Frey Technologies' SageTV 2.0 - A SnapStream Alternative

Final Words

During the initial testing portion of our review, we had several issues with creating a stable multi-tuner Roslyn SageTV 2.0 server, and at no time, did we have the same issues as with Beyond TV 3. For whatever reason, there was a hardware conflict that we were not able to track down. We notified Frey of the issue and were told that they were working on it. Apparently, it has been limited to new hardware, since they haven't encountered the issue until now. Before we even contacted Frey, we were swapping in and out P4 motherboards, memory, video cards (from old MX to 9800s), as well as tweaking various BIOS settings (i.e. HT), to no avail. The odd thing was that we were actually able to predict when SageTV 2.0 would crash, and if we followed a specific procedure, we could cause the system to be semi-stable until the next system restart.

If we set a program to record then watch another program, we get a blank screen on the second program selected. The first program selected is correctly displayed with the feed coming in from the Roslyn card in the lowest PCI slot. If we set a program to record, then record another program, and then select the second recorded program to watch, we would get a SageTV 2.0 crash. If we repeat this last step, sometimes we would get the multi-tuner environment to work, but it didn't work all the time.

When we went to a single tuner per system (server or client) environment, everything was fine. We don't have that many tuners compatible with SageTV 2.0 floating around in the labs, but we were told by Frey that this problem was limited to multi-tuners systems using Roslyn cards. Recently, Frey issued a fix via a new .dll file and posted it in their forums as well as recompiled their installation .exe for SageTV 2.0.20, and you probably should try V2.0.20 first as Frey recommends. So, we went back to SageTV 2.0 and tried our hand again at two Rosyln cards in a multi-tuner state, and voila, it worked! After several days of testing, we didn't seem to have any of the issues that we noticed with our past use.

Though, as recently as yesterday (7/24/04), Dan Kardatzke (Frey's President) mentioned that there are problems with Roslyn cards and SageTV 2.0's auto-brightness settings. While we did not encounter multi-tuner problems with the fix for Roslyn cards, we did notice a few a few odd things in terms of brightness compared to some of our other cards (read about some of the specific issues in their forums). Dan and Jeff Kardatzke (Jeff's the coder) plan to phase out the bundles that include Roslyn cards and replace them with another card in the upcoming few weeks. So what you see in the future may not be referred to as "Blackbird" something bundle.

As a MCE 2004 replacement, we find that SageTV 2.0 takes a lot of serious strides, but it still has a lot of work before it catches up completely. As we already mentioned, the UI is not necessarily displeasing or appealing, more neutral than anything else. This is even more so for the TV window, audio playback window, or video playback window. The information windows like the track slider, volume, etc. are blocky and don't integrate well with the TV environment. As a MCE alternative/TiVo replacement, there needs to be a better flare for the aesthetics, something just as important as the functionality, which Frey has pretty much down.

We have been told by Frey's that SageTV 2.0 is coded on a structure that supports skins, and we have been told and seen that some of SageTV 2.0's users have "hacks" that mimic the MCE 2004 to the teeth. However, Frey's doesn't support their use in these sense that they don't provide support if the skin doesn't work as said, but they will provide support if the skin "damages" the core functionality of software. Keep in mind that a skin is kind of two parts: the user interface and the functionality (i.e. a skin can add new functions like looking up weather). Any support provided by Frey for skins beyond this is done on a case by case basis. This is one users' series of skins skin sample 1, sample 2, and sample 3 (user's website). At the moment, we see SageTV 2.0 as a product for the couch potato enthusiast, a crowd for which we would limit our recommending this product to. For them to cross to the mainstream crowd, there needs to be more UI development.

Personally, we can take a program and understand everything about that program, including "cheats" and shortcuts, within less than an hour without any need for a manual. With Beyond TV 3, we did exactly that, but with SageTV 2.0, it was a bit of a challenge to understand how everything works. And for those with our same tack for programs, we still recommend that you read up on the tips and tricks section in Frey's support section for SageTV 2.0 and/or read the Readme file a bit more thoroughly the first time around.

If you are looking for a really easy way to watch TV, we would recommend Beyond TV 3. It is a no fuss program that supports many more TV tuners on the market than SageTV 2.0. If you are creating a TV server that has clients that will still function as personal computers, Beyond TV 3 is still the way to go. There is no charge for additional clients and virtually any computer, so long as it supports windows media player, and can watch streaming TV. Clients alone as a XPC stationed next to your TV/projector in your living room don't work well as a TiVo replacement, since streaming TV content and remote recording almost always require a keyboard. A SageTV 2.0 server is probably more practical in this sense, and there is no limit to the number of servers that you are able to put on your local network, as long as you purchase a license key for each system.

If you want a multi-tuner multimedia server, SageTV 2.0 is the only way to go at the moment, though SnapStream says their new BTV 3.5 version (scheduled for release in about a month or so) features multi-tuner support and BTV networking clients in addition to TV streaming over IE, called BTV Link (which should be like SageTV 2.0 server client setup). The problem that we see with SageTV 2.0 is that you need to continuously pay for additional clients or configure clients to use the key purchased and the restrictions imposed on supported tuners. As a multimedia server or client, it functions great as a basis for an XPC stationed in your living room, though StreamZap's remote still doesn't give have the same functionality as we can get with Remote Wonder and Beyond TV 3 (you can use Remote Wonder with SageTV 2.0 via a supplied plugin on Frey's website).

Either way, both Beyond TV 3 and SageTV 2.0 (server, client, and recorder) are available as trial versions with no particular usage limitations other than time, which is why we would heavily recommend that you try out each one if you are having a hard time deciding between the two. Though, if you plan to get SageTV 2.0, you might as well wait till the new bundle phases in.

We have been hearing some good things about SnapStream's Beyond Media, which supposedly is SageTV 2.0's true competitor, but until we get it in-house to judge, the only MCE alternative that actually gives similar features is SageTV 2.0. It is one thing to provide an alternative to MCE 2004, but it is quite another thing to provide an alternative just as good as MCE 2004. Though we will admit, Microsoft could probably pick up a thing or two from this little guy (i.e. Intelligent Recording). Frey is having things a bit easy, since competition to fill the gap is virtually nil, but with SnapStream joining the fray, we hopefully should see more solid and well-honed products from both companies.