HR20 Wish List Survey

[Doug Brott]

I can't believe more people haven't rated this higher. I mean, even if you don't think you'll ever hit 50, don't you think it's annoying that there is some artificial limit? Unless, suddenly, if you were to have 51, then the machine slows down to a crawl, which I hope doesn't happen.

I can't speak for anyone else, but in my situation, I is very likely that I will ever need 50 SLs. As a result, it doesn't bother me in the least that there is an artificial limit. In my case, Infinity is less than 50. I have 2 HR20s which, by itself, helps to minimize this issue. Secondly, one of the units has 12 Series Links, and the other unit has 17 Series Links. Even if I combined them, I wouldn't expect to get over 40, but since they aren't combined, I don't expect to get over 20.

My pet peeve item is getting very little play also. I'd love to have the option to disable the screen saver if I so choose - even if they want show a legal jargon screen saying it might hurt your screen. The Screen Saver comes on when we play the music channels and I'd like to be able to just look up and see who's playing a certain song. As it is, I have to leave what I'm doing (usually talking with a small group) and find the remote reactivate the screen and then wait for the song information to appear. Yes, no biggie, but annoying. Seems there's not many folks that share my sentiment, though.

[mtnagel]

I can't speak for anyone else, but in my situation, I is very likely that I will ever need 50 SLs. As a result, it doesn't bother me in the least that there is an artificial limit. In my case, Infinity is less than 50. I have 2 HR20s which, by itself, helps to minimize this issue. Secondly, one of the units has 12 Series Links, and the other unit has 17 Series Links. Even if I combined them, I wouldn't expect to get over 40, but since they aren't combined, I don't expect to get over 20.

My pet peeve item is getting very little play also. I'd love to have the option to disable the screen saver if I so choose - even if they want show a legal jargon screen saying it might hurt your screen. The Screen Saver comes on when we play the music channels and I'd like to be able to just look up and see who's playing a certain song. As it is, I have to leave what I'm doing (usually talking with a small group) and find the remote reactivate the screen and then wait for the song information to appear. Yes, no biggie, but annoying. Seems there's not many folks that share my sentiment, though.Well I just hope that D* doesn't think that because it's low that it means that no one wants it so they shouldn't even look at them. I mean, for some, they should be very easy to do (though I am not a programmer), like your option for the screensaver. Although, I can understand the need to balance simplicity for "normal" users with having many options for "power" users that may confuse the "normal" users.

With my prioritizer limit, if you hit it, you will be annoyed. But for others, you'll never even know if there is no limit (or if there is a limit), so why not have no limit? I see no negative to having no limit (unless there really is some memory or processor limitation that would limit the usability of the unit with more than 50 SL's; jeez, I hope not).

I do believe I've seen here that the R15 has the limit too, so I'm sure I'm just wasting my time, but maybe there is some hardware limitation on that one that maybe isn't in the HR20.

[Doug Brott]

Well I just hope that D* doesn't think that because [the prioritizor limit is] low that it means that no one wants it so they shouldn't even look at them.

...

With my prioritizer limit, if you hit it, you will be annoyed. But for others, you'll never even know if there is no limit (or if there is a limit), so why not have no limit? I see no negative to having no limit (unless there really is some memory or processor limitation that would limit the usability of the unit with more than 50 SL's; jeez, I hope not).

Unfortunately, I cannot answer this question. Clearly you should vote higher for this item. In the past, I have ranked this higher as well because that I thought it was important to some folks. More recently, I have lowered my ranking because there are other things that are much more important to me. The good news is that this is the beauty of the data collection method that I am using. It allows everyone to voice their opinion, even if it changes.

Thanks for taking the time to shed more light on the items that are important to you. The more advocacy a particular feature request receives, the more likely it is to be implemented.

[mtnagel]

Unfortunately, I cannot answer this question. Clearly you should vote higher for this item. In the past, I have ranked this higher as well because that I thought it was important to some folks. More recently, I have lowered my ranking because there are other things that are much more important to me. The good news is that this is the beauty of the data collection method that I am using. It allows everyone to voice their opinion, even if it changes.

Thanks for taking the time to shed more light on the items that are important to you. The more advocacy a particular feature request receives, the more likely it is to be implemented.I also posted a thread in the main HR20 section (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=74660), so hopefully I get some response there.

Maybe my HR20 is just telling me to stop watching so much tv :D

[Ric]

I can't speak for anyone else, but in my situation, I is very likely that I will ever need 50 SLs. As a result, it doesn't bother me in the least that there is an artificial limit.

I would actually never have 50 in a single season either. My issue is that canceled shows count toward that 50 and I can't get rid of them since there are no episodes available to edit. So over seasons, yes, I am going to hit it.

[Doug Brott]

I would actually never have 50 in a single season either. My issue is that canceled shows count toward that 50 and I can't get rid of them since there are no episodes available to edit. So over seasons, yes, I am going to hit it.

OK, that one is easy. Go to the Prioritizer and move to the item that is canceled, then hit DASH-DASH (the dash key twice). Careful to not do it too quickly as you may delete TWO items instead of one.

Check out Craig's Tips & Tricks thread (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=72648) for some very helpful information.

[Spoffo]

Now that we have OTA capability, here's a needed feature in that area:

Add the ability to bypass the EPG-driven tuning system when necessary and directly tune OTA channels via PSIP or, even better, by direct entry of the actual, physical UHF frequency and sub-channel.

