# Wishlist Search Filters Too Crude



## msands2006 (Dec 26, 2015)

Enjoying my new Tivo Roamio but as with earlier editions of the Tivo, the Wishlist search filters are too crude.

For example, if I set up separate Wishlight searches to record "Action", "Drama", and "Sci-fi" movies, and if a movie is coded as "Action, Sci-fi" in the guide, it will not record it. (It will only record movies that are singularly coded as one of these categories).

The result is if you want to make sure you are receiving every movie of interest, you either have to record EVERY movie of every genre (no filters by genre), or set up an inconceivably large array of Wishlist searches to capture every possible combination of genre code combinations in the movie guide.

Because I cannot get satisfactory results with the Wishlist filters, I am currently recording EVERY movie that comes over the air to avoid the possibility of missing anything of interest. Even with 4 tuners, this is obviously not ideal and puts unnecessary wear and tear on the unit. A more effective search filter would make better use of the 4 tuners by avoiding the need to record everything.

It would be much better if the Wishlist search gave the option of selecting movie genres of interest ("Sci-fi, Action, Drama, etc.", and then allowed the user to select conditional filters by checking boxes such as "Contains at least one of these", "Contains all of these", "Contains any except for these". This would allow simple and effective Wishlist searches to be set up that capture movies coded with any combination of desired genres, and avoid the need to record every movie that comes over the air.

Also, I would like be able to exclude movies by a year range. I don't like most movies before 1960 and would like to be able to exclude films before a specified year. Many of the films broadcast over the air are older than this so again, many unnecessary films are being recorded. It should be simple to add this as the information is in the guide.

Thank you for listening!


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

I think you can do all of this already using the following (except excluding before a certain year).

"You can refine your WishList Search by selecting a search term and using either the THUMBS UP or THUMBS DOWN button to modify it.

Press once to exclude a term from your search (adds a minus sign). The search will ignore any results with the excluded term in the listing.

Press again to make the term optional in your search (puts it in parentheses). The search will bring back results that contain at least one of your optional terms."

It sounds like your current filter is the "Contains all of these" option, but you want to make your categories of "Action", "Drama", and "Sci-fi" optional which would be "Contains at least one of these". And if you instead entered the categories you didn't want to get then you could exclude them instead for the last option "Contains none of these". 

Scott


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## msands2006 (Dec 26, 2015)

Thanks for the reply. How are you getting this to work? I tried going through all the Wishlist search screens and pressing "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down" did not do anything.

When you select a "Category" for Movies from the Wishlist search screen, it only allows you to select "All Categories" or one of many genres. It would be nice to be able to select more than one genre and then to select "Contains at least one", "Contains all", or "Contains any except for these" of the genres selected to further refine the filter.

At the least, Tivo could make doing this a lot easier and clearer by presenting more detailed options such as described above. (The year filter would also be nice).

Thanks again.


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## lostinSJ (Jan 2, 2016)

msands2006 said:


> Thanks for the reply. How are you getting this to work? I tried going through all the Wishlist search screens and pressing "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down" did not do anything.
> 
> When you select a "Category" for Movies from the Wishlist search screen, it only allows you to select "All Categories" or one of many genres. It would be nice to be able to select more than one genre and then to select "Contains at least one", "Contains all", or "Contains any except for these" of the genres selected to further refine the filter.
> 
> ...


I like the idea of a year filter. Most of the time I'm wanting to find newly released movies (that are FREE!)

Not part of wish list suggestion, but I'm disappointed in Starz they took away "Early Premieres" in the latest update.

I've been disappointed in Wish List function, the show Unforgettable was due to premiere on A&E. I couldn't remember what channel & you can't create a one pass unless there is a show available within the next week or so of program guide. Tivo Wish List failed to auto record. Very simple wish list of just the word in title of Unforgettable & maybe the actor Poppy Montgomery.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

I haven't had a TiVo in years. There used to be an advanced wish list hidden menu. Is that still around somewhere?


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

TonyD79 said:


> I haven't had a TiVo in years. There used to be an advanced wish list hidden menu. Is that still around somewhere?


They made advanced wishlists the normal wishlist interface a fair while back.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Jonathan_S said:


> They made advanced wishlists the normal wishlist interface a fair while back.


 Almost. I remember being able to do more than what I can do now. It's not bad just not quite as flexible.

I actually prefer the Boolean searches on directv but I can live with what TiVo currently has.


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## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

Wishlists (especially complicated ones) are the one thing it would be far easier to do on a real computer with a keyboard, and (as far as I know) you still can't setup wishlists on the tivo.com interface.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

tomhorsley said:


> Wishlists (especially complicated ones) are the one thing it would be far easier to do on a real computer with a keyboard, and (as far as I know) you still can't setup wishlists on the tivo.com interface.


The iOS app has a keyboard.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

TonyD79 said:


> The iOS app has a keyboard.


Which I usually remember only after using the smaller one on my slide remote.


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## jth tv (Nov 15, 2014)

They should let us use SQL. Lots of people know it and it is really easy to learn with todays software and hardware.


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## TonyD79 (Jan 4, 2002)

Jonathan_S said:


> Which I usually remember only after using the smaller one on my slide remote.


I think about it because I'm used to using it for Roku and my tv.


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## SomeRandomIdiot (Jan 7, 2016)

msands2006 said:


> Enjoying my new Tivo Roamio but as with earlier editions of the Tivo, the Wishlist search filters are too crude.
> 
> For example, if I set up separate Wishlight searches to record "Action", "Drama", and "Sci-fi" movies, and if a movie is coded as "Action, Sci-fi" in the guide, it will not record it. (It will only record movies that are singularly coded as one of these categories).
> 
> ...


Stupid that you cannot limit Wish List to certain channel(s) like DirecTV CCHANS command. If one is only interested, for example, NCIS on CBS and even sets up for New Episodes, look at the To Do list and literally millions of NCIS Entries (though they will not record as not new). Total Waste when trying to actually spot issues.

Also amazing that Reality is not a TV Genre. Try figuring out how to record Gold Rush and Bering Sea Gold on Discovery....using Wishlist for GOLD. FWIW, it will take 5+ minutes to get to the bottom of the "suggestions" for "Gold" before you can even get to try and input "Gold" in the Wishlist. Then try and figure out how it is classified with no Reality Genre.

Same for "Tank" to record ABC's Shark Tank and After the Tank. Every Shark Tank on CNBC shows up, not to mention anything else with Tank in it. Being able to limit this Wishlist to 1 channel (ABC) would solve the issue quickly.


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