Tivo guide

[dbronstein]

This came up in a thread in the Dish DVR forum and I never got an answer. Someone said that navigating in the Tivo guide is much faster and easier than in the Dish DVRs. I have a Dish 721 and I used to have Replay, and the guides are pretty much the same - you open it up and move around and select the show you want.

So what is different about using the Tivo guide that is so much better than the Dish DVRs?

Thanks,
Dennis

[Timco]

I think your confusion lies in the fact that the DirecTivo's have two different guides. There is a DirecTv guide and a Tivo guide. The Tivo's guide is considered faster than the D* guide.
The DishPvr guide is far faster than either the D* guide or the Tivo guide.

[dbronstein]

Okay, now you totally confused. Here is the comment from the other thread"

"Yes, the grid style guide on the Tivo is slow but most people favor the Tivo style guide which is much quicker and easier to navigate (which I would guess you didn't even see)."

I took this to mean that the "Tivo style guide" is quicker and easier to use than the Dish DVR guides. Maybe I just read it wrong and he was just comparing the Tivo guide to the "grid style guide."

So you're saying that the Dish DVR guide is actually faster than the Tivo guide.

Thanks,
Dennis

[bonscott87]

Here's what they mean:
The Dish DVR guide is faster in that it renders (displays) on the screen faster. But the Tivo style guide you will probably find it quicker to find programs to record. And when people complain about the "slow" Tivo style guide...Wow, I had to wait 2 seconds for the whole screen to populate. I guess if 2-3 seconds is slow then I don't know what else to say to those people. The DirecTV "grid" style guide is indeed slower, maybe 5 seconds to paint. No biggy to me, but I much prefer the Tivo style guide anyway.

[dbronstein]

Here's what they mean:
The Dish DVR guide is faster in that it renders (displays) on the screen faster. But the Tivo style guide you will probably find it quicker to find programs to record.

Why? What makes it easier to find shows on the Tivo guide than the Dish DVR guide?

Dennis

[Phil T]

More channels listed - 8 on left side of screen and the upcoming 8 shows, for the selected channel, on the right side of the screen. It take a little getting used to, but I prefer it to the 4 channels (when pip is on ) you get with the 501-508-510 guide.

[bonscott87]

Exactly what Phil said.

I'll preface this by saying I do searching and whishlists more then using the guide to find programming, but here is an example of what I can do with the Tivo guide.

Say I want to see what movies are on HBO. With the Tivo guide I'll see all the HBO channels on screen at once, listing what they are all playing. On the selected channel I get the next 8 or so movies/programs on that certain channel (and with a movie channel could well go out 16+ hours. I click the down arrow to highlight each channel one at a time and the next 8 programs on that highlighted channel pop into the right side pane, takes maybe a second if that. So basically in less then 10-15 seconds I have now looked at 16+ hours worth of programs on all of the HBO channels. If I keep scrolling and another 15 seconds I do the same for all the Showtime channels.

It's probably hard to see without actually doing it, but I can very quickly find programming on multiple channels for the next half to full day with just a click of the down arrow. With the DISH guide or the DirecTV style grid guide, you get maybe 3-5 channels with maybe 2 hours worth into the future if you are lucky.

And to be honest, once you start using a Tivo you'll hardly ever use the guides anyway as you'll do more searches and season passes and wishlists. That is unless you still watch a ton of live TV (which a good majority of Tivo users do not). I know the only time I watch live TV anymore is football or certain sporting events and even then I watch it delayed. Tivo really is a whole different experience.

[dbronstein]

Okay, so it's just you can see farther out. The 721 shows 6 or 7 channels at a time even with the PIP window, but you only see 2 hours out.

I've been using DVRs for over 3 years now and I still use the guide all the time, even though I hardly watch anything live. I find it much easier to just look through the guide to set timers than to search - using an on-screen keyboard to enter show titles is a pain in the ass IMO - especially since I usually know what channel the show I'm looking for is on.

I am probably going to switch to D* next summer unless Dish somehow pulls name-based recording out of their ass before then. I was just trying to understand what was different about the Tivo guide.

Thanks for the info.

Dennis

[bonscott87]

No problem. Until you get a Tivo you probably won't understand how easy it is to use the search. Say I want to look for Sci-Fi movies. I go into the search, genre Sci-Fi, limit to Movies. I type "A" and then I'm done. I now have a complete alphabetical listing of all Sci-Fi movies available in the guide data for the channels I receive (which is 10-13 days out for most channels). I just scroll through the list and pick and choose which ones to record. Doesn't matter to me what channel it's on or when it's on.

Just a simple example of what you can do. If you have a friend that has a Tivo (stand alone's are the same in functionality) see if you can have them show you or let you play with it.

Good luck!

[Chris Blount]

Okay, now you totally confused. Here is the comment from the other thread"

"Yes, the grid style guide on the Tivo is slow but most people favor the Tivo style guide which is much quicker and easier to navigate (which I would guess you didn't even see)."

I took this to mean that the "Tivo style guide" is quicker and easier to use than the Dish DVR guides. Maybe I just read it wrong and he was just comparing the Tivo guide to the "grid style guide."

