from a browser? and the PlayOn addon doesn't seem to be what I'm looking for as far as accessing network shows online like CSI and Survivor etc.

[wayner]

Once you have installed the web interface, which will install the Jetty web server, go to http://localhost:8080/apps - assuming that you are accessing the web page from your server and you used port 8080 which is the default - I think. You may have to enter a user and password which are sage and frey. You might want to check out some of this thread as well: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48818

[trallyus]

Actually if the only thing you install is the sage webtv interface then the actual link you would use to access it is http://localhost:8080/sage/Home as I think the apps program is not available unless you install BMT but I may be wrong. Looks like http://localhost:8080/apps/ will work as I was messed up since I changed my ports ,etc

[MrLarkins]

yea, i had to work at it...localhost didnt work...since i was on another pc in the house.
http://192.168.1.198:8080/sage/Home

i had to lookup the htpc ip...but i'm kinda disappointed. there not much there.
there is no option to change setup, like channel lineup or something else.

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by MrLarkins

but i'm kinda disappointed. there not much there. there is no option to change setup, like channel lineup or something else.

That's because BTV comes with its own web server, which offers some settings not available through the app itself, to which ccarlin (and others) added more stuff that was wanted...

While for SageTV it was all added by third party, so they concentrated on the most wanted stuff, instead of reproducing all the functionality of the app itself...

[Opus4]

For remote access: the SageTV Placeshifter application provides full control of SageTV's options using the same UI as a local client.

- Andy

[MrLarkins]

ok, its been a week now since I downloaded Sage and gave it a try. And it works well and I like it for the most part. However, there is one thing that it does that is really grinding on me.

When I push ESC button, instead of escaping the current menu/screen, I get a new menu on the side. Its very irritating.

On the PLUS side though, it is easier to get to a movie I want to watch using the SEARCH feature. BTV didn't have one that did this. It sure beats scrolling through 500HD movies to find one.

Now if only I could remap the ESC button to actually escape.

[SWKerr]

Go into setup\Detailed Setup\commands

From there you can pretty much link any command to any keystroke or remote key. You can set it up however you want.

I think it is simple enough to figure out but there is more info in the manual and you can repost if you need more help

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by MrLarkins

When I push ESC button, instead of escaping the current menu/screen, I get a new menu on the side. Its very irritating.[/i]

When I switched from BTV to Sage this was my number one annoyance as well. It took me about a month to stop pressing the ESC key.

[mistergq]

The only thing that I miss from BTV is the web interface for configuring. But since 7.x, I find the new setup pretty easy to change everything that I need. However, that does not mean I want to go backwards.

Once you switch to an extender, I think you will see the real power of STV. Also, the remote can be configured to be used like BTV.

[MrLarkins]

Originally Posted by SWKerr

Go into setup\Detailed Setup\commands

From there you can pretty much link any command to any keystroke or remote key. You can set it up however you want.

My ESC key on my remote says its mapped SHOW...How do I go about making it just ESC, not BACK, but like UP ONE LEVEL? Will LEFT be what I should use?

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by MrLarkins

My ESC key on my remote says its mapped SHOW...How do I go about making it just ESC, not BACK, but like UP ONE LEVEL? Will LEFT be what I should use?

In most cases Left will be what you want.

[SWKerr]

You need to go to the Detailed Setup\Command\Link Infrared/Keystroke to SageTV Command

Select the activity you want to map and then press the button on the remote. If that button or keystroke is already in use you will be asked to confirm the remap. You can always change it again.

I would think using the Left command for that key will give you the desired behavior.

I find I use Home a lot which takes me all the way out to the main menu. For me it is the Menu key an my Harmony Remotes.

I would also get the EPG back on Guide plugin. That will also take you back to where you started when you hit Guide again. It can be awkward to get out of otherwise.