What I must have in SageTV replacement

[ThePaladinTech]

Per Mrs.GeekTonics Request (great article BTW)
http://www.geektonic.com/2011/07/how...geek-geek.html

My suggestion is that all of you Sagies get on the board and start a thread of the MOST important things Sage has to offer that would have to show up on GTV for you to, even in a million years, consider buying it. You know someone at Google is reading that forum.

Things I need in a SageTV replacement:

1. Client Server – I do not want a hot PC in my entertainment cabinet doing all the recording . Nor do I with gobs of wiring connecting it to all my tuners, cable and OTA etc etc.
   
2. ComSkip – and ComSkip just like Sage does it, Where I can watch or skip the commercials as I choose, showing commercials on the timeline. (reading the forums it came as shock that other things that have comskip do not do it like sage does … And when I learned that it became a huge need to me)
   
3. The DVR Part – Everything about it. All the options I have when creating a favorite. All the options I have for what sage calls ‘channel line ups’ All the intelligence of knowing what I watched, knowing the season and episode. *Everything About it* I am sure there is more those listed are the ones that spring to mind.
   
4. Multi-room viewing
   
5. Support for many 3rd party capture cards – Hauppauge, Ceton, SiliconDust, Monsoon Hava, etc.
   
6. A thriving on line community –This is something I have come to look for/ value with most technical things I get these days. without it I will not have access to like minded people, people that can help me maximize it’s use, people that learned some tricks, etc.
   
7. Ability to extend system with plug-ins and modifications – and the ability for that thriving community mentioned in step 6 to be able to create them, not just the company that makes the software.

Things I *really* want

1. Extenders – This one is barely a want, it is so close to being a NEED. But I could get by with low power client PCs that I can put in S3 sleep.
   
2. Ability to schedule recordings from a web page, and have them happen real time. Last time I checked my tivo allowed me to schedule recordings from the the Tivo.com website but took up to an hour to get to my tivo, and that is not good enough.
   
3. A better music UI then SageTV has – Tristian / pantersgk I am so bummed that you didn’t get that done
   
4. Non-Drm Recordings
   
5. The ability to configure 99% of all options from the remote user interface
   
6. Placeshifter – I’d rather not need a slingbox to handle something the server should be able to do
   
7. Ability to do Vudu, Hulu, Netflix, Podcasts etc
   
8. Fan-Art
   
9. IMDB Search
   
10. support my ripped dvd/blu-ray collection

I guess what I really want is SageTV … Could you just slap a google logo on it and let me have it back? *sigh*

I am sure there is more but these are the ones I think of right away

[wrems]

Client/server architecture is a must.

Something not done or talked about is some kind of redundancy built into the server. Basically, something like unRAID + DVR. Give users a dead simple upgrade path for adding hard drives and provide some additional protection for their ripped media, in a single machine. The average home is not protecting their digital media at all. Family pics and home videos could be gone in a poof and those HD film captures aren’t getting any smaller.

Face it, home servers are becoming more and more common. They should handle DVR as well as offer some protection for a families media collection and memories. The average person is not going to want to mess with a typical RAID array. Buying a NAS adds to the complexity and cost.

If Google can marry a home server/DVR with unRAID like functionality that’s easy for a non-techie to add hard drives to (think Drobo), I think they might have a viable product for ANY modern family with data consolidation and protection needs.

[Sparhawk6]

I really want an extender exactly like the HD300. I also really want cablecard support.

[SHS]

Things I need in a SageTV replacement:
I don't use ComSkip nor any Plug-in that should used be add-on plug-in I perf it not build in I don't mind Skip fastwording
All rest look Good

Things I *really* want
As for number 2 I love that idea but that never going to happen in real time with my ISP due to it being to slow I have here so have option schedule that show for recordings from a web page would be nice that way I can watch it the next day when it done
All rest look Good

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by Sparhawk6

I really want an extender exactly like the HD300. I also really want cablecard support.

You mean an extender that is actually an extender?

