# SkipMode works like a champ



## Vicini (Aug 28, 2015)

Love the skipmode on the roamio pro. 
Works great here in the S.F. Bay Area.


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## eelton (Jun 10, 2001)

I agree--although it would be even better if it were automatic.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

If it were automatic they'd be a bigger target for a law suit. TiVo has always had a tendency to play it safe on this sort of thing.


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## gigaguy (Aug 30, 2013)

If skip mode were automatic, free tv would no longer be 'free'. Free TV is supported by ads. If Skip mode becomes automatic, suddenly you will see ads that can't be skipped, like on the internet or cable bills go up to pay for programming to the content creators.


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## ClearToLand (Jul 10, 2001)

eelton said:


> I agree--although it would be even better if it were automatic.


GOOGLE: "ReplayTV Commercial Advance"

You'll see that although it existed for YEARS in models 1XXX - 50XX they were finally forced to remove it in the final 55XXs. Hackers did figure out how and got the 55XXs to work via a software patch but ReplayTV, after many owners (the first models were from Panasonic), finally went bankrupt in July 2015.


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## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

eelton said:


> I agree--although it would be even better if it were automatic.





Dan203 said:


> If it were automatic they'd be a bigger target for a law suit. TiVo has always had a tendency to play it safe on this sort of thing.





gigaguy said:


> If skip mode were automatic, free tv would no longer be 'free'. Free TV is supported by ads. If Skip mode becomes automatic, suddenly you will see ads that can't be skipped, like on the internet or cable bills go up to pay for programming to the content creators.


Honestly, I am a little shocked that they can get away with this without it being automatic with no lawsuit pending...


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## Yudoka (Feb 12, 2015)

Tried out the feature for the first time today and loving it. Though I'm curious what qualifies for it? At first I thought it was certain networks but that's not true as some shows have it and some don't on the same channel. Even weirder, some episodes don't have it while others don't; u have 9 episodes of The Basdard Executioners recorded and there's a whole group in the middle that doesn't have this. 

Any idea how its decided which shows get this?


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## SrLANGuy (Dec 26, 2001)

Yudoka said:


> Tried out the feature for the first time today and loving it. Though I'm curious what qualifies for it? At first I thought it was certain networks but that's not true as some shows have it and some don't on the same channel. Even weirder, some episodes don't have it while others don't; u have 9 episodes of The Basdard Executioners recorded and there's a whole group in the middle that doesn't have this.
> 
> Any idea how its decided which shows get this?


The SkipMode feature is available on the top 20 most-watched networks and more channels will be added in the future. The shows that will be SkipMode-enabled are those that appear during the most common recording hours: seven days a week, between the hours of 4:00 pm and midnight (12:30 am for late night talk shows airing on ABC, NBC and CBS). Recorded shows with the SkipMode feature appear in your MyShows lists with a SKIP icon.

SkipMode feature is only available after a show has aired and is not available for all recorded shows or for local news and sports.
TiVo, the TiVo logo, the TiVo silhouette logo, TiVo BOLT, and SkipMode are trademarks or registered trademarks of TiVo Inc. or its subsidiaries worldwide.

SkipMode​
Within 5 minutes after a show finishes recording, the SKIP icon will automatically appear when you go into your "My Shows" list.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

SrLANGuy said:


> SkipMode​
> Within 5 minutes after a show finishes recording, the SKIP icon will automatically appear when you go into your "My Shows" list.


I can't test it, myself, since I'm OTA in a Chicago suburb, but I have a feeling that the one drawback of SkipMode will be the "hours of operation" limitation. Where we have a Comcast CableCARD'd Roamio, we end up with a number of shows on channels that are within the scope of SkipMode being recorded during rebroadcasts later in the evening or overnight -- outside of SkipMode's published hours of operation for their taggers.

Seems like we'll have to do a lot of work to try to make sure shows will be recorded during SkipMode's tagging window. (That is, until TiVo adds a conflict resolution feature that optimizes recording times to ensure SkipMode is available -- or they expand the tagging window.)


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Yudoka said:


> Tried out the feature for the first time today and loving it. Though I'm curious what qualifies for it? At first I thought it was certain networks but that's not true as some shows have it and some don't on the same channel. Even weirder, some episodes don't have it while others don't; u have 9 episodes of The Basdard Executioners recorded and there's a whole group in the middle that doesn't have this.
> 
> Any idea how its decided which shows get this?