A lot of people all over the country are going through OTA hell right now because of errors in the OTA channel mapping coming from Tribune Media Service to the DTV guide. Many of these errors make it totally impossible to tune a perfectly good, functioning OTA station with the HR20 until the error is corrected (often a matter of weeks.)

As long as humans make mistakes, these problems are going to keep cropping up. Consider the total number of OTA channels and sub-channel assignments around the country and how often they change. DTV is dependent on two layers of outside parties they can't control: all the TV stations (with all sorts of different PSIP encoding gear and procedures) and TMS. The only way to insure your ability to always view your OTA channels is to give the viewer the option to go manual when there's bad data in the EPG system that involves his local OTA channels.

(There's another thread in this forum that is tracking this problem in depth.)

[HDSeeker]

auto scan OTA.

[HDSeeker]

I can't speak for anyone else, but in my situation, I is very likely that I will ever need 50 SLs. As a result, it doesn't bother me in the least that there is an artificial limit. In my case, Infinity is less than 50. I have 2 HR20s which, by itself, helps to minimize this issue. Secondly, one of the units has 12 Series Links, and the other unit has 17 Series Links. Even if I combined them, I wouldn't expect to get over 40, but since they aren't combined, I don't expect to get over 20.

My pet peeve item is getting very little play also. I'd love to have the option to disable the screen saver if I so choose - even if they want show a legal jargon screen saying it might hurt your screen. The Screen Saver comes on when we play the music channels and I'd like to be able to just look up and see who's playing a certain song. As it is, I have to leave what I'm doing (usually talking with a small group) and find the remote reactivate the screen and then wait for the song information to appear. Yes, no biggie, but annoying. Seems there's not many folks that share my sentiment, though.

I agree, make the screen saver an option.
I have an LCD, and do not need a screen saver.
It is a pain in the butt.

[jayk]

Hope this is the correct thread as I have posted elsewhere as well but thought it was worth throwing out there:

If anyone has had UltimateTV there is a tiny but useful feature that displays the word 'Live' on the top right corner of the screen when you catch up to the program you are watching.

I often times will hit FF or commercial skip multiple times and not realize that I am 'live' (or caught up to the live programming) until I've hit the button more than twice.

Again, this doesn't seem like a huge implementation issue but it is very useful - especially during sport events when you are switching back and forth between 2 recordings and buffering yourself

All of your UTV'ers out there know what I mean!

Cheers

Jay

[Milominderbinder2]

auto scan OTA.
I would love to have auto scan. If this were not a DVR, it would be easy. The problem is with the Guide. Say you scan tonight and get a number of off-market channels. How will the Guide locate them? Tomorrow during the day they may be gone again. What happens with the Autorecords on those channels?

- Craig

[cbaker]

Would it be sufficient to change the word "a" to "any?" such that it read as follow:

Negative padding - the ability to start any recording late and/or end it early

Basically, what you have described has been coined as "negative padding" a while back. This is something that TiVo folks have been looking for. If that wording change isn't sufficient, perhaps you can suggest another phrasing that might.


I understand that other groups might understand the terminology "negative padding." My issue with the current (even revised recently) wording is that for the typical newbie like me, it sounds like the existing feature of being able to start/stop a Rec. Once.../Rec. Series... (formerly Series Link) program On-Time or x-minutes before/after scheduled time.

If you want to keep the terminology of Negative Padding instead of my suggested Auto Rounding, then I guess I would suggest the wording change of:

Negative Padding - Allow "Rec. Series" the ability to automatically adjust a recording (start late/end early) by a user definable number of minutes

[cbaker]

I can't believe more people haven't rated this higher. I mean, even if you don't think you'll ever hit 50, don't you think it's annoying that there is some artificial limit? Unless, suddenly, if you were to have 51, then the machine slows down to a crawl, which I hope doesn't happen.

Right now I have 42 on my HR20 and 54 on my Directivo backup since I haven't added all my SP's to my HR20 (though I also have some new ones on HR20 that I haven't added to the tivo yet because my HR20 is pretty reliable, so I'm not very diligent in making sure they are recording the exact same thing). But there are some new shows coming up in January, so I fear I'll come to a point where I have to make some decisions on what to include and what to remove. And that's annoying. I could just put HD stuff on the HR20 and SD stuff on the Directivo, but I'd rather just have it all on one unit.

I totally agree with you. I think the 50 limit is currently one of the biggest problems with the HR20 (beside the fact that shows don't record correctly, and the overall system crashes). I typically have 60-70 season passes on my main DirecTV Tivo (I have 4 DirecTV Tivo's, 1 HR20, and 1 H20).

I only record first run shows and keep season passes/series links year round. At any one time I have dozens of season passes that don't have anything scheduled to record. At any one time, only 20 or so that are actually recording shows.

Currently with this limit, I have to keep dumping series link shows and re-adding when they become active again. It is getting old, so I have delayed dumping my DirecTV Tivo. I am finding myself going back to the Tivo more and more.

In general, I am finding it difficult to choose between HR20 with High Def and my Tivo with Std. Def. With the limited number of HD channels, not having to play around with prioritizer every week, loosing HD is sounding more and more attractive.

Wouldn't it just be perfect to find out that 50 is just some arbitrary number a programmer picked .... how difficult could it be to change the limit to at least the max two digit number of 99?

[richlife]

Would someone explain what this Wish List item means? thanks
"HD programs with DD+, and the ability to pass decoded DD+ stream in LPCM over HDMI"

[richlife]

Numerous items in the Wish List Results show a dot-in-diamond which means unlikely to be provided do to technical, usability or legal reasons. Who provided that information or decided on that disignation? Some of these look very arbitrary and seem questionable that they are true.

thanks -- maybe this was identified before but I'd just like to know if some of these are truly out to lunch.