So you're saying that the Dish DVR guide is actually faster than the Tivo guide.

Thanks,
Dennis

That was my quote. Sorry I never answered it. What I meant was that the Tivo style guide is faster than the Tivo grid. The guide on the 721 and 501 are both faster.

One of these days I plan on doing a detailed review of the Tivo complete with screen shots to give you an idea of how the menus and guides function.

[dbronstein]

No problem. Until you get a Tivo you probably won't understand how easy it is to use the search. Say I want to look for Sci-Fi movies. I go into the search, genre Sci-Fi, limit to Movies. I type "A" and then I'm done. I now have a complete alphabetical listing of all Sci-Fi movies available in the guide data for the channels I receive (which is 10-13 days out for most channels). I just scroll through the list and pick and choose which ones to record. Doesn't matter to me what channel it's on or when it's on.

Just a simple example of what you can do. If you have a friend that has a Tivo (stand alone's are the same in functionality) see if you can have them show you or let you play with it.

Good luck!

I had Replay for 2 years and it had similar search capabilities, and I never used it. I had/have no interest in just randomly searching for specific genres or types of shows. I just watch specific shows that I've heard about one way or another, and in hearing about them I usually know what channel they're on so they're pretty easy to find.

I have a backlog of about 40 hours of recordings as it is, I don't really have time to watch shows just because they have interesting guide descriptions :).

Dennis

[dbronstein]

That was my quote. Sorry I never answered it. What I meant was that the Tivo style guide is faster than the Tivo grid. The guide on the 721 and 501 are both faster.

One of these days I plan on doing a detailed review of the Tivo complete with screen shots to give you an idea of how the menus and guides function.

Thanks for the follow-up.

Dennis

[Scalper]

Great site for info on DVR's with SS's of the tivo. Scroll to around the bottom of the page and you will see the DTV "grid" guide and the Tivo guide side by side.

http://www.pvrcompare.com/dtimages.html
(The SS's are not up to date on the ver. of Tivo. Just a couple things have changed)

I too love the Tivo style much better. It just grows on you after you use it. Hope this helps.

[dbronstein]

Thanks for the link to the screen shots. It looks interesting. I still don't get the "guide" though. It seems like "browse by time" and "browse by channel" are the equivalent of a regular grid-style guide. They don't seem to show as much info as a grid, though. The Browse By Time just shows the current shows on 8 channels, and the Browse by Channel just shows the next 8 shows on one channel. With the 721 grid, for example, I can see two hours worth on 6 channels at the same time. Maybe I need to see it in action to fully appreciate it.

Dennis

[spanishannouncetable]

dbronstein, this is the TiVo-style guide -

http://www.pvrcompare.com/DTivoChannelGuide.jpg

The column on the left shows what's on right now for 8 channels at a time. As you highlight each channel on the left side, the column on the right changes to show the next 8 programs for that channel.

If you push the FF button on the remote while the guide is displayed, the left-hand column changes to show what will be on the eight displayed channels 30 minutes from now. Each subsequent FF press will move the schedule out another 30 minutes at a time. Hit the display button to change the date of the info, and you can jump ahead nearly 2 weeks at a time. Pushing the page up/down buttons changes the left column presenting 8 new channels at a time, or changes the right column displaying 8 new shows for the highlighted channel every time you press it.

All this allows you to navigate through guide info lightning-fast with very few button presses. After you own a TiVo for a while though, it becomes nice but mostly useless as you watch recordings most of the time. Watching live TV becomes kinda quaint but frustrating, and scheduling shows yourself loses a lot of its appeal.

[dbronstein]

Thanks for the link. Again, I hardly ever watch live TV anymore, but I use the guide to set timers because I'm looking for specific shows. So unless there's an easier way to search for a specific show than using an on-screen keyboard, I'd still use the guide.

The guide certainly isn't a make-or-break factor in if I swtich, I'm just trying to get a feel for what the software can do.

Thanks again,
Dennis

[Kenster]

I hope that the guides on the Dish DVRs are better than on the 301s. On my father-in-law's 301 it takes forever for the guide to build beyond the two hour window that first appears. And, if you're willing to wait all day, it never builds beyond a couple of days into the future. D* (at least on my UTV) instantly shows up to two weeks in advance.

[HarryD]

The UTV EPG is tough to beat (IMO). I've been using the DirecTV guide on my Phillips and I'm pleased with it. It's not as slow as some people have been saying but it's slower than my UTV guide.

[beejaycee]

I hope that the guides on the Dish DVRs are better than on the 301s. On my father-in-law's 301 it takes forever for the guide to build beyond the two hour window that first appears. And, if you're willing to wait all day, it never builds beyond a couple of days into the future. D* (at least on my UTV) instantly shows up to two weeks in advance.

My 501 was fast, even as I scrolled 9 days into the future (which I seldom did). It was all stored on the hard drive so it scrolled as fast as I pushed the button, especially since the last software upgrade that put it into standby after 4 hours of non-use so it could update the guide. I never got the pause that my DTivo does as it redraws the grid.