# Screensaver



## KingsFan6 (Jan 1, 2016)

A screensaver would be great. Comes in handy for paused programs. My Motorola Comcast box had it before.


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## jth tv (Nov 15, 2014)

I agree. Recently I have gotten into the habit of turning the TV off, leaving TiVo on at TiVo central, receiver on. Go do something, or look something up on the net. More than a couple of times I've been blasted by the av receiver when TiVo switches over to Live tv.


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## rsday75 (Oct 8, 2015)

I would like it as the owner of one of the last great plasma TVs. (Panasonic ST60)
Burn in and Image Retention are still a concern with kids that will pause something and walk away for.....ever.


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

Live TV is TiVo's screen saver, it doesn't stay on TiVo menus, it reverts back to live TV... Netflix and Amazon apps Fade, Vudu actually has a screen saver. 

The Mini, because it does not have live TV, does have a screen saver if you leave it on a menu without interaction (bouncy TiVo image).

So, No screensaver. It isn't that they don't want one, it is that they already have one.


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## GoodSpike (Dec 17, 2001)

bradleys said:


> So, No screensaver. It isn't that they don't want one, it is that they already have one.


I'm not so sure that's correct. I think there are some Tivo screens where the video will just start playing at the top right corner.

Note I don't tend to leave my Tivo just hanging, so I'm not 100% positive. Usually when it starts the live TV stuff it's because the wife or I forgot to put it in standby, so the screen is off and we just hear the audio.


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

GoodSpike said:


> I'm not so sure that's correct. I think there are some Tivo screens where the video will just start playing at the top right corner.
> 
> Note I don't tend to leave my Tivo just hanging, so I'm not 100% positive. Usually when it starts the live TV stuff it's because the wife or I forgot to put it in standby, so the screen is off and we just hear the audio.


Only the SD screens. All the the HD screens with the video window go back to live TV after a period of time.


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## KingsFan6 (Jan 1, 2016)

I'm talking about the use case in which I'm watching live TV, then pause to go away to do something else. That image will stay on the TV forever. In this case, there's no screensaver. But yes, I think there's the "live TV" screensaver which occurs when you're inactive on TiVo central for some time or paused on a recorded program (maybe, I don't really remember off the top of my head). I think one of the music apps (either Pandora or Spotify) doesn't have a screensaver either. I'd have to go deep into a menu on my Samsung plasma to turn off the picture while leaving audio on. For the music app or any other app for the matter, I'm guessing it's up to the developer, not TiVo, to implement.


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

KingsFan6 said:


> I'm talking about the use case in which I'm watching live TV, then pause to go away to do something else. That image will stay on the TV forever. In this case, there's no screensaver. But yes, I think there's the "live TV" screensaver which occurs when you're inactive on TiVo central for some time or paused on a recorded program (maybe, I don't really remember off the top of my head). I think one of the music apps (either Pandora or Spotify) doesn't have a screensaver either. I'd have to go deep into a menu on my Samsung plasma to turn off the picture while leaving audio on. For the music app or any other app for the matter, I'm guessing it's up to the developer, not TiVo, to implement.


No it won't. As soon as the buffer runs out - BAM! Live TV!

This has been very well thought out, really it is so well integrated into the system you don't even notice that you already have a screen saver. Pretty ingenious actually.

Pandora has one, it is the floating cover artwork for the music currently being played. I don't use Spotify, but all the apps I do use either have an actual screen saver or dim after a certain period of time. The apps and app platform are separate and TiVo allows each app to handle it's own screen saving strategy.

All of the TiVo apps I use have some type of screen saver and I use a lot of apps...


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## KingsFan6 (Jan 1, 2016)

bradleys said:


> No it won't. As soon as the buffer runs out - BAM! Live TV!
> 
> This has been very well thought out, really it is so well integrated into the system you don't even notice that you already have a screen saver. Pretty ingenious actually.
> 
> ...


Actually, that's not good enough. Waiting 30 minutes for buffer to run out is too long. As you mentioned, Pandora has the floating cover artwork. I'm guessing that goes in after 5 minutes. It must be Spotify that doesn't have a screensaver then. I just remember it's one one of those two apps that didn't have it.