[richlife]

I believe that you are referring to deleting using the DASH-DASH method, but correct me if I'm wrong. The good thing is that if Undelete - the ability to (possibly) restore a deleted program were to become a reality, this would not be a problem.

A confirm delete after hitting DASH-DASH was removed from the list on 10-Nov-2006 to better focus the HR20 Wish List. The conversation at the time revolved around the fact that the DASH-DASH method was for quick delete and a lot of folks didn't want the confirm.

If you really, really, really want me to add this back into the list, then let me know. Otherwise, I think that we should just let it stay off.

Ok, Doug. I really, really, really would like a Confirm Delete. This is why.
1 - I said a restore Delete is overkill. Why? Because if you want to restore, they will have to keep the content on the disk (ala Recycle Bin) thus further eliminating space on an already crowded drive. For the few who will add another drive, this may not matter, but for the majority this is a real issue -- espeically during playoffs etc. Confirm Delete helps remove the need for Restore.

2 - Dash Dash is great -- but many have said it can lead to accidental deletions -- I've certainly done it. Also, it's TOO easy (but I like it) so I want to be able to stop.

3 - As far as I know there is no way to delete other than Dash Dash or the tedious menu selections. No need to be, but Dash Dash needs the Confirm.

[Doug Brott]

Would someone explain what this Wish List item means? thanks
"HD programs with DD+, and the ability to pass decoded DD+ stream in LPCM over HDMI"

Your guess is as good as mine. This is one of the original items from the Word Document (http://www.dbstalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6288&d=1159409518) noted in this post (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=668503#post668503) which was the basis of the original HR20 Wish List Design. The list has evolved a bit since that point in time and maybe it makes sense to just remove this line. I, too, have found myself wonder what the heck does that mean. Unless there is objection, I will remove it from the list tomorrow.

[Doug Brott]

Ok, Doug. I really, really, really would like a Confirm Delete. This is why.
1 - I said a restore Delete is overkill. Why? Because if you want to restore, they will have to keep the content on the disk (ala Recycle Bin) thus further eliminating space on an already crowded drive. For the few who will add another drive, this may not matter, but for the majority this is a real issue -- espeically during playoffs etc. Confirm Delete helps remove the need for Restore.

2 - Dash Dash is great -- but many have said it can lead to accidental deletions -- I've certainly done it. Also, it's TOO easy (but I like it) so I want to be able to stop.

3 - As far as I know there is no way to delete other than Dash Dash or the tedious menu selections. No need to be, but Dash Dash needs the Confirm.

OK, I'll add this item back since it was removed out of protocol. I'm sure that this will be to the chagrin of some folks, but we'll just let the vote be heard.

The current wording is:

A confirm delete after hitting DASH-DASH..

Should the wording be adjusted?
Should I start from scratch (new entry) or maintain the 477 previous responses?

[Doug Brott]

Numerous items in the Wish List Results show a dot-in-diamond which means unlikely to be provided do to technical, usability or legal reasons. Who provided that information or decided on that disignation? Some of these look very arbitrary and seem questionable that they are true.

thanks -- maybe this was identified before but I'd just like to know if some of these are truly out to lunch.

I guess, the bottom line is that I made the decision.

Here is some historical data:
Some helpful information (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=706284&postcount=91)
Some more helpful information (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=714669&postcount=164)
Initial thought (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=722665&postcount=201)
Request for feedback (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=723955&postcount=205)

I received very little feedback on my initial decision (basically, none), so I assumed that my choices were correct. If there are corrections or changes that you think should be made to either the "unlikely to be implemented" http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif or the category placement of any of the items, then let me know. I may have made a mistake.

[garypen]

Why was "true 30-second skip" removed from the list on Nov 17? The so-called "slip" is not a true 30-second skip. If people are still requesting it, then it is still a "wish", and, as such, should remain on the list.

[Doug Brott]

Why was "true 30-second skip" removed from the list on Nov 17? The so-called "slip" is not a true 30-second skip. If people are still requesting it, then it is still a "wish", and, as such, should remain on the list.

The Poll (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=70267) spoke .. the winner was clear.

[garypen]

Winner? WTF? Who cares?

Almost 30% of the respondants felt the 30-second "slip" was not an acceptable workaround. So, at least 24 people (probably more since the poll is now closed, and many people were unaware of its existance) still wish for a true 30-second skip. As such, it should be added to the wish list. Or, does that make too much sense?

Also, the key word in the poll is "workaround". I don't think anybody wished for a 30-second skip workaround. They wished for a 30-second skip...period.

[Doug Brott]

Winner? WTF? Who cares?

Almost 30% of the respondants felt the 30-second "slip" was not an acceptable workaround. So, at least 24 people (probably more since the poll is now closed, and many people were unaware of its existance) still wish for a true 30-second skip. As such, it should be added to the wish list. Or, does that make too much sense?

Gary, it's clear that you are not happy with the 30-second skip being removed from the HR20 Wish List Survey. I don't have much to offer you to solve that problem. For better or worse, I have chosen a format for adding and removing items from the list. This particular item was highly valued by some folks (including me) but a substantial re-work of the algorithms resulted in a fix that nearly 70% of the respondents agreed was a suitable workaround. Clearly you're not in that majority.

