DirecTiVo 6.2 thoughts

[Guest]

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

I've got a 105 hour DirecTiVo with plenty on it so paging through all those
screens wasn't fun. This upgrade makes it much more useable.

Menu operations are noticably faster. Surprisingly so.

Reordering season passes is still painfully slow. Not something I do to
often but it looks like I still need to plan to so as many of them as
possible at a time and then leave it to think for the 5-10 minutes it often
takes. (yes I have several pages of season passes. It's why I chose TiVo
over other DVRs).

I really like the folders, great interface. I also appreciate the easy
access to turning folders on and off and changing from date to alphabetical
sorting.

Next I'd like to see an additional level of organization: personal folders.
On every recording and every season pass, and even some way to do it
automatically with suggestions. Tag shows for a particular person. Allow
users to drill down by who recorded it, then by show, then by episode.
Stick anything that isn't tagged to a specific person in it's own folder.

Also I'd like to see the way I (and many others) use suggestions. I thumb
up shows that I'd like to have more of but dont necessarily want to
schedule a recording for or establish a season pass. Sort of a "get these
when you've got time". It would be nice to be able to do this from season
passes. Something along the lines of allowing me to setup a normal season
pass for new episodes of the "Simpsons" that did the normal respect of the
ordering on the season pass list and have a checkbox that would allow you
to get X number of older episodes as well as the TiVo had time (i.e. other
season passes take scheduling precidence).

 

[sinner]

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

* Tony Rice Wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:

> I've got a 105 hour DirecTiVo with plenty on it so paging through
> all those screens wasn't fun. This upgrade makes it much more
> useable.
>
> Menu operations are noticably faster. Surprisingly so.
>
> Reordering season passes is still painfully slow.

See, I found this to be AMAZINGLY faster than it was pre update. I
frequently have ~80 season passes or so and moving one just one click
in either direction meant 15 minutes of nothingness. I did it for the
firt time since the upgrade yesterday and it took less than 5
minutes.

> Not something I
> do to often but it looks like I still need to plan to so as many
> of them as possible at a time and then leave it to think for the
> 5-10 minutes it often takes. (yes I have several pages of season
> passes. It's why I chose TiVo over other DVRs).
>
> I really like the folders, great interface. I also appreciate the
> easy access to turning folders on and off and changing from date
> to alphabetical sorting.

I like the folders but it screws up my sorting now. THe thing I hate
most about the folders is when sorted by date, if you are watching
something in the folder / delete when finished and go back to NPL my
cursor is now frequently at the bottom of the list and I have to
scroll back up to the top to watch something recently recorded.

Also the data sort now integrates the SUID programs which used to
happily sit at the bottom of the list. I deal with it, its not a huge
deal, but I wish it worked exactly like it had just with the addition
of the folders.

[...]

--
David

 

[Guest]

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

SINNER <arcade.master@googlemail.net> wrote in
news:Xns966371BDFFF01Louiscypherhellorg@140.99.99.130:


> See, I found this to be AMAZINGLY faster than it was pre update. I
> frequently have ~80 season passes or so and moving one just one click
> in either direction meant 15 minutes of nothingness. I did it for the
> firt time since the upgrade yesterday and it took less than 5
> minutes.

This is still way too slow, in my opinion. Even for an infrequently used
screen. I guess the database is being reordered right there and then. I
dont understand why it has to be though. There is no need to process it
immediately to display any errors or prompt for any conflicts. There
shouldn't be any.

I'm guessing it's a pretty rudimentary database that is indexed only on
time and reordering it is not a simple operation.

> Also the data sort now integrates the SUID programs which used to
> happily sit at the bottom of the list. I deal with it, its not a huge
> deal, but I wish it worked exactly like it had just with the addition
> of the folders.

I personally like the suggestions being included in the folders. In fact,
I've changed a couple of the suggestions to "save until" so that I would
get a folder for that show at the top of the list. To each his own I
guess.

 

[steven]

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

I got mine last night.

It used to sort by scheduled deletion time, but not any more.
I'll get used to it, after all, mine hasn't autodeleted anything since I
upgraded it from 40GB to 240GB.

The DTV guide is still slower than I would like.

