# FrameChannel weather app



## erikbrowne (Jun 5, 2002)

I turned on my Series 2 this morning to find that the old Yahoo weather app had been replaced by a FrameChannel app. The FrameChannel app adds local radar (good), but only shows a 3-day forecast instead of Yahoo's 5-day (bad) and only shows temperatures in the forecast and not what the weather will be like (very bad). This is a big step back in functionality, and I have to say I'm disappointed.


----------



## TomJHansen (Nov 6, 2000)

It seems like the new one is more than weather....

check out http://blog.tivo.com/2010/06/framechannel-app-brings-personalized-content-from-the-web-to-your-big-screen-at-home/


----------



## TiVoStephen (Jun 27, 2000)

Erik,

I will pass on your comments to the FrameChannel team.

Best,
Stephen


----------



## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

Yahoo weather is still there for me, as well as FrameChannel's weather. It's just been moved to the bottom of the list (just before apps.tv).

The FrameChannel weather is way prettier, plus it has a map.  It has less info, yes, but I think that's because it's designed to be legible on smaller screens (digital picture frames vs. TVs).


----------



## TiVoStephen (Jun 27, 2000)

Hey folks, the FrameChannel team is investigating to see if they can add 5 days of weather at some point in the future. We're alway working to improve our offerings where possible.

Please note that while it may be a little hard to see, the graphics do indicate the weather for the second and third day (not just the temperature). So if you look at today, for example, it'll say the weather for today below the word "Today" and then for Saturday or Sunday you can see an image for clouds or sunshine or rain in the box.

Best,
Stephen


----------



## daveak (Mar 23, 2009)

How about the resolution? When expanded to 52" it does not look that great.


----------



## erikbrowne (Jun 5, 2002)

TiVoStephen said:


> Please note that while it may be a little hard to see, the graphics do indicate the weather for the second and third day


Ah, I see. It's cloudy here for the next few days, and those cloud images are really subtle. Maybe they could un-subtle-fy them?


----------



## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

I like the idea, but the radar doesn't update. We've had a LOT of thunderstorms in our area the past week or two; this morning, I got up, checked the radar, watched a show (40 minutes or so), then checked the radar again, and it hadn't changed. I compared it to live radar on my laptop, and it was totally inaccurate.


----------



## bschuler2007 (Feb 25, 2007)

Is there a way to stop and READ the news, or do you only get headlines for everything? I've been through the app atleast 20 times so far, and cannot figure out how to a) stop the scolling through of news, weather, etc. and b) how to select a single news story to read the full story. Is this possible to do? 
Overall, my impression so far is, mostly because of lag, nice try.. but it has a long way to go to rival my HTPC from 8 years ago.


----------



## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

bschuler2007 said:


> Is this possible to do?


No.

FrameChannel is a screensaver, basically.


----------



## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

netringer said:


> If you go to My Framechannel under Showcases... It says to sign up at http://tivo.framechannel.com with an activation code.
> 
> I was assuming that you could set up which frames you want to display like it shows in the background. I hope you can and just use the remote pad-Select to zoom in and go from one to the other.


I've signed up. You can add content like the New York Times, People and time magazines, and Social sites like Twiiter (with your account) and Digg.

I'm gonna like this as long as the inevitable ads aren't too aggravating.

Maybe not. You can't get more content than the 50(?) characters it shows? Like - read the TiVo blog and you can only get part of the first sentence. I tried every likely remote key to get more. It does look like it's set up to be a screen saver rather than a way to get the full content. I'm guessing that they sold the content providers by promising to send readers to their web site.


----------



## bschuler2007 (Feb 25, 2007)

Thanks for the answer wmcbrine. You certainly saved me from pulling out my hair tonight. As is, I had already gone through 55 trys (enter, select, up, down, play, pause,etc, etc.). Sheesh.


----------



## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

bschuler2007 said:


> Thanks for the answer wmcbrine. You certainly saved me from pulling out my hair tonight. As is, I had already gone through 55 trys (enter, select, up, down, play, pause,etc, etc.). Sheesh.


If you press Info you get the screen that tells you that Pause, Play and the FF and RW keys work to navigate between "articles," but there's no way to get more content.

I was hoping that Ch/Pg Up and Down would at least let you read a whole paragraph but no soap. I pressed Info in hopes that would do it.