[sleonard]

1) centralized DVR/server with extender clients at at least the HD400 level
2) centralized DVR/server with extender clients at at least the HD400 level
3a) If the server is SW like current SageTV then support for all the current capture cards.
3b) If the server is HW then multiple ones act as a slave to a master and there must be a vesion with HD component inputs (>=2) ala Colossus as well as a version with OTA receptions. Again, first one is master and any additional units become slave recorders. All of them appear to the end user as a single, integrated unit.
4) An open, extensible plugin architecture ala current SageTV and our wonderful developers. Especially the wonderful Jetty web apps. These 3rd party apps should have access to recording files ala comskip.
5) The great DVR features of Sage including favorites, my watched history, channel lineups, padding, etc.
6) Ability to import my current Sage history and favorites
7) The current configurable skip options in Sage.
8) An f'ing wonderful remote control or designed for Harmony/URC type remotes. For shape and button layout see the Harmony 880. For build quality see any URC remote.

I'll think of more, I'm sure.

S

[IVB]

ability to play back ripped DVDs & BR. Without that, I may as well get the DirecTV whole house thingey.

[wrems]

Originally Posted by IVB

ability to play back ripped DVDs & BR. Without that, I may as well get the DirecTV whole house thingey.

+1

[bialio]

Originally Posted by IVB

ability to play back ripped DVDs & BR. Without that, I may as well get the DirecTV whole house thingey.

For DVD it is pretty painless to rip to a MKV - which I don't think there would be any kind of protection in place to prevent that. BD is almost as easy.

Doesn't help if you have 3 TB of Ripped DVD's and really love having access to the extras. But for 'main title only' folks the DVD/BD issue isn't too big.

----

Client server with DVR functionality is the main thing I hope for from Google. Everything else is icing on the cake.

btl.

[brainbone]

Originally Posted by bialio

For DVD it is pretty painless to rip to a MKV

Though for TV Series DVDs, just ripping the entire DVD is easier.

[IVB]

Originally Posted by bialio

For DVD it is pretty painless to rip to a MKV - which I don't think there would be any kind of protection in place to prevent that. BD is almost as easy.

Doesn't help if you have 3 TB of Ripped DVD's and really love having access to the extras. But for 'main title only' folks the DVD/BD issue isn't too big.

i've never researched the mkv thingey; is there an uber-simple process to do that? right now DVDShrink/AnyDVD-HD are very few clicks to get it done.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by bialio

For DVD it is pretty painless to rip to a MKV - which I don't think there would be any kind of protection in place to prevent that. BD is almost as easy.

Doesn't help if you have 3 TB of Ripped DVD's and really love having access to the extras. But for 'main title only' folks the DVD/BD issue isn't too big.

----

Client server with DVR functionality is the main thing I hope for from Google. Everything else is icing on the cake.

btl.

Yeah, I'm one of the main movie guys. I don't care about special features at all. If I do, then popping in a disc is pretty simple.

I can't believe how difficult it is to find a decent client/server dvr that does everything that sage does. XBMC is close, but oh wait...no dvr. WMC would work (mostly), but oh wait...no clients. I never would have thought our niche was so tiny, or most people just don't care to have a quality dvr and multiple clients for said dvr. DirecTV, ATT, Tivo and Comcast are finally getting the client/server Dvr part, but then you still have to have a separate box for all your locally stored media. What a stupid problem to have.

[Audacity]

Since I only use SageTV for recording TV (OTA via a HDHomeRun) I don't really have a reason to move to something else as long as I have guide data.

[Apap]

In order for me to consider switching The 'must haves' are

1. Full multi-channel DVR capability.
2. Comskip (Wife's demand)
3. A well implemented program guide.
4. Ability to stream ripped DVDs and BluRays over a local network.

The 'needs' are

1. A better GUI than Sage7, Or Diamond, Or Phoenix. (Why would I want to take a step backward?)
2. Internet content eg. Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, etc.
3. STB Extenders! (Once you drink the extender KoolAid you cant go back.)

I dont think it would be impossible for Google to deliver on most of this but will they?

[bialio]

Originally Posted by brainbone

Though for TV Series DVDs, just ripping the entire DVD is easier.

Easier yes. But I use MakeMKV, and it rips each episode out. I have to go in and rename them so that BMT will find the right meta-data, but the ripping out individual episodes part is pretty painless.

btl.

