In my quest to create the perfect Server/Client environment for my digital media in my house I stumbled across a company called SageTV last year. SageTV had created a Media Center software that would serve as the hub for all your digital content. SageTV Media Center is the first PVR/media center solution designed for both PCs and TVs, runs on either Windows, MAC, or Linux, supports multiple tuners, networking and intelligent recording. In addition, SageTV has developed the SageTV HD200, a media extender that ties in perfectly with SageTV Media Center. Most importantly, SageTV Media Center fully integrates with Windows Home Server, something that for some reason Microsoft forgot to implement with Windows Media Center. As much as I liked what SageTV had to offer I must admit that I never fully took to it. As functional as it was, I found the UI to be outdated versus many of the other alternatives out there such as Windows Media Center or Media Portal, and the inner geek in me loves showing off a flashy UI when company comes over.
Well, a few months ago SageTV forum member PluckyHD created a new UI for SageTV called Sage Movie Wall (SMW) which has me rethinking my stance on SageTV. I was fortunate enough to help beta test the latest release of SMW (version 4) and am happy to see that as of this morning it has been released to the public. SMW brings a lot of flare back to the SageTV UI, and hopefully this is a sign of things to come in the future. Head over to my blog for a more detailed writeup of SMW.
Additional Information:
PluckyHD’s thread over on the SageTV Forums can be found here.
For one of the most comprehensive blogs on SageTV (and all things Media Center), check out Brent Evan’s Geektonic.
Sample Screenshots:
Article by Damian
Hi, my name is Damian, and I'm tech gadget addict! Although I always had some interest in technology, it wasn't until I got my EX470 and more importantly found Mediasmartserver.net, that my interest became an addiction. My goal, aside from world domination and to see the Mets/Broncos win another championship, is to set up the perfect digital home where all my media is available at the click of a button. When I am not writing for Mediasmartserver.net you can find me over at my blog at http://www.adigitalhomeblog.com or follow me on twitter
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Thanks Damian. When I was comtemplating which direction to go: HTPC or Popcorn Hour or Apple TV, etc., Damian directed me to the SageTV HD200 with it’s WHS software, and I must admit that was a great recommendation. I agree the stock UI is outdated and I’ve been using the Sage MC UI, which is much better and very family friendly. It gets used everyday. But, this looks interesting and worth investigating. I smell a possible weekend project to see if this has the same user friendliness once all set up. I suspect the setup will be complicated like most of the SageTV modications. But, the nice thing about Sage is that you can set it all up on your MSS and then save that entire program file as a back up somewhere; then go mess around with things like this and if it doesn’t work out, just take that backup of the Sage program file and put it back.
Thanks again Damian.
Hey Tex,
I agree with the complexity at times. Hopefully if SageTV v.7 ever comes along there is a complete rewrite of the code that allows for this to be simplified/streamlined. Ideally you would just want to run an installer that will install and handle all the details, or have an SVN repo similar to XBMC where you can grab and install the latest plugin directly from the Media Center.
I definitely like SMW much better then the base SagemMC layout. If you do go ahead and install and run into any problems shoot me an email or PM. One of the benefits of being a beta tester is that I got to install and uninstall many times, so setting up is almost second nature now!!!
Cheers
Damian
Damian,
Can this be used with The PCH, or do you have to use the Sage Media extender?
Regards,
Don
Hey Don,
Unfortunately SMW called only be used with a PC/HTPC or the SageTV HD200 extender. The only similar solution (Media Center/PVR) for the PCH which works with WHS would be GB-PVR