# Software Features D* should add to the HR20



## joekun (Aug 18, 2006)

Earl mentioned that D* is watching this board so I thought we should start a single thread devoted to features that can and should be added in future software updates to make this a really great DVR. I know there are single threads devoted to certain features, but I hope that this thread can be the place where we centralize our requests and maybe D* will take a look. So here is my list (I will probably add to it as I think of more), please post your ideas.

HR20 Feature Wishlist

0) *THE HR20 SHOULD NOT STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF MY WATCHING A PROGRAM TO DOWNLOAD NEW SOFTWARE. It should AT LEAST ask and allow me to say "do it later"*

1) A true 30 second skip instead of slip

2) (already implemented) A "Return to live" function (Earl informed me that by holding down the 30 second slip button when delayed it will jump to live)

3) Record any program on any channel based on search criteria (similar to now but across all channels)
3a) Fix Autorecord so that it can be done based on a title search

4) Ability to jump to any point in a show by pressing the # of minutes you wish to skip and then the Advance button. This allows you to easily skip 30, 43, 67, 92, or any number of minutes ahead if you want to get to a specific part quickly. Alternatively pushing the number followed by the Previous Channel button jumps to that exact minute in the show (i.e. 40 prev would take you to the 40 minute mark of the show)

5) Ability to manually remove channels you don't get (HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc) or don't want (SD channels that have HD versions) completely from your channel lineup.

6) Standardize the # of seconds the Replay button jumps back, as currently it seems to vary.

7) Pressing Guide should take you to the full guide, pressing guide a second time should take you to the channel sort page, the inverse of the way it is setup now.

8) Ability to group your recordings in to folders so that different users of the box can quickly see which of their programs have recorded and are available for viewing.

9) The "Play" option for a recorded show should remember where you left off the last time you watched that show. A new "Play from beginning" option should be added to the list to allow you to watch again from the start if you choose.

10) Series Link option to record HD, SD, or Both


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## KCWolfPck (Jul 10, 2006)

In answer to the above post:

2) Doesn't this already exist? I'm pretty sure if you hit "Exit" while watching a recorded program will return you to live TV.

5) This feature already exists in the form of Favorites 1 & 2. You can set which one you want to be your default guide


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## bobnielsen (Jun 29, 2006)

KCWolfPck said:


> In answer to the above post:
> 
> 5) This feature already exists in the form of Favorites 1 & 2. You can set which one you want to be your default guide


Yeah, but if you just punch in a channel number it will go to the first instance, whether or not it is in the guide. I don't know about the HR20, but the H20-600 goes to the SD version. What is needed is the ability to edit "channels I receive".


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

bobnielsen said:


> Yeah, but if you just punch in a channel number it will go to the first instance, whether or not it is in the guide. I don't know about the HR20, but the H20-600 goes to the SD version. What is needed is the ability to edit "channels I receive".


For what ever reason, it is different in different markets.

On my H20... if I key in the channel number, it goes to the MPEG-4, then the OTA, then the SD

HR20, it goes MPEG-4, then SD sat


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## LockMD (Nov 16, 2005)

bobnielsen said:


> Yeah, but if you just punch in a channel number it will go to the first instance, whether or not it is in the guide. I don't know about the HR20, but the H20-600 goes to the SD version. What is needed is the ability to edit "channels I receive".


Bobnielsen, have you ever done a reset on your H20? mine was like yours a long time ago, but I thought they fixed that in an update early on. Mine will go to the MPEG4 channel first.


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## Blitz68 (Apr 19, 2006)

7) Pressing Guide should take you to the full guide, pressing guide a second time should take you to the channel sort page, the inverse of the way it is setup now.

This is a great idea!!

8) Ability to group your recordings in to folders so that different users of the box can quickly see which of their programs have recorded and are available for viewing.

This is already there isn't it? My R15 does it.


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## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

Blitz68 said:


> 7) Pressing Guide should take you to the full guide, pressing guide a second time should take you to the channel sort page, the inverse of the way it is setup now.
> 
> This is a great idea!!
> 
> ...


I think he means User created Folders that you put shows into. Cool idea but seems like a lot of work for little payoff. I like the folders they way they are they just store multiple versions of the same show in a folder named with the shows title.


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## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

joekun said:


> 1) A true 30 second skip instead of slip


Hollywood doesn't like it so the slip is what you get. Unfortunately.


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## Alan Gordon (Jun 7, 2004)

I watched the R15 info show on DirecTV the other day, and I still don't have a full understanding of the HR20, so I'm not going to comment on much until I have used the HR20 for a while... but there are a couple of things I wanted to bring up.

1. One of the main problems I have with the HR10-250, and the Hughes HTL-HD receiver that I had before was a problem that doesn't affect many people... but is a feature that SHOULD be implemented for the few that it does affect.  I live in the outskirts of a DMA, and receive "Grade B" coverage from TWO other DMAs, and can often receive programming from two additional DMAs allowing me to receive stations from FIVE different DMAs, but can only receive guide data from TWO DMAs.

2. I've read that the R15 (and I'm assuming the HR20) can hide folders with programming from DirecTV's adult channels. However, there is other programming on other channels ("Deadwood", perhaps a R-rated movie on HBO, or perhaps you're just ashamed of having 12 episodes of "The Flavor Of Love" on your DVR) that someone might want to keep private from their kids, or in the case of "The Flavor Of Love", everybody!!

As I said before, I do have some other things that I think DirecTV should change, add, or modify, but until I get a HR20 into my hands, and use it, I will keep them to myself.

~Alan


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## drawnad (Aug 21, 2006)

I know it has its own thread, but I think it also belongs here:

Dual Buffers!

Also, "skip to" tics (15, 30, 45 mins)


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

bonscott87 said:


> Hollywood doesn't like it so the slip is what you get. Unfortunately.


It's not "Hollywood" that doesn't like it (they are only concerned about you watching and copying the shows)..

It is the advertisers that fork most of the money to the networks/channels that pay for those shows, that don't like the "skip"


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## mcaldero (Feb 3, 2006)

drawnad said:


> I know it has its own thread, but I think it also belongs here:
> 
> Dual Buffers!
> 
> Also, "skip to" tics (15, 30, 45 mins)


Yes, dual LIVE buffers should move to the top of the list.


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## HiDefGator (Nov 20, 2005)

I know it makes me sound like a bad parent but I would love the ability to queue up shows for playback. It gets really annoying when the kids bother me every 30 minutes to put something else on.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

HiDefGator said:


> I know it makes me sound like a bad parent but I would love the ability to queue up shows for playback. It gets really annoying when the kids bother me every 30 minutes to put something else on.


*WHY IN GOD'S GREEN EARTH WOULD......*
that make you a bad parent.....

I know a LOT of parents that would kill for that feature.....

I know they are considering to extend the Mark and Delete feature to possible include a Mark and Playback feature....


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## bobnielsen (Jun 29, 2006)

LockMD said:


> Bobnielsen, have you ever done a reset on your H20? mine was like yours a long time ago, but I thought they fixed that in an update early on. Mine will go to the MPEG4 channel first.


I'll give it a try--thanks!

No change--SD, then MPEG4 HD, then OTA. This is a H20-600. I think the H20-100 is different. I originally thought that the -100 and -600 were contract-built to the same design, but apparently not, since the software versions are diffeerent.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

-100 built by RCA I believe
-600 built by LG


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## judson_west (Jun 15, 2006)

I would like to see a function that assists in the recording a program to VCR/DVD recorder. I would like program information to preceed the recording and I would like the DVR to only send program information to tape -- none of the status messages/indicators or other DVR indicators should be sent to the VCR/DVD recorder. I would also like the DVR buttons be disabled (except the transport buttons) while the recording is being completed. If the user presses the STOP button, then prompt the user and determine wheter he really wants the recording to stop or continue.


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## joekun (Aug 18, 2006)

> Yes, dual LIVE buffers should move to the top of the list.


It has its own thread, I think that qualifies as "top of the list"

Also, my suggestions aren't in any particular order, other than the order they came to mind.



> 2) Doesn't this already exist? I'm pretty sure if you hit "Exit" while watching a recorded program will return you to live TV.


What I'm talking about is if you are playing a live show delayed, say 5-10 minutes and you want to just go back to live programming you should be able to do so with a single button press like on most other DVRs.



> What is needed is the ability to edit "channels I receive".


Exactly what I was thinking.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

joekun said:


> What I'm talking about is if you are playing a live show delayed, say 5-10 minutes and you want to just go back to live programming you should be able to do so with a single button press like on most other DVRs.


Hold down the Forward Advance button (The 30s SLIP button), for about 3 seconds... it will jump right to the end.


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## joekun (Aug 18, 2006)

> Hold down the Forward Advance button (The 30s SLIP button), for about 3 seconds... it will jump right to the end.


Cool, that worked! Revising my list.


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## toy4two (Aug 18, 2006)

1) Wishlists

2) Suggestions

3) Commercial Skip

4) Picture in Picture.


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## joekun (Aug 18, 2006)

> 3) Commercial Skip


That would be nice but the last company to implement that was sued and settled. I doubt D* will do that but it doesn't hurt to ask


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## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

SERIOUSLY doubt you will ever see anyone put commercial skip in. The company (ReplayTV) was sued into pretty much bankruptcy and is now a shell of it's former self. As a matter of fact the commercial skip was even removed from the later versions of the hardware.


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## mikewolf13 (Jan 31, 2006)

HiDefGator said:


> I know it makes me sound like a bad parent but I would love the ability to queue up shows for playback. It gets really annoying when the kids bother me every 30 minutes to put something else on.


Right there with you...

Seta manual record to recorda block of shows your kids like...especially during "marathons" Then you can have a little longer reprieve.

Often I can get two episodes of SPongebob followed by two Farly odd parents...voila a 2-hour break .....


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## majikmjk (Jul 12, 2006)

Here is the feature I would love. Only have 1 TV in the house.

On friday night I have it set to record Monk and my wife sets it up to record some home decorating show which of course are on at the same time. I can not watch ESPN football. Both of them are replayed either later on that night or that week.

1. If I change the channel, right now it ask if I want to cancel the recording. Why not have it ask if you want to have it record a later showing if available.

2. When setting up the shows to record in season pass, have an option "if possible, keep one tuner available to watch TV". Have it smart enough to records the 1am showing instead.

Good Day


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## mcaldero (Feb 3, 2006)

majikmjk said:


> Here is the feature I would love. Only have 1 TV in the house.
> 
> On friday night I have it set to record Monk and my wife sets it up to record some home decorating show which of course are on at the same time. I can not watch ESPN football. Both of them are replayed either later on that night or that week.
> 
> ...


This is a great suggestion. We have this problem on Sunday nights when the DVR is recording Desperate Housewives and Sopranos and Big Love and whatever else my wife wants to watch. I have to cancel the Big Love recording in order to watch Sunday Night Football in HD and set up a manual record for Big Love when it runs later in the week.

Great idea.


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## Alan Gordon (Jun 7, 2004)

Currently, DirecTV DVRs with TiVo allow you to hit "Info" when looking at a program in your "Now Playing List", "To Do List", or when you're searching for a program to record. This feature allows you to receive information such as "Original Air Date", "Cast", "Writers", "Directors", and more. 

I ask that you please consider this for the HR20, as well as additional information such as season and episode #, guest stars (which is available on Stand-Alone TiVos), and go one step further by offering information such as "Studio", and make this optional information available by hitting a button from "MyVod" menu, the search for program menu, as well as from your standard DirecTV program guide.

Thanks!
~Alan


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## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

toy4two said:


> 1) Wishlists
> 
> 2) Suggestions
> 
> ...


1) Can't, Tivo owns the patent.

2) Can't, Tivo owns the patent

3) Can't, will be sued like crazy. See Replay TV.

4) Perhaps possible.


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## joekun (Aug 18, 2006)

> 1) Wishlists





> 1) Can't, Tivo owns the patent.


It's not like Tivo's implementation is the only way to go about it. ReplayTV has a similar feature called Theme Channels. I'm sure other DVRs have had something similar as well.


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## mbuser (Jul 6, 2006)

For record by time and channel, please add start recording x minutes late and stop recording x minutes early. Currently can only start early and end late.


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## drawnad (Aug 21, 2006)

soft buffers -- this is becoming more important, as it seems more and more networks are starting (and thus ending) things a minute or two late just to screw up DVR users! (MTV LOVES to do this, and my wife always looks at me like it is my fault!)


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## joekun (Aug 18, 2006)

I 3rd the soft buffers!

I wonder if you set a show to record 1 minute longer and then set the following show to record if it will indeed record the 2nd show or not. I'd be willing to miss the first minute of a show rather than miss the whole thing.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

joekun said:


> I 3rd the soft buffers!
> 
> I wonder if you set a show to record 1 minute longer and then set the following show to record if it will indeed record the 2nd show or not. I'd be willing to miss the first minute of a show rather than miss the whole thing.


No it will treat that as a conflict, and would not scheduled the 2nd program.

"Soft Buffers" would be something closer to what UTV did.

-) If there was not a program recording before this scheduled program, start 5 minutes early, else start at the stated start time
-) If there was not a program recording after this scheduled progra, stop 5 minutes late, else end at the stated end time


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## drawnad (Aug 21, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> No it will treat that as a conflict, and would not scheduled the 2nd program.
> 
> "Soft Buffers" would be something closer to what UTV did.
> 
> ...


This is exactly what I am talking about -- this would be a GREAT feature -- it could be a user option -- user could have the default policy be to record 1,2,3,5, etc. minutes long WHEN POSSIBLE, and also 1,2,3,5,etc. mins early WHEN POSSIBLE. This would be an incredible feature, IMO.

Also -- you could have some logic -- are the 1st 3 minutes or the last 3 minutes MORE important? -- set for last 3 minutes, and if there is a conflict, it records 1:03 of the 1st program and 0:57 of the second program (assuming all tuners are being used) . . . I'd usually rather miss the first 3 minutes of a given program than the last 3 minutes. This could get confusing, but could be done on a show by show basis in an "ADVANCED" menu -- you could have choices -- 
1. First 3 minutes more important, 
2. Last 3 minutes more important,
3. Entire show must be recorded.

Then the DVR would have to do a little work -- if you have a "last 3" show that runs up against another "last 3" then there is no conflict -- it will just run long for both shows (and if there is a tuner conflict, it will miss the first 3 mins. of the second show)


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## sactoken (Jun 15, 2006)

These are things I'd have liked on my HR-10, but they'd apply to the HR-20 too.

1. User-sorted channel listings. Here's one I've wanted since the advent of cable tv, being able to put the channels in the order I want when using channel up/down or on the guide. Kind of like how you can put your car radio presets in any order you want. This should apply at least to favorites. I'd like to group my most-favorite favorites at one end and my least-favorite favorites at the other. Also, you could group channels together in a logical order, like putting CNN next to the other news channels.

2. Ability to suspend Season Passes/Series Links. I travel a lot on my job, and when I'm away, I don't want to record everything I record when I'm home. Now, I either have to delete the Season Pass, and reprogram it when I get back; or go through the To Do list and manually delete the recordings before I go (but sometimes other showings of the program pop up). Either way is a pain. It'd be nice to be able to deactivate individual Season Passes before I go and easily reactivate them when I return.

3. Revert-to channel. The option to have a tuner go back to a specified channel after it finishes recording something, rather than stay on the same channel, so when you turn the TV on, it will always be on your preferred channel (when not recording). You'd set it to the channel you'd most expect to have something you're interested in on, and there would always be something in the buffer for that channel. 

