SageTV briefly mentioned on Anandtech, CES '05

[korben_dallas]

http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/...spx?i=2320&p=6

CES Predictions in '05: Media Center

CES was all about media "integrated" devices - TVs, set top boxes, PCs - all running some form of Windows and all doing the same thing, but with different degrees of quality. The SBC demonstration during the Keynote on Tuesday showed us the power of a handheld phone previewing a clip of a broadcast before the MCE device was told to record a four stream IPTV feed remotely.

MCE has some competition. CyberLink and InterVideo were both very pleased to demonstrate their MCE clones; SageTV and BeyondTV had powerful presences on the floor; we even found a tiny booth running their next generation set top box on the Linux based MythTV. The non-MCE devices have some advantages over MCE including multiple tuners, transcoding abilities, commercial skip, etc. But, on the other hand, Microsoft's partnership announcement with TiVo, Comcast, SBC and content providers like Starz!, Viacom and MLB may be too overwhelming. After all, Content is King. CyberLink was probably the most prevalent media player on the floor outside of MCE as multiple partnerships announced that they would ship their devices with CyberLink's media center free, including CoolerMaster, Hauppauge and ASUS.

Whether or not Microsoft will come out on top of the MCE war is moot. The message is that multifunction, set top box replacements and improvements are here to stay and we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg as more companies start to embrace the idea. Case manufacturers are putting LCD displays on their units to interface better for media devices; Hauppage is putting multiple tuners on a single card; NVIDIA and ATI are integrating video optimizations on their hardware; and, motherboard manufacturers are creating ultra-small, ultra-cool PCs designed specifically for the HTPC market. No matter where we turned to on the floor, someone had something new to bring to the media center.

[Cayars]

What's with the underlined verbage. Is SageTV and/or BeyondTV running there next generation STBs on MythTV ???

I don't think so.

[ToonGal]

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

But, on the other hand, Microsoft's partnership announcement with TiVo, Comcast, SBC and content providers like Starz!, Viacom and MLB may be too overwhelming. After all, Content is King.

This was the most intriguing part of the post. While I haven't spent as much time as I'd have liked on this stuff recently (still pi**ed I didn't get to CES after having bought the tickets), this is the exact thing Frey needs to focus on for their long-term viability.

Given a lot of personal experience in building a company bootstrapped by little more than "sweat equity", a killer bleeding-edge feature-filled customizable technology, and a growing current user base requiring more support with little future long-term revenue prospects, I think Frey sees this future and have taken actions to counter-act the competition.

By choosing to standardize their platform, on a specific h/w configuration, they can now partner with "real" resellers, instead of simply dealing with direct end-users. Volume sales, achieved by resellers, is what will keep thim in business and cranking out new releases. I'm hoping they really do establish a "plug-and-play" model that I could install at my parents' house. While I'm a Sage addict and evangelist, I simply couldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't know how to go under the hood of the car.

Personally, I'm not concerned they will "abandon" the early-adopter end-users, because they need the "free" resources. We are their guinea pigs for testing, user community for support, marketing department for good feature ideas, and programming department for add-ons (STVs, comskip, webserver, et. al.), and in return, we get a cutting-edge product for the one-time price of admission. A win-win for all.

Next step is getting it as customizable as possible, to maximize content and compete at that level as well. I haven't kept up with the Studio threads in the last 4 months, (NOT asking, please don't make this another silly Studio thread), but I'm happy with the content changes I've seen over that period. Weather was new enough in September, but web, IMDB, RSS, and other content simply great. Hopefully, I'm free enough to make my own contributions at some point, but who knows...

If MSFT 'wins', it won't be primarily due to partnerships and content, but more because of their unlimited deep markets to buy / build / crush competition in any market they choose. In this case, my money's on Frey making it in the long-term.

Congrats on the shout-out and keep up the good work, Frey.