[davetroup]

I love TiVo’s “skip” feature. It was great when they introduced it a couple of years ago. And, for a while, nearly all Prime time network TV programming supported Skip, maybe not immediately, but within a few hours of the show's broadcast.

Lately, though, fewer and fewer programs have skip enabled, and it’s gotten to the point that perhaps only about 20-25% of the shows I record support the skip feature. I’m not talking obscure programs, I’m talking about shows like Modern Family, The Blacklist, etc. I still reflexively press the skip button, but now I find myself startled on the rare occasion that it actually does anything.

Presumably there is some sort of manual process for inserting the skip markers into programs. Is Tivo/Rovi simply not investing in doing so any more?

Edit: I’m amused that the forum still calls me a “New Member” after nearly 14 years...

 

[Dan203]

TiVo said recently that they are playing with a new system where they add skip to the most popular shows across a larger number of channels and times, rather then a fixed set of channels and a specific block of time. It's resulted in some shows having it intermittently and some shows that use to have it not getting it at all.

 

[JoeKustra]

Lately, though, fewer and fewer programs have skip enabled, and it's gotten to the point that perhaps only about 20-25% of the shows I record support the skip feature. I'm not talking obscure programs, I'm talking about shows like Modern Family, The Blacklist, etc. I still reflexively press the skip button, but now I find myself startled on the rare occasion that it actually does anything.
Edit: I'm amused that the forum still calls me a "New Member" after nearly 14 years...

TiVo uses post count for that tag, but you can change it.

There's a thread, somewhat active, where SM failures are posted. -> Skip not available on shows recorded tonight I can't recall ever missing SM on The Blacklist.

So I checked -> Skip not available on shows recorded tonight

 

[Rob Helmerichs]

TiVo uses post count for that tag, but you can change it.

Yeah, I make it a point to change mine weekly...

 

[TonyD79]

I love TiVo's "skip" feature. It was great when they introduced it a couple of years ago. And, for a while, nearly all Prime time network TV programming supported Skip, maybe not immediately, but within a few hours of the show's broadcast.

Lately, though, fewer and fewer programs have skip enabled, and it's gotten to the point that perhaps only about 20-25% of the shows I record support the skip feature. I'm not talking obscure programs, I'm talking about shows like Modern Family, The Blacklist, etc. I still reflexively press the skip button, but now I find myself startled on the rare occasion that it actually does anything.

Presumably there is some sort of manual process for inserting the skip markers into programs. Is Tivo/Rovi simply not investing in doing so any more?

Edit: I'm amused that the forum still calls me a "New Member" after nearly 14 years...

Something is wrong. Except for the nights TiVo had a problem, skip has been pretty consistent for me. I hardly ever get it on one channel that has garbled CC but otherwise, pretty dependable.

 

[Rob Helmerichs]

Yeah, as of early this morning I had it on all but one of last night's shows (Krypton)...

 

[longrider]

I only use TiVo for OTA but the only thing that has been missing Skip for several weeks was the last episode of Agents of Shield

 

[davetroup]

Thanks for the link to that other post. There seem to be people complaining about some of the same shows I’ve noticed don’t have Skip anymore (60 Minutes, Late Show with Jimmy Fallon, Deception) but it seems as if others report success with episodes which failed for me.

I don’t have an understanding of how the skip data is transmitted and maybe that’s part of the problem. Sometimes a show will start out saying “Skip is available” but then when I try to use it, it’s not, and the “available” message disappears.

Does Tivo still pay any attention to that old survey where you could report skip failures?

 

[JoeKustra]

Does Tivo still pay any attention to that old survey where you could report skip failures?

Unknown, but I still report them.

 

[KDeFlane]

Presumably there is some sort of manual process for inserting the skip markers into programs.

