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#250209 - 24/02/2005 20:15 Re: DVR PVR [Re: tfabris]
Dignan
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12341
Loc: Sterling, VA
Quote:
Do you have a Series 2 DirecTivo?

I've been using a Series 1 DirecTivo and an HD Tivo. In every respect the Series 2 is faster than the Series 1. Heck, when I added the Super Bowl in high definition to the record list, it took less time than my Series 1 takes to add some half hour show on Comedy Central.

Quote:
If you don't have a Series 2 DirecTivo, I'll bet your channel guide is faster because it doesn't have 1000 channels to deal with.

Well, aside from 1000 being a very big rounding up, perhaps you should tell the Tivo that you don't receive some of those home shopping networks or something. The last time I went through my channel list, I think I found about 30 of those things.
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Matt

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#250210 - 24/02/2005 20:19 Re: DVR PVR [Re: wfaulk]
tanstaafl.
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/07/1999
Posts: 5549
Loc: Ajijic, Mexico
But most of it is probably DB stuff, but, ... As far as I can see, it's just slow.


Mine isn't slow at all... but since I don't have cable, and can receive only five channels, that might explain a lot.

tanstaafl.
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#250211 - 24/02/2005 20:21 Re: DVR PVR [Re: Dignan]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31600
Loc: Seattle, WA
Yeah, I do that already.

So are you saying your Series 2 HD tivo doesn't paint its channel guide screens really slow?

When I say slow, I mean that when I page through the channel guide, a given page will take anywhere from 2 seconds to 20 seconds to render. While I agree that 2 seconds might not be considered slow, I think a 2d flat screen render of some text and a grid shoud be instantaneous and that even 2 seconds is unacceptable.

(By contrast my Samsung HD receiver would render every page of its channel guide instantaneously, and it displayed exactly the same information and the same channel set.)
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Tony Fabris

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#250212 - 24/02/2005 20:26 Re: DVR PVR [Re: tfabris]
SonicSnoop
addict

Registered: 29/06/2002
Posts: 531
Loc: Triangle, VA
The only problem I have with my Tivo is the changing of channels, takes for ever. Since I have comcast and thier cable box requires me to use the IR extenders instead of a serial cable. its such a pain to hit the channel up and wait for like 5-10 seconds .
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-D Modifying and Tweaking is a journey, not a destination................................ MKIIa : 60gig - 040103286 - Blue - v2 + PCATS tuner MKIIa : 20gig - 040103260 - Blue - v3a8 + Mark Lord Special Edition Cherry Dock

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#250213 - 24/02/2005 20:32 Re: DVR PVR [Re: tfabris]
Dignan
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12341
Loc: Sterling, VA
Quote:
So are you saying your Series 2 HD tivo doesn't paint its channel guide screens really slow?

Which guide are you using? My Series 1 is my own Tivo, and the HD Tivo belongs to my parents, but I've used it quite a bit. For some reason they prefer the DirecTV guide to the Tivo guide. Every time I'm doing a lot of searching in the guide, I switch it to the Tivo guide then switch it back when I'm done. The DirecTV guide takes forever to load.

The other thing that takes a while on my Series 1 is when I go from live TV to the Tivo menu for the first time after the Tivo's been sitting there for a while. But now I just press the Tivo button twice before I turn on my TV and receiver.
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Matt

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#250214 - 24/02/2005 20:46 Re: DVR PVR [Re: Dignan]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31600
Loc: Seattle, WA
I don't know which guide is which, but the one I use is the one where I can see a grid of what's on all at once, instead of seeing a list of the programs on only one channel at a time.

The reason I prefer the grid is because it's easier to read, easier to see what's on "right now" for large groups of channels, and requires less brain work to make a decision about what to watch.

I agree that the other list guide is much faster, and I definitely use that when I'm trying to find a specific program to record.
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Tony Fabris

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#250215 - 24/02/2005 20:55 Re: DVR PVR [Re: tfabris]
Dignan
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12341
Loc: Sterling, VA
I'm probably wrong, but I believe the guide you are using is the DirecTV guide, and I thought the difference was that that guide has its information downloaded from the satellite every time you move within it. If that's the case, then it wouldn't necessarily be a hardware issue with the Tivo, just an issue that they don't give you the choice of using both styles with the Tivo information.

The problem is that I like both guides equally, but they do seem to function better depending on the situation. I tend to watch the same channels all the time, so with the Tivo guide open I can simply go to each channel and see what will be on for nearly the rest of the day in one glance. However, with the grid-style DirecTV guide, I can look at all the networks or all the HBOs at once and see what's on all of them in the next couple hours. I think I prefer the Tivo guide because I rarely find myself in the second situation, and if I do, I can just click through them.
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Matt

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#250216 - 24/02/2005 21:05 Re: DVR PVR [Re: Dignan]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31600
Loc: Seattle, WA
Quote:
I thought the difference was that that guide has its information downloaded from the satellite every time you move within it.

Which, of course, would be strange since the other (faster) guide is displaying the same information. Dunno why they'd cache one and not the other. Doesn't make sense.
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Tony Fabris

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#250217 - 24/02/2005 21:09 Re: DVR PVR [Re: Dignan]
robricc
carpal tunnel

Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
Quote:
I'm probably wrong, but I believe the guide you are using is the DirecTV guide, and I thought the difference was that that guide has its information downloaded from the satellite every time you move within it.

I know that that's not what's happening. I remember reading on tcf that each item in the grid is rendered individually every time it's requested. That's just dumb if true.
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-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736

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#250218 - 25/02/2005 14:45 Re: DVR PVR [Re: robricc]
hybrid8
carpal tunnel

Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
The guide data is downloaded from satelite during the course of the day and is stored in a database on the hard drive. Whenever you move through the guide in any view mode, it has to query the database for a selected range of content so it can display it. What I dont know if how far ahead they extend the query and how well the cache individual queries, if at all. There is a lot more data to be displayed and a more complicated query used, when using the DirecTV-style guide (the one I prefer as well).

Any time you're looking at TV listings data, regardless of display mode (Guide, Search, etc...) it's looking into the same listings database and just using different queries to bring up the matches. Anyone remember the database question post I made many many months ago with the lame "recipe book" example? Well it was for TV data usage.

Using a cachecard on Series1 machines improves all DB access times, so you get (MUCH) faster guide usage, much faster browsing of saved searches, now playing, season passes, etc..

Bruno
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Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software

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