# Time Warner "Start Over" feature???



## 996911 (Aug 24, 2006)

Didn't see a thread covering this and not sure if it's regional but here in Raleigh we keep getting a TWC commercial that touts this great feature D* doesn't have called "start over" and TWC does which make them "better". 

I'm confused, since last time I checked, when I pull up the menu for a specific show I am watching or getting ready to watch, one of the options is "START OVER". Or if not recorded you can just hit the pause button or rewind to a specific point in the show of your choosing. So you can see my confusion what they are selling.

So what exactly is TWC trying to sell? My guess is for those people stuck back in the 20th century that no DVR and need to "rewind" to the beginning of a show?


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## hilmar2k (Mar 18, 2007)

Looks like it enables you to go back to the beginning of a show that you happen upon while channel surfing and weren't recording. Kinda cool, actually.

http://www.timewarnercable.com/nynj/learn/cable/startover.html


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## ccsoftball7 (Apr 2, 2003)

hilmar2k said:


> Looks like it enables you to go back to the beginning of a show that you happen upon while channel surfing and weren't recording. Kinda cool, actually.


It sounds good in practice; however, I don't think it's even deployed here yet...They have been running commercials for several weeks (maybe a couple of months), but the service it not up and running to the best of my knowledge.

Although, I laugh every time I see the commercial...with TWC I can just start the show over...well, with DirecTV, you can just record the freakin' show and watch it whenever...


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## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

It appears that this only works on selected programs. It seems like a version of VOD. The shows are digitally captured so you can go back. Since you can not fast forward, it appears to being captured in real time and probably not available after the show is over.


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## hilmar2k (Mar 18, 2007)

ccsoftball7 said:


> Although, I laugh every time I see the commercial...with TWC I can just start the show over...well, with DirecTV, you can just record the freakin' show and watch it whenever...


Sure, if you recorded it. There would be a bunch of times I would use this. I stumble upon movies once in awhiole that I am 15 minutes into and would love to be able to start at the beginning. Now I have to hope it's on again and record it.

Listen, it's by no means stretch a deal breaker, but it is a cool feature, no matter how lame TWC is.


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## ccsoftball7 (Apr 2, 2003)

hilmar2k said:


> Listen, it's by no means stretch a deal breaker, but it is a cool feature, no matter how lame TWC is.


I completely agree; however, when you see the commercial the next time, listen to what is said. He's been "sitting there waiting since the show started" while is wife is on the phone...voila...record it.  That's all I'm saying. Every time I see the commercial that's what I think.


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## Scott Kocourek (Jun 13, 2009)

They have been running ads in Milwaukee and Racine, WI for the same. The impression that I got was that as long as you were watching, you could start over(without DVR).

If it were anything more than that, I think they would have made a much bigger deal of it.


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## hilmar2k (Mar 18, 2007)

ccsoftball7 said:


> I completely agree; however, when you see the commercial the next time, listen to what is said. He's been "sitting there waiting since the show started" while is wife is on the phone...voila...record it.  That's all I'm saying. Every time I see the commercial that's what I think.


I don't watch commercials.


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## ccsoftball7 (Apr 2, 2003)

hilmar2k said:


> I don't watch commercials.


Touche'...I don't tend to see commercials either, unless it's during a live sporting event.


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

This is step 1 of a centralized DVR system. If people get hooked using this they can easily be sold on "more".


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## JoeTheDragon (Jul 21, 2008)

Shades228 said:


> This is step 1 of a centralized DVR system. If people get hooked using this they can easily be sold on "more".


I don't think they have a lot bandwidth to make the system work as good as a dvr next to the tv.


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## jpl (Jul 9, 2006)

I don't think this is the concept of a centralized DVR - although there are cable companies playing with that concept too (I believe CableVision is). Start over is an interesting concept - it really is designed to allow you to start over from the top of any show currently playing live. It's not just the show you're currently watching. It's designed to work with any show that's currently broadcasting. It's a nice concept, actually. There are lots of times I come across a show that's 15 minutes in, and when I go to look for the next airing, there's nothing scheduled.

To make it work, you really don't need a whole lot of bandwidth - just enough to buffer all the shows currently airing.


