Fast Forward
 

Is there any sign of a fix for the glitch in Fast Forward where you see "into the future" i.e. you think you've reached the point you want to watch but if you Play you are still ages away from that point. Something to do with new compression levels on some channels I believe?

:dunce:

Re: Fast Forward
 

Yes, new software that includes a fix for this is currently in pilot with some customers, and will be rolled out nationally when the pilot is complete.

Re: Fast Forward
 

I've got quite used to it actually, commercial breaks blitzed in a few seconds.

I recently watched an old recording and was disappointed when it took a lot longer to get through those breaks

Re: Fast Forward
 

Thanks, I'll be glad when it rolls out to my machine.

Re: Fast Forward
 

It can be both useful and annoying at the same time.

A good option would be to have it as an option with the speed selections.

Re: Fast Forward
 

I hope they keep the fast forward. Once used to it, I find it a big improvement. Playing back programmes recorded under the previous system is a big anti-climax

Re: Fast Forward
 

A better option would be to be able to specify the start/resumption point in minutes.

Re: Fast Forward
 

Advertisers wouldn't be too happy, they still whinge that we can FF through ads at all. They have pressured providers to disable this in the past ! Sod them, it's the only way to watch commercial TV channels, and frees up 15 mins every hour, life's too short ;)

Re: Fast Forward
 

Well, if they made the watching of commercials compulsory, I simply wouldn't watch the programmes.

You can see their point, though. The commercials pay for the content, so advertisers are not getting what they pay for when people record and fast forward through the breaks.

In the end, this should be resolved when scheduled TV is eventually withdrawn from our screens. At that point, I would expect two versions of the players that replace them. One would be free with unskippable adverts and the other with a subscription and no commercials. I could live with that.

Re: Fast Forward
 

Prefer it as it SP, got ffw down to a fine art.:(

Re: Fast Forward
 

Does anyone know if the Channel 4 on-demand (All 4?) service still has un-skippable ads? I remember watching this once and have avoided it ever since because of this.

Re: Fast Forward
 

Yes, on the full All4 service you get unskippable ads.

Not sure if this is the same for the catch up version on Virgin, though.

Re: Fast Forward
 

All4 makes the most of this by only broadcasting the first episode of some series and forcing you to use All4 for the rest of the series with unskippable ads.

Re: Fast Forward
 

That's pretty much as I feared. Unless I'm missing something it's not even possible to channel-hop during the ads.

Re: Fast Forward
 

Does the V6 use the same version of All4 that Youview does?

Re: Fast Forward
 

No. Channel 4 content on Virgin Media is hosted on VM's On Demand platform.

---------- Post added at 13:38 ---------- Previous post was at 13:36 ----------

Just to point out the reason it's being fixed is that it's currently different behaviour between HD and SD channels.

So the fix is to bring back the consistent timing of FF / RW across all channels.

Re: Fast Forward
 

Doesn't seem to be consistent across all the HD channels but I like the ultra fast speed just the annoying part of the jump back is loads more than it normally is.
Certainly helpful with the compression as I can see a big difference in % used or not used with my recordings.
Just need to work my way through all the old stuff to get full benefit from it.

Re: Fast Forward
 

To me it's like the start of the old Thunderbirds series when they showed rapid clips of the upcoming story... and usually giving the game away.

Re: Fast Forward
 

ITV HD never went fast as this channel hasn't yet been converted to MPEG4, unlike the other HD channels which is when this anomaly began.

Having said that, unless i'm imagining it, some HD recordings made today appear to be fixed and others still going ultra fast. Has anyone else noticed this?

Re: Fast Forward
 

This issue is really annoying, so much so that I stopped watching and recording HD channels and have only watched SD in the last few months (big difference when you are close up to the screen but can barely tell the difference when sitting back on the sofa so it makes no difference).

Well, we had an update last week and I thought that this was supposed to include a fix. In fact it is worse as the issue is now across ALL channels. HD and SD !!

I'm still sticking with SD though because there is another issue with HD since the move to MPEG4 - whenever I switch to an HD channel or start an HD recording my TV switches to a different input (my unused aerial input) and I have to rummage around for the TV remote to switch it back. As my TiVo remote controls everything else I don't use the TV remote for anything else so it is never handy. Only happens on HD and since the MPEG4 switch - possibly a fault with my TV rather than TiVo but, whatever, nothing much I can do other than avoid HD for now.

Re: Fast Forward
 

I was still having the same problem until today, after I upgraded to the V6. Now it's ok.

Re: Fast Forward
 

This ^ ^

Re: Fast Forward
 

Have you considered upgrading to the V6?

Re: Fast Forward
 

At the end of last year I considered leaving VM following the latest price hike. I negotiated a significant reduction in price, partly due to having an older box, so I am reluctant to upgrade and lose that bargaining chip. Also, I am of the opinion that if ain't broke don't fix it, and up until recently I have been perfectly satisfied with my existing box. Across the family we have a lot of recorded stuff that we would lose too! Nonetheless, if the performance continues as it is I guess I will have to change.

Re: Fast Forward
 

This last update has caused all sorts of issues. Not only is the fast forward issue worse then ever (see my earlier post) but I am getting all other kinds of issues. For instance, if I pause live TV and then resume watching, if I have scheduled a recording to start on the same channel, as soon as that recording starts, the delayed TV that I am watching jumps to 'live' with no ability to rewind. So I miss what I was watching and pausing of live TV becomes a useless feature. This happens if there is only one recording scheduled - it is not because I have used up all three inputs.
Also, on Sunday I was watching a program whilst it was still recording. As soon as the recording stopped, the recording that I was watching reverted to live TV. I had to re-locate the recording where I found that the 'resume' function wasn't operative. I had to wind forward to try to find where I was when I was unceremoniously kicked out!
These are just a couple of examples of strange behavior that I have encountered since the latest update. Why can't they just leave things as they are when they are working!!?
Rant over....

Re: Fast Forward
 

Sounds as if it really is broke, then!

If a re-boot at the plug doesn't work, time to get a V6, I think!