TiVo new SW version FAQ

ReplayMike makes a good point. If there is a conflict issue, you should see it during setup. Then you can decide which is more important, the padding or the following show. As far as changing scheduals, whether it makes more sense to drop the padding (and therefore, the end of your show), or drop the other show is a real decision. It's not quite the no-brainer you decribe it as. In the case of Season Passes, if you gave one the higher priority, then you should get it. That is how they describe it.


While it would be nice if it could drop the padding to record a show that would otherwise be droped due to a lower priority, this is still better functionality than no padding at all.


Now, if you want a good example when it would make sense to drop the following show rather than drop the padding of the previous show.... sporting events. If you miss the last 30 minutes of your game because Friends played a double episode and the unit decided you rather catch the extra Friends episode and not the "padding" of the sports event....


Anyway, I agree that the way you would want it makes sense. I'm just saying that either way makes sense.


Keep in mind that, if you pad a show, it should be because the part you would miss _is_ important to you. If you don't mind missing the end of your show in order to catch the following show, not padding would do the trick.



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"It's like living in the future."â„¢


[This message has been edited by an infinite number of monkeys (edited 10-24-2000).]

Very interesting points! You are right, this is not a no-brainer issue, and I agree that negative padding could be a big help.


The challenge seems to be to provide the most flexibility while keeping the process simple to understand and simple to use.


For example, say I wanted to pad Babylon 5. Maybe I could flag the padding as "important" (maybe a priority or something?) so that the show following it would get "auto-negative-padded", but still record. To me, the important thing is that if I set padding for a show, I do it for a reason--I don't want to miss the beginning/ending. But, I don't necessarily want the show after it to be missed just because I padded the one before it. I would rather have it partially record a show that I don't care about missing a minute or two than miss the show all together.


Of course, if this really becomes a big deal, it's time to turn off the TV and go for a walk Outside (TM)... http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/wink.gif


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-Jim


ReplayTV: The only way to watch Iron Chef!

Why not post an information only message about conflicts due to padding? Then when shows conflict, the padding is the first casualty (my VCR did this for years before Replay came along).


Negative padding would be an important plus. In my market, the Drew Carey Show always begins about 90 seconds before the start of the hour, so I would want to pad the show by two minutes. That padding would mean that I couldn't record anything that ends at 8 PM unless I eliminate the padding.


As a second problem, what if I just want to eliminate the padding for a special program? Maybe my regularly scheduled program is padded in the front by two minutes, but just this once, I want to record another show right before it on another channel. Why not give me the option to, interactively, okay a one time elimination of padding?


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Lloyd Lawrence

[email protected]


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If two shows overlap whether due to padding or simply due to scheduling, I do not understand why one has to lose completely. In every case, I would prefer a partial recording of the show that loses under current rules. I asked for it to be recorded and a partial recording certainly will take no more disk space then a full recording. If I don't want to watch the partial recording, I will just delete it.


The only argument I have heard with any merit against this is that a partial recording may prevent a later full recording. First, a partial recording could be marked internally as such and if a later opportunity comes along to record it fully, then the partial could automatically be deleted and the new one recorded. Second, the majority of shows do not repeat in any reasonable amount of time and to deny partial recordings on this basis seems ill conceived.


As to ReplayMike's comments about being informed of conflicts and being able to adjust to prevent conflicts, it is good to be able to adjust but often a pain to have to. Please do not force me to go to all the trouble to adjust some other show's settings in order to avoid a conflict which will prohibit the recording of one show if I am happy enough to just miss the first 2 minutes or whatever of the conflicting show. Just record the partial show.


Also, I want to make clear that I think partial recording should happen whether due to padding or scheduling. Recently a movie I wanted to record ended at 10:05 and another show I wanted started at 10:00. I would have been happy to miss the first 5 minutes of the second in order to get it. As it was, I was unable to record it. That didn't help me get what I want.


Finally, I do not see any reason why padding shouldn't be any arbitrary value plus or minus relative to the start or end of any recording. There are numbers on the remote so it isn't hard to input them. And that is not a complicated idea. Needless constraints are complicated and frustrating.


I am hopeful that ReplayTV will consider these thoughts or please explain to me why axing partial shows actually makes sense and I am too myopic to see why. Thanks.


ps. I love my ReplayTV. Mostly, I just want more tuners and disk space.

This brings up lots of interesting points.


Initially I'd say it should just ignore padding if there's a conflict. But...what if I really don't care about the conflicting show...should Replay/TiVo look for some sort of priority setting on that conflicting show?


What if a schedule change brings two shows into conflict - I'd hate to MISS a high priority show just for a lousy one-or-two minutes of another equally-important show.


I don't think giving the option to turn off the padding at the time of set-up is enough...because then the user has to remember to go turn it back on later.


Ugh...I don't envy all the multitudes of issues that Replay/TiVo has to deal with!!!

indeed.

http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/Forum8/HTML/002555.html

(RB says that TiVo will use a soft pad...apparently, they did change their minds during beta. Somewhere out there Stephen Tu is happy... http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif ).

http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/Forum8/HTML/003345.html

(The big argument.)

http://www.avsforum.com/ubbtivo/Forum1/HTML/001008.html

(A recent rehash.)


Of course it seems as though TiVo ended up implementing the "worst case scenario" for padding (it causes conflicts), though I want to be clear that worst case padding is better than not having the option at all. I'm interested to see what Replay implements in 3.0.


dinesh



[This message has been edited by dmaneyapanda (edited 10-01-2000).]