# Skipmode, quickmode & 4k



## zerdian1 (Apr 19, 2015)

Leap commercial breaks in a single bound.
TiVo BOLT introduces the world to the speed and convenience of skipping entire commercial breaks at the press of a single button.(6) SkipMode transports you past these interruptions and back to your recorded show in an instant. Its fast-forward perfected. Now you get to watch only what you want, and skip over the stuff you dont.

Comfortably speed through your shows.
Life is short, and sometimes you just want to make the world go faster. Thats why weve added QuickMode. Watch recorded shows 30% fasterwithout the audio getting squirrely on you. QuickModes pitch-corrected audio lets you comfortably speed through slow-moving programs like news, sports and overly long award shows. Its a great way to catch up when youre pressed for time.

Watch on every TV without added service fees.
TiVo Mini is the all-purpose companion to your TiVo BOLT. Delivering Tru Multi Room control, TiVo Mini gives you the exact same TiVo experience on additional TVs in your home(7), including access to streaming content from Amazon Prime, Netflix and more.(1) Plus, you get all your favorite TiVo controls, like SkipMode, QuickMode, pause and rewind. Best of all, each TiVo Mini you add in your house requires no additional service feepotentially saving you hundreds a year compared to other solutions.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Only 30% faster. YEAH feature, boo that speed. I'd PAY a fee for 2-2.5x faster (on my existing hardware). I'll use it (other threads said it's coming to the Roamio), but I wish it were MUCH faster.

commercial skip *GREAT**


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## JBDragon (Jan 4, 2004)

mattack said:


> Only 30% faster. YEAH feature, boo that speed. I'd PAY a fee for 2-2.5x faster (on my existing hardware). I'll use it (other threads said it's coming to the Roamio), but I wish it were MUCH faster.
> 
> commercial skip *GREAT**


30% is pretty good. Faster but not to fast, and still allowing the audio to not sound like chipmunks. I still don't see why commercial skip can't come to my Roamio?


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

JBDragon said:


> 30% is pretty good. Faster but not to fast, and still allowing the audio to not sound like chipmunks. I still don't see why commercial skip can't come to my Roamio?


Yes. At 1.5x and higher I would not be able to stand it. I'm still curious what 30% faster will be like. But I can certainly think of a few programs that I would like to try it on that I watch.


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

mattack said:


> Only 30% faster. YEAH feature, boo that speed. I'd PAY a fee for 2-2.5x faster (on my existing hardware). I'll use it (other threads said it's coming to the Roamio), but I wish it were MUCH faster.
> 
> commercial skip *GREAT**


You wouldn't pay for 2-2.5x faster. You might think you would. You might think I'd rather watch my 1 hr show in 30 minutes. But you'd change your mind pretty frickin' quickly if they delivered that to you. And your cheers would change to boos.

You'll probably find it isn't desirable to watch some shows at 30% faster as it is.


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## zerdian1 (Apr 19, 2015)

trip1eX said:


> You wouldn't pay for 2-2.5x faster. You might think you would. You might think I'd rather watch my 1 hr show in 30 minutes. But you'd change your mind pretty frickin' quickly if they delivered that to you. And your cheers would change to boos.
> 
> You'll probably find it isn't desirable to watch some shows at 30% faster as it is.


I think they went with the experiment to see if people even use the 30% with the audio corrected to sound like regular audio speeded ever so slightly.
I think if the experiment is successful and people use it then we will see it in 3 grades: one slower, one at 30% mid range and one faster.

I find that I have watched sporting events at one two, and three times fast forward until a score and that is without audio or corrected audio.

My wife also fast forwards through her Brazilian soaps esp. the commercials without audio.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

I think that the commercial skip is to attact new users to TiVo, and is probably a good feature to advertise. Veteran TiVo users like us aren't going to care, as we are so good at mashing through the commercials anyway, although I could see it being useful for something like The Daily Show, where there are a couple of commercial blocks, and you can be doing something else while watching them. It's still annoying that they, presumably for legal reasons, require you to still pick up the remote and FF them. If they didn't, this would be incredible for use while cooking or working in a shop or whatever.

The speeding up is stupid. Podcast apps have been doing this for a while, and you lose so much of the podcast or TV show if you're speeding it up.

4k seems like buzzword caching-in. Except for the first generation of 4k sets, which also don't have HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2, all 4k sets have Netflix and Amazon (which TiVo still doesn't support in 4k) built in anyway. I guess the peanut is a better remote than the crappy TV remotes, but that's not a differentiating feature. I guess it's better to future-proof, but it's not a feature that is going to get anyone with a TV that already has a HEVC decoder and 4k Netflix to upgrade.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

trip1eX said:


> You wouldn't pay for 2-2.5x faster. You might think you would. You might think I'd rather watch my 1 hr show in 30 minutes. But you'd change your mind pretty frickin' quickly if they delivered that to you. And your cheers would change to boos.
> 
> You'll probably find it isn't desirable to watch some shows at 30% faster as it is.


As I already said, I ALREADY ROUTINELY WATCH SHOWS at 2.5x in VLC on my iPad. (Lately, Naked & Afraid episodes, old 20/20 episodes, 48 Hours.. sometimes Cops episodes.)

When I'm walking on the treadmill, since I have less control to skip around, sometimes I use ~1.8-1.9x.


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## Jrr6415sun (Mar 31, 2006)

mattack said:


> Only 30% faster. YEAH feature, boo that speed. I'd PAY a fee for 2-2.5x faster (on my existing hardware). I'll use it (other threads said it's coming to the Roamio), but I wish it were MUCH faster.
> 
> commercial skip *GREAT**


something 2.5x fast would not be watchable. Why you enjoy that I have no idea. 30% is fine with me because you probably won't notice anything. I know that TBS already does this for seinfeld episodes so they can add more commercials.