4. Recording option of not more than 1 episode in 24 hours. This would be handy for shows that show more than once a day and the listings don't indicate first run or repeat, like some cable news programs. The 24 hours would begin based on the showing you selected in the guide to set the Series Link.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

sactoken said:


> These are things I'd have liked on my HR-10, but they'd apply to the HR-20 too.
> 
> 1. User-sorted channel listings. Here's one I've wanted since the advent of cable tv, being able to put the channels in the order I want when using channel up/down or on the guide. Kind of like how you can put your car radio presets in any order you want. This should apply at least to favorites. I'd like to group my most-favorite favorites at one end and my least-favorite favorites at the other. Also, you could group channels together in a logical order, like putting CNN next to the other news channels.
> 
> ...


I like your ideas...

Just so you know... #3 the unit already does that.
The HR20-750 tries to record EVERYTHING on the background tuner first... then if it must use the fore-ground tuner... it uses it... but when the recording is finished, it returns you to the channel you where at... unless you start to use trick-play while the unit is recording (aka... interact with the recording program)


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## mpoyner (Aug 17, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> HR20, it goes MPEG-4, then SD sat


Earl, is this the order in which it will find a program to record? For example, the basketball game on ESPN that is being recorded via a saved search that I have set up. Will this game automatically be recorded from ESPN HD, or will it sometimes record from ESPN SD.

With the Tivo, I can just get rid of the SD channels in my "Channels I receive" setup screen, so they don't even appear as channels to be recorded from. I know that you can set up a favorites list with the HR20, but does this also hide the deleted channels from recording, or just from the on-screen guide?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

When you setup an SL on the HR20, it ties also to the channel as well.
So if you set it up to record on the HD... it will record on the HD.


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## mpoyner (Aug 17, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> When you setup an SL on the HR20, it ties also to the channel as well.
> So if you set it up to record on the HD... it will record on the HD.


That is if you set up a season pass-type thing.

But how about this scenario: I do a saved search for "Terrapins", hoping to get all the Maryland sports on TV (multiple channels). Most of these games will be on ESPN. Currently on the Tivo box, I can rest easy because I've deleted the SD versions of ESPN and ESPN2 from my "Channels I receive" list, so it can't record from them and I will therefore have the recording in HD.

What would happen in the case of the HR20? Will it look to record an HD version first, and then look for the SD version? Or, better yet, if I get rid of the SD versions of ESPN 1 & 2 in my Favorite channels list, will it ignore these channels for purposes of recording?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

mpoyner said:


> That is if you set up a season pass-type thing.
> 
> But how about this scenario: I do a saved search for "Terrapins", hoping to get all the Maryland sports on TV (multiple channels). Most of these games will be on ESPN. Currently on the Tivo box, I can rest easy because I've deleted the SD versions of ESPN and ESPN2 from my "Channels I receive" list, so it can't record from them and I will therefore have the recording in HD.
> 
> What would happen in the case of the HR20? Will it look to record an HD version first, and then look for the SD version? Or, better yet, if I get rid of the SD versions of ESPN 1 & 2 in my Favorite channels list, will it ignore these channels for purposes of recording?


I haven't tried that... but since you can't control the channels you receive list... my guess is that it would take what it finds first.

The Favorites right now only effect the guide and channel up/down.


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## dan8379 (Feb 13, 2006)

mcaldero said:


> This is a great suggestion. We have this problem on Sunday nights when the DVR is recording Desperate Housewives and Sopranos and Big Love and whatever else my wife wants to watch. I have to cancel the Big Love recording in order to watch Sunday Night Football in HD and set up a manual record for Big Love when it runs later in the week.
> 
> Great idea.


I always set HBO shows to record one of the late night replays to avoid any possible conflicts like this. Does the HR20 have the ability to set a series link to record Entourage, for instance, at the 1:00 am showing instead of the 10:00 showing? Or will it automatically record the 10:00 showing first if the tuner is available?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

dan8379 said:


> I always set HBO shows to record one of the late night replays to avoid any possible conflicts like this. Does the HR20 have the ability to set a series link to record Entourage, for instance, at the 1:00 am showing instead of the 10:00 showing? Or will it automatically record the 10:00 showing first if the tuner is available?


It will automatically record the earliest showing that doesn't have conflicts.


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## The_Geyser (Nov 21, 2005)

HiDefGator said:


> I know it makes me sound like a bad parent but I would love the ability to queue up shows for playback. It gets really annoying when the kids bother me every 30 minutes to put something else on.


That's a great idea! (I'm a bad parent on Saturday mornings.)


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

Earl Bonovich said:


> I like your ideas...
> 
> Just so you know... #3 the unit already does that.
> The HR20-750 tries to record EVERYTHING on the background tuner first... then if it must use the fore-ground tuner... it uses it... but when the recording is finished, it returns you to the channel you where at... unless you start to use trick-play while the unit is recording (aka... interact with the recording program)


{Talking R15, here}
Except that it also tries to return you to that channel when you come out of standby, which is really annoying when you're recording two things. You turn it on and it asks you if you're sure you want to stop recording. Huh? And I may or may not have seen one instance where it changed the channel *first* and *then* asked me if I was sure I wanted to stop recording (I still need to try to reproduce that).


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## joekun (Aug 18, 2006)

> Does the HR20 have the ability to set a series link to record Entourage, for instance, at the 1:00 am showing instead of the 10:00 showing? Or will it automatically record the 10:00 showing first if the tuner is available?


The best way to do this that I've found is to do a manual recording.


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## plehrack (Aug 21, 2006)

A pressing issue for me is the ability to turn PIL (Picture in List) off. I recorded my first baseball game on the HR20 the other day. When I went to watch it, I hit list... the game was playing live (8th inning) in the upper right, score and all. It made the game a bit anticlimactic.

Peter


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

plehrack said:


> A pressing issue for me is the ability to turn PIL (Picture in List) off. I recorded my first baseball game on the HR20 the other day. When I went to watch it, I hit list... the game was playing live (8th inning) in the upper right, score and all. It made the game a bit anticlimactic.
> 
> Peter


Me too. I hate that thing.


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## HiDefGator (Nov 20, 2005)

The_Geyser said:


> That's a great idea! (I'm a bad parent on Saturday mornings.)


Since everyone seems to agree with me maybe I should patent it before Tivo does.


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## sactoken (Jun 15, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> I like your ideas...
> 
> Just so you know... #3 the unit already does that.
> The HR20-750 tries to record EVERYTHING on the background tuner first... then if it must use the fore-ground tuner... it uses it... but when the recording is finished, it returns you to the channel you where at... unless you start to use trick-play while the unit is recording (aka... interact with the recording program)


That's good, and better than the way the HR10 works, but still not exactly what I'm looking for. Sounds like the HR20 will go back to the channel the tuner was on before it started recording. My idea was to have it go back to a specific channel each time after recording. You could accomplish the same thing by making sure the tuner was set to your preferred channel each time you stop watching live TV, but it'd be nicer to have the box reset it automatically after recording so you wouldn't have to remember to do this.


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## tonyd79 (Jul 24, 2006)

sactoken, I don't understand your reasoning.

Why not just set the channel yourself if it goes back after recording.

For what you want, you would NEED a recording to have it on your default channel. For example, if you want the Weather Channel on when you wake up and the DVR didn't record anything and you left it on CBS, it would be on CBS. Only if you had it record would it go to the Weather Channel.

Just put it on the Weather Channel before you turn off the TV. Unless you want it to change the channel after you dont' touch it for 2 hours or something. Want it to make coffee, too?


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## smb3d (Aug 24, 2006)

After playing with the HR20 for a while I've come up with a couple suggestions that I think could be easily implemented.

1. I would like to see the title of a show scroll in the mini guide block when highlighted. It's sort of hard to read especially when all you see is "Today on ..."

2. The stretch option should gradually stretch the image as it gets to the edges like on the Sony LCD televisions. It's called smart stretch or something like that on other brands. It looks so much better then wide head mode.


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

Blitz68 said:


> 7) Pressing Guide should take you to the full guide, pressing guide a second time should take you to the channel sort page, the inverse of the way it is setup now.
> 
> This is a great idea!!


I agree. I don't care for how it is implimented now.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Capmeister said:


> I agree. I don't care for how it is implimented now.


Absolutely, make it 1 guide press actually brings up the guide. 2 presses on the remote should bring up the useless category sort menu, although you won't see me crying if they got rid of that menu altogether..


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## Kentstater (Jun 18, 2004)

An active USB port

1) I want an easy plug and play slide show for photos
2) for video


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## Reggie3 (Feb 20, 2006)

1) Wishlists
(Pay the price to TiVo to include it)

2) Ability to see info on XM channels without the srceen saver being activated.


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## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

Reggie3 said:


> 1) Wishlists
> (Pay the price to TiVo to include it)
> 
> 2) Ability to see info on XM channels without the srceen saver being activated.


1. NEVER going to happen.

2. That how it used to be on the R15 until everyone screamed they wanted a screen saver because of burnin.

Just goes to show not everyone can be made happy :lol:


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

And #2... they have the request and looking into a user being able to select a disable screen saver option on the XM channels


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## Reggie3 (Feb 20, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> And #2... they have the request and looking into a user being able to select a disable screen saver option on the XM channels


Thanks Earl - good news - as not everyone has burn-in issues. The other option would be to have the info scroll across the screen or move around - to prevent burn-in.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Clint Lamor said:


> 1. NEVER going to happen.


Why would DTV never attempt to license the Wishlist patent from Tivo? Sure Tivo might want to much, but from the DTV standpoint, that's a feature that a fair amount of Tivo users do use. Couldn't hurt having a discussion before the "divorce". :lol:


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## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

Wolffpack said:


> Why would DTV never attempt to license the Wishlist patent from Tivo? Sure Tivo might want to much, but from the DTV standpoint, that's a feature that a fair amount of Tivo users do use. Couldn't hurt having a discussion before the "divorce". :lol:


I would like to see some of the Tivo features on the HR20 and R15, I just have a feeling there is some bad blood there. I guess it's possible they could license it but what do you think the odds are?


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Clint Lamor said:


> I would like to see some of the Tivo features on the HR20 and R15, I just have a feeling there is some bad blood there. I guess it's possible they could license it but what do you think the odds are?


Bad blood and bad business are two completely different things. Anyone that lets personal feelings get the way of business won't be in business long.


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## vexedbyhall (Aug 25, 2006)

Clint Lamor said:


> I would like to see some of the Tivo features on the HR20 and R15, I just have a feeling there is some bad blood there. I guess it's possible they could license it but what do you think the odds are?


Not needed.

Simply use ALL the tribune media data stream on every show, and make a "saved search" feature of upto 250 saved searches that we can record or simply saved to a list.

search strings could include

show title

episode title (reason this is needed, so we can have searches more defined and keyword is easier to use)

actor

genre (show type)

director

category

keyword

and have sub-strings for each above search

and as for sugestions, rename them "DirecTV Recommends" and have us hit a yellow button 1-3 imes to say good, blue button 1-3 times as bad

and base the extra recordings on the data on similar shows as defined above. using a simple # of blue and tellow ratings we give shows.

Paental controls to be expanded, where we have choice what channels can be blocked from being keyed in via the remote

mark and delete to the to do list

I think most people love Tivo, BUT IF DirecTV added similar features to the ones Tivo has (A DTV versions of sugestions - wish lists (lsted above) and added dual live buffered Tuners of 90 minutes) , most would say Tivo who ?

DTV have some good features

advanced show conflict help

can still see sow when in your vod list

bookmarks

can see how much space left to record shows


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## drawnad (Aug 21, 2006)

mark and delete mutiple items in "My VOD" -- makes cleaning out old recordings much easier.


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## Gotchaa (Jan 25, 2006)

In addition to what's already been requested I'd like to see:

1. Guide data stored on the HD
2. Series Link record history for "First Run Only" remain after a system reboot (programs already recorded will continue to record regardless of your flag if the system is rebooted)
3. Slow motion ?
4. SATA port to allow more recording time, tried one today, no luck
5. Actual list of disk usage in MBs/GBs %, per program as well
6. Info about the recorded format type MPEG2 or MPEG4
7. Ability to add and playback MP3s
8. HD programs with DD+, and the ability to pass decoded DD+ stream in LPCM over HDMI


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## toy4two (Aug 18, 2006)

Clint Lamor said:


> SERIOUSLY doubt you will ever see anyone put commercial skip in. The company (ReplayTV) was sued into pretty much bankruptcy and is now a shell of it's former self. As a matter of fact the commercial skip was even removed from the later versions of the hardware.


How can a company be sued for commercial skip, was it a patent violation or something?


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## toy4two (Aug 18, 2006)

bonscott87 said:


> 1) Can't, Tivo owns the patent.
> 
> 2) Can't, Tivo owns the patent
> 
> ...


What do you mean CAN'T? They can just license the technology from TIVO, like Comcast and COX are doing. In fact if you could just choose which DVR OS you want on your box and download it online to the box like COX and have it run on Motorola and Scientific Atlanta, why not the PACE boxes D* uses. Many people would happily pay extra to have TIVO on an MPEG 4 box.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

toy4two said:


> What do you mean CAN'T? They can just license the technology from TIVO, like Comcast and COX are doing. In fact if you could just choose which DVR OS you want on your box and download it online to the box like COX and have it run on Motorola and Scientific Atlanta, why not the PACE boxes D* uses. Many people would happily pay extra to have TIVO on an MPEG 4 box.


I would!!!


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

Here's a minor request ....

* When searching for programs by Title, should the word "The" at the beginning of a program title need to be entered? On my Tivo's words like "A" and "The" are ignored, which makes program searches a bit faster. For example, on my Tivo I can just enter "Simpsons", while on the HR20 I must enter "The Simpsons".


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

Here's another request ....

* We should be able to setup the "Channels I Get" list instead of just using Custom1 and Custom2

More info here http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=62700


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## joekun (Aug 18, 2006)

> 3. Slow motion ?


Try holding down the play button. This will give you slow motion, but it takes a few seconds to kick in.


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## joekun (Aug 18, 2006)

A new request the HR20 should NOT interrupt me while I'm watching programs to download new software, that's just crap!!


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## gdiddy (Aug 31, 2006)

Excellent wishlist!

I switched from the Microsoft UltimateTV last week. The HD picture is awesome, but the user interface is sure taking some getting used to.

Comments/Questions so far:

*- Menus/Buttons*
30 second slip sucks. Needs to be 30 second skip.
Fast/Faster forward needs some work. (The Ultimate tv used 1x 2x 4x 16x).
*
- MyVOD*
Way more confusing than it needs to be, or maybe I just missed reading a page in the manual.

Where can I see why something is being recorded(other than in the item itself)? For example. I was not specific enough when I set up to record "Judge Judy" for my wife and just searched for "Judy". All sorts or stuff came up because it had "Judy" in the description somewhere. I couldn't find a place to go delete that search, but had to go to each of those series and cancel them.

Is there a way to have search based recordings NOT try to record channels I don't get?

Why do I have to start at the beginning again when I go back in to watch a recorded show? Is there a way to mark where I stopped?

*- Audio*
I have an optical cable from the HR20 to my receiver for sound and HDMI to the bigscreen.I ended up turning Dolby Digital option off. With it on, about half the time I can get sound from the HD channels and half not. SD audio always works. Lip Sync delay is obvious.


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## rdr07 (Aug 25, 2006)

Another Tivo-like wish:

I'd like to be able to save recorded programs until specific dates, not just until the HD fills up or I manually delete it.


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## Wally_Gator (Nov 28, 2005)

Ok, I have one... 

Please add the following....