Can you check what time of day your various episodes of Executioner were recorded?


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## donnoh (Mar 7, 2008)

So when do I get skip mode on my Roamio in TN? I was under the impression that it was supposed to start working on December 10.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

krkaufman said:


> I can't test it, myself, since I'm OTA in a Chicago suburb, but I have a feeling that the one drawback of SkipMode will be the "hours of operation" limitation. Where we have a Comcast CableCARD'd Roamio, we end up with a number of shows on channels that are within the scope of SkipMode being recorded during rebroadcasts later in the evening or overnight -- outside of SkipMode's published hours of operation for their taggers.
> 
> Seems like we'll have to do a lot of work to try to make sure shows will be recorded during SkipMode's tagging window. (That is, until TiVo adds a conflict resolution feature that optimizes recording times to ensure SkipMode is available -- or they expand the tagging window.)


Didn't someone already post that it doesn't matter when you record the show as long as it was originally broadcast during the normal tagging window?

Scott


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

HerronScott said:


> Didn't someone already post that it doesn't matter when you record the show as long as it was originally broadcast during the normal tagging window?


You're obviously asking the wrong person. 

(I'll be surprised if that *is* how it works, though. My expectation was that commercial break durations might differ between airings, and exact start times could be different, as well.)


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## 59er (Mar 27, 2008)

donnoh said:


> So when do I get skip mode on my Roamio in TN? I was under the impression that it was supposed to start working on December 10.


There is no announced launch of other markets beyond SF and Chicago thus far.


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## Yudoka (Feb 12, 2015)

krkaufman said:


> Can you check what time of day your various episodes of Executioner were recorded?


They all show as 10 pm start time. I have episodes 1-10 recorded with only episodes 3, 4, and 10 with the skip option tag.

I also have similar odidty with Family Guy, all recorded from their first time airings on Fox during various prime time slots on Sunday.

Humans and Into the Badlands on AMC is another set with some missed despite all episodes showing to have recorded at the same time.

Maybe (and this is a weird thought) the top 20 channels change with the ratings? So if for that night any of the mentioned shows didn't make top 20 they didn't get the skip option? It's the only thing I can think of right now other than a technical glitch.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Yudoka said:


> It's the only thing I can think of right now other than a technical glitch.


 Any corruption of captions or any missing piece of the show (such as due to clipping or partial recording) will result in missing "Skip" icon.


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## wco81 (Dec 28, 2001)

Bay Area, Roamio and Mini.

I get the skip on the Roamio but not the Mini. The same recordings, when viewed from the Roamio, has the skip icon and they do not on the Mini.

The faster playback works on both.


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## Vadi (Mar 13, 2015)

I'm surprised at how many shows have it. 

Season 5 of Modern Family (episode 23 (5/14/14), half of season 6, and all of season 7.

Out of 28 episodes of Seinfeld (TBS), 20 have it available.

The most recent episode of Last Man on Earth does not have it available.

I like it more than I thought I would. It's becoming quite useful.


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## Yudoka (Feb 12, 2015)

wco81 said:


> Bay Area, Roamio and Mini.
> 
> I get the skip on the Roamio but not the Mini. The same recordings, when viewed from the Roamio, has the skip icon and they do not on the Mini.
> 
> The faster playback works on both.


Reboot the mini. Mine was the same way until I reboot.


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## wco81 (Dec 28, 2001)

Yudoka said:


> Reboot the mini. Mine was the same way until I reboot.


Thanks, that worked.


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## MikeekiM (Jun 25, 2002)

wco81 said:


> Bay Area, Roamio and Mini.
> 
> I get the skip on the Roamio but not the Mini. The same recordings, when viewed from the Roamio, has the skip icon and they do not on the Mini.
> 
> The faster playback works on both.


Same here... Waiting on a Mini update... 

NOTE: Oh wait... I just read Yodoka's post... Will reboot now... 

NOTE 2: Yup... Works now... Thanks! How are people who don't frequent forums supposed to figure this out???


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## johnh123 (Dec 7, 2000)

Oh yes, I like this. Haven't been on here in awhile so didn't know it was coming. Great feature.