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## series5orpremier (Jul 6, 2013)

I don't know why I'd pay an extra $150/year + hardware cost just to gain fast forward features (4K streaming through TiVo has no value to me) when I already have two 4-tuner lifetime boxes each with multiple times more storage. I think the marketplace will send TiVo that message sooner AND later.


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## LightningBOLT (Sep 30, 2015)

aaronwt said:


> Yes. At 1.5x and higher I would not be able to stand it.* I'm still curious what 30% faster will be like.* But I can certainly think of a few programs that I would like to try it on that I watch.


Check out youtube and click on the grommet in the lower right of the video. It gives you an option to speed up the playback at various speeds. How to videos need to be set to 2x for the most part while other videos are so content dense that increasing by .25 might be too fast.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Jrr6415sun said:


> something 2.5x fast would not be watchable. Why you enjoy that I have no idea. 30% is fine with me because you probably won't notice anything. I know that TBS already does this for seinfeld episodes so they can add more commercials.


I *ALREADY WATCH SHOWS* at 2.5x or faster on my iPad routinely.

When I have to "slow down", I go to ~1.7x usually..

(This is only for news, talk, some game shows/reality shows.. not normal scripted stuff.. Though I did start getting used to playing SNL on my OTHER recorder at ~1.5x.. So I may use the built in 30% faster for that.. That was INSTEAD of simply FFing the boring-ish skits.)


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

mattack said:


> As I already said, I ALREADY ROUTINELY WATCH SHOWS at 2.5x in VLC on my iPad. (Lately, Naked & Afraid episodes, old 20/20 episodes, 48 Hours.. sometimes Cops episodes.)
> 
> When I'm walking on the treadmill, since I have less control to skip around, sometimes I use ~1.8-1.9x.


People actually like to absorb what they are watching and not just watch the chipmunk's cliff notes version.


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

zerdian1 said:


> I think they went with the experiment to see if people even use the 30% with the audio corrected to sound like regular audio speeded ever so slightly.
> I think if the experiment is successful and people use it then we will see it in 3 grades: one slower, one at 30% mid range and one faster.
> 
> I find that I have watched sporting events at one two, and three times fast forward until a score and that is without audio or corrected audio.
> ...


It's not an experiment. IT's a major new feature.

Sure if people like it so much that they write Tivo asking them to make it faster then Tivo might do something about it.

Don't think that will happen. I think the audio correction has its limits too.

I don't see this as a way to just skim shows either. It came across as a way to actually watch a show and yet save time.

Fast forwarding thru shows is skimming shows. EVeryone does that I'm sure. It's usually because the show is boring and they don't care but want to hedge their bets.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

trip1eX said:


> I don't see this as a way to just skim shows. I see it as a way to actually watch a show and yet save time.
> 
> Fast forwarding thru shows is skimming shows. EVeryone does that I'm sure. And usually because the show is boring and they don't care.


Agreed. I'm actually very much looking forward to this feature, and I would much rather have it added to my Roamio than the SkipMode. I routinely watch YouTube videos at 1.25x speed, and it is barely noticeable once you get used to it. There is just so much TV now with hundreds of channels, and I record so much stuff on my Roamio, that I often don't have enough time to watch it all. Being able to watch shows 30% faster should allow me to watch 30% more TV shows.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

LightningBOLT said:


> Check out youtube and click on the grommet in the lower right of the video. It gives you an option to speed up the playback at various speeds. How to videos need to be set to 2x for the most part while other videos are so content dense that increasing by .25 might be too fast.


The biggest thing is it's supposed to be pitch corrected isn't it? Even Youtube at 1.25x doesn't sound right to me. 1.5x is terrible and 2x is atrocious.

If the TiVo can do it at 1.3x and be pitch corrected, I could see using it to watch the news programs I record. I wouldn't use it with dramas and comedies but news, documentaries, sports etc, would be a perfect for me to use it on.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

I wish they made QuickMode adjustable. I would like to try 10% or 15% on scripted shows. I'll give 30% a shot, but I already need to jump back to catch misssd dialog at 1x.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

aaronwt said:


> ...
> 
> If the TiVo can do it at 1.3x and be pitch corrected, I could see using it to watch the news programs I record. I wouldn't use it with dramas and comedies but news, documentaries, sports etc, would be a perfect for me to use it on ...


News sounds like it would be great:up:


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## jeffw_00 (Sep 19, 2000)

Is the Quickmode -NOT- adjustable? ONLY 30%?

Also - I'm curious as to what people's experience is with this feature. Thanks!


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## zerdian1 (Apr 19, 2015)

believe the quick mode at 1.3x is a first step in an experiment.
We are the ones that will use it and report back.
I expect in a year or two there will be a slow, medium and fast each with corrected or sampled audio to match the video.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

Bigg said:


> I think that the commercial skip is to attact new users to TiVo, and is probably a good feature to advertise. Veteran TiVo users like us aren't going to care, as we are so good at mashing through the commercials anyway, although I could see it being useful for something like The Daily Show, where there are a couple of commercial blocks, and you can be doing something else while watching them. It's still annoying that they, presumably for legal reasons, require you to still pick up the remote and FF them. If they didn't, this would be incredible for use while cooking or working in a shop or whatever.


