Feature Suggestion - schedule recordings from commercials.

[JJarmoc]

While watching Fraiser last night through my TiVo, I came across a feature I've used often which I'll kind of miss when I switch to Sage full-time.

During selected commercials, the tivo has a little icon and allows me to schedule a recording for the advertised show. From my understanding of it, the network broadcasts some sort of code on the CC carrier that gives the TiVo the necessary information to handle this. I imagine that there's little stopping other applications from interpretting this code and doing what they choose with it.

Anyhow, it's not a big deal, but it's a little detail I'll miss. The more I play with Sage, the more I've been trying to think of what I'd like to see added. Believe it or not, this is about the best I could come up with :-)

[dervari]

You actually watch commercials?

[JJarmoc]

I wondered how long until someone said that..

I don't usually but sometimes I'll do the usual commercial routine and get a drink, use the restroom, etc. in which case I just let them play. Also, I fastforward through them instead of skipping outright, and I'll stop and watch commercials for other shows from time to time.

[dervari]

I've never heard of the network information you refer to. I remember at my old job we had a TV in the loung which would show the current program information. It seems like it might come in handy for shows out farther then the current guide has data for.

I'm spoiled with my ReplayTV and Commercial Advance... :P

[JJarmoc]

Well, I'm not sure what information it passes, but it doesn't work if the TiVo doesn't already have guide data that far, so I'd guess it just sends the show and episode name.

The way it looks to the user is as follows. While watching a commercial for some shows (NBC seems to use this the most, but the other networks do it around sweeps and season premeire/finale times) a little icon appears in the top right (generated by TiVo, not part of the video feed) which says 'Press Thumbs Up to record!' If I press thumbs up, it dings, pauses the commercial and gives me the options for this recording (quality, etc..) It then returns me to the same point in the show.

I've kind of taken to playing commercials when I see this icon, since it seems to mostly be used for special episodes, new series, etc.. that the networks are hyping a little more than usual.

I imagine it'd probably be more difficult to implement than it's worth, and would require reverse engineering the signal they're sending, but I thought I'd throw it out there since it's something I find useful.

[Narflex]

I've heard about this, and it is something embedded in the closed captioning stream. However I haven't been able to find the information anywhere on what the actual format of the data is or where in the CC stream it actually appears. Without that information, there's not much I can do. If anybody knows where to find it, I'm all ears.

[JJarmoc]

I doubt it's something tivo would publish.. I thought it might be possible to capture a stream that is known to have that info, and see how it is formatted. If I record clip with sage that's known to have this, will it preserve the CC stream?

[dervari]

I wonder if it's a Tivo/Networks thing or if it's something implemented by the networks on their own that Tivo has hooked into.....

[mlar]

It's a TiVo thing, and it only works with select partners... Basically the network has to pay TiVo to get the "Thumbs up to record" feature. I believe only NBC is supporting it right now (at least that's the only network I've seen it on). It's usefulness is pretty much limited though.

Personally I've almost reached the point where I can go ahead and sell my TiVo.. I have only used it one time the last month when Sage for some weird reason decided not to record one of my favorite shows. The thing I'm going to miss from the TiVo is the much snappier user interface, and the thumbs up/thumbs down (it just feels like the TiVo does a better job). Maybe it's just my machine and setup, but navigating is so much slower.. If I press the Up button on my remote it takes 1 second before the "cursor" actually moves up. On the TiVo everything is very snappy. Anyone else notice that? I'm using an IRMan with a One-For-All 8810 remote control. Interesting thing is that with Girder it reacted too quickly.. if I pressed the Up key it often jumped twice, I dont have that problem using the builtin IRMan support, but on the other hand everything moves very slowly.

[Narflex]

mlar,
Are these 2 statements correct for you?
1 The UI responded too quickly in SageTV if you used Girder
2 The UI responds too slowly in SageTV if you use the integrated IRMan support

[mlar]

Yes, that would pretty much sum it up

[Narflex]

That's really weird. I even set the thread that polls the IRMan to maximum priority. I've got no problems with delays like that, and haven't heard that from anyone else yet. Do you think something else is interfering with the serial port that could be introducing some latency into the communications?