What Features Interest You?

Posted on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 by MegaZone

There have been a number of DVR and STB features announced as different vendors try to outdo each other. Features such as on-screen Caller ID, Multi-Room VOD, Start Over, etc.

So, what features are you looking forward to? What features are you jealous of? What do you really want out of your STB/DVR that no one is offering or announced?

About MegaZone

MegaZone is the Editor of Gizmo Lovers and the chief contributor. He's been online since 1989 and active in several generations of 'social media' - mailing lists, USENet groups, web forums, and since 2003, blogging.    MegaZone has a presence on several social platforms: Google+ / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / LiveJournal / Web.    You can also follow Gizmo Lovers on other sites: Blog / Google+ / Facebook / Twitter.
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  • Bakk

    Same as always with the dumbass cable companys…Keep adding features to your stb’s while leaving everything else broken. No thank you, I dont need VOD/Caller ID/Start Over etc, if the DVR did what it was designed to do in the first place and recorded what I told it to!

  • Tom

    Some random thoughts:

    I would like to see some customizable menuing (say like creating your own folders).

    Also how about PiP with dual tuners? I don’t know if people ever used it much on enabled TVs, but its a nice option for sports fans.

    Bells and Whistles that don’t add to a DVR’s entertainment value are pretty much bloat. I suppose some people would like Caller ID. But if you want to add bloat, how about a web browser instead. Some DVRs are already internet enabled. It be nice to be be ale to jump to a show’s website in a PiP with a button click (I guess that may require some content provider assistance). But in lieu of the single button option maybe optional IR keyboard support.

  • Jason

    I’ve said it once and I’ll say it a 1000 times…Collaborative recording…I have 4 tuners on two TiVoHDs spread throughout my house. They both sit on a network, they both share program with one another, c’mon TiVo…It can’t be that hard, you’re doing it on your Comcast boxes.

  • Brad

    I can’t agree enough with Jason, just madness that they even have software that interacts with my two Tivos, but that they don’t help spread the recording is in a nutshell retarded.

    Would love to rip a DVD/HD DVD (suckers)/Blu-Ray (legally) on my computer and upload it to my TiVo to watch, I would need one less box in my living room.

    TiVo transcorder software would be a nice thing to, how about software that can basically read any type of file, convert to TiVo standard and upload it to Tivo? Perhaps just Tivo Approved converters…

  • cckrobinson

    I would love the ability to be able to “Push” a recording from one Tivo to another. Currently you can only “Pull” recordings. There have been a number of occasions where there is something recorded downstairs that my son would like to watch on the Tivo upstairs. Currently I have to walk up stairs and select the show to get it to start transferring so it appears on the now playing list. It would be really nice to be able to send the recording to bedroom Tivo from downstairs.

  • Bakk

    Ok, the Collaborative recording idea is a great one…but that would be difficult to implement and not be confusing for new uesrs. The todo list would need to have a new column saying what dvr it will be recorded on, and then your todo list would basically show everything from all the tivos on your account..that would be amazing.

  • John-Video

    @Brad- You can do what you asking with TiVo Desktop Plus. However, this brings me to my most desired feature: Directory Browsing Support.

    The video trans-code in TiVo Desktop is great. (although it seems slower in 2.6/2.6.1) However, all files are listed flat. Browsing through the directories would make life much easier when you have more than 50 or so videos.

  • Chris

    I have to agree with Jason and Bakk. I should be able to have multiple Tivo’s that can talk to each other over the home network to share tuners. I don’t care which Tivo records what, as long as it gets recorded (and avoid duplications across the Tivos). As Bakk pointed out, the Now Playing List would just show all available programming. Transferring programs from Tivo to Tivo sounds like a hassle; it should just stream if it isn’t local. There’s no reason a user should have to worry about that stuff (of course, now we are talking about fast networks..).

    I’d also like to see an iTunes plug-in so that I could see available content from my Tivos on my computer from within iTunes. That would make it much easier to transfer/transcode content for my iPhone and also view it (streaming) from Front Row.