If you don't like the HR20 Wish List Survey, then don't participate. It is a free and open resource that I have tried to make valuable to both the discerning public AND DirecTV. While I have had zero contact with DirecTV regarding this survey, I believe the current format provides a useful means for communicating what is really important to the majority of HR20 users.

Gary, Thank You for taking the time to both research the details and providing your opinion.

[Doug Brott]

Also, the key word in the poll is "workaround". I don't think anybody wished for a 30-second skip workaround. They wished for a 30-second skip...period.

Ah, missed this part ...

The term is "suitable workaround" meaning that the new feature can suitably replace the original feature request.

[richlife]

Your guess is as good as mine. This is one of the original items from the Word Document (http://www.dbstalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6288&d=1159409518) noted in this post (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=668503#post668503) which was the basis of the original HR20 Wish List Design. The list has evolved a bit since that point in time and maybe it makes sense to just remove this line. I, too, have found myself wonder what the heck does that mean. Unless there is objection, I will remove it from the list tomorrow.

Oh :( That's too bad. I wasn't really lobbying to remove it (although that may well be valid given it's lack of popularity). I really wanted a good explanation that might have tied it to the problem that I've seen. Years ago I invested in a very high end surround sound system and the Digital Dolby that D* provides SUCKS! It is hardly "surround", almost all sound (fairly good stereo) comes from the front channels and only a stray sound anywhere in the surrround. (Even my wife says no more PPV -- we'll rent DVDs.) In addition, the bass is severely compressed -- we get loud low tones, not real sub-bass.

So I had hoped that someone could explain DD+ (improve the DD?) and "pass on the DD+ stream over HDMI as LPCM" may be 2-channel PCM stereo via HDMI (which my proamp could decode to multi-channel surround). But even if that's true, it's not clear to me and I think the key is improving the AC3 (Digital Dolby) and giving us an uncompressed soundtrack. (I'll be glad to take all the help I can get on this interpretation and explanation.)

[garypen]

If you don't like the HR20 Wish List Survey, then don't participate. That's right. It's your ball, and I don't have to play anymore, if I don't like your rules. Well, you can't have any of my ice cream then!

While I have had zero contact with DirecTV regarding this survey, I believe the current format provides a useful means for communicating what is really important to the majority of HR20 users.
Hopefully, there are other ways to convey the importance of such a basic DVR feature as 30-second skip to the powers that be at D*. I got the impression from Earl's posts that they sometimes used these forums as a gauge. I guess I gave more importance to this survey than it deserved.

And, as long as a some users wish for a feature, it should be added to any wish list that is created. It does not matter if it is the majority of users or not. The majority may be happy because they've never experienced a proper instant skip function.

In any case, a DVR without a 30-second skip is like a car without turn signals. Sure. Some people don't use them. Sure. Sticking your arm out the window can be considered a "suitable workaround". But, it isn't. And, neither is "slip". They are both inferior alternatives.

Anyway, I apologize for having this strange compulsion for stuff to make sense, and any inconvenience it may have caused.

[richlife]

I guess, the bottom line is that I made the decision.

Here is some historical data:
Some helpful information (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=706284&postcount=91)
Some more helpful information (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=714669&postcount=164)
Initial thought (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=722665&postcount=201)
Request for feedback (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=723955&postcount=205)

I received very little feedback on my initial decision (basically, none), so I assumed that my choices were correct. If there are corrections or changes that you think should be made to either the "unlikely to be implemented" http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif or the category placement of any of the items, then let me know. I may have made a mistake.

Thanks, I'll go through these sources and recheck my concerns and be more specific. I appreciate the response -- at least no I know that it was someone's (yours) considered opinion rather than a D* statement of what is fact (at least to them).

[richlife]

...And, as long as a some users wish for a feature, it should be added to any wish list that is created. It does not matter if it is the majority of users or not. The majority may be happy because they've never experienced a proper instant skip function...

Coming in on the other side of this, I doubt and surely hope that D* isn't trying to please everyone on every wish. As Doug identified in his original definition of purpose, the intent is to PRIORITIZE the wishes. If some wishes have so few adherents, they are dropped. If many want it badly they get bumped up.

As for taking his ball, COM'ON! The groundrules were defined, he uses them as a guide, and he backs off when he breaks his own rules. What more can you ask for? -- oh, that's right... I want a Carolina Blue ball instead of that pukey NCS red ball. (Now I did it -- all my points just went straight to the dung pit.)

[richlife]

OK, I'll add this item back since it was removed out of protocol. I'm sure that this will be to the chagrin of some folks, but we'll just let the vote be heard.

The current wording is:

A confirm delete after hitting DASH-DASH..

Should the wording be adjusted?
Should I start from scratch (new entry) or maintain the 477 previous responses?

Thanks. I always say, "If you haven't pissed someone off today, then now is a good time!" :p

I think that wording is good. (Although I have to wonder if this item would be accepted better if it was recognized that Restore Delete would eat up the hard drive fast and is not likely to happen.)

Also, whatever the previous responses were, I think they are entitled to have the responses maintained. (Bet they all wanted Restore Delete.):mad:

[Earl Bonovich]

In any case, a DVR without a 30-second skip is like a car without turn signals. Sure. Some people don't use them. Sure. Sticking your arm out the window can be considered a "suitable workaround". But, it isn't. And, neither is "slip". They are both inferior alternatives.


That is a pretty "extreme" example.
What did you with a TiVo before version 3 came out and the wonderfull backdoor slip code... that is still a backdoor code (that is not documented in the manual) as of version 8, I believe.

Is it because of the advertisers? Sure... ask Replay what happened when they had a "SKIP" function for commercials.

