# Remote change I'd like to see



## LoneWolf15 (Mar 20, 2010)

This wasn't a big deal with a two-tuner Tivo, but with a six-tuner unit, this is something I'd like to see when they come out with the "Bolt Pro".

Instead of having a Live TV button (or in addition to), how about a Next Tuner *and* a Previous Tuner button? I'd like to go back and forth between the tuners, not just forward.

This would be great for sports aficionados going back and forth between a couple of games, switching during the commercials.


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## worachj (Oct 14, 2006)

You can set up your remote to toggle between two tuners by using the enter/last button. When you're viewing on a tuner you want, hit the 'info' button and select the other tuner you want to view. Then just use the enter/last button to toggle between the two tuners. I use the enter/last button all the time on football Sundays to toggle between games.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

worachj said:


> You can set up your remote to toggle between two tuners by using the enter/last button. When you're viewing on a tuner you want, hit the 'info' button and select the other tuner you want to view. Then just use the enter/last button to toggle between the two tuners. I use the enter/last button all the time on football Sundays to toggle between games.


Right, but this limits the viewer to just 2 tuners.

I was thinking about this the other day, as I was demoing our TiVo to a football fan. The "Enter/Last" button only allowed for jumping back-and-forth between 2 tuners, while the "Live TV" button cycled through ALL the tuners, including those recording unrelated content and tuners otherwise unused.

What I felt TiVo needed was the ability for the user to tag tuners as "active" for a given viewing session, and then the Live TV button or Enter button would cycle through only the tuners I'm using, including, perhaps, a tuner recording a game.

p.s. Extra credit for (1) enabling the same capability for TiVo Minis; or (2) allowing transparent access via this feature to tuners on other networked TiVo DVRs in the home.


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

You can always just hit info and select your specific tuner. Or add your sports channels to favorites and switch between on the guide. For I know maybe you can cycle through a list of favorites like you can on many cable boxes.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

trip1eX said:


> You can always just hit info and select your specific tuner.


Yes, Info/Down/Right/(Up/Down)*/Select is an option, but not a straightforward one. Certainly not as effortless as cycling through tuners. Using the Live TV button and skipping over/ignoring the out-of-scope content would be the preferred option, at that point.



trip1eX said:


> Or add your sports channels to favorites and switch between on the guide. For I know maybe you can cycle through a list of favorites like you can on many cable boxes.


That'd possibly be a workable alternative, if TiVo allowed for multiple Favorites lists. With just one Favorites listing, wiping all Favorites for the occasional live surfing between several tuners doesn't seem an effective approach.


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

krkaufman said:


> Yes, Info/Down/Right/(Up/Down)*/Select is an option, but not a straightforward one. Certainly not as effortless as cycling through tuners. Using the Live TV button and skipping over/ignoring the out-of-scope content would be the preferred option, at that point.
> 
> That'd possibly be a workable alternative, if TiVo allowed for multiple Favorites lists. With just one Favorites listing, wiping all Favorites for the occasional live surfing between several tuners doesn't seem an effective approach.


Workarounds!

And what is favorites for but to store favorites? IN the OP's case it sounds like his favorites are sports channels. Seems like a perfect use for it.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

trip1eX said:


> And what is favorites for but to store favorites? IN the OP's case it sounds like his favorites are sports channels. Seems like a perfect use for it.


It would be far from perfect, but perhaps workable for the OP, if there's no one else around wanting the Favorites list to reflect something else, and it would still lack the facility of the "Live TV" or "Last/Enter" mechanisms (unless there's a similar cycle mechanism for Favorites channels that I'm not aware of).

Use of Favorites in this way is in no way a valid solution for the general public, who *could* benefit from perhaps expanding the "Last/Enter" button to track more than 2 tuners, if tagged in some yet-to-be-determined way. (Such as... a "Thumbs Up" on any tuners in the "Info" list adds them to the "Last/Enter" cycle; "Thumbs Down" removes 'em. Alternatively, a "Thumbs Down" on a tuner listed in the Info dialog could temporarily remove that tuner from the "Live TV" cycle.)

