I hate my stupid TiVo-like device

[cablewithaview]

Don't get me wrong. I love my TiVo-like device (it's not actually a TiVo brand digital video recorder but a Dish Network-based machine that we refer to as the TiVo despite the consternation I'm sure this causes among the custodians of the TiVo brand).

I just loathe how dumb it is.

(note--I've changed the earlier headline to underscore that my device is not a TiVo but a machine that functions like a TiVo)

If I set my Dish PVR to record a sporting event, it stops recording right at the minute the broadcaster has said the game will be over, even though very few games ever end on time.

If I set it to record a program that is delayed in some way by a game that runs overtime, a presidential speech or a short news bulletin, it captures whatever is on the air during the scheduled interval, with no mind at all for what's actually being broadcast.

Saturday night, for instance, I set it to record the CBS "48 Hours" update on the Rhoades-murder case in downstate Paris. Instead, for reasons I have yet to determine, it recorded about 40 minutes of a kiddie's Christmas special and only about 20 minutes of the hour-long update.

(Fortunately the transcript is online http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/13/48hours/main1123966.shtml .)

Now, sure, VCRs were dumb in this way, too. But they were stand alone objects that couldn't and didn't communicate with some central electronic authority, as DVRs do in order to keep their program guides current.

What I want now is what I'm certain almost everyone will have within 10 years -- a TiVo-like device that knows minute to minute what's on when; that keeps running through double and triple overtimes, that isn't fooled when networks lop over the hour by a minute or two in order to boost ratings; that adjusts for the interposition of special reports, rain delays and other events.


NOTE: click here to read postings: http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2005/12/i_hate_my_stupi.html#more

 

[SimpleSimon]

If I set my Dish PVR to record a sporting event, it stops recording right at the minute the broadcaster has said the game will be over, even though very few games ever end on time.

Must be an old one. NBR-capable DVRs (522/625) automatically pad an hour onto the end of a sporting event.

As for events following a sporting event, or when an unscheduled event (like the President's speech last Sunday) affect things, NO DVR (Tivo or not) will adjust for it because the data is NOT in the guide it works from.

What I want now is what I'm certain almost everyone will have within 10 years -- a TiVo-like device that knows minute to minute what's on when; that keeps running through double and triple overtimes, that isn't fooled when networks lop over the hour by a minute or two in order to boost ratings; that adjusts for the interposition of special reports, rain delays and other events.

It might happen.

 

[Purogamer]

That's not really the issue, because the boxes we have can receive info and adapt without problem as NBR as proven. The issue is when a game goes to overtime with 3 minutes left in the scheduled time, the guide needs updated accordingly. Then it has to be uploaded, and downloaded by the end user. To ask this to be done in real time is not really possible. Even when we get to that point, you're going to have to assign every event a priority number ahead of time. You may think you're recording your home team from 4-7, and the new episode of C.S.I. from 8-9. Well, you'd obviously (remember, ahead of time) assign the CSI episode a higher number. Well, if that game turns out to be the greatest game EVER, and the best triple overtime game EVER, you're still going to miss it unless it's the only event scheduled.

It's great technology, and they're working on it, but to ask it to adapt on the fly to things like overtime is really asking too much, especially at this time. I think we'll still be without that 5 years from now. Until every house has a DVR and it's connected to a fiberoptic network that can be updated very quickly, you're SOL...

Did ANY of that makes sense, I'm not even going to try reading it back...

 

[Tom Bombadil]

When I record a sporting event that is important to me, I always extend the recording by 30 minutes.

 

[dfergie]

I have 3 different types of Dvrs... Replays, a 501 and a 921, of them all the 921 is the only one that you cannot pad past :29... the Replays have an unlimited buffer which comes in handy....(only limited to your HDD Size and room left on )

 

[scooby2]

Actual Tivo's dont do any better. If you tell it to record 48 Hours that is supposed to be on from 8pm - 9pm and something (sports, president, whatever) causes the whole line up to be pushed back it is still only going to record from 8pm - 9pm. No DVR is smart enough to know that your show started at 8:40pm and ends at 9:40pm.

Figure out how to make a dvr do it and patent it.

 

[maximum]

Actual Tivo's dont do any better. If you tell it to record 48 Hours that is supposed to be on from 8pm - 9pm and something (sports, president, whatever) causes the whole line up to be pushed back it is still only going to record from 8pm - 9pm. No DVR is smart enough to know that your show started at 8:40pm and ends at 9:40pm.
Figure out how to make a dvr do it and patent it.

I'm sure somebody knows how to do it in theory. One option is to have the program guide information updated in real-time so the receiver knows exactly when programs begin and end (instead of when they are scheduled to begin/end). But there are a lot of technical issues, such as limited bandwidth and collecting real-time program info. from all of the broadcasters.

Another possibility is to have the program information transmitted along with each channel (like closed captioned data). Then the broadcast can signal your DVR when to start and end recording. Of course the broadcasters will probably trigger it to record a few advertisements before and after the event.

 

[deathmetal]

big duh here,just record the show after,and if need be the show after that,etc.,etc.
I want no surprises when my pats are on monday night(after my bedtime,even though 1/3 of the U.S. population lives in the eastern time zone,they always end after midnight,but I digress)

 

[SimpleSimon]

big duh here,just record the show after,and if need be the show after that,etc.,etc.
I want no surprises when my pats are on monday night(after my bedtime,even though 1/3 of the U.S. population lives in the eastern time zone,they always end after midnight,but I digress)

That's what I always do. Works just fine.

 

[jpezz]

What I want now is what I'm certain almost everyone will have within 10 years -- a TiVo-like device that knows minute to minute what's on when; that keeps running through double and triple overtimes, that isn't fooled when networks lop over the hour by a minute or two in order to boost ratings; that adjusts for the interposition of special reports, rain delays and other events.

Hah! More likely a Tivo-like device that sees what you are watch, correlates it with your credit card purchases and your bank balances since it knows everything about you and fills the extra time with customized ads between the end of the game and the overtime. and, by the way, prohibits you from fast forwarding past the ads because the contract with the advertisers requires that modification. And if you record it to DVD they bill you more.

John

What do you think those guys in the huddle are talking about? how to make you pay more, of course!

 

[RobertsD]

When I record a sporting event that is important to me, I always extend the recording by 30 minutes.

I have a DVR 625, and when I record a sports game, it automatically records 1 hour over the schedualed time.

For normal shows, it automatically records 3(or 4) minutes over the time, so it covers shows like Lost, which have gone a few minutes over the hour lately.

 

[CopyChief]

Updating Program Info

One option is to have the program guide information updated in real-time so the receiver knows exactly when programs begin and end (instead of when they are scheduled to begin/end).

That's just it, though... there's no information to download. Networks don't update their guide information in the middle of a program. And if they did, there's no way your receiver could download the information, integrate it into the guide, and adjust your timers accordingly. Someday, maybe, but not today.

Think about it this way: Not too many years ago, we all had weekly timers set up for our VCRs... when the Networks shuffled our programs around, we had to change the timers manually. NBR takes care of that for us. And, in the case of a scheduled presidential news conference (or other special event), shows generally are recorded without a problem.

It's a good world we live in if the biggest thing we have to gripe about is missing something on TV!