Alternatives to Sage???

P

ProphetSix

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 20, 2002
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1,089
<RANT>
OK, I got the Sage bundle of a Happague 250 MCE, Sage TV and the Snapstream remote. I'm REALLY disappointed with the Sage DVD playback. Quality is fine, but the way it does it sucks! Chapter skipping puts you 5 - 10 seconds AFTER the chapter marker. It doesn't recognize WS DVD's, and plays them in 4x3 mode. I'm constantly changing viewing modes between TV and DVD. And every little adjustment on the DVD playback causes the time marker to pop-up at the bottom and the DVD info at the top. REALLY annoying! And the remote that came with Sage seams to work better with WinDVD than with Sage. I've given up on watching DVD's with Sage and do it entirely with WinDVD for now.

I'm also not happy with the PVR function on Sage. Come on, PVR is active 24/7??? Even when I have my VCR on, I control when it records and when it doesn't. I'd like something that records when I want it to, not when the software does. (Guess my mistake here is that I'm not looking for Tivo functionality, just a digital solution to replace my VCR.)
</RANT>

My main problem is that I think I thought more of Sage than it can do. I got the 250 MCE for the FM stereo portion over the regular 250. (Hello... Where's the friggin app to activare the FM portion???) And I thought it'd be great to have one all-encompasing app to handle PVR/DVD/Ripped DVD's/FM/MP3's. At this point, I'm quitting Sage to watch DVD's, and I prefer iTunes over what Sage has for MP3 playback.

I guess I want to know if there's anything out there that can tie together multiple apps for an HTCP function. I'm happy so far with Sage for TV recording, but that's it. Are there any other apps that can work for me with different programs, or should I explore a linux option? I have my current HTPC in a temp case while I'm custom building my main case, and I'd like to have this sorted out before I transplant the system to it's new home. I'm using Win XP Pro right now, so Windows solutions would be prefered, but if I have to, I'll go the Linux route if that solves my problems. (I'm not a Linux guy, but for this, I'll LEARN.)

Sorry to rant here, but it's this or I break my current remote and buy another, if you get my drift...
 
I'm using ZoomPlayer with the Sonic codecs for DVD and it ROCKS! I like BeyondTV as well for TV playback (although i'm unsure of quality, my good tuner wont be here until tomorrow) and I hear Meedio can be great to tie it all together.
 
Sage is one of the best for PVR duties but there are much better apps for everything else. You want a frontend so IMO the best out there is probably Meedio.

For the switching between DVD and TV viewing modes you should just have it at "Source."

I have no problem using the Snapstream remote, you can also tweak the remote if you go into the "Details" section.

What STV are you using? The default really sucks.

I've had no problem with the record functions either, maybe you have "Intelligent recording" turned on? I turned that off along time ago.

BTW very few apps use the FM functions, try checking out SHS's site for some apps (under Downloads). I can't recommend anything since I don't even use the FM functions.

And I thought it'd be great to have one all-encompasing app to handle PVR/DVD/Ripped DVD's/FM/MP3's.
Click to expand...
That's your problem, unless you code something yourself you'll never find such an app. Although MCE probably is the closes thing to that.

This is what I'm using/upgrading too:
PVR = Sage w/ NV codec
DVD = TheaterTek w/ NV codec
Music = iTunes
Frontend = Meedio
 
GB-PVR has FM functionality. I played with it a little and couldn't get it to work though. I have a Roslyn though so you might have better luck. Check SHS site linked above for it.
 
Yeah the Roslyn's are different so they wouldn't work with it (unless GB-PVR is coded to support the Roslyn's path).
 
Thanks Crim, I figured you'd chime in eventually.

For the TV/DVD issue, I tried "Source". Didn't seem to change anything. Was still stuck in 4x3 mode to fill the screen when I poped in a WS DVD.

What's weird about he Snapstream remote is it works better out of hte box with WinDVD than with Sage. I'm not going to bother with it since I have Sage's DVD playback overlays.

Yes, I'm using the default STV. Yes, it does suck. Any recommendations on others, and best place to get 'em?

For the recording function, I guess I just want to completely turn off the "Tivo" aspect. I don't want it to record TV until I tell it to. Any way to do that?

I am looking to Meedio. Look's slick. I like that you can integrate other apps into it. I guess I'm looking for a new frontend since it looks like Sage is just going to do the TV recording for me.

