I have had my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD DVR 10 days now- m..

[Guest]

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

I still have my Tivo Series 2 connected to my TV via a digital cable box,
along with a 8300HD DVR to record HDTV. The 8300HD has not screwed up in
about 20 recording tries. I'm getting used to the FF button, although the
Tivo 30 second skip is still much better. The search function is poor, but
for my purposes I use it to do "Season Passes" for 10 HDTV shows I watch and
Tivo for everything else, including non-HD shows, wishlists, home media
stuff like photos and MP3s and now Tivo to Go. all in all, I'm pretty please
with my dual set-up. I would love to have a cable Tivo that can record HDTV,
but since it is still off into the future this setup works pretty well. The
8300 can hold 20 hours of all HD, or 90 hours of non-HD so its comparable to
a Tivo Series 2 80 hour unit in capacity.

It has two huge advantages over my Series 2 Tivo, one obviously is the HD
recording, but just as important is the record two shows at once and that
works like a champ, including 2 HD shows at once. It is squirrelly though
when you try to watch a show that is still being recorded. A software bug
brings you back to the beginning of the show instead of where you left off
if you go to live TV. Quite annoying, but hopefully fixable via a patch

By the way, my cable company is Bright House

 

[Guest]

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

Martha Stewart's cellmate wrote:
> no wish list stuff whatsoever. Season Pass stuff is similar to Tivo, except
> the guide only goes out one week and it is not nearly as easy to schedule
> them as Tivo, but it does work. You pretty much must search by title or
> through the program guide, but you can do first run only. I've found its not
> as smart as Tivo. For example, American Idol is on 3 times per week and you
> must tell it to schedule "First runs and repeats" to catch all 3 nights.

Ouch! That kind of stuff could really be a deal killer. One of the
nicest things about Tivo and it's UI is that it does what you expect it
to, issues like that seem to come up rarely (not never, but rarely). I
know that the only way my fiancee is going to use a DVR is if she
doesn't have to mess with workarounds like that. She (and most other
technophobes) would probably just say it's not worth the effort at that
point and not use it.

It seems trivial, but to someone who doesn't *like* playing with
gadgets, I believe it breaks the experience. Operation needs to be
completely intuitive, and figuring out that you have to use "First runs
and repeats" at times to catch all First Runs is about as non-intuitive
as it gets.

Randy S.

 

[Sean]

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

On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 09:51:33 -0500, "Randy S."
<rswittno@spamgmail.com> wrote:

>Martha Stewart's cellmate wrote:
>> no wish list stuff whatsoever. Season Pass stuff is similar to Tivo, except
>> the guide only goes out one week and it is not nearly as easy to schedule
>> them as Tivo, but it does work. You pretty much must search by title or
>> through the program guide, but you can do first run only. I've found its not
>> as smart as Tivo. For example, American Idol is on 3 times per week and you
>> must tell it to schedule "First runs and repeats" to catch all 3 nights.
>
>Ouch! That kind of stuff could really be a deal killer. One of the
>nicest things about Tivo and it's UI is that it does what you expect it
>to, issues like that seem to come up rarely (not never, but rarely). I
>know that the only way my fiancee is going to use a DVR is if she
>doesn't have to mess with workarounds like that. She (and most other
>technophobes) would probably just say it's not worth the effort at that
>point and not use it.
>
>It seems trivial, but to someone who doesn't *like* playing with
>gadgets, I believe it breaks the experience. Operation needs to be
>completely intuitive, and figuring out that you have to use "First runs
>and repeats" at times to catch all First Runs is about as non-intuitive
>as it gets.
>
>Randy S.


Ouch, my ass. First of all, my Comcast DVR does not have this "issue".

Second, I think a much bigger "deal killer" is a cable customer that
buys a Tivo and then realizes it can't record HD. Or that you "lose"
recordings because it only has one tuner.

When I used to use my Tivo. Resolving conflicts because of 1 tuner,
missed channel changes and shitty sound were much worse issues
than the one described here.

Besides, Randy/Ned's fiance is a poor example of a typical customer.
Most customers have already finished Junior High School.

Sean

 

[Guest]

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

not that big a deal since not many shows other than American Idol are on
first run more than once a week but less than daily. It has no trouble
recording a daily soap


"Randy S." <rswittno@spamgmail.com> wrote in message
news:cv2b1n$r32$1@spnode25.nerdc.ufl.edu...
> Martha Stewart's cellmate wrote:
> > no wish list stuff whatsoever. Season Pass stuff is similar to Tivo,
except
> > the guide only goes out one week and it is not nearly as easy to
schedule
> > them as Tivo, but it does work. You pretty much must search by title or
> > through the program guide, but you can do first run only. I've found its
not
> > as smart as Tivo. For example, American Idol is on 3 times per week and
you
> > must tell it to schedule "First runs and repeats" to catch all 3 nights.
>
> Ouch! That kind of stuff could really be a deal killer. One of the
> nicest things about Tivo and it's UI is that it does what you expect it
> to, issues like that seem to come up rarely (not never, but rarely). I
> know that the only way my fiancee is going to use a DVR is if she
> doesn't have to mess with workarounds like that. She (and most other
> technophobes) would probably just say it's not worth the effort at that
> point and not use it.
>
> It seems trivial, but to someone who doesn't *like* playing with
> gadgets, I believe it breaks the experience. Operation needs to be
> completely intuitive, and figuring out that you have to use "First runs
> and repeats" at times to catch all First Runs is about as non-intuitive
> as it gets.
>
> Randy S.