I picture a team of slaves in a dark room watching these shows for the elites of society, marking the skip breaks for pennies per click. {*wink* hyperbole/humor *wink*} Sure, conditions are (probably) not that bad for the workers, but I still feel uncomfortable taking advantage of them when I can just FF thru commercials myself. Our household sometimes rewinds to watch an amusing ad, a movie trailer, or other local info we would otherwise miss. From what I gather, some complaints about the erratic nature of SkipMode might be lessened with a marker to indicate when SM will or won't be applied, such as a "come back in 2 hours" or "this show is not slated for SM processing" after a query. It's more about expectations, isn't it?

 

[JoeKustra]

It's more about expectations, isn't it?

Just think how nice it would be if every program recorded had a code that reflected its SM status.

 

[davetroup]

I picture a team of slaves in a dark room watching these shows for the elites of society, marking the skip breaks for pennies per click. {*wink* hyperbole/humor *wink*} Sure, conditions are (probably) not that bad for the workers, but I still feel uncomfortable taking advantage of them when I can just FF thru commercials myself. Our household sometimes rewinds to watch an amusing ad, a movie trailer, or other local info we would otherwise miss. From what I gather, some complaints about the erratic nature of SkipMode might be lessened with a marker to indicate when SM will or won't be applied, such as a "come back in 2 hours" or "this show is not slated for SM processing" after a query. It's more about expectations, isn't it?

Hahaha... finally, full employment for vidiots!

More seriously, I had hypothesized that Tivo had enabled a capability on the devices of their employees for adding commercial markers on programs those emoloyees watched at home, and then propagating the skip data through their network to other users. I thought that might be a way of getting skip data on most popular shows, if they could incentivize enough employees to participate. That might also explain why there would be less skip data these days, as people may have grown weary of dutifully marking the commercial.

The idea of having people in a room watching every TV show just to mark commercials seemed awfully expensive. But I am rather curious how they DO do it.

 

[JohnS-MI]

If the show doesn't display the skip icon in the listing (My Shows), I can handle that. However, I am seeing a lot of cases where the Skip icon is displayed, but Skip Mode doesn't work. Those get me all excited, then dash my hopes on a pile of rocks.

 

[davetroup]

If the show doesn't display the skip icon in the listing (My Shows), I can handle that. However, I am seeing a lot of cases where the Skip icon is displayed, but Skip Mode doesn't work. Those get me all excited, then dash my hopes on a pile of rocks.

Yes, I have that a lot too. When you first start playing the show, it displays "Skip is available" but then it turns out not to be.

 

[Rob Helmerichs]

I only use TiVo for OTA but the only thing that has been missing Skip for several weeks was the last episode of Agents of Shield

Looking at the other thread, that was one that showed up for me overnight...

 

[JoeKustra]

The idea of having people in a room watching every TV show just to mark commercials seemed awfully expensive. But I am rather curious how they DO do it.

This post might help -> Skip Mode Not Working Sunday 04/29/18

 

[andyw715]

It funny. I just received an email from TiVo today with the subject "You have SkipMode!"

"
Here at TiVo, we are thrilled to let you know that SkipMode® has arrived on your TiVo box.
Haven't heard about SkipMode? On certain recorded shows SkipMode gives you the power to skip entire commercial breaks with the push of a single button. SkipMode is supported for the top 20 most-watched broadcast and cable networks.
You'll find SkipMode-enabled shows in your My Shows folder with the SKIP icon. When you watch your recorded shows, press the green D button and TiVo will skip over entire commercial breaks and resume your show in the blink of an eye.
Is this a rip in the space-time continuum? No. It's just SkipMode from TiVo.
Happy Watching!
Your TiVo Team"

 

[Miles Lott]

Yeah, I got the same email which is what led me here. I was pretty sure this was already a feature I haven't monitored consistency. But, for shows also in syndication, perhaps only the first run in prime time is marked as compatible? Just a thought.

 

[MichaelAinNB]

I got the same email. Thing is, I own three Premiere's so, no TiVo, I DON'T have skip mode. But thanks just the same for the worthless email.

 

[realityboy]

I got the same email. Thing is, I own three Premiere's so, no TiVo, I DON'T have skip mode. But thanks just the same for the worthless email.

It's being added to Premieres. That was the purpose of the email.