SageTV versus beyondTV

[Schadenfroh]

Which is the best for say, reccording certain shows automatically for me at good quality? To mimic TIVO features, etc.

thanks

 

[simeon]

I've tried beyondtv but not sagetv. This is a little off topic, but with beyondtv and the firefly remote, you have to push 'enter' every time you want to switch channels which is insanely annoying. I know quick channel surfing with DVR's is hard because of the pause inbetween switching, but this thing wouldn't even let me channel up or down without pushing enter each time. Also, the menu/info bar takes up half the screen everytime you change the channel. Beyondtv looks nice, but just doesn't work very well IMO, or at least not how I expected it to work... the others may be even worse I guess.

 

[Kilrsat]

Originally posted by: simeon
I've tried beyondtv but not sagetv. This is a little off topic, but with beyondtv and the firefly remote, you have to push 'enter' every time you want to switch channels which is insanely annoying. I know quick channel surfing with DVR's is hard because of the pause inbetween switching, but this thing wouldn't even let me channel up or down without pushing enter each time. Also, the menu/info bar takes up half the screen everytime you change the channel. Beyondtv looks nice, but just doesn't work very well IMO, or at least now how I expected it to work... the others may be even worse I guess.

Umm... the channel changing thing is a configuration setting. I think most of your experience gets chalked up to not even bothering to look at the various settings.

I use a BeyondMedia + BeyondTV setup on my htpc, letting it function just like an appliance (no keyboard, no mouse, only a remote connected). The interface is logical, and straightfoward, multiple remotes are supported directly by SnapStream (MCE, StreamZap, Hauppage, ATi Remote Wonder/II, and the Firefly), the initial setup takes care of most of the configuration automatically, and really the big thing, for the most part "it just works."

There is a fairly wide range of user preference stuff, like the channel change delay. You can set it to wait until you press enter, or you can specify a delay such as a quarter, half, or whole second. Also I thought I'd mention that I use it everyday and the on screen display when getting channel information takes up ~1/3 or less of the tv display (and can even be set to be transparent) so I'm really not sure what the previous user was doing wrong.

 

[imported_FishTaco]

kilrsat, do you ever get 0mb files while recording? I tried the trial version of beyondtv, 3.5.1 at the time. Twice in 3 days it acting like it was recording a show and ended up with a tiny 64kb file. I just read that they released a new version 3.5.2 but I don't think it fixes the problem I was having. I really liked beyondtv's interface, and yes you can change the way the channel switching works. I think its something about delay, I changed it from the default 3 seconds to .75 second. Right now, I'm waiting to see if beyondtv will fix this bug before I plunk my money down.

 

[Kilrsat]

Originally posted by: FishTaco
kilrsat, do you ever get 0mb files while recording? I tried the trial version of beyondtv, 3.5.1 at the time. Twice in 3 days it acting like it was recording a show and ended up with a tiny 64kb file. I just read that they released a new version 3.5.2 but I don't think it fixes the problem I was having. I really liked beyondtv's interface, and yes you can change the way the channel switching works. I think its something about delay, I changed it from the default 3 seconds to .75 second. Right now, I'm waiting to see if beyondtv will fix this bug before I plunk my money down.

I've never encountered the issue (been using it non-stop since November), but I do know the developers are currently investigating it. I believe it seems to have something to do with multiple recording folders/network recording folders. There's a lot of cool stuff in the pipeline, and they really seem dedicated to making it the best out of box experience.

 

[simeon]

[/quote]Umm... the channel changing thing is a configuration setting. I think most of your experience gets chalked up to not even bothering to look at the various settings.
.[/quote]

i did, but i guess i didnt look hard enough since it wasnt a real priority for me at this time. the software that came with the hauppauge tuner card seemed to have everything set up right from the getgo so that probably didn't help any. sorry for the bad info.

 

[Staver]

You know you can download both and try them since they both have 10 to 14 day trial periods. They will also send you a discount code if you don't rush your decision.

 

[PhoenixOrion]

This discussion needs to be revived.

and a poll.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: PhoenixOrion
This discussion needs to be revived.

and a poll.

ok. I am running SAGE TV right now and like it very much, although the UI could use some work.

 

[dev0lution]

I just got a tuner card that came with BeyondTV and it works ok, but overall I think it still needs a lot of work. For one, settings such as changing the default video folder should not be an advanced option that you have to go into the web admin tool to change.