 

[Guest]

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

Martha Stewart's cellmate wrote:
> not that big a deal since not many shows other than American Idol are on
> first run more than once a week but less than daily. It has no trouble
> recording a daily soap

That's true, but to some American Idol is very important (shudder!).

However, I think it's important in that you need to be able to *trust*
the scheduling implicitly. Mistakes need to be *very* rare for the
average user. That said, if you have a high end setup with HD and 5.1
or better sound, the superior hardware features of the SA box trump the
improved reliability of the Tivo box for the home-theater-phile, at
least for now. But that's largely because someone with a high-end
system is probably going to be willing to put up with the quirks in
order to get the better quality picture and sound (and yes, I know,
people with Directv can have both). Anywhere other than on your
living-room or theater-room system the Tivo is probably a better choice.
And I keep hearing that in objective reviews, the cable HD DVR replaces
the living room Tivo, which then gets moved into the bedroom (or other
room). That way they have a reliable backup to get those shows that the
Cable DVR misses, even if they are in SD rather than HD.

Of course this all changes if/when Tivo comes out with an HD box. All
the benefits of HD *plus* tivo-to-go and broadband networking would make
for a nice package. If they throw in a second tuner as well, it would
be nearly perfect! I just wish they'd hurry up and come out with it.
Damn cable-card 2.0!

It's nice to be able to have a fair-minded conversation about it though!

Randy S.

 

[Guest]

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

you are really becoming annoying, try to be balanced in your comments or get
the f out of this newsgroup



"Sean" <none> wrote in message
news:e3k9115l8antbek8615gdgjcmicrf2793b@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 09:51:33 -0500, "Randy S."
> <rswittno@spamgmail.com> wrote:
>
> >Martha Stewart's cellmate wrote:
> >> no wish list stuff whatsoever. Season Pass stuff is similar to Tivo,
except
> >> the guide only goes out one week and it is not nearly as easy to
schedule
> >> them as Tivo, but it does work. You pretty much must search by title or
> >> through the program guide, but you can do first run only. I've found
its not
> >> as smart as Tivo. For example, American Idol is on 3 times per week and
you
> >> must tell it to schedule "First runs and repeats" to catch all 3
nights.
> >
> >Ouch! That kind of stuff could really be a deal killer. One of the
> >nicest things about Tivo and it's UI is that it does what you expect it
> >to, issues like that seem to come up rarely (not never, but rarely). I
> >know that the only way my fiancee is going to use a DVR is if she
> >doesn't have to mess with workarounds like that. She (and most other
> >technophobes) would probably just say it's not worth the effort at that
> >point and not use it.
> >
> >It seems trivial, but to someone who doesn't *like* playing with
> >gadgets, I believe it breaks the experience. Operation needs to be
> >completely intuitive, and figuring out that you have to use "First runs
> >and repeats" at times to catch all First Runs is about as non-intuitive
> >as it gets.
> >
> >Randy S.
>
>
> Ouch, my ass. First of all, my Comcast DVR does not have this "issue".
>
> Second, I think a much bigger "deal killer" is a cable customer that
> buys a Tivo and then realizes it can't record HD. Or that you "lose"
> recordings because it only has one tuner.
>
> When I used to use my Tivo. Resolving conflicts because of 1 tuner,
> missed channel changes and shitty sound were much worse issues
> than the one described here.
>
> Besides, Randy/Ned's fiance is a poor example of a typical customer.
> Most customers have already finished Junior High School.
>
> Sean

 

[Guest]

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

like I said, I still have my Tivo and my HD DVR too. As far as missing
American Idol, the average user would notice it doesn't show up in the "To
do" list of the DVR for the Tuesday and Wednesday shows unless you set it
for "First Run and Repeats". This is easily recognized and fixed. So far
every show to appear in the "To Do" list has recorded. I especiallly like
how I can record "Lost" that ends at 9:03 and start recording American Idol
at 9 pm. This lack of an "end early" feature on the Tivo has always bugged
me, although the stupid networks are more to blame for this idiotic
scheduling


