# Directv new U.I.??



## Visman (Feb 17, 2008)

i just saw a DTV commercial with Rob Lowe on ESPN, and I noticed a new menu bar at the bottom of the screen. It is the one we're you can restart the show if the show already started. Does anyone know if DTV is working on a U.I.?


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

The start over feature has been available for quite awhile now


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## Visman (Feb 17, 2008)

I know that that function has been around for quite a while. But if you watch the commercial You will noticed a total different looking menu bar, at the bottom of the scene that I don't have.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

Not the first time that a commercial has used graphics that were designed just for the ad.


Sent from my iPad using DBSTalk


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## coolman302003 (Jun 2, 2008)

Visman said:


> i just saw a DTV commercial with Rob Lowe on ESPN, and* I noticed a new menu bar at the bottom of the screen.* It is the one we're you can restart the show if the show already started.





Visman said:


> But if you watch the commercial *You will noticed a total different looking menu bar, at the bottom of the scene that I don't have.*


I assume your referring to the following below from the commercials?


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## mrknowitall526 (Nov 19, 2014)

That's so obviously fake. The time on the clock says 11:39 am but the program is on at 4?


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

Is that the Mini Guide ? Press Enter to get it on the screen with the RC7? remotes and Exit to remove it from the screen.

For the Mini Guide using the older RC6? remotes use the Blue button and then the Exit button or a second press of the Blue button to remove it.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

One one frame the "restart" is green then next frame is blue. DIRECTV® logo next to time. That looks like photoshop to me.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

What's the point of that?
To send the wrong message about a feature that doesn't look like this at all?


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## WestDC (Feb 9, 2008)

It only looks wrong and is -Only to current D* Customers (However) The AD is Aimed at Folks that may have never had D* -therefore - it's a moot point - The AD is get New Subscribers and Showing it an easy to understand way rather than (how) Known customers See it.

Nothing False about it - It just Ad game :hair: to get the word out.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

WestDC said:


> It only looks wrong and is -Only to current D* Customers (However) The AD is Aimed at Folks that may have never had D* -therefore - it's a moot point - The AD is get New Subscribers and Showing it an easy to understand way rather than (how) Known customers See it.
> 
> Nothing False about it - It just Ad game :hair: to get the word out.


Of course, it only takes non-DirecTV customers and a puppy to put a spin on this... !rolling


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Hell, I'd sue! 

And the lonely beagle or basset or whatever has yet to grace this thread, so don't go getting harsh, Peds!


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Almost any ad has simulated screens, etc. Just like the whole home ad doesn't work exactly how the real feature does. But it gets the point across.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

damondlt said:


> What's the point of that?
> To send the wrong message about a feature that doesn't look like this at all?


You also want McDonalds to sell you a hamberger that looks like the ones in their ad's? :rotfl:


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

DIRECTV's creative services department has a long history of creating fake UI's for DIRECTV products. I wouldn't read anything into that commercial. I do think there will be a new UI at some point, but I doubt it will look like that commercial.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

WestDC said:


> It only looks wrong and is -Only to current D* Customers (However) The AD is Aimed at Folks that may have never had D* -therefore - it's a moot point - The AD is get New Subscribers and Showing it an easy to understand way rather than (how) Known customers See it.
> 
> Nothing False about it - It just Ad game :hair: to get the word out.


Not the first time they've shown ads that weren't Kosher.

Rich


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Rich said:


> Not the first time they've shown ads that weren't Kosher.
> 
> Rich


You can say that about a lot of ads, from many companies. And the UI isn't being advertised in this case.


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## raott (Nov 23, 2005)

If you are so ashamed of your UI that you need to photoshop a different one for use in your ads, maybe it's time to change your UI.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I think that's a little bit harsh, although I do kind of agree. More to the point though, it's standard operating procedure to recreate the UI for commercials, I don't know if that goes back to the days when video capture didn't work real well or if there's some other reason. And once you have to recreate it anyway, it's hard to stop people from goosing it a bit.


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## KyL416 (Nov 11, 2005)

dpeters11 said:


> Almost any ad has simulated screens, etc.


Nearly every time you see something on a TV it's simulated. Most of the time the TV just has a green screen with some crosses on it, the actual video is inserted in post production. It's mainly done because of glare from studio lights, potentially having the fourth wall reflect on the screen, flicker, and other things, it also allows them to insert something that happened a week prior on the screen in the final edit, even though the episode was taped months ago.


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## Aridon (Mar 13, 2007)

raott said:


> If you are so ashamed of your UI that you need to photoshop a different one for use in your ads, maybe it's time to change your UI.


Not the whole story but I do agree. The ui needs work.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Rich said:


> Not the first time they've shown ads that weren't Kosher.


Ads are ..... Ads. Nothing blatant. So I believe it'd be blessed by most Rabbis.......


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## mrknowitall526 (Nov 19, 2014)

KyL416 said:


> Nearly every time you see something on a TV it's simulated. Most of the time the TV just has a green screen with some crosses on it, the actual video is inserted in post production. It's mainly done because of glare from studio lights, potentially having the fourth wall reflect on the screen, flicker, and other things, it also allows them to insert something that happened a week prior on the screen in the final edit, even though the episode was taped months ago.


I can't stand when you see a computer on TV and the program on the screen is so incredibly FAKE!


