Steady State - No Time Out

[bcwaller]

I'm not sure how to name this request, but I'd like the TiVo to be in exactly the same state as I left it. If I was viewing the Guide, leave that there until I ask to change it. If I pause a show, leave it there (and don't delete the show) until I come back and hit play. If a show ends and I don't choose to keep or delete, just leave it there.

I often stop whatever I'm doing (watching, setting up recordings, or checking the To Do list) to eat, answer the phone, go to work, etc. Since the idea is that TV does not have to control our life anymore, I just leave it when I feel like it.

When I come back, the TiVo usually is showing whatever is playing on one tuner. Why?

Unless I was watching live TV, there is no reason to play live TV when I turn the TV on. What if I turn the TV on just as Jeff Probst says "the tribe has spoken", but I was recording Survivor? Or maybe I was watching a show and the phone rang as it ended. I may leave the keep or delete screen up and talk for a while. Next thing I know the TiVo is playing live TV and I never had the chance to tell it to delete the show I was just watching.

[kdmorse]

The majority of the timeouts in the unit are there to prevent burn-in of the various bright white overlays. The Tivo doesn't know the TV is off, nor does it know that you may have LCD that isn't susceptible to burning in. So, it moves on to something fluid and safe - live tv. I wish we could up the timeout so it wasn't quite so quick, but that's just the way it is.

If you watch a show from Now Playing, you can pause it, and it will stay paused indefinably.

Before turning on the TV, press the Tivo button, so that you're taken safely into now playing, and don't spoil the end of a show.

As to the rest, if there's a Tivo screen up, it's going to time out on you.

-Ken

[bcwaller]

Burn in is the responsibility of the owner. I'll assume responsibility to turn off my Plasma (if I had one) for the advantage of having the DVR not start doing stuff on it's own volition. I think it is idiotic (not you) to make users hit the remote and set the TiVo into a mode before turning on the TV. I hated the way the FiOS DVR changes state on me, and this is my biggest gripe on the TiVo so far.

When you use your computer, is it running some other program when you come back after a break? When you turn on your iPhone or Palm phone, it it where you left it or did it choose to run a different application? When you get in your car, is the radio or iPod right where you left it or on a different station/playlist?

When I turn TV on, I want to be right where I left off.

Of course, if TiVo really thinks burn in is a problem, they should add in a screen saver...

[TolloNodre]

When you use your computer, is it running some other program when you come back after a break?

Well, yes.

Anti-virus & anti-spyware scans, "critical updates", all sorts of crap.,
I often come back from lunch to find something the network geniuses set to run over a lunch hour. But that's what we get for running windows.

But I agree, a Tivo screensaver would be better...

[WayneCarter]

When you use your computer, is it running some other program when you come back after a break? When you turn on your iPhone or Palm phone, it it where you left it or did it choose to run a different application? When you get in your car, is the radio or iPod right where you left it or on a different station/playlist?TiVo doesn't run "another application", or even a different channel in your absence - unless you specifically told it to do so by scheduling a recording, setting up a wishlist, requesting suggestions, etc.

When you answer your cellphone, you are talking to the person currently calling you, not any who tried you before that you weren't able to answer. If you call up a website, you get the current version of the website, not any interim versions that might have been published since you last visited it.

[bcwaller]

TiVo doesn't run "another application", or even a different channel in your absence - unless you specifically told it to do so by scheduling a recording, setting up a wishlist, requesting suggestions, etc.

Please explain to me how to make it do what you describe then.

If I leave the TiVo in the "Now Playing" menu when I go to be, and have nothing set to record, when I get up it will be showing live TV.

If I'm watching a show that ends, and I choose to talk to my wife for a few minutes, the delete or keep screen will go away and it will start playing live TV.

How do I set my TiVo so that it will leave these screens up indefinitely?

And why would a recording make a difference? I'm watching the output of the TiVo, not the output of a live tuner. Both tuners can do whatever they want and should not impact watching shows, browsing menus, or setting up recordings.

When I answer my phone or call up a Web site, I'm starting a new task. When I go to lunch with my computer one the TiVoCommunity forum up to this thread and come back to it after lunch, should it be on some other thread?

[WayneCarter]

If I leave the TiVo in the "Now Playing" menu when I go to be, and have nothing set to record, when I get up it will be showing live TV.

