SageTV acquired by Google

[gabrielcab]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

I would love to see the server as a free backend, and placeshifter becoming to "tv streaming" android app we have all wanted.

And to those b&**()N about no info, my guess is Jeff is crying reading these forums wishing he could say something, but is prevented to by an NDA of sorts.

You know he has always supported this community, and this is his baby. Lay off. Give it time (weeks, or months, not days you impatient, insensitive.. etc.)

So much esteem for a person who just received god knows how much money and keep it as national security secret before it throw a nuke over its "old" customers. And as consolidation price they will leave us 1 more year to cry and cry until this forums users vanish, extenders explode and this project became forgotten in time. Wake up, this is over, no more one all-in-one solution for media center solution, lobbyist have won "again" and "we the people" just have to deal with it. The cloud era have begun with limit bandwidth.

I think i've saw too many movies

BUT ITS TRUE!

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by wayner

Or, given eBay prices at this moment they could have sold everything for a 50% premium.

lol - they would have had to announce the sale to Google for those prices

[wayner]

And the premium has now gone up even more. I don't think anyone who just bought an extender can claim to be ripped off as they can likely sell it for a nice premium - how about $350 for a used HD-300? Go to ebay and search "sagetv".

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by perholm

Hi,

I've been reading all this with great nervousness. If we keep EPG, I can keep my setup running for ages.

Anyway, it seems that nobody is really considering an obvious reason Google might have to buy SageTV -- an operating system for televisions. Google doesn't want to make hardware. Like Android, Google wants to provide an operating system for free that all handset manufacturers can use for free, and which comes with an eco-system, a plug-in structure. SageTV is already based on Java, and therefore ultra-portable and ultra-cross-platform. It can run on a lot of different hardware.

Is it so far fetched that Google was SageTV to become an operating system for TVs and set-top boxes, one that comes pre-loaded with every feature you can imagine and that developers can plug in to and write "apps" for, which will run on every TV? And if every TV in the house is part of the same eco-system, then media sharing becomes technically trivial.

I think that's what Google wants SageTV for. An OS for TVs. Like Android for cell phones.

Of course that means that us regular users are screwed. But we probably couldn't expect the world to stay static forever. As long as we can keep some EPG source, I think that SageTV have held their end of the bargain. Without an EPG possibility, they're instead pulled the kill-switch on existing systems. I don't think they want to do that. Otherwise they wouldn't be opening the support form and posting latest versions. Obviously they have deep care for their existing users. But the world cannot stay static.

SageTV could end up being the big fish, like Android, although obviously not in its current form.

Best,

Per

the good person in me wants to hope you are correct

[bastafidli]

Originally Posted by mmmmdonut

In fact very few players can truly do 1:1 rips (Dune HD comes to mind as player that can play 1:1 rips). Key is to look at for the Bluray licensing logo.

The Dune HD looks super interesting.

Some Dune player models (models Dune HD Ultra, Dune HD Mini, Dune BD Prime, Dune HD Center, Dune HD Base, Dune HD Base 2.0) have a support for browsing Internet web sites directly on the player-attached TV using the built-in web browser. The web browser is not part of the main user interface of the player; it is a dedicated application, that should be launched separately (besides, the installation on an extra software package may be needed before the web browser may be used).

...

The web browser is based on Mozilla/Gecko web browser engine and provides a similar level of compatibility with web sites. It is quite a general purpose web browser, allowing to browse general Internet web sites (including web sites using rather advanced HTML and JavaScript features), rather than just very simple web sites or web sites specially developed for the usage with the player.


+ this http://dune-hd.com/firmware/misc/dune_folder_howto.txt
and this http://dune-hd.com/firmware/
-> Seems like possibility to use as a extender with Sage Web UI

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by davephan

Make sure you image your system periodically, at least once a month. Keep several older images. You might also use a second imaging product for redundancy. Acronis has a 'plus pack' that allows you to recover the image on different hardware. You need to be able to recover to different hardware if your system board fails. Store the images on three separate drives, one stored off site if possible.

