MPEG-4....FFW and Back Terrible!!!

[Cowchip]

Dish has got to do something about these MPEG-4 channels and the ability to effectively fast forward and go back at a reasonable speed other than warp. When watching a program it's impossible to just go back five seconds or even ten at the slowest speed. Same goes for FWD. When watching sports I sometimes like to go back about 5-10 seconds to get an "instant replay" of something that happened or something that was said and you can't without going back much, much more than that. They might as well do away with the x60 and x300.

 

[garys]

Try using the skip back and skip forward buttons.

 

[Cowchip]

That's fine, but I'm looking for the granularity you get on the non- MPEG channels. I know it sounds picky, but I'd rather not go back and forth 30sec at a shot.

 

[gary s]

I believe the skip back button is supposed to be more like ten seconds.

 

[socalpanman]

I have no such issues with my 622. We daily watch DVRd stuff from the mpeg4 HD channels. Could it be your box?

 

[MRUSS]

I'm also having the same issues with the MPEG4 channels. FWD one speed then it stops till you hit the button for the next speed. It also seems to mess up the harddrive space counter on HD.I like the fact that it is not useing as much harddrive space while recording.

This may be hard for dish to fix till they get all the HD channels MPEG4.

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

This may be hard for dish to fix till they get all the HD channels MPEG4.

It should not matter if HD or SD - it would matter MPEG4 or MPEG2 - and since the SD Channels will not be MPEG4 during the life of this DVR.......

 

[Cowchip]

My mistake, the skip button is 10 seconds, not 30.

Maybe they need a 2X speed too. The 300X will put you at the end of a program in no time and is worthless on the MPEG channels.

The other problem is when you go back or forward, it will always put you at the same spot no matter how hard to try to go to a different spot. For example, I want to go back 5 seconds (which is easy on the non-MPEG channels) but it will put you at 8 seconds back everytime, or it won't even go back that short of time and will revert to "Live TV" again because I didn't go back far enough to the next magical time point. In other words, if the magical time point is 8 seconds and I try to go back only 5, it will just go to Live TV because I didn't go back far enough.

This is just an example and I haven't paid attention to the exact times, but it's like that's a mark in the programming or some time reference in the playback that it goes to. Hard to explain, but it's annoying either way you cut it.

If I wanted to overrun the spot I want to go back or forward to, I'd just go back to VCR tapes. It kind of defeats the purpose of what the functions of a DVR are used for, like going back during watching live TV, etc.

 

[SmityWhity]

The other problem is when you go back or forward, it will always put you at the same spot no matter how hard to try to go to a different spot. For example, I want to go back 5 seconds (which is easy on the non-MPEG channels) but it will put you at 8 seconds back everytime, or it won't even go back that short of time and will revert to "Live TV" again because I didn't go back far enough to the next magical time point. In other words, if the magical time point is 8 seconds and I try to go back only 5, it will just go to Live TV because I didn't go back far enough.

That has happened to me also. However, I practically never watch the HD channels, nor the HD Locals; so wouldn't I be watching MPEG-2 channels and not MPEG-4?

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

My mistake, the skip button is 10 seconds, not 30.

Maybe they need a 2X speed too. The 300X will put you at the end of a program in no time and is worthless on the MPEG channels.

The other problem is when you go back or forward, it will always put you at the same spot no matter how hard to try to go to a different spot. For example, I want to go back 5 seconds (which is easy on the non-MPEG channels) but it will put you at 8 seconds back everytime, or it won't even go back that short of time and will revert to "Live TV" again because I didn't go back far enough to the next magical time point. In other words, if the magical time point is 8 seconds and I try to go back only 5, it will just go to Live TV because I didn't go back far enough.

This is just an example and I haven't paid attention to the exact times, but it's like that's a mark in the programming or some time reference in the playback that it goes to. Hard to explain, but it's annoying either way you cut it.

If I wanted to overrun the spot I want to go back or forward to, I'd just go back to VCR tapes. It kind of defeats the purpose of what the functions of a DVR are used for, like going back during watching live TV, etc.

well, since EVERY CHANNEL is a MPEG channel, WTF are you talking about MPEG vs NON-MPEG channels.

 

[nazz]

In other words, if the magical time point is 8 seconds and I try to go back only 5, it will just go to Live TV because I didn't go back far enough.

Dude, why not just go back and watch the three extra seconds? Talking about going back to VHS because of it just makes you sound loony.

 

[Cowchip]

well, since EVERY CHANNEL is a MPEG channel, WTF are you talking about MPEG vs NON-MPEG channels.

....MPEG-4 channels they just switched a while back......ESPN2 HD, etc that are sharing a transponder.

Looking back I see that I wrote something that I didn't mean. My bad, but if you read the title of this thread you knew damn well what I meant.

I should have said those channels that were just changed over....ESPN2 HD, NFLHD, StarzHD, HDTV HD, Food HD compared to the rest. Now that they are further compressed those channels don't work well with the current back and forward speeds.

 

[Cowchip]

Dude, why not just go back and watch the three extra seconds? Talking about going back to VHS because of it just makes you sound loony.

I was being sarcastic of course, but when you can't use the features for what they are there for then why have them? Get rid of the FFW and Back buttons and just put two Skip back/ahead buttons on the remote as thats the only answer I'm getting. Not that I'm looking for advice, but rather pointing out an issue, DUDE.

 

[DaveyBoy26]

Satellite Guys, now 70,000 strong!:up

 

[sprintcarcrazy]

If you use a feature and suddenly it doesn't work, that tends to piss you off, even if it's not important to some. So lets be nice.

 

[8bitbytes]

.... Now that they are further compressed those channels don't work well with the current back and forward speeds.

I think the problem is probably related to variable bit rates and keyframes used in the encoding that is causing the problem. As the use of MPEG4 becomes more mature, I think you will see a more standardized format to allow for better timeline management.

I've noticed myself that if a press skip back too quickly in repetition or too quickly before enough frames have run at normal speed that the skip back button will skip back 30 seconds or more! Slightly annoying but better than REV / FF as the only options.

The frame by frame advance or reverse from pause can be really picky too.