Fans of SageTV will love this one -- out now in the latest beta release of the software is HD Theater streamer playback of ripped Blu-ray discs. There's no support for the interactive features, but based on what we've seen from BD-Live so far, you won't be missing much; what you are able to do is point the HD Theater at the ripped BDMV folder on your SageTV PC and enjoy multiple audio tracks and chapter support, with subtitles promised somewhere down the road. For now, this only works when the HD Theater is used in extender mode, but a future firmware upgrade promises to bring the functionality to streamers used in standalone mode. This certainly gives SageTV something to crow about with respect to, say, a Kaleidescape setup, doesn't it? Beta testers, let us know how this feature works out for you.

When we first heard about the new SageTV HD Theater, we thought it was just a smaller version of the HD100, but boy we're we wrong. The reason is simple, the new HD Theater from SageTV does everything we loved about the HD100 -- like extending HD from SageTV DVR software to any TV in the house -- but is now smaller and adds a great new twist: it will work as a standalone media streamer. Now we know what you're thinking, "great, like we need yet another media streamer." We know it, because that's exactly what we were thinking. But this is different because it will play every codec under the sun -- including MKV and H.264 -- and at the same time give you direct access to online content from the likes of YouTube and HD Podcasts -- Hulu was demoed at CES, but isn't live yet. Before you get too excited though, this wonder box isn't perfect, but you'll just have to click on through to learn all about that.

After seeing a few pictures of the Hulu access on the SageTV HD Theater, we wanted to go by and check it out for ourselves, and while we were there we took a quick video -- sorry it isn't in HD. Overall we liked the interface, and although we've given SageTV a hard time about the lack of richness in regards to the interface in the past, we were impressed overall. As we mentioned before, this isn't available to the public yet and one of the reasons is that right now the ads aren't coming through, but Sage assured us this would be fixed before it's released -- shucks.

Although most of us didn't think Hulu stood a chance, it has not only proven us wrong in a big way, but now it's the hottest online source for video, featuring some of the best shows on television. The problem of course is that despite what some may tell you, most people want to enjoy their TV shows on their TV -- shocker huh? So we were happy to see that an already very useful media streamer like the new SageTV HD Theater has a working Hulu demo at CES. The bad news is that it isn't out in public beta yet and from the sounds of it, it doesn't integrate as tightly with SageTV as much as we'd like. The good side of this is that a SageTV server won't be required to use the new feature, but yeah we want our cake and eat it too.

Ah, so this is a yearly treat? Almost a year to the day after SageTV's STX-HD100 HD Media Extender was revealed, in flies the unit's proper successor. The simply named HD Theater (or HD200, if you prefer), is launching for the same $199.95 and sports a slightly smaller footprint, the same remote as the HD100, USB ports on the front and rear, an Ethernet jack, HDMI / component / S-Video / composite video outputs, a S/PDIF audio port, network / local media streaming capabilities and the SageTV Media Center for Windows software bundle. Per usual, you'll find support for a cornucopia of formats (MPEG 1/2/4, H.264, WMV9, VC1, MKV, MOV, AVI, FLV, AAC, MP3, WMA, FLAC and JPEG just to name a few), and it looks as if it's ready to ship as we speak.

[Via GeekTonic]

Lots of HTPC fans have been salivating over the promise of the Hauppauge HD PVR. That pesky "analog hole" looks like it might be the best solution for our imperfect tech world. Without integrated Windows MCE support yet, the race is on to deliver some PVR software that's step above the bundled apps. SageTV has already tantalized us with advance info on the hardware, so you know support in its product is coming soon. Now we see that SnapStream has a prototype unit in its mitts, so you can assume it's cooking in everything needed for Beyond TV. But neither of them is going to be first to deliver -- that honor goes to GB-PVR, which did a wayback machine number on us and built support in to its 1.2.9 release back on March 9th. Nice 0-day hardware support! Turns out the poor developer is just "too busy with other stuff" and doesn't have HD content to really show this off right now, though (they're located in New Zealand).

UPDATE: The developer himself wants to clarify the motivation behind his quote: because he's in New Zealand, which uses DVB-T for free OTA HD, he personally doesn't have a need for the HD PVR. He thinks the HD PVR will be huge in N. America, though. Thanks for the clarification and the hard work, Graeme!

Read - Hauppauge HD PVR on the SnapStream bench
Read - GB-PVR announced support for HD PVR in March

Although we just caught wind of SageTV's new HD Media Extender late last month, the unit is now not only up for sale, but it's already been through quite a workout at the hands of Brent Evans. The STX-HD100 showed a lot of promise on paper, and thankfully, it seems to have delivered in reality. Mr. Evans found the overall experience with the device to be "very impressive," noting that image quality was "excellent," file support was up to snuff and heat / noise were both non-factors. Additionally, the box played nice with a myriad operating systems, suffered from no "crippling DRM restrictions" and came in at a very respectable $199. Granted, there were a few things to pick on -- namely the lack of an optical drive / CableCARD slot and the inability of the remote to toggle the TV on and off -- but aside from that, most everything else seemed to garner copious quantities of praise. We know, it does sound a bit too good to be true, but head on over and digest the whole spill if you're still skeptical.

[Via ZatzNotFunny]

Details are still a bit thin, but it looks like SageTV -- developer of alternative media center software -- is poised to release an HD media extender for in-home placeshifting. The company, which already makes a standard definition wireless extender, revealed pics of the so-called STX-HD100 today, along with a few shots of the retail packaging which expose such features as HDMI, component, S-Video, and composite jacks as well as USB 2.0 Mass Storage Interface. Keep reading to check out another angle, and you can probably dig up a little more info by trawling around the SageTV forums, where it seems like quite a few folks have been waiting around on this product for some time now...

[Thanks, Matt C.]

We placeshift our HDTV with an Xbox 360, so this was interesting news to us. SageTV's newest beta (4.1.7 for you Sage-a-maniacs) now supports placeshifting via a client called "SageTVPlaceshifter".
Don't be disappointed in the name, what did you expect since the names "Orb" and "Slingbox" were already taken? We're guessing that you're not shifting HD content with this first version, but we all know that's where things are headed. Does anyone know the patron saint of "bandwidth" so we can light a candle?

[via eHomeUpgrade]