Also store different SageTV installation versions and your license keys on those three drives. You might also store the license keys on web based e-mail that won't go away. On-line backup might be another option.

Dave

maybe I don't understand the license key concept. Aren't they just long numbers that get entered by hand? Mine are written down on the original invoice from Sage - and they haven't changed in 6 years - same two keys have worked on all my installs.
Are we talking about the same thing? Is there an on-line element to activation that is no gone that was invisible? What if I re-build my system from scratch again - will it install and work as it did before?

[roymcd]

I don't know whether it was on the SageTV side or the Google side, I suspect the latter, but whoever it was couldn't be realistically described as a manager unless their goal was to alienate existing SageTV customers. The agenda certainly feels like its to acquire SageTV technology and screw all those people (hopefully not the ones at Sage who did all the good work) who invested in the product and helped make it the success that it was. Am I the only one that doesn't just feel disappointed, but insulted, by the approach that has been taken in summarilly switching off the entire internet-facing business front of SageTV? I'll bet there are people out there that have just purchased product from SageTV and feel like they've been fooled. Of course, the deal wouldn't have been struck overnight, so someone would have known what was looming but somehow its still OK to continue selling product knowing that the company is about to close its shop front. Business ethics - I'd love to see some.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

Are we talking about the same thing? Is there an on-line element to activation that is no gone that was invisible? What if I re-build my system from scratch again - will it install and work as it did before?

Yeah, you're right. I don't think there's anything particularly unique to worry about here, except that it would be nice to quickly get your system back in nearly exactly the same state it was in before, since you probably won't get much help from the sage guys if you run into problems.

Resorting to dissimilar hardware probably doesn't have any particular advantages compared to just rebuilding from scratch. In fact, I suspect you'd be more likely to run into problems restoring to different hardware than just rebuilding. But davephan is definitely an outspoken supporter of imaging software. It's good advice in general- I do nightly backups- but I don't think the recent news makes it any more or less important.

[Techno]

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank the members of this community Who helped me setup and keep my system running for 3 years.Whatever odd problem I had,There was always an answer in these forums. But the cloud is the future and we cant change that. hopefully we can keep sage running until there is a compelling replacement in the cloud.I Love my SageTV and I can see Im not alone in that.( I just wish they had fixed the colossus 5.1 audio before they closed).
To everyone Thanks Again.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by brainbone

No, he was/is an android developer -- no more of a "hacker" than any of the current SageTV plugin developers. What he did that was wrong was distribute some of Google's non-open source binaries (these binaries can be found on just about every Andoid phone), and Google didn't look kindly on it. This is perfectly analogous to what some are proposing we do with SageTV binaries/materials that are now owned by Google.

Yet this letter was a couple years ago, and those apps are still distributed with cyanogenmod.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by gabrielcab

So much esteem for a person who just received god knows how much money and keep it as national security secret before it throw a nuke over its "old" customers. And as consolidation price they will leave us 1 more year to cry and cry until this forums users vanish, extenders explode and this project became forgotten in time. Wake up, this is over, no more one all-in-one solution for media center solution, lobbyist have won "again" and "we the people" just have to deal with it. The cloud era have begun with limit bandwidth.

I think i've saw too many movies

BUT ITS TRUE!

Get a grip. The SageTV software is exactly the same today as it was a week ago. The extenders have not changed. Nothing has changed. Even a year from now, the WORST case would be the forums are gone, and the community moves somewhere else, and the US/Canada EPG data is gone, and you ahve to instead use MC2XML and the XMLTV Importer to rather easily grab the exact same zap2it guide data you're getting now. a 15-20 minute process of resetting up the guide data, and you're set again for another 6 years if you want. the ONLY thing that has significantly changed at this point, is future expandability (no more client licenses or extenders). If googlesage ends up never releasing them for sale again, than at least the former will probably be filled in by gray market alternatives.

[brainbone]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Yet this letter was a couple years ago, and those apps are still distributed with cyanogenmod.

