OpenDCT vs SageDCT for upgrade to v9 from v7

[crarbo1]

I'm going to upgrade my v7 server to v9 soon using a clean install, using v7 wiz.bin and clean installs of all plugins.

I have two Ceton InfiniTV 4 PCIe cards doing my recording now in v7 using SageDCT.

I was wondering if there is any reason to use OpenDCT over SageDCT in my situation mentioned above?

It seems like OpenDCT may be simpler to setup than SageDCT, so that would be a plus. Just not sure what to do at the moment.

Also, should I use the latest stable release or the latest beta release, that is if I use OpenDCT?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Chuck

[Fuzzy]

I would definitely suggest moving to OpenDCT, if for nothing else, than it's maintained.
Additionally, it can send the stream directly to SageTV (MediaServer mode) instead of writing to the file directly - this bypasses permission and sharing complications AND allows the stream to pass through sage's native remuxer, which will clean up the stream, thereby fixing the occasional (or frequent, depending on your provider) timeline issues that can come up with digital cable broadcasts.

[crarbo1]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

I would definitely suggest moving to OpenDCT, if for nothing else, than it's maintained.
Additionally, it can send the stream directly to SageTV (MediaServer mode) instead of writing to the file directly - this bypasses permission and sharing complications AND allows the stream to pass through sage's native remuxer, which will clean up the stream, thereby fixing the occasional (or frequent, depending on your provider) timeline issues that can come up with digital cable broadcasts.

Fuzzy,
That is that I was thinking as well.

Do you have any opinions on if I should stick with the stable version or go with the beta version? Not sure if there are any benefits for my Ceton tuners or not to go with the beta version.

Thanks for the help,
Chuck

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by crarbo1

Fuzzy,
That is that I was thinking as well.

Do you have any opinions on if I should stick with the stable version or go with the beta version? Not sure if there are any benefits for my Ceton tuners or not to go with the beta version.

Thanks for the help,
Chuck

Definitely Beta.. really it should be considered stable at this point, and has left the 'stable' version pretty far behind.

[crarbo1]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Definitely Beta.. really it should be considered stable at this point, and has left the 'stable' version pretty far behind.

Thanks again Fuzzy for the feedback. I'm probably doing to use OpenDCT with a clean install of v9. Once I have that version seeing my tuners, then I will drop in my v7 wiz.bin file and hope all is well after it upgraded the database.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Definitely Beta.. really it should be considered stable at this point, and has left the 'stable' version pretty far behind.

+1. I've been using it for a while and it's very stable.

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Definitely Beta.. really it should be considered stable at this point, and has left the 'stable' version pretty far behind.

The next release will be a release candidate since I think we've reached a good place with the beta. The reason it's beta is because of all of the new features that don't appear to be getting a lot of use or they are working so well I'm not seeing much feedback. I agree that the functionality that most people use OpenDCT for is very stable. Besides the new features, the biggest difference between stable and beta for the "core" features is using direct memory instead of on heap memory for streaming. I had to make some significant changes that had a high potential for problems. Only 2 months ago, a related change I made 9 months ago was starting to be a problem for a few users. I appear to have fixed it, but this is mostly why I like have some distance between the two.

Basically the idea is that the stable version has less features, but is better tested and only gets updates for horrible problems weighed against the potential for even worse problems. The beta will generally be fairly far ahead of stable because of this, but can potentially have more surprises for new features or big fixes.

I am always running the latest beta and often am running what will be the next beta in my production server.

[crarbo1]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

The next release will be a release candidate since I think we've reached a good place with the beta. The reason it's beta is because of all of the new features that don't appear to be getting a lot of use or they are working so well I'm not seeing much feedback. I agree that the functionality that most people use OpenDCT for is very stable. Besides the new features, the biggest difference between stable and beta for the "core" features is using direct memory instead of on heap memory for streaming. I had to make some significant changes that had a high potential for problems. Only 2 months ago, a related change I made 9 months ago was starting to be a problem for a few users. I appear to have fixed it, but this is mostly why I like have some distance between the two.

Basically the idea is that the stable version has less features, but is better tested and only gets updates for horrible problems weighed against the potential for even worse problems. The beta will generally be fairly far ahead of stable because of this, but can potentially have more surprises for new features or big fixes.

I am always running the latest beta and often am running what will be the next beta in my production server.

Thanks EnterNoEscape for adding to the conversation. I was hoping you would.
Are there any features that I would be missing for the Ceton InfiniTV cards specifically? I don't really know what this program does above just allowing SageTV to see the cards and record. I guess I just really need the basic functionality but don't want to upgrade too often.
Thanks,
Chuck

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by crarbo1

Thanks EnterNoEscape for adding to the conversation. I was hoping you would.
Are there any features that I would be missing for the Ceton InfiniTV cards specifically? I don't really know what this program does above just allowing SageTV to see the cards and record. I guess I just really need the basic functionality but don't want to upgrade too often.
Thanks,
Chuck

There is a feature to allow InfiniTV 6 Eth adapters to be skipped over if they are not currently responding when using the pooling feature (people who own them report that they power-cycle at random). There is a feature to show you clearly in place of the video stream when a channel is copy once or copy never. Those are the only changes that stand out in my mind that affect the InfiniTV cards. There's nothing stopping you from installing the beta and just staying put until you have a reason to upgrade.

[crarbo1]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

There is a feature to allow InfiniTV 6 Eth adapters to be skipped over if they are not currently responding when using the pooling feature (people who own them report that they power-cycle at random). There is a feature to show you clearly in place of the video stream when a channel is copy once or copy never. Those are the only changes that stand out in my mind that affect the InfiniTV cards. There's nothing stopping you from installing the beta and just staying put until you have a reason to upgrade.

Thanks again for the quick reply. I have the Ceton InfiniTV 4 PCIe cards and I don't think I use the pooling feature in SageTV, so I probably would be fine with the stable version but still will probably go with the beta version when I do actually switch over.

Thanks again,
Chuck