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## HaterSlayer (Mar 24, 2010)

Probably so it's easier to read in the add. The sentence that is there now is too small and long for a commercial


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## cmasia (Sep 18, 2007)

peds48 said:


> The start over feature has been available for quite awhile now


I suppose this has been answered, but is there a way to turn this notification off?
The rewind symbol on the channel's program info is enough.
I don't need the 10 second bar across the bottom of my screen every time I turn on USA or TNT.


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

Visman said:


> I know that that function has been around for quite a while. But if you watch the commercial You will noticed *a total different looking menu bar,* at the bottom of the scene that I don't have.


Those are still graphics superimpose over a video to make a commercial.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

cmasia said:


> I suppose this has been answered, but is there a way to turn this notification off?
> The rewind symbol on the channel's program info is enough.
> I don't need the 10 second bar across the bottom of my screen every time I turn on USA or TNT.


I hate long banners.

I don't have a problem with this one, though, as I take a bit of time to record, in advance, everything I want to see, so the times I go into the Guide for something live to watch are few and far between.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

cmasia said:


> I suppose this has been answered, but is there a way to turn this notification off?


Yeap, ad nauseam... :rotfl:

There is no way to turn off permanently currently. You can however press EXIT to dismiss it


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## tonyd79 (Jul 24, 2006)

Duh, the graphic in the ad is just simple to drive home the point. The real graphic would take some READING and doesn't work in a quick advertisement.

Sheesh, people worry about the dumbest things.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

RAD said:


> You also want McDonalds to sell you a hamberger that looks like the ones in their ad's? :rotfl:


Yes. Another reason I don't eat there.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Stuart Sweet said:


> DIRECTV's creative services department has a long history of creating fake UI's for DIRECTV products. I wouldn't read anything into that commercial._* I do think there will be a new UI at some point*_, but I doubt it will look like that commercial.


I gotta say this: EEK! Remember the last UI change?

Rich


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## WestDC (Feb 9, 2008)

That's Why Creatives Services Department - Get's The Big Money :rotfl:


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## slice1900 (Feb 14, 2013)

Rich said:


> I gotta say this: EEK! Remember the last UI change?


Your worry assumes they would support the new UI on H2x and HR2x receivers that are almost all considered non-recoverable by Directv now. I doubt they'd bother with those, and it would affect (afflict?) Genies/clients only.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

slice1900 said:


> Your worry assumes they would support the new UI on H2x and HR2x receivers that are almost all considered non-recoverable by Directv now. I doubt they'd bother with those, and it would affect (afflict?) Genies/clients only.


My worry is caused by the last time they upgraded the UI. Has nothing to do with the equipment, but you might have a point.

Rich


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## slice1900 (Feb 14, 2013)

Rich said:


> My worry is caused by the last time they upgraded the UI. Has nothing to do with the equipment, but you might have a point.


I meant insofar as you only have HR2x so if they didn't change the UI on those you wouldn't have to suffer


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

slice1900 said:


> I meant insofar as you only have HR2x so if they didn't change the UI on those you wouldn't have to suffer


I knew what you meant. Did you go thru the last GUI change? Horrible experience and D* likes to spread their nightmares over all the HRs at times.

Rich


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Rich said:


> I knew what you meant. Did you go thru the last GUI change? Horrible experience and D* likes to spread their nightmares over all the HRs at times.
> 
> Rich


Well, I don't know if I would call it 'horrible', but it certainly didn't resemble what the glowing reports we were being teased with prior to its release either!!


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

lparsons21 said:


> Well, I don't know if I would call it 'horrible', but it certainly didn't resemble what the glowing reports we were being teased with prior to its release either!!


It was just as bad as the DLB debacle and that was horrible, too.

Rich


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

The current GUI often acts like bloat software.

Got fingers cross that AT&T will do a complete redo.

Hey it's the only hope I have, as I know DirecTV ain't about to step up to a real HD GUI.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Drucifer said:


> The current GUI often acts like bloat software.
> 
> Got fingers cross that AT&T will do a complete redo.
> 
> Hey it's the only hope I have, as I know DirecTV ain't about to step up to a real HD GUI.


Not sure what you mean, as we have a real hd gui.. And its going to be the other way around, they are going to have dtv do all the gui for theirs too...

Personally I don't really have any issues with the gui itself in terms of style, other than wanting more hours and lines in the guide and playlist. Feature wise I want more, but that's a different animal than simply the gui.


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## I WANT MORE (Oct 3, 2006)

Anyone notice Manny Pacquiao on the bus in the lower right-hand corner at the very end of the commercial?


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## mkdtv21 (May 27, 2007)

If Directv can make their next UI equivalent to X1 I will be more than satisfied.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

All I can see are storm clouds in our future... :nono2:

Rich


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

mkdtv21 said:


> If Directv can make their next UI equivalent to X1 I will be more than satisfied.


It is much easier to discuss specific improvements than to compare against a moving target.

Could you cite some examples of why you think the X1 GUI is ideal?


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## ejbvt (Aug 14, 2011)

harsh said:


> It is much easier to discuss specific improvements than to compare against a moving target.
> 
> Could you cite some examples of why you think the X1 GUI is ideal?


The X1 guide LOOKS good - logos instead of a string of letters, more text, more hours shown. I like that a lot. However, the X1 as a whole is no better than HR34's... slow, buggy, need to be reset often. It's not customizeable (at least not easily), either. I see it often as my parents and brother both have it. Both have issues with it just not working sometimes and frequent "this channel not available" messages.

