SageTV has been around for years and ha been a great way of watching TV on the PC, it’s been the main competitor for the TV side of Windows Media Center for some time. Today SageTV have announced that they have been purchased by Google. I think this is a great purchase for Google, Google TV hasn’t really delivered and this is a great way for Google to implement the tuner and EPG features into Google TV. What it means for SageTV in the future I don’t know
This is also great new for Windows Media Center users, there has been a lot of speculation on what Windows Media Center will be like in Windows 8 and whether it will include it at all and as we have seen with other Microsoft products they can get left behind and forgotten if there is no direct competitor so this could perhaps make Microsoft at least think about what have have got with the Media Center product. Google and SageTV haven’t said what they intending to do in the future and maybe hardcore SageTV users will be worried what it means for they product. Any SageTV users worried about their platform?
We’re thrilled to announce that SageTV has been acquired by Google.
Since 2002, we’ve worked to change the TV viewing experience by building cutting-edge software and technology that allows you to create and control your media center from multiple devices. And as the media landscape continues to evolve, we think it’s time our vision of entertainment management grows as well. By teaming up with Google, we believe our ideas will reach an even larger audience of users worldwide on many different products, platforms and services.
We’ve seen how Google’s developer efforts are designed to stimulate innovation across the web, and as developers have played a core role in the success of SageTV, we think our shared vision for open technology will help us advance the online entertainment experience. We look forward to joining Google, and while we don’t have anything specific to announce at this time, we encourage interested developers to email: [email protected]
I’m totally out of touch with regards SageTV and it’s penetration into the PVR market but I would expect it is a relatively niche product just like Windows Media Center is. In that respect I’d think it would be strange if Google purchased SageTV to kill it off so they must have plans for it somewhere. I guess the real concern is that if the Google TV project ends up getting killed then SageTV would potentially dissapear right along with that.
Regardless I think this could have a positive impact on Windows Media Center which seems to have been passed around like an unwanted child and if Microsoft do see Google TV take off in big numbers it would only make sense for them to take a closer look at how they can raise the penetration of WMC.
This might also mean a greater push for the WMC Embedded boxes where news has gone really quiety although I only expect these boxes to really succeed if Microsoft can persuade a big player like Freeview/Sat, Sky or Virgin to adopt them (Do Virgin use TiVo?). It seems that Microsoft and Sky are building relationships in terms of the Xbox and I know that they also see tuner based TV as a lower priority than IPTV so that also makes me worry about Media Center with all the talk of IPTV on Xbox.
It certainly seems that, as far as Microsoft are concerned, when it comes to getting TV in the living room that Xbox is the preferred platform so I’d almost expected that WMC on Windows 8 could be the last we see of it (given that Windows 9 is at least 2015).
Classic sign a market is about to boom and be the next big thing – Microsoft losing interest and dropping the ball. “Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen”
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Its a bit of catch up play for Google, lets be honest , google TV doesnt bring much to the party without some PVR capabilties …
I’m totally out of touch with regards SageTV and it’s penetration into the PVR market but I would expect it is a relatively niche product just like Windows Media Center is. In that respect I’d think it would be strange if Google purchased SageTV to kill it off so they must have plans for it somewhere. I guess the real concern is that if the Google TV project ends up getting killed then SageTV would potentially dissapear right along with that.
Regardless I think this could have a positive impact on Windows Media Center which seems to have been passed around like an unwanted child and if Microsoft do see Google TV take off in big numbers it would only make sense for them to take a closer look at how they can raise the penetration of WMC.
This might also mean a greater push for the WMC Embedded boxes where news has gone really quiety although I only expect these boxes to really succeed if Microsoft can persuade a big player like Freeview/Sat, Sky or Virgin to adopt them (Do Virgin use TiVo?). It seems that Microsoft and Sky are building relationships in terms of the Xbox and I know that they also see tuner based TV as a lower priority than IPTV so that also makes me worry about Media Center with all the talk of IPTV on Xbox.
It certainly seems that, as far as Microsoft are concerned, when it comes to getting TV in the living room that Xbox is the preferred platform so I’d almost expected that WMC on Windows 8 could be the last we see of it (given that Windows 9 is at least 2015).
Classic sign a market is about to boom and be the next big thing – Microsoft losing interest and dropping the ball. “Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen”