What hacks will I miss?

[bluewomble]

Like many other forum users, I've had a Series 1 box in the UK for many years and I'm very much looking forward to upgrading to the new VM TiVo as soon as it comes out.

I've not really kept up to date with TiVo technology, so I'm not sure exactly what features the Series 4 unit has... There are a number of hacks that I use on my Series 1 box which I'd miss when moving to a new box... (and I understand that the Series 4 units are more locked down than the Series 1 units were)... So, which of the following Series 1 hacks are now 'built-in', missing, or no longer needed?


TiVoWeb
EndPad style soft-padding
Dailymail
Tracker
Blocklist


Cheers,
Ash.

[mikerr]

Take a look at this feature list for TiVo Premiere:
http://www.tivo.com/products/tivo-premiere/index.html

The VM TiVo is based on that codebase, so we should get similar features:

Schedule recordings remotely on the web or your mobile phone
Transfer recordings to your laptop, iPod, iPhone, PSP, or other mobile device
Transfer your favorite recorded programs to your computer and burn them onto a DVD disc
Transfer videos to your TiVo box for viewing on your TV
Enjoy your PC or Mac's music and photo libraries on your TV

Stream music from Pandora etc
VM are doing (done?) a deal with spotify to bring that onto their TiVo.

So TBH, most of the good stuff has been integrated.

[fysmd]

TiVoWeb
EndPad style soft-padding
Dailymail
Tracker
Blocklist


I run exactly the same hacks. Not sure I will miss any of them in the new machine. Really looking forward to iPad app. Daily mail perhaps.

[TCM2007]

TiVO Premier does not have soft padding and there's no way to install EndPad on it.

However with triple tuners it should be much less of an issue to use hard padding on BBC 2.

[alextegg]

Yeah, I think with triple tuners lack of endpad will be less of an issue.

Dailymail will definitely be something I will miss, although the main thing I used it for was alerting of conflicts etc which again triple tuners will help...

[warrenrb]

Bring on triple tuners - trying to set recordings for all the kids movies etc. this Xmas has been a clash-tastic.

[TCM2007]

I have three tuners now, and clashes are pretty much a thing of the past.

[Richard Loxley]

TiVO Premier does not have soft padding and there's no way to install EndPad on it.

However with triple tuners it should be much less of an issue to use hard padding on BBC 2.
It's so long since I installed EndPad that I can't remember the default Tivo behaviour.

Can you specify a fixed padding to go on all recordings automatically or do you have to add the start and end padding manually every time you program a recording?

[The Wishlist]

Clashes? What are they? ;)

Hopes Virgin gets that 3rd tuner activated sharp-ish.

[bluewomble]

Ok so it sounds like the lack of endpad wont be an issue with so many tuners... I seem to remember that with series 1 you can either add hard padding to all recordings, or to a particular season pass... But it's been ages since I've used hard padding.

What about tracker and blocklist?

I think the standard (series 1) behaviour was to not record any programs which had been recorded in the last 30 days... Tracker allowed you to extend that so that something you had watched would _never_ be recorded again, even after 30 days... I found it very useful... Quite often a programme is a repeat, but I won't have seen it before, so tracker allowed you to record only things that were new to you... Is that built into the new tivos?

I also quite liked blocklist, which worked a bit like an anti-wishlist, so for example I could set up a wishlist for 'Hugh Laurie & Comedy' but block all episodes of Blackadder (because I have them all in DVD)...

[cwaring]

Hopes Virgin gets that 3rd tuner activated sharp-ish.
Due around March, I think.

[mikerr]

I also quite liked blocklist, which worked a bit like an anti-wishlist, so for example I could set up a wishlist for 'Hugh Laurie & Comedy' but block all episodes of Blackadder (because I have them all in DVD)...

Yep, they did eventually integrate blocklist (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=353390) functionality into the main software so we'll have that on the new TiVo :up::up:

http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/199
Title Keyword -FRIENDS
Actor ANISTON, JENNIFER
This search will find all programs with Jennifer Aniston except for the program 'Friends'.

[fysmd]

Yeah, I think with triple tuners lack of endpad will be less of an issue.

Hhhmm, I have three tuners in a V+ but as it has hard padding, it can (does) get in a mess when there are back to back shows. Not a daily event but v annoying.

In fact, (off topic but while I'm moaning on about it) V+ is pretty bad with conflicts generally, clear a conflice and it doesn't notice. I found I had to clear all recordings, remove hard padding and re set the same things to record...

[TCM2007]

As the TiVo software replaces the VM software ther's no reason to think any software problems will be carried over.

[Furball]

Not so much a hack but more a standard feature, will the VM TiVos still have all the "Blings" and "Dongs" sound effectes while navigating the menus, I know it sounds daft but we love those and Sky+ seems so silent when navigating about, everyone that comes to our house always comments on the "blings" and "dongs" etc that TiVo makes.

Furball

[Tim L]

Not so much a hack but more a standard feature, will the VM TiVos still have all the "Blings" and "Dongs" sound effectes while navigating the menus, I know it sounds daft but we love those and Sky+ seems so silent when navigating about, everyone that comes to our house always comments on the "blings" and "dongs" etc that TiVo makes.

Furball

Horses for courses I guess - I turned those sound effects off shortly after getting my Tivo as I found them annoying.

[dvdfever]

Not so much a hack but more a standard feature, will the VM TiVos still have all the "Blings" and "Dongs" sound effectes while navigating the menus, I know it sounds daft but we love those and Sky+ seems so silent when navigating about, everyone that comes to our house always comments on the "blings" and "dongs" etc that TiVo makes.

Furball

I want blings and dongs! (not something I normally shout out, as a heterosexual male) ;)

[M_at]

As the TiVo software replaces the VM software ther's no reason to think any software problems will be carried over.

The current V+ boxes are not powerful enough to take the TiVo software. The V-HD boxes (Now the standard non DVR offering) are but obviously will not offer the TiVo recording side of the service.

But if you view TiVo as a platform, reverse EPG, menu system, searching, EPG data etc then it makes a lot of sense to roll it out to the V-HD boxes later.

But they'll have to do a lot of box swaps to standardise the service.

[smokie]

Not so much a hack but more a standard feature, will the VM TiVos still have all the "Blings" and "Dongs" sound effectes while navigating the menus, I know it sounds daft but we love those and Sky+ seems so silent when navigating about, everyone that comes to our house always comments on the "blings" and "dongs" etc that TiVo makes.

Furball

Yes, I can confirm that it has the same sound effects...

[forgotmyusername]

Smokie, overall what are your impressions now you have had a few days to use it?

What is good :up:, what is bad :down:, what could do with some improvement?

Thanks for all the updates,

[big_dirk]

I've got my box now and miss from the original TiVo the web server running on it, and also the 15 minute "notches" skip (at least I think that is a hack!?, you can't do it on the new box anyway)

[TCM2007]

Switching the 30 second and 15-minute skip was a handset command. From memory S-P-S-3-0-S but someone will doubtless corrent me

[Pete77]

Switching the 30 second and 15-minute skip was a handset command. From memory S-P-S-3-0-S but someone will doubtless corrent me

15 minute skip forward or back (or 30 minute skip forward or back on long recordings over three hours) is a standard Tivo S1 feature operated by pressing the skip button (with the arrow attached to a circle) while you are fast forwarding or rewinding a program. 30 second skip was a hack operated through back door codes that replaced the 15 minute skip. As advert breaks are up to 5 minutes long these days on some channels I have never found the 30 second skip any use but I do use the 15 minute skip all the time to navigate through programs. I skip the advert breaks by fast forwarding at double or triple speed and then hitting the Play button when I see the end of it.

Are we really saying that the new Tivo doesn't let you skip foward for 15 or 30 minutes at a time whilst fast forwarding or rewinding with the skip button?

[big_dirk]

Are we really saying that the new Tivo doesn't let you skip foward for 15 or 30 minutes at a time whilst fast forwarding or rewinding with the skip button?


It's been so long since I used my S1 TiVo that I'd forgotten it was only available when fast forwarding or rewinding, I thought you could just do it from play. I've just checked and YES you can do this on the new one :) sorry if I panicked anyone!