V+ nice to haves if possible

[stelladrinka]

I've had my V+ box a few months now and am generally fairly happy with it (OK it can be a bit slow to respond, especially during it's updates after midnight) but otherwise all good. However, I've thought about a couple of things that could be added to it to make it a more complete package. They are:

PDC recording instead of just adding minutes on either end. Surely it couldn't be too difficult to add this feature and broadcast the signal across the network?

Ability to edit the start and end off a recording just like you can on a DVD recorder. This means that I could then edit off the 2 mins before the recording and 5 minutes after to keep a 1 hour program to 1 hour, therefore making it easy to archive parts of a series to a DVD in one batch without having to faff about doing it one episode at a time to get 4 hours and 28 minutes of recording on to a 4 hour DVD (the 28 mins being the padding you don't necessarily need)

I know I can change the settings on the V+ to take off the padding but without PDC I can't be sure it won't cut off short in the case of an over-run. Hence the need to edit.

Anyone else got some nice to haves that would be easy to implement (I know we'd all love them to enable archiving to external HDD via eSATA, but that just isn't going to happen!!)
Perhaps if we get enough support, some of you nice VM employees could see if these could be considered? Or am I just dreaming?

[Stuart]

PDC would be nice if it worked. Trouble is it relies on support from the broadcasters and, in my experience at least, this is inconsistant at best..

IIRC, the BBC got it mostly right but occassionally missed the signals. Channel 4 usually trasmitted the signals but would transmit them anywhere from 5 minutes early to 5 minutes late. ITV would transmit the signals apparently randomly. Very few (if any) of the smaller channels used PDC.

IIRC this was actually why Tivo dropped PDC support from their digital video recorder.

[AndyCambs]

The other option of course is to export the saved programme to a DVD recorder and edit there. The V+ is primarily intended for saving, playing, and deleting to be fair, not a full editing suite.

[ShadowTD]

But every time you export, you lose quality. This is my grumble.

[indie1982]

I'll add my daydreams to the list:

Watching of recorded programs on other STBs around the house (the hardware supports it!)
Watching of recorded programs on computers around the house
Remote Record (Sky can do it, why can't VM)

[ShadowTD]

It's actually a slightly different version of the 8300 that supports the recorded program streaming, and only to other PVR's but yes, this would be brilliant. In fact if they'd done this I probably wouldn't be trying to create this functionality with Media Center.

[Brettiex]

My previous experiences with PDC were pretty similar. It would work but only really for BBC. I tried other channels but after two black eyes from the Mrs (only joking but she wasn't happy as missing her soaps) I decided not to use it again and just pad instead.

I believe Sky use a dynamic EPG to offer similar functionality but I'm not sure how good this solution is. One thing is for sure that some functionality above and beyond what is currently available wouldn't be missed.

Another thing I would like would be remote recording so I could set a recording via my mobile. I don't know if we will ever get it but there have been several occasions it would have been useful.

With reference to recorded program streaming this is something that can be be done in a limited fashion. Simply use scart 2 and a video link and then archive to DVD.

The problem I find most often is how the V+ handles consecutive multiple recordings when padding is used. It is a bit hit a miss as to where the clashes happen and if the V+ will resolve by dropping padding etc. Better management of dropped padding in this respect is a must for me

[higgsfield]

The EPG irritates me no end. What I really need is the channel list to pop up - with the current time at the left of the screen (not rolled back to previous half-hour and therefore showing programmes which ahee already ended) and with the current channel at the top of the screen. Like my old Sony TV. Very intuitive and useful.

[MonTheFish]

a proper name search that doesn't take 30 mins to load.
The ability to remotely access it via the web (set new recordings)
30 sec skip advance button
Soft recording padding (you get padding when it doesn't cause a conflict)
EPG that spans more that 7 days (they have the data you know)
The date a show was first shown in the show info box. (they have the data you know)
Series links that work across the board (if i want top gear tape top gear when the new series starts!!!)
....ohh hang on I'll check what else my 10 year old Tivo does and get back to you !!!