Tivo - My 2 cents

JethroUK

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+ 1TB space is great + I have loads stuff on mine (lot in HD) and still only used 30%

+ 3 recording tuners, amazed how often i see 3 lights on

- Recording clashes are in totally separate menu to actually planned recordings so it's difficult to draw a relationship between the two, unlike V+ where you can clearly see what is not going to record next to what is going to record and make your choice which to delete or prioritise

+ The new menus are very nice +Guide view shows 6 channels at a time – Some menus are imported low res screens with no video view in the corner – wass all that about?

- EPG forgets where you got to and always starts back at the top

+ You can set up recording remotely via internet or mobile

+ The box is very sexy

+ You can give programs ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’ and as it learns your taste it will record things (suggestions) it thinks you’ll like

+ Above most menus is a suggestions bar showing programmes you might like + you can select these too and read about the series and set up a recording

+ Stacks of ‘info’ about programmes, actors, current showing on TV or VOD, history of series, when it was first shown, directors, etc – info only available from mini-guide if you press ‘record’ – bit more about this bizarre behaviour later

+ You can ‘Search’ for programme, film, actor by typing in search words +it searches not only the EPG but VOD content and even known background info - SMS style text entry (e.g. 2 taps for “B”) should be supported, it’s already got letters on the number pad so cant figure why they opted for 1980’s style ‘select one letter every 10 minutes’ method +there is already a remote complete with full ‘qwerty’ which is fine for some, but overkill and should not replace a proper software update to SMS text input

+ You can ‘browse’ by genre + just choose Films>Westerns or Programmes>Nature and if finds 100’s entries with full info on the prog and recording options - Should be an option to ‘browse’ for “All films” – & not forced to specify just “Gay & Lesbian Films” – Categories are fine but users should NEVER be forced to catagorise/specify (eliminate things) + I have set up “All films” as a wishlist

+ You can set up Wishlists which are brilliant +set up to find any ‘space/planets/universe’ progs and save this and view this list whenever + or can set it to automatically record anything it finds

- No Red button! which is on the ‘to do’ list– but a real deal breaker for anyone who uses it +think I heard August for this implementation

+ EPG also goes back in time and you can play any programme stored on catch-up +i never even knew of this feature and just clicked an old programme at random and it started playing which was simply brilliant – however i was just lucky – this is buggy at best and usually just dumps you in the catch up menu + another one on the ‘to do’ list

- You cant stop recordings with Stop button?????? + I have got used to just pressing ‘TV’ to exit recordings but it needs sorting

- No default padding method so you need to set padding for each individual recording - Should pre-populate Series Link settings (incl padding, max recordings etc) with last used values + Set focus on “Use these Series Link Settings” option so you just ‘OK’ unless you want to change settings

- Setting series link is too long process – “Series Link” should be default selection on the menu (as most popular job) and whisk you directly to Series Link Menu described above (and not to some other menu) – if the programme has no series link (a movie) then series link option need not appear on the menu at all, simples

- Pause button is huge, bright yellow and smack in the middle of the controller - Play/Pause button should be one and the same button +Pausing may have been a big feature 10 years ago but it’s not anymore

- Since Tivo is totally menu driven (doesn’t use colour buttons for options - much) then bringing up a menu should always be default behaviour for ‘OK’ button (i.e. not ‘change channel’ leaving you wondering how to do anything else with a programme being aired) – if a programme is being aired when you select it from the EPG then just add ‘watch now’ as default option to the menu (e.g. OK OK) – currently you have to press ‘record’ to access any info which is bizarre – because Tivo is menu-driven, the ‘record’ button is actually redundant and i supose they just left it there for people who expect it to have one – personally i would get rid off it

- Recordings library listing screen should display more information - Channel, Time, Series, Episode, Part/Viewed – At only 30% full Tivo list over 150 programmes which is great, but quite clearly Name & Date is not enough information - No New, Part-Viewed, Viewed information????????? Essentially information when you have 1TB of programmes at different stages

Current Tivo listing of 8 episodes

Gardening Today Fri 6/05
Gardening Today Fri 6/05
Gardening Today Fri 6/05
Gardening Today Fri 6/05
Gardening Today Fri 6/05
Gardening Today Fri 6/05
Gardening Today Fri 6/05
Gardening Today Fri 6/05

How it should be displayed with 'essential info’:

Gardening Today Fri 6/05 CBS 9:00------- New
Gardening Today Fri 6/05 CBS 9:30------- Part-Viewed
Gardening Today Fri 6/05 CBS 10:00------- New
Gardening Today Fri 6/05 BBC1 HD 21:00------- Part-Viewed
Gardening Today Fri 6/05 Home 22:00------- Viewed
Gardening Today Fri 6/05 Home 22:30------- Viewed
Gardening Today Fri 6/05 Home 23:00------- Part-Viewed
Gardening Today Fri 6/05 Home 23:30------- Viewed

– Ideally the user should be able to choose what info appears in the listings just like windows (series, episode, etc)

+ You can continue to watch recordings (or delayed/paused TV) when you go into a menu which is great - Sometimes when you’re in a menu and a recording is playing in the mini window and you try to put the recording back to full screen it switches to live TV instead

+ Tivo can play ‘a group’ of recordings, in date order which is great – however it does not remember where its up to (no method to Resume play for groups) which is more important than resuming individual progs – it’s only one more variable, come on guys keep up

-Lot of the problems are very basic and doesn’t reflect over 10 years experience in the PVR business

+ I think VM have thrown a lot of investment at Tivo so it will be sorted – eventually

Am I glad I got one? - Yes
Do I want my V+ back? - No Way
 
Hi Thanks for all that - very interesting.

One point I did not understand.

- You cant stop recordings with Stop button?????? + I have got used to just pressing ‘TV' to exit recordings but it needs sorting

Are you talking about a recording in progress here? Or playback of recordings. If the latter and you use "TV" to exit does it remember your point of exit to give "Play from last viewed" as the V+HD does??

BTW the in by far most attractive package for me to upgrade to TiVo I get to "keep" the V+HD.
 
Hi Thanks for all that - very interesting.

One point I did not understand.



Are you talking about a recording in progress here? Or playback of recordings. If the latter and you use "TV" to exit does it remember your point of exit to give "Play from last viewed" as the V+HD does??

BTW the in by far most attractive package for me to upgrade to TiVo I get to "keep" the V+HD.


When you play back a recording the stop button doesn't work (apparently previous Tivos never had a 'stop' button and the only reason we have one is to stop VOD content and you tube videos which are new features) - I just press 'TV' and it stops the play back and exits to live TV which is fine for me - and yes it doe remeber where you got to so next time you play the same recording it will resume from where you exited - still needs 'stop' button sorting though
 

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