The X1 has a nice "last channel" feature, where the last 10 or so channels you've watched appear on the screen. It's like a combination of last 4 and previous channel. It's wicked annoying that when you change channels, the channel name appears on the screen before it shows the programming. It's also annoying that you have to press "enter" to select a channel - you can't just type a channel number. There is no easy way to access the recorded list, either (our "list" button). In VT, my parents don't even have a local forecast on The Weather Channel with X1, but my brother does near Boston.


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## Skyboss (Jan 22, 2004)

Rich said:


> All I can see are storm clouds in our future... :nono2:
> 
> Rich


Was thinking the same thing. I noticed a few changes in how seasons are managed and not sure I'm a fan.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

ejbvt said:


> The X1 guide LOOKS good - logos instead of a string of letters, more text, more hours shown. I like that a lot. However, the X1 as a whole is no better than HR34's... slow, buggy, need to be reset often. It's not customizeable (at least not easily), either. I see it often as my parents and brother both have it. Both have issues with it just not working sometimes and frequent "this channel not available" messages.
> 
> The X1 has a nice "last channel" feature, where the last 10 or so channels you've watched appear on the screen. It's like a combination of last 4 and previous channel. It's wicked annoying that when you change channels, the channel name appears on the screen before it shows the programming. It's also annoying that you have to press "enter" to select a channel - you can't just type a channel number. There is no easy way to access the recorded list, either (our "list" button). In VT, my parents don't even have a local forecast on The Weather Channel with X1, but my brother does near Boston.


We used my Wife's aunt X1 and while it was Fairly flashy, it was very much like the HR34 I totally agree.
Slow, jittery, and way over rated.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

ejbvt said:


> The X1 guide LOOKS good - logos instead of a string of letters, more text, more hours shown.


Guess I'm old school, I normally find the text preferable to a bunch of logo's.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

RAD said:


> Guess I'm old school, I normally find the text preferable to a bunch of logo's.


I don't mind logos, as long as they aren't overkill. 
Like huge square blocks, they should be small and Fit next to the channel numbers just like the call letters do on the Roamios.


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## mkdtv21 (May 27, 2007)

ejbvt said:


> The X1 guide LOOKS good - logos instead of a string of letters, more text, more hours shown. I like that a lot. However, the X1 as a whole is no better than HR34's... slow, buggy, need to be reset often. It's not customizeable (at least not easily), either. I see it often as my parents and brother both have it. Both have issues with it just not working sometimes and frequent "this channel not available" messages.
> 
> The X1 has a nice "last channel" feature, where the last 10 or so channels you've watched appear on the screen. It's like a combination of last 4 and previous channel. It's wicked annoying that when you change channels, the channel name appears on the screen before it shows the programming. It's also annoying that you have to press "enter" to select a channel - you can't just type a channel number. There is no easy way to access the recorded list, either (our "list" button). In VT, my parents don't even have a local forecast on The Weather Channel with X1, but my brother does near Boston.


Are you really telling the truth that the X1 guide is just as slow as the HR34. I can't imagine anything being as slow as my HR34. Sometimes I have to wait 7 seconds for a channel to change and I have to red button reset at least once a week to make things work correctly again. If this is the same kind of issues with the X1 DVR than the worst of the worst developers work on Program guides for set top boxes. I have never used the X1 dvr but from what I've seen in demos it looked to be very fast with even graphical animation effects that no other platforms even fios dvr has as good as. I also think it's nice that you don't have to use a smart phone to voice command the X1 when you can just use their remotes to speak into. Also the 2014 Olympics app was nice on the X1 were you could watch every live event uncut and on demand considering the regular channels were only showing more popular events and cut out things. Yes I know Directv had a replay of every event on their on demand but most of the events were only in sd and you couldn't actually watch them live. It's also nice that twitter and facebook are integrated in the X1 guide so you can share what you do on the dvr like what you watched and searched for to your twitter and facebook. These are some of the things I wish Directv would implement into their future guide. The biggest thing I wish Directv would use in their future guide is having thumbnails of screenshots of a recording or live channel in the dvr progress bar so fast fowarding and rewinding would be easier. Both Fios and X1 have this. So for all of you on here with a lot of expertise with Directv think these things will be a possibility in the future?


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Thumbnail screenshots are useful when streaming, but I don't see the need when watching a recording, much less live.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

mkdtv21 said:


> Are you really telling the truth that the X1 guide is just as slow as the HR34. I can't imagine anything being as slow as my HR34. Sometimes I have to wait 7 seconds for a channel to change and I have to red button reset at least once a week to make things work correctly again. If this is the same kind of issues with the X1 DVR than the worst of the worst developers work on Program guides for set top boxes. I have never used the X1 dvr but from what I've seen in demos it looked to be very fast with even graphical animation effects that no other platforms even fios dvr has as good as. I also think it's nice that you don't have to use a smart phone to voice command the X1 when you can just use their remotes to speak into. Also the 2014 Olympics app was nice on the X1 were you could watch every live event uncut and on demand considering the regular channels were only showing more popular events and cut out things. Yes I know Directv had a replay of every event on their on demand but most of the events were only in sd and you couldn't actually watch them live. It's also nice that twitter and facebook are integrated in the X1 guide so you can share what you do on the dvr like what you watched and searched for to your twitter and facebook. These are some of the things I wish Directv would implement into their future guide. The biggest thing I wish Directv would use in their future guide is having thumbnails of screenshots of a recording or live channel in the dvr progress bar so fast fowarding and rewinding would be easier. Both Fios and X1 have this._* So for all of you on here with a lot of expertise with Directv think these things will be a possibility in the future?*_


Sure, gotta keep up with the competition. But at what cost to us, the users? Six or seven months of problems again? Is that really worth the bells and whistles? I dunno, I just want a stable system and changing GUIs again... :nono2:

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Laxguy said:


> Thumbnail screenshots are useful when streaming, but I don't see the need when watching a recording, much less live.