--
--
Steven

May you have the peace and freedom that come from abandoning all hope of
having a better past.
--- - --- - - - - - - - -- - - - --- - ------ -
- --- - - -- - - - -- - - -
"Tony Rice" <rtphokie@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns966378D1EA236jkl123iop@216.196.97.131...
> I've got a 105 hour DirecTiVo with plenty on it so paging through all
> those
> screens wasn't fun. This upgrade makes it much more useable.
>
> Menu operations are noticably faster. Surprisingly so.
>
> Reordering season passes is still painfully slow. Not something I do to
> often but it looks like I still need to plan to so as many of them as
> possible at a time and then leave it to think for the 5-10 minutes it
> often
> takes. (yes I have several pages of season passes. It's why I chose TiVo
> over other DVRs).
>
> I really like the folders, great interface. I also appreciate the easy
> access to turning folders on and off and changing from date to
> alphabetical
> sorting.
>
> Next I'd like to see an additional level of organization: personal
> folders.
> On every recording and every season pass, and even some way to do it
> automatically with suggestions. Tag shows for a particular person. Allow
> users to drill down by who recorded it, then by show, then by episode.
> Stick anything that isn't tagged to a specific person in it's own folder.
>
> Also I'd like to see the way I (and many others) use suggestions. I thumb
> up shows that I'd like to have more of but dont necessarily want to
> schedule a recording for or establish a season pass. Sort of a "get
> these
> when you've got time". It would be nice to be able to do this from season
> passes. Something along the lines of allowing me to setup a normal season
> pass for new episodes of the "Simpsons" that did the normal respect of the
> ordering on the season pass list and have a checkbox that would allow you
> to get X number of older episodes as well as the TiVo had time (i.e. other
> season passes take scheduling precidence).

 

[Guest]

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

"SINNER" <arcade.master@googlemail.net> wrote in message
news:Xns966371BDFFF01Louiscypherhellorg@140.99.99.130...
>* Tony Rice Wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
>
>> I've got a 105 hour DirecTiVo with plenty on it so paging through
>> all those screens wasn't fun. This upgrade makes it much more
>> useable.
>>
>> Menu operations are noticably faster. Surprisingly so.
>>
>> Reordering season passes is still painfully slow.
>
> See, I found this to be AMAZINGLY faster than it was pre update. I
> frequently have ~80 season passes or so and moving one just one click
> in either direction meant 15 minutes of nothingness. I did it for the
> firt time since the upgrade yesterday and it took less than 5
> minutes.

Just curious...how do you have time to watch so much television?? I'm
jealous...sadly, I have to work for a living, when I would much rather watch
TV.

 

[Guest]

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

SINNER (arcade.master@googlemail.net) wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
> See, I found this to be AMAZINGLY faster than it was pre update. I
> frequently have ~80 season passes or so and moving one just one click
> in either direction meant 15 minutes of nothingness. I did it for the
> firt time since the upgrade yesterday and it took less than 5
> minutes.

I can't wait for this update, because I have the same speed issues you
list, and the frustrating part is that the HD DirecTiVo does *not* seem
to have them. With 115 season passes and ARWL, it takes less than 5
minutes to do a complex re-order. Moving one SP on an SD unit with less
than 10 SPs took 10 minutes.

The HD units are on the same 3.1.x code base as the non-upgraded SD units,
so I have no clue why it is so much faster.

--
Jeff Rife | "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going
| to take pan & scan anymore."

 

[Guest]

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

"Tony Rice" <rtphokie@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns966378D1EA236jkl123iop@216.196.97.131...
> I've got a 105 hour DirecTiVo with plenty on it so paging through all
> those
> screens wasn't fun. This upgrade makes it much more useable.
>
> Menu operations are noticably faster. Surprisingly so.
>

So fast that when I get back to the Now Playing list, after
having deleted an item, there is now a little hick-up as the
item is removed and the list updated. It may be happening
faster but it seems more noticeable. Maybe it's just me?

Luck;
Ken

 

[sinner]

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

* Z Man wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:

> "SINNER" <arcade.master@googlemail.net> wrote in message
> news:Xns966371BDFFF01Louiscypherhellorg@140.99.99.130...
>>* Tony Rice Wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:

>>> I've got a 105 hour DirecTiVo with plenty on it so paging through
>>> all those screens wasn't fun. This upgrade makes it much more
>>> useable.

>>> Menu operations are noticably faster. Surprisingly so.

>>> Reordering season passes is still painfully slow.

>> See, I found this to be AMAZINGLY faster than it was pre update. I
>> frequently have ~80 season passes or so and moving one just one click
>> in either direction meant 15 minutes of nothingness. I did it for the
>> firt time since the upgrade yesterday and it took less than 5
>> minutes.

> Just curious...how do you have time to watch so much television?? I'm
> jealous...sadly, I have to work for a living, when I would much rather watch
> TV.

