Keep in mind that pause live TV is recorded at the best quality level so the buffer is "expensive". One quick solution is to just hit your record button. The buffer level will then be as large as the remaining space on your Tivo. You can watch and pause while it records.
Pause Live TV for Longer 30 minutes
I have had the cable tv dvr's for the past 4-5 years. I have never owned a Tivo until now. I bought a Series 3 because of the functionality and better interface. The only thing cable tv dvr's beat the Tivo hands down is the ability to pause live tv for 1 hour. I love everything about the Tivo but being able to pause from 30 minutes to 1 hours is big to me.
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My S2 tivo's have a 120 minute buffer (not an official feature of course). 
Tivo could do it if they wanted to.
Tivo could do it if they wanted to.
Yeah, it would be nice.
But as chip mentiond above, the "cost" of that would be HDD space and could start to bump some shows off of the NP list.
But as chip mentiond above, the "cost" of that would be HDD space and could start to bump some shows off of the NP list.
That is true about HD space but can couter that by a larger HD. Again this is the only arguement a lot of forums have about Tivo's to cable company DVR's. They say the interface is cool but you can only pause for 30 minuts and I can pause for 1 hour. :up:
Rather have 30 min buffer and 1 hour more recording
Adjustable would be good, but VERY low on the priority list.
Adjustable would be good, but VERY low on the priority list.
Something adjustable would be very nice, and something that i believe could be easily addedMikeMar said:Rather have 30 min buffer and 1 hour more recording
Adjustable would be good, but VERY low on the priority list.
That depends on where the live buffer is located - IF it's in the same partition as the recordings, you're probably right. However, if it's in a system partition (which I suspect it is so the live buffer will still work if the TiVo is "Full"), it's probably pretty tough.Something adjustable would be very nice, and something that i believe could be easily added
Adjustable may not be important, but extending the buffer from 30 mins to an hour would be a must. Yes, it takes more space; but it's for a good reason.
I got TiVo after several years of DVRs from cable / satellite companies. And on the WAF list this is the second reason why I will most likely return it. The first being that you can't have two tuners for a satellite feed
I got TiVo after several years of DVRs from cable / satellite companies. And on the WAF list this is the second reason why I will most likely return it. The first being that you can't have two tuners for a satellite feed
It's not like this has not been solved by others. The buffer can be limited to that portion of the disk that is not for shows you actually want. If you take all the actual season pass and requested recordings and look at what is left, the buffer could be hours. With my ReplayTV, I could hit pause, go out to lunch, do some errands, and come back home four hours later and finish the football game - assuming I had space. Since I usually had ten or more hours free, this was not a problem.
Why not just use the available space? I don't care if TiVo deletes shows that are marked for deletion or shows TiVo thinks I might like. If the 45 shows in the suggestion folder went to zero, but I had a few hours of hold time that would be great.
A half hour is not long enough when you want to interrupt a show to eat a meal, but you don't want to record it.
One other benefit of a longer buffer would be that if you turned on the TV and saw a show you liked, you could just hit "record" and you could have the whole show, even if it was already 90 minutes in progress.
Why not just use the available space? I don't care if TiVo deletes shows that are marked for deletion or shows TiVo thinks I might like. If the 45 shows in the suggestion folder went to zero, but I had a few hours of hold time that would be great.
A half hour is not long enough when you want to interrupt a show to eat a meal, but you don't want to record it.
One other benefit of a longer buffer would be that if you turned on the TV and saw a show you liked, you could just hit "record" and you could have the whole show, even if it was already 90 minutes in progress.
Do you really want TiVo's live buffer to freeze indefinitely? I can see all sorts of potential problems with it.
BTW The behavior you say you want is pretty much what TiVo does now - for recordings. Why not record the shows you want instead of trying to "redesign" TiVo's handling of the live buffer?
BTW The behavior you say you want is pretty much what TiVo does now - for recordings. Why not record the shows you want instead of trying to "redesign" TiVo's handling of the live buffer?
What's wrong with recording it? You might not be able to return to a paused program, if there were two programs scheduled to be recorded.A half hour is not long enough when you want to interrupt a show to eat a meal, but you don't want to record it.
Yes, that's a benefit.One other benefit of a longer buffer would be that if you turned on the TV and saw a show you liked, you could just hit "record" and you could have the whole show, even if it was already 90 minutes in progress.
I put DVR on the news channel before I go to sleep and watch it in the morning. I don't need to record it; I just want to watch the last hour of news. With half-hour - between commercial and not interesting segments I catch up too quickly.What's wrong with recording it? You might not be able to return to a paused program, if there were two programs scheduled to be recorded.