One thing that might be nice, for any show that does separate segments separated by commercials (or opening theme followed by commercials), is that the skip function should let you perfectly skip the rest of a segment/theme you don't care about.
Landing at the end of the next commercial break should put you right where the show resumes/transitions to the next segment.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

Jonathan_S said:


> One thing that might be nice, for any show that does separate segments separated by commercials (or opening theme followed by commercials), is that the skip function should let you perfectly skip the rest of a segment/theme you don't care about.
> Landing at the end of the next commercial break should put you right where the show resumes/transitions to the next segment.


That's an interesting/intriguing idea, but it would be hard to implement, as in certain shows, there is subjectivity about where one "segment" ends and one begins or what constitutes a "segment" per se. In other cases, it is more clear.


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## jeffw_00 (Sep 19, 2000)

I think what he's saying (or the best you can expect), is that if you hit the QuickSkip in the middle of program material it takes you to the end of the next commercial break. I would expect this to be default behavior.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

trip1eX said:


> People actually like to absorb what they are watching and not just watch the chipmunk's cliff notes version.


I am absorbing what I'm watching.

BTW, I listen to podcasts at 2x too.. and I know others who wish Podcasts (the app on iOS) had a 3x capability. That's a bit too fast to me.. and I'm backtracking a TINY bit. Over the weekend, the fastest I routinely hit was about 2.5x. Going much above that was too fast.. But I definitely was "taking in" the news show content.


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

mattack said:


> I am absorbing what I'm watching.
> 
> BTW, I listen to podcasts at 2x too.. and I know others who wish Podcasts (the app on iOS) had a 3x capability. That's a bit too fast to me.. and I'm backtracking a TINY bit. Over the weekend, the fastest I routinely hit was about 2.5x. Going much above that was too fast.. But I definitely was "taking in" the news show content.


Yeah yeah. I don't buy it. I get the feeling it is more about the rush of having content speeding by you than absorbing the content. 

Granted some of your examples, like Cops, don't exactly need any concentration to follow along with even sped up 2x.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

jeffw_00 said:


> Bigg said:
> 
> 
> > That's an interesting/intriguing idea, but it would be hard to implement, as in certain shows, there is subjectivity about where one "segment" ends and one begins or what constitutes a "segment" per se. In other cases, it is more clear.
> ...


Yes this.
Which means for shows that naturally switch topics/segments after each commercial break (like The Daily Show) that hitting skip in a segment you didn't care for would take you past the break (which just happens to normally be the start of a new segment).

Same for shows that always follow the Theme Song with a commercial before resuming the show. Hitting skip would jump to the end of the commercial which happens to be the next moment of actual show. (But if you did that on a show that _didn't_ cut to commercial after the Theme Song you'd miss a bunch of show)

But the TiVo doesn't know anything about segments. You're just, potentially, taking advantage of meta-knowledge about how a given show is organized to know whether jumping forward past some of the show to the end of the next break is something useful for you to do.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

jeffw_00 said:


> I think what he's saying (or the best you can expect), is that if you hit the QuickSkip in the middle of program material it takes you to the end of the next commercial break. I would expect this to be default behavior.


That would work I guess. Interesting idea.


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## pkyzivat (May 8, 2002)

jeffw_00 said:


> I think what he's saying (or the best you can expect), is that if you hit the QuickSkip in the middle of program material it takes you to the end of the next commercial break. I would expect this to be default behavior.


Does the tivo *know* what is commercial and what is content? I have been assuming that the best it can do is note content that is in a significantly different format.


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## WorldBandRadio (Dec 20, 2010)

zerdian1 said:


> ...
> 
> Comfortably speed through your shows.
> Life is short, and sometimes you just want to make the world go faster. That's why we've added QuickMode. Watch recorded shows 30% faster-without the audio getting squirrely on you. QuickMode's pitch-corrected audio lets you comfortably speed through slow-moving programs like news, sports and overly long award shows. It's a great way to catch up when you're pressed for time....


Well, it's nice that TiVo finally got a useful feature that I had with my old Panasonic DVR over 10 years ago.

I saw one report that a TiVo engineer "invented" this feature. If so, he must have worked at Panasonic in the late 1990's.


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## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

WorldBandRadio said:


> Well, it's nice that TiVo finally got a useful feature that I had with my old Panasonic VCR over 10 years ago.
> 
> I saw one report that a TiVo engineer "invented" this feature. If so, he must have worked at Panasonic in the late 1990's.


Yes, QuickMode is certainly nothing new. In 2005 my Panasonic DMR-EH50 DVD (and HDD) recorder had a "Quick View" 1.3x playback speed with audio, pitch-corrected as I recall. And I agree with others that it would probably be hard to follow conversations at a speed faster than maybe 1.5x.


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## jeffw_00 (Sep 19, 2000)

well, I wrote about it in Home Automation magazine around 2000-2001 as the "next big thing" so perhaps I was a little early :-}


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## WorldBandRadio (Dec 20, 2010)

L David Matheny said:


> Yes, QuickMode is certainly nothing new. In 2005 my Panasonic DMR-EH50 DVD (and HDD) recorder had a "Quick View" 1.3x playback speed with audio, pitch-corrected as I recall. And I agree with others that it would probably be hard to follow conversations at a speed faster than maybe 1.5x.


I had the Panasoniuc DMR-E80H DVR.

That's why I was surprised when I read the article mentioning that TiVo boasted a TiVo engineer invented the feature.

From the DMR-E80H manual:
*Quick View*
You can increase the speed of play without disrupting the soundtrack.
During play
Press and hold [►] (PLAY/ x1.3).​
It is interesting that both TiVo and Panasonic chose 1.3x as the "fast" speed.