Enable the Ethernet port and have a configurable web interface that will allow a person to remotely schedule and manage recordings. Look up health of the unit and more...


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## Groundhog45 (Nov 10, 2005)

I agree with whoever mentioned having just one push to get to the guide. The filters can be set in a menu option or with a second push of the guide button. Totally a waste of time.

GH


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## pdvale (Dec 5, 2005)

plehrack said:


> A pressing issue for me is the ability to turn PIL (Picture in List) off. I recorded my first baseball game on the HR20 the other day. When I went to watch it, I hit list... the game was playing live (8th inning) in the upper right, score and all. It made the game a bit anticlimactic.
> 
> Peter


I agree.. if both tuners are recording then at least have a preference to hide PIL so you don't see part of the recorded program...

Also putting new Series Link lowest in priority...

When you move the SL in the prioritizer.. allow channel up/down to move the SL 5 positions instead of only one at a time.


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## dthoman (Aug 22, 2006)

gdiddy said:


> Excellent wishlist!
> 
> Why do I have to start at the beginning again when I go back in to watch a recorded show? Is there a way to mark where I stopped?


You can. When you want to stop watching a recorded program hit exit not the stop button (as in a VCR). Hitting exit will remember playback where you left off.


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## dthoman (Aug 22, 2006)

I only scan the above responses, so I don't know if this has been suggested. 

How about getting to a specific day in the Guide. Right now, you have to hit the red or green button to navigate through the guide (12 + or 12 -). It would be nice to able to go to a specific day.  This gets real annoying when you want to check something in the guide that is more than a day or two away, such as 12 or 14 days away.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

dthoman said:


> I only scan the above responses, so I don't know if this has been suggested.
> 
> How about getting to a specific day in the Guide. Right now, you have to hit the red or green button to navigate through the guide (12 + or 12 -). It would be nice to able to go to a specific day. This gets real annoying when you want to check something in the guide that is more than a day or two away, such as 12 or 14 days away.


If you're looking for something 12-14 days away why are you using the guide? How about using search? You can search by channel, title, person or keyword.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

dthoman said:


> How about getting to a specific day in the Guide. Right now, you have to hit the red or green button to navigate through the guide (12 + or 12 -). It would be nice to able to go to a specific day. This gets real annoying when you want to check something in the guide that is more than a day or two away, such as 12 or 14 days away.


When you are in the guide: Hit Menu; Select Date and Time.
You can then pick the date. After the date, you then can pick the hour.
And it will jump you right to that point in the guide


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## khajath (Feb 18, 2006)

In random order: 


- Keep track of where I was while watching recorded show
- Help button on every screen. 
- Dual buffer, or quad-buffer with OTA ATSC (yeahh) 
- Real channel-I-received. 
- Search to return results on channel that I subscribed to only, or channel on my fav list only. 
- Let me know how much disk space each recorded show takes 
- Ability to create my own mixed-channel. 
- Ability to group or re-order channel in guide, as my TV allow with TV-Guide. 
- Ability to transfer recorded show(s) to external storage
- Link HR20 in my house together to tranfer show
- Store guide on disk as Tivo
- Search on first-run/repeat 
- Program recording from the web or cel phone


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

khajath said:


> In random order:
> - Keep track of where I was while watching recorded show
> * Comming *
> - Help button on every screen.
> ...


My responses are inline


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

khajath said:


> - Keep track of where I was while watching recorded show


Press EXIT when watching a recorded show. It will remember where you left off.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Wolffpack said:


> Press EXIT when watching a recorded show. It will remember where you left off.


When I said, comming... I ment it is comming so that you can exit the recording in any fashion and it will remember.


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## KiteBoarder (Aug 31, 2006)

What about remote control. So users of AMX or Crestron can control the box much like the D10 unit?


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Ability to filter the MyVod list, for example:

Reorder list by channel or title for all recordings instead of just the basic chronological order we have now

Option to sort list by category type (sports on top, movies on the bottom, something like that)

Toggle option to only show first runs or repeats in the MyVod list

Also it would be nice to set up customized lists. My father likes to watch This Old House and some other shows on DIY. I'd like the ability for him to set up a "sub-list" in MyVod that will only display the shows he likes to watch so he doesn't have to search through the other shows in the master list.


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## ndahayo63 (Aug 25, 2006)

I don't know if anyone has already suggested this.

I would like the ability to schedule a program to be recorded remotely over the Internet. I am sure you all have had some experience when a co-worker or someone tells you about a program/show and you are nowhere near your DVR, say at work! Why can't D* allow us to login into some website and be able to schedule a program remotely?


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

ndahayo63 said:


> I don't know if anyone has already suggested this.
> 
> I would like the ability to schedule a program to be recorded remotely over the Internet. I am sure you all have had some experience when a co-worker or someone tells you about a program/show and you are nowhere near your DVR, say at work! Why can't D* allow us to login into some website and be able to schedule a program remotely?


Yep, this has been suggested and would be a really cool feature to have when/if the ethernet port is activated.


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## Alan Gordon (Jun 7, 2004)

PoitNarf said:


> Option to sort list by category type (sports on top, movies on the bottom, something like that)


While I'd be happy with alphabetically (and with folders similar to the TiVo ones), this actually gives me an idea.

Have a User Selectable option (via a button, or a couple of buttons, or a menu option) to change the guide to sort by content (just like whats mentioned above) by folders. Use graphics (ala exclamation mark, suggestions graphic on the TiVo) like a film graphic for movies, football for sports, newspaper for news (LOL!!), etc...

I can't think of a good graphic for series, and I won't mention the graphics they could use for porn (LOL!!!).

While I do believe that the HR20 could be a little more graphical friendly, they could always go the easier route by using different colors for different content (ala some of DirecTV's earlier receivers).

~Alan


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> Reorder list by channel or title for all recordings instead of just the basic chronological order we have now


Spoke too soon. After some additional playing around and actually reading the manual I found out how to do this. Just press menu when you're on the MyVod screen and you'll be able to do this.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

PoitNarf said:


> Ability to filter the MyVod list, for example:
> 
> Reorder list by channel or title for all recordings instead of just the basic chronological order we have now
> 
> ...


Have you pressed MENU while in MYVOD and then played with the options from that menu? You can sort/filter MYVOD many ways with the existing software. The unit doesn't have those settings, but you can do it.

I have to ask if you've even tried anything before posting something that should be added? Doesn't seem lke you have as filtering and sorting already exist.

*EDIT: I should have also read through the entire thread before posting.*


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## khajath (Feb 18, 2006)

Earl,

Awesome, thanks for your update. No quad-buffer ????

- Add to list: ability to search with query like Google: "and", "or", "not"... Trying to search "Baseball AND Angel" right now return nothing, yet if just search either Baseball or Angel return too much results, not easy when you try to do auto- record.

- Add to list: credit block buy for PPV. Said, you buy that special PPV credit for $30 or a certain amount, that allow you to view up to 30 PPV (or certain number) per month. (unlimited PPV would be best !!). Just as NetFlix. I notice DIRECTV have similar concept for porn (block buy to view all porn channels for 2 hours ??), why not applying that to PPV.

- For the mix channel, my brother TV must have four tuners (?), and once you split the screen to four, you can pick up up-to four channels for each quad section. Quite cool. Simply have 2 or 4 channels at anytime on screen at your choice would be nice. Even my old UltimateTV have PiP


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## dvrblogger (Jan 11, 2005)

PoitNarf said:


> Yep, this has been suggested and would be a really cool feature to have when/if the ethernet port is activated.


a better solution to day is buy a slingbox it has the side benefit of allowing remote prigramming and all commands can be done remotely including viewing your TV (>:


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## dthoman (Aug 22, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> When you are in the guide: Hit Menu; Select Date and Time.
> You can then pick the date. After the date, you then can pick the hour.
> And it will jump you right to that point in the guide


Would never have known this if I didn't post a question. Thanks.

I like to use the date feature instead of search in order to set up a SL. When I know when and what channel my show is on. I don't feel like typing in letters for the program and then seeing it on all channels (Two sets of 7, 87 and then if it is on another channel) to determine which one i want to set up using my SL


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## poncho (Aug 27, 2006)

khajath said:


> - Add to list: ability to search with query like Google: "and", "or", "not"... Trying to search "Baseball AND Angel" right now return nothing, yet if just search either Baseball or Angel return too much results, not easy when you try to do auto- record.


you can get creative with the search feature by making use of the category filtering screens. for example if you want to search for Angels Baseball, use the search by keyword, type in "ANGELS" and in the next screen, select the sports category then the baseball subcategory. and voila! you've got a result of all the angels baseball games.


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## joekun (Aug 18, 2006)

> Reorder list by channel or title for all recordings instead of just the basic chronological order we have now


As you've discovered, you can do this, but it doesn't stick. You have to choose it each time you go into myvod. That should be fixed.


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## rrbhokies (May 10, 2004)

I don't believe the HR20 has this, but a recycle bin would be great so that you could recover something you accidentally deleted (or your wife did). If it's like other hard drives, the program is probably still there for some time before it's recorded over by another show. Would be nice to be able to undelete it.

Does anyone know if any other competing DVRs out there have this?


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## darrinps (Sep 13, 2006)

Maybe this is there but I can't find it...SLOW MOTION.

I really miss slo-mo during football games. I like to go back and see if a player was out of bounds, etc. (Amazing how many times the refs get it wrong).


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

darrinps said:


> Maybe this is there but I can't find it...SLOW MOTION.
> 
> I really miss slo-mo during football games. I like to go back and see if a player was out of bounds, etc. (Amazing how many times the refs get it wrong).


Hold down the play button


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

darrinps said:


> Maybe this is there but I can't find it...SLOW MOTION.
> 
> I really miss slo-mo during football games. I like to go back and see if a player was out of bounds, etc. (Amazing how many times the refs get it wrong).


If it's the same as the R15 you press and hold PLAY. Personally I don't like it since you have to hold it for 1-2 seconds at which time you may have already passed the point you wanted to see in SloMo. I much prefer a SLOW button to press getting SloMo right away.

In this same line, does anyone know of a frame advance like the Tivos have?


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> If it's the same as the R15 you press and hold PLAY. Personally I don't like it since you have to hold it for 1-2 seconds at which time you may have already passed the point you wanted to see in SloMo. I much prefer a SLOW button to press getting SloMo right away.
> 
> In this same line, does anyone know of a frame advance like the Tivos have?


I think if you pause and then hit the FFWD or RRWD buttons it will go forward frame by frame.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

PoitNarf said:


> I think if you pause and then hit the FFWD or RRWD buttons it will go forward frame by frame.


Thanks!


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## darrinps (Sep 13, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> Hold down the play button


Doh!

Guess I should read that manual. :nono2:


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

I thought this feature was already implemented, but I tried it and it didn't work:

Ability for the live buffer to continue updating on the last channel you were tuned to when you watch a recording from the MyVOD list.

If this is a feature, it didn't work for me when I tried it just before; buffer started from the point when my recording ended and I went back to live tv.


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## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

Some things I'd like to see:

Abilty to change the defaults on the series link - I'd like to have all my new series links be first run only.

Abilty to tell the unit how much space to give to HD/SD/Showcases.

More favorites lists

User settings, colors, favorites, etc.

Not a software request, but hardware. I'd like to see a clock on the front, not just on the HR20, but all recievers. Has to be one of the biggest complaints I get from cable converts.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

RobertE said:


> Abilty to change the defaults on the series link - I'd like to have all my new series links be first run only.


The HR20 can do this already. Press Menu when your on the Record screen and it will let you choose what you want the default SL record options to be.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

PoitNarf said:


> Ability for the live buffer to continue updating on the last channel you were tuned to when you watch a recording from the MyVOD list.


The R15's do keep the buffer running when watching a recording.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> The R15's do keep the buffer running when watching a recording.


Interesting. Has anyone gotten this to work with the HR20?


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## diggumsmax (Sep 12, 2006)

The one thing I have been wanting on all DVR's since they came out is a simple defrag program for when the data gets scattered all over the hard drive. This is one of the reasons I think these things get so slow after a while. I'm really suprised no one has included one with a DVR yet.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

PoitNarf said:


> Interesting. Has anyone gotten this to work with the HR20?


I have had it work in the past on the HR20... haven't tried it since the CC update


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

diggumsmax said:


> The one thing I have been wanting on all DVR's since they came out is a simple defrag program for when the data gets scattered all over the hard drive. This is one of the reasons I think these things get so slow after a while. I'm really suprised no one has included one with a DVR yet.


I totally agree. I posted the same issue/observation the other day here, but got one explanation that the Linux OS doesn't require it like a MS OS.

I don't buy that - a hard drive is a hard drive, and a controller is a controller. Data gets scattered based on available space. Over time, data gets scattered and defragmentation helps reduce the drive head usage.

Considering a DVR probably has twice the data storage and deletions of a normal PC, I would think some kind of defragmentation maintenance would be a standard feature of the DVR software (to reduce wear and tear). I think they should add this feature ASAP - it'll save them headaches on DVR service calls in the future.


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## chicagojim (Sep 13, 2006)

Maybe I missed it, or am not doing something right with this system, but it seems waaaaay to easy to delete a series link. My kid wiped out my Nip/Tuck link by pressing "R" on it in the guide. 

Series links should be locked and not modifiable in the program guide, even for one episode . . .


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> I totally agree. I posted the same issue/observation the other day here, but got one explanation that the Linux OS doesn't require it like a MS OS.
> 
> I don't buy that - a hard drive is a hard drive, and a controller is a controller. Data gets scattered based on available space. Over time, data gets scattered and defragmentation helps reduce the drive head usage.
> 
> Considering a DVR probably has twice the data storage and deletions of a normal PC, I would think some kind of defragmentation maintenance would be a standard feature of the DVR software (to reduce wear and tear). I think they should add this feature ASAP - it'll save them headaches on DVR service calls in the future.


Why Linux does not need Defragmentation

http://www.plex86.org/linux/Linux-Filesystems-Do-Not-Suffer-Fragmentation.-Here-s-Why.html


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

chicagojim said:


> Maybe I missed it, or am not doing something right with this system, but it seems waaaaay to easy to delete a series link. My kid wiped out my Nip/Tuck link by pressing "R" on it in the guide.
> 
> Series links should be locked and not modifiable in the program guide, even for one episode . . .


If they add that, then it MUST be a parent control or something toggle able.
One of the best features (IMHO), the ability to manipulate my recordings and Series links with the push of that button, while in the guide.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Why Linux does not need Defragmentation
> 
> http://www.plex86.org/linux/Linux-Filesystems-Do-Not-Suffer-Fragmentation.-Here-s-Why.html


Interesting article, but it did NOT convince me that Linux is exempt from the need for defragmentation - in fact, it reinforced the potential need.

*"Linux administrators often use partitions to help reduce fragmentation as well. Putting log files and other "growing" files into a var partition means that the applications that really want files to be contiguous have a better chance of getting it. When a partition is very close to full, Linux may not be able to completely eliminate fragments, but it can attempt to allocate space from the same cylinder. Since Linux has large disk buffers and often reads a cylinder at a time (most hard drives read all tracks from all platters into a local buffer or cache, then Linux reads in the entire buffered cylinder). The net result is that even if the file is slightly fragmented, it can usually be retrieved in a single rotation of the hard drive (10-30 ms), instead of reading 5-10 fragments, one seek at a time, (50-300 ms)."*

While Linux uses the entirely different format for data storage (as indicated in the article), there is still the potential for fragmentation - the article points out that Linux adminstrators do defrag hard drives from time to time as required.