OK, FM tuner buit into the 250 MCE: what's with releasing a hardware product and no software to support it ?!?!?! So, I pay for a card with an FM tuner in it, and I gets no software to listen to the radio? What up with dat?????

So, I'll look into Meedio more, and see what I can do to replace the STV. Need to remap all my cable box channels it looks like. For some reason, pulling the cable into the HTPC instead of the cable box has all the channels screwed up. And I'm really interested in turning off the record everything all the time "feature".

Thanks people.
 
LOL, for the last two days my DSL has been kind of "flaky" not letting me log on to Hardforums.

Anyways....

For replacement STV's I like either Malore's, MLBdude or maybe Nielm's. You can check them out here.
The most noteworthy features are: Malore: Commerical advance, MLBdude: Divx compressions, and Nielm: Launch external apps, RSS and very customizable.
Before I forget about it Opus also made a combo Malore/MlbDude STV which is what I've been using (currently playing with Nielm's though as well as Mlbdude's compression version). Link There's also Lauren Glenn's STV which looks interesting but I haven't played with since it was first put out.

Thats odd since putting it to source worked in the past for me. No bother since I preferr to use a difference app for DVDs.

The 250MCE is orginally built for use in (get ready for it ;) ) Win MCE which does have an FM plugin that supports the FM tuner on the 250MCE cards. But the 250MCE is a much better alterntive to the regular 250 for a couple of reasons; Runs cooler and it's an updated version so no analog audio input and it has video inputs (which depending on your usage may just be of limited use. Anyways check the link I posted for some apps that do FM (I was wrong on the other link, the radio apps are under "Tools") I've been recommended Radiator by a friend in another forum so try that one (although I haven't used it).
 
Almost forgot, to turn that "feature" off: Setup > Detailed Setup > General > Intelligent recording

Just click on it and choose to disable it.
 
You have found out what most sage users did. It is good for PVR, but it lacks in all other areas. I am using the following software...

SageTV for PVR
Zoomplayer with PowerDVD codecs
Meedio to pull it all together

meedio is cool as hell. very slick look, lots of plugins to make it functional.
 
i don't mean to hijack the thread or anything, I find this all very interesting, I'm pretty much in the same boat right now. I'm using my HTPC and server as the same thing ;) ... or giving my server HTPC functions :D

anyway, my HTPC is based off of very old hardware. I have a P2/333mhz, so it can't really handle DVD's by itself. I had a DVD Decoder card handy, Hollywood+ ...

only problem with this card I've found is that i've been able to use ONLY the software that came with the hollywood+ decoder card. It plays DVD's in FULLSCREEN only. It's kind of weird, I haven't seen this before. I have to press F5 on the keyboard to see the video, and it pops to fullscreen. I press F5 again to go back to my computer....

Is there anyway I can use a different DVD Playing software with this decoder card??

Thanks for any info :)
 
Damn I had known some apps that supported lowend hardware like that but I can't seem to remember any, sorry. :(
 
I would go linux/mythtv if you have lower end hardware, windows isn't an optimal enviroment for squeezing performance out of an older setup.

In the end I am using meedio, sagetv, and zoomplayer w/sonic codecs and i'm fairly happy with it.
 
Ok so i'm using sage w/zoomplayer, this is how I did it:

I've got my remotes power key mapped to close zoomplayer (linked to zplayer.exe) and run sagetv.exe (which opens it or pops it out of sleep and into view) and the exit key will also close either application. I think this combo has the highest possible WAF (wife acceptance factor) since its impossible to get stuck out of focus and need keyboard assistance (meedio has caused hell with this)

1. Open up Sage.Properties and change "external_dvd_player=" to "external_dvd_player=C\:\\Program Files\\Zoom Player\\zplayer2.bat" (or proper location)

2. Go to the directory your zoomplayer is in and make a text file, put this line in it: "zplayer.exe /DVD /PLAY" and then save it as zplayer2.bat

Now when I choose Launch DVD in sage, it auto sleeps and loads up zoomplayer. When I press power, zoomplayer closes and sage launches. If I just hit exit it goes to the desktop (which has all icons hidden, working on a nice HTPC-ish background) and the power button will load sage again. No more meedio, no more mess :D Only thing i'm still working on is how to tell sage to start in tv mode by default.
 
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