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## cannondalege (Jun 12, 2015)

I also had a JVC VHS player that had a 1.5X audio corrected playback feature. I used it quite often and it was great as it was still possible to watch programming without really missing any details. I hope this can be brought to the current Romio models along with the new commercial skip functionality. The only reason it might not be possible is due to the read/write speed and buffer in the current units is not able to keep up. We'll see if they want to give current owners anything new or if they will force an upgrade and additional costs to get the new features... Is there anywhere that has that information posted?


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## cannondalege (Jun 12, 2015)

After a little more searching I actually found this quote on techcrunch:

"SkipMode will be a BOLT-only feature, but QuickMode will roll out to other Roamio models as a software update later this year."

Don't know the reliability of this information but it is partly positive. Too bad they won't provide SkipMode to existing users also. It seems the markers are recorded into the content and then used to continue playback. I suspect a software update could allow for those to be read to control the playback functions on the older devices. The remote button sequences to drive it are available on the current remotes. Oh well...


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

cannondalege said:


> After a little more searching I actually found this quote on techcrunch: "SkipMode will be a BOLT-only feature, but QuickMode will roll out to other Roamio models as a software update later this year." Don't know the reliability of this information but it is partly positive. Too bad they won't provide SkipMode to existing users also. It seems the markers are recorded into the content and then used to continue playback. I suspect a software update could allow for those to be read to control the playback functions on the older devices. The remote button sequences to drive it are available on the current remotes. Oh well...


It's being reported that the new mini software update is activating the SkipMode feature, even if it's host is NOT a Bolt! :up:


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

HarperVision said:


> It's being reported that the new mini software update is activating the SkipMode feature, even if it's host is NOT a Bolt! :up:


Are you sure? That other thread said QuickMode was activated, not SkipMode. QuickMode is the one that plays the recording faster the realtime. SkipMode is the one that skips commercials.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Dan203 said:


> Are you sure? That other thread said QuickMode was activated, not SkipMode. QuickMode is the one that plays the recording faster the realtime. SkipMode is the one that skips commercials.


No, I'm not sure. You're right, I read it wrong! :walking away, tail between the legs:

One of 4 things are at play here lately for me:
1. Getting Old (almost 49)
2. Alzheimer's or Dementia kicking In
3. Lyme Disease Effecting My Brain
4. Brain Tumor

Either way, I think I'm screwed!


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

HarperVision said:


> No, I'm not sure. You're right, I read it wrong!
> :walking away, tail between the legs:
> 
> One of 3 things are at play here lately for me:
> ...




Would be nice if we got SkipMode. I think that's the rel game changer out of all the Bolt features, hardware or software.


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## zerdian1 (Apr 19, 2015)

pkyzivat said:


> Does the tivo *know* what is commercial and what is content? I have been assuming that the best it can do is note content that is in a significantly different format.


There is a hidden code for broadcasters to tell local stations to insert their commercials.
at one time is was one blank screen with three stars.
at 30 or so frames per second we would not notice it.
this is what my commercial skip box keyed on in the late 70's.
over time they got even more sophisticated.
but the original producer of the video usually indicated where they wanted commercial to go.
then the broadcasters would insert their national commercials and 
would insert code breaks there or wherever they wanted the local stations to insert their local commercials.

I notice when watching some videos I see inset 30 second commercial here and much of the time there is no commercial. that I like.
Since TiVo is working with the networks, broadcasters and producers, TiVo has been given the codes they need to find the commercials.

From some recent studies, 30% of homes have DVRs but only half of the shows are with those DVRs use them to watch shows at some other time.
85% of people watch the shows at their regularly scheduled time.


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## zerdian1 (Apr 19, 2015)

TiVo is only using TiVo Series 6 BOLT SkipMode on about 20 stations.
It is possible that the commercial marks are different for each station and also different for national and local commercials, since machines do the commercial inserting at the broadcasters for national commercials and at the local station for local commercials.
so far only a few major stations have agreed to be allow their commercials to be skipped.
Since only 15% watch a show at some later time than when it was originally broadcast, only a very small percentage of viewers will benefit from Bolt SkipMode.
TiVos SkipMode only allows commercials to be marked after the broadcast is completed.

TiVo Series 6 BOLT SkipMode only works on these channels:
1 CBS, 
2 NBC, 
3 ABC, 
4 Fox, 
5 CW, 
6 Comedy Central, 
7 Discovery, 
8 AMC, 
9 Sci-Fi, 
10 USA, 
11 FX, 
12 HGTV, 
13 Lifetime, 
14 Bravo, 
15 History channel, 
16 TNT, 
17 Food Network, 
18 TLC, 
19 ABCFam

(I am sure I read that their were 20 channels that can have their commercials skipped, but I can only identify 19.
If anyone can identify the channel I missed, Please let me know).

The DISH HOPPER Commercial Skip only allows marking the commercials for skipping overnight.
So we can only skip channels the next day.
And only for PRIMETIME shows recorded between 8PM and 11PM on ONLY the four networks ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.
On Sunday Primetime is from 7PM to 11PM.
The Dish Hopper Commercial Skip however is superior to the TiVo Bolt Commercial Skip as you chose to Hop over commercials only ONCE for all commercials in a video.
But it is limited to a few hours each night and to fewer stations, so in that respect the TiVo Bolt Commercial Skip is superior.


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

zerdian1 said:


> It is possible that the commercial marks are different for each station and for national and local commercials, since machines do the commercial inserting at the broadcasters for national commercials and at the local station for local commercials.
> so far only a few major stations have agreed to be allow their commercials to be skipped.


