Over the past several years SageTV has been able to differentiate itself within the home theater PC (HTPC) crowd by offering dedicated hardware. Their last extender and media player – the SageTV HD Theater HD200 was a definite success and considered top of the class when it comes to HTPC extenders. But the HD200 has been out of stock at the SageTV store since June 1st — causing much speculation on the forums. The reason for the lack of extenders this summer… its replacement, the next-generation SageTV HD300 ($150) has arrived.
I’ve been using this new Extender/Media Player for weeks now. The HD300 has a small footprint compared to the HD200, but it incorproates a 1.5x faster processor, 2x more memory bandwidth, and 2x the total RAM memory. Plus, the new HD300 beats HD200 pricing – it’s $50 less.
I used sage ages ago and gave it up for media center because of cablecard. I would love to give it a second try if the playon license leads to cablecard implementation.
Nah, that PlayReady license is for MS DRM as used in things like Amazon VOD and has nothing to do with CableCARD or CableLabs. That’s my hunch, anyhow.
That’s seems to be the general consensus, dave, but I can hope. I’d love to see what sage is like with my new Ceton tuner!
The PlayReady license SageTV now has is a significant step. But I agree with Dave on what that step might mean.
I use PlayOn for Hulu & Netflix Streaming in SageTV now which with the SageTV PlayOn plugin is pretty darn good now. PQ is not great – definitely not HD, but it’s good for those shows you may have missed recording.