If I'm watching a show that ends, and I choose to talk to my wife for a few minutes, the delete or keep screen will go away and it will start playing live TV.

How do I set my TiVo so that it will leave these screens up indefinitely?
Now I see what you were asking for, although personally I prefer having the menus and dialogs time out. Many devices have similar time-outs on interaction - cordless and cell phones, TV control menus, my DVD players, ... time-outs are hardly unique to TiVo. I find it hard to think of any situation in which I would walk away from TiVo in the midst of interaction such that I would consider myself adversely affected by the time-outs.

When I answer my phone or call up a Web site, I'm starting a new task. When I go to lunch with my computer one the TiVoCommunity forum up to this thread and come back to it after lunch, should it be on some other thread?IMO this is "Apples & Oranges". Interaction often times out after a period of inactivity. For example, my cell phone's menu system, address book, and most other setup functions all time-out after a period of inactivity.

A TiVo's interactions do time out, but recording and playing back video do not. A paused playback of a recording will stay as you left it indefinitely. A show that is paused while it is being recorded will likewise stay as you left it indefinitely.

[Luke M]

Good suggestion. The timeout is ridiculously short on the TivoHD. It was longer on the Series1. No timeout would be best.

[megazone]

TiVo isn't going to get rid of the timeout. It is TiVo's 'screensaver'. And, if anything, there have been more requests over the years to do MORE to prevent burn in. It isn't unique to TiVo - other CE devices will switch to screen saver modes, or off, if left unattended for some period of time.

The good of the many vs. the wishes of the few, really.

[tilrman]

TiVo isn't going to get rid of the timeout. It is TiVo's 'screensaver'. And, if anything, there have been more requests over the years to do MORE to prevent burn in.

My beef with the "screensaver" is that it spontaneously resumes the audio at full volume. This can be quite startling, particularly because the live program is generally unrelated to the last thing I was watching, is possibly broadcast with louder sound, and in all probability is something I don't want to see or hear anyway.

I concede that it would be confusing to resume the video but not the audio. And since the screensaver is staying, it follows that the audio has to stay as well, even though the audio isn't necessary to prevent burn-in.

I suggest a couple of changes that affect only the audio and only in minor ways: First, when the timeout occurs and TiVo is about to spontaneously resume live TV, it should 'chirp' (please forgive me -- I don't know the name of the sound) to identify itself as the source of the imminent blast of sound. For example, when the 'keep or delete' screen (after playback ends) times out, it chirps in this way, though it goes to another menu, not to live TV. Since there is a precedent for the chirp on a timeout, I anticipate that adding it to the screensaver would be a relatively simple change.

The second suggestion is to have the live audio start silently (or at least quietly) and increase in volume to full over a few seconds. This would not apply to an explicit request for live TV (e.g., hitting the Live TV button), but only to the "screensaver." To my knowledge, TiVo doesn't currently do any sound processing like this, so this may be a substantial change from an implementation standpoint.

Interestingly, pressing the Live TV button elicits a chirp, though the timeout to Live TV screensaver doesn't. This is on a Series2 at 9.3.2a-01-2-649.

[WayneCarter]

... pressing the Live TV button elicits a chirp, though the timeout to Live TV screensaver doesn't. This is on a Series2 at 9.3.2a-01-2-649.Are you sure this isn't just the "chirp" echoing a button press (*any* button) that happens to be of the "Live Video" button.

[tilrman]

Are you sure this isn't just the "chirp" echoing a button press (*any* button) that happens to be of the "Live Video" button.

Could very well be. That sound is not used exclusively for button presses, though. I don't think adding it to the screensaver would conflict with the TiVo look and feel, especially considering TiVo's assumption when the screensaver activates is that there's nobody paying attention anyway.

[jbernardis]

My beef with the "screensaver" is that it spontaneously resumes the audio at full volume. ...

It doesn't come back at "full" volume. The volume is a function of the TV or of the audio receiver you are using. Tivo has nothing whatsoever to do with volume. When live TV is resumed, it comes back at whatever the volume was set to before.

[Videodrome]

Maybe there is something different from my Tivo, but i can pause a show overnight, and it will be exactly where i left it.

[WayneCarter]

Maybe there is something different from my Tivo, but i can pause a show overnight, and it will be exactly where i left it.This is true of programs which are are being recorded. A previously-recorded program can also be paused indefinitely. If a show was not previously-recorded and is not being recorded, the maximum time it can be paused is 30 minutes.

[jbernardis]

Maybe there is something different from my Tivo, but i can pause a show overnight, and it will be exactly where i left it.

If you pause a recorded program, it will remain there indefinitely.

If you are on any of the menus, it will eventually time out and return you to live tv. (not at all a big deal IMHO)

If you pause live tv, it will pause for at most 30 minutes. After the buffer fills up, it will start playing 30 minutes behind real time.

[lrhorer]

Burn in is the responsibility of the owner. I'll assume responsibility to turn off my Plasma (if I had one) for the advantage of having the DVR not start doing stuff on it's own volition.
No offense, but that has to be one of the silliest statements I have heard so far. The entire purpose of a DVR - or even a VCR for that matter - is to autonomously do things without the user being there or having to intervene.

I think it is idiotic (not you) to make users hit the remote and set the TiVo into a mode before turning on the TV.
I don't know what you are doing, or why, but there is decidedly no need to do anything to a TiVo before turning on an attached TV.

I hated the way the FiOS DVR changes state on me, and this is my biggest gripe on the TiVo so far.
You're goingto need to clarify this for me to understand what it is you are trying to say.

When you use your computer, is it running some other program when you come back after a break?
It had better be. If not, it's a pretty worthless PC. The greatest value of any PC is the work it can do when I'm not there. Two of the most expensive and powerful PCs in my house are sitting in the room behind me. They don't even have keyboards, mice, or monitors attached to them, and I rarely go in the room except to get pages off the printer. They do more work than any other computers in the house, including the TiVos. Ideally, I would never have to touch them. (Recently, I have had to touch them far, far too much, but that's another story.)

When I turn TV on, I want to be right where I left off.
If you are watching a recorded program, and you press <Pause>, it will be. If you are watching Live TV, it can't. Once the pause buffer overflows, the DVR has to move on, or it would fill up the hard drive. That, not to mention the fact the TiVo will eventually have to change channels, or it won't be able to record anything, at least not on that tuner. You aren't seriously suggesting the TiVo should semi-permanently disable the tuner's ability to change channels and record things?

[lrhorer]

If I leave the TiVo in the "Now Playing" menu when I go to be, and have nothing set to record, when I get up it will be showing live TV.
Yes, as others have mentioned, if you are in a menu, the TiVo will time out when there is no response for a period of time. Again, as others have mentioned, this is by far the most preferred method of operation.

If I'm watching a show that ends, and I choose to talk to my wife for a few minutes, the delete or keep screen will go away and it will start playing live TV.
That is a menu, and yes, once again, any menu will time out if no response is given within a set period of time. The Tivo is certainly not unique in this respect, and I think you will find most people are either indifferent or prefer this behavior.

How do I set my TiVo so that it will leave these screens up indefinitely?
You can't. All the menus time out. Some applications, such as Galleon, employ internal screen savers and allow the user to disable the timeout while the application is running.

And why would a recording make a difference? I'm watching the output of the TiVo, not the output of a live tuner. Both tuners can do whatever they want and should not impact watching shows, browsing menus, or setting up recordings.
I think you are confusing yourself a bit. If you press <Pause> while watching a recording, including a recording in progress, it will indeed stay on the screen indefinitely. A "live" show is different in that very respect. Any "live" program is indeed being spooled from a live tuner. That is the defining characteristic of a "live" program, as opposed to one being currently recorded. The fact the "live" program must at some point overflow its buffer means the live program cannot be held in pause indefinitely. Ignoring the fact means the live buffers would have to be extended to allow for multi-hour live programs, and with two live buffers, that would be a very serious impact on available drive space. You might cut the TiVoHDs recording time to less than 10 hours, perhaps to less than 5.

When I answer my phone or call up a Web site, I'm starting a new task. When I go to lunch with my computer one the TiVoCommunity forum up to this thread and come back to it after lunch, should it be on some other thread?
Forum threads are not high definition video, or even SD. They are a minuscule amount of data readily maintained on hold in your computer's memory.