And for brott's case... The items in this list where derived from responses from this forum. And the removal of items are also derived from responses in the forum.

BTW... welcome to DirecTV land... What made you come over to the "darkside"..

[Milominderbinder2]

As to Double Dash Confirm...
Right now we two ways to delete items in My Playlist

1. The two step method is Dash > Dash.

2. The three step method is Select > Delete > Confirm.

What richlife is asking is that both would be three step methods.

richlife is not asking for a new feature. He is asking that an existing feature be removed and his new feature be used in it's place. Before we do that, could we have a poll to see what users think?

Would you like the two step delete (Dash>Dash) replaced in My Playlist with a three step process with a confirmation.

Yes
No

I think that we should be careful when we are adding a request to remove a feature.

The real problem today with double dash is not with that feature at all, it is with the animations. Remove the animations and double dash would be fast. Writing the animation module was hard. Valving in back out is easy. The problem is that a PM will not admit he made a mistake.

- Craig

[LI-SVT]

I would like to see a pan up/down for the crop mode. Some programs view fine when you only see the middle, but some seem strange with everyones head choped off.

[Milominderbinder2]

Suggested Rewording of an Item...

Nine of the Missing Promised Features are purely bugs. They are documented in the manual. There are like a new car with windows that don't work. That's a bug.

Some bugs like the Guide Bug make the HR20 do the wrong thing. The new interface as CES next week should solve that. But it ain't here yet.

Some bugs like the Channels I Receive Bug steal basic functionallity from the HR20. The CIR Bug is the cause for the Search Bug and one of the Autorecord Bugs. I think that when the CIR Bug is fixed, we may see that the CIB Bug was the cause for some BSOD and other bugs.

Some bugs are intermittant like the Wrong Info Bug. Have you noticed that the Wrong Info Bug is ranked now as more important than Dual Buffers?

I think that we should consider a tweak to the wording of one of our existing Wishlist items. If we are asking that the HR20 just do what the manual says it already does, we are in a stronger position than when we ask for a new feature.

Here is the current item as an Ease of Use Feature Request:

More functional search (ignore "The" and "A" at start of title, better search logic - AND, OR, NOT, include at sign (@) and colon : character)

I think it is a Missing Promised Feature:

Search "with your desired...keyword" p. 2 - Allow @, :, etc. & better search logic - AND, OR, NOT. Ignore "The" and "A" in titles.

Until they fix Search, you will not be able to look for keywords like "CSI: NY" or "Dallas @ Chicago".

Also, at the bottom of the Take the Survey Screen, there is a thank you to dbstalk that I think has been cut off.

Doug, thank you for all that you do. I think that you have very very true to the guidelines you have set out. I cannot imaging the hours you have spent on us.

Craig Lincoln

[cybok0]

Why was "true 30-second skip" removed from the list on Nov 17? The so-called "slip" is not a true 30-second skip. If people are still requesting it, then it is still a "wish", and, as such, should remain on the list.


I agree with Gary.

[Milominderbinder2]

I would like to see a pan up/down for the crop mode. Some programs view fine when you only see the middle, but some seem strange with everyones head choped off.
Would this meet your needs?

#28 3.587↓ The ability to adjust screen horizontal & vertical position & size in each Format.

- Criag

[LI-SVT]

Would this meet your needs?

#28 3.587↓ The ability to adjust screen horizontal & vertical position & size in each Format.

- Criag

That would br even better, but a bit more complicated to execute. #28 3.587 is asking for a variable zoom and strech, I like it!

I just updated the survey, I don't remeber seeing that one before.

[Milominderbinder2]

I think that we already have a better Auto-tune than the one we are requesting:

62 2.288↓ The ability to auto-tune to a channel - same as if recording program without actually recording it

Before DVRs, auto-tuning a movie went like this:
1. You find the movie in the guide and schedule it.
2. Just before the movie starts, you are asked if you want to change channels.

The HR20 does exactly this with one important new feature added:
3. At the end of the movie you will be asked if you want to keep or delete it.

So if my wife goofs and Auto-tunes instead of Records her movie, she loses the option to save the movie. What is the benefit of that? What is the harm is allowing the user the option to save or delete the program she auto-tuned?

If they did implement our Auto-tune feature, I hope that we would have the option to save the program once we saw it.

That is exactly what Record already does.

- Craig

[Doug Brott]

As to Double Dash Confirm...

richlife is not asking for a new feature. He is asking that an existing feature be removed and his new feature be used in it's place. Before we do that, could we have a poll to see what users think?
...
I think that we should be careful when we are adding a request to remove a feature.



Craig,

Thanks for your feedback. However, to be true to what I have said in the past, I'm going to add this request back onto the list as I have noted. Here is my statement from 10-Nov-2006

Post from 10-Nov-2006 (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=718015#post718015
)
- I have removed some of the items from the list to try and better focus the information. If there is an up swell of support for any of the items that have been removed, then it's easy to put it back onto the list. Otherwise, it stays off.

While Rich is but one person, his insistence counts as an up swell to me. This was one of the original HR20 Wish List Survey items from the first Wish List thread. It's only fair for me to be consistent. If the item works it's way off the list appropriately, then that's a different story.