Yeah, I was gonna say the same thing. If we _HAVE_ to have a GUI upgrade, it would be best to make it as simple as possible or we'll all be suffering thru the same thing again. Personally, I see nothing wrong with what we've got. I'd leave it alone.

Rich


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Rich said:


> Yeah, I was gonna say the same thing. If we _HAVE_ to have a GUI upgrade, it would be best to make it as simple as possible or we'll all be suffering thru the same thing again. Personally, I see nothing wrong with what we've got. I'd leave it alone.
> 
> Rich


The nicest change they could make would be to widen the guide to 3 hours, and if they just insist on believing that too many would have a problem with that, at least make it an option.
But from my POV, until D* makes a significant change in the UI, I doubt that I will want to get them again at some time in the future. Since the HD channel differences don't really exist between the various services for me, and I'm not an avid sports fan of the sports that have packages of their own, the equipment and UI are more important to me.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

If the only improvement was adding 60-90 minutes to the guide, it shouldn't upset the delicate balance and it would be the most desired win for most users. The rest is window-dressing and making some of the often used multi-button-press features less buried.

At some point DIRECTV will discover that improving the HD GUI beyond what is practical in the SD realm will convince SD users that the new interface is clearly an upgrade as opposed to a bow on an SD pig.


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## jimmie57 (Jun 26, 2010)

lparsons21 said:


> The nicest change they could make would be to widen the guide to 3 hours, and if they just insist on believing that too many would have a problem with that, at least make it an option.
> But from my POV, until D* makes a significant change in the UI, I doubt that I will want to get them again at some time in the future. Since the HD channel differences don't really exist between the various services for me, and I'm not an avid sports fan of the sports that have packages of their own, the equipment and UI are more important to me.


Dish has an option to show 4, 5 or 7 lines / rows in the guide. The time frame covered varies with the number of rows selected.
It would be nice to have this option on our receivers.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

lparsons21 said:


> The nicest change they could make would be to widen the guide to 3 hours, and if they just insist on believing that too many would have a problem with that, at least make it an option.
> But from my POV, until D* makes a significant change in the UI, I doubt that I will want to get them again at some time in the future. Since the HD channel differences don't really exist between the various services for me, and I'm not an avid sports fan of the sports that have packages of their own, the equipment and UI are more important to me.


Huh. I didn't even know we had an SD guide before it was changed. Shows how much I care about it, I guess. All I ever wanted from D* was a working, stable DVR. I have 12 of them now and I do wish they'd stay that way.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

jimmie57 said:


> Dish has an option to show 4, 5 or 7 lines / rows in the guide. The time frame covered varies with the number of rows selected.
> It would be nice to have this option on our receivers.


History tells us that D* has problems with changing things. (That's a glaring understatement.)

Rich


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

Unless DIRECTV moves away from their idea that the UI on all STB's look similar I don't think we're going to be seeing many changes to the interface.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

RAD said:


> Unless DIRECTV moves away from their idea that the UI on all STB's look similar I don't think we're going to be seeing many changes to the interface.


Directv's is very similar to Tivo Roamios guide.
Not the Live guide, but the grid guide.
I actually don't mind directv or Tivos guide, But IMO it wouldn't hurt if they both had a design change.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

damondlt said:


> Directv's is very similar to Tivo Roamios guide.
> Not the Live guide, but the grid guide.
> I actually don't mind directv or Tivos guide, But IMO it wouldn't hurt if they both had a design change.


My only issue with the D* guide is the guide width. 90 minutes just makes setting up prime time recordings a bit of a PITA, or even just looking to see if there is something on during prime time.
I have more issues with the fiddlyness of the rest of the GUI and don't let me get started on the CIG issue!


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

There is only 2 customizable Guide options on the Roamio. 3 Lists total.
Just so you are aware. Favorites, My channels.
And All channels
And the Minis can't make their own, they have to pick one of the 3 lists that the Roamio has.

You can't add, delete or customize channels from a mini.

That is one thing I liked about Directv's HRs, and Clients.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

damondlt said:


> There is only 2 customizable Guide options on the Roamio. 3 Lists total.
> Just so you are aware. Favorites, My channels.
> And All channels
> And the Minis can't make their own, they have to pick one of the 3 lists that the Roamio has.
> ...


This : http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=509356

seems to say you can have a single 'favorites' guide which I would assume would be similar to the ones you can create with either D* or E*. I won't know for sure until my Roamio shows up. It is shipped but delayed because of weather. Was supposed to deliver today, now not known.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

Yes , 2 
Favorites and MY channels, the names can't be changed, and No mini can create one. 
They can only use the lists off the Roamio.
I have quite a few pictures, you can check out my closed Tivo thread in General Cable section, or I can PM you some.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

damondlt said:


> Yes , 2
> Favorites and MY channels, the names can't be changed, and No mini can create one.
> They can only use the lists off the Roamio.
> I have quite a few pictures, you can check out my closed Tivo thread in General Cable section, or I can PM you some.


