TiVo : Small gripes on Tivo

[Bagsy]

I really like the Tivo box, but can anybody explain why the default for set a series link is “New & reruns�. This is so annoying who in their right mind would want to record reruns, if you wish to watch them again you would keep the original recordings.
Why can’t the Tivo box record just the series from where you select on the EPG and then give you the option to change if you require. Also the default for recordings should be set to “keep until I delete�. It seems to be that Tivo assumes we are not capable of organizing the data held on the hard drive.
Please what on earth is “ Recording hiccups� that really needs to go quite apart from the title which assumes you are an infant, there is so much on there it renders it next to absolute useless.
Has anybody any views on this.

[Perfect Choice]

See comments below on VM Support Forum, at least Nick is being honest which I give him credit.

So it looks like they are now working on 1 tuner use for back to back recordings on same channel and configurable padding, which hopefully therefore means all recording settings for express links so you can set your own default.

In the mean time you will have to go into your recording settings and manually change the options. I am almost always setting up series links for what I watch so it tends to be a onetime exercise per series at least not every recording.

On the recording hiccups feature, just ignore, I’ve only ever used it once to find a clash of recordings which means one will not happen, so you will get a message in this file. However, when Tivo is set to “New and Reruns” you get messages about repeats it is not recording due to the 28 day rule on recording reruns, so this folder tends to be cluttered with rubbish information as a result. If you choose “New Only”, which I now do all the time, then this folder is a lot neater as there are no repeat “not recording” messages.

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/.../913291/page/4

With regards to soft padding (i.e. using two tuners to record the same channel with padding back to back), this is a defect. The change we asked for wasn't implemented as expected, and we can't roll back. TiVo are working on it as fast as they can, but it will take some time. Otherwise with soft padding, please make sure you have clipping turned on, as the padding should be dropped if it would otherwise clip the beginning of a new show. That's the way it is supposed to work.

With regards to user configurable padding, it is absolutely something that we want to introduce. As I alluded to in an earlier post, the change requests provided in each code release are negotiated with our middleware provider. We have seen considerable feedback demanding this feature and have taken that into account in these discussions. Until it is signed off, I really can't promise anything. However, I think you can agree that we've usually made the issues raised on this forum a top priority for development.

Each TiVo code release goes through extensive alpha and beta testing, and in the case of this latest code release we even had a pilot before it was pushed to all boxes. With regards to the back-to-back tuner detect, I'm not aware if this was spotted before release to the general public. If it was indeed raised in development, the process to fix this would probably have delayed the code release altogether. Given the number of important changes we made to the platform in the latest code release, including allowing the ability to launch the Spotify App, the TiVo Buddy, and Red Button, it may have been imprudent to delay the entire release for this defect.


Nick Ontiveros
TV Strategy, Digital Entertainment

[Bagsy]

Thanks for your thoughts
I’m sure that eventually the Tivo box set up will be much more user friendly with forthcoming updates, my initial gripe is how it is set up now, it seems to defy all logic, while it is not a big problem to change the series links options to “new only�, it is something that has to be carried out each time you record a series link. I do not understand why “New only� was not the default in the first instance, and cannot fathom why the original programmers assumed we would want to record “new & reruns�.
However I do ignore the “Recording hiccups� but ignoring “Recording errors� does seem to sit better with somebody over the age of 5 years
Adrian Mole 10 3/4

[spiderplant]

Originally Posted by Bagsy

I really like the Tivo box, but can anybody explain why the default for set a series link is “New & reruns”. This is so annoying who in their right mind would want to record reruns, if you wish to watch them again you would keep the original recordings.

That's a matter of opinion. Personally I don't care whether or not something has been shown before - if I want to record it, I want to record it. Plus it's better to have things recorded that you don't want, than it not record things you do want.

Originally Posted by Bagsy

Also the default for recordings should be set to “keep until I delete”. It seems to be that Tivo assumes we are not capable of organizing the data held on the hard drive.

This setting only comes into play when the hard drive is full. So if you are capable of managing the space yourself, the setting irrelevant. However, if you are not capable, it ensures that recordings don't fail due to lack of space. Everybody is happy

Originally Posted by Bagsy

Please what on earth is “ Recording hiccups” that really needs to go quite apart from the title which assumes you are an infant, there is so much on there it renders it next to absolute useless

From time to time people post here asking why something hasn't recorded. Well, Hiccups is there to answer that type of question. It would be misleading to call it Recording Errors, because more often than not it's not an error - it's normal operation.

If you never need to look in Hiccups, that's fine. Simply ignore it.

[Bagsy]

Thanks for your comments spider plant.
You obviously have your own agenda, stating your position does not help
I just need to make the point that I would like to receive a service as I see it as a consumer
I would appreciate comments from all.
If the default setting suits you then that is ok, but they do not suit me.
Errors/Hiccups I know where to look.

[andy_m]

My understanding of new and reruns is that it allows the box to look for other showings of the same program so that it doesn't have to record the first showing of something in the event of a recording clash with something else, no?

[Adder]

No, the point of "New and reruns" is that if say both the current series and a previous series of a programme are on the same channel at the same time (say one a week of the new series and one a day or the old series) it allows you to record both. "New only" would just record the one a week of the current series.

[Perfect Choice]

But if you have seen previous episodes or series and just want to record/watch new episodes then the default is annoying and you end up recording episodes you don’t want.
An Extreme example of this is Wipeout USA on Watch, there is a new episode every Sunday but over a dozen repeats during the week/ This specific example is an EPG data fault since even when set to new only, it still records every episode.
What is clear here is people have different preferences and user configurable default is the answer which is now in the development stage from my earlier post quoting Nick on the VM forums.

The OP then can set his own defaults for all recordings, in the mean time it will have to be a manual change which is what I do on series links

[marlot]

It would be useful to be able to specify a series to record. eg. Only series 6, or series 6 and 7.

[petergc]

Originally Posted by marlot

It would be useful to be able to specify a series to record. eg. Only series 6, or series 6 and 7.

I agree. On many US series, I would probably like to record 2 or 3 series as they become vavailable, but not the very old series, which I have definitely seen. A case in point is Law and Order SVU, which seems to be showing loads of series at the same time. Ideally I would like to have the option to select the series I want the tivo to seeek and record