Since the size of files vary, and frequent re-writes occur, it would appear that even Linux could use a periodic "tune-up" with defragmentation.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

But you have to remember... 99% of what is on the hard drive in the DVR, are BIG single files... not a bunch of little ones that can fit in the cracks and stuff like that.

So... if the algorithms and file system are doing their job correctly...
While the unit does it's housekeeping... it can keep all things in order, and identify all the space for the next recording, and the following one... and when it has time.

Reshuffle things on the drive a bit, to create open space.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Earl Bonovich said:


> If they add that, then it MUST be a parent control or something toggle able.
> One of the best features (IMHO), the ability to manipulate my recordings and Series links with the push of that button, while in the guide.


I disagree there Earl. The R-R "feature" is handy and I'm sure was created to make the creation of SLs easier. However, in their haste the development team didn't anticipate situations such as this. For example: if the current UI used by the HR20/R15 was "really" designed versus evolved, when a user pressed REC that would a) cause a single recording to be removed from the TDL or b) cause a SL to be completely removed from the pritorizer there should also be a verification message designed into the system that required a DOWN ARROW and SELECT press (or some other verification) to actually perform the deletion to insure one doesn't delete a recording/SL by accident.

This isn't something that only kids will do. We're all kids and anyone can mistakenly press REC.

I would really like to know how much research Tivo put into their UI (and continues to put into their UI) versus how much research DTV put into theirs. I can guess the answer.

IMO the DTV DVR UI is based on the non-DVR receivers UI. So any DVR functions were added as needed, obviously by programmers and not by those that study the human figure or ergonomics. The result is a UI that may suite techies just fine and makes sense to them.

As a side note, I know there are those of you that hate the Tivo UI. There are plenty of folks that hate and love every UI. But in this instance there should be a verification for deletion as opposed to the pressing of a single button on the remote.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

We are going to end up disagreeing on this one... 

I am a big fan of the "lack" of confirmations on the unit..... I like the speed that I can setup things without another screen to confirm my actions.

However, I can see why that is important....

A user configuration option would be the best of both... turn confirmation on/off


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## BillyT2002 (Oct 19, 2002)

Earl Bonovich said:


> It is the advertisers that fork most of the money to the networks/channels that pay for those shows, that don't like the "skip"


So what are they going to do about my keeping my eyes closed and counting during slipping?


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

hdtvfan0001 said:


> Interesting article, but it did NOT convince me that Linux is exempt from the need for defragmentation - in fact, it reinforced the potential need.
> 
> *"Linux administrators often use partitions to help reduce fragmentation as well. Putting log files and other "growing" files into a var partition means that the applications that really want files to be contiguous have a better chance of getting it. When a partition is very close to full, Linux may not be able to completely eliminate fragments, but it can attempt to allocate space from the same cylinder. Since Linux has large disk buffers and often reads a cylinder at a time (most hard drives read all tracks from all platters into a local buffer or cache, then Linux reads in the entire buffered cylinder). The net result is that even if the file is slightly fragmented, it can usually be retrieved in a single rotation of the hard drive (10-30 ms), instead of reading 5-10 fragments, one seek at a time, (50-300 ms)."*
> 
> ...


First of all, here are a couple of other references for you to read:

http://geekblog.oneandoneis2.org/index.php/2006/08/17/why_doesn_t_linux_need_defragmenting for the visually inclined....and
http://cbbrowne.com/info/defrag.html for a more technical answer

As far as frequent rewrites, I don't see that. A program is recorded once and once completed doesn get added to.

Now on to the Wolffpack explanation :eek2: . The need to defrag a drive (or RAID) depends more on the application (as Earl mentioned) than the filesystem. Your PC, in which files are deleted/added/expanded over and over will run into fragmentation problems. But with DVR what does it really do with the HD? It records and plays shows.....large files. Depending on the cluster/block/object size there is little need to defrag a DVR as a DVR should be designed so that the stream is stored in large contiguous blocks.

Let's look at how Tivo does it. They have their own proprietary database (the MFS) stored on multiple Linux partitions as raw data. The MFS is an object oriented DB which has objects of different sizes. Guide data, logos, Wishlists, Showcases, Season Passes, TDL and such are store in objects of smaller object size. Recorded shows are stored in object with a size of 512MB. So a typical 30 minute SD show (such as Cops) requires < 500MB and one database object. A 60 minute SD show such as JAG requires < 1000MB and two database objects. An 60 HD show such as Sunrise Earth requires < 7GB and 13 database objects.

These files never change after they are created which is the #1 cause of file fragmentation under any filesystem. So by design any DVR application that was properly designed should be able to handle this task without a defrag program.

*EDIT: As a side note: The cluster size on the R15 is 32K. So the R15 records in 32K blocks and the Tivo records in 512M blocks. Unless the R15 OS has logic to grab a butt-load of clusters when starting a recording, yes, there could be problems when two shows recording.*


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## chicagojim (Sep 13, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> I disagree there Earl. The R-R "feature" is handy and I'm sure was created to make the creation of SLs easier. However, in their haste the development team didn't anticipate situations such as this. For example: if the current UI used by the HR20/R15 was "really" designed versus evolved, when a user pressed REC that would a) cause a single recording to be removed from the TDL or b) cause a SL to be completely removed from the pritorizer there should also be a verification message designed into the system that required a DOWN ARROW and SELECT press (or some other verification) to actually perform the deletion to insure one doesn't delete a recording/SL by accident.
> 
> This isn't something that only kids will do. We're all kids and anyone can mistakenly press REC.


Amen to that!


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

The R-R thing...

The units do perform fast enough that the R and the R))) disappear pretty quickly... to indicate you just removed the recording....

Sure a little kid is going to pay attention to that... but the "big kids" should 

Either way, a user configurable option for confirmations would be best.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Wolffpack said:


> These files never change after they are created which is the #1 cause of file fragmentation under any filesystem. So by design any DVR application that was properly designed should be able to handle this task without a defrag program.[/B]


That certainly makes some sense, in terms of reduced read/writes. I also read the writeup on the "old Tivo" units, and apparently there were only a few problems relating to wear/tear on the hard drives. I'm sold on the explanation.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Since searches are fairly common for a DVR and the # buttons on the remote have letters associated with them just like a mobile phone keypad:

Ability to punch in text in the search screen with the # buttons on the remote similar to the way you can send a text message with a phone. Using the arrow buttons to pick each letter is annoying.

Also, add more special characters to this search screen  ; - / or any other characters that may show up in a title such as Law and Order: SVU... or just have it ignore special characters in the search all together)


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## MercurialIN (Jul 17, 2006)

I agree with most everything said so far. I'd like to second the call for implementing some type of "Tivo Suggestions" feature. Perhaps one that like with the Tivo's it can be turned off by users that don't like it. I for one miss it terribly. It was really nice to turn on the TV and check TiVo to see what it had recorded for me. It learned my likes and dislikes very easily. 

I also like the D-Tivo feature where you push "info" and it brings up the specific episode information like when the episode originally aired, the stars names, director's name, movie year, if applicable. I use that feature a lot on the HR 10 and I'll miss it when I upgrade (shortly) to the HR 20. As most everyone else has already stated. I really miss dual live buffers and the ability to pause one and toggle back and forth between buffers with the press of a button.

I'd also like to see the HR 20 and the R 15 for that matter be able to keep your zip code, cities, etc. in the active section after a power spike or reset.

And I don't know about the HR 20 since I don't currently have one but I know with the R 15 I get upset when it locks up during a recording and when I have to reset it loses what was already recorded. 

I'd like to see a better search engine, more like TiVo's. 

Eventually, once the bugs are all or ok, mostly worked out of both DVR's I'd like to see games added to the active section (provided there is not an additional subrscription fee) such as Bejeweled, Solitaire, Tetris, just to name a few. 

I like the PIP idea too. 

And as someone else mentioned, I'd like to be able to customize the interface with different colors or backgrounds, I know this isn't important but even the earlier plain old receivers could do that. 

And like others have mentioned I too wish it (again speaking of the R 15 but I'm speculating that the HR 20 may do it too, excuse me if I am mistaken) would only put shows on your TDL on channels that you actually receive. I do use a custom favorites list it doesn't help. My TDL is still populated with NFL Sunday Ticket channel programs when I don't even get Sunday Ticket. Kinda hurts too because I'd like to have ST but can't afford it. I'm constantly having programs listed on my TDL then that I'd like to see but can't. Also it schedules shows from the ABC, CBS and FOX east and west coast feeds at times and I don't receive those either, while ignoring the same show on channels I DO receive.


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## dervari (Dec 1, 2005)

I'd like to see a "play from beginning" option.....


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

dervari said:


> I'd like to see a "play from beginning" option.....


Yes, it probably should be added as a menu option.
But for now... once you go into the program... hold the Jumb Back button for about 3 seconds, and it will take you back to the begining.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Yes, it probably should be added as a menu option.
> But for now... once you go into the program... hold the Jumb Back button for about 3 seconds, and it will take you back to the begining.


Does that work on the R15 too?


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## cuibap (Sep 14, 2006)

It also needs Resume Play option on the menu as well


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Wolffpack said:


> Does that work on the R15 too?


No, not with the current software versions... hopefully it is added in the next release.


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## Vin496 (Sep 14, 2006)

dervari said:


> I'd like to see a "play from beginning" option.....


I think I'm one of the few that liked the way it worked before the latest update. If you hit pause when you came back the show would be where you paused it at. If you hit the stop button when you came back it would start from the beginning. Now the pause and stop button do exactly the same thing. Coming from the HR10 it took me 1 or 2 times to adjust to the stop button, but then I liked it. Now it serves no purpose.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

It's been mentioned a couple times in the issue thread, and I thought it was a good suggestion:

The counter for the 30 second slip should decrease by 1 each time it finishes a single 30 second slip.


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

any one know if you can set HR20 to use both ir and rf at the same time? I have a rf modulator that repeats the output to the bedroom.. would like to use my mx700 in the livingroom (ir) and the oem remote in the bedroom(rf)


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

houskamp said:


> any one know if you can set HR20 to use both ir and rf at the same time?


There's no way to do this.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

I'd like to see the HR20 (and R15 for that matter) remember your settings for the Weather active program across reboots of the box. With a big harddrive you would think they could find a few KB's laying around to write this info.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

I'd also like it if there was an interactive channel in which I could order pizza for delivery!


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

pizzahut.com


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

cuibap said:


> It also needs Resume Play option on the menu as well


PLAY will resume play as long as you press EXIT to stop playing.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> PLAY will resume play as long as you press EXIT to stop playing.


Now it'll resume play if you press STOP as well.


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## mcl (Aug 17, 2006)

diggumsmax said:


> The one thing I have been wanting on all DVR's since they came out is a simple defrag program for when the data gets scattered all over the hard drive. This is one of the reasons I think these things get so slow after a while. I'm really suprised no one has included one with a DVR yet.


Not all filesystems require periodic manual defragmentation. Much of the slowness you see after a period of time is due to sheer data volume, not physical and/or logical layout of the data on the disk(s).


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## Nivek (Sep 21, 2006)

My wishlist...


*Enable the OTA tuner!!!*
Ability to jump to a certain point in a recorded program
By time... eg. go to 12 mins
By chapter... I'm not sure how ReplayTV implemented this but it sets up recorded show "chapters" by looking at where the commercials are

Ability to set "start before" and "finish after" times on recorded shows... WWE wrestling programs always run over by 5 to 10 minutes, but program guides do not reflect this as it is supposed to be a "suprise"
Ability to specify what days to record a show on... eg. Gilmore Girls is shown on a few nights each week, but I only want to record Tuesday's showing
Ability to specify the time to record a series... eg. a weekly show is on at 3pm and replayed at 11pm, i want to be able to specify 'record the 11pm one'
When recording shows with conflicts, it would be nice if the hr20 popped up a box that said 'there is a conflict at this time but the same show is being replayed later so should i record that?'
Ability to specify a playback program... eg: show 1, then show 2, then show 3 so I can leave kids entertained with 3 or 4 episodes of Spongebob w/o having to do anything

So I apologize if some of these were already mentioned. I have ADD and have a hard-time remembering...

/Nivek


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## Nivek (Sep 21, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> The counter for the 30 second slip should decrease by 1 each time it finishes a single 30 second slip.


Hmmm... what do you mean?

Are you saying that the 30 sec slip should be 30 sec the first time you press it, 29 sec the next time, and so on? When should it reset?

Or are you saying that we should have only 30 times to use the 30 slip then it is gone? Ho$$ywood would love to charge for this.

/Nivek


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

1. It's coming.
2. By time is possible. By "chapter" will not happen, at least the way you describe it. That basically amounts to commercial skipping, and we'll never see that.
3. You can already do this.
4. I agree, this would be useful.
5. Also useful.
6. Again, VERY useful.
7. I have no use for this, but I can understand how some people might.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Nivek said:


> Hmmm... what do you mean?
> 
> Are you saying that the 30 sec slip should be 30 sec the first time you press it, 29 sec the next time, and so on? When should it reset?


No, when you press 30 sec slip, a number shows up under it indicating how many times you pressed it. Currently, this number does not change as the receiver fast forwards. What he wants is for the counter to count down each time it does a 30 sec slip, instead of staying the same all the way through. So you know how many are still in the queue.


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## Nivek (Sep 21, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> No, when you press 30 sec slip, a number shows up under it indicating how many times you pressed it. Currently, this number does not change as the receiver fast forwards. What he wants is for the counter to count down each time it does a 30 sec slip, instead of staying the same all the way through. So you know how many are still in the queue.


Got it. Thanks!

/Nivek


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Nivek said:


> [*]When recording shows with conflicts, it would be nice if the hr20 popped up a box that said 'there is a conflict at this time but the same show is being replayed later so should i record that?'


If they could implement this it would be phenominal!


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## Dusty (Sep 21, 2006)

Is there a way to change the font size of the guide? I'd rather get more information on one screen. My TV is big enough to allow smaller fonts.

I would also like an option to list channels in column and time in rows, so I can get a quick glance of what is coming in the next a few hours on one particular channel.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Dusty said:


> Is there a way to change the font size of the guide? I'd rather get more information on one screen. My TV is big enough to allow smaller fonts.
> 
> I would also like an option to list channels in column and time in rows, so I can get a quick glance of what is coming in the next a few hours on one particular channel.


#1) No
#2) Go to the channel in the guide you're interested in. Press LEFT ARROW and then press INFO.


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## VinceV (Sep 19, 2006)

Coming from UltimateTV, I'd like to see the unit able to not play anything at all. Instead of going to live TV, it would be nice if it was able to just "stop." I especially don't like how if both tuners are in use it will just start playing one of the shows you're recording, forcing you to watch it, asking you to stop recording one of them so it can go back to live TV.

Anybody else want this?


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

VinceV said:


> I especially don't like how if both tuners are in use it will just start playing one of the shows you're recording, forcing you to watch it, asking you to stop recording one of them so it can go back to live TV.


The HR20 only has 2 sat tuners, so there's no way around this.


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## pattcap (Sep 24, 2006)

joekun said:


> Try holding down the play button. This will give you slow motion, but it takes a few seconds to kick in.


There should be a way to start Slow Motion from a Paused state.


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

I think what he is saying is itaybe it should just display should let you just choose another recording.. it's giving him the message because of the corner picture trying to display live..maybe it should just display stop point of recording till you leave vod


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## pattcap (Sep 24, 2006)

dthoman said:


> I only scan the above responses, so I don't know if this has been suggested.
> 
> How about getting to a specific day in the Guide. Right now, you have to hit the red or green button to navigate through the guide (12 + or 12 -). It would be nice to able to go to a specific day. This gets real annoying when you want to check something in the guide that is more than a day or two away, such as 12 or 14 days away.


