[mythtv-users] MythTV vs. SageTV vs. Etc....

[Jeff Mottishaw]

a side note.. without getting into linux vs windows.. or feature
comparisons..
 
I purchased a new card off ebay last week, and wanted to make sure it
worked. so i installed it on my windows machine.. and thought to myself,
"hey i can get sagetv working in 5 minutes and see what this whole PVR
thing is about"
 
then after downloading i found out that sagetv doesnt support canada..
so sagetv is useless as far as i'm concerned
 

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Sean
Sent: December 18, 2003 8:51 AM
To: Discussion about mythtv
Subject: [mythtv-users] MythTV vs. SageTV vs. Etc....


Now, before we get started, let me say that I am a true believer in
MythTV and its bright future. I also now understand fully what a
convergence appliance can mean and expect this industry to grow quickly
in the coming years. 
I really want this to be a fair discussion about where MythTV stands in
the PVR market. What has spurned this debate in my own mind is the
discovery/re-discovery of a program called SageTV:

http://www.freytechnologies.com/

Now, from a first glance, SageTV looks like the closest real competition
to MythTV's PVR functionality. It can timeshift television, schedule
programming from a non-subscription based service through available
internet connection, and most surprisingly to me, handle multiple tuner
cards. It can also act as a server/client to stream programming
thoughout a LAN. Like MythTV, it seems to have a very active development
cycle and user/fan base.

It does not, however, support some of Myth's peripheral features. I can
find no mention of transcoding, DVD ripping or modules like weather,
news, or game emulation. It does look like the conflict resolution is
quite good and they claim the box can actually predict programming that
you might want to watch based on viewing habits, like TIVO. 

The most interesting thing to a nOOb like myself is that is runs on
Win2k/XP. For me, and likely many others, this is attractive in that we
don't have to learn a new OS. Personally, I enjoyed the thrill of
setting up my MythBox in that I learn something new everytime. I feel
more comfortable with Linux in general now, but still realize that I am
missing some basic level knowledge that would make me less dependent on
the various guides and community support. In other words, whenever
something "breaks" I feel a little helpless and frustrated. It is only a
guess, but I feel much more confident fixing something in Windows and
would therefore feel less likely to bash my little computer into junk
less quickly should, say, my system crashed in the middle of a high-load
operation (transcoding, 3 weeks ago).

So, how do we feel about how Myth stands up against the competition?
Linux is undeniably more stable in general, but support for the hardware
is behind that of the Wintel world. Truth be told, my general wish for
my PVR as it stands is an easy way to archive my shows to DVD-Video.
Right now, it isn't easy for me and if Sage or anyone else can give me
the PVR functionality of Myth, with an easy archival tool (and yes, I
know several on the list have talked about development of such a system)
I will take a hard look at it.

-Sean 

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