"Randy S." <rswittno@spamgmail.com> wrote in message
news:cv33ti$rei$1@spnode25.nerdc.ufl.edu...
> Martha Stewart's cellmate wrote:
> > not that big a deal since not many shows other than American Idol are on
> > first run more than once a week but less than daily. It has no trouble
> > recording a daily soap
>
> That's true, but to some American Idol is very important (shudder!).
>
> However, I think it's important in that you need to be able to *trust*
> the scheduling implicitly. Mistakes need to be *very* rare for the
> average user. That said, if you have a high end setup with HD and 5.1
> or better sound, the superior hardware features of the SA box trump the
> improved reliability of the Tivo box for the home-theater-phile, at
> least for now. But that's largely because someone with a high-end
> system is probably going to be willing to put up with the quirks in
> order to get the better quality picture and sound (and yes, I know,
> people with Directv can have both). Anywhere other than on your
> living-room or theater-room system the Tivo is probably a better choice.
> And I keep hearing that in objective reviews, the cable HD DVR replaces
> the living room Tivo, which then gets moved into the bedroom (or other
> room). That way they have a reliable backup to get those shows that the
> Cable DVR misses, even if they are in SD rather than HD.
>
> Of course this all changes if/when Tivo comes out with an HD box. All
> the benefits of HD *plus* tivo-to-go and broadband networking would make
> for a nice package. If they throw in a second tuner as well, it would
> be nearly perfect! I just wish they'd hurry up and come out with it.
> Damn cable-card 2.0!
>
> It's nice to be able to have a fair-minded conversation about it though!
>
> Randy S.

 

[Guest]

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

Martha Stewart's cellmate wrote:

> like I said, I still have my Tivo and my HD DVR too. As far as missing
> American Idol, the average user would notice it doesn't show up in the "To
> do" list of the DVR for the Tuesday and Wednesday shows unless you set it
> for "First Run and Repeats". This is easily recognized and fixed. So far
> every show to appear in the "To Do" list has recorded. I especiallly like
> how I can record "Lost" that ends at 9:03 and start recording American Idol
> at 9 pm. This lack of an "end early" feature on the Tivo has always bugged
> me, although the stupid networks are more to blame for this idiotic
> scheduling

I don't think the average user is going to check the to-do list very
often. Though I will grant that an American Idol fanatic is more likely
to do that.

The conflicting scheduling problem is definitely annoying and one I
really don't blame Tivo for not forseeing. Either a software change
(inclusion of a more advanced conflict-resolution routine) or dual
tuners would fix this.

Randy S.

 

[sinner]

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

* Randy S. wrote in alt.video.ptv.tivo:
> Martha Stewart's cellmate wrote:

>> like I said, I still have my Tivo and my HD DVR too. As far as missing
>> American Idol, the average user would notice it doesn't show up in the "To
>> do" list of the DVR for the Tuesday and Wednesday shows unless you set it
>> for "First Run and Repeats". This is easily recognized and fixed. So far
>> every show to appear in the "To Do" list has recorded. I especiallly like
>> how I can record "Lost" that ends at 9:03 and start recording American Idol
>> at 9 pm. This lack of an "end early" feature on the Tivo has always bugged
>> me, although the stupid networks are more to blame for this idiotic
>> scheduling

> I don't think the average user is going to check the to-do list very
> often. Though I will grant that an American Idol fanatic is more likely
> to do that.

Well, having a DTV TIvo, I do this almost daily and while I do watch AI,
it is not the reason for this. The reason is the damn networks messing
with times that will occasionally cause a conflict between my dual
tuners. A good example of this is Law and Order and Alias. I want both,
but because L&O is higher in priority than Alias and Alias tends to be
1:03, it wont record it, so I often have to change L&O to manual and
slightly shorten it so I can get Alias as well.

> The conflicting scheduling problem is definitely annoying and one I
> really don't blame Tivo for not forseeing. Either a software change
> (inclusion of a more advanced conflict-resolution routine) or dual
> tuners would fix this.

As above, dual tuners eases it slightly but a more robust scheduling
would help. Ie the ability to start early OR late AND end early OR late.


--
David
Avoid strange women and temporary variables.

 

[Guest]

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

Scientific Atlanta put out an email to everyone blaming the guide people for
listing American Idol Tuesday and Wednesday as repeats so maybe its not even
a bug in the 8300HD

"Randy S." <rswittno@spamgmail.com> wrote in message
news:cv7dcr$r2c$1@spnode25.nerdc.ufl.edu...
> Martha Stewart's cellmate wrote:
>
> > like I said, I still have my Tivo and my HD DVR too. As far as missing
> > American Idol, the average user would notice it doesn't show up in the
"To
> > do" list of the DVR for the Tuesday and Wednesday shows unless you set
it
> > for "First Run and Repeats". This is easily recognized and fixed. So far
> > every show to appear in the "To Do" list has recorded. I especiallly
like
> > how I can record "Lost" that ends at 9:03 and start recording American
Idol
> > at 9 pm. This lack of an "end early" feature on the Tivo has always
bugged
> > me, although the stupid networks are more to blame for this idiotic
> > scheduling
>
> I don't think the average user is going to check the to-do list very
> often. Though I will grant that an American Idol fanatic is more likely
> to do that.
>
> The conflicting scheduling problem is definitely annoying and one I
> really don't blame Tivo for not forseeing. Either a software change
> (inclusion of a more advanced conflict-resolution routine) or dual
> tuners would fix this.
>
> Randy S.

 

[Guest]

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

Martha Stewart's cellmate wrote:
> Scientific Atlanta put out an email to everyone blaming the guide people for
> listing American Idol Tuesday and Wednesday as repeats so maybe its not even
> a bug in the 8300HD
>

I can buy that, it would be the simplest explanation.

Randy S.