----------



## daveak (Mar 23, 2009)

wmcbrine said:


> FrameChannel is a screensaver, basically.


I would like to see TiVo use this a screensaver option. Maybe then I would find more use for it, aside from wanting it to actually be interactive.


----------



## Leon WIlkinson (Feb 13, 2000)

bschuler2007 said:


> Thanks for the answer wmcbrine. You certainly saved me from pulling out my hair tonight. As is, I had already gone through 55 trys (enter, select, up, down, play, pause,etc, etc.). Sheesh.


Did you spin around while rubbing your belly with remote in your left hand , your right foot flat against your left inner thigh? It works...


----------



## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

Leon WIlkinson said:


> Did you spin around while rubbing your belly with remote in your left hand , your right foot flat against your left inner thigh? It works...


Is that how I get my second S3 to go back to talking to the others on the network with MRV?

I'm calling tivo today.


----------



## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

BREAKING NEWS! Tivo and FrameChannel see 400,000 new enthusiastic subscribers...


...for the first 36 hours. Then not a single additional access.


----------



## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

daveak said:


> I would like to see TiVo use this a screensaver option. Maybe then I would find more use for it, aside from wanting it to actually be interactive.


yes - this would make a great screensaver versus breaking back to live TV


----------



## wdwms (Jan 10, 2003)

Tivo should better integrate the weather and other extra features into the new HD UI.. as posted, having to exit out of something to go do something else is so, well, 1999.


----------



## thespacepope72 (Jan 25, 2005)

I hate to complain because TiVo has been good to me but I really wish the efforts expended on this had been directed towards upnp or dlna on Tivo instead.


----------



## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

It may be a case of "low hanging fruit". It is a very plain app, with little interaction, so it was probably fairly easy to implement. At least something to say "a new app"!


----------



## jhwenger (Aug 6, 2007)

There doesn't seem to be a way to add more than one location to the weather page as there was in Yahoo. I would like to be able to switch between San Jose and Saint Louis as I used to be able to do. On the S2 framechannel is pretty much useless.


----------



## TerpBE (Jan 23, 2003)

FrameChannel just announced that they are shutting down by the end of the month. So will Tivo bring back the Yahoo apps, or will they just leave us hanging?


----------



## Mike Pfeifer (Mar 17, 2011)

They will leave us hanging with this app stuck on there forever.


----------



## Joe3 (Dec 12, 2006)

Someone who can should start a poll as to how long it will take them to even know its gone and how long it will take them to remove the app once they realize its gone.

Now, don't anyone call them.


----------



## TheWGP (Oct 26, 2007)

Mike Pfeifer said:


> They will leave us hanging with this app stuck on there forever.


Pretty high likelihood of this happening - only way it gets fixed IMO is if Framechannel was PAYING to have the app on there, and when that check dries up Tivo may remove it. Kinda shows you the extremely low level of expectations we have of Tivo nowadays. Unless lawyers or money are involved, it doesn't exist, right?! 

That said, sometimes you see billboards on the highway that the company stopped paying for long ago, and the sign owner never bothered to cover it up / remove it. Hopefully that doesn't happen here.


----------



## TiVoStephen (Jun 27, 2000)

You guys are funny. 

We are, indeed, very aware that FrameChannel is discontinuing their service, and have been working with them to see how long we can keep the service running for you. Unfortunately, there is no recourse, and although we have not announced it formally yet, yes, these applications will go away. You will see a message in the application section apologizing for the inconvenience in their place for a bit, and then after that the menu items will be removed.

Yahoo made a business decision to discontinue their APIs that powered the Yahoo apps many years ago, so returning to those applications is not an option either.

We are discussing internally what our options are for a replacement, but we can't announce anything at this time.

Believe me, we are just as disappointed in this outcome as you are.

Best,
Stephen


----------



## msquared121 (Jun 21, 2005)

Here is an email I received today:
"FrameChannel Users -

Due to challenges with the economy and our company's financial situation we've been forced to make a tough decision and will be shutting down the FrameChannel service this month.

We have provided a mechanism for you to download any of your photos that are hosted with us in the My Photos channel or that have been emailed to your device via the My Friend's Photos feature.