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## ladannen (Oct 27, 2007)

Oceanic Time Warner in Hawaii has has this feature for years.
Not on all channels, but on many. 
Is very nice when you find something in the guide, but 15 has passed already. Go to the channel, and the "Start Over" button appears.
It has probably been a year since I used it, but if I remember correctly, it behaves like a DVR (fast forward, rewind, etc).


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## xzi (Sep 18, 2007)

It's been around here in Albany for years... must have been a test market? As far as I know, it's still only works with SD channels but that may have changed. I also believe you CANNOT fastforward, you have to watch the commercials 

It does work on their regular boxes, it's not a DVR feature and it's obviously just VOD for that "episode" is all. So if the episode you're watching is on VOD, just watch that. Come to think of it, there's no reason DIRECTV can't just do that with a Red Button pop up that just queues the show from their VOD service and moves you to that show. I bet they do just that shortly if this feature turns out to be popular.


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## Lee L (Aug 15, 2002)

This is a good feature for channel surfers maybe, but since 99% of non-sports programming that we watch is recorded, it adds nothing for me.


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## DJSix (Jan 19, 2004)

ccsoftball7 said:


> I completely agree; however, when you see the commercial the next time, listen to what is said. He's been "sitting there waiting since the show started" while is wife is on the phone...voila...record it.  That's all I'm saying. Every time I see the commercial that's what I think.


I saw the commercial last month while on vacation in Maui. I was laughing when the actor was saying it's their favorite show and he's missing it. I was thinking to myself, "all my favorite shows are set on season pass, so I don't miss any show." Now granted, it would be nice for a movie that I didn't know was coming on, but more than likely, it'll be shown again, and if it isn't, there's always Netflix.


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## Crimson (Dec 9, 2006)

Brighthouse (TWC) in the Tampa area has this as well. As others stated it simply starts the program over. There is no DVR capabilities like FF, rewind, etc. It simply starts it from the beginning and plays it as though you were watching it live. I used it while staying at a friends house. Its only on major programs and networks. For example if you missed the start of the latest CSI.. if you happened to pull up the food network and wanted to restart a re-run of Iron Chef, it wouldn't work.


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## hilmar2k (Mar 18, 2007)

Crimson said:


> Brighthouse (TWC) in the Tampa area has this as well. As others stated it simply starts the program over. There is no DVR capabilities like FF, rewind, etc. It simply starts it from the beginning and plays it as though you were watching it live. I used it while staying at a friends house. Its only on major programs and networks. For example if you missed the start of the latest CSI.. if you happened to pull up the food network and wanted to restart a re-run of Iron Chef, it wouldn't work.


According to TWC, it is available on 20,000 titles. My guess is that Iron Chef is among them. 



> There are over 20,000 hit TV shows that are Start Over enabled (this varies by market). No extra equipment is required. All you need is your remote and an existing Digital Cable set-top box.


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## tunce (Jan 19, 2006)

It is up and running in Racine, WI. My father-in-law has it and I was playing with it. It was OK but once you hit start over you can not fast-forward you can only rewind and pause. VERY STRANGE, might be part of the control they want over commercials - don't know.


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## IHeartMASN (Nov 22, 2009)

TWC here in Greensboro has had this for a couple of years. It's the only feature that Time Warner has that I wish DirecTV would get.


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## GregLee (Dec 28, 2005)

ladannen said:


> Oceanic Time Warner in Hawaii has has this feature for years.
> Not on all channels, but on many.
> Is very nice when you find something in the guide, but 15 has passed already. Go to the channel, and the "Start Over" button appears.
> It has probably been a year since I used it, but if I remember correctly, it behaves like a DVR (fast forward, rewind, etc).


Yes, I had it 2 years ago when I switched from Oceanic to DirecTV. You can't fast forward, though, which means no skipping commercials. That's why they block fast forward. For that reason, I never used it.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

I find this slightly hilarious. This is the page for TW Cincy and the Start Over feature. According to the page though, they are showing the steps to start over a program that can't be started over.

http://www.timewarnercable.com/cincinnati/learn/cable/startover.html


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