HOT! Beyond TV Software...$60

[Goosemaster]

Link to snaptream $60

Basically, this software allows your PC to be a full-fledged PVR and streaming server. AS for the webserver, it will let you cange ALL settings, and , get this:

1) WATCH LIVE TV encoded at an appropriate bitrate!!!
2) Let you watch your shows streamed or downloaded.
3) let you record from ANYWHERE.

Just tonight I knew I was going to be late, so I told it totape south park on CC, and Fraiser.


I have tried it for about a week now, and find it INDISPENSIBLE. It will record just like a TIVO, AND will convert those files(your choice of format) to any quality of WMA or DIvx you like. For example I record everything in Mpeg2, and have it convert everything into high-def divx overnight.

AS for the tools to necessary to ru the thing, you need a FAST AND MASSIVE HD, a tuner card, and a FAST CPU to take advantage of all the goodies.

I am using a 2.4XP, 512MB RAM, and a 120GB HD, and it works great. Just beware that @mpeg2 quality, 30min programs are a few GB in size. After compression, I've gotten them down to an average 350MB


BEfore this I was using Power VCRII and WinTV software that camewith the card, and was VERY disapointed. This is a deam come true.


Windows Media Edition EAT YOUR HEART OUT!!

Download it and try it out. You won't regret it

 

[psxjunky]

SageTV is another great alternative and arguably better than BeyondTV (more stable, supports multiple tuners, true distributed network recording etc.)

SageTV costs $59.99

 

[hamburglar]

cool!

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: psxjunky
SageTV is another great alternative and arguably better than BeyondTV (more stable, supports multiple tuners, true distributed network recording etc.)

SageTV costs $59.99

FSCK! AND I THOUGHT I WAS IN A UTOPIA> DAMN PRODCUTS ON TOP OF PRODUCTS:||||



Guess Ihave to check this one out befroe I ever decide to buy ...


Beyond TV was so nice...:{

Guess I have to waste more timeL

 

[Goosemaster]

1. Beyond TV has been Perfectly Stable

2. Screenshots don't look bad, but alone they don't convince.


..guess I'll have to install it.

 

[hamburglar]

beyond tv doesn't support the popular winfast tv

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: hamburglar
beyond tv doesn't support the popular winfast tv

I have a Hauppagggggguee WIntv-go stereo. WOrks fine for me.

Im ust sya, the must thign for sage is intriguing.


Anyone have the web portion setup?


Is it better than this?

MY site USer and Password is Guest. Light conection so be nice.

 

[Slikkster]

I find this computer-based PVR stuff very limited in application, given on my system I need a cable box to get most of the channels vs. a straight cable to the TV card.

 

[sat4fun]

Snapstream is very good with support. I bought Snapstream 1 about two years ago and I never really used it. I went to the website to check out Beyond TV and checked out their support site. I entered my email address in a box and they emailed me my keys and a link to the new application. I have yet to really utilize it, but it looks like a vast improvement over the previous version. You have to applaud a company that doesn't gouge you for an upgrade.

 

[TrentSteel]

Originally posted by: hamburglar
beyond tv doesn't support the popular winfast tv

There is supposedly a work-around for this. It's not officially supported, but I think it's mentioned on the Snapstream website. If I recall correctly, I think it just involves installing third-party, open-source drivers instead of using those released by Leadtek.

But I might be wrong. Anyway, the good thing is that you can try out the software with the work-around before having to buy it. It really does seem like a good product, especially for those who can't afford TiVo or its various permutations.

I plan to get my htpc set up with this for experimentation and will report if I can get my Leadtek Winfast card to work with it.

 

[sparkyclarky]

I bought Sage TV a few weeks back and find it to be a better overall application than Beyond TV. It's rock stable, which Beyond (Snapstream) never was for me. The multiple tuner support is a nice bonus too, if I ever add another card to my rig (which I just might do).

 

[psxjunky]

For a detailed comparison of all major PC based PVR solutions, check out the following thread at AVSForum

PVR Software for HTPC : SageTV, SnapStream, MythTV, WinXP MCE, myHTPC, Freevo etc.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: psxjunky
For a detailed comparison of all major PC based PVR solutions, check out the following thread at AVSForum

PVR Software for HTPC : SageTV, SnapStream, MythTV, WinXP MCE, myHTPC, Freevo etc.

