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TiVo 2.0 (DirecTiVo) comments

158 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by FlashingTwelve, Oct 2, 2000

cwoody222

Discussion Starter · Oct 1, 2000

Well, TiVo 2.0 is out...at least w/ DirecTiVo. Not bad...only annouced back last January! But I'm not here to talk about more-frequent smaller updates vs. less-frequent larger updates...that argument has already occcured.

But...all that aside, what do I think (of what I read)? What do I wish ReplayTV did, too? What do I hope Replay avoids in *it's* software releases? Let's see...

(this material is taken from the new DirecTiVo FAQ: http://www.tivofaq.com/DirecTiVo20.html)

We got WishLists by Actor, Director, Category, and Keywords (which searches titles and descriptions both), but not name alone.

I can't believe they skimped in that last part (Title + Keyword) since that's a MAJOR disadvantage of TiVo - you'd think they made sure to copy ALL of Replay's features.

And it seems TiVo is beginning to fall into the trap of being too complicated...which Replay falls into often:

- Quotes made simple, by Otto: "A search for the words CITY SEX, without any quotes, would find "Sex and the City". A search for the words "CITY SEX", with quotes, would not find "Sex and the City". The difference: The first search is searching for anything that has both the words "CITY" and the word "SEX" anywhere. The second search is searching for anything containing "CITY SEX" as one continuous phrase. It's just that simple."

- Samsara: "If you put quotes around two or more words, it looks for all of those words together and in the same order. Otherwise, it looks for all of the words, but in any order and occurrence. For example, FRIENDS "THE ONE" would match all episodes of Friends because it contains the word friends and contains the exact phrase "the one." Without the quotes, it could find a description like "ONE of THE old FRIENDS."

What?!?! Replay's search is much more straight forward. I'll take simplicity over some extra power by using quotes, etc.

And check out this page: http://www.geocities.com/katango2001/wishlists.html Does this mean I can only set for Actors, etc. IF they happen to appear somewhere in the next 12 days or so of data and/or what TiVo has pre-programmed in for me?

-- "Teach TiVoâ„¢"

Sorry, this one was dropped, for now.

Don't annouce things and don't deliver. Period. They've had MONTHS to squeeze everything in. Heck, I don't even know for sure what this is; but it was in the Release and people had been waiting that long, give it to 'em. Take note Replay.

"And, most unfortunately, View upcoming does not appear on the Conflict resolution screens!"

The one place I wanted to see "View Upcoming" the most and it's not there http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/frown.gif But, still, this is a HUGE thing needed in TiVo so I'm glad they got it. Replay: now's your chance to catch up to them in terms of conflict: add a "would you like to cancel the conflicting show" to YOUR conflict screen.

-- "Don't Record Shows You've Already Recorded"

It's better now, but it's still dependent on the quality of the episode identification in the Tribune data. Like 1.3, it avoids recording duplicate episodes of shows that are already in Now Playing or ToDo. In addition, 2.0 remembers those shows even after they've been deleted, in a list that is kept internally for 30 days. The 30 days is not tied to Recording History, is not configurable, or even obviously specified anywhere, but we have it on good authority.

COOL!

Picking a channel on the Live TV guide not only changes the channel, but makes the guide go away.

When you hit "Resume Playing" (or press Play from the Now Playing list), the show starts in Play mode, not Pause. So you don't have to press Play anymore!

Thank God for both of those!

"You can SEE the recording history, both for the past and future! Not only that, but you can see what programs lost the battle of the Conflict Resolution, and change it! More to the point, this gives you a great perspective on the best way to setup your SP Priorities. It lists what has been recorded, when, when it was deleted (!), and most important, why a Conflict Battle loser episode will not be recorded. The "Won't Record" shows are the loser episodes."

WOW!!!

This looks at more than just the (R) in the description. There is also a hidden rerun flag on some shows, such as syndicated reruns. As an example, if you get reruns of The Simpsons on your Fox affiliate with the new episodes and then setup a First-run only SP on that channel for The Simpsons, you'll only get that one new episode a week even though the syndicated reruns don't have an (R)

COOL!!!

