Deliberate "suggestions"?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

Were we the only ones to get the CBS Nightly News coverage of Hurricane
Katrina tonight? We don't watch a lot of news and haven't had news in
our Suggestions before.

Does Tivo have the ability to force a Suggestion recording? I don't
mind so much, but I can't figure out why our Tivo would suddenly up and
record a news show for Suggestions.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

keithdtyler@gmail.com wrote:
> Were we the only ones to get the CBS Nightly News coverage of Hurricane
> Katrina tonight? We don't watch a lot of news and haven't had news in
> our Suggestions before.
>
> Does Tivo have the ability to force a Suggestion recording? I don't
> mind so much, but I can't figure out why our Tivo would suddenly up and
> record a news show for Suggestions.
>

It's never happened before, and Tivo says that they don't and won't do
that. Tivo can push items to you via the gold star items on the main
menu page instead.

Randy S.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

Rod Smith wrote:
> The speculation is that this happens when you give it too many Thumbs Down
> ratings to bad shows in categories you do like

I understand and have heard all that, but IMO that doesn't really
explain why that would lead to getting a news show covering this year's
most important national story when we've never received news
suggestions before, or even recorded news stories or thumbsed up any
news shows...

> Tivo can push items to you via the gold star items on the main
menu page instead.

But I've only seen them to that for promotional items, never news
stories. And aren't those physically stored in the space used for
Showcases?

Anyway, I guess based on your answers that no one else got a surprise
Katrina news show on their Suggestions.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

In article <1125644926.779994.15830@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
"keithdtyler@gmail.com" <keithdtyler@gmail.com> writes:
>
> Were we the only ones to get the CBS Nightly News coverage of Hurricane
> Katrina tonight? We don't watch a lot of news and haven't had news in
> our Suggestions before.
>
> Does Tivo have the ability to force a Suggestion recording? I don't
> mind so much, but I can't figure out why our Tivo would suddenly up and
> record a news show for Suggestions.

I've seen other reports of TiVos suddenly recording bizarre Suggestions.
The speculation is that this happens when you give it too many Thumbs Down
ratings to bad shows in categories you do like (leaving it nothing to
record but things in categories you've not rated). It'll also do this on
new TiVos, of course, which lack data, or if you've cleared out your
Thumbs ratings.

--
Rod Smith, rodsmith@rodsbooks.com
http/www.rodsbooks.com
Author of books on Linux, FreeBSD, and networking

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

Rod Smith (rodsmith@nessus.rodsbooks.com) wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
> > Were we the only ones to get the CBS Nightly News coverage of Hurricane
> > Katrina tonight? We don't watch a lot of news and haven't had news in
> > our Suggestions before.
> >
> I've seen other reports of TiVos suddenly recording bizarre Suggestions.
> The speculation is that this happens when you give it too many Thumbs Down
> ratings to bad shows in categories you do like (leaving it nothing to
> record but things in categories you've not rated).

One thing that happened to me recently is that I turned to Court TV because
a show name sounded interesting in the guide ("Masterminds"). The show
was on already, and I rewound to the beginning and then watched it behind
live, so I interacted with the TiVo a bit (as an aside, this is the only
way I'd watch anything on Court TV if the number of commercials is the
same as for this show...it must have been at least 12 minutes out of the
half hour).

The next set of suggestions had lots of "Crime, Documentary" shows from
Court TV, and this is the first Court TV I had watched in months (if not
years).

--
Jeff Rife | "I feel the need...the need for
| expeditious velocity"
|
| -- Brain

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

In article <1125673803.955052.151920@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
"keithdtyler@gmail.com" <keithdtyler@gmail.com> writes:
>
> Rod Smith wrote:
>> The speculation is that this happens when you give it too many Thumbs Down
>> ratings to bad shows in categories you do like
>
> I understand and have heard all that, but IMO that doesn't really
> explain why that would lead to getting a news show covering this year's
> most important national story when we've never received news
> suggestions before, or even recorded news stories or thumbsed up any
> news shows...

It's called "coincidence." If shifting to unrated suggestions because of
too many Thumbs Downs is the explanation, then it just so happened that
the TiVo made this Suggestion during a major news event. By this view,
there's nothing causal about the nature or importance of the news event
and the Suggestion to record it.

>> Tivo can push items to you via the gold star items on the main
> menu page instead.
>
> But I've only seen them to that for promotional items, never news
> stories. And aren't those physically stored in the space used for
> Showcases?

I didn't make that comment, so I can't speak for the person who did, but I
read the comment as being an elaboration on recordings you don't schedule
generally, not an explanation for your specific Suggestion. After all, you
didn't find this recording as a gold star item off the main menu, which is
what the comment addresses.

--
Rod Smith, rodsmith@rodsbooks.com
http/www.rodsbooks.com
Author of books on Linux, FreeBSD, and networking

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

>>> Tivo can push items to you via the gold star items on the main
>>
>>menu page instead.
>>
>>But I've only seen them to that for promotional items, never news
>>stories. And aren't those physically stored in the space used for
>>Showcases?
>
>
> I didn't make that comment, so I can't speak for the person who did, but I
> read the comment as being an elaboration on recordings you don't schedule
> generally, not an explanation for your specific Suggestion. After all, you
> didn't find this recording as a gold star item off the main menu, which is
> what the comment addresses.
>

I said it, and ironically yesterday there was a gold star item about
contributing disaster relief to Katrina victims (both by phone and
Internet), and about the Concert last night to raise funds as well. So
obviously it is *not* always promotional items, it just usually is.
But, yes, it can be used by Tivo to send shows, I've seen animated
shorts posted there before.

Randy S.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (More info?)

In article <1125673803.955052.151920@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
keithdtyler@gmail.com <keithdtyler@gmail.com> wrote:
>Rod Smith wrote:
>> The speculation is that this happens when you give it too many Thumbs Down
>> ratings to bad shows in categories you do like
>
>I understand and have heard all that, but IMO that doesn't really
>explain why that would lead to getting a news show covering this year's
>most important national story when we've never received news
>suggestions before, or even recorded news stories or thumbsed up any
>news shows...

You have never ever recorded a news show at all? You do realize that
if you record a show, it then automatically gets one thumb up, right?
--
mattack@gmail.com