[Doug Brott]

HR20 Wish List Changes 05-Jan-2007 - Complete List of changes (http://www.redh.com/hr20/index.php?module=changes&op=_list) - Guidelines for changes (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=699858&postcount=1)

Additions to the List

05-Jan-2007 The ability to manually tune to an available over-the-air channel when the guide data is wrong [Spoffo]
05-Jan-2007 The ability to auto scan for over-the-air channels [HDSeeker]
05-Jan-2007 A confirm delete after hitting Dash-Dash in My Playlist or the Prioritizer [rkester, richlife] back by popular request removal (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=718015#post718015)
05-Jan-2007 A "Live TV" indicator when any FF mode reaches the end of the Live TV buffer [jayk]

Wording Changed

Negative padding - the ability to start any recording late and/or end it early => Negative Padding - The ability to automatically adjust a recording (start late/end early) by a user definable number of minutes

Removed from the list

Nothing

Chopping Block - will be removed if significantly negative again next Friday

2.494 scrolling title in the mini guide - length of title display area is too short http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.469 User based Grouping - ability to group your recordings in to user created folders so that different people can quickly see which of their programs are available for viewing http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.429 HD programs with DD+, and the ability to pass decoded DD+ stream in LPCM over HDMI http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif

Saved from the Chopping Block - past weeks values noted

2.000 Allow per-title permanent parental unblocking regardless of whether or not parental controls are active or inactive barely

http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif = marked as "unlikely to be implemented"

[Doug Brott]

I think that we already have a better Auto-tune than the one we are requesting:

62 2.288↓ The ability to auto-tune to a channel - same as if recording program without actually recording it

Before DVRs, auto-tuning a movie went like this:
1. You find the movie in the guide and schedule it.
2. Just before the movie starts, you are asked if you want to change channels.

The HR20 does exactly this with one important new feature added:
3. At the end of the movie you will be asked if you want to keep or delete it.

So if my wife goofs and Auto-tunes instead of Records her movie, she loses the option to save the movie. What is the benefit of that? What is the harm is allowing the user the option to save or delete the program she auto-tuned?

If they did implement our Auto-tune feature, I hope that we would have the option to save the program once we saw it.

That is exactly what Record already does.

- Craig

Different people watch TV in different ways. I agree with you that this would be a useless feature addition, because I would never use it. However, it is probably easy to implement. The reason that it is on the list is due to a specific request to be added. That being said, it is receiving a low value in the Survey. I would not be shocked it if became significantly negative in the future.

[Doug Brott]

I neglected to add the following feature on my original changes for today. I have updated that post accordingly.

A "Live TV" indicator when any FF mode reaches the end of the Live TV buffer

[richlife]

[B][I]...The real problem today with double dash is not with that feature at all, it is with the animations. Remove the animations and double dash would be fast. Writing the animation module was hard. Valving in back out is easy. The problem is that a PM will not admit he made a mistake. - Craig

Craig, I see your point, but... It's 2 keystrokes versus 6. (dash-dash vs. Select-down-down-Delete-Confirm. So I'm asking for 3 instead of 6. I'm also asking for the "Wha!" factor that saves me from accidently doing this on the wrong recording. That blue Confirm screen says "Wake Up!" and it works.

As I said, I also think that some of those who want Restore Delete may want it because the dash-dash just happened too fast and they want to be able to get the recording back. Add that to the space a "recycle bin" would take and many might agree that a Confirm on dash-dash is worthwhile.

Anyway, whatever is the decision, I'll live with it. No POS here :)

[richlife]

Consistent with my previous comments, I think this item "Undelete - the ability to (possibly) restore a deleted program" should be changed to say "Undelete - the ability to (possibly) restore a deleted program (would continue to consume Playlist storage space until removed by user)".

[richlife]

"scrolling title in the mini guide - length of title display area is too short "

Since this item is ranked so low, this suggestion may not be worth considering -- but I like the item so here goes: Change this to "Display full title when long title is highlighted in mini guide". This would work a little like how "hover" works on a PC. If the title is selected, rather than force a Select to see the program title (along with content info and action menu), when a long title (containing ...) is highlighted, just superimpose a bar with the full title. It vanishes when the highlight (cursor) is moved. Seems this would be simpler than scrolling. (if parse "..." then show it)

[cruise350]

I didn't have time to read all the replies, but an option to "clear the history" would be great!!

[DblD_Indy]

I didn't have time to read all the replies, but an option to "clear the history" would be great!!

:eek2:

Yes my wife keeps, complaining about my Dr. Phil watching too!

:eek2:

[Milkman]

I know it is in here already, but ALLOW special characters in keyword search.

For example @ , ; : etc.

ALSO When coming out of screensaver mode, it should perform whatever action got you out of it. For example, if I pause for an extended period of time, and come back the TV is in screensaver mode. If I press play, it simply just exits screensaver mode, and I have to press play again to actually get it to play.

[richlife]

A thought carried over from another thread -- isn't the slow motion too fast to really be helpful? Even if I can manage to activate it with that huge delay, the action is still so fast I can't really examine a replay slow enough to catch what happened. Speen needs to be cut at least in half.

[mjbehren]

I dont see an option in the survey for a way to change the clock... Could we consider adding one?

Some of us are experiencing clock drift, upwards of a minute... Rather than padding all recordings, it would be nice to be able to modify the clock up or down accordingly.


Thoughts?
Thanks,
Mb

[Doug Brott]

I dont see an option in the survey for a way to change the clock... Could we consider adding one?

Some of us are experiencing clock drift, upwards of a minute... Rather than padding all recordings, it would be nice to be able to modify the clock up or down accordingly.

Hmmm .. I see the quandary, I'm just not sure of the best way to word this. I wonder if a phone home would correct the problem?

[mjbehren]

Hmmm .. I see the quandary, I'm just not sure of the best way to word this. I wonder if a phone home would correct the problem?

