Questions about non-MCE HTPC software

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dualityim

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Apr 16, 2005
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A little while ago I was considering MCE as the main software in my future HTPC. But recently I've changed my mind, my main concern being the proprietary recording format. I have two questions: does any other TV software, such as SageTV, BeyondTV, or MediaPortal, support HDTV reception, and if so, how does this functionality compare to that of MCE? Also, I've heard SageTV can be integrated into Meedio. How does this work? Does the two interfaces become one? What about functionality overlaps, such as photo viewing and music playback? Thanks in advance.
 
my main concern being the proprietary recording format.
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I wouldn't call it "proprietary" considering it's just an MPEG2 file with DRM. Anyways there are ways to get around this, I don't understand why this is an issue.
I have two questions: does any other TV software support HDTV reception
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SageTV now has support for the Fusion and I believe the ATI HD tuners, SageTV has support for using the firewire out on a Cable STB as well. One problem with all of this is that these HD tuners will be rendered moot once the BF goes into effect (I believe next year). Currently MCE is the app that I have hear that will have support for Cable Card bringing real HD tuning abilities.
I've heard SageTV can be integrated into Meedio. How does this work
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All it does is launch Sage from within Meedio.
What about functionality overlaps, such as photo viewing and music playback?
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Simple: Sage sucks at those things. The reason why anyone would buy Sage is because it's PVR abilities are a hellova lot better then any other PVR app, everything else is just an after thought.
 
Thanks for the explainations. I didn't think the dvr-ms (I think that's what it is called) recording format was that big of a issue either. (BTW I thought it was the WMV9 implementation of the MPEG-4 codec wrapped in DRM?) But as I started considering alternatives to MCE, I thought why bother with using utilities that strip the DRM and convert dvr-ms to standard avi files, when I could just use SageTV or MediaPortal and record directly to mpeg-4. Also thanks for bringing up BF, it reminds me that now is really a bad time to buy these gear...maybe I should just wait.
 
dualityim said:
Thanks for the explainations. I didn't think the dvr-ms (I think that's what it is called) recording format was that big of a issue either. (BTW I thought it was the WMV9 implementation of the MPEG-4 codec wrapped in DRM?) But as I started considering alternatives to MCE, I thought why bother with using utilities that strip the DRM and convert dvr-ms to standard avi files, when I could just use SageTV or MediaPortal and record directly to mpeg-4. Also thanks for bringing up BF, it reminds me that now is really a bad time to buy these gear...maybe I should just wait.
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DVR-ms is MPEG2, with added drm and metadata such as show name, closed captioning etc.

Sage will only record to mpeg4 with one capture card that has hardware mpeg4 encoding. It won't do that with a Hauppauge 150/250.

Sage is a much better PVR program than MCE (which is really more of a DVR.) MCE's main strongpoint is that it looks great and is simple to use, especially with the MCE remote.
 
About BF...does it apply only to OTA HD broadcast, or would digital cable channels also be affected? Is it something the FCC set aside for 8-VSB, or will it apply to QAM-256 as well? What are the chances that current HD PCI tuners will simply ignore the broadcast flag and record HD programs exactly as before?
 
BF will apply to everything, but is only really an issue for OTA. Current digital cable is next-to-impossible to access in a pure digital version. I don't think there's any digital cable PC cards or DVI apture devices available now, and firewire is a crapshoot at best.

I think some of the first HD cards (which are OTA only) might ignore the flag.
 
I was referring to those cards that support 256-QAM, which would capture cable HD signals. I wonder if BF will affect those.

About SageTV and Java, does the entire program run on Java Bytecode, or does it only use Java for part of its functionality, but the program core still run on native machine code?
 
Yes the BF applies to everything and Sage is coded as a Java app so you need it to run Sage. As much as I love Sage I really hate the fact that it needs java to run, I'm not a big fan of Java since it seems to eat alot of resources. BTW if do get Sage just remember that most problems you may have seem to come from Java and installing on versino on top of another; best thing to do is to uninstall Java and then install the new one and see if that clears up the problem.
 
Okay, this last question is a little obscure and probably can't be answered, but I'll try anyway. (I tried google to no avail) My cable company supplies a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 4200, and apparently is has a USB port. Could I possibly use some software to control it that way instead of using an IR blaster? If so then which software?
 
It would be nice but no. There are a few cable boxes that have USB but they are not "active" which means that you can't use them.
 
Hmmm...time to reassess this with the two new dramatic developments.

How long until we have a cable-card ready QAM/VST/NTSC tuner supported by MCE? With cable card support for MCE, would MS somehow solve the problem of having to have two cards in order to get HD to work?
 
Well there is suppose to be an update for MCE later this year for CC support but I would expect it strickly as OEM systems builds, I wouldn't expect to see CC parts for home builders show up until sometime in '06 (probably first quarter or so). Then again the next major release for MCE (adding CC support) could come sometime in '06 instead although I'd imagine it would show up long before MCE '07 Longhorn comes out.

Some of the hold ups seem to be in the flaging of certain channel's content as "record once" or it just not recording, eg: not being able to record an HBO show like you're suppose to cause the MCE code screws up and doesn't see that HBO shows are logged as "record once." Another issue could be the development of bidirectional cable cards so it can act as a dual tuner.
 
I don't think the broadcast flag decisions makes any difference to cablecards. BF was only for OTA broadcasts. The main holdup with getting digital cable on the PC is that the cable companies don't want people to be able to get their signals digitally. Even with a QAM tuner, the cable co's can still encrypt their channels (anything that isn't available OTA) so it would be of limited use.

Why would they encrpyt the channels? so you have to rent their crappy DVR box. Hopefully MS has the muscle to convince them otherwise. (Who'd have thought MS might actually do us some good!) ;)
 
Sony wrestled the VHS from the arms of the movie industry. Hopefully MS could save the DVR from the cable giants. It's the lesser of two evils, I guess. When content providers are pitted against software/hardware makers, the consumers should side with the software/hardware guys.
 
Well I would not expect MS to save anyone from anything especially DRM technology. The broadcast flag has been struck down by the court of appeals and the only place the FCC can go now is congress.

You can buy a HDTV card right now without a BF flag and use mythtv which will allow you to transcode the commercials out, to DivX, stream to the web and burn backups to DVD. http://www.pchdtv.com/
 
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