No improvement to "find programs" in years

Yes, and no if you want Cablecard. If you don't, there are better DVRs like MythTV.

 

Is the Ceton CableCARD tuner a reality? Wouldn't that be an alternative that does allow CableCARDs?

 

Sure, but is 7MC better than Tivo? I don't think so. Different yes, better no.

 

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I'm answering theoretically, since I have nothing newer than XP in the house, but ...

The beauty of 7MC is that I can replace hardware by myself. If I want 8 TB, then I can build a system with 8 TB. If I want reliable hardware, I can buy reliable hardware. This last one is the biggie for me, I've got one TiVo HD that's basically unused since it keeps crashing, I've got a second that decides to "freeze" about once a month.

So with 7MC and some money, I can at least eliminate the hardware component of TiVo's flakiness. So is 7MC software "more or less" as good as a TiVo for basic DVR functionality? If not, can I live with the limitations? I assume it's better than a generic cable company DVR; that's a low enough hurdle that even MSFT should be able to do better.

 

You could just as easily get lemons in the PC realm. I have working knowledge of 12 or so TiVo DVrs and out of that 1 was a little flaky (TiVo HD) but still very serviceable.

SO WMC has its strong points, one being you can buy as much power as you want to do the various things a WMC can do -- but I count 99.999% reliability in a box I do no maintenance or tech support on as a plus for TiVo


oh and for the OP - TiVo search has many changes. Wishlists have logical operators now and better categories.

conflict resolution is still limited though

 

When my wish lists record a program a folder with the title of the wishlist is created in the now playing list and the programs that are recorded by the wishlist appear in the wishlist titled folder. I believe the functionality you desire already exists.

 

I want star ratings for movies.

A wish list for Movies -> HD -> 3.5 stars or higher would be quite useful.

Thankfully, I can remove "Lifetime Movies" from my line up. (Not that there are many 3+ star movies on that channel.)

 

Channel number -- the intention is to use season passes for individual shows for that, since they're channel limited.

I'm not saying I wouldn't want many of the same things you do.. but there are IMHO much more basic things that should take higher priority, that still haven't been done yet.

 

Why?

I don't see how. Half or better of the worst movies ever made get ratings of 3.5 or 4 stars, and half or better of the best movies get 2 star ratings or worse. The other half of each get ratings closer to being reasonable, assuming they get a star rating, at all. I find such a feature to be as totally useless as the star ratings themselves. I can and do make up my own mind about how good or bad a program is. What anyone else thinks - most especially some critic - is completely irrelevant.

 

In heaven's name, why? What difference does it make what channel airs the content, or what the name of that channel may be? One of the better things about the TiVo is that channel numbers and names become largely irrelevant.

The terms are meaningless in the context of a wishist, and filtering based upon these criteria is fully available for Season Passes.

A "before year xxxx" and "after year zzzz" filter might be useful on very rare occasions, but I can't imagine a filter for a specific year being very useful. Perhaps you have memorized thousands of release years for thousands of programs, but I surely have not. I can usually guess within 5 years or so, but hitting the target? I doubt many people could manage.

You mean as in, "Do not record anything directed by David Lean"? Hmm. The application seems pretty limited, unless you mean something else.

First of all, who cares? Secondly, I don't think this is even possible, and certainly not practical. Some programs could be potentially recorded by a dozen different wishlists. I fairly frequently have programs selected by more than one wishlist. The movie Vertigo, for example, would be selected by no fewer than 3 of my wishlists.

You're going to have to explain that one to me, because I don't see how that follows, at all.

Absolutely no way as long as the TiVo is a CableLabs certified unit, and / or the chain of trust is intact.

 

This is simply untrue. TiVo has made many updates to their search engines, some within the last two years.

Now there you are correct. The Tivo's conflict resolution features - or lack thereof - are IMO the TiVo's greatest failing.

 

So what's this "I wish conflict resolution was better" thing about?

If one of the shows is on another time --- it records THAT one another time. What more is there?

I guess I wish I could control which shows can be "clipped". I hate clipping, but thanks to ABC (V), I HAVE to clip one minute of Parenthood EVERY week.

 

First of all, this is not necessarily true, at all. Secondly, this assumes the lowest priority recording will enjoy another airing - which is often not the case. On any Dual Tuner TiVo, a conflict involves an overlap between three or more selected programs. In many cases, the user may wish to eliminate the highest priority program, for a variety of reasons, among them being there may be another airing available. Unfortunately, the Tivo does not even notify the user what the identity of the highest priority recording is. One must exit the conflict screen and investigate manually. It also does not notify the user which, if any, of the programs in conflict do indeed have alternate airings, nor does it give enough details - such as the program synopsis - within the conflict screen to make fully informed decisions about which program to eliminate. Finally, presuming the selected program does have an alternate airing, it does not give the user the option to record the program at that time.

That, too. It would also sometimes be helpful to be able to control the amount of clipping.

 

I guess I can buy that. Although, putting broadcast shows at the top of your SP List solves most of that.

A third tuner would help, too. You know, a REAL Premiere "XL".

 

Put Parenthood higher in the SP list, and V will be end-clipped instead.

 

By "broadcast" do you mean the four big national networks? I avoid watching the Networks.

That's using a siege gun - and an expensive one - to kill a gnat. A little bit of fairly mundane coding can resolve the bulk of the issue, and it could do so on the S3 and even S2DT units already in existence, without the addition of some significantly expensive hardware added into an as-yet-to-be-released platform.

 

OK.

NickToons good?, but ABC bad?

 

I don't watch either one.