I am connected to the internet via ethernet, but no phone at home, so that is not viable... It would be nice to have the ability to change things around a bit per your own circumstance.


Mb

[lucky13]

I haven't seen this before (just took the survey again). This request is the result of something stupid I did last night.

Went to watch ER at 10:15, while it was recording. I called up the list, saw it was being recorded. Still waiting for my wife, I intened to press List or Exit. Instead, I hit the nearby R button. The DVR promptly responded. The R disappeared from the list, the yellow light on the DVR went out. I quickly retuned to the correct channel and pressed R, losing only about 15-20 seconds of the show. But if I hand't been paying attention (say, thinking I pressed Exit, but not looking at the screen, or answering the phone, etc), I could have lost considerably more. (BTW, I later watch the missing portion on my TiVo, which is functioning as a passive back-up; I'm not scheduling new recordings, but not deleting the currnt Season Passes.)

So my request is: An "Are You Sure You Want to Stop this Recording?" popup before the DVR will stop a recording in progress. The ability to unschedule a future recording from the guide, miniguide or To Do list by simply pressing R should remain. But the DVR shouldn't halt a recording with only one button click.

[Doug Brott]

I dont see an option in the survey for a way to change the clock... Could we consider adding one?

Some of us are experiencing clock drift, upwards of a minute... Rather than padding all recordings, it would be nice to be able to modify the clock up or down accordingly.


Thoughts?
Thanks,
Mb

I've decided not to add this item to the list. Allowing the user to change the time on the box to some arbitrary number would just add one more layer of debug difficulty for the programmers and CSRs if the user of the box can set the time to any arbitrary time. In addition, any screwy time would play havoc with the PPV & sports programming packages. Your use of the feature is certainly both innocent and honest, but I think it will open a can of worms.

It is very likely that a phone-home will correct the time problem. It doesn't appear that you have your receiver set up to make daily calls via a phone line. Hopefully DirecTV will set up an over-the-net capability on the HR20 (BBVOD timeframe?) so that the time function works properly.

That being said, if you can get some additional support for this feature being added to the list, then I will add it next week.

[Doug Brott]

HR20 Wish List Changes 12-Jan-2007 - Complete List of changes (http://www.redh.com/hr20/index.php?module=changes&op=_list) - Guidelines for changes (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=699858&postcount=1)

Additions to the List

12-Jan-2007 The ability to erase/clear the history screen [cruise350]
12-Jan-2007 Make the SLOW MOTION slower. It's too fast now. [richlife]
12-Jan-2007 Issue a confirmation popup when stopping a currently recording program by pressing the RECORD button [lucky13]
12-Jan-2007 Enable Cruise Control functions (FF, REW, etc.) on the XM music channels http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif [JayC]

Wording Changed

Nothing

Removed from the list

3.657 A way to opt-in to software updates that have not yet been released nationally

Chopping Block - will be removed if significantly negative again next Friday

2.440 User-sorted channel listings - a favorites list with channels sorted to your preference http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
1.802 Allow per-title permanent parental unblocking regardless of whether or not parental controls are active or inactive barely

Saved from the Chopping Block - past weeks values noted

2.598 scrolling title in the mini guide - length of title display area is too short http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.568 User based Grouping - ability to group your recordings in to user created folders so that different people can quickly see which of their programs are available for viewing http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.683 HD programs with DD+, and the ability to pass decoded DD+ stream in LPCM over HDMI http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif

http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif = marked as "unlikely to be implemented"

[BubblePuppy]

I haven't seen this one and I'm not sure how to word it.

What I would like to see is that when I am watching a show from My Place List and I hit list on the remote the show I am currently watching is highlighted in the list instead of starting at the top thereby causing me to scroll back down to the show I was watching.
Like what the guide does....when you hit guide the channel you are watching is highlighted, the highlight doesn't start at the top of the guide causing you to scroll back down to the channel you are watching.

Chuck

[Doug Brott]

I haven't seen this one and I'm not sure how to word it.

What I would like to see is that when I am watching a show from My Place List and I hit list on the remote the show I am currently watching is highlighted in the list instead of starting at the top thereby causing me to scroll back down to the show I was watching.
Like what the guide does....when you hit guide the channel you are watching is highlighted, the highlight doesn't start at the top of the guide causing you to scroll back down to the channel you are watching.

Chuck

Always return to most recently accessed position on My Playlist when using LIST is currently #8 on the Survey.

I vote high on this one, too. ;)

[BubblePuppy]

Found it, thanks.

I took the survey and put it high but for some reason it dropped to #9...:(

[Doug Brott]

Found it, thanks.

I took the survey and put it high but for some reason it dropped to #9...:(

No problem .. One of the new items which, at the time, only had two votes was the culprit. Most of the other items have hundreds of votes. As more and more people vote for certain items, the more "normal" it will get.

[BubblePuppy]

No problem .. One of the new items which, at the time, only had two votes was the culprit. Most of the other items have hundreds of votes. As more and more people vote for certain items, the more "normal" it will get.

Whew.....I was worried that voting from my "location" caused a hanging chad. :)

[JayC]

For an addition to the "Legal Hurdles" list, how about:

All trick functions, along with record, be enabled for the XM Radio music channels.

Thanks for your time managing this thread, it's certainly worthwhile.

[Doug Brott]

Doug,
For an addition to the "Legal Hurdles" list I would like to submit that:

All trick functions, along with record, be enabled for the XM Radio music channels.