Finally...they added network logos in the Now Playing screen...something that Replay's SEC document talked about doing in Replay Guide. Personally I wouldn't mind these...and especially would appreciate the new "look" it'd bring to the one-tone color of Replay's UI. Flash up the ReplayGuide w/ some logos, guys...if TiVo's doing it, no user has any reason to ***** about excessive advertising! http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/wink.gif

Anyway...I'm excited to get my 2.0 (in a few months, probably) and my Replay 3.0... And I'm really excited to find out what TiVo will annouce in Jan. 2001 that might be coming in Oct. 2001 http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/wink.gif Seriously...w/o really out-of-left-field type stuff like MyReplayTV.com I have no idea what to expect - and I love it! http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif

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DrStrange

· #2 · Oct 1, 2000

Quote:

Originally posted by cwoody222:

I can't believe they skimped in that last part (Title + Keyword) since that's a MAJOR disadvantage of TiVo - you'd think they made sure to copy ALL of Replay's features.

Agreed. I've been making theme channels on my Replay for fall shows that weren't yet in the guide in case they got overlooked when they did show up, and for syndicated shows that are on multiple channels. You can't do that with Season Passes. Although most shows have distinctive enough titles that description searches wouldn't generate many false hits.

Quote:

I'll take simplicity over some extra power by using quotes, etc.

A direct reversal of the position most Replay owners take when defending Replays complex scheduling and disk management. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif

But Tivos way is how I think most people will expect a keyword+title search to work. If I wanted to know about antique cars I couldn't be sure those two words would show up in the description in that order. Title-only searches are different, those I would expect to search my words in order. But Tivo avoids that by not offering a title-only search at all. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/frown.gif

Quote:

Does this mean I can only set for Actors, etc. IF they happen to appear somewhere in the next 12 days or so of data and/or what TiVo has pre-programmed in for me?

I asked that very question somewhere and was told it will let you make a wishlist for any name whether it knows it or not. You'll just have to "type" the name in.

Tivo left enough out of 2.0 that my Replay won't be going anywhere yet. But the Replay-like features it does add coupled with new features for conflict management (which 1.3 already did better than Replay IMO) widens the gap. Then again I don't know what Replay 3.0 will add and I'll have that before I have Tivo 2.0 so I may have a different view in a few weeks. http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif

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cwoody222

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 2, 2000

Two points:

Agreed on making Themes for new shows not on yet...I have a few of those - some to 'catch' them when I forget, others just to remind me to look for them in a few weeks.

Just so my point about simplicity vs. power is clear: that was only meant for the "Search" option...usually I perfer power. But, making something that *could* be really simple (like Replay's search) complicated is not a wise move, IMHO. And if it was something that TiVo had to make due with due to time constraints or something, then I think they should have waiting until it was 100% ready, IMHO.

(not a criticism, just my opinion)

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Samsara

· #4 · Oct 2, 2000

Quote:

Originally posted by cwoody222:
We got WishLists by Actor, Director, Category, and Keywords (which searches titles and descriptions both), but not name alone.

I still want it, but it isn't as useful as you might think. Title-only only works well with a unique title like Sex and the City. In that case, simply put it in quotes and that's all you'll get. However, with a show like Friends or Oz, you'd have to add other keywords or else you'd get too many false-positives.

Quote:

And it seems TiVo is beginning to fall into the trap of being too complicated...which Replay falls into often:

Yeah, about as complicated as every search engine on the web. Quotes = Exact phrase, No Quotes = All words, any order.

Quote:

Does this mean I can only set for Actors, etc. IF they happen to appear somewhere in the next 12 days or so of data and/or what TiVo has pre-programmed in for me?

No, you can enter any name you want. It uses existing names to help you find the one you want after a couple of letters like Search by Name.

Quote:

"And, most unfortunately, View upcoming does not appear on the Conflict resolution screens!"

It is easy to View upcoming for the show you're trying to schedule because it is on the screen from which you initiated the recording. Left arrow out of the conflict message, down, Select and you're there. You still have to find the existing show if that's the one you'd rather reschedule.

Quote:

Replay: now's your chance to catch up to them in terms of conflict: add a "would you like to cancel the conflicting show" to YOUR conflict screen.

??? TiVo already does this.

Samsara

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FlashingTwelve

· #5 · Oct 2, 2000

Nice review cwoody but I take you to task on the "too complicated" analysis. It is just like a search engine. Any search engine. Don't put quotes and they are keywords. Put quotes and its a keyphrase. If the user doesnt understand what a keyphrase is they are not inhibited by its existance because it is a transparent feature. But the choice of keyphrase or keyword is a powerful tool that needs to be there. What could be simpler than ""s? Some web sites (including UBB search software) have buttons for "Match ALL of the words above, Match ANY of the words above, match the phrase above EXACTLY". I'll take ""s before that non-transparent method.

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