TiVo service canceled and then some

[flavius]

Last night my wife and I had a brief discussion. Didn't take long to reach a final decision.

Today I canceled TiVo service. We're now relying solely on our PC PVR solution. My wife and I have been real fans of TiVo for several years, and we have been spreading the good news ever since. Quite a few people got one because of us.

Finally TiVo had to go, but it's not BTV that has replaced it. Beyond TV and Beyond Media are gone as well.

Here are the top three reasons:

1. I wanted to get at least another year, maybe two years out of my server. BTV wouldn't allow smooth timeshifting for anything recording with a quality higher than 'Good'. Now I can.

2. The BTV UI is unbearably slow sometimes, sluggish. I would have to make sure not to keep too many shows around, otherwise it would get worse. Not a problem anymore. I could even use 3d accelerated. Amazing how fast a transparent epg can be.

3. BTV requires use of web admin which clearly is a sub-par piece of software. Now I have administration in one UI.

BTV has serious architectural issues. Some of them are at display when you use the webadmin.

I have been running Beta versions of BTV for a year now. And I don't like what I have been seeing. Let alone the design of what might be coming up.

Your mileage does vary, of course. If you need those WMV's. Not sure if Sage can do those via 'job'. There are a few other things BTV only can do.

None of them we have use for.

EDIT: Did some testing. Now I can easily go as high as 7 Mbps for a DVD strream VBR (probably higher) while timeshifting and do full administration in transparency mode without any hickup. Here is (should be) something about webservices: http://science.slashdot.org/article....tid=146&tid=14

[BuckoA51]

Its a shame Sage doesn`t have the same plugins as BeyondMedia, currently BM's plugins (especially the game library ) are the reason i`m sticking to Snapstream as Sage is much faster generally.

[DanielS]

Originally Posted by flavius

... 1. I wanted to get at least another year, maybe two years out of my server. BTV wouldn't allow smooth timeshifting for anything recording with a quality higher than 'Good'. Now I can.

I record at DVD HI-Res and everything is generally smooth as glass, even while playing back the same show I'm recording.

2. The BTV UI is unbearably slow sometimes, sluggish. I would have to make sure not to keep too many shows around, otherwise it would get worse. Not a problem anymore. I could even use 3d accelerated. Amazing how fast a transparent epg can be.

Yes, there is currently a nasty performance hit here, but the devs are aware of it and I feel certain it WILL be addressed.

3. BTV requires use of web admin which clearly is a sub-par piece of software. Now I have administration in one UI.

Agaun, granted, an FSUI could and should be developed for the Viewscape to replace Webadmin.

BTV has serious architectural issues. Some of them are at display when you use the webadmin. I have been running Beta versions of BTV for a year now. And I don't like what I have been seeing. Let alone the design of what might be coming up.

Would you mind elaborating for the rest of us?

Flavius, as a long time member of the Forum and frequent contributer, your opinion is important to me, so please elaborate. I don't see ALL the problems you are experiencing with DVD Hi-Res recording. I DO still have occasional choppy playback issues that I'd like to get resolved but am not yet ready to totally blame SnapStream until I have troubleshot my rig. I'm still going to stick it out and hope the developers can fix some things under the hood, so to speak;

[dlandrum]

1) personal rig related
2) personal rig related
3) I used the webadmin when I was setting-up my system, but I never use it now. For what are you using it so frequently?

I used Sage last spring/summer until BTV 3.5 beta was stable enough in August. I will take another look at Sage if HD functionality does not speed-up with BTV ... plus I really like the Plextor USB PVR that records in Divx and is supported by Sage: http://www.plextor.com/english/products/TV402U.htm

[davefred99]

Originally Posted by dlandrum

1) personal rig related
2) personal rig related
3) I used the webadmin when I was setting-up my system, but I never use it now. For what are you using it so frequently?

I used Sage last spring/summer until BTV 3.5 beta was stable enough in August. I will take another look at Sage if HD functionality does not speed-up with BTV ... plus I really like the Plextor USB PVR that records in Divx and is supported by Sage: http://www.plextor.com/english/products/TV402U.htm

I dont think that #2 is necesarily only due to his personal rig although a more powerful sytem may mask it some. It is well documented that the BTV menus are notoriously sluggish at times. I mostly notice it when the guide data is updating so I turned it off and manualy update each nite when I go to bed.

As to HD support, I too may take a look at Sage and or MCE if they dont hurry up and get moving on it. I dont like to switch back and forth from one program to the other so once I make a move I likely wont be back unless theres a major reason to do so.

[DanielS]

Originally Posted by dlandrum

... if HD functionality does not speed-up with BTV ...

Yes, this IS a concern of mine as well.

... plus I really like the Plextor USB PVR that records in Divx and is supported by Sage: http://www.plextor.com/english/products/TV402U.htm

Patience Ladd, patience!