Personally, I used the "List Guide" on my Direct TIVO machine. The main advantage is that it showed more than just 5 channels at a time, and you could see the next 8-10 shows coming on for the station selected. It made it a lot easier to find something on a particular station. I don't like the DirecTV guide, but for now we seem to be stuck with it.


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## pattcap (Sep 24, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> It's been mentioned a couple times in the issue thread, and I thought it was a good suggestion:
> 
> The counter for the 30 second slip should decrease by 1 each time it finishes a single 30 second slip.


I like this idea


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

usb port for ups system? could shut down the hr20 nicer


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

houskamp said:


> usb port for ups system? could shut down the hr20 nicer


The HR20 is designed to have power pulled from it suddenly. There's no way to shut it down right now aside from pulling the plug, so what's the difference if power is removed by pulling the plug, or the UPS running out of battery power?


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## VinceV (Sep 19, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> The HR20 only has 2 sat tuners, so there's no way around this.


What I'm saying is that it should be able to just stop playing anything. With my UltimateTV, playing a recorded show took place on channel 1020. If you pressed stop, it would just stop the show and nothing was playing. You'd still be on channel 1020, but it would just show the title of the show and give you a button to resume play or delete the show.

Maybe I'm alone here, but I like that behavior.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

VinceV said:


> What I'm saying is that it should be able to just stop playing anything. With my UltimateTV, playing a recorded show took place on channel 1020. If you pressed stop, it would just stop the show and nothing was playing. You'd still be on channel 1020, but it would just show the title of the show and give you a button to resume play or delete the show.
> 
> Maybe I'm alone here, but I like that behavior.


You could always just tune the HR20 to a channel that you don't receive.


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## VinceV (Sep 19, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> You could always just tune the HR20 to a channel that you don't receive.


I actually already do this when only one tuner is in use. Unfortunately, when both tuners are recording, you can't do this; and that's when it's my biggest issue. I hate coming in on the middle of the show.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

This was posted in another thread:



VinceV said:


> Is there a way to tell why a recording was cancelled in the history? It would be nice if it said "Manually cancelled by user" or "Conflict with higher priority recording".


I definitely think this should be implemented.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Repeating a suggestion I made in another thread:

Guide data should be backed up to the HD from RAM every x hours. When the HR20 reboots, it will try to load guide data into RAM from the HD first, and if that fails it will just try to get it from the sats.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> Guide data should be backed up to the HD from RAM every x hours. When the HR20 reboots, it will try to load guide data into RAM from the HD first, and if that fails it will just try to get it from the sats.


I disagree. What's the big deal if you're missing guide data after a reboot? Once the HR20 gets past this initial buggy phase, reboots should be few and far between.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> I disagree. What's the big deal if you're missing guide data after a reboot? Once the HR20 gets past this initial buggy phase, reboots should be few and far between.


If they can implement this, why not? Sure the reboots should be less and less as time goes on, but what about power outages? I agree with you though in that it's not a must have feature.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> If they can implement this, why not? Sure the reboots should be less and less as time goes on, but what about power outages? I agree with you though in that it's not a must have feature.


There are obviously issues with this development team, and I'd like to see them focus on bigger things. This DVR has been publically released for a month now, and it still has problems with losing recordings. That's terrible!


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> There are obviously issues with this development team, and I'd like to see them focus on bigger things. This DVR has been publically released for a month now, and it still has problems with losing recordings. That's terrible!


I'm not saying that it should be in the next update 

Obviously I want them to get these bugs out of the way first, and OTA activated.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> I'm not saying that it should be in the next update


I just think it's a useless feature. Obviously I wouldn't mind if they added it, but I'm just saying I don't see a need for it.


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## runopenloop (Jun 27, 2006)

Guide features:
1. Make << and >> (rew and ff) move +/- 1.5 hrs in the guide like the directivo.
2. Make the my VOD list show more shows - the list of 5 or so it shows it too short. Maybe add a key press to toggle the description field in the middle on/off. That would give folks the best of both worlds. Make the last setting for the toggle persist.


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## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

From an installer POV, I'd like to have the abilty to be able to update the FW/Software from a thumb drive on all recievers. What a PITA it is to sit there and wait for the software update to kick in.

I second the idea that the guide data shouldn't be lost on a reboot.

I also want to see why something wasn't recorded sent to the messages area. Its there so use it.

Same thing with conflicts. If one is detected after you have set up a SL, send me a message. Would be even nicer if/when networking is enabled for it to email me.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Jeremy W said:


> The HR20 is designed to have power pulled from it suddenly. There's no way to shut it down right now aside from pulling the plug, so what's the difference if power is removed by pulling the plug, or the UPS running out of battery power?


Huh?  "designed to have the powe pulled from it"?

You can speak for the design team at DTV? You know they took into account that a user will pull the plug and after rebooting the unit will perform the proper "fsck" or other file system check to insure proper filesystem recovery? If so, please provide more.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

PoitNarf said:


> Repeating a suggestion I made in another thread:
> 
> Guide data should be backed up to the HD from RAM every x hours. When the HR20 reboots, it will try to load guide data into RAM from the HD first, and if that fails it will just try to get it from the sats.


How 'bout do it like a Tivo? Store it to the HD whenever anything new is received and also update the memory copy at the same time. No need to have it update the HD every so often.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Jeremy W said:


> I disagree. What's the big deal if you're missing guide data after a reboot? Once the HR20 gets past this initial buggy phase, reboots should be few and far between.


Oh Jeremy.....

You miss the point that R15 users have been waiting for it to get past it's "initial buggy phase" for almost a year now. Reboots/resets still happen even daily for some folks.

The R15 still cannot record first run properly, still hasproblems with hangs, black screens and reboots.

You're new to DTV's new versions of DVRs. R15 users have been waiting for fixes for quite some time now.

But to address your post, I believe it is a bg deal not to have the complete guide after a reset. It isn't as if the unit is short of the space to store the guide on the HD, after all it's currently stored in RAM. It's a case a poorly designed DVR.....or a case of porting a concept from a non-DVR receiver to a DVR. The D11 or H20 stores it's guide in memory and it must have been that the brain dead designers of DTV's DVRs thought "that'l work! :grin: ".

Now, if a R15 or HR20 could go 60-90 days without a reboot or reset as Tivos do, maybe it wouldn't be a big deal.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> Huh?  "designed to have the powe pulled from it"?
> 
> You can speak for the design team at DTV? You know they took into account that a user will pull the plug and after rebooting the unit will perform the proper "fsck" or other file system check to insure proper filesystem recovery? If so, please provide more.


If you're going to move the receiver, do you login to the shell and type "shutdown"? No, of course not. You pull the plug. That's all you CAN do. Therefore, the receiver has to be designed to handle that.


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## bigviking (Sep 20, 2006)

With regards to the prior suggestion on "soft buffers", I believe that what is also needed is the ability to allow overlaps, even up to four simultaneous recordings (because of padding) if only two tuners were required.

For example, recording from NBC from 7:58 to 9:02, and also recording from NBC from 8:58 to 10:02 really should only require a single tuner because the overlap occurs on the same channel.

With a little sophistication (I realize that the DVR has no encoding equipment on it), this could be accomplished, and the streams could be sperated after the fact.

Anyway, a little complex but I hope I conveyed what I am trying to state.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Jeremy W said:


> If you're going to move the receiver, do you login to the shell and type "shutdown"? No, of course not. You pull the plug. That's all you CAN do. Therefore, the receiver has to be designed to handle that.


The receiver "*SHOULD*" be designed for that. But don't assume anything.

Maybe I was taking your statement a little too literal. But you stated that "The HR20 is designed to have power pulled from it suddenly." You don't know, I don't know. Personally I think the best RESET is the software RESET as that should take into account some type of shutdown procedure. Red Button or pulling the plug wouldn't include any type of shutdown procedure.

To your original statement, if you connect a serial cable to a Tivo and monitor it, when you perform a RESET from the menu, you see a message on the serial console indicating "hda flushed". If you pull the plug, it's not flushed. But upon reboot Tivos do perform a e2fsck on each partition and always repair hda9 as it's the only RW partition mounted.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

bigviking said:


> With regards to the prior suggestion on "soft buffers", I believe that what is also needed is the ability to allow overlaps, even up to four simultaneous recordings (because of padding) if only two tuners were required.
> 
> For example, recording from NBC from 7:58 to 9:02, and also recording from NBC from 8:58 to 10:02 really should only require a single tuner because the overlap occurs on the same channel.
> 
> ...


YES!

Kind of a AI DVR. It's knows that 2 shows require the same tuner at the same time and the input it send to two different recording streams. The HAL 9000 of DVRs.

Unfortunately we've got the TRS80 of DVRs in which it can't even figure out what it's suppose to record and do that reliably.


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## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> The HAL 9000 of DVRs.


HAL 9000 was about as reliable as the R15. :lol:


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

RobertE said:


> HAL 9000 was about as reliable as the R15. :lol:


At least there are no reports of any of these DVRs trying to kill people.... yet....


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## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> Unfortunately we've got the TRS80 of DVRs in which it can't even figure out what it's suppose to record and do that reliably.


Don't diss on the TRS80!!! it was good! it did not crash!!!!


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## sorahl (Oct 24, 2002)

RobertE said:


> HAL 9000 was about as reliable as the R15. :lol:


No Dave, I can't do that, Dave.


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## sorahl (Oct 24, 2002)

matto said:


> Don't diss on the TRS80!!! it was good! it did not crash!!!!


I found if you took the input cable (male) from the tape drive and plugged it in to the output cable to the tape drive (female) the TRS-80 would spark and smoke and die...
I'm sorry Library Ladies! I really didn't mean to blow up the computer!!!


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## VinceV (Sep 19, 2006)

RobertE said:


> From an installer POV, I'd like to have the abilty to be able to update the FW/Software from a thumb drive on all recievers. What a PITA it is to sit there and wait for the software update to kick in.
> 
> I second the idea that the guide data shouldn't be lost on a reboot.
> 
> ...


Robert, I completely agree on all points here. There should absolutely be a way to notify us about conflicts and cancelled recordings. See my threads:

Cancelled Recordings
Conflict Resolution


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## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

Has anyone mentioned:

* a working mpeg decoder that doesnt suck
* a working hdcp implementation
* not having to frequently reboot as a normal part of problem resolution
* enabling networking
* enabling sata

why are we talking about new features when the unit is crippled out of the box?

in any case, the feature i've been screaming at d* for years is:
* using the freaking USB to transfer settings and scheduled recordings to a new (replacement) unit.

When I replace a DVR, I have to write down my season passes. I might as well be a caveman painting on the wall. Someone should ship d* a Mac, and ask them to take a look at what it offers to do the first time you boot it.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

matto said:


> * a working hdcp implementation


You actually want HDCP? Not a very popular thing with me. However, I'm sure the HR20 has this already as the H20 does. As far as I know, there is only 1 channel broadcasting HDCP and that is a test channel. I forget the channel #.


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## bigviking (Sep 20, 2006)

How about allowing for full control of your dvr by going to directv.com (your dvr would have to be routable from the internet) ? Series links, favorites, ...

Also, if you had multiple DirecTV DVRs you could optionally have all of your series links setup accross all of your DVRs without having to set them up individually.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

bigviking said:


> How about allowing for full control of your dvr by going to directv.com (your dvr would have to be routable from the internet) ? Series links, favorites, ...
> 
> Also, if you had multiple DirecTV DVRs you could optionally have all of your series links setup accross all of your DVRs without having to set them up individually.


Would be very cool to have a web interface on the D* website to play with settings on the HR20 once they start doing stuff with the ethernet port.


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## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> You actually want HDCP? Not a very popular thing with me. However, I'm sure the HR20 has this already as the H20 does. As far as I know, there is only 1 channel broadcasting HDCP and that is a test channel. I forget the channel #.


I haven't sat down with a logic analyzer (I've avoided having to use HDMI successfully so far) but I will eat my hat if the lions share of HDMI problems are not caused by crappy HDCP code.


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## bigviking (Sep 20, 2006)

bigviking said:


> How about allowing for full control of your dvr by going to directv.com (your dvr would have to be routable from the internet) ? Series links, favorites, ...
> 
> Also, if you had multiple DirecTV DVRs you could optionally have all of your series links setup accross all of your DVRs without having to set them up individually.


Actually, upon further thought this wouldn't require that your DVR be routable to from the interent. The DVR could simply poll directv.com periodically looking for setup changes that you have made.

Heck, if they don't want to have it done at directv.com for some reason why not at least have the DVR host a webserver, and it's own setup pages, just like any $50 access point.


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## 911medic (Aug 28, 2006)

How about this feature:

On my old Dish PVR 508, if you went into the guide and selected an upcoming program, a menu would appear giving you the option to set the upcoming program to be recorded, or to simply auto-tune to this channel at the time the program started. This way, I could go take a shower, leaving my 3 year old to watch whatever program was on and set it to tune to his next favorite program (on a different channel) that was coming on in 10 minutes. This way, I don't get him bursting in the bathroom 5 minutes into my shower complaining that his show is over and he doesn't like what's coming on now.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

matto said:


> Don't diss on the TRS80!!! it was good! it did not crash!!!!


You're right on that. That was a bad choice....and a cheap shot. The TRS80 was well ahead of it's time versus the HR20/R15 that's about 3-4 years behind it's time. What was I thinking???? :eek2:


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

PoitNarf said:


> Would be very cool to have a web interface on the D* website to play with settings on the HR20 once they start doing stuff with the ethernet port.


Oh sure. That's what we need. Let's connect the HR20 to the internet and allow outside access. Given the fact that the developers can't even get this unit working correctly as a DVR I'm sure it can handle exploits from the internet.

Next thing you know is your own little HR20 is now hosting child porn to the us as it's been hacked from outside.

Sorry, if the powers that be can't get the DVR functions working, don't even turn on the ethernet connection.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> Oh sure. That's what we need. Let's connect the HR20 to the internet and allow outside access. Given the fact that the developers can't even get this unit working correctly as a DVR I'm sure it can handle exploits from the internet.
> 
> Next thing you know is your own little HR20 is now hosting child porn to the us as it's been hacked from outside.
> 
> Sorry, if the powers that be can't get the DVR functions working, don't even turn on the ethernet connection.


It was merely a suggestion Wolffpack 

I agree with you that they should iron out all the current bugs before introducing additional functionality.


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## noobie937 (Sep 25, 2006)

VinceV said:


> Coming from UltimateTV, I'd like to see the unit able to not play anything at all. Instead of going to live TV, it would be nice if it was able to just "stop." I especially don't like how if both tuners are in use it will just start playing one of the shows you're recording, forcing you to watch it, asking you to stop recording one of them so it can go back to live TV.
> 
> Anybody else want this?


Being a UTV user since the beginning I would love that back. Turn on the unit or tune to channel 1020  and you get a homepage so to speak. No buffereing, if something is recorded then not on screen. Even if this page is the "LIST" page showing your shows that is fine. I've turned on the tivo in the past and wasn't quick enough to change channels before the end of a show was ruined for me.

And no, turning off the volume and looking away from the screen while hitting buttons is not a solution.


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## pattcap (Sep 24, 2006)

the Format button on the Remote

On the first press, it should bring up the display window and show the current format. 
On the second press, it should advance the format as it currently does.

Currently the Format advances / changes the first time you press it. Last night I hit it by mistake and had to cycle through all the formats to get back to the one I started with.

Another bit of information that could be added in that window is a current description of the signal currently playing 
so you know what changes you are making to the picture.


