Review: SageTV STP-HD300

Don’t forget that it can decode all formats, including DTS, Dobly Digital and their HD versions to stereo for use on TVs that can’t decode those formats.  That’s huge for me.  I wonder if I’m still going to just pull the lossy codec on my BDs to save space…

Glad to at least have the option though…

I can’t wait for Cable Card, and I’m hoping that I’ll still be able to copy freely most of my content since I don’t watch premium channels.

I see three negatives so far.  No multichannel PCM audio support,  the form factor prevents me from stacking andlaying it on it’s side, and the lack of a front USB port.  I used mine on occasion when using standalone mode, and as a free USB charger for ipods.

Those are pretty minor complaints. 

Probably my biggest problem now is do I upgrade?  I would like to upgrade my bedroom to get DTS decoding support, but do I upgrade my main system also so I can support HD bitstreaming?  Hmm.  I guess that will depend on Cable Card support since I don’t believe in spending $ just to get HD audio.

If they launch Cable Card on SageTV, I will be upgrading just to simplify my system and make it more reliable.  It’s a mess with 2 HD-PVRs and 2 cable boxes connected with 4 cables each and mine hasn’t been very stable.

Great price point and feature set.

Even makes me want to consider it.

Of  course I just got the tracking number for the HP slimline I ordered for a sage client 🙁

I hope that if they do go the cable card route they’ll be able to support PC clients, if not then I guess I’ll just ebay my slimline and replace it with an HD300.

I love the fact that Sage listens to their user community.  I have always thought that an extender should have the capability for an external IR receiver.  Now, thoughts on future designs.  Bring it back to being square so they can be stacked or set on edge.  Make the size just big enough to accomodate pass through screws for a VESA mount.  

I am now in a bit of a quandry, as I have a Ceton card waiting to be setup.  I was originally going to set it up in a thin client PC as opposed to using the XBOX as extenders to benefit from full CODEC support and DVD menus.  Now, I am seeing that Sage really has their head in the game and Microsoft clearly does not, and am thinking about dusting off the Sage setup.  Adding to this, in order to go the thin non extender route, I need to have an analog tuner for the non HD channels since my provider does not simulcast them in encrypted QAM.

If only Sage had native Cable Card support, the decision would be so easy.

A firmware update was released tonight that addresses the multi-channel PCM issue.  Non Dobly/DTS multi-channel formats are output as multi-channel PCM now.

[quote=”tboyce”]
I love the fact that Sage listens to their user community.  I have always thought that an extender should have the capability for an external IR receiver.  Now, thoughts on future designs.  Bring it back to being square so they can be stacked or set on edge.  Make the size just big enough to accomodate pass through screws for a VESA mount.  

I am now in a bit of a quandry, as I have a Ceton card waiting to be setup.  I was originally going to set it up in a thin client PC as opposed to using the XBOX as extenders to benefit from full CODEC support and DVD menus.  Now, I am seeing that Sage really has their head in the game and Microsoft clearly does not, and am thinking about dusting off the Sage setup.  Adding to this, in order to go the thin non extender route, I need to have an analog tuner for the non HD channels since my provider does not simulcast them in encrypted QAM.

If only Sage had native Cable Card support, the decision would be so easy.
[/quote]

Can you use the ceton tuner with this? i thought the quad tuner only worked with MCE….