[d2tw4all]

Love the wish lists. I think MythTV is close, if only it had extenders. I still don't understand why there isn't a single company that has built a dedicated MythTV extender. The main reason I went to sage was for the extenders since nobody else has them. I think the reason this is so niche is that most people don't want to fool with this sort of technology to watch TV. Even though the cable, sat, and fios DVR's aren't perfect, they are plug and play easy. Any alternative including WMC is generally something only enthusiasts are willing to take on...

Tom

[reggie14]

Some of these read, to me at least, a lot more like wish lists than bare-minimum-to-consider lists.

For me, the three most important features are:

1. Centralized DVR with extenders.
2. "Adequate" tuners, meaning at least 3.
3. "Adequate" storage space for recordings, meaning >=2TB.

I don't particularly care how those are achieved. I doubt Google would go with a software-based DVR system, so if there is a product I assume it would be a special CE device like the current GoogleTVs. That's fine- I think I would prefer that to having to mess around with a server PC. I don't care if the device supports third-party tuners like an HDHR/Ceton/HD-PVR/etc in order to support 3 or more tuners, or if it just has a single non-upgradable 3-tuner cablecard.

But for me to seriously consider buying it, it would probably also need:

• Good media playback support, like the HD extenders, including high-bitrate blu-ray streaming and ripped DVD support.
• Netflix support at least, probably Hulu Plus too.
• Expandable storage- I could live with just a single 2TB drive, but some sort of support for expandable storage would be a big plus.
• Some type of music support. SageTV's was OK, but I really would have liked something better.

I don't particularly care about comskip- I can't imagine they could get away with that anyway. I don't particularly care about placeshifting- I very rarely use it today. Support for third-party plugins would be nice, but definitely not a deal-breaker. And I don't care about DRM, except that it would be nice to have the ability to migrate the recordings off one device and on to another.

[davephan]

SageTV is a tough benchmark for the replacement DVR software, but is a lofty goal. I think the most important thing is the software needs to be reliable with none or very few lockup or stuttering problems. The GUI look and feel should be similar or better than the SageTV GUI. There's no point to a crude cable DVR style GUI that looks 20 years old. Comskip is very important. Netflix is also very important. The ability to function with several different tuner brands and models is important. Intelligent recording is essential. The software needs to be able to learn what you like and don't like and have the ability to record programs it 'thinks' you will like without having to schedule the recordings. Playback 'memory' is important too. When you stop a program and restart it later, the software should be able to give you the choice to resume or start from the beginning. HD is absolutely essential, without HD, you are living in the past. Plug-ins are essential too, so the software is improved by many people.

A good forum is very important. There isn't a forum for the MythTV, they want people to use e-mail for support, which is much less effective than a forum and it is like your living in the past a decade or two ago. There is a third party forum for MythTV, but it is very weak compared to the SageTV forum. A good forum is absolutely essential for the growth of the user base and people to help each other out, distributing the support.

Multi-room viewing is also essential. Separate stand alone DVRs are unacceptable. The whole point it to 'centralize' the DVR system. I've read other forums where they have four DVRs in one room, programming each DVR separately, figuring out which DVR recorded the program. Fighting with remotes that interfered with each other.

An extender is important, but I think we could live with a small, quiet PC by each TV if that was the only choice.

Open source is perhaps the most important item. When we replace SageTV with something, it needs to be close to what SageTV is today and open source. I don't think anyone wants to ever repeat having our DVR software being sold to Google or someone else. We've all seen what happens after Google bought SageTV. The SageTV users are cut off immediately. Need hardware or a license? Forget it. Want information? Forget it. You don't even get the time of day. Open source will help that from ever happening again.


Dave

[hugenbdd]

I have drunk the extender coolaid. One thing I haven't been able to find is any type of media box (think wd tv live plus) that has a jack for an external IR receiver. The only one that I can find is the HD-300. Maybe I'm just not seeing it in the specs.... I know ir-repeaters exists, but it's just another thing to buy, when it really is just a "simple" wire...

Dave

[hoep]

very nice post on Geektonic, btw.

my "must have" features:

1) client/server architecture WITH extenders (small, fanless, reasonable price)
2) bd/dvd folder support
3) existing tuner support (dvblink bridge is working very solid for me)
4) similar recording management (which is great)

minor important:
5) foto library
6) placeshifter

not important:
Music