Thanks for your time managing this thread, it's certainly worthwhile.

Jayc

That's a great suggestion, and since it's still Friday, I'll go ahead and add it today.

[Doug Brott]

Oops, forgot one other one. I also elected to remove the following item from the HR20 Wish List Survey since it appears that DirecTV has listened to this request:

A way to opt-in to software updates that have not yet been released nationally

Final Value of 3.657 from 940 Responses

I've made the appropriate changes to the Change post above.

[luckycarl]

Having to reset my HR20 several times a week, it is annoying to have to turnoff the circle of lights each time at the receiver. Could this function be implemented by a remote key or keys?

Carl

[Milominderbinder2]

Doug, Nice Job!

A wording Tweak suggestion for a new item:

Enable Cruise Control functions (FF, REW, etc.) on the XM music channels

I would like this for the networked MP3's as well:

Enable Cruise Control functions (FF, REW, etc.) on the XM music channels & My Music

I was told that they will never allow us to delete History because that is how they bill PPV and soon BBVOD (D* Video On Demand).

Take care,

Craig

[Doug Brott]

I've made the following wording changes to the wording:

Enable Cruise Control functions (FF, REW, etc.) on the XM music channels
- was changed to -
Enable Cruise Control functions (FF, REW, etc.) on the XM music channels and My Music (Network)

and

Issue a confirmation popup when stopping a currently recording program by pressing the RECORD button
- was changed to -
Popup a confirmation when ending the recording of a currently program

[BubblePuppy]

I've made the following wording changes to the wording:

Issue a confirmation popup when stopping a currently recording program by pressing the RECORD button
- was changed to -
Popup a confirmation when ending the recording of a currently program

Would someone 'splain this one to me 'cause I don't quite understand this one.

When I hit stop during a recording there is a pop-up that asks: keep recording, stop and keep, stop and delete.

Thanks,

Chuck

[richlife]

Having to reset my HR20 several times a week, it is annoying to have to turnoff the circle of lights each time at the receiver. Could this function be implemented by a remote key or keys?

Carl

Better yet, make it a Setup option. And allow it to be set for all lights although obviously some cannot be turned OFF. I would at least like to set LOW for everything.

[leww37334]

I have used an H10 for a long time, I was shocked to see that the HR20 does not have a "scan for channels" feature. This needs to be implemented, I have subchannels available to me that do not show up in the guide, I also used to get stations from three DMA's and there is no way to tune the third DMA anymore.

My wish is to restore the "scan for channels" function.

[Milkman]

I have a suggestion that may or may not have been addressed.

If I am watching something, and I hit pause, the screensaver will eventually pop-up. This is GREAT! My only disappointment is that if I come back to the system and hit play, I actually have to hit play TWICE, because the first keypress it only removes screensaver mode, the second keypress actually starts the play.

This should be merged into one keypress.

[lucky13]

Would someone 'splain this one to me 'cause I don't quite understand this one.

When I hit stop during a recording there is a pop-up that asks: keep recording, stop and keep, stop and delete.

Thanks,

Chuck

See my post #552 above.

[Milominderbinder2]

I have used an H10 for a long time, I was shocked to see that the HR20 does not have a "scan for channels" feature. This needs to be implemented, I have subchannels available to me that do not show up in the guide, I also used to get stations from three DMA's and there is no way to tune the third DMA anymore.

My wish is to restore the "scan for channels" function.
Take the survey if you haven't since Friday. It's in there but not even making a C grade so far!

#51 The ability to auto scan for over-the-air channels

- Craig

[BubblePuppy]

See my post #552 above.


I went and read your post so I thought I would give it a try.
I started a recording, went into list and pressed record and the same pop-up that I get when I hit stop came up and gave me the three choices.
I have release 115...... it seems that your wish has been granted, in this release anyway.

Chuck

[Doug Brott]

I went and read your post so I thought I would give it a try.
I started a recording, went into list and pressed record and the same pop-up that I get when I hit stop came up and gave me the three choices.
I have release 115...... it seems that your wish has been granted, in this release anyway.

Chuck

Anyone want to double check this in 0x10b? I'm not home today and won't have the chance to try it out. If it's already in 0x115, then we'll just get it off the list.

[Milominderbinder2]

Popup a confirmation when ending the recording of a currently program

Would someone 'splain this one to me 'cause I don't quite understand this one.

When I hit stop during a recording there is a pop-up that asks: keep recording, stop and keep, stop and delete.

Thanks,

Chuck

Chuck is right. I tested this as well and my HR20 does ask for a confirmation when cancelling a recording exactly as Chuck states.

- Craig

[BubblePuppy]

Popup a confirmation when ending the recording of a currently program



Chuck is right. I tested this as well and my HR20 does ask for a confirmation when cancelling a recording exactly as Chuck states.

- Craig

Craig,
Thanks for the confirmation but after I read lucky13's post I understood that he had pressed (R) by mistake instead of play while in the list and the program in the list (without being viewed) was deleted with out a pop-up warning. Lucky's concern was that a program would be deleted with out a warning if one were to press (R).

See below.

See my post #552 above.


I went and read your post so I thought I would give it a try.
I started a recording, went into list and pressed record and the same pop-up that I get when I hit stop came up and gave me the three choices.
I have release 115...... it seems that your wish has been granted, in this release anyway.

Chuck

Craig and all..try this and report what happens........gotta run 119 is waving at me.

Chuck

[dwimmer38]

I am not able to take the survey. It's times out trying to connect. Can someone PLEASE make sure that removing the 50 show limit on the Prioritