Tuners vs OD fail

fysmd · 02-24-2011, 02:07 AM

Ok so I know that the third tuner kicks in later but last night I was watching The Gadget Show on demand (loving being able to scroll the guide backward!) when TiVo ask permission to change channel.
Only one red light lit so I assume that problem number one is that it didn't realise i wasn't using the other tuner.
Problem number two is bigger though. Bloody thing switched me to the tuner in question and then changed channel!

Annoying!! Had to fast^H^H^H^H^Hslow forward back to where I was up to.

So two requests: continue OD playback when irresolute like this and provide a faster fast fwd while playing OD

jonphil · 02-24-2011, 02:34 AM

Already mentioned a while back.
OD does use one of the tuners

I think we all assumed that it would come via the network connection, but I suppose technically Tivo still needs to use the tuner to display the OD content.
Hopefully it won't be too long before the 3rd tuner gets added. We have learnt to look and see if we have time to watch something OD before both tuners kick in.

Digital Fanatic · 02-24-2011, 05:09 AM

This issue is known, but 3rd tuner in March will fix this problem.

Buzby · 02-24-2011, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digital Fanatic

This issue is known, but 3rd tuner in March will fix this problem.

Do we know WHICH March this will be...?

deshepherd · 02-24-2011, 10:11 AM

Thought the VOD was delivered via IP connection through the modem? In fact there's another thread which has a comment that after some problems where VOD worked when other features didn't (or was it the other way round) and this was taken to be imply that VOD was coming via IP.

doctor.steve · 02-24-2011, 12:02 PM

I'm glad someone else posted this - the same thing occured to me the other day when watching OD for "outcasts" - the tivo had crashed the previous day when trying to record it originally - whilst watching another show I pressed forwards about 6 times to skip 3minutes and it all lit up and went into reset mode.

I couldn't figure out why a tuner would be needed for ondemand as it's streaming thru the 10MB connection.

- Oddly the BBC HD logo for that show slowly crept in from the upper left hand corner over the period of the show - I eventually could see the last bit of "bc" and just the bottom of it... nothing to do with tivo - an OD glitch I guess.

jonphil · 02-24-2011, 12:14 PM

maybe someone from Virgin could explain, but I think the od maybe coming through the network, but Tivo needs the tuner to be able to output the video to the TV?

Brangdon · 02-24-2011, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonphil

maybe someone from Virgin could explain, but I think the od maybe coming through the network, but Tivo needs the tuner to be able to output the video to the TV?

It can output video to TV fine, if it's coming from the local hard disk, even though it is stored in the same format.

Any video coming over the wire needs a tuner. It doesn't seem to make a difference whether it is broadcast TV, or On Demand sent only to you. To be honest I don't see why it should; it's all video.

I seem to recall the YouTube also needs a tuner, which surprised me slightly more. I wonder if VM are re-encoding it differently to how it would be fed to a browser.

dmeldrum · 02-24-2011, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brangdon

It can output video to TV fine, if it's coming from the local hard disk, even though it is stored in the same format.

Any video coming over the wire needs a tuner. It doesn't seem to make a difference whether it is broadcast TV, or On Demand sent only to you. To be honest I don't see why it should; it's all video.

Interestingly if you record two channels at once and then try on-demand it will fail before presenting any menus or content choices. I wonder if it is attempting to show the on-demand trailer channel that needs the third tuner?

Quote:

I seem to recall the YouTube also needs a tuner, which surprised me slightly more. I wonder if VM are re-encoding it differently to how it would be fed to a browser.

No, I've proven that you can watch YouTube while recording two channels simultaneously.

darrenkenny2011 · 02-24-2011, 03:21 PM

Vod on Tivo is still delivered over DVBC like the other boxes. Virgin may in future use the inbuilt modem for VOD but not yet.

Digital Fanatic · 02-25-2011, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buzby

Do we know WHICH March this will be...?

This March

Faz · 02-25-2011, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darrenkenny2011

Vod on Tivo is still delivered over DVBC like the other boxes. Virgin may in future use the inbuilt modem for VOD but not yet.

Hope this happens soon!

Only today I was telling someone how much better TiVo handles conflicts compared to Sky+. e.g. "TiVo is very intelligent in handling these, ahead of time, and NOT just when it actually happens, requiring a split second decision to either abandon the last part of a film you're watching, or cancel recording the latest episode of your favourite drama."

Quite frankly I was shocked when TiVo presented the conflict window whilst I was in the middle of watching some OD content.

So really the third tuner is a requirement, to offset a problem introduced by OD. But at least Virgin's service is truly on demand, similar to Homechoice, which I remember having more content.

ericd121 · 02-26-2011, 08:04 AM

Hopefully this isn't too off-topic.

If the VMTivo is recording two programmes, can you view a previously recorded programme?

cwaring · 02-26-2011, 09:07 AM

Yes. Record two, watch one. But cannot switch channels or watch any OD content if both tuners are in use.

This will change shortly when the third tuner is enabled.

ericd121 · 02-27-2011, 03:02 AM

Thanks, Carl.

So this is a step up from the V+, where the third tuner was used to either record or view a programme?

I.e. when VMTivo's third tuner kicks in, it'll record three programmes and allow you to view one, whereas, I believe, with the V+ you can only record two if you want to view a previously recorded programme: a situation I always found puzzling.

cwaring · 02-27-2011, 03:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericd121

So this is a step up from the V+, where the third tuner was used to either record or view a programme?

Well right now it's a step backwards, but only for up to another month

Quote:

I.e. when VMTivo's third tuner kicks in, it'll record three programmes and allow you to view one, whereas, I believe, with the V+ you can only record two if you want to view a previously recorded programme: a situation I always found puzzling.

The V+ had two hidden tuners and one visible. I often had both tuners recording whilst watching something either recorded or OD, but I could have watched something else live if I had wanted to.

warrenrb · 02-28-2011, 05:04 PM

One frustrating thing about the OD using tuners I discovered tonight. I wanted to watch 30 rock, and did a search, found it, went into episode list, the season I wanted, the episode I wanted, watch from on demand, play.

TiVo was recording two things at the time, so it said it had to cancel a recording to watch OD. Problem was, it only offered me the choice of one programme to cancel - not the one I would have cancelled, given the choice.

So I had to go back to home, manually cancel the other programme, and then work my way all the way back through the OD menus again to get to the show I wanted to watch.

I guess my point is it would be good if, when a conflict warning comes up, it let me choose which show I want to cancel, right there in the alert screen.

mikerr · 02-28-2011, 05:19 PM

Quote:

So I had to go back to home, manually cancel the other programme, and then work my way all the way back through the OD menus again to get to the show I wanted to watch.

On a related note - I wish you could "tag" an on demand show for later.

E.g I end up in a menu for an on demand show - i don't want to watch it immediately, but I want to remember to watch it tomorrow - without having to drill down through the search system.

you could just select "add to watch list", then later view a list of tagged shows
- showing up as a folder in my shows with each "recording" playing an on demand show.

CeeBeeUK · 03-01-2011, 01:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikerr

On a related note - I wish you could "tag" an on demand show for later.

E.g I end up in a menu for an on demand show - i don't want to watch it immediately, but I want to remember to watch it tomorrow - without having to drill down through the search system.

you could just select "add to watch list", then later view a list of tagged shows
- showing up as a folder in my shows with each "recording" playing an on demand show.

big +1 on this