No problem for me then as I'll be just a single Roamio and no minis. Don't need the pictures as I'll be seeing them 'live' soon! Thanks for the offer.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

No problem , it's not really an issue for us either, since we just use the Favorites for the Kids rooms, and My list for bedroom and livingroom.


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## tonyd79 (Jul 24, 2006)

Laxguy said:


> Thumbnail screenshots are useful when streaming, but I don't see the need when watching a recording, much less live.


I have an example where the screenshot confused me. I had recorded Grimm the other week, as I always do, but the screenshot was a shot of the villain of the week barechested. What the HECK that had to do with Grimm for someone who had not seen the episode made no sense whatsoever. It looked more like an episode of Constantine to me.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

My goodness! Such a lot of opinions on our Guide by non-subscribers! 

It's fine the way it is, and, yes, it could be improved, but adding more time will just cut down on the size of the font. If it could be customizable without taking away processing power needed for other things, go for it.


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## tonyd79 (Jul 24, 2006)

I will add my experience with X1. I was at my brother's for several days at Christmas and he was having issues with his cable, so it really pushed the flaws in X1.

X1 is pretty. The color scheme is very sophisticated-looking but the features were not exactly bowling me over. Yes, they have the 10 channels previously watched, but when you hit the previous button, you get the pallet rather than going to the previous channel right away. That is bloatware as far as I am concerned. You have to hit the previous button then the select button to just go back to your last channel. (BTW, DirecTV has the last four in the banner; Fios has only the previous channel without any preview of what it is.)

Now, on to the performance. Everything you do with X1 communicates back to the mother ship. Want to pause a recording on your DVR? Mother ship. i am sure that in the best of situations, that is laggy. In the case of my brother's house, where the communication kept breaking down, you may have had to wait for the communication to reestablish just to pause the recording. The design is faulty, but that is not the GUI itself.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Laxguy said:


> My goodness! Such a lot of opinions on our Guide by non-subscribers!
> 
> It's fine the way it is, and, yes, it could be improved, but adding more time will just cut down on the size of the font. If it could be customizable without taking away processing power needed for other things, go for it.


Since many of us are not fanbois of one or the other, and switch services whenever we think it is in our best interest, we have the chops to comment about how well/bad/indifferent whichever service we're discussing is doing.
Or possibly we might be non-subscribers now partially because of the Guide and overall crudeness of the UI.


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## Drucifer (Feb 12, 2009)

Rich said:


> Sure, gotta keep up with the competition. But at what cost to us, the users? Six or seven months of problems again? Is that really worth the bells and whistles? I dunno, I just want a stable system and changing GUIs again... :nono2:
> 
> Rich


If anything the 21st century has shown the customer, today's electronic need lots of memory power.

Hopefully the next round of DirecTV STBs follow this trend by getting ahead of the game. Instead of just getting enough CPU power to just barely do the job.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

Drucifer said:


> If anything the 21st century has shown the customer, today's electronic need lots of memory power.


The answer lies not in more horsepower but in less sloppy programming. When you think about what the old arcade machines could do with a 1 or 2MHz 6502, it is embarrassing that they can't do much better with the modern hardware that features 500 times the processing power and RAM.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Rich said:


> Yeah, I was gonna say the same thing. If we _HAVE_ to have a GUI upgrade, it would be best to make it as simple as possible or we'll all be suffering thru the same thing again. Personally, I see nothing wrong with what we've got. I'd leave it alone.
> 
> Rich


I've said and always thought that the ideal time to introduce a really nice GUI for D* would have been with the introduction of the Genie/Mini and make that UI only on those units. But now that we've seen the HR34 and the slowness many complain about, I see why they didn't, or at least one of the reasons they didn't. Just not enough horsepower or some sloppy programming or the combination of the two.
And of course there is the fact that the Genie can be used mixed with the older Hxx and HRxx models so making it a Genie/Mini only UI would introduce issues of its own in that mix.
Dish could do it because the Hopper only works with other Hoppers/Joeys/SuperJoeys, all with the same UI but a very different one from previous receivers and dvrs. No mixing allowed.


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## ejbvt (Aug 14, 2011)

mkdtv21 said:


> Are you really telling the truth that the X1 guide is just as slow as the HR34. I can't imagine anything being as slow as my HR34. Sometimes I have to wait 7 seconds for a channel to change and I have to red button reset at least once a week to make things work correctly again. If this is the same kind of issues with the X1 DVR than the worst of the worst developers work on Program guides for set top boxes. I have never used the X1 dvr but from what I've seen in demos it looked to be very fast with even graphical animation effects that no other platforms even fios dvr has as good as. I also think it's nice that you don't have to use a smart phone to voice command the X1 when you can just use their remotes to speak into. Also the 2014 Olympics app was nice on the X1 were you could watch every live event uncut and on demand considering the regular channels were only showing more popular events and cut out things. Yes I know Directv had a replay of every event on their on demand but most of the events were only in sd and you couldn't actually watch them live. It's also nice that twitter and facebook are integrated in the X1 guide so you can share what you do on the dvr like what you watched and searched for to your twitter and facebook. These are some of the things I wish Directv would implement into their future guide. The biggest thing I wish Directv would use in their future guide is having thumbnails of screenshots of a recording or live channel in the dvr progress bar so fast fowarding and rewinding would be easier. Both Fios and X1 have this. So for all of you on here with a lot of expertise with Directv think these things will be a possibility in the future?


