Analysis — Linux developer Linspire Inc. and SageTV LLC, one of the first digital video recording (DVR) and home media center software developers, have collaborated to make SageTV Media Center Version 6 easily available to users of the Linspire and Freespire desktop Linux operating systems. SageTV previously favored Gentoo users.

SageTV Media Center software lets users watch, pause, and record TV programs on their Linux PCs, and provides a single user interface for accessing online video as well as personal music, photos, and videos stored on a PC or network. The optional SageTV Placeshifter, ala Slingbox, now also enables users to access their PC-based media library on any Internet-connected Linspire PC.

SageTV CEO Mike Machado stated, “SageTV Media Center for Linspire and Freespire users broadens our support for desktop Linux and extends our reach into the rapidly growing desktop Linux market for the first time.”

While SageTV for Linux has been available for the last two years, it was only offered in the form of an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) Edition. That version required users to manually set up IPTV drivers. This was, and is, not an easy job. The OEM version of the program also strongly encouraged — although it didn't absolutely require — users to set up a new Gentoo-based system in order to run it.

SageTV Media Center Version 6 just arrived in December of 2006, and is still advertised as an OEM version. However, on Linspire and Freespire, it's now available via Linspire's CNR (Click and Run) software installation/update service as a one-click download. Given both distributions' focus on making installing software as easy as possible, Linspire has presumably taken care of the heavy lifting required to install IPTV and SageTV.

The key features of the proprietary SageTV Media Center include: personal video recording without TiVo-style subscription fees; pause, rewind, and fast-forward live or recorded cable, satellite, or antenna TV shows; and, with the proper equipment, users can also record multiple shows on multiple tuners simultaneously.

This version also includes an integrated 14-day U.S., Canadian, and European program guides, eliminating the need for users to switch to a separate online application to plan their TV viewing and recording. The European guide, however, requires a subscription to a TV guide service.

With the addition of an optional SageTV Media Extender, any TV can access SageTV-managed video, music, photos, and personal videos. SageTV is claimed to support MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, DivX, and VOB formats for video; MP3, WAV, Ogg Vorbis, and FLAC for audio; and the JPEG, GIF, BMP, and PNG graphics formats.

In theory, the combination of SageTV 6 and Linspire/Freespire will run on systems with as little as an Intel Pentium 3 or AMD Athlon processor and 256 MB of RAM. As a battle weary PC media server veteran, though, I can tell you right now: that's not enough. I wouldn't try it on anything less than a 2.8GHz Pentium IV with a gigabyte of RAM and the fastest hard drive you can muster.

In addition, to get full functionality you'll need a TV tuner card. SageTV 6 and Linux support Hauppauge's PVR150 (which also supports an IR blaster remote control), PVR250, or one of its dual-tuner PVR500 family cards. If you elect to watch SageTV media on a TV with the optional Wireless Media Extender, be certain to use 802.11g and an access point that's extremely close to the media extender (WiFi runs at its fastest when there's a strong signal). This is true, by the way, of any WiFi-enabled media center extender.

An open-source alternative to SageTV, albeit one that requires more software installation work from users, is the MythTV project.

The SageTV Media Center Version 6 for Linspire and Freespire is available for $79.95 or in combination with the optional Placeshifter license for $99.95, through Linspire's CNR software warehouse. The $109.95 wired SageTV Media Extender and the $159.95 SageTV Wireless Media Extender are available from SageTV's website.

— Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols is chief blogger on Linux-Watch.com

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.