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## zerdian1 (Apr 19, 2015)

ClearToLand said:


> GOOGLE: "ReplayTV Commercial Advance"
> 
> You'll see that although it existed for YEARS in models 1XXX - 50XX they were finally forced to remove it in the final 55XXs. Hackers did figure out how and got the 55XXs to work via a software patch but ReplayTV, after many owners (the first models were from Panasonic), finally went bankrupt in July 2015.


I had 3 ReplayTVs with Lifetime and ran them for about 5 years.
But their support was in question, and switched from company to company.

I got two TiVo Series 2 with Lifetime. which I also used along with the ReplayTVs.

But around 2006, I went to HDTV and Dish Network. After a year or so, I got on the waiting list to Demo the Hoppers. Dish limited their Hoppers Commercial skip to the 4 major networks and only for PRIMETIME shows and limited their Commercial Skip till the overnight updates, so it would only be available the next day.

Surveys were done by Dish Network and later confirmed by the networks the sonly a small slice of the TV audience would ever benefit from Commercial Skip offered by the Dish Hopper.
At that time about 85% with DVRs hardly used them to time shift PRIMETIME SHOWS. Most used them to watch prime time in real time or slight skewed from real time. Only about 15% used the DVR to watch a show the next day.
I was in that latter group. My wife and most of my friends were in the former group who watched their primary shows in near real time most of the time. Most of that latter group were shift workers.

The Commercial Skip option was only activated one for each viewing of a show when it was selected to be played back.


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## RSCHOON (Sep 7, 2013)

Yudoka said:


> Tried out the feature for the first time today and loving it. Though I'm curious what qualifies for it? At first I thought it was certain networks but that's not true as some shows have it and some don't on the same channel. Even weirder, some episodes don't have it while others don't; u have 9 episodes of The Basdard Executioners recorded and there's a whole group in the middle that doesn't have this.
> 
> Any idea how its decided which shows get this?


The bigger mystery here is how anyone made it through 9 episodes of The Bastard Executioner! I was really excited for this show, but found it to be completely unwatchable.


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

krkaufman said:


> You're obviously asking the wrong person.
> 
> (I'll be surprised if that *is* how it works, though. My expectation was that commercial break durations might differ between airings, and exact start times could be different, as well.)


Dan203 has said that the commercial breaks are identified during playback from closed caption information. If the show is not re-edited to change the break points, those markers would be consistent between airings.


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## Joe3 (Dec 12, 2006)

Anyone on the East Coast have the Skip Mode feature ??


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## ClearToLand (Jul 10, 2001)

MikeekiM said:


> ...NOTE 2: Yup... Works now... Thanks! *How are people who don't frequent forums supposed to figure this out???*


Amen!


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## zerdian1 (Apr 19, 2015)

Joe3 said:


> Anyone on the East Coast have the Skip Mode feature ??


I am in South East Florida, on the ocean, so we can not get any further east.

I just got QuickMode on 12/5/15 on my Roamio Pros and Basic.

I got QuickMode on 10/30/15 on both of my Premier Minis.

No SkipMode yet, but I have SW 20.5.6 on all 5 devices.

So I am guessing it is just a switch or patch to be set as all the SW is there for SkipMode.

If anyone has the BOLT in my area, they are probably getting SkipMode.


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## zerdian1 (Apr 19, 2015)

MikeekiM said:


> Same here... Waiting on a Mini update...
> 
> NOTE: Oh wait... I just read Yodoka's post... Will reboot now...
> 
> NOTE 2: Yup... Works now... Thanks! How are people who don't frequent forums supposed to figure this out???


They either live without it being activated for a long time until they accidentally activate it.
Or
They call TiVo Tech Support if they think they should have it on their Mini.


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

zerdian1 said:


> I am in South East Florida, on the ocean, so we can not get any further east.


You could move to Maine. Everything north of Georgia is further east than you are.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

zerdian1 said:


> Dish limited their Hoppers Commercial skip to the 4 major networks and only for PRIMETIME shows and limited their Commercial Skip till the overnight updates, so it would only be available the next day.


...going in the other direction, AutoHop is only available for a week, right?

So saving up a bunch of episodes and watching them en masse with AutoHop isn't possible...?

As I mentioned in another thread, I have many (but not all) months old episodes of shows showing up with SKIP available. AutoHop, and the "use one tuner for all of network primetime" were features that made me VERY curious about DISH.. But since you couldn't (1) download shows, (2) own the hardware, (3) get lifetime subscription... it was mostly just curiosity.


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