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## dervari (Dec 1, 2005)

Wolffpack said:


> Oh sure. That's what we need. Let's connect the HR20 to the internet and allow outside access. Given the fact that the developers can't even get this unit working correctly as a DVR I'm sure it can handle exploits from the internet.


Just set up your firewall to require authentication before allowing access to that resource (the DVR). That way it's accessible, but not totally exposed to the world. Also, if a hacker does try to gain access, they're talking to the firewall and not the box itself.


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## jedster (Sep 20, 2006)

gdiddy said:


> *- Audio*Lip Sync delay is obvious.


I am absolutely amazed at how horrid lip sync on HD is. SD is fine but HD is so bad it is entirely unwatchable. Who QAs this stuff for DirecTV? Do they leave the mute button on or something?

I mean it is an absolute and total joke entirely unacceptable and completely unbelievable that something as basic as syncing audio doesn't work.

I understand that there is always going to be some sync issues; that's why my receiver has the ability to delay sound. But the syncing is so bad on this HR20-700 that I can't correct it.

Please please please, will someone with some brains at DirecTV do something about this?


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

dervari said:


> Just set up your firewall to require authentication before allowing access to that resource (the DVR). That way it's accessible, but not totally exposed to the world. Also, if a hacker does try to gain access, they're talking to the firewall and not the box itself.


And if they activate that capability....you could hopefully control the DVR via the Web to schedule recording....


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

settable replay button.. should be able to set how far back it jumps
Hey Earl can youu pin this thread down?


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

houskamp said:


> settable replay button.. should be able to set how far back it jumps


I have a sinking suspicion that this may be a Tivo patent.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> I have a sinking suspicion that this may be a Tivo patent.


Doubtful. You can't patent having a setting for an existing function. There is already a setting for it anyway, it's just hardcoded at the moment.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> Doubtful. You can't patent having a setting for an existing function. There is already a setting for it anyway, it's just hardcoded at the moment.


In that case I wouldn't mind being able to change the variable!


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## thallows (Sep 25, 2006)

bobnielsen said:


> Yeah, but if you just punch in a channel number it will go to the first instance, whether or not it is in the guide. I don't know about the HR20, but the H20-600 goes to the SD version. What is needed is the ability to edit "channels I receive".


On both my H20 and HR20 when I manually enter a channel that is both SD and HD it automatically goes to the HD channel first.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

FYI:

They recently updated three markets.. to make sure that the order is:

-) HD Local MPEG-4
-) SD Local MPEG-2
-) HD Local MPEG-2 OTA (when enabled)

If you are in an area where that is NOT the order (make sure you double check, as some cities have been corrected in the last week)... send me a message.


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## rkester (Sep 21, 2006)

I wanna see a confirm delete after hitting DASH-DASH. I have deleted stuff accidentally multiple times now because I tend to hit keys twice. And sometimes deleted them because it showed I had selected one show in the list but it was on the show below or above it due to a recording starting.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

rkester said:


> I wanna see a confirm delete after hitting DASH-DASH.


Maybe they could make it an option, but I absolutely LOVE not having to deal with a confirmation box. I will not be happy if they force one in there.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Jeremy W said:


> Maybe they could make it an option, but I absolutely LOVE not having to deal with a confirmation box. I will not be happy if they force one in there.


100% agreement......


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## Dusty (Sep 21, 2006)

I'd like to see Closed Captioning enabled during 1X FF. Extremely useful when watching a program with a lot of dead time. Example: sports program when commentator just babbling away. American Idol result night.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Dusty said:


> I'd like to see Closed Captioning enabled during 1X FF. Extremely useful when watching a program with a lot of dead time. Example: sports program when commentator just babbling away. American Idol result night.


If you're fast forwarding to avoid hearing people babble away, why do you still want to read what they're saying?


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## Dusty (Sep 21, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> If you're fast forwarding to avoid hearing people babble away, why do you still want to read what they're saying?


There are different levels of babbling. Some I do skip completely. Some I actually want to watch but just want them to talk faster. I have no trouble following the entire commentary of sports game at 1X FF by just reading the closed captioning.

I also use this to watch programs when I am busy and really short on time. I watched most of HBO's Big Love this way.

I will be surprised if no one else does this.


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

I also would really miss the captioning via 1xFF. :-(

I use it during Survivor playbacks to see the cometitions at faster speed, but read what is being said.


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## ShapeGSX (Sep 17, 2006)

I'd love to see a "Stretch Plus" mode so that I can use "native" 720p with my TV. My TV doesn't support stretching a 720p signal.  But I really like using "stretch plus".


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

What do you mean? You can't stretch a 720p signal because it's already filling the screen, but you can strectch a 480i signal.


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## ShapeGSX (Sep 17, 2006)

Yes, I can not stretch a 720p signal at all because it is already filling the screen. Stretch plus on my TV only stretches the borders, and not the center of the screen, but I can only use that with a 480i or 480p signal.

So it would be nice to have a mode on the HR20 that would "stretch plus" a 480i signal that has been upconverted to 720p or 1080i.


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## joekun (Aug 18, 2006)

> I'd like to see Closed Captioning enabled during 1X FF.


That sounds really cool!


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

Earl, any idea if we'll get to know if they address any of these?


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Capmeister said:


> Earl, any idea if we'll get to know if they address any of these?


Closed Capition? or these features in general?


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

Both, Earl.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Capmeister said:


> Both, Earl.


Well...... other then the release notes, and the bits and pieces I get every once and a while.

It is not like I am in their development meetings review the list of features...

I'll see what I can get.

If someone wants to take the time to go through this thread, and compile a list of all the requested features.... I can send that list over to DirecTV...


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

Sure, I'll go through the thread as best I can and see what I can come up with.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Capmeister said:


> Sure, I'll go through the thread as best I can and see what I can come up with.


My suggestions are the best ones. Just pay attention to my posts in this thread


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

If they are going to have that guide menu at least it should have the other lists on it (all channels, custom2, custom2....)


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

Earl Bonovich said:


> If someone wants to take the time to go through this thread, and compile a list of all the requested features.... I can send that list over to DirecTV...


See attached. Please go through it and see if you can trim out the stuff that already exists? I tried to, and also cleaned things up as best I could.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Capmeister said:


> See attached. Please go through it and see if you can trim out the stuff that already exists? I tried to, and also cleaned things up as best I could.


That's quite a list! I bet 90% of it will never make it into any builds.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

Cap, nice job on the list, thanks much. 

Could you also put on the list add the ability for any HR20 that's on your home network to be able to play recordings from any other HR20 also on your network? Thanks


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

RAD said:


> Could you also put on the list add the ability for any HR20 that's on your home network to be able to play recordings from any other HR20 also on your network? Thanks


Pretty sure we'll be able to do this once the HMC is released, whenever the hell that is!


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> Pretty sure we'll be able to do this once the HMC is released, whenever the hell that is!


We shouldn't need the HMC to do that.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> We shouldn't need the HMC to do that.


I wouldn't be opposed to having it work without the HMC! It would be perfect if this capability came out right around the time they release the consumer FTM hardware.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Capmeister said:


> See attached. Please go through it and see if you can trim out the stuff that already exists? I tried to, and also cleaned things up as best I could.


Impressive... well done.

If time permits... I'll write up a small web page... and we users can rate and rank these feature requests.... and the details and results I'll send onto DirecTV...


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> If time permits... I'll write up a small web page... and we users can rate and rank these feature requests.... and the details and results I'll send onto DirecTV...


If you need any help, let me know. I do web programming for a living.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Jeremy W said:


> If you need any help, let me know. I do web programming for a living.


Thank you for the offer.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Thank you for the offer.


I'll do anything I can to help make the DVR I have to use every day better.


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

RAD said:


> Cap, nice job on the list, thanks much.
> 
> Could you also put on the list add the ability for any HR20 that's on your home network to be able to play recordings from any other HR20 also on your network? Thanks


If Earl wants to add that one, he can. I've given him the main list of over 200 posts. Heck, I gave it to all of ya.


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

PoitNarf said:


> That's quite a list! I bet 90% of it will never make it into any builds.


Heh. Well, About 1/5 of the requests came from you, I think, so you better hope some do. 

It was interesting to go over it all at once.

My personal hopes are for dual live buffers, the closed captioning while fast forwarding thing, which my brother really likes (so do I), and the "this show conflicts with another but is available at a later time. Shall I record the later instance?" feature. That would be awesome.

A week from Saturday I'll have an HR20 and will be able to compare it to my HR10 and see what is really needed.


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## scorom (Aug 16, 2006)

Enabling IR and RF 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Earl,

Is there any chance that D* will enable both the IR and RF on the receivers so I can use my Harmony 880 remote in my Great Room but the D* remotes in another room with the same receiver? Would greatly enhance the unit!!!

(I also posted this under 0xD1 software update)


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## fdeitz (Sep 23, 2006)

Dusty said:


> I'd like to see Closed Captioning enabled during 1X FF. Extremely useful when watching a program with a lot of dead time. Example: sports program when commentator just babbling away. American Idol result night.


I'd like to just see it work correctly without all the garbled text (and quite often completely unreadable text) that is showing up on most of the HD channels (both locals and National - including HBO).


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

scorom said:


> Enabling IR and RF
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> ...


There is always a chance... but I highly doubt it.


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## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

I'd love to see a guide content where the text and graphics shown on a screen above 50" is crisper/sharper. It looks like they used 800 x 600 graphics to build them. 

It's only an annoyance to see menus and screen displays that are blurred compared to SD images, but when seeing them over the HD images, its downright ugly. :eek2:


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

My guess would be that the overall UI crispness won't change any time soon. I'd think that would be a major overhaul.


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## dhking (Sep 28, 2006)

Since they have gone to the trouble of integrating an RJ-45 plug on the unit, why not go ahead an integrate networking capablilty so that units can "share" shows and, so that home video, etc., can be streamed to the DVR from a PC - same with music, photos, etc. Surely they can reverse engineer something like with without violating tivo patents.


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## rkester (Sep 21, 2006)

On my tv, the screens are only crispy if I leave the resolution set to native. If I set the whole thing to 1080i all the time, the screens get blurry but not bad blurry just not as crisp.

I am more concerned about the playback and recording functionality and getting the problems solved than anything. And my suggestion for a confirm delete on dashdash for peopel like me who'd fingers doubleclick out of habit.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

dhking said:


> Since they have gone to the trouble of integrating an RJ-45 plug on the unit, why not go ahead an integrate networking capablilty so that units can "share" shows and, so that home video, etc., can be streamed to the DVR from a PC


This is on the way.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Capmeister said:


> My guess would be that the overall UI crispness won't change any time soon. I'd think that would be a major overhaul.


Earl has said that they're working on making the UI take better advantage of HD resolutions.


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## toddrohner (Jun 14, 2006)

rkester said:


> I wanna see a confirm delete after hitting DASH-DASH. I have deleted stuff accidentally multiple times now because I tend to hit keys twice. And sometimes deleted them because it showed I had selected one show in the list but it was on the show below or above it due to a recording starting.


Perhaps they could include a recycle bin to handle this issue.


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## noobie937 (Sep 25, 2006)

Capmeister said:


> See attached. Please go through it and see if you can trim out the stuff that already exists? I tried to, and also cleaned things up as best I could.


Here is the things me and the wife have come across so far. Just for a background, we were huge UTV fans for years, only really switched to the tivos due to HD content, but have come to be able to get around in them alright so far. if the devs will actually listen to us, this has the chance to be the best of all worlds.

On to my list. In no real order other than how they popped out of my head. Of course others have the same thoughts. But I thought I'd post mine as well perhaps adding weight to the request at least. 


Soft buffers - Record an extra 5mins before and after each show as long as no conflicts. AKA, UTV style.

Dual buffers - I really only use these during football season, but definatly something I miss. Most likely to be implemented at the same time as PiP.

Letter movements during search - quite simple really. If you are on the right or left column, allow it to wrap around to the other side if you press right or left again.

Networkability - allow other hr20's to share programing. Needed if you ever intend to compete with the directivos with MRV. Quite honestly I'm supprised this wasn't released initially, it's a huge selling point. Just look at the MRV and replaytv forums. The ability to show any video file on a directivo via tivoserver is a godsend.

Add a home page - for when you are recording two season finalies and you turn on the unit during the last 5mins. You shouldn't have to keep your tv off and sound down while franticly hitting buttons so you don't ruin the ending.

Guide button - remove the screen that pops up when you press guide once. No one uses it and forcing everyone to press guide twice to get the actual guide is just silly.

RF or IR keyboard - again, UTV style. So much easier to type in searches than with a thumb remote.

Search feature tweak - allow searches to exclude "the" typing in "nine" should show up with "the nine" being included in the list.

Recording preference - perhaps a checkbox in settings to "record shows in HD when avail" will save time on an already lengthy recording setup process.

Recording preference - allowing to change the defaults to "first run" and "keep all" over "both" and "keep 3" I've never kept only 3 of anything, and very few times wanted to record repeats.

I'm sure i'll have more. But that is just from the first weekend with it.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

noobie937 said:


> Guide button - remove the screen that pops up when you press guide once. No one uses it and forcing everyone to press guide twice to get the actual guide is just silly.
> Recording preference - perhaps a checkbox in settings to "record shows in HD when avail" will save time on an already lengthy recording setup process.
> Recording preference - allowing to change the defaults to "first run" and "keep all" over "both" and "keep 3" I've never kept only 3 of anything, and very few times wanted to record repeats.


"Guide" screen... while I still don't like where it is in the process, I do use that filter on occassion... so unless I am Nobody ("note the Super Moderator tag on the left, and my ability to ban you... before you make a comment... ), someone uses it... 

"Preference to HD"... you can do that now, to a degree.
Series Links are channel specific... so if you want X show in HD, set the Series Link to the HD channel.... If you want Y show in SD, set the Series Link for the SD network.

I do that right now for Deal or No Deal (I record it on the SD-NBC), but then record Heros and Studio 60 in HD on the MPEG-4 HD network.

The 2nd one.
When in the RECORD screen, hit MENU... There will be an option to SET Defaults.


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## puffnstuff (Sep 2, 2006)

Just got off the phone and tech support said they are already working on dual buffers anybody else heard any thing.


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## rkester (Sep 21, 2006)

Re the guide vs guide selection. someone else suggested that they do it in reverse. hitting guide takes you to the guide, hitting it 2x takes u to the guides selection to filter it.

I agree on the use of "the" in titles. should search for the name not "the". i didnt realize this was happening until I had sevreal shows i could not find but knew where there.

a recyclebin or trash or temp place before delete as mentioned would also help solve the twitchy finger syndrome Im sure.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

rkester said:


> Re the guide vs guide selection. someone else suggested that they do it in reverse. hitting guide takes you to the guide, hitting it 2x takes u to the guides selection to filter it.


Yes, this is absolutely how it should be done.


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## VinceV (Sep 19, 2006)

noobie937 said:


> Here is the things me and the wife have come across so far. Just for a background, we were huge UTV fans for years, only really switched to the tivos due to HD content, but have come to be able to get around in them alright so far. if the devs will actually listen to us, this has the chance to be the best of all worlds.


noobie, I also just came from UltimateTV (which was probably one of the best DVRs made). There are definitely things that are better on the HR20, but UTV did a lot of stuff right. I hope DTV is able to close the gap a little bit. I held out for as long as I could, but I've had an HDTV for a couple years and wanted to watch some HD content!