I am telling the truth. Why wouldn't I? It might actually be worse than the HR34, but I haven't used it enough to know for sure. My parents are starting to regret getting it. They ditched Dish to bundle and save, after Dish took away the superstation CWs because they added the local CW. Directv is the only provider that doesn't have their CW, and they don't want to mess with antennas and the AM21.

My brother has had it for 1 year and they've had to come out several times to replace cabling, give him a new box, and replace the connections, but it still just doesn't work sometimes. My sister-in-law hates that there isn't as much HD. The main reason he switched providers is price (super cheap intro bundling) and because the on-demand actually works - when the X1 works. They used to have Directv and couldn't deal with the slow, fake on-demand we have, but I won't start that again.

Both say, and I have experienced it, that the X1 is extremely laggy and buggy. Frequent resets are needed. I visited my brother for 4 days and we reset it twice.

Comcast doesn't carry all the primary locals in the Boston DMA either (missing the NH channels, except WBIN), but they have some subchannels and LP's. RI PBS is in the guide, but they can't watch it. As for the Olympics - who owns Comcast? Who carries the Olympics? There you go. We have similar things with Golf and Tennis.

The Genies also have Facebook, but I don't use it. I think they can Twitter, too. All those apps are just a waste of space in my book. I don't need to talk to my receiver.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

The X1 definitely performs like the HR34.
I heard all the hype, and then used it for 4 days, and was like wow, this is like using my directv equipment. Lol.
Except Directv had more pros than Cons.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

RAD said:


> Unless DIRECTV moves away from their idea that the UI on all STB's look similar I don't think we're going to be seeing many changes to the interface.


Nothing wrong with this one. I think.

Rich


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## ep1974 (May 22, 2010)

RAD said:


> Unless DIRECTV moves away from their idea that the UI on all STB's look similar I don't think we're going to be seeing many changes to the interface.


Where did talk of a new or updated HD guide come from? Did Directv give a hint of something to come or did it come from somewhere else?


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Laxguy said:


> My goodness! Such a lot of opinions on our Guide by non-subscribers!
> 
> It's fine the way it is, and, yes, it could be improved, but adding more time will just cut down on the size of the font. If it could be customizable without taking away processing power needed for other things, go for it.


Then we go thru D* releasing a UI that is not quite ready for prime time. That should only take about six months to straighten out. History tells us that a new GUI is not that easy to implement.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Drucifer said:


> _*If anything the 21st century has shown the customer, today's electronic need lots of memory power.*_
> 
> Hopefully the next round of DirecTV STBs follow this trend by getting ahead of the game. Instead of just getting enough CPU power to just barely do the job.


I agree, but they don't seem to understand that.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

harsh said:


> _*The answer lies not in more horsepower but in less sloppy programming.*_ When you think about what the old arcade machines could do with a 1 or 2MHz 6502, it is embarrassing that they can't do much better with the modern hardware that features 500 times the processing power and RAM.


Probably a combination of the two, I would think.

Rich


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

ep1974 said:


> Where did talk of a new or updated HD guide come from? Did Directv give a hint of something to come or did it come from somewhere else?


Well, they haven't done anything catastrophic in a few years, they're about due.

Rich


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## ejbvt (Aug 14, 2011)

Rich said:


> Well, they haven't done anything catastrophic in a few years, they're about due.
> 
> Rich


What are you talking about? What catastrophic guide have we had? When the guide changed from blue to black, there were no issues that I experienced.


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## ep1974 (May 22, 2010)

Rich said:


> Well, they haven't done anything catastrophic in a few years, they're about due.
> 
> Rich


So this is just speculation then....Would like to see color options for guide and options for logos.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Rich said:


> Then we go thru D* releasing a UI that is not quite ready for prime time. That should only take about six months to straighten out. History tells us that a new GUI is not that easy to implement.
> 
> Rich


Well at least at D* it seems it isn't. 
Most of what they seem to do reminds me of some early open-source software designs. Make them functional and then stop developing was what you saw in those days. Of course D* doesn't stop developing but you have to wonder if the hardware is underpowered, or the programming language is not up to snuff, or if the programmers/program managers are not up to snuff.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

ejbvt said:


> The X1 has a nice "last channel" feature, where the last 10 or so channels you've watched appear on the screen.


 Understanding that it's not quite the same, but on the DirecTV box, you can set up favorites by pressing Up when on TV. You can set up to 9 in the grid.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

lparsons21 said:


> Well at least at D* it seems it isn't.
> Most of what they seem to do reminds me of some early open-source software designs. Make them functional and then stop developing was what you saw in those days. Of course D* doesn't stop developing but you have to wonder if the hardware is underpowered, or the programming language is not up to snuff, or if the programmers/program managers are not up to snuff.


The whole company and what they do make me wonder. Other than the VoD issues, I really don't see anything underpowered about my HRs (and one of them is a good ole 20-700 that is still almost as fast as a 24). Now, the whole Series 2 DVRs certainly seemed overwhelmed once they got some content on them.

It's really odd when you think about it. Firsts they make a really good DVR, the 20-700, immediately follow it with the 20-100, which doesn't compare to the 20-700, but was much cheaper. Then, they foist the Series 2 line on us and we see rave reviews about them, but after a few months it becomes clear that the 20-700s were better, but more expensive to make. Then, out of nowhere, come the 24s, which are just a bit better than the 20-700s. So, in ten years, we get finally get HRs that are stable. Of course the fiascoes with the DLBs and the new and wonderful HD GUI are quickly forgotten, because we just don't learn from history.