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## bradleys (Oct 31, 2007)

This is a question that comes up from time to time and I answer it the same way. I understand the claim that the buffer, et al, might be too long, that is up for debate.

I will say that a screen saver intruding into the user experience that required some user interaction to cancel would drive a lot more consumers mad than the highly integrated system that is in place.

It is one of the minor complaints I have with the mini user experience.


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## NashGuy (May 2, 2015)

I wouldn't mind an optional screensaver that could be turned on in settings. When over at friends' homes recently who have AT&T Uverse TV, I've noticed that their boxes have screensavers with beautiful HD nature images with a small Uverse logo atop the photo. Makes the flatscreen essentially a piece of wall art, which is nice. Although maybe "screensaver" isn't the right word to use; I don't *think* that the image comes up when a show is paused but rather that's what the box outputs to the TV when the box is turned "off" or "asleep".


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

My AVR will do that if the source is turned off.


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## SomeRandomIdiot (Jan 7, 2016)

Please NO SCREENSAVER. Every box I have ever had, from Directv to Dish to Motorola to Apple TV ALWAYS WITHOUT FAIL has a bug that goes to ScreenSaver while watching even if ScreenSaver is supposedly turned off. Given TiVo known issues with their code, this will for sure get FU in the coding and cause all kinds of issues.


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## adubravcic (Jan 24, 2016)

that will be neat...


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## adubravcic (Jan 24, 2016)

better yet a configurable lockscreen like I have on my phone


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## GoodSpike (Dec 17, 2001)

SomeRandomIdiot said:


> Please NO SCREENSAVER. Every box I have ever had, from Directv to Dish to Motorola to Apple TV ALWAYS WITHOUT FAIL has a bug that goes to ScreenSaver while watching even if ScreenSaver is supposedly turned off. Given TiVo known issues with their code, this will for sure get FU in the coding and cause all kinds of issues.


Tivo already has one--it's the turning on of some random channel with audio. Very annoying. And it can't be turned off, even if your set has zero burn in concerns.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

GoodSpike said:


> Tivo already has one--it's the turning on of some random channel with audio. Very annoying. And it can't be turned off, even if your set has zero burn in concerns.


When does that kick in?


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## GoodSpike (Dec 17, 2001)

TonyD79 said:


> When does that kick in?


It's at certain (all?) menu screens. I think you can leave a recording paused indefinitely, which is odd. It kicks in after roughly 10 minutes, and being a Tivo that is not a user configurable setting.

It's annoying for me because if I forget to put my Tivo into standby my sound bar doesn't turn off before the screensaver kicks in--it takes 15 minutes to turn off. I do turn off my TV, but the sound bar doesn't have an easy way to turn it off.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

I haven't seen it yet. Only thing I've seen close to a screen saver is my Mini when I leave it in TiVo Central. 

Is it really a screen saver? It is just a menu dropping out to live TV?


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## GoodSpike (Dec 17, 2001)

TonyD79 said:


> I haven't seen it yet. Only thing I've seen close to a screen saver is my Mini when I leave it in TiVo Central.
> 
> Is it really a screen saver? It is just a menu dropping out to live TV?


It's really neither. I believe it's just the little video window at the top right turning on, which makes it even more pointless. But remember, I only come across it by accident, and when I do I take the machine straight to standby, so I'm probably not the best person to describe exactly what it does since I don't really care what it looks like when it happens.


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## SomeRandomIdiot (Jan 7, 2016)

GoodSpike said:


> Tivo already has one--it's the turning on of some random channel with audio. Very annoying. And it can't be turned off, even if your set has zero burn in concerns.


So add TiVo to the list of providers/equipment that cannot do a screensaver properly.


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## rsday75 (Oct 8, 2015)

bradleys said:


> No it won't. As soon as the buffer runs out - BAM! Live TV!
> 
> This has been very well thought out, really it is so well integrated into the system you don't even notice that you already have a screen saver. Pretty ingenious actually.
> 
> ...


Problem is if one of my kids (5yo) pauses a recording. That never seems to go to live TV. This could eventually cause IR on my plasma.


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