Sage vs. VMC and MCE

The gang at HTPCentric did a very interesting podcast Friday that pit 2 supporters vs. 2 in a comparison of Sage and the Microsoft MC solution from the last few years.  That being Media Center in Vista (VMC) and the original bolt-on in XP Media Center (MCE).  I have listened all the way through and it was a very good podcast except that there was a number of unexplored issues that came up.  I plan on commenting on some of them while they are fresh in my mind.

Hardware Extenders

The first major thing that I heard and took issue with was the lack of detailed attention on CE extender devices.  The lead-in comment in the podcast was that the extenders for VMC/MCE were very inexpensive.  This is a misnomer.  A proper V2 extender that has HDMI connectors on it will easily cost $250 USD on Amazon.  For us Canadians, we are looking at upwards of $300 or more.  The HD200 from Sage costs $199 USD and as was pointed out, does a LOT more than just extend Sage.  Furthermore, there is a real possibility we will see Hulu on the Sage platform in the near future (This is only great for Americans due to Hulu regional licensing issues).

Cost Comparison on Software

First, let me make an aside.  I have been building and using HTPCs for 5+ years and started out on MCE and then looked at VMC before deciding on SageTV about 1.5 years ago.  So, basically, I have spent time and money fussing with all of the contenders in this debate.

Windows XM Media Center Edition was, for the longest time, only available with a new PC.  Even when MCE 2005 was released, the only license available was the OEM and that cost $149 or more.  Today, you may get Vista Premium on all new PCs, but not all new PCs make for a good Media Server.  With that in mind, if you have dedicated hardware already, you are looking at about $149 for the OEM of Vista Premium.  Both of these cost more than the $79 for SageTV Media Center.  Also, Sage has only charged upgrade costs on those that have the older v4.  All v5 and v6 Sage users get v6 updates for as long as v6 is around.  The upgrade price for v4 users is only $39.  No one knows for sure, but it can be assumed that the same price will be charged for v7 upgrades whenever it comes out.

So, to summarise, you are looking at ~$149 to upgrade to VMC or to get onto VMC.  The real cost could be more if your hardware is not up to snuff for Vista.  Sage, on the other hand, will install on all versions of Windows as far back as Windows 98SE (Not that I would recommend that…).  It will also install on Linux and OSX.  With respect to Linux, although not the easiest route to use, it would allow you to build a server or extender PC without having to buy a new copy of Windows, ever.  Further, if you have a Mac, you can then install Sage Media Center on it and then use whatever extenders you want to (PC based or CE extender).  If you could not do it this way, you would have to buy a Windows license and install it in Parallels (Parallels is an additional cost in and of itself).  And for the Mac user, the worst case is that you would have to buy a whole PC to dedicate to the task.

I really don’t care how “free” it feels to get MC with Vista or with XP-MCE 2005, it is not free.  And it is especially not free when it requires a whole new OS to move to a newer version.  The sheer work to reinstall the OS is more than enough of a turnoff alone.

Interface Design

You will not get a single disagreement on the “crap” that is the default SageTV interface.  However, I equally dislike the interface layout in VMC.  I really like the “bling” of the VMC interface but I do not at all like how it is layed out.  I much prefer the layout of MCE 2005, which of course means that the main interface STV I have on my SageTV setup is indeed, SageMC.

Without going too far off this topic, the reasons that I can easily settle with the SageTV/SageMC interface setup is that it is the opposite of putting lipstick on a pig.  VMC may be pretty as all get out but once you get under the skin, the issues start to show themselves.

Glaring Issues in VMC/MCE

The following is a list of reasons that I cannot be inspired to go back to the MC platform:

• No position tracking in non-MS formated files (Coming in Win7 but at the cost of a new license)
• No PC based extenders
• CE Extenders are too expensive (A PC can almost be bought for the price of the Linksys DMA2100)
• DRM
• Non-customizable interface
• No codecs in MCE, Minimal in VMC (Being addressed in Win7 but at the cost of a new license)
• No native “Placeshifting”

Glaring Issues in SageTV

Not to lean hard in only one direction…

• Horrible default interface
• Still confusing for the average user to install STV and STVi packages.  This should be drunk simple.  Folder paths should NOT need to be known.
• Music and Photos section needs updating from a metadata sorting perspective
• Hardware acceleration settings are a bit confusing for the average user.  Sage should have a auto testing routine during install that forces to the highest settings that the detected hardware can handle.
• Built in Java (Although this aspect is a strong suit as to why it is so easily ported to Linux and OSX.)