----------



## noobie937 (Sep 25, 2006)

VinceV said:


> noobie, I also just came from UltimateTV (which was probably one of the best DVRs made). There are definitely things that are better on the HR20, but UTV did a lot of stuff right. I hope DTV is able to close the gap a little bit. I held out for as long as I could, but I've had an HDTV for a couple years and wanted to watch some HD content!


hehe, wish they made them in HD is all.  I see everyone complain about the extra steps to do things vs the tivo. What most don't realize is the tivo did about 3X the amount of steps as compared to the UTV. TBH it still takes too long on both of them to setup a series/season pass.

UTV style, grab the wireless keyboard, hit the search button on it. Type in the name and hit enter. When your search is returned simply hit the record button once, twice, or three times. Same concept, but the time involved was much much lower.

Hopefully the devs on this project have a tivo and utv laying around to compare the UI to. A merge of all the past and existing dvrs would be a nice thing to strive for instead of re-inventing everything from scratch. There are alot of UTV followers out there that never did like the tivo.

And for the record, UTV had % full of HD space back in 02.


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## dervari (Dec 1, 2005)

1) Write guide data to the HD. That way you won't lose recordings that will be happening before the guide is populated. Should just be able to write the guide to disk every hour or so, and if the unit reboots load that version and update it with the info from the stream.

2) Option to clear the history. History is a nice feature, but gets cluttered REALLY fast.


----------



## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

dervari said:


> 2) Option to clear the history. History is a nice feature, but gets cluttered REALLY fast.


Or at least collapse all events for each week so it's easier to browse through them.


----------



## dvrblogger (Jan 11, 2005)

dhking said:


> Since they have gone to the trouble of integrating an RJ-45 plug on the unit, why not go ahead an integrate networking capablilty so that units can "share" shows and, so that home video, etc., can be streamed to the DVR from a PC - same with music, photos, etc. Surely they can reverse engineer something like with without violating tivo patents.


.There was an annoucnement this week from intel and DIRECTV that Photos and Music from PCs will be enabled in December 2006. (MUSIC AND PHOTOS FROM VIIV PCs. Video probbaly next year some time. do a search for a thread on VIIV from Tuesday Sept 26.


----------



## dvrblogger (Jan 11, 2005)

dhking said:


> Since they have gone to the trouble of integrating an RJ-45 plug on the unit, why not go ahead an integrate networking capablilty so that units can "share" shows and, so that home video, etc., can be streamed to the DVR from a PC - same with music, photos, etc. Surely they can reverse engineer something like with without violating tivo patents.


.There was an annoucnement this week from intel and DIRECTV that Photos and Music from PCs will be enabled in December 2006. (MUSIC AND PHOTOS FROM VIIV PCs. Video probbaly next year some time. do a search for a thread on VIIV from Tuesday Sept 26.


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## MercurialIN (Jul 17, 2006)

I don't know if this has already been posted or not but I wish that they would enable the XM Satellite channels so they could be recorded. I just got my HR 20 and found out that you cannot record those channels nor can you rewind or pause even though the HR 20 is keeping a buffer on the music channels. Seems kind of weird that you can't rewind, record etc. I asked tech support and was told it's probably a copyright issue, if so then why can you do those things with the R 15? Unless they plan to disable that feature on the R 15 as well. I would really be unhappy if they'd do that. That was one of the "selling points" for me with both the R 15 and when I thought the HR 20 would naturally be able to do those things as well.


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## Dusty (Sep 21, 2006)

You can't record XM because record companies don't allow that. They are already suing Pioneer for their XM2Go.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Just proves the fact that CSRs will come up with anything. Copyrights? Ahh, what about the shows the DVR records.

Actually I'm suprised the HR20 doesn't allow this since the R15 does. Go figure.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Dusty said:


> You can't record XM because record companies don't allow that. They are already suing Pioneer for their XM2Go.


So the fact that the R15 can record XM channels means that feature will be removed?

Cripe, you can even create a SL on XM channels with the R15. Wonder how it handles First Run vs Repeats?


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## MercurialIN (Jul 17, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> Cripe, you can even create a SL on XM channels with the R15. Wonder how it handles First Run vs Repeats?


Now that would be interesting.


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## MercurialIN (Jul 17, 2006)

It was a shock when I tried to set up a manual record for the XM 70's channel and it wouldn't let me. I thought it was a mistake at first but no, you really cannot record them. It seems so silly to me since the R 15 can do it.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

MercurialIN said:


> Now that would be interesting.


I just set up a SL on Top Tracks for Grins & Giggles. Interested to see what it records.


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## VinceV (Sep 19, 2006)

noobie937 said:


> And for the record, UTV had % full of HD space back in 02.


It did, but it was hidden in the History screen. I like how it's right in the main MyVOD screen on the HR20.

One of the nicest things about the UTV is that it worked perfectly. I can't ever remember it screwing up. And I was an early adopter of that too.

I expecially liked the soft buffers. I'm getting frusterated at losing the last minute of shows with the HR20.


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## MercurialIN (Jul 17, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> I just set up a SL on Top Tracks for Grins & Giggles. Interested to see what it records.


I'd be interested in hearing your results. Hope you'll post them.


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## TheRatPatrol (Oct 1, 2003)

VinceV said:


> It did, but it was hidden in the History screen. I like how it's right in the main MyVOD screen on the HR20.
> 
> One of the nicest things about the UTV is that it worked perfectly. I can't ever remember it screwing up.  And I was an early adopter of that too.
> 
> I expecially liked the soft buffers. I'm getting frusterated at losing the last minute of shows with the HR20.


I totally agree. I've had UTV for 4-5 years now, I've never had to reboot it, its never missed a recording, and its never froze up. Yeah, it had tuner issues because of heat, but I got those fixed 2 years ago and its never run better.

One thing I will miss a lot is the PIP feature. OK, I know, I know Earl, no one uses PIP on here, well, maybe thats because no one ever had it with Tivo to use to begin with. Its nice for football. 

Lets hope for the best though, lets hope D* gets all these bugs worked out.

Although, Earl, you don't seem to be having too many of these issues. I wonder if you have a "special edition" HR20?  J/K


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

theratpatrol said:


> I totally agree. I've had UTV for 4-5 years now, I've never had to reboot it, its never missed a recording, and its never froze up. Yeah, it had tuner issues because of heat, but I got those fixed 2 years ago and its never run better.
> 
> One thing I will miss a lot is the PIP feature. OK, I know, I know Earl, no one uses PIP on here, well, maybe thats because no one ever had it with Tivo to use to begin with. Its nice for football.
> 
> ...


This really get's to the real bottom of the "New Technology" DTV DVRs, doesn't it? Look at the features and dependability that UTV and Tivo users have been experiencing with DTV for the past 4 years or so. Look how happy we were with the products we had/have. Now look at this new fangled R15 and HR20 that doesn't have the same functionality and doesn't have the same reliability as the products we customers are giving up. Does that make any sense to anyone? It doesn't make sense to me.

How do you all spell "EDSEL"? Right now I spell it "DTV DVR".

I know you folks on the HR20 side of the fence still are positive that problems will be fixed. That DTV can make this unit work. But those of us on the R15 side of the fence, after almost a year of the R15 being in production, still do not have a DVR that performs the basic functions of a DVR. You HR20 folks are getting updates every other week. Our last update was the beginning of August.

Now I'm not saying you should give up hope, I'm just saying it seems that quite possibly DTV got in WAY over their heads here. Geez, while DTV drops their Tivo units both Comcast and COX sign agreements with Tivo to use their technology.

I've been monitoring the progress of the 0xD1 thread and it seems, from comments there that some saw improvements and others didn't. That's the same stuff we've been seeing on the R15 side.


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## Sport73 (Sep 28, 2006)

theratpatrol said:


> I totally agree. I've had UTV for 4-5 years now, I've never had to reboot it, its never missed a recording, and its never froze up. Yeah, it had tuner issues because of heat, but I got those fixed 2 years ago and its never run better.
> 
> One thing I will miss a lot is the PIP feature. OK, I know, I know Earl, no one uses PIP on here, well, maybe thats because no one ever had it with Tivo to use to begin with. Its nice for football.
> 
> ...


I've had an HDTivo and SDTivo for a LONG time, but I still would LOVE a PIP feature on my HR20, especially for football as you mentioned. I don't like having to have 2 receivers connected (tying up 2 tv inputs) just to be able to monitor 2 games at once (Mix channel is nice, but you really can't see the games that well).


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

Wolffpack said:


> I know you folks on the HR20 side of the fence still are positive that problems will be fixed. That DTV can make this unit work. But those of us on the R15 side of the fence, after almost a year of the R15 being in production, still do not have a DVR that performs the basic functions of a DVR. You HR20 folks are getting updates every other week. Our last update was the beginning of August.


IMHO, D* should just cut their losses on the R15 and just replace all of them with HR20's. The HR20 sure isn't perfect but it's one hell of a lot better then the R15. Just use the $'s that are being spent on making that turd fly and all the calls that CSR's have to handle to help pay for it.


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## TheRatPatrol (Oct 1, 2003)

RAD said:


> IMHO, D* should just cut their losses


Maybe they should just cut their losses on trying to build their own DVR and go back to Tivo. From reading all of these threads and posts, its obvious that no one is happy with the R15 or HR20.

Remember D*, if it isn't broke, then don't fix it (or try to build your own).


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

theratpatrol said:


> From reading all of these threads and posts, its obvious that no one is happy with the R15 or HR20.


Lots of people are quite happy with the HR20.


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

I'm quite happy with mine, although I did have to hit the red button this morning.

I will also be happy when those old DVRs are only a faded memory and the T-word is forevermore absent from DTV forums.

Evidently some folks miss their old DVRs more than they would their spouse!


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

I dunno.... if D* is being receptive to wishes (those they can legally and systematically accomidate) and if they fix the bugs (they seem to be working on them), I don't see why this won't be a great DVR. I get mine a week from today. I won't be tossing out my HR10--it will remain my main DVR, but I'll test this one and my guess is they'll get the kinks worked out in another 6 months or so and it'll be fine.


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

I realize the HR20 is still a new box and that DTV is coming out with fixes quite frequently. However, just for a little background on what was happening with the R15 during the end of 2005 and the beginning or 2006, take a look at this thread: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=48180.

This was accumulated between 11/17/05 and the first post was last updated by eengert on 02/08/06. The first post has pretty much all suggestions listed so you really don't need to go through the entire thread.

Notice how many of the bugs/enhancement requests listed in that post are once again listed here for the HR20. Notice that while some of the issues listed there have been addressed, many still have not been fixed.

It's great that so many here are optimistic that all the bugs will be ironed out and items like dual buffers will be added. But one also should be realistic. The R15 is quickly approaching it's first birthday and is still plagued by many of the issues mentioned in that thread.

Also, to make sure everyone is up to date on dual buffers, take a look at this thread for grins: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=48181. The original dual live buffer workaround courtesy of eengert.


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## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

I get what you're saying, but I think part of it is that HD is the future. This box is more important, and my guess is they'll be replacing the R15s with R20s in no time.


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## lpctv (Aug 26, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> Notice how many of the bugs/enhancement requests listed in that post are once again listed here for the HR20. Notice that while some of the issues listed there have been addressed, many still have not been fixed.
> 
> It's great that so many here are optimistic that all the bugs will be ironed out and items like dual buffers will be added. But one also should be realistic. The R15 is quickly approaching it's first birthday and is still plagued by many of the issues mentioned in that thread.
> 
> Also, to make sure everyone is up to date on dual buffers, take a look at this thread for grins: http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=48181. The original dual live buffer workaround courtesy of eengert.


I'm wondering if anything will be different this time around since there is no NDS involvment in the code.
Yeah, you could argue that if that was true they would have focused on making some of these improvements already. But, I guess, that if you conisder this project is 99% "in-house" and that it is positioned as a their flagship product, there is some better reason to hope. Isn't there?


----------



## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

lpctv said:


> I'm wondering if anything will be different this time around since there is no NDS involvment in the code.
> Yeah, you could argue that if that was true they would have focused on making some of these improvements already. But, I guess, that if you conisder this project is 99% "in-house" and that it is positioned as a their flagship product, there is some better reason to hope. Isn't there?


One can always hope. :grin:

As far as the NDS portion, IIRC Earl has stated that while some of the underlying code on the R15 has it's roots in NDS, the coding was all done in house by DTV staff.


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## lpctv (Aug 26, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> As far as the NDS portion, IIRC Earl has stated that while some of the underlying code on the R15 has it's roots in NDS, the coding was all done in house by DTV staff.


Hmmm...but, at some point, didn't he also say that there was a totally different (not taking into account the HD factor) code base for the HR20? I could be wrong here...but, with some of the improvements and fixes, I thought I had read that there was practically no chance of back-porting them to the R15 because of the underlying code differences.

In the end, and now that I finally got one installed, I'm hoping that we just won't be linking to this post close to a year from now and wondering where the improvement suggestions and promised features have gone to...


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

lpctv said:


> Hmmm...but, at some point, didn't he also say that there was a totally different (not taking into account the HD factor) code base for the HR20? I could be wrong here...but, with some of the improvements and fixes, I thought I had read that there was practically no chance of back-porting them to the R15 because of the underlying code differences.


He did state the code and development teams are completely different. That kinda makes me wonder how two pieces of hardware, developed by two different teams, using two different code sets appear to have many common problems/bugs.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

The HR20 has Ucentric code in it. How much, I don't know. But it's definitely there.


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## NurseDave (Aug 20, 2006)

I've wondered that about other boxes too. Why they just don't record a show lower on your list if it's being repeated 3 hours later on the same channel. Seems like a basic thing to me.


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## lpctv (Aug 26, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> He did state the code and development teams are completely different. That kinda makes me wonder how two pieces of hardware, developed by two different teams, using two different code sets appear to have many common problems/bugs.


I think that the commonality is due to the fact that they could "borrow" easier from NDS than from Tivo. I mean, just look at the autocorrect feature or something else along similar lines. They couldn't include any patented stuff from a company they were kicking out the door now, could they? Although you could put NDS in somewhat the same category. But, I think that they're still doing some work for Rups in the EU market, right?
So, IMO, the R15 was built with an existing "in house" partner with the thought in mind that they would leverage NDS "expertise" the same way they did for the card encryption stuff which now seems to be wholly in-house.
Maybe, we can take comfort in the fact that since they cut NDS out of that picture and expanded on their work in the card area, the P5/6 is emerging relatively unscathed.



Jeremy W said:


> The HR20 has Ucentric code in it. How much, I don't know. But it's definitely there.


I think it's carrying that for the home networking stuff. Isn't it?


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## lpctv (Aug 26, 2006)

NurseDave said:


> I've wondered that about other boxes too. Why they just don't record a show lower on your list if it's being repeated 3 hours later on the same channel. Seems like a basic thing to me.


Since the fall season kicked off, my R10 has done exactly that on Tuesday nights. Eureka got bumped by existing season passes (it's set to lower priority because it got added after the existing ones). But, it still gets recorded at the later time (1AM I think). Only had the R20 for a few days so I can't speak for it yet. So, I'm not sure what you're referring to.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

lpctv said:


> I think it's carrying that for the home networking stuff. Isn't it?


Absolutely. I just don't know exactly how much software Ucentric provides, and how much DirecTV is using. The networking is definitely from Ucentric, and that may be everything, or there could be other stuff too.


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## lpctv (Aug 26, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> Absolutely. I just don't know exactly how much software Ucentric provides, and how much DirecTV is using. The networking is definitely from Ucentric, and that may be everything, or there could be other stuff too.


