# Some ideas



## blastoff (Nov 29, 2006)

1. Improved information on shows. I know this comes from a database, but for example, the information that Comcast provides is often more complete.

2. Somewhat similar to the above, it should be possible for the Tivo to be a bit more intelligent about avoiding repeat shows. A prime example of this would be the Tonight show that I record. My affiliate broadcasts a repeat broadcast of the Tonight show at 2:35am. Fairly simple logic tells you that this cannot be an original broadcast, but since the Tivo database doesn't list it as a repeat, this extra show gets recorded 5 nights a week, 52 weeks a year, unless I specifically go thru and delete them from the to do list.

Another example would be the recording of a show as new whose description lists the show with a date of 2005, yet it is 2006. Seems like this would be a pretty simple logical operation in the database to mark this as a repeat.

3. The "jump ahead" button, specifically it's ability to jump *back* should be available to use at any time, not just during officially recorded programs, but during any lag.

4. The "lag" should remain even when changing channels.

5. The star ratings for movies should be available in the grid/guide. I know space is at a premium, but a single digit would give you a scale of 0-9. On my system, with a 3-digit channel number, there is a ton of space coming after that number, probably 3-4 characters worth.

6. Also on the grid, some kind of "in progress" symbol, like a ">" or something, to distinguish between something that is starting, and something that has already started, much like most of the online internet channel guides use.

7. Some kind of monitoring of channels watched etc., that could recall how much time is spent on certain channels could be useful. This is a bit tricky, as people simply walk away from the set at times, but some kind of measure of recorded shows and/or a measure of when the forward/reverse buttons are used (or any indicator of someone's presence) could indicate channel preferences. I'm quite sure there are some more channels I could get rid of, I'm just not sure which ones.


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## supasta (May 6, 2006)

1/2. TiVo gets it's information from a third party. The recording habits of your TiVo box are only as good as this information, which most of the time is poor at best.

Assuming that "lag" means the Live Buffer:

3. Not clear on this one. 

4. This suggests that the TiVo should be recording all 100+ channels that your cable providers feeds through the coax. This would mean that you need a 100+ tuner box in order to tune each and every channel. This is not impossible, but would be incredibly expensive, not to mention HUGE. Two tuners is a huge leap to start with. Do the math - My DT box at retail was $249.99 when I got my first at launch. It has 2 tuners. 250x50 = 100 tuners = VERY expensive.

6. The guide is quite simple to figure out. If a show starts at 6:00 PM and it is 6:09 PM (there is a clock on the grid) then you know your show is already in progress. 

7. Ok, if you cannot figure out which channels you watch and don't watch without a huge ridiculous spreadsheet of the amount of time you spend on each channel, well....Hmmm.....wow, I really have nothing here...


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## twm01 (May 30, 2002)

> 4. This suggests that the TiVo should be recording all 100+ channels that your cable providers feeds through the coax. This would mean that you need a 100+ tuner box in order to tune each and every channel. This is not impossible, but would be incredibly expensive, not to mention HUGE. Two tuners is a huge leap to start with. Do the math - My DT box at retail was $249.99 when I got my first at launch. It has 2 tuners. 250x50 = 100 tuners = VERY expensive.


I think what blastoff is suggesting is that TiVo keep the last 30 minutes of what you WERE watching, not what you change the channel to... i.e. if I were watching channel 5, then change to channel 6 and watch 5 minutes of it, I could rewind and see 25 minutes of channel 5 followed by 5 minutes of channel 6. I can't tell you how many times one of my kids has accidentally changed the channel of something that I had rewound to see, which then got lost.


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## supasta (May 6, 2006)

twm01 said:


> I think what blastoff is suggesting is that TiVo keep the last 30 minutes of what you WERE watching, not what you change the channel to... i.e. if I were watching channel 5, then change to channel 6 and watch 5 minutes of it, I could rewind and see 25 minutes of channel 5 followed by 5 minutes of channel 6. I can't tell you how many times one of my kids has accidentally changed the channel of something that I had rewound to see, which then got lost.


I makes sense, nonetheless. But, not realistic.


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## blastoff (Nov 29, 2006)

twm01 said:


> I think what blastoff is suggesting is that TiVo keep the last 30 minutes of what you WERE watching, not what you change the channel to... i.e. if I were watching channel 5, then change to channel 6 and watch 5 minutes of it, I could rewind and see 25 minutes of channel 5 followed by 5 minutes of channel 6. I can't tell you how many times one of my kids has accidentally changed the channel of something that I had rewound to see, which then got lost.


Exactly. Constructive replies are nice.


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## twm01 (May 30, 2002)

supasta said:


> I makes sense, nonetheless. But, not realistic.


Why do you say this is not realistic? TiVo certainly can buffer 30 minutes of live TV, right? What difference does it make if it is 30 minutes of the same (current) channel or 30 minutes of the previous channel(s)??? None that I can see...


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## twm01 (May 30, 2002)

Supasta... any response???


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## NoCleverUsername (Jan 29, 2005)

Pressing the record button in Live TV means to record the show that's currently on. If you're back in the buffer, now the problem becomes
which program did you really mean to record (say you maybe changed channels more than once)
if you meant to record the one you were watching in the buffer, you're now missing part of that show, even if the TiVo switches back to the original channel
so the buffer is always flushed on a channel change.

At least that's my understanding of the reasoning behind why it's done that way.


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## twm01 (May 30, 2002)

but they could always just start recording the current show that is on now from the point the channel was last changed. Either way, I would still like to have access to the last 30 minutes of whatever I viewed (and I would like to have the 30 minute parameter to be configurable, either through a menu or a select-play-select code like the 30 second skip  )


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