Much gets deleted without getting watched, others get watched when the
stuff I watch regularly is in rerun, like now.

I to have to work for living and unfortunately I can't telecommute. Dont
worry though, your not missing much
--
David
Software, n.:
Formal evening attire for female computer analysts.

 

[Guest]

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

On Fri, 27 May 2005 at 15:52 GMT, <rtphokie@gmail.com> wrote:

> I've got a 105 hour DirecTiVo with plenty on it so paging through all those
> screens wasn't fun. This upgrade makes it much more useable.
>
> Menu operations are noticably faster. Surprisingly so.

Agreed.

> Reordering season passes is still painfully slow. Not something I do to
> often but it looks like I still need to plan to so as many of them as
> possible at a time and then leave it to think for the 5-10 minutes it often
> takes. (yes I have several pages of season passes. It's why I chose TiVo
> over other DVRs).

Haven't reordered SPs yet, but wishlist searches (find all for
all wishlists) is down from something like 5mins to just over 2mins
here. I can't guarantee it's causually related to 6.2, but I'll take
it.


> Next I'd like to see an additional level of organization: personal folders.
> On every recording and every season pass, and even some way to do it
> automatically with suggestions. Tag shows for a particular person. Allow
> users to drill down by who recorded it, then by show, then by episode.
> Stick anything that isn't tagged to a specific person in it's own folder.

Great idea.

> Also I'd like to see the way I (and many others) use suggestions. I thumb
> up shows that I'd like to have more of but dont necessarily want to
> schedule a recording for or establish a season pass. Sort of a "get these
> when you've got time". It would be nice to be able to do this from season
> passes.

I'd like to be able to set a SP directly from a show recording,
instead of having to backout and find it by name.

> Something along the lines of allowing me to setup a normal season
> pass for new episodes of the "Simpsons" that did the normal respect of the
> ordering on the season pass list and have a checkbox that would allow you
> to get X number of older episodes as well as the TiVo had time (i.e. other
> season passes take scheduling precidence).

I wonder if two complementary SPs would take care of this.


--
http/cbsrmt.mousetrap.net/RMTdb/ CBS Radio Mystery Theater database
CBSRMT uploads each day in <news:alt.binaries.sounds.radio.cbsrmt>
http/greyhound.mousetrap.net/altus/ our ex-racer greyhound
http/www.mousetrap.net/~mouse/cs.html How to get good phone support

 

[Guest]

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

Frater Mus (FraterMus2005@mousetrap.net) wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
> > Something along the lines of allowing me to setup a normal season
> > pass for new episodes of the "Simpsons" that did the normal respect of the
> > ordering on the season pass list and have a checkbox that would allow you
> > to get X number of older episodes as well as the TiVo had time (i.e. other
> > season passes take scheduling precidence).
>
> I wonder if two complementary SPs would take care of this.

Not on the same channel, as you can only have one SP per show per channel.

--
Jeff Rife | "Only one human captain has ever survived battle
| with a Minbari fleet...he is behind me...you are
| in front of me. If you value your lives,
| be somewhere else."
| -- Ambassador Delenn, 2260

 

[Guest]

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

Frater Mus <FraterMus2005@mousetrap.net> wrote in
news:4297b9f7$0$964$8b463f8a@news.nationwide.net:

> I'd like to be able to set a SP directly from a show recording,
> instead of having to backout and find it by name.

This is a pain isn't it?

>> Something along the lines of allowing me to setup a normal season
>> pass for new episodes of the "Simpsons" that did the normal respect
>> of the ordering on the season pass list and have a checkbox that
>> would allow you to get X number of older episodes as well as the TiVo
>> had time (i.e. other season passes take scheduling precidence).
>
> I wonder if two complementary SPs would take care of this.

I've done this for some shows where new episodes are still available but
are in syndication on multiple channels. One season pass for new episodes
set to keep 5, and another for all episodes set to keep 5. Without 2, the
new epsiodes would be gone in a day or two as syndicated reruns would push
them off the list. As an example, there are 6 episodes of the Simpsons on
various channels per day for me.

I will probably start using more season passes now that grouping by show
title is available but I'd still like to see something like what I
described in my original post simply to be able to avoid the nag screen
when scheduling a recording that conflicts with something that I really
dont care about.

 

[Guest]

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

> Reordering season passes is still painfully slow. Not something I do to
> often but it looks like I still need to plan to so as many of them as
> possible at a time and then leave it to think for the 5-10 minutes it
often
> takes.