You may log into your account at framechannel dot com to download your photos, but the service will soon stop delivering content to your devices. To download your photos, log into your FrameChannel account, click the Download My Photos tab, and follow the instructions there.

For those of you using your devices for commercial applications, you may wish to take a look at the SignChannel service. That service is owned an operated by Scala, Inc., a worldwide leader in digital signage. For more information, please visit ... or email ...

We thank you for your support of the FrameChannel service.

-The FrameChannel Team"

I don't have a series2 but my Premiers will lose much content when this is dropped.
GOOD TIMING TIVO


----------



## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

TiVoStephen said:


> You guys are funny.
> 
> We are, indeed, very aware that FrameChannel is discontinuing their service, and have been working with them to see how long we can keep the service running for you. Unfortunately, there is no recourse, and although we have not announced it formally yet, yes, these applications will go away. You will see a message in the application section apologizing for the inconvenience in their place for a bit, and then after that the menu items will be removed.
> 
> ...


I'm not sure how it would exactly work, but how about opening up that vacancy to some of the user apps that have been written? I've scoured TCF, code.google.com and SourceForge (still need to search GitHub) looking for anything TiVo, and compiled a list in this post: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=471057. While some aren't HME, most are. Having a home at TiVo would help keep them from disappearing forever.


----------



## TheWGP (Oct 26, 2007)

That's an interesting idea, orangeboy - there's a lot of Tivo-based code out there that isn't being updated as authors have moved on. There's probably some legal obstacles there, though - but I imagine some/most devs would be happy to work something reasonable out to everyone's benefit.

TivoStephen - thanks again for posting a timely update on "current events in the Tivo world." It's easy to poke fun and maybe we're a little harsh sometimes (sorry!), but it really IS great to hear from "the (hands) behind the curtain" occasionally! 


By the way - is anyone else happy that the "bigger" services like Hulu+, Netflix, Youtube won't be buried at the bottom of the list anymore once FrameChannel's entries are gone? I know I am!


----------



## TerpBE (Jan 23, 2003)

Stephen, 

Thanks for the reply! Even though Framechannel didn't get much discussion on here, I thought it was really handy to be able to check the weather or sports even if the Tivo was already recording two shows. Granted it didn't seem like it was the ideal layout for Tivo, but it was at least good enough to be useful. I hope you guys can come up with an alternative.


----------



## TiVoStephen (Jun 27, 2000)

Thanks Terp. And I totally agree, we will miss these apps.

As soon as we have something I can announce, I will let you all know here first.


----------



## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

TiVoStephen said:


> You guys are funny.
> 
> We are, indeed, very aware that FrameChannel is discontinuing their service, and have been working with them to see how long we can keep the service running for you. Unfortunately, there is no recourse, and although we have not announced it formally yet, yes, these applications will go away. You will see a message in the application section apologizing for the inconvenience in their place for a bit, and then after that the menu items will be removed.
> 
> ...


Thanks Stephen. I can't say that I was a huge user of this service but we would occassionally use the weather and movies sections.

Scott


----------



## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

Stephen: How about looking at Chumby? They have a reference on their page to "Chumby for connected TVs." Their software runs on Flash Lite... not sure whether that would run on the old HD or Series 3 boxes, if you guys are continuing to maintain those with new software, but it would seem to mesh well with TiVo Premiere boxes.

Just a thought...

Here's a demo video, looking in some ways very TiVo-like:


----------



## TiVoStephen (Jun 27, 2000)

Folks,

The FrameChannel applications were removed today, and replaced with a message apologizing for the inconvenience. The message contains a pointer to this page:

http://www.tivo.com/framechannel/

If you go to that link, there are some instructions on how you can save your personal images. You'll need to do so before July 5th.

Again, we're sorry that these applications are no longer available. We're still investigating alternatives, and appreciate your suggestions.

Best,
Stephen


----------



## Fofer (Oct 29, 2000)

LoadStar said:


> Stephen: How about looking at Chumby? They have a reference on their page to "Chumby for connected TVs." Their software runs on Flash Lite... not sure whether that would run on the old HD or Series 3 boxes, if you guys are continuing to maintain those with new software, but it would seem to mesh well with TiVo Premiere boxes.


That would be a fantastic fit, I'd say. There are lots of Chumby Channels, so many of them would ROCK on the TiVo.


