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 - Watching TV and Playing Music
Watching live TV brings up a simple window. The upper left hand corner window displays the station name, channel name, and two-channel navigation arrow. The show name, air date, and show description are displayed in the upper middle window with the current date/time, and volume in the upper right hand window. The volume icon doubles as a mute button and you can interact with the volume track. All of these panels autohide themselves after a few seconds, but this amount of time between the autohide feature doesn't seem to be able to be edited.All TV that is watched is timeshifted, and this option cannot be changed. The TV displayed in the window is actually about 1 second behind the live signal, and the difference in time noticed, if you put the two side by side, is minimal. From the time that you hit the "watch now" button to actually watching the live TV signal, it is about 2 to 3 seconds, which is reasonable as we like a maximum of 3 seconds when dealing with auto-timeshifted content.
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.
If you have already started to watch a program or programs, the last program being watched will be displayed in a small window within the show detail windows and LiveTV Guide. The window itself is an actual engageble object that can be navigated to, but only within the show detail windows. If you are watching "Tom & Jerry" and click on the window, it will go to the show. However, going into another program's show detail and clicking on the window will automatically change the channel to that program (assuming it is currently on) and switch back the full window mode.
Click to enlarge.
Getting to the full window mode of playing music can't be done directly via the music jukebox, but rather by hitting the back button in the upper left hand corner a few times. Visualizations are automatically on and visible during playback, but they cannot be manipulated in the setup. Like the live TV interface, the panels autohide after a few seconds.
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.
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punkkid - Tuesday, April 12, 2005 - link
If you need firmware for MythTv Plugin under Pluto you can find them herehttp://www.geocities.com/download2kx01
http://members.lycos.co.uk/mythtvx101/
http://mythtvx101.netfirms.com/
http://www.mythtvx101.home.ro/
http://www.mythtvx101.as.ro/
lorein - Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - link
What would you say about Linux/MythTV drivers for 2nd gen PVR cards?Most of the popular new PVR cards sold for Windows XP MC are based on Connexant's "Blackbird" design, which hasn't had drivers for Linux or Myth.
We have been working on these drivers and released an alpha version at http://plutohome.com. Pluto even has a self-booting kick-start CD that will automatically install & configure everything for you, including a ready-to-go Myth system. It's the fastest and easiest way to get a MythTV PVR up and running, and also installs Xine, Asterisk and our own software to give you the most advanced media & entertainment, home automation, security, telecom & computing system, controllable with your Symbian Bluetooth mobile phone, as well as PDA's and Webpads.
We're working hard to harden the drivers as quickly as possible and would like as much feedback as possible. These 2nd generation "Blackbird" cards are lower in price and offer better picture quality than the current models supported in IVTV, so be sure to check them out.
visit: plutohome.com, click 'support', 'support site', and choose "CX88 Blackbird Drivers" from the projects menu
snorkel - Sunday, August 1, 2004 - link
It would be nice if you guys did a review ofMythtv.
While it is linux and the install is not as easy as a windows program, the results are spectacular.
Mythtv is a very nice way to show off what Linux is truyly capable of.
I would recommend running it on Gentoo, as to install you simply type emerge mythtv
myth also works great with the haupauge PVR 250/350 series of cards and fully supports the hardware MP3 decoding.
check it out at http://www.mythtv.org
I have had uptimes of 75 to 100 days with shows being recorded and watch daily. My wife loves Mythtv and couldn't live without it.
I tried SageTV, but I went back to Myth because it was better IMHO anyway.
vailr - Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - link
Another TV Tuner/PVR software to consider: Cyberlink's PowerVCR II. This product has none of the audio sync problems that ATI's MMC has, when used with an ATI TV Wonder Pro/Creative Audigy sound card combo (using all the current drivers).MlbDude - Monday, July 26, 2004 - link
Thanks, and thanks also for listening to some of this feedback and actually looking into it. :)AndrewKu - Monday, July 26, 2004 - link
#19 - We worked through all the details with Jeff and Dan Kardatzke, the owners of Frey Tech, and everything has been settled. Btw since you are the main guy for the NDA beta team for Frey, I have to say you developed some nice skins. :)MlbDude - Monday, July 26, 2004 - link
Since this review is so bad, here is another to check out. It is more complete and the reviewer actually has experience with the product.http://htpcnews.com/main.php?id=sagetv_1
WooDaddy - Monday, July 26, 2004 - link
Phew...That was a helluva review Andrew.
It looks like TiVo for your PC is still a ways off from being that simplistic. Any plans on reviewing some of the other HTPC apps? I'll have to go back and check the Beyond TV review.
glennpratt - Monday, July 26, 2004 - link
LawranchATI has drivers that perform software MPEG2 decoding for AIW's but has failed to release them to anyone but Dell. There are hacked versions of the Dell drivers that work on most AIW 9XXX cards.
At anyrate AIW's suck and you should get a blackbird type card for MCE.
reboos - Monday, July 26, 2004 - link
review MythTV please!