Well, I agree it's slow. But considering the juggling act it's performing I
can understand. It's trying to check for conflicts, use of the right tuner
input, free space and ALL of these across each upcoming broadcast of the
show. There's a lot of factors it has to use to make the decisions.

> Tag shows for a particular person.

A multi-user Tivo would be nice. Meanwhile the only option is another
DirecTivo. It's cheap enough. Combine this with MRV and it'd be even
better. But could you imagine the added complexity of trying to decide what
to delete to free up space? There'd have to be a 'weight' added for the
user in addition to all the other factors. As in, MY programs won't get
deleted until the kids shows are dumped first. Eh, the household conflicts
from this would be easier to solve by just using another DirecTivo.

> Also I'd like to see the way I (and many others) use suggestions.

I don't. They're useless most of the time.

 

[Guest]

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

"wkearney99" <wkearney99@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:br-dnWD5QsGcXwTfRVn-iA@speakeasy.net:

>> Reordering season passes is still painfully slow. Not something I do
>> to often but it looks like I still need to plan to so as many of them
>> as possible at a time and then leave it to think for the 5-10 minutes
>> it
> often
>> takes.
>
> Well, I agree it's slow. But considering the juggling act it's
> performing I can understand. It's trying to check for conflicts, use
> of the right tuner input, free space and ALL of these across each
> upcoming broadcast of the show. There's a lot of factors it has to
> use to make the decisions.

What I dont understand is why this has to be done right then and now worked
on as time allows.

 

[Guest]

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

> What I dont understand is why this has to be done right then and now
worked
> on as time allows.

Because now is the only time it can ask you what might be very complicated
conflict questions.

If it discovers there are conflicts with your selection it can ask you what
to do about it. The thumb ratings will help it make a choice but it needs
confirmation from you. There's a distinct likelihood you won't be near the
machine when the programming might occur so it's now or never.

That and imagine the user complaints if it 'guessed' which one to record and
that guess wasn't what they expected. The PR costs from a boatload of angry
customers having missed their shows would be damned expensive. This as
opposed to having to wait a bit longer and have it make the RIGHT choice.

Yes, I'm sure everyone would welcome it being A LOT FASTER, myself included.
But hey, for what we pay for these boxes (cost and monthly) we're still
gettin' a heckuva deal. I just make sure that juggling season passes is
done when I've got enough free time.

-Bill Kearney

 

[Guest]

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

"wkearney99" <wkearney99@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:z-idnS3eCtJU2QffRVn-3w@speakeasy.net:

> Because now is the only time it can ask you what might be very
> complicated conflict questions.
>
> If it discovers there are conflicts with your selection it can ask you
> what to do about it. The thumb ratings will help it make a choice but
> it needs confirmation from you. There's a distinct likelihood you
> won't be near the machine when the programming might occur so it's now
> or never.

There should be no conflicts. Zero. Nada.

All the information it needs to update the to-do list is available in the
season pass list. The list is already priority ordered.
If a conflict arrises between 2 items on the season pass list, the ranking
in the season pass list itself should resolve that. If a conflict arrises
between an item on the season pass list and a scheduled recording, a
preference could dictate whether the season pass should take precidence or
the scheduled recording.

I'd prefer this kind of setup much more than the current one. I avoid
reordering season passes because it's so slow. I generally save them up,
do them all at once right before turning the TV off in the evening.

 

[Guest]

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

Tony Rice (rtphokie@gmail.com) wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
> If a conflict arrises
> between an item on the season pass list and a scheduled recording, a
> preference could dictate whether the season pass should take precidence or
> the scheduled recording.

It would be nice to have a preference, but currently TiVo treats all one-off
recordings (i.e., things not controlled by the SP Manager) as item #0 on
the SP Manager list. In other words, they have the very highest priority.

--
Jeff Rife |
| http/www.nabs.net/Cartoons/FoxTrot/TransporterError.jpg

 

[Guest]

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

"wkearney99" <wkearney99@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:z-idnS3eCtJU2QffRVn-3w@speakeasy.net:

>> What I dont understand is why this has to be done right then and now
> worked
>> on as time allows.
>
> Because now is the only time it can ask you what might be very
> complicated conflict questions.
>
> If it discovers there are conflicts with your selection it can ask you
> what to do about it. The thumb ratings will help it make a choice but
> it needs confirmation from you. There's a distinct likelihood you
> won't be near the machine when the programming might occur so it's now
> or never.
>
> That and imagine the user complaints if it 'guessed' which one to
> record and that guess wasn't what they expected. The PR costs from a
> boatload of angry customers having missed their shows would be damned
> expensive. This as opposed to having to wait a bit longer and have it
> make the RIGHT choice.
>
> Yes, I'm sure everyone would welcome it being A LOT FASTER, myself
> included. But hey, for what we pay for these boxes (cost and monthly)
> we're still gettin' a heckuva deal. I just make sure that juggling
> season passes is done when I've got enough free time.
>
> -Bill Kearney