At least one downside of the suggested Favorites approach is that the user would have to update the Favorites list any time they switch between content to another channel not on the list -- removing the channel that no longer has content of interest and adding the channel switched to. (The prospect does make the available "Info" and "Live TV" options appear more attractive, though.)


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

krkaufman said:


> It would be far from perfect, but perhaps workable for the OP, if there's no one else around wanting the Favorites list to reflect something else, and it would still lack the facility of the "Live TV" or "Last/Enter" mechanisms (unless there's a similar cycle mechanism for Favorites channels that I'm not aware of).
> 
> Use of Favorites in this way is in no way a valid solution for the general public, who *could* benefit from perhaps expanding the "Last/Enter" button to track more than 2 tuners, if tagged in some yet-to-be-determined way. (Such as... a "Thumbs Up" on any tuners in the "Info" list adds them to the "Last/Enter" cycle; "Thumbs Down" removes 'em. Alternatively, a "Thumbs Down" on a tuner listed in the Info dialog could temporarily remove that tuner from the "Live TV" cycle.)
> 
> At least one downside of the suggested Favorites approach is that the user would have to update the Favorites list any time they switch between content to another channel not on the list -- removing the channel that no longer has content of interest and adding the channel switched to. (The prospect does make the available "Info" and "Live TV" options appear more attractive, though.)


They would have to go in and change which tuners they want and don't want assigned to "tuner selecting" anyway.

And you're going way overboard with some of your statements like "Use of Favorites in this way is in no way a valid solution for the general public." 

Far from it and far from the general public not being just fine with the current ability to switch between either 2 tuners or 6 tuners.

I listed some work arounds. I didn't try to make a case for a 100% complete replacement for the OP's request. 

There are other work arounds too. Type in the channel numbers. Use the guide. I know my sports channels are grouped together. Record the shows you want to switch between.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

trip1eX said:


> And you're going way overboard with some of your statements like "Use of Favorites in this way is in no way a valid solution for the general public."


Ok -- though "overboard" seems a bit overboard.

I expect a vast majority of customers are using their Favorites channel list as designed, as a static subset of the channels they actually receive, and the periodic ransacking of the list as suggested by the workaround would, in my opinion, be suboptimal, at best, for general use -- however effective it might prove for the subset of users who don't otherwise use Favorites, have dedicated DVRs for their use and so don't have to worry about affecting other users, etc.



trip1eX said:


> They would have to go in and change which tuners they want and don't want assigned to "tuner selecting" anyway.


Yes, indeed -- though tagging channels from a list of a maximum of 5 tuners (the current tuner being assumed) would be far easier than managing the Favorites list, as what you're watching changes. Once you've tagged a tuner, it's still in your list even if you change channels, unlike the Favorites approach.



trip1eX said:


> ... far from the general public not being just fine with the current ability to switch between either 2 tuners or 6 tuners.


On that we can agree. I do expect that the general public is totally OK with both features exactly as they are now -- if they even know they exist. But then a feature suggestion would need to be usable by the general public were it to find its way to general release.


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

trip1eX said:


> I listed some work arounds. I didn't try to make a case for a 100% complete replacement for the OP's request.
> 
> There are other work arounds too. Type in the channel numbers. Use the guide. I know my sports channels are grouped together. Record the shows you want to switch between.




Sure, but then we're not in the Help forum, so no one was explicitly looking for help or workarounds.

I agree with the OP that the current mechanisms seem to fall a bit short, now that TiVo has moved to 4- and 6-tuner DVRs, and would like to see something a bit more refined. Suggestions stated as "you can always just..." come across as being sufficient replacements for the requested functionality; in this case, they were not.


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

krkaufman said:


> Sure, but then we're not in the Help forum, so no one was explicitly looking for help or workarounds.
> 
> I agree with the OP that the current mechanisms seem to fall a bit short, now that TiVo has moved to 4- and 6-tuner DVRs, and would like to see something a bit more refined. Suggestions stated as "you can always just..." come across as being sufficient replacements for the requested functionality; in this case, they were not.


People making suggestions want help doing something or other. It goes with the territory. Not everyone knows every work around either.


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