It'd also be nice if there was a video preview in the guide or you didn't have to leave "Live TV" to do other functions.

And I still keep losing video when switching between a window and fullscreen. Maybe I just expect a bit more from something that has access to tons more computing power than a TiVo...

 

[goodcom]

sagetv is great, there are custom UIs called STVs that you can download from the forums and it really adds some great features to the program, such as weather, dvd ripping burning, preview in tv guide, comm. skip, and a ton of simple but essential UI updates. I would suggest the Cayars 17 STV.

i'm still not sure which peice of software i'd like to use from now on..with mediaportal, mythtv, gbpvr, and many more.. there are features I like in all of them, and I just wish they'd be put in one easy to use/setup peice of software, but I guess it never works that way with any kind of software, haha. I tried BeyondTV and probably won't ever use it, just doesn't have the features and options that sageTV has.

 

[Kilrsat]

Originally posted by: goodcom
sagetv is great, there are custom UIs called STVs that you can download from the forums and it really adds some great features to the program, such as weather, dvd ripping burning, preview in tv guide, comm. skip, and a ton of simple but essential UI updates. I would suggest the Cayars 17 STV.

i'm still not sure which peice of software i'd like to use from now on..with mediaportal, mythtv, gbpvr, and many more.. there are features I like in all of them, and I just wish they'd be put in one easy to use/setup peice of software, but I guess it never works that way with any kind of software, haha. I tried BeyondTV and probably won't ever use it, just doesn't have the features and options that sageTV has.

BeyondTV is a TV-centric application. BeyondMedia+BeyondTV is your full HTPC frontend + pvr combo. Now I get weather, msn messenger, mbm5, comics, email, movie showtimes, application control via joystick, dvd library, and an emulator/game library options all through plugins in a nice 10ft. interface. Plus all the standard BM and BTV things.

Now I will give you that it is still missing a preview in tv guide, but for everything else I get, I'll live without it.

 

[rise]

Originally posted by: dev0lution
I just got a tuner card that came with BeyondTV and it works ok, but overall I think it still needs a lot of work. For one, settings such as changing the default video folder should not be an advanced option that you have to go into the web admin tool to change.

It'd also be nice if there was a video preview in the guide or you didn't have to leave "Live TV" to do other functions.

And I still keep losing video when switching between a window and fullscreen. Maybe I just expect a bit more from something that has access to tons more computing power than a TiVo...

yeah, seems to need alot of work still. the web admin thing to change default folders is just inexcusable to me.

in addition to what you mention, the whole snapstream/beyondtv thing is p!ssing me off. i reinstalled xp a couple weeks ago and had to set up beyondtv again. still waiting on them to fix some issue with snapstream not communicating my account info properly to the beyond console, so that i can't search shows by titles/keyword or anything, just manually. it downnloads the program guide 100% and all but shows nothing.

it's been like 12 emails, a phone call (they were supposed to get back to me after a lengthy conversation, been 3 days) and 5 logs i've sent them and they can't seem to get it. anybody else have this?

 

[goodcom]

yeah, good point about having all those plugins with beyond media, there still is the price difference to take into account. beyondtv is $69.99, beyondmedia is $49.99, so for both about $120, sagetv is basically both of those put together, and it costs $64.95

 

[Kilrsat]

Originally posted by: goodcom
yeah, good point about having all those plugins with beyond media, there still is the price difference to take into account. beyondtv is $69.99, beyondmedia is $49.99, so for both about $120, sagetv is basically both of those put together, and it costs $64.95

Taking full retail prices of the SnapStream software and something less than retail for sage... fair comparison.

SageTV retail is $79.95.

For a neat comparison, SageTV + StreamZap remote = $107.90
BeyondTV + BeyondMedia + Firefly remote = $129.90

Those are prices straight from the two companies. You can get both products cheaper through other means.

So for $20 extra I get a better remote and better software

I could also mention that SnapStream stands behind their software. If you purchase a full version through the SnapStream, and are unhappy within the first 30 days you can seek out a refund. Where if you buy sage, you're stuck with it.

