Frey Technologies' SageTV 2.0 - A SnapStream Alternative
by Andrew Ku on July 25, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
SageTV 2.0 - Schedule Recordings
Going into the schedule recordings submenu brings up several options to help manage programs to be recorded.
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The upcoming recording schedule is fairly straightforward, but it is difficult to navigate in practice. We would rather see the listings done as an actual list with programs occupying a single line as "SageTV Recordings" format. Scrolling and scrolling to navigate to a specific favorite program to designate "not to record" isn't that easy.
A list function can be viewed, but it is not the default view and can be switched by going into option (right click) and switching the "schedule display" option from "parallel" to "interleaved." The effect is the same as the view for "additional airings" or "search results" for a query.
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The search function that SageTV has implemented is extensive and well thought out. Searching for a title or a person can be done with partial phases and everything entered is automatically treated as a wildcard variable. But you can't enter "brother band" to get "Band of Brothers", since the queries of phrases are done alphabetically.
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We randomly entered in "mark", and SageTV provided a bunch of entries, and as you can see, "mark" is treated as a wildcard query. This is the way it should be done, which is something that SnapStream needs to do with Beyond TV 3 or future iterations of their software.
Note the detail of the information for the show, while not completely shown. SageTV 2.0 provides more EPG data for programs like sitcom episodes: actors are listed, language, director, etc... All the stuff we are used to from MCE 2004 and a bit more. This can be seen when you go into "program details" for that particular program.
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Searching by description and/or all fields is treated a bit differently. Entered queries are treated as whole words and are not considered wildcard entries. We can't enter Monica and Chandler to get Friends listings, where Chandler comes after Monica in the program description.
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MlbDude - Sunday, July 25, 2004 - link
Saist - Sunday, July 25, 2004 - link
I only have one comment to make.D-link??? EWWWWW.
Spearhawk - Sunday, July 25, 2004 - link
Nice article. It would be intresting to see a simelar on GB-PVR (http://www.gbpvr.com/), which is freeware. I actuly prefare it before Sage TV.nullpointerus - Sunday, July 25, 2004 - link
Very interesting article! I would like to add one bit of information: while it is true that SnapStream cannot stream hardware-encoded TV files over the network without a fairly lengthy reencoding process, they will be removing this restriction in the next version. Also, they will be adding multiple tuner support, parental controls, and some user privacy settings. Maybe Anandtech will reexamine SnapStream at that time? The HTPC world seems to be in a very "buyer beware" mode right now, and it's good to have such in-depth reviews of each product.coolred - Sunday, July 25, 2004 - link
Still reading, looks good so far. I have been using sage TV 2.0 for about a month or so now, works great. One thing though, I see you mentioned that it is available for download only, and while this may be the case from frey themselves, PC alchemy sells sage TV as both a download or on a CD, thats where I got mine from.I believe one of thier employees, or possibly the owner himself is a member of these fine forums we have.
Keep up the good work. Next we need a "How to build and awesome HTPC" article.