[The Robman]

One of the anticipated problems of the forthcoming myreplytv.com is that any programming that you do during the day from your office won't take effect until the next day because your unit won't "phone home" until the early hours of the morning.


Well, it occurs to me that if the user could select their own dial-in times they could program their Replays to dial in during their commute home, that way any shows that they might have programmed for that evening could still be recorded.


This would also help people with two units as they could program one to dial in a hour or so later than the other. It would also serve to spread out the times that all the units dial in as people's commute times are different, their time zones are different, and their preferred dial-in times will be different.


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Later,

Rob.
http://www.hifi-remote.com/

 

[cwoody222]

I love the "dial home while I'm driving home" idea.


My only hang up (no pun intended) is 5pm or so is a semi-busy time for phone use (not that I'd be home to answer) so I'd worry about people getting busy signals instead of my machine.


But...I like it, I like it!


But...they're still gonna have trouble unless they get their network at least as stable as TiVo's - my Replay misses probably 1-2 nights a week - not very reliable when I will NEED a nightly connection to ensure this MyReplayTV.com thing works as it should...

 

[just_mike]

i agree that we should be able to set our own dial-in time, but which of the many possible UIs is best? (never forget the target market for these machines - AVS people are a unique segment)


we'd need a new entry on the Setup page, e.g.: Change Daily Connection Setup


some ideas for this page:[*] easiest: a setup screen that has two lines. e.g.:

Your ReplayTV must connect once every day to update Program Information.

Please select the best time for ReplayTV's daily connection:

• connect between 2:00AM and 6:00AM (default)
• connect anytime throughout the day or night

this is the most straight forward enhancement, since most people can't/don't program their VCRs (what's that?)

also, the "retry window" would have to be extended/modified. if i choose the "anytime" option, when does it try the first time? how often does it retry? certainly not all day.[*] compromise: a setup screen that has "general" dial-in times. e.g.:

Your ReplayTV must connect once every day to update Program Information.

Please select the best time(s) for ReplayTV's daily connection:

• connect "at night" (between 2:00AM and 6:00AM)
• connect "during the day" (between 10:00AM and 4:00PM)
• connect anytime throughout the day or night

this gives a little more control over when RTV does not connect.[*] ideal: a setup screen that has a time range UI just like the Manual Record screen, even including the days of the week! you would choose the time range that is best for you, with maybe text or a check box to allow connection anytime (i.e.: 12:00AM -> 11:59PM). including the days would address people that have to make toll calls.


possible reasons RTV won't add this feature:[*] RTV chose 2:00AM - 6:00AM to save me on potential toll charges[*] RTV chose 2:00AM - 6:00AM to save them on potential toll charges?[*] RTV doesn't want to have it's full compliment of dial-in servers (including support staff) up more than 7-8 hours a day. we know we can dial in throughout the day, but we don't know that all the servers are up 24/7.


i think we should always try to keep in mind the probable target market for this product whenever we request features. this is a UI intensive product, and RTV isn't going to put something out there that is "too difficult" for most people to use. (of course what we really need is an "expert mode"/"advanced" setting that enables all the cool, "too difficult" stuff)


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...mike

 

[The Robman]

Quote:

Originally posted by cwoody222: My only hang up (pun intended) is 5pm or so is a semi-busy time for phone use (not that I'd be home to answer) so I'd worry about people getting busy signals instead of my machine.

What, you only have ONE phone line, HOW PRIMITIVE! http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif


Obviously, this would be a user selectable feature, so you'd have to weigh up the pros and cons before you decide to select 5pm as your dial-in time. Like you said, you wouldn't be there to answer the phone anyway, so one possibility would be to use voice mail rather than an answer machine, that way you'd get your messages even though the line was busy.


It will be interesting to see how long Replay needs to stay on the line to add all of your programming to the unit.




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Later,

Rob.
http://www.hifi-remote.com/

 

[Craig Colvin]

It shouldn't have to stay on the line more than a few seconds to transfer any new programming info. Just needs start time, length, channel, record quality, repeating, days of week, etc. This should be on the order of 100-200 bytes per program which is nothing in the overall download.

 

[cwoody222]

Yep, my small apt. only has one phone line...two jacks. And only one cable outlet.


You should see how I have to string things around and split signals and crap; it's insane! http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/wink.gif

 

[fubie]

I'm hopeing the Replay guys could comment on dialin times.


From my prospective I would think that boxes dialing in at varied times of the day would help reduce stress on the servers between 2am - 6am, there fore would also help to speed the implementation of upgrades.


I myself would rather have my unit dialin between 6am & 12pm because of my work schedual & when most of my recordings occur.


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If only she could be paused like my ReplayTV.

 

[jleavens]

At some point, there was discussion whether or not the modem in the Replay could detect RING from incoming phone calls. If so, wouldn't it be nice to trigger a dial-in with a call and single ring before hanging up.

 

[fubie]

I just thought of a good reason the Call your box, let it ring once then hang up to initiate it to dial out may not work to well..


Say your a non techie(like grandpa jones) & you try this, Your box is currently recording & therefore won't dial out. Grandpa Jones gets particularly peeeeeved that he can't get this new fangeled black box to work so he calls the good folks over at the black box phone help. Then they have to hunt & peck at why the Grand Ol' Opry didn't record for Grandpa Jones, Only he don't rightly remember when he tried to call his black box at home.


Well There could be allotta Grandpa Jonses out there missing Roy Clark pluck his banjo & gittin' good & riled up!


Now tell me! Would you really want this to happen?


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If only she could be paused like my ReplayTV.