Overall, I switched to TiVo for the ability to hack it. While I understand that there is a hardware limitation why I can't use two tuners with a satellite receiver, I hope that somebody can explain how I can do it; rather than give a dozen reasons why I shouldn't be doing it.
So far, frankly, TiVo has been disappointing.
Ease of use. Pause is one button and you are done. Recording it is not a one button process. Now, if TiVo had preferences that set default recording options that were assumed (and I could set first run only as my default), then recording might be easier and faster.What's wrong with recording it? You might not be able to return to a paused program, if there were two programs scheduled to be recorded.
As for it recording something else, this should not happen much. The paused show should override TiVo suggestions, and double conflicts don't happen all that much. I was able to do this with my single tuner ReplayTV all the time and rarely had problems with a recording causing problems.
For example, let's say Monday Night Football looks like boring game so you don't bother recording it. You watch a little and it looks like a good game after all, but it is time for dinner. Since no 8 PM shows are new this week and you know there are no recordings possible, you hit pause and go eat. 45 minutes later you finish off the game. I've done that with my previous DVRs and I can't with the TiVo.
True, it's a two button process (3-4 if you want to record at other than full resolution).Recording it is not a one button process.
So, to make it work, you need to know (or find out) that there are no other recordings that will need the tuner that will be paused. Pressing "record" warns you of any conflicts.You watch a little and it looks like a good game after all, but it is time for dinner. Since no 8 PM shows are new this week and you know there are no recordings possible, you hit pause and go eat. 45 minutes later you finish off the game. I've done that with my previous DVRs and I can't with the TiVo.
Extending the live buffer(s) to 60 minutes (or even more) would be a good thing to do now that disks are larger and cheaper. Beyond that, handling of the live buffer(s) should IMO remain pretty much the same.
An indefinite "Pause" ties up the tuner until it is unpaused. The only way around this is to record the paused buffer - so your suggestion becomes "Automatically record the paused buffer when it fills up", which has its own set of problems such as lots of long, unwanted recordings.
That's not it at all. Maybe you use all the TiVo suggestions and your box is recording shows all day. I don't do that. I like to have the unit record what I want when I want. I also like to pause. I know right this second that one tuner will be available all day Saturday and Sunday as I only record a few shows during the day on those days. If I *want* to pause a football game and I have 20 hours free on my TiVo, I should be able to pause it for at least 10 hours.An indefinite "Pause" ties up the tuner until it is unpaused. The only way around this is to record the paused buffer - so your suggestion becomes "Automatically record the paused buffer when it fills up", which has its own set of problems such as lots of long, unwanted recordings.
Press "Record" and you can pause for weeks if you want.
Pausing Live TV only pauses playback from the live buffer. The live buffer continues to fill while paused. Do you want the live buffer to be "schedule aware" (ie only continue buffering for the remainder of the current show), or do you want it to continue buffering indefinitely? If the live buffer is schedule aware, what do you want to happen at the end of the show (record the show to disk, stop buffering, dump the buffer, ...)? I, for one, would definitely not want it to buffer indefinitely and unaware of schedule - having TiVo's disk filled up with hours and hours of unwanted video in one huge file sounds remarkedly akin to the "good ol' days" of VCRs. No thanks!
Pausing Live TV only pauses playback from the live buffer. The live buffer continues to fill while paused. Do you want the live buffer to be "schedule aware" (ie only continue buffering for the remainder of the current show), or do you want it to continue buffering indefinitely? If the live buffer is schedule aware, what do you want to happen at the end of the show (record the show to disk, stop buffering, dump the buffer, ...)? I, for one, would definitely not want it to buffer indefinitely and unaware of schedule - having TiVo's disk filled up with hours and hours of unwanted video in one huge file sounds remarkedly akin to the "good ol' days" of VCRs. No thanks!
Here's a much simpler solution. If the 60 minute buffer is that much of a deal-breaker for you then Tivo is not for you, go back to the cable co dvr.
The FiOS DVR is awful. ReplayTV and Moxi have a buffer that is long enough. They solved all these problems brought up and came up with solutions that work really well. The buffer is variable based on free space, and is schedule aware so that you can press record and get the presently running show.
TiVo's "Record" button is also schedule aware so you get the presently running show.The buffer is variable based on free space, and is schedule aware so that you can press record and get the presently running show.
If you are so much happier with other DVRs, why not just return the TiVo?ReplayTV and Moxi have a buffer that is long enough. They solved all these problems brought up and came up with solutions that work really well.
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