Major New Autocorrect Annoyance!

[destek]

Ok - I've been around the block on this one (poosted earlier believing it was probably a transient problem) - but now I've decided it's completely broken!
My autocorrect (the way it jumps back when you hit play while fast-forwarding) is completely messed up. Yes I have rebooted, restarted, re-everythinged...
I have digital cable with a cable card in my Series III HD Tivo.
For some reason the latest software autocorrect will take me back several minutes. If I try to go several minutes more into the show it will TAKE ME BACK TO THE SAME PLACE it did before. Hitting the pause button doesn't help - it does exactly the same thing! I always wind up jumping back two and three 30 second spots. The only way around this i've found is to slow the fast forward down to just one arrow, and then hit pause. This makes skipping commercials take really really long. I've had digital cable for about 8 months now and the problem only started about two months ago (maybe a little less).
What gives? This has made my Tivo experience much less pleasant.
Can the Autocorrect be turned off entirely? While not what I want (Before the autocorrect was dead-accurate for me) it appears to be a better alternative than fast-forwarding at only 1.5x.

Des

[CrispyCritter]

Is this on all channels, or just HD channels (or just digital channels)?

There were substantial problems of this sort when the S3 first came out - some cable providers were removing key frames when they "degraded" their incoming signals, and the TiVo couldn't keep track of time correctly for the autocorrect. Sounds like your cable provider may have come up with a new way of degrading their signal that TiVo doesn't have a work-around for yet.

I'd give TiVo a call. I don't know of any work-arounds that you can use.

[steve614]

Three words: Thirty Second Skip. :p

[ctcraig]

No help here. I had the same problem on my HD, but it went away after a couple of days

[bkdtv]

destek,

Who is your provider? Does this affect both 20x and 60x FF?

Is your software v11.0c or 11.0d? Does this affect all channels, or only a few channels? Does it affect the local channels?

[Dan203]

You should read my post here...

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7049355#post7049355

It explains why FF/RW and auto correct can be wonky on digital and HD channels.

The reason this was never a problem with S2 TiVos is because those recoded from analog signal, so TiVo had precise control over how the MPEG-2 data was encoded. With S3/HD units they're at the mercy of the parameters of the incoming stream.

Dan

[richsadams]

You should read my post here...

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7049355#post7049355

It explains why FF/RW and auto correct can be wonky on digital and HD channels.

The reason this was never a problem with S2 TiVos is because those recoded from analog signal, so TiVo had precise control over how the MPEG-2 data was encoded. With S3/HD units they're at the mercy of the parameters of the incoming stream.

DanNice post Dan...I missed it when you first posted it. Good job of explaining in layman's terms (for us Great Unwashed) how things work. It's obvious to anyone that used an S1 or S2 that digital content, particularly HD behaved differently during FF/RW, but I now have a much better understanding of why, and why it doesn't always behave the same. :up:

P.S. Notice that I didn't mention anything about VideoReDo for Mac this time? Oh, wait... ;)

[destek]

You should read my post here...

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7049355#post7049355

It explains why FF/RW and auto correct can be wonky on digital and HD channels.

The reason this was never a problem with S2 TiVos is because those recoded from analog signal, so TiVo had precise control over how the MPEG-2 data was encoded. With S3/HD units they're at the mercy of the parameters of the incoming stream.

Dan

Yes - nice post. I knew about the GOP structure of MPEG streams - however I did not know (or stop to think) about the hijinx being done by the cable companies. I have Charter in Madison, WI. My TIVO is a Series 3 with SW Ver. 11.0c-01-2-652

This still does not explain, however, why my TIVO jumps back several minutes sometimes - there's no GOP structure possible for it to be THAT long if TIVO is just looking for I frames. This just seems wonky to me.

At the end of the day - if TIVO simply can not address this then they really need a way to let consumers turn of auto-correct. The experience is not what they advertise when you have to try three and four times to get even remotely close to where you want to start viewing. Right now I spend nearly as much time wrestling with auto-correct then I would watching the commercials!

Des

[bkdtv]

Is this happening on FF2x and FF3x? Note the TiVo does not even have autocorrection at FF1x.

[destek]

Is this happening on FF2x and FF3x? Note the TiVo does not even have autocorrection at FF1x.

That is precisely correct. If I use FF1 then there is no problem - it just takes a very long time to buz (or should I say b-u-u-u-u-u-u-z) through a commercial break.
One funny thing I noted too is if I go FF2 or FF3 and near the end try to back off to FF1 - it still autocorrects back to where I started!

[FrodoB]

What channels are you experiencing this on? All? And are you on Charter Digital or analog? I haven't noticed this, and we're on the same cable setup. :)

Back in the early days of the Series 3, FOX-47 had a problem similar to what you're reporting, but in reverse. The autocorrect actually jumped forward (which is... bad for 24 and House). TiVo fixed it (it apparently affected a lot of FIOS stations), and autocorrect's been fine for me ever since.

[destek]

What channels are you experiencing this on? All? And are you on Charter Digital or analog? I haven't noticed this, and we're on the same cable setup. :)

Back in the early days of the Series 3, FOX-47 had a problem similar to what you're reporting, but in reverse. The autocorrect actually jumped forward (which is... bad for 24 and House). TiVo fixed it (it apparently affected a lot of FIOS stations), and autocorrect's been fine for me ever since.

I have all digital with charter. It doesn't happen at all on WGN. It happens all the time on USA. So it does indeed have something to do with the source.
This is just Weird!

[ZeoTiVo]

This still does not explain, however, why my TIVO jumps back several minutes sometimes - there's no GOP structure possible for it to be THAT long if TIVO is just looking for I frames. This just seems wonky to me.


I have all digital with charter. It doesn't happen at all on WGN. It happens all the time on USA. So it does indeed have something to do with the source.
This is just Weird!

perhaps there just is no GOP structure at all(really key pieces missing is what I mean) and no one has clued them in yet to what effect that is having. What about video file size - how does that compare to other channels of basically the same kind of show.

[Dan203]

Can you successfully use the replay feature on the effected channels? Or does that skip back way further then intended as well? If not then try pressing it a bunch of times in a row and see if that makes any difference.

There are a few other things that could cause this behavior, such as the use of open GOPs or bad time stamps, but those would most likely effect the IR capabilities as well.

Dan