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

[DBakker at arrayasolutions.com]

I switched from MythTV last feb for SageTv. At the time I didnt really 
didnt need a htpc but just a way of watching tv remotely and recording. 
sage worked fine. About a month ago I switched back to MythTV . my dual 
pvr 250, nvidia twin view and audigy 2 cards are all supported nicely now. 
Sage is clunky to run (java), it costs money for each server and client 
and it's recording features are very limited. MythTV has much more 
features, the dvd player on sagetv rarely worked, using xine with the dvd 
plugin is awesome in MythTV. Also LIRC is a great reason for a linux box. 
You wont be limited by what you can do with your remote. 

The only thing MythTV doesnt have is watching TV shows remotely on my 
WinXP server. Im sure one day this will be added (maybe via videolan) but 
I can deal without live TV for now.




"Jeff Mottishaw" <jmot at mottie.com> 
Sent by: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org
12/18/2003 03:32 PM
Please respond to
Discussion about mythtv <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>


To
"'Discussion about mythtv'" <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
cc

Subject
RE: [mythtv-users] MythTV vs. SageTV vs. Etc....






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 _______________________________________________
mythtv-users mailing list
mythtv-users at mythtv.org
http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users