----------



## Joe3 (Dec 12, 2006)

TiVoStephen said:


> Folks,
> 
> The FrameChannel applications were removed today, and replaced with a message apologizing for the inconvenience. The message contains a pointer to this page:
> 
> ...


_Steve,

With all due respect, you're one of the good guys. None the less, Why don't you just make a clean breast of it. You heard about Frame Channel being all done here first.

But next time, keep it under your hat before telling the boys/gal(s) upstairs. Some of us would like to see how long it would take them to figure out it was gone. 
_


----------



## TerpBE (Jan 23, 2003)

I don't know a whole lot about Chumby, but from what I do know it seems like it would be a GREAT fit for Tivo. I hope you guys are looking into this!


----------



## Fofer (Oct 29, 2000)

It is a little strange. We pay TiVo a subscription fee and Frame Channel is one of the features we're promised when we buy the unit. You'd think TiVo would send out an email to subscribers letting them know that one of the features we've previously enjoyed, presumably as part of our subscription, is going away.


----------



## daveak (Mar 23, 2009)

I suspect many users will not even realize it is gone for awhile. At least the ones who do not look here.


----------



## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

daveak said:


> I suspect many users will not even realize it is gone for awhile. At least the ones who do not look here.


The same is probably true if OneTrueMedia closed it's doors, and people couldn't access their montage's through their channel anymore...


----------



## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

daveak said:


> I suspect many users will not even realize it is gone for awhile. At least the ones who do not look here.


Yeah, I got all excited about the stuff as well but when using it felt it would not last and just stopped investing time in it.

Hopefully the next try will actually have content ready and i an just go through it versus having to figure out how to configure it all


----------



## StreamingMeeMee (Jul 1, 2011)

I'm developing a replacement for the FrameChannel service. The site is open for pre-registrations now; I hope to have it open for testers this weekend supporting Flickr public photo feeds with Picasa soon after.

My main motivation is to replace the functionality for digital photo frames including weather, news and stock info. The software will eventually be released as open source.

I do not own a Tivo so I can't test it against FrameAlbum. If the Tivo devices expect a MRSS feed similar to most digital photo frames we could be in business! 

FrameAlbum is designed to be a drop-in replacement for FrameChannel; specifically that it will answer requests as 'rss.framechannel.com' and respond in with a FrameChannel equivalent feed. This transparent operation requires some DNS geekery to accomplish; if you have the skills the task is quite simple. I would LOVE to add Tivo devices to the FrameAlbum service.

If anyone is interested in testing drop me a msg. You can also pre-register at framealbum.com and join the development conversation at streamingmeemee.com.


----------



## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

StreamingMeeMee said:


> If the Tivo devices expect a MRSS feed similar to most digital photo frames


They don't. But it would be pretty simple to write a client for that.


----------



## StreamingMeeMee (Jul 1, 2011)

And where would one find the docs. on the feed format needed by Tivo devices?


----------



## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

There is no feed format; they don't take feeds. You'd have to write an app, using the Home Media Extensions system (HME). The app could parse your MRSS feed.

Assuming that we're talking about FrameChannel-like functionality, I have most of the pieces for this already, and could put it together quickly. The hassle with TiVo apps is hosting them (they don't actually run on the TiVo) and deploying them (either you get the end user to put in an IP address, or you make a deal with TiVo).

The thing is... a TiVo is not a digital picture frame. FrameChannel was never really a good fit for it. TiVo users expect menus and such, not a slide show.


----------



## sbiller (May 10, 2002)

http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2011-07/some-best-buy-insignia-tivo-hdtv-gossip/

Requires a bit of "connecting the dots" but certainly seems feasible.


----------



## bwall23 (Jun 8, 2009)

There is still hope. Just gotta keep an eye on the HD interface as they will put all new content there. Yeah, it's still slow, but how else can you get all episode details? Can't seem to get that with the SD I/F, anyone?


----------



## Test (Dec 8, 2004)

orangeboy said:


> The same is probably true if OneTrueMedia closed it's doors, and people couldn't access their montage's through their channel anymore...


I found this thread because I lost access to publish videos to TiVo from onetruemedia. Looks like they are dropping support for it. Just wanted to post here because you were a couple months off and maybe TiVoStephen can jump in

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=474926


----------