Why does it matter whether the commercials are local or not if you're going to skip them anyway?

If this was a completely automated process there would be no reason for a delay before Skip Mode is available for a given show. I'm sure the break points are first identified by computer but the final identification of commercials is done by humans in North Carolina. (Someone on TCF noticed TiVo advertising for those positions a few months ago.)

I also doubt any major stations have "agreed" to anything. They have no financial reason to do so and TiVo certainly couldn't afford to pay for it.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

zerdian1 said:


> Since TiVo is working with the networks, broadcasters and producers, TiVo has been given the codes they need to find the commercials.


100% of what has been discussed has TiVo inserting skip codes on a manual basis, using...wait for it... people! There may be some automated component, but people are the final arbiters of the commercial break points.

Nothing has been said, not a single word, about TiVo using any sort of network codes, or working with the networks.

Do you have any reason, beyond speculation, for your comments? I'm not being snarky, just wondering what you have heard that is 180 degrees opposite from the hundreds of other comments about this function.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

I'm loving this QUick mode. I have used it with several news programs. And now at least one of my Minis got updated and has this feature too.

EDIT: ANd I see skip mode also works on the Mini too if I make the Bolt the host. Sweet!!


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## Jrr6415sun (Mar 31, 2006)

mattack said:


> I *ALREADY WATCH SHOWS* at 2.5x or faster on my iPad routinely.


and like I said, I have no idea why you enjoy watching something at 2.5x speed, unless it's some type of results or sports show I can't see how you get any enjoyment out of chipmunks.


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## Jrr6415sun (Mar 31, 2006)

aaronwt said:


> I'm loving this QUick mode. I have used it with several news programs. And now at least one of my Minis got updated and has this feature too.
> 
> EDIT: ANd I see skip mode also works on the Mini too if I make the Bolt the host. Sweet!!


my tivo mini has quick mode now I like it a lot. I don't have a bolt only a roamio. Anyone have it on their Roamio's yet?


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

Jrr6415sun said:


> and like I said, I have no idea why you enjoy watching something at 2.5x speed, unless it's some type of results or sports show I can't see how you get any enjoyment out of chipmunks.


Are you suggesting that because *you* wouldn't enjoy 2.5 speed that others should be denied that pleasure? There are a lot of TV shows where almost nothing happens during an episode; 2.5x would save a lot of time for people who can't bear to stop watching a series they have become invested but isn't really very good any more. And what about reality competitions like "Dancing with the Stars"? Those shows are almost complete fluff with a few minutes of performance; 2.5x would save enormous amounts of time there as well.

Many people love chipmunks. Remember Chip 'n' Dale? Or Alvin?


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## Jrr6415sun (Mar 31, 2006)

ej42137 said:


> Are you suggesting that because *you* wouldn't enjoy 2.5 speed that others should be denied that pleasure? There are a lot of TV shows where almost nothing happens during an episode; 2.5x would save a lot of time for people who can't bear to stop watching a series they have become invested but isn't really very good any more. And what about reality competitions like "Dancing with the Stars"? Those shows are almost complete fluff with a few minutes of performance; 2.5x would save enormous amounts of time there as well.
> 
> Many people love chipmunks. Remember Chip 'n' Dale? Or Alvin?


Yes I said *I* don't see how anyone can enjoy it. Maybe they could enjoy it but I'm not sure how. I already mentioned sports and result shows which is basically what dancing with the stars is. 30% faster is already hard to watch with most shows. 250% would not be much different than just pushing fastforward since It would be hard to understand what they're saying anyway.


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## Jrr6415sun (Mar 31, 2006)

My new model of TiVo mini has quick mode but my old TiVo mini doesn't. Does anyone have an old TiVo mini with quick mode?


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Jrr6415sun said:


> My new model of TiVo mini has quick mode but my old TiVo mini doesn't. Does anyone have an old TiVo mini with quick mode?


Yes.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

astrohip said:


> 100% of what has been discussed has TiVo inserting skip codes on a manual basis, using...wait for it... people! There may be some automated component, but people are the final arbiters of the commercial break points.


My guess is it's automated software picking the points with humans checking them.

Would have been nice if they had just built commercial skip software into the TiVos themselves, but maybe that would be too much of a target for lawsuits or something.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

WorldBandRadio said:


> Well, it's nice that TiVo finally got a useful feature that I had with my old Panasonic DVR over 10 years ago.


My Toshiba XS32 is even older than that. I *still* use it to dub stuff from my Tivo and watch faster than realtime.. Usually for short clips nowadays, since for longer shows, I just download and watch in VLC usually on my iPad.

But for ~5-15 minute segments (one talk show guest, a funny bit, etc), I'll still dub to the XS32 then watch at its faster than realtime mode.

Wish it were faster than 30% on the Bolt and it may get me to upgrade sooner than I otherwise would.. (in several years, most likely, unless somehow both of my Tivos die.. and/or some theoretical 6 tuner Bolt + ridiculous upgrade deal which will likely not happen).


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

mattack said:


> My Toshiba XS32 is even older than that. I *still* use it to dub stuff from my Tivo and watch faster than realtime.. Usually for short clips nowadays, since for longer shows, I just download and watch in VLC usually on my iPad. But for ~5-15 minute segments (one talk show guest, a funny bit, etc), I'll still dub to the XS32 then watch at its faster than realtime mode. Wish it were faster than 30% on the Bolt and it may get me to upgrade sooner than I otherwise would.. (in several years, most likely, unless somehow both of my Tivos die.. and/or some theoretical 6 tuner Bolt + ridiculous upgrade deal which will likely not happen).