It will remain to be seen. Hopefully the delays in HMC aren't indicative of leading Ucentric down the NDS and Tivo path...hopefully, it's just DRM and ViiV issues.
However, for the time being, the focus should be on getting on with the business of stabilizing the main functions of the box - like making sure that a DVR can actually record with some sense of precision and reliability and, of course, OTA (among others) - before they start hatching all these little Easter eggs they stashed throughout the box.


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## matto (Sep 1, 2006)

I thought the HR20 hardware was from NDS? Am I wrong? Is the HR20 a first roll of the dice with a new OEM?


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

matto said:


> I thought the HR20 hardware was from NDS? Am I wrong? Is the HR20 a first roll of the dice with a new OEM?


NDS doesn't make hardware. The HR20's hardware is from Pace, which is a new OEM for DirecTV, but News Corp has used them before.


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## HoosierFan (Sep 13, 2006)

One little thing I miss from TiVo, is when you are rebooting, as soon as it starts acquiring satellite info, you could go into the TiVo menu and start playing recorded shows, and not have to wait for the whole process to finish.

Since this system seems to need more reboots that normal, this might be a helpful feature.


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## andy A (Sep 14, 2006)

1) The guide.
a) would like to be able to see more than 2hrs of info at a time, before having to arrow over.
b) would like to be able to change the way the guide operates, like on my old sony & hughes boxes. IE: can view the channel I am watching in full screen while the guide is overlayed & translucent. 
c) as others have mentioned, reverse the two button push to access the guide.


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## Vinny (Sep 2, 2006)

andy A said:


> 1) The guide.
> a) would like to be able to see more than 2hrs of info at a time, before having to arrow over.
> b) would like to be able to change the way the guide operates, like on my old sony & hughes boxes. IE: can view the channel I am watching in full screen while the guide is overlayed & translucent.
> c) as others have mentioned, reverse the two button push to access the guide.


*The Guide
a) If you left arrow over the channel then press info you can see programming for that channel for the entire 14days. It takes about 20 seconds to load. I know its not exactly what you want; but its something.

b)This is a matter of preference; I kinda like the PIP instead of the overlay.

c) Agreed!!!*


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## axiom (Sep 24, 2006)

andy A said:


> b) would like to be able to change the way the guide operates, like on my old sony & hughes boxes. IE: can view the channel I am watching in full screen while the guide is overlayed & translucent.


I know it isn't the same thing, but if you push the blue button, you get a one line guide beneath the full screen show you are watching.


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## jaywdetroit (Sep 21, 2006)

Earl - Is this the thread you were talking about?


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

jaywdetroit said:


> Earl - Is this the thread you were talking about?


Yes


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## jaywdetroit (Sep 21, 2006)

PoitNarf said:


> Yes


I'd be happy to spend the time attempting to put a poll together from this thread, if you would make it a sticky, that is, if you think D* is really paying attention.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

jaywdetroit said:


> I'd be happy to spend the time attempting to put a poll together from this thread, if you would make it a sticky, that is, if you think D* is really paying attention.


I do think they are paying attention, however... the forum software here won't allow "that" many choices.

Hence why I wanted to put it out on a website out side of DBSTalk, 
with the ability to "rate" the feature, as well as "rate" what priority order "you" think it should be done.


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## taz291819 (Oct 19, 2006)

As far as networking is concerned, I'd love the HR20 to be able to stream either live or recorded programming to my laptop.

I'd be willing to pay the $5/month as an extra sub for that ability. I'm guessing this is in the works, but have a feeling we'll have to wait until Vista MCE is out.

My main reason for wanting to do this is that I like to watch the early football games outdoors while grilling or whatever. I can do it with my laptop now if I want to watch an HD game OTA. But if I want to watch a game via NFL-ST, I'd have to take a receiver and television outside (since laptops don't have display inputs, which is retarded in itself).

Taking a laptop outside is a heck of a lot easier.


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## mtnagel (Sep 18, 2006)

Don't know if this was mentioned, but being in a house with 3 people that have overlapping tastes, I always thought it would be cool if there was some way to indicate that you have watched something. So say I watch Lost and I put a check mark that says I watched it so when my wife watches it, she could then see I watched it and delete it after watching it instead of waiting till we are together and going through the list saying, "Have you seen this?" 

Just a thought.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

mtnagel said:


> I always thought it would be cool if there was some way to indicate that you have watched something.


The HR20 already has this. The item will dim in MyVOD once you've watched it.


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## Milominderbinder2 (Oct 8, 2006)

Vinny said:


> *The Guide
> a) If you left arrow over the channel then press info you can see programming for that channel for the entire 14days. It takes about 20 seconds to load. I know its not exactly what you want; but its something.
> 
> b)This is a matter of preference; I kinda like the PIP instead of the overlay.
> ...


I just tried this on my HR-20 with 00e3 software. No matter how long I wait nothing happens. Here is what I am doing:

[GUIDE] [GUIDE] (Go to the Guide
< Left Arrow over a channel number label
Press the Blue Button (Info) 
(HR-20 LEDs flash to show it just got a remote control command)
Wait 20 seconds, 30, 60, 120 second

What am I doing wrong?

-Craig


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## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

Milominderbinder2 said:


> I just tried this on my HR-20 with 00e3 software. No matter how long I wait nothing happens. Here is what I am doing:
> 
> [GUIDE] [GUIDE] (Go to the Guide
> < Left Arrow over a channel number label
> ...


I've used it many times, it does work. HOWEVER, it is not working at the moment. Perhaps it is "turned off" for NFL Sunday Ticket day...I've noticed they limit bandwidth usage on Sundays by turning off some features...although it seems that info should already be in memory, not downloaded fresh. I can't recall if I've used it since the update to 0xe3.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

hasan said:


> I've used it many times, it does work. HOWEVER, it is not working at the moment. Perhaps it is "turned off" for NFL Sunday Ticket day...I've noticed they limit bandwidth usage on Sundays by turning off some features...although it seems that info should already be in memory, not downloaded fresh. I can't recall if I've used it since the update to 0xe3.


Thanks guys... I tried this just now with my H20 and I crashed it. It's rebooting now. Last time I try to help you


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

On the HR10-250, when you went to check sat signal strength it showed you the slot and transponder of the channel you were watching at the time, on the HR20 it takes you to 101, TP1. I'd like to see this function come back so if you're having reception problems you can check for the actual transponder you're having the problem with since you have no idea what TP D*'s putting the channels on.


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

make the left arrow 'back' while in menus!


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## dervari (Dec 1, 2005)

Milominderbinder2 said:


> I just tried this on my HR-20 with 00e3 software. No matter how long I wait nothing happens. Here is what I am doing:
> 
> [GUIDE] [GUIDE] (Go to the Guide
> < Left Arrow over a channel number label
> ...


Hit the INFO button, not the Blue Button...


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## Milominderbinder2 (Oct 8, 2006)

dervari said:


> Hit the INFO button, not the Blue Button...


YES!

That works great. Much faster than the way in the manual. The documented way makes you type out the name of the channel you want to list. You still have to wait for it to compile the 14 days. This is way better!

Thank you!

I will add it to the Tip and Tricks:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=67933

-Craig


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## alant40 (Oct 8, 2006)

I would like to see the status bar disappear a little quicker. It makes it hard when paused to read the tickers at the bottom on ESPN, CNN, etc. This was made possible in the earlier DVR's by using the backdoor codes. Hopefully they'll be some of the same codes developed for this unit...


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## Milominderbinder2 (Oct 8, 2006)

alant40 said:


> I would like to see the status bar disappear a little quicker. It makes it hard when paused to read the tickers at the bottom on ESPN, CNN, etc. This was made possible in the earlier DVR's by using the backdoor codes. Hopefully they'll be some of the same codes developed for this unit...


*Violá!*

Your wish is their command!

The Simple answer is just to press EXIT and the Banner is gone.

Version 2.6 of the HR-Tips and Tricks was a major upgrade adding this and a number of other tips.

You can also set the banner time to 2, 4, or 6 seconds with these keystrokes:
MENU --> Help & Setup --> Display --> Banner Time

I will include that in the upcoming 2.7. There are dozens of other tips coming in that update.

Let me know how this works,

- Craig


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## alant40 (Oct 8, 2006)

Milominderbinder2 said:


> *Violá!*
> 
> Your wish is their command!
> 
> ...


Wow, love this site!! Works great.. Thanks....


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## mcl (Aug 17, 2006)

I'd love it if they added the ability to schedule shows people want to have recorded, record them, and then let the user watch the recordings later.


I think that'd be keen.


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## PoitNarf (Aug 19, 2006)

mcl said:


> I'd love it if they added the ability to schedule shows people want to have recorded, record them, and then let the user watch the recordings later.
> 
> I think that'd be keen.


Best feature request ever...


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## JackRelahan (May 20, 2002)

Would like to see Optical port disabled when unit is in standby. It is active all the time right now and I am unable to use my optical switch on my A/V Receiver.


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## dustyzz (Oct 26, 2006)

911medic said:


> How about this feature:
> 
> On my old Dish PVR 508, if you went into the guide and selected an upcoming program, a menu would appear giving you the option to set the upcoming program to be recorded, or to simply auto-tune to this channel at the time the program started. This way, I could go take a shower, leaving my 3 year old to watch whatever program was on and set it to tune to his next favorite program (on a different channel) that was coming on in 10 minutes. This way, I don't get him bursting in the bathroom 5 minutes into my shower complaining that his show is over and he doesn't like what's coming on now.


I LOVED the auto-tune feature of the UTV dvr... I'd like to see not only the auto-tune feature added to the HR20 but also the pop-up reminder feature that would remind you that a program was starting in XX seconds and give you the option of tuning to the program or ignoring the reminder!

/dusty


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

dustyzz said:


> I LOVED the auto-tune feature of the UTV dvr... I'd like to see not only the auto-tune feature added to the HR20 but also the pop-up reminder feature that would remind you that a program was starting in XX seconds and give you the option of tuning to the program or ignoring the reminder!
> 
> /dusty


Much of this discussion has moved to the HR20 Wish List Survey thread.

*The ability to auto-change to a channel - same as if recording program without actually recording it* currently ranks #38 (of 56).


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## dustyzz (Oct 26, 2006)

brott said:


> Much of this discussion has moved to the HR20 Wish List Survey thread.
> 
> *The ability to auto-change to a channel - same as if recording program without actually recording it* currently ranks #38 (of 56).


Can the pop-up reminders be added to the auto-change function (since they really do go hand in hand) in the survey list? Or would that need to be added as a seperate item?


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

dustyzz said:


> Can the pop-up reminders be added to the auto-change function (since they really do go hand in hand) in the survey list? Or would that need to be added as a seperate item?


Again, this is a Wish List item, not a design description. I would expect that auto-tune would do exactly what record does (including the pop-up), just that after the channel change, it wouldn't start the recording except for the normal buffer. While a nice to have, I wouldn't use this feature often. If I wanted it to change to the new show, I would just record it, and then delete when done. But, I do understand how it is useful. Check out the HR20 Wish List Survey and voice your opinion on this and many other feature requests.


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## islesfan (Oct 18, 2006)

mcl said:


> I'd love it if they added the ability to schedule shows people want to have recorded, record them, and then let the user watch the recordings later.
> 
> I think that'd be keen.


Sorry, but I'm pretty sure TiVo onws the patent on that feature...:lol:


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## HDSeeker (Dec 22, 2006)

Need to be able to auto scan OTH signals.


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## marksman (Dec 23, 2006)

Is there already a way I don't know about to skip to the end of a recoding via playback? If not is there a way to "Reset" a recording? If one person starts watching something but wants to reset it for the next person, is the only option right now to fast-forward to the end?


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## hasan (Sep 22, 2006)

marksman said:


> Is there already a way I don't know about to skip to the end of a recoding via playback? If not is there a way to "Reset" a recording? If one person starts watching something but wants to reset it for the next person, is the only option right now to fast-forward to the end?


Press and hold the 30 sec slip button for 3 sec or so and it will skip to the end of the recording. Press and hold the couple second rewind button for 3 sec or so and it will return to the beginning of a recording.


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## JACKIEGAGA (Dec 11, 2006)

I Want My Dual Live Buffers !!!


Happy New Year Everyone!


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## BJM (Dec 9, 2006)

Reverse the functions of the pause button and the play button - the pause button should be the larger of the two.


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## jayk (Nov 30, 2006)

If anyone has had UltimateTV there is a tiny but useful feature that displays the word 'Live' on the top right corner of the screen when you catch up to the program you are watching.

I often times will hit FF or commercial skip multiple times and not realize that I am 'live' (or caught up to the live programming) until I've hit the button more than twice.

Again, this doesn't seem like a huge implementation issue but it is very useful - especially during sport events when you are switching back and forth between 2 recordings and buffering yourself 

All of your UTV'ers out there know what I mean!

Cheers

Jay


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## marksman (Dec 23, 2006)

hasan said:


> Press and hold the 30 sec slip button for 3 sec or so and it will skip to the end of the recording. Press and hold the couple second rewind button for 3 sec or so and it will return to the beginning of a recording.


Awesome. Thank you very much.


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## jheda (Sep 19, 2006)

JACKIEGAGA said:


> I Want My Dual Live Buffers !!!
> 
> Happy New Year Everyone!


DITTO..........................DLB, DLB....


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## DblD_Indy (Dec 3, 2006)

mcaldero said:


> Yes, dual LIVE buffers should move to the top of the list.


YOU KNOW IT, HERE I SIT TRYING TO WATCH TWO BOWL GAMES WITH OUT DLB AND NO DOUBT AM ENRAGED!

IF I KNEW WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR D*TV LEAVING DLB OUT OF THIS UNIT I HAVE A GREAT IDEA WHERE I COULD FIRMLY INSERT THIS POS!

SMILES AND HAPPY 2007 !


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## thekobk (Dec 14, 2006)

Caller ID should soft mute the sound or pause the tv for you.


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

thekobk said:


> Caller ID should soft mute the sound or pause the tv for you.


Only if it's an option you can set, not something that can't be changed.


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## SiCHIPS (Dec 18, 2006)

joekun said:


> Earl mentioned that D* is watching this board so I thought we should start a single thread devoted to features that can and should be added in future software updates to make this a really great DVR. I know there are single threads devoted to certain features, but I hope that this thread can be the place where we centralize our requests and maybe D* will take a look. So here is my list (I will probably add to it as I think of more), please post your ideas.
> 
> HR20 Feature Wishlist
> 
> ...


In regards to 8), I totally agree with the folders concept.
The current custom 1 and 2 is seriously lacking and one should be able to include ONLY those stations subscribed to rather than those that the dish can currently receive! 
Being able to assign names to the folders would address "His" or "Her" favorites which is seriously needed!


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## joekun (Aug 18, 2006)

> If anyone has had UltimateTV there is a tiny but useful feature that displays the word 'Live' on the top right corner of the screen when you catch up to the program you are watching.


Yeah, ReplayTV had this as well and it's something I miss.


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## traderfjp (Dec 25, 2006)

I'd like to see an easier way to bring up delete a show and series link. There should be a seperate button for this that can activate these functions when watching a recorded show or a show you may want to record.


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## mtnagel (Sep 18, 2006)

traderfjp said:


> I'd like to see an easier way to bring up delete a show and series link. There should be a seperate button for this that can activate these functions when watching a recorded show or a show you may want to record.




To delete a show before it gets to the end and prompts you, hit STOP, then double dash. That's pretty easy, right? (I'd confirm that you are infact on the recording that you just watched before the double dash to make you are know what you are deleting though).

And not sure what you mean by the series link. If you see the show in the guide, hit RECORD twice and it will set a series link up with your record defaults (a feature that I LOVE).


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