FINALLY

 

[Goosemaster]

According to the Sage website, tv tuners with software encoders are NOT supported

 

[Hummercash]

im a mythtv user and i LOVE it. ive never used linux before, but so far its been pretty easy. just make sure you have a working internet connection on another pc so you can search for solutions to any problems you may encounter.


.//chris

 

[psxjunky]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
According to the Sage website, tv tuners with software encoders are NOT supported

Yes, that is true. SageTV works with TV cards with hardware encoder support only. However, if you want to use a PC as a regular PVR, there is really no other choice. I have been a TiVo user for over three years and have moved to using PC based PVRs for a little over a year now, and I LOVE my PC PVRs more than anything. The TiVo is virtually sitting there in a corner collecting dust basically ...

Anyway, I can assure you that for any kind of decent performance and picture quality, you really really need a card that does MPEG2 encoding in hardware. Earlier in my experiments I have used TV cards that does not to hardware encoding, and I have been extremely disappointed in both the picture quality and system stability (and I had a pretty screaming maching dedicated for this use). Since then I have continued to use the hardware encoding cards (Hauppauge WinTV 250 and AVerMedia M150) and I have never looked back.

Unfortunately this means that your ATI All-in-Wonder is not too good a choice for PC based PVRs as well, since that uses software encoding too; nor is the WinFast TV2000 Deluxe any good since it does not have hardware encoding either

If you use the PC to record TV only occasionally, then pretty much anything will do; however, if you want a serious TiVo like device, you really want to have a hardware MEG2 encoder based card.

 

[superflysocal]

best thing i like about snapstream is the ability to broadcast tv to any computer on the network or even over the internet....basically i turned my laptop to a truly portable tv i can take around the house. yes i know you can do that with windows media encoder but with snapstream you can change the channels also, turning it to a true tv. can sagetv do this? similarly you can broadcast over the internet so that you can watch tv at work through your tv tuner at home.

one thing i wish it can do is not only convert files to divx but record in divx as well. on my slower pentium 3 700mhz, to not get skips and stutters, i have to drop bitrate alot and suffer image quality. but i noticed if i use the ati Multimedia center (i have aiw 7500) which can record in divx, image quality is very good for lower bitrates..good as or better than replaytv.

has snapstream implemented divx recording yet?

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

This is all pointless if your cable company forces you to use a cable box or if you have digital cable, since the card can't change channels, right?

 

[psxjunky]

Originally posted by: superflysocal
best thing i like about snapstream is the ability to broadcast tv to any computer on the network or even over the internet....basically i turned my laptop to a truly portable tv i can take around the house. yes i know you can do that with windows media encoder but with snapstream you can change the channels also, turning it to a true tv. can sagetv do this?

SageTV has a dedicated client application that you can run anywhere on your network. You can not only play back recorded shows thru this client, but also can view channel guide, schedule recordings, view live TV ... basically do pretty much everything that you can do using the SageTV server app.

Theoretically you could do this over the internet provided your firewall is properly setup and you have a fat enough data pipe between the two locations. Also, SageTV records programs directly into MPEG2 files, so you can always access those files directly and play them thru any other app if you wish.

Remote recording scheduling thru the web is one thing that BeyondTV does now that SageTV doesn't do yet ... but version 2.0 of SageTV is supposed to have this feature. Public beta testing of version 2.0 is going on right now and all registered users of SageTV v1.4 are eligible to download the v2.0 beta and use it.

Also, all registered users of v1.4 SageTV will get v2.0 for FREE once it is released.

 

[psxjunky]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
This is all pointless if your cable company forces you to use a cable box or if you have digital cable, since the card can't change channels, right?

Nope, not at all

Both SageTV and BeyondTV support the Actisys IR-200L device which is a little box that hooks up to your serial port and sends IR signals to your cable/satellite box to change channels when needed.

Actisys IR-200L

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: psxjunky

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
This is all pointless if your cable company forces you to use a cable box or if you have digital cable, since the card can't change channels, right?

Nope, not at all

Both SageTV and BeyondTV support the Actisys IR-200L device which is a little box that hooks up to your serial port and sends IR signals to your cable/satellite box to change channels when needed.