Doesn't it take more time to dub it over to watch it faster than it would to just watch in real time?


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## gigaguy (Aug 30, 2013)

It may be mentioned already but Quickmode works on recordings on my Premiere and my Roamio when streamed on Bolt.


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## jeffw_00 (Sep 19, 2000)

Wait - is Quickmode now supported on Roamio?


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## jeffw_00 (Sep 19, 2000)

Also - have people used Quickmode - is it useful?


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

gigaguy said:


> It may be mentioned already but Quickmode works on recordings on my Premiere and my Roamio when streamed on Bolt.





jeffw_00 said:


> Wait - is Quickmode now supported on Roamio?





jeffw_00 said:


> Also - have people used Quickmode - is it useful?


He's talking about streaming the videos from the Roamio and Premiere on his Bolt, which then allows the QuickMode, as long as he's playing it on the Bolt.


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## markjrenna (Mar 23, 2006)

I use it all the time. Works great on some sports and when the program is mostly talk and not visual.

I will put on a talk show in quickmode while in the room doing something else. If I hear something of interest I can put it in normal mode if needed.



jeffw_00 said:


> Also - have people used Quickmode - is it useful?


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Man they really need to add SkipMode to the Roamio or come out with a Bolt Pro! SkipMode is great! I want it on everything I watch.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Dan203 said:


> Man they really need to add SkipMode to the Roamio or come out with a Bolt Pro! SkipMode is great! I want it on everything I watch.


:up:


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## zerdian1 (Apr 19, 2015)

I can't agree more.

I thought it was hinted that SkipMode and QuickMode features would be added to the Roamio Pro shortly, as they re SW.

But probably not added to the Roamio Plus or Roamio Basic.



Dan203 said:


> Man they really need to add SkipMode to the Roamio or come out with a Bolt Pro! SkipMode is great! I want it on everything I watch.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

The help page for SkipMode originally said coming soon for the Roamio, but when someone pointed it out to Margret she said it was a mistake and had that line removed. Ira also said it was not currently planned to bring SkipMode to Roamio units. 

QuickMode will be coming to all Roamios


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

HarperVision said:


> Doesn't it take more time to dub it over to watch it faster than it would to just watch in real time?


Yes, but I can do something ELSE (including watch something else on another Tivo or something already on my XS32) while it does that... MULTITASKING.


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## rjcc (Jul 15, 2010)

Did the skip not show up for tonight's airing of The Blacklist for anyone else? (Or any other show it's regularly on)

I see the skips for Sleepy Hollow, Bones and How to Get Away with Murder, but nothing for this particular TB episode.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

mattack said:


> Yes, but I can do something ELSE (including watch something else on another Tivo or something already on my XS32) while it does that... MULTITASKING.


We're men, we can't multitask!


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

Dan203 said:


> Man they really need to add SkipMode to the Roamio or come out with a Bolt Pro! SkipMode is great! I want it on everything I watch.


From your mouth to Ira's ear!


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

rjcc said:


> Did the skip not show up for tonight's airing of The Blacklist for anyone else? (Or any other show it's regularly on)
> 
> I see the skips for Sleepy Hollow, Bones and How to Get Away with Murder, but nothing for this particular TB episode.


I had SkipMode on the Blasklist and all my other recordings last night except Late Night with Stephen Colbert


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

Is everyone seeing quickmode on their Minis? My Mini has it, on a Premiere XL4. It's odd that they give this to everyone, and not the commercial skipping. Weird.


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

Bigg said:


> Is everyone seeing quickmode on their Minis? My Mini has it, on a Premiere XL4. It's odd that they give this to everyone, and not the commercial skipping. Weird.


SkipMode is the more desirable feature and helps to differentiate Bolt from previous products. 4K and ugly enclosure are not enough .


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

mikeyts said:


> SkipMode is the more desirable feature and helps to differentiate Bolt from previous products. 4K and ugly enclosure are not enough .


Yeah, I guess that's true. The ugly enclosure will go away on the Bolt Pro, and we will get at least 6 tuners/3TB, so that will be good.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

SkipMode also requires human power. They may be including that in the new higher prices for service. Perhaps if they do offer it on older boxes they will charge an additional fee.


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

They're going to pay for those ad marking workers with all of the free first years of service ? Of course, no one knows what the "then published" yearly rate will be at the end of that year.

I really think that they'll hold SkipMode out as an inducement to buy Bolt. If you hit "compare" at the top their Bolt page you can see that the only difference between it and a Roamio is 4K, SkipMode and QuickMode. They goofily compare it to Roamio Pro, so the comparison chart shows that it has 2 fewer tuners and 1/6th the storage. I moved from a Roamio Basic because I have a 4K TV and am banking on them coming up with more content than Netflix's tiny library and YouTube clips. (I'm single and no one else uses my TiVos so I don't need the tuners or storage). 4K market penetration isn't that deep so that won't bring in many sales (I suspect that lots of people have purchased 4K TVs who don't particularly care about 4K video since the manufacturers reserve their best new features for those sets). If anyone actually likes the new industrial design that might be a factor in bringing in a sale.

4K, SkipMode, QuickMode and funky enclosure are scant inducements for existing customers to "upgrade" to Bolt so I really doubt that they'll bring SkipMode to older devices but stranger things have happened .


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

QuickMode is already starting to roll out to Roamio and Premiere units, so it's just 4K and SkipMode that are exclusive to the Bolt.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

Dan203 said:


> SkipMode also requires human power. They may be including that in the new higher prices for service. Perhaps if they do offer it on older boxes they will charge an additional fee.