 

[JonTom]

I ran SageTV for the 14 day trial and it worked flawlessly. Once that expired, I tried BTV. I wanted to like BTV because I did prefer the UI, however, I found it very difficult to configure. Other problems with BTV included - can't use RDP to get into it from work to set up recordings, etc (I think the web interface is supposed to do this, however, I didn't really want to have to learn 2 ways to do the same thing) and it can't run at the same time as ZoneAlarm (memory leak that BTV and ZA can't decide whose fault it is, apparently).

I thought that BTV was cheaper, but once I realized that BTV was only cheaper because I needed to get multiple licenses for multiple tuners (!!) and also needed BTV Media to complete the package.

SageTV STVs (mentioned above) and stability, true cost, and coupon code sealed the deal. Bought Sage last week - no regrets!

 

[Kilrsat]

The standard BTV includes licenses for 2 tuners. Yes, if you have more you need to purchase extra tuner licenses. Of course if you buy extra tuners from SnapStream they come with a tuner license (currently $70 for a pvr-250+license).

The remote recording options are wonderful. Log into www.snapstream.net and record a show from anywhere. No need to forward ports, no need to worry about ip addresses that may change. You get presented with the same channel lineup and its as easy as clicking on a show and clicking "record". So when you're on vacation and you realize you forgot to record something, just hop down to the hotel kiosk and in 30 seconds your show is setup to record. Its not difficult, if you take 30 seconds to actually learn.

 

[JonTom]

Originally posted by: Kilrsat
The standard BTV includes licenses for 2 tuners.

The remote recording options are wonderful. Log into www.snapstream.net and record a show from anywhere. No need to forward ports, no need to worry about ip addresses that may change. You get presented with the same channel lineup and its as easy as clicking on a show and clicking "record". So when you're on vacation and you realize you forgot to record something, just hop down to the hotel kiosk and in 30 seconds your show is setup to record. Its not difficult, if you take 30 seconds to actually learn.

Didn't realize that it came with 2 tuner licenses.

I'm sure the web interface works great, etc. I can see how it would be useful (IPs, etc). I just didn't want to bother to learn Truthfully, I was already soured on BTV due to the ZA issue, the licensing as I understood it, and the (to me) non-intuitive configuration options/screens/webpages.

Forgot to mention - I also had an issue with BTV where it wasn't recording audio 'out of the box', and the aspect ratio was screwed up. I'm sure more digging would have fixed it, but as I said, Sage worked right away.

 

[rise]

i dunno, i love beyonds UI and when it was working, it was nice and simple. i didn't mind so much the little quirks, like having to use web admin to create folder directory's.

but it's just frustrating right now. i mean the tech support can't figure it out for 2 weeks? they mentioned that they were having some bug with accounts/keys not being recognized between snapstream.net and beyondtv and the oem vs retail versions etc etc etc. but why do i need this? two weeks?

i have a new set up coming next week so i'm going to re-install the trial ware again but if it doesn't work properly i'm trying sage.

 

[DoggXXL]

Looks like people are having some problems with BTV. I just got my Hauppauge this week and installed. I have Sage installed right now and it is great!! No problems with setup at all. I think I will try BTV once my trial is expired with Sage. But after looking at screenshots of both, I decided to try Sage first. I have always used ZA in the past, but have now switched to Pc-Cillan, so BTV's issues with ZA won't have an effect on me. So far so good with Sage. I'm wondering if you can have BOTH Sage & BTV installed at the same time??

 

[jkoon]

yeah you should be able to have them both installed at the same time (i would just not try to run them at the same time, could get nasty if they both ask for the tuner at the same time)

 

[cpals]

I'm having trouble figuring something out... can SageTV run the FM part of the PVR-150? I can't seem to add that part to Sage....

 

[cpals]

Bump

 

[nageov3t]

I installed both to decide... I had to mess with SageTV for almost an hour to get it to work properly. BeyondTV worked great right after the install.

I went with BTV. I've had some problems, but their tech support has been pretty great.

 

[Kilrsat]

Originally posted by: loki8481
I installed both to decide... I had to mess with SageTV for almost an hour to get it to work properly. BeyondTV worked great right after the install.

I went with BTV. I've had some problems, but their tech support has been pretty great.

Remember to stop by here:

http://forums.snapstream.com/

To learn about all kinds of extra tweaking that's possible.

Also if you're feeling a bit adventurous, http://betaprogram.snapstream.com/join_form.html will let you learn about all kinds of cool new things coming down the pipe.