Rich


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## ejbvt (Aug 14, 2011)

dpeters11 said:


> Understanding that it's not quite the same, but on the DirecTV box, you can set up favorites by pressing Up when on TV. You can set up to 9 in the grid.


Let's not confuse Favorites and Quicktune.

The 9 you're talking about is Quicktune, Directv lets you make 2 favorites lists in guide format.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Two things. One I honestly can't recall the new gui being as bad as some say it was. I really can't. I recall a ton of complaints about sd and Hi Definition out simultaneous being ended. But other than that I can't recall it being terrible. Mostly because my experience is the same now as it was then on my HR24. Granted I hardly use it but seems on par with when it launched. 

Second there's no way anything before a genie gets a new gui. That platform has already been split off. People thinking they want to keep the same gui seem to be missing the fact it's not the same right now. No sports searches. No season episode info. No Genie recommends. There's plenty of things that are different and the divide continues to grow.


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## ejbvt (Aug 14, 2011)

inkahauts said:


> Two things. One I honestly can't recall the new gui being as bad as some say it was. I really can't. I recall a ton of complaints about sd and Hi Definition out simultaneous being ended. But other than that I can't recall it being terrible. Mostly because my experience is the same now as it was then on my HR24. Granted I hardly use it but seems on par with when it launched.
> 
> Second there's no way anything before a genie gets a new gui. That platform has already been split off. People thinking they want to keep the same gui seem to be missing the fact it's not the same right now. No sports searches. No season episode info. No Genie recommends. There's plenty of things that are different and the divide continues to grow.


Good point. The only thing I remember about the switch is not being able to output SD and HD at the same time. Far from a huge deal. There's no sports search or SE on the HR2x series? Yikes, they really are different, other than having << and >> below the guide instead of the green/red button (which I still use because the RC71 remote is awful).


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

ejbvt said:


> Good point. The only thing I remember about the switch is not being able to output SD and HD at the same time. Far from a huge deal. There's no sports search or SE on the HR2x series? Yikes, they really are different, other than having << and >> below the guide instead of the green/red button (which I still use because the RC71 remote is awful).


Have you used Boolean search records on a non genie lately? They turn the machines into snails... Sports records are just that, and they as well as actual user input Boolean search's don't slow down my genies at all. It just goes to show how much more able the genies are over the old two tuner units. The fact they are adding new features to the genies and leaving the others out of it shows they have already made the split, whether you use the newer stuff or not is not my point...


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

ep1974 said:


> Where did talk of a new or updated HD guide come from? Did Directv give a hint of something to come or did it come from somewhere else?


Some time around the Fall of 2011, DIRECTV announced an HTML5 version of the GUI that they were working on using Sencha.

There was also this post in a similar thread from November 2014:

http://www.dbstalk.com/topic/214848-directv-gui-menu-layout-design/?p=3302400


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

inkahauts said:


> Two things. One I honestly can't recall the new gui being as bad as some say it was. I really can't. I recall a ton of complaints about sd and Hi Definition out simultaneous being ended. But other than that I can't recall it being terrible. Mostly because my experience is the same now as it was then on my HR24. Granted I hardly use it but seems on par with when it launched..
> 
> Second there's no way anything before a genie gets a new gui. That platform has already been split off. People thinking they want to keep the same gui seem to be missing the fact it's not the same right now. No sports searches. No season episode info. No Genie recommends. There's plenty of things that are different and the divide continues to grow.


My only real recollection of issues with the GUI being bad was in the initial release of the blue-GUI, which made extensive use of context menus in a pop-up form. It was extremely difficult to find things and was a huge improvement when they were eliminated. It wasn't a terrible GUI otherwise, just that there were some confusing elements.

I think you are spot on in your second paragraph.


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## ejbvt (Aug 14, 2011)

inkahauts said:


> Have you used Boolean search records on a non genie lately? They turn the machines into snails... Sports records are just that, and they as well as actual user input Boolean search's don't slow down my genies at all. It just goes to show how much more able the genies are over the old two tuner units. The fact they are adding new features to the genies and leaving the others out of it shows they have already made the split, whether you use the newer stuff or not is not my point...


No, I don't need to do that for anything. I have never had good luck with them, the few times I have tried. One shouldn't have to type all that gibberish to make it find something. I did use it a few times for sports, but the not-so-new sports search is perfect for that. I remember not using any search features with my HR24 because it would take forever. The HR44 is nearly instant with all normal searches.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

ejbvt said:


> No, I don't need to do that for anything. I have never had good luck with them, the few times I have tried. One shouldn't have to type all that gibberish to make it find something. I did use it a few times for sports, but the not-so-new sports search is perfect for that. I remember not using any search features with my HR24 because it would take forever. The HR44 is nearly instant with all normal searches.


My point exactly. The non genies suck for sports recordings by comparisons. And that's a big split right there as far as I'm concerned. Plus who really knew about booleans anyway? Unless they come here they don't.


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## ejbvt (Aug 14, 2011)

inkahauts said:


> My point exactly. The non genies suck for sports recordings by comparisons. And that's a big split right there as far as I'm concerned. Plus who really knew about booleans anyway? Unless they come here they don't.


Excellent point - that functionality alone is like an entirely new interface, especially the sports search because it's in such a different format than the guide. And it having an actual channel number is good too, so it can appear in the guide and you don't have to go into 500 menus.