That's the part I can't figure out. Software to do what they are doing automatically on every channel has been around for years. You'd think they could have either done that in a datacenter and pushed the data out, or put the software in the boxes, especially the newer, more powerful ones.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

Automated commercial scan is not 100% accurate. From what I've heard they need the feature to be 100% accurate to avoid litigation.


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

Dan203 said:


> QuickMode is already starting to roll out to Roamio and Premiere units, so it's just 4K and SkipMode that are exclusive to the Bolt.


Yes, I know. It was my response to Bigg saying that it was odd that they were giving the old platforms QuickMode without SkipMode that started this line of discussion.

It's possible that they'll give the older models SkipMode--stranger things have happened. But if you don't have a 4K television (or have one and don't care about 4K video) there's almost no reason to upgrade to Bolt. There are some revisions to the menus but I barely notice that. Instant-start Netflix is a fairly wonderful thing but not everyone subscribes.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

mikeyts said:


> Yes, I know. It was my response to Bigg saying that it was odd that they were giving the old platforms QuickMode without SkipMode that started this line of discussion.
> 
> It's possible that they'll give the older models SkipMode--stranger things have happened. But if you don't have a 4K television (or have one and don't care about 4K video) there's almost no reason to upgrade to Bolt. There are some revisions to the menus but I barely notice that. Instant-start Netflix is a fairly wonderful thing but not everyone subscribes.


Speed is a big reason. Hard drive size isn't a big deal. I've had 4TB drives in my Bolts for weeks. 5TB 2.5" drives should be out soon too.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

Dan203 said:


> Automated commercial scan is not 100% accurate. From what I've heard they need the feature to be 100% accurate to avoid litigation.


Litigation over what? They could put a disclaimer that it's not guaranteed, and results may vary. Some of the house ads might slide through. Not the end of the world.



mikeyts said:


> It's possible that they'll give the older models SkipMode--stranger things have happened. But if you don't have a 4K television (or have one and don't care about 4K video) there's almost no reason to upgrade to Bolt. There are some revisions to the menus but I barely notice that. Instant-start Netflix is a fairly wonderful thing but not everyone subscribes.


I have a feeling that when the Bolt Pro comes out, it will be a compelling upgrade from the Premiere series, if not from the Roamio Pro. Although, to be fair, the only thing that I really would like is more tuners. Otherwise, the Premiere with the Haxe upgrades and DTA is quite a compelling product, unlike when I bought it, when it was OK, but not that compelling (slow, no Mini, then Mini with no DTA).


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Bigg said:


> Litigation over what? They could put a disclaimer that it's not guaranteed, and results may vary. Some of the house ads might slide through. Not the end of the world.
> ...........


I thought that had to do with the Dish Lawsuit that they won? Plus it does need to be accurate. If it's not accurate then there is no point in using it. I would have stopped using Skip mode a while ago if it didn't start correctly basically every time. It would defeat the purpose if I had to manually back up or forward..


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

aaronwt said:


> Speed is a big reason.


Other than the wonderful instant start Netflix it doesn't seem particularly faster than Roamio. Where do you notice a speed improvement?


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

aaronwt said:


> I thought that had to do with the Dish Lawsuit that they won? Plus it does need to be accurate. If it's not accurate then there is no point in using it. I would have stopped using Skip mode a while ago if it didn't start correctly basically every time. It would defeat the purpose if I had to manually back up or forward..


I don't think that had anything to do with it being automatically marked. I think the issue was that it just zapped the commercials. TiVo avoided their legal situation by requiring a single button press. Silly, but that's the legal precedent, because it was based on user interaction.


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

Bigg said:


> TiVo avoided their legal situation by requiring a single button press. Silly, but that's the legal precedent, because it was based on user interaction.


Not so silly--the beginning of the first ad in a block might catch your attention and you'll decide to let it play. Maybe you'll become busy doing something in the background and be unable to hit the button and just let the ads play. Without automatically skipping all of the commercials, there's a much greater chance that you might see some of them.


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## zerdian1 (Apr 19, 2015)

Did a connect of my Pro but no update for QuickMode yet



Dan203 said:


> QuickMode is already starting to roll out to Roamio and Premiere units, so it's just 4K and SkipMode that are exclusive to the Bolt.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Bigg said:


> Litigation over what? They could put a disclaimer that it's not guaranteed, and results may vary. Some of the house ads might slide through. Not the end of the world.


The litigation is not from the end user, it's from the broadcast right's holders. Certain interpretations of the DISH ruling have led TiVo (and others) to believe if a commercial skip feature skipped any of the show itself, it was a violation of their copyrights. Hence, any skip function must return early, not late. And since no one will use it if it returns too early, TiVo chose to use humans to get it >< just right.

I'm not sure why you continue to hammer this point. TiVo has chosen to use people to perform this work. You repeatedly insist software can do it almost as well, and express both doubt (as to whether people _really _are involved) and amazement (that TiVo would go to that extreme). Let it go. That's the path they've taken, and it's of no real concern to us how the sausage is made.

Let's eat!


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

mikeyts said:


> Not so silly--the beginning of the first ad in a block might catch your attention and you'll decide to let it play. Maybe you'll become busy doing something in the background and be unable to hit the button and just let the ads play. Without automatically skipping all of the commercials, there's a much greater chance that you might see some of them.


