Tivo Desktop hangs during long downloads

[Bai Shen]

Anybody else have this problem? Tivo Desktop will hang sometimes when I do long downloads. It'll continue transferring, but the Desktop becomes unresponsive. So the only way I can tell that it's done is to check if there's any traffic on the tivo adapter.

[KnightShade]

This has also happened to me a couple of times in the last week or so.

[matt11]

I assume you are using the free version of Tivo Desktop. I believe version 2.3a was released a few weeks back to address the problem you have described.

[Bai Shen]

I assume you are using the free version of Tivo Desktop. I believe version 2.3a was released a few weeks back to address the problem you have described.

Nope, this is with 2.3a. When I jus' had 2.3 it would crash in the middle of a transfer. This is just the gui hanging. It continues to transfer. And it did it back when I had 2.2 as well.

[matt11]

Nope, this is with 2.3a. When I jus' had 2.3 it would crash in the middle of a transfer. This is just the gui hanging. It continues to transfer. And it did it back when I had 2.2 as well.

I have no idea then! I had problems with version 2.3 but haven't had any problems with 2.3a yet...

[whollymindless]

Surely you have had the CPU pegged problem.

Surely you have had the "Non-responsive window" problem (The ONLY app that compares to Tivo Desktop for "worst use of threads on a PC OS" is iTunes.).

It'll be great once they get it finished.

Note to Tivo - Please Please Please fix the following issues to make Tivo Desktop "Grandma Certified":

1. Too many "magically dependent" pieces - TivoBeacon? TivoNotify? TivoServer? TivoTransfer? - Forget it. Make it TivoService and TivoDesktop and FINISH THE DANG THING. Too many cooks spoil the broth.

2. EVERYTHING IN IT'S OWN THREAD. Come on guys, this isn't rocket science and all these dual core machines need good code to work. DON'T LOCK YOUR UI THREAD WITH LONG PROCESSES. Fundamental computer science these days - This is why you hire someone with a degree.

3. Transfer peformance - 100k/sec? Are we sending this through a real modem? I got a WIRED NIC for a reason. I understand that the tivo is apparently putting the streams together on the fly but - THIS ISN'T THE TIVO'S JOB. Let the PC do it. 200 mhz PowerPC vs 3 GIGAHERTZ PC. The math is easy.

4. Download managment - Restartable. Interruptable - and by Jiminy - ONE TIME ONLY. Don't resend the same file multiple times! (not at 100k/sec!!) Come on, PDA's had this solved a long time ago too. (See #2 for recommendation)

5. Concurrent transfer/re-encoding - Who's the genius that decided that we block transfers while we recode files? (See #2 again)

Yes, we want an app like Tivo Desktop. But as you can see from all the web sites and other applications out there (TVHarmony, Galleon, EiTivo) that your solution is LACKING. Please please please make TivoDesktop a BITCHIN' and COMPELLING and application as the Tivo itself is. Anything that creates less than RABID fans hurts your reputation.

I'm back even though I went away for a while and played with the "sluts" of the market. Yeah they were pretty. Yeah, I could make them do what I wanted most of the time. (now that put some weird pictures in my head.) But in the end, they were cheap and too much work. I just wanted to watch TV. Thats why at 2 am I bought an S2 Tivo.

Remember that I'm your customer, not ABC/CBS/NBC, Not MTV, not Fox. Not DirectTV not Dish Network or Comcast. Keep me and people like me happy and we keep food on your plate - keep them happy and we won't be here for you.

Consider this an Intervention. We love you and it's for your own good.

Wholly

[Bai Shen]

I have no idea then! I had problems with version 2.3 but haven't had any problems with 2.3a yet...

-nods- It did it to me again last night. Unfortunately, leaving it up overnight doesn't let it recover.

[morac]

I'm pretty sure the problem is #2 on whollymindless's list. The software probably isn't using threading correctly so the GUI locks up when the desktop software does certain things. That said I've been able to use the GUI while transferring so I don't think that is it. I do know that periodically the desktop software will re-download the show list from the TiVo (for auto-transfers I think). This will lock up the GUI if you have a large number of shows on your TiVo, but it usually only will do so for a minute or two.

[bicker]

I had a transfer yesterday terminate silently with only a portion of the program transferred. Is there are hard limit at (about) 2 hours 15 minutes?

[Bai Shen]

I had a transfer yesterday terminate silently with only a portion of the program transferred. Is there are hard limit at (about) 2 hours 15 minutes?

Nope. I've run 7-10 hour transfers with no problems. Well, except for the GUI occasionally hanging.

[morac]

I had a transfer yesterday terminate silently with only a portion of the program transferred. Is there are hard limit at (about) 2 hours 15 minutes?
I've found that if a program has a video corruption (pixelation, etc) then it won't transfer past that point. I had a show that in the first minute had a video glitch and the desktop would always stop the transfer exactly at that point.