SageTV User from the USA

[nebulink]

I am a current SageTV user and have enjoyed it for many years. I have been reading about NextPVR to see if it could be used as a replacement. So far it appears this product is primarily geared towards the EU and not the NA market. Is this true or am I missing something?

I would like to see cable card support and an extender option that could be purchased and used in NA. Maybe Boxee Box could be used as an extender or something similar so Online content could be accessed as well.

Thanks for the feed back!

[pcostanza]

I've used NPVR (and GBPVR) for many years and I'm in the US and have no problems with it. There are many US users here that will tell you the same thing.
I've not played with Sage in years but it's doubtful you'll find anything that matches up to something you've been use to. However, the folks here are extremely helpful and sub has done a tremendous job and keeping it updated.
As for cablecard use, I have both a USB and and internal InfiniTV working in NPVR now. Though it's not perfect and takes some tweaking with the help of a few wonderful users, it's recording for me pretty dang well with copy freely programs. And, I'm relatively sure that as time goes by, with their help, it will be even better in that regard.

Finally, I use a Popcorn Hour as an extender with NPVR and while I'm not a heavy user, it fits my needs. There does seem to be some work with other units as well.

[sub]

I am a current SageTV user and have enjoyed it for many years. I have been reading about NextPVR to see if it could be used as a replacement. So far it appears this product is primarily geared towards the EU and not the NA market. Is this true or am I missing something?

No that's not true. I'd say it's pretty even in its support for both those markets. It has pretty good support for ATSC/QAM capture devices, and North America specific services like Schedules Direct, and CableCard devices.

I would like to see cable card support and an extender option that could be purchased and used in NA.

There is CableCard support. The app has built in support for the Hauppauge DCR-2650, and HDHR Prime. There is a plugin available to also supports the Ceton card. It only supports CopyFreely channels, so pretty the same as SageTV in that respect.

For Extenders, it supports the Popcorn Hour A100/A110/B110, and the eGreat-M34A, and a couple of other clones.

[BrettB]

I've used NPVR (and GBPVR) for many years and I'm in the US and have no problems with it. There are many US users here that will tell you the same thing.
I've not played with Sage in years but it's doubtful you'll find anything that matches up to something you've been use to. However, the folks here are extremely helpful and sub has done a tremendous job and keeping it updated.
As for cablecard use, I have both a USB and and internal InfiniTV working in NPVR now. Though it's not perfect and takes some tweaking with the help of a few wonderful users, it's recording for me pretty dang well with copy freely programs. And, I'm relatively sure that as time goes by, with their help, it will be even better in that regard.

Finally, I use a Popcorn Hour as an extender with NPVR and while I'm not a heavy user, it fits my needs. There does seem to be some work with other units as well.

Ditto for me (except for InfiniTV part).

[nebulink]

Do you think the new A-300 will work as an Extender?
Are there any extender type devices that can be used with NextPVR and have native support for Netflix?
Thanks for the help!

[sub]

Do you think the new A-300 will work as an Extender?

Unfortunately no.

Are there any extender type devices that can be used with NextPVR and have native support for Netflix?

I dont think so.

[mvallevand]

In my mind nothing differentiates SageTV and NextPVR more than how effectively SageTV uses the detailed EPG information available from Schedules Direct and mc2xml in North America. So in a way I do think sub opted to focus more on what is globally available. I'd like to see ATSC virtual channels and working closed captioning to make everything more polished too. Sub only recently allow defaulting to AC3 on all devices which I consider essential in North America, DVB users in the rest of the world had it for a long time.

NextPVR shines with the North American tuner support. SageTV doesn't even have CableCard device support it relies on SageDCT, while NextPVR has native support in addition to supporting SageDCT. The challenge here for SageTV and NextPVR is once someone one of these devices, they tend to be forced to 7MC because of DRM.

I am still trying to figure out what the majority of NextPVR users expect from a client device and there hasn't been a lot of input. SageTV users are building a Boxee Box client but it is clearly an extender by my definition but it provide the SageTV look and feel with the added bonus of Netflix. A client like this is definitely quite possible for NextPVR. I do own a BB and I am now of the opinion that Plex provides a versatile solution on a variety of non-PC devices. Ironically Plex and SageTV already share a common look and feel.

I haven't given up on writing an A300 client, but until LiveTV is available (actually until I hear anything from Syabas), I am not spending a lot of time on this. Besides, there is going to be a Plex client on the A300 too. For this too, I really need to hear what NextPVR users want, because while the A300 (and it's brother the Popbox v8) are going to be the most powerful players for the next little while, they don't offer Netflix.

Martin

[nebulink]

An extender that supported Netflix would be the ultimate solution for me.

Sub, I appreciate the information you have provided.

[MooCows]

Another SageTVer here, extender died so I need a replacement. Started up nPVR today and it is looking good. I think the Popbox V8 live tv support (sagetv hd300 look alike) would bring in many more users. Looking forward to exploring the NextPVR capabilities!

[mvallevand]

I have pretty much given up on the Popbox extender because of lack of support for LiveTV, or more correctly LiveTV that starts up fast enough, it was taking 30 seconds to start and zero support from Syabas, the company that makes them. I am looking at other extenders options but for now the best bet are the first generation NMT's (about equal to the or better than HD200) that you can get on ebay for $65 (A100) to $90 (A110)

Martin