I doubt it. TiVo users have fast thumbs. I understand the legal differentiation, I just don't think there is any real-world implication to it.



astrohip said:


> The litigation is not from the end user, it's from the broadcast right's holders. Certain interpretations of the DISH ruling have led TiVo (and others) to believe if a commercial skip feature skipped any of the show itself, it was a violation of their copyrights.


I don't see how that would violate their copyright. It would be a crappy product to miss part of a show, but not to violate a copyright.


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

Bigg said:


> I doubt it. TiVo users have fast thumbs.


It happens sometimes with me and I've been a TiVo user since the first Philips model. Who are you to speak for all of us? What percentage of TiVo's customers do you reckon that you've met?

Sometimes I find myself distracted and saying "Why am I watching recorded commercials?", then picking up the remote and skipping them. If all of the ads were automatically skipped that couldn't happen.


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

Bigg said:


> I don't see how that would violate their copyright. It would be a crappy product to miss part of a show, but not to violate a copyright.


There was a service that would automatically bowdlerize eBooks by cutting out all the bad words. It was found to violate the copyright held on those works. Apparently you can't modify a work under copyright and make money from that edited work without the owner's permission.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

mikeyts said:


> Other than the wonderful instant start Netflix it doesn't seem particularly faster than Roamio. Where do you notice a speed improvement?


All APp launches are faster although not the speed of Netflix. And pretty much the entire UI navigation is a little faster. Plus there are a few more screens that have been converted to HD. But unfortunately there are still a few SD screens where the preview window disappears. The preview WIndow staying up is what I want. It should be able to be up 100% of the time when in the menus. So I hope they convert the remaining SD menus to HD soon. But at the rate they are going, it might be 2019 before that is accomplished.


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## PaulNEPats (Aug 11, 2007)

aaronwt said:


> All APp launches are faster although not the speed of Netflix. And pretty much the entire UI navigation is a little faster. Plus there are a few more screens that have been converted to HD. But unfortunately there are still a few SD screens where the preview window disappears. The preview WIndow staying up is what I want. It should be able to be up 100% of the time when in the menus. So I hope they convert the remaining SD menus to HD soon. But at the rate they are going, it might be 2019 before that is accomplished.


Absolutely pathetic that they haven't converted all their menus to HD this late into the game. TiVo should be ashamed of themselves.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

mikeyts said:


> It happens sometimes with me and I've been a TiVo user since the first Philips model. Who are you to speak for all of us? What percentage of TiVo's customers do you reckon that you've met?
> 
> Sometimes I find myself distracted and saying "Why am I watching recorded commercials?", then picking up the remote and skipping them. If all of the ads were automatically skipped that couldn't happen.


I'm pretty sure that 99% of TiVo users just zap the commercials almost out of muscle memory.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Bigg said:


> I'm pretty sure that 99% of TiVo users just zap the commercials almost out of muscle memory.


Lemme tell you how powerful (and painful) muscle memory can be. Saw on TV this afternoon about the Paris bombings. Wondered if Jeopardy was aired, or bumped for news. Put it on, and FFFFX thru it, and yep, it was all there, all the way to the end. Got to the end, delete message came up, and I said YES out of habit. 'Cause I always delete at the end of a show.

AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! And this is on my DirecTV Genie, where there is no undelete. Zap, it's gone.

Now I gotta wait until Monday, when I get back in front of my TiVo.


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## mikeyts (Jul 10, 2004)

Bigg said:


> I'm pretty sure that 99% of TiVo users just zap the commercials almost out of muscle memory.


Pretty sure how? I think that probably plenty of TiVo users don't zap every ad. TiVo collects and sells lots of data on how people watch; it'd be interesting to know exactly how many recorded ads get watched with and without SkipMode.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

mikeyts said:


> Pretty sure how? I think that probably plenty of TiVo users don't zap every ad. TiVo collects and sells lots of data on how people watch; it'd be interesting to know exactly how many recorded ads get watched with and without SkipMode.


I know for me, with Skip mode, I don't watch any ads. But without skip mode I use the scan mode. So I still see the commercials as it scans past them. So if I see something I might be interested in, I will back up and watch it.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

aaronwt said:


> I know for me, with Skip mode, I don't watch any ads. But without skip mode I use the scan mode. So I still see the commercials as it scans past them. So if I see something I might be interested in, I will back up and watch it.


I'm surprised. I just use 30 second skip. I've got it down pretty well.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

I just noticed last night that SkipMode now works in a Mini even if it's set to yse a Roamio as it's host DVR. Not sure whne this changed. I know I tested it when I first got the Bolt and it did not work unless it was the host DVR, so something has changed. I wish they would enable it when streaming from a Bolt to a Roamio too. Or better yet just add the feature to the Roamio.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Dan203 said:


> I just noticed last night that SkipMode now works in a Mini even if it's set to yse a Roamio as it's host DVR. Not sure whne this changed. I know I tested it when I first got the Bolt and it did not work unless it was the host DVR, so something has changed. I wish they would enable it when streaming from a Bolt to a Roamio too. Or better yet just add the feature to the Roamio.


How does that work? Do the Roamio and Mini need to be on a specific software version? I just checked it with a Mini and Roamio and so far I'm not seeing skip mode on anything.


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## series5orpremier (Jul 6, 2013)

With the Mini software update of a couple of weeks ago, I suppose if it sees a Bolt in the local network of boxes it will turn on Skipmode in the Mini regardless of the specific box in play. If it doesn't detect a Bolt in the local network no dice.

(Or once it's turned on by a connection to a Bolt it doesn't reset itself to off.)


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

That could be it. I did have the Bolt set to the host DVR at one point, but switched it back to the Roamio on this particular Mini because I watch shows from the Roamio more often.


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