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## mkdtv21 (May 27, 2007)

If the rumor is true that the new guide will be html5 based, that means it will be a lot less resource hungry and will probably run faster than what we have now even on the hr34. I never thought hardware was the problem with Directv but the software that was developed like bloatware.


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## ep1974 (May 22, 2010)

mkdtv21 said:


> If the rumor is true that the new guide will be html5 based, that means it will be a lot less resource hungry and will probably run faster than what we have now even on the hr34. I never thought hardware was the problem with Directv but the software that was developed like bloatware.





mkdtv21 said:


> If the rumor is true that the new guide will be html5 based, that means it will be a lot less resource hungry and will probably run faster than what we have now even on the hr34. I never thought hardware was the problem with Directv but the software that was developed like bloatware.


What's the basis for this rumor and where did it come from?


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

ep1974 said:


> What's the basis for this rumor and where did it come from?


It was announced during a conference call by Mr White


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

ep1974 said:


> Where did talk of a new or updated HD guide come from? Did Directv give a hint of something to come or did it come from somewhere else?


I believe it's the very beginning of this thread. Reference to a TV commercial...


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

Drew2k said:


> My only real recollection of issues with the GUI being bad was in the initial release of the blue-GUI, which made extensive use of context menus in a pop-up form. It was extremely difficult to find things and was a huge improvement when they were eliminated. It wasn't a terrible GUI otherwise, just that there were some confusing elements.
> 
> I think you are spot on in your second paragraph.


I _loved_ that old UI, and continue to badly miss a few of its features that I feel made it quicker and more useful. However, I wouldn't disagree this one looks better, and came with perhaps a slight overall increase in PQ.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

ep1974 said:


> What's the basis for this rumor and where did it come from?


See post #91.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> I _loved_ that old UI, and continue to badly miss a few of its features that I feel made it quicker and more useful. However, I wouldn't disagree this one looks better, and came with perhaps a slight overall increase in PQ.


Delroy-

What DVR(s) have you? On my Genie, the Guide is faster than anyone can read. 
PQ compared to the SD guide is night and day, but MV!


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Delroy E Walleye said:


> I _loved_ that old UI, and continue to badly miss a few of its features that I feel made it quicker and more useful. However, I wouldn't disagree this one looks better, and came with perhaps a slight overall increase in PQ.


Which features?


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## Delroy E Walleye (Jun 9, 2012)

I wasn't necessarily referring to the guide itself, in terms of its PQ. The new _is _much better. And it also seemed to me that the overall PQ of HD channels _did_ go up after the new UI happened. Subtle, but noticeable. This was good.

What I miss most from the old UI (with its "mini menus") was that it took many less button pushes to access things like captions, caller ID, etc w/o having to have them buried deep within the main menu or the "klutzy" drop-downs.

But most of all for me (aside from the loss of two-button "to-do" list access) was the *removal* of the "jump to" bookmarks feature that allowed direct (and time stamped) access to bookmarks, with the ability to not only _instantly_ "jump to" any of them in a recording, but to easily move and/or delete them. Especially handy for long recordings, of which I had many.

[EDIT: Let's not forget about loss of DVR "transport" function (trickplay) of the PIG.]

It took me many months (years?) to "get over" these losses and I still fume about them, occasionally...


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## cypherx (Aug 27, 2010)

I like the look of the current GUI. Like many here I would really like to see the time go out 120 minutes, and possibly add another channel. The blue button mini guide would look great if instead of one channel it was 3. Even the 14 year old VGA graphics I-Guide used by many cable operators has a configurable 2 or 3 line mini guide. Sometimes I want to browse but don't want to put the video up in the small postage stamp in the top corner. Also if YouTube app added DIAL support (beam videos from table to screen) and if it was in HD resolution, that would be huge.

I like the look of X1. Reminds me of XBOX graphics or something. Never used it, but online videos make it seem very fluid. Lots of XBOX like transition effects between elements. 

Yeah those old game systems that ran at like 6 MHz were all written in assembly language. With something like DirecTV you have layers upon layers of stuff on top of Linux. Its like a Java app or something so it can be easily ported to other boxes. That adds a lot of headroom. Not many people know pure assembly anymore, and the development cost to compile pure assembly, keeping it as bug free as possible across so many manufacturers is just an enormous task and expense. I think HAXE (is that what Tivo's new platform is written on?) could be a viable alternative for DirecTV to explore. They get paid to do this stuff so I can't imagine they haven't already done their research on the various platforms and the cost analysis to migrate them. Java, Flash, HTML5, HAXE, C#, something all new and proprietary, etc... There's a lot of new approaches.

Also at one of the investor conferences Mike White said he saw some HTML5 based gui's they mocked up in the labs and said if we have to go that route we will (I think speaking on keeping up with the competition and their cloud based guides).

I just hope they don't go to that all new "retro" FLAT style everyone is doing. New Hopper UI... FLAT. New FIOS UI... FLAT. Windows 8... FLAT... Why go back to 90's graphics... I just don't understand that rage.


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## Laxguy (Dec 2, 2010)

I'll put a call into Jony Ive at Apple.... 

The GUI that we have is quite adequate.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

Laxguy said:


> I'll put a call into Jony Ive at Apple....
> 
> The GUI that we have is quite adequate.


I thought the SD GUI was adequate. I didn't have any idea it was SD at the time.

Rich


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