Actisys IR-200L

Not bad, but you'll need LOS. RF would be much better.

The card can recognize the different channels that way? So it can be scheduled to record different shows and channels, etc?

 

[psxjunky]

Ture, with this device you will need line of sight. Unfortunately all PVRs ... including commercial ones like TiVo and ReplayTV also use some kind of an "IR Blaster" like this to control the cable/sat boxes.

The only other way I have heard is serial control ... if your set top box supports it. RF would be a nice idea ... not sure why no one implemented it yet. Or may be it is available and we just don't know about it.

As far as the card changing the channel ... it is actually your cable/sat box that is changing the channel; SageTV or BeyondTV is simply sending the "change channel" request based on the recording schedule that you have programmed into the app.

The video signal then comes from your cable/sat box (thru S-Video or composite) and hooks into the TV card. So the TV card is really not changing the channel in this case.

Hope that makes sense ... feel free to ask any other questions

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: psxjunky

Originally posted by: superflysocal
best thing i like about snapstream is the ability to broadcast tv to any computer on the network or even over the internet....basically i turned my laptop to a truly portable tv i can take around the house. yes i know you can do that with windows media encoder but with snapstream you can change the channels also, turning it to a true tv. can sagetv do this?

SageTV has a dedicated client application that you can run anywhere on your network. You can not only play back recorded shows thru this client, but also can view channel guide, schedule recordings, view live TV ... basically do pretty much everything that you can do using the SageTV server app.

Theoretically you could do this over the internet provided your firewall is properly setup and you have a fat enough data pipe between the two locations. Also, SageTV records programs directly into MPEG2 files, so you can always access those files directly and play them thru any other app if you wish.

Remote recording scheduling thru the web is one thing that BeyondTV does now that SageTV doesn't do yet ... but version 2.0 of SageTV is supposed to have this feature. Public beta testing of version 2.0 is going on right now and all registered users of SageTV v1.4 are eligible to download the v2.0 beta and use it.

Also, all registered users of v1.4 SageTV will get v2.0 for FREE once it is released.

I still don't see your point.

THe ONLY things that beyond TV is bested in is, from reviewers, image quality and the music catalog ability.

Overall, Beyondtv records to meg2. I am actually recording weigtheringheights on TCm on this PC>

As for stabiltiy, Beyond TV has NEVER crashed. I did have one problem where when I tried to access the configuration during my set show squeeze(batch compression) times, It wouldnt let me access the interface, but other than that itwas fine. So far, I have recorded about 20 movies, 30 programs etc and encoded them all into divx. NO problems.


AS for the webnbased stuff, BEYOND TV IS DOMINIANT. Network streaming is nice, and I can stream whatever I want(mpeg2, divx, wmv obviously) BUT I can do so from ANY computer ANYWHERE. Sage's client must be installed, which is not universally conveniently.

On two seperate ocassions, I have set up future recordings from two of my college campuses. Also, the streaming of TV to anywhere is awesome.


As for the Hardware encoder, I realize its superiority, but honestly have nothing to complain about. I am using software and ffdshow, and my recordings are spectacular. The divx movies I make are fantastic. I understand that deinterlacing provides crappy performance on my pc, but my output is to a 25'' inch tv so it isn't necessary.


Basically, I will buy Beyondtv unless I ever get a wintvpvr 250 or 350 (not likely)

 

[Goosemaster]

I just tried SageTV as I wan't recording anythign right now, and I was REALLY disapointed.

The interface is a lot worse compared to BeyondTV's.

After reading the AVSforum link, it looks like they were reviewing an older version of each.

They said future BeyondTV versions would use the .NET framework. WEll, the new version DOES. Now.


Beyond TV is the superior prodcut. Perhaps Sage TV has more functionallity(Only SOME areas) such as supporting multiple tuners etc, but Beyond TV's package is VERY user friendly, and VERy customizable.

 

[hamburglar]

This looks like a very good option for people in shared housing. I am thinking about getting DirecTV for my frat, and connecting a computer with Beyond TV to put the shows on a network. Its the most bang for your buck in a shared housing situation. The only question is, whether it is possible to change channels without being in the same room as the tv?