# Thoughts on Tivo



## MrFooks (Nov 20, 2004)

I have had the Direct TV Tivo now for a couple of weeks. This is my first Tivo and I cannot understand how or why in the hell it records the goofiest of crap, i.e. weather central, Espn sports news, PSMNBC a mexican cooking shoe, all manner of goofy crap.
Can someone please explain why it does this. 
Apart for recording(that I set) Setanta Channel I can't explain this


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

It's TiVo Suggestions. The TiVo will monitor what shows you watch and give you suggestions on what other shows you might like based on what you watch and record. Suggestions are enabled out of the box. 

To Disable go to DirecTv Central->Messages & Set Up->Settings->Suggestions->No, Don't Record Suggestions.

Hope that helps


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## MrFooks (Nov 20, 2004)

Thanks Steve, I will give that a shot.


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## kcobra (Sep 29, 2002)

One thing to note is suggestions don't take up any of your recording space. If you schedule something to record then it will delete the suggested recording if it needs space. Given that there is not a lot of reasons to disable suggestions.

The only time suggestions pissed me off on my regular Tivo is Tivo decided to record a suggestion once when I was watching the buffer but had stepped away from the tv. It switched channels and I lost the buffer and the remaing part of the show I was watching. This was a few years ago so I don't know if the newer versions of the Tivo software will do this or not.


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## SnowFade (Jul 5, 2004)

As I understand it, it depends on how long you step away. Usually, it will ask before it changes the channel, even for season passes and other preprogrammed recordings. However, if it senses the remote is idle for a while (I've heard 10 minutes, I've heard 15, I've heard 30), it will assume no one is watching and just change it.

Sometimes the Suggestions are good for comic relief, too. I have no idea how the algorithms work because TiVo will suggest/record the strangest things sometimes, like two hours of the Weather Channel in the middle of the night.

And finally, a lot of people (myself included) use them for a quick gauge of how much recording time is left.


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## Sea bass (Jun 10, 2005)

I have suggestion recordings off, but will check out the list, and some of the shows it picks has me on the floor lmao!! Sometimes there are shows in the list  that I will record!


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

MrFooks said:


> I have had the Direct TV Tivo now for a couple of weeks. This is my first Tivo and I cannot understand how or why in the hell it records the goofiest of crap, i.e. weather central, Espn sports news, PSMNBC a mexican cooking shoe, all manner of goofy crap.


Welcome to the world of suggested programming. When I first got my DirecTiVo, I had set up several Anime shows to record. Unfortunately, there is no Anime category, but there is a Animated category. Guess what it had recorded when I got home the next day? A lot of Nick and PBS Kids.

One thing to remember about suggested programming is that the TiVo may record something that you might like to watch. However, it has to follow some basic rules:
1. A suggested recording cannot override a previously scheduled recording.
2. A suggested recording can only delete a older suggested recording. It cannot delete a program you specified to record.
3. A suggested recording cannot override what you are watching live.

I hope that you have gone through the "Channels You Receive" list and removed channels that aren't available to you and channels that aren't of interest to you. (i.e. Spanish language if you don't speak Spanish, Home Shopping Zone). This will make the suggestions better. Also, since there is no "space remaining" indicator, the suggestions may give you some idea of how much space is remaining on your DirecTiVo.

Also, if you find that it is recording programming that you have no interest in, just go in and give it a thumbs down.

(It should be noted, from what I read of a preliminary version of the upcoming DirecTV DVR receiver, there will be no suggested recordings. However, there will be a bar indicating how much space is remaining.)


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

> And finally, a lot of people (myself included) use them for a quick gauge of how much recording time is left.


I never understood the logic behind that, wouldn't it be just as good to take a peek at your Now Playing List and do a quick run down mentally. I mean right now on my TiVo I've got the 3 CSIs, Medium and 3 episodes of South Park. 1+1+1+1+.5+.5+.5 = 5.5 hours. 35-5.5= Approx 29.5 hours of recording time left.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

That method is probably adequate for a small list and a small hard drive. Try it with a hundred or more shows when you have a few hundred hours of storage. A remaining storage gauge will be a godsend.


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## n8dagr8 (Aug 14, 2004)

CCarncross said:


> That method is probably adequate for a small list and a small hard drive. Try it with a hundred or more shows when you have a few hundred hours of storage. A remaining storage gauge will be a godsend.


Amen...with a drive that can hold over 200 hrs of SD counting the 30 min and 1hr shows is a long process.


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