I don't remember EVER being asked anything while it reorganizes SP's.
That's the whole point of moving them within the SP manager - the order
you place them in sets the priority. I have also wondered why it can not
perform this process in the background. Isn't TiVo running on a
multitasking/Multithreading OS?


--
Jim H

 

[Guest]

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

SINNER (99nesorjd@gates_of_hell.invalid) wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
> > It would be nice to have a preference, but currently TiVo treats all one-off
> > recordings (i.e., things not controlled by the SP Manager) as item #0 on
> > the SP Manager list. In other words, they have the very highest priority.
>
> I never realized this. So does this mean that if I have a season pass
> set to record Lost on Wednesday at 8:00 but the next episode has not
> showed up yet, during that time I schedule a movie that is in the guide,
> for the same time slot, when the Lost episode DOES make the guide, it
> will not schedule it?

Yep. If you try to schedule the movie after "Lost" is in the guide, you
get a conflict warning, but once something manual is scheduled, it's
treated as part of the priority list with no user intervention.

--
Jeff Rife | "Five thousand dollars, huh? I'll bet we could
| afford that if we pooled our money together...
| bought a gun...robbed a bank...."
| -- Drew Carey

 

[Guest]

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

In article <Xns9665E8F8448D8jkl123iop@216.196.97.131>,
Tony Rice <rtphokie@gmail.com> wrote:

> "wkearney99" <wkearney99@hotmail.com> wrote in
> news:z-idnS3eCtJU2QffRVn-3w@speakeasy.net:
>
> > Because now is the only time it can ask you what might be very
> > complicated conflict questions.
> >
> > If it discovers there are conflicts with your selection it can ask you
> > what to do about it. The thumb ratings will help it make a choice but
> > it needs confirmation from you. There's a distinct likelihood you
> > won't be near the machine when the programming might occur so it's now
> > or never.
>
> There should be no conflicts. Zero. Nada.
>
> All the information it needs to update the to-do list is available in the
> season pass list. The list is already priority ordered.
> If a conflict arrises between 2 items on the season pass list, the ranking
> in the season pass list itself should resolve that. If a conflict arrises
> between an item on the season pass list and a scheduled recording, a
> preference could dictate whether the season pass should take precidence or
> the scheduled recording.
>
> I'd prefer this kind of setup much more than the current one. I avoid
> reordering season passes because it's so slow. I generally save them up,
> do them all at once right before turning the TV off in the evening.

I ran into this last night and I was very glad of the conflict
notification. It turns out I really did want to record the two shows I
had set up and the third one could be recorded at another time. Had
Tivo assumed I really wanted the third one, I would have been pissed.

To do this automatically, Tivo would have had to check that the third
show was going to be run multiple times and schedule accordingly. That
would be nice, but conflict notification is fine.

--
Robert B. Peirce, Venetia, PA 724-941-6883
bob AT peirce-family.com [Mac]
rbp AT cooksonpeirce.com [Office]

 

[Guest]

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

Tony Rice <rtphokie@gmail.com> wrote:
> There should be no conflicts. Zero. Nada.

> All the information it needs to update the to-do list is available in the
> season pass list. The list is already priority ordered.

I have seen conflicts when adding a new Season Pass. The information in
the list might change with reordering, and I can see that there would be a
confirmation question if the reordering reverses the condition that I had
to answer when adding the new season pass.

> If a conflict arrises between 2 items on the season pass list, the ranking
> in the season pass list itself should resolve that. If a conflict arrises
> between an item on the season pass list and a scheduled recording, a
> preference could dictate whether the season pass should take precidence or
> the scheduled recording.

There is a prompt when you add the item. A conflict is not automatically
resolved. You might think that it should be resolved because you have
already chose the ranking, but Tivo asks if you realize a particular
conflict has occurred.

> I'd prefer this kind of setup much more than the current one. I avoid
> reordering season passes because it's so slow. I generally save them up,
> do them all at once right before turning the TV off in the evening.

If reordering is a frequent task, another DTivo might be the best solution.
;-)

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8,-122.5