You now need to download Google's apps from elsewhere and install them separately, so, they're not distributed with Cyanogenmod.

You'll notice none of the links supplied for the apps are on cyanogenmod servers.

Google did catch a fair amount of flak for that letter though.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by brainbone

You now need to download Google's apps from elsewhere and install them separately, so, they're not distributed with Cyanogenmod.

You'll notice none of the links supplied for the apps are on cyanogenmod servers.

Google did catch a fair amount of flak for that letter though.

Yeah, but is that really any different? Most use something like rom manager, which DOES make it automatic with cyanogenmod installs (as well as many other roms). The point was that while google has the power to write a letter, they (even google) really don't have much power stopping something (anything) from spreading on the internet.

[brainbone]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

The point was that while google has the power to write a letter, they (even google) really don't have much power stopping something (anything) from spreading on the internet.

True enough. Though if you're in the U.S., and put such files on a service you're responsible for, you should expect a letter.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by Techno

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank the members of this community Who helped me setup and keep my system running for 3 years.Whatever odd problem I had,There was always an answer in these forums. But the cloud is the future and we cant change that. hopefully we can keep sage running until there is a compelling replacement in the cloud.I Love my SageTV and I can see Im not alone in that.( I just wish they had fixed the colossus 5.1 audio before they closed).
To everyone Thanks Again.

x1, except for the cloud bit. Just because the cable companies, etc want us to use the cloud (ever used your ipad for something when there's no wifi - useless), doesn't mean we have to go quietly. It may be fine for emails and the odd photo, but watching high quality audio-video hasn't been my experience to this date. And the idea of the cloud watching you watch just creeps me out.

[sleonard]

Narflex just posted a little bit of info here.

S

[clwnsho]

Originally Posted by ohpleaseno

As the folks on TWiT are apt to say, prepare for some awesome python scripts to be your support.

have been a user / supporter for what seems like a lifetime. booo to google. nothing is ever as it appears to be with that bunch. hear hear to quote TWIT

[MovieFreak]

Originally Posted by jdamore

Do you feel better for getting that out? eeesh.. its only been a few days. Things like this happen so just be faithful in the people that have taken you this far and hope they continue to bring you further.

I think we have taken them to where they are by purchasing products in good faith, not the other way around. Last time I checked, we paid their salaries, so this is an insult to the customers and the community, to simply disable the main page and then disappear without warning and without some sort of meaningful communication to those that kept their lights on. Without our support to them, I don't think Google would have come knocking. WTF, this isn't national security it's a bloody DVR. Certainly, as we have now seen, some information can be shared.

This is very bad business and there is no excuse for this behavior. I cannot understand why a blogger had to request information about our purchases and post it in the forum. Whoever "ran" this company, could have done the same and posted an announcement. I see one of them posted the link finally.

I REALLY feel bad for all the people that busted their asses to make Sage even better- that did things on their own time, the different interfaces, plugins etc. It's really wrong.

Having said that I hope the old saw "No news is good news" holds true for us. But, my spidey sense detects otherwise. I hope your strategy of faithfulness pays off for everyone. Looks to me like after a year all bets are off though.

[Polypro]

If you have all your media (TV, Music, Videos, Pictures) on a Windows Home Server, for example...

And then set up 5 computers in the house with SageTV Server (which includes the client portion)...

And point them all to the WHS machine folders...

I'm 99% sure you will be able to watch all media on any machine. I did it with a Network Encoding experiment and it worked fine. 1 key, 2 servers, centralized directories, watch from anywhere...99% it will work if the worst happens and we can't buy client keys ever again.

If I get the time, I'll throw it on a netbook and verify.

P

[Bagal]

Originally Posted by wayner

And the premium has now gone up even more. I don't think anyone who just bought an extender can claim to be ripped off as they can likely sell it for a nice premium - how about $350 for a used HD-300? Go to ebay and search "sagetv".

I noticed that as well, talk about panic buying!