    Chris

  • http://www.zatznotfunny.com Dave Zatz

    If we’re talking just TiVo, the Desktop to transcode podcasts is a kludge. Let’s totally build out the TiVo server-side downloads (until S3/HD can handle more media types) and drop the lame requirement for me to delete episodes before more are downloaded. Also, I really like the Moxi ticker on the bottom of the screen. And that MyTV app for Facebook? Let me pull in my Season Passes and selectively display it to friends, family, network. Also merge Search, Swivel Search, and Wish lists into one front end. And for the love of God, speed up all Java-based (HME) apps.

  • Mike Williams

    I am really looking forward to the day I turn on my display and find “true” HD guide/menus. If you spend just 5 minutes cruising around the Photos 2.0 application, you’ll feel refreshed and invigorated. But then go back to the main TiVo menu, and it feels like you went back to 1980. The stretching of the text and the “oval” circles make me ill sometimes. Even the POS Time Warner cable boxes have crisp fonts and a sharp guide.

  • http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Gryphon

    Apart from some very minor interface matters and a burning desire for networks to pull their heads out regarding the program guide information they provide, my TiVo already does more than I care to ask of it. I just wish it did it faster. :)

  • Bakk

    yeah the interface needs to be made “Full HD” first. I cant stand how searching takes you out of HD mode only then to be taken back to it in under a minute or tw

  • John

    I have two Tivos, a HD and a S2. My wife uses the S2 to record her shows (soaps mostly) and then pulls them to the HD to watch on the big screen. The biggest problem she has is she can’t delete the shows she watches off of the S2. When she watches like 10 episodes in a day (skips parts of the show she hates) and then doesn’t go delete things until later she has to pull the description of each show up to see if she watched it.

    Another issue is having to convert all of my .tivo files to be able to burn them with Nero. I have it done automatically when pulled but it still takes up time and processing.

    Lastly for Tivo…add a simple hard drive usage screen! Just give me a current percentage used at least.

  • Glenn

    For cable DVRs? Reliability, responsiveness, a better user interface.

    For Tivo? Folders, no transcoding h.264 or MP4 to my TivoHD, less dependence on the PC, quicker bootup times for the PC with Tivo Desktop loaded, faster transcodes, the ability to schedule transcodes at night, a better U/I (think Apple TV), a fix for the no-audio after FF for a bit problem, red dots on the guide for things in the future that will be recorded, the ability to limit the hard disk space used by transcodes done by Tivo Desktop, faster launching of Tivo Desktop, better support for VOB transcodes (which often don’t work), more direct support for streaming of video podcasts, more of a social experience (think Amazon or iTunes or YouTube), a way to watch YouTube videos in h.264 on my TivoHD, a way to watch Hulu on my TivoHD, place shifting without another client box, built-in WiFi, a box that doesn’t need an external tuning resolver for SDV, support for HD captures/encodes off Satellite, a way to have it record off local HD if the signal is good, but fall back to cable HD channel if bad, cooperative scheduling, remote delete, a torrent client, a way to transfer content & playlists from old to new Tivo, transcoding of HD content to SD for playback on older Tivo, MOCA networking support, powerline support, NetFlix online video playback support, Halo 3 online on Tivo, HD content on Amazon Unbox, movies on Unbox on same day as DVD, Unbox TV shows listed in show order, a way to queue up the download of the next episode as you start playback of this episode, a Netflix equivalent all-you-can-eat Unbox monthly plan, Pandora and last.fm on Tivo, recording and playback of digital FM channels on cable on Tivo, transcoding of same to MP3 and manage my iTunes copies of same, a way to browse the web on my HDTV via Tivo, using the Tivo remote and an onscreen keyboard, an on screen multi-channel “whats on” with movable audio, a “whats on tonight that i would like” feature for the guide, a bigger rewind buffer which survives channel changes for a short time, transcoded video times listed in minutes rather than seconds, support for DivX and other formats without transcoding, an on-box torrent client, DVD extras on Amazon unbox, current TV shows on Unbox same time as broadcast, season passes to TV shows on unbox, unbox support for iPod, 802.11n support in the box, quicker Tivo bootup, more guide data on my widescreen HDTV, a way to record only the 11:00pm monday to thursday show of John Stewart without recording Fridays, a way to show episodes in original broadcast order, better conflict resolution (like maybe a “week in conflicts preview”), no more non-Glow remotes…