A non technical head to head battle of SageTV & Beyond TV
Diane Kristine decided that she wanted to foray into the world of PVR / DVR users. Although she is not technologically inclined, she did opt to use her computer as the device. A large part of that reason is because up here in Canada TiVo isn’t exactly a feasible option and a large part of the cable providers only have HD compliant devices (some of us are still on non HD TVs).
She initially tried out GB-PVR and MythTV, but soon found them too technical. So along with her Hauppauge WinTV-150 she proceeded to try out SageTV & Beyond TV. She had a few experiences which might help new users decide what software to go with (including having SageTV’s Intelligent Recording record a half hour infomercial). Her ultimate choice is indeed Beyond TV, but you may want to see why she chose it and whether it fits your bill too.
Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, SageTV, Beyond+TV, GB-PVR, MythTV
I’ve been going back and reading your old posts, since I only recently became aware of this blog, and I’ve seen you say that TiVo isn’t an option in Canada a few times now.
TiVo is fully supported in Canada out of the box. They aren’t sold at retail in Canada, but you can buy them from any US retailer who will ship to Canada, including sites like WeaKnees.com, and the Guided Setup fully supports Canada. TiVo started supporting Canadian users last year.
When/if they establish a retail presence there is up in the air, but they work and ordering from the US isn’t any more difficult from other online purchases.
Hi MegaZone, you are right about me being wrong regarding TiVo in Canada. A few weeks ago it came to my knowledge that there is support available in Canada. When I checked out TiVo a few years ago the only way to get it running in Canada was through a series of hacks and run arounds.
I think the biggest things stopping people up here from adopting TiVo are a) people want to be able to physically go somewhere to buy the box and get it serviced if need be b) a lot of people don’t like ordering from the states due to shipping costs and duty fees.
I have been scoping them out though. I am still unsure about program updates though because when you set a TiVo up in Canada you have to use Leo, WY 82327 for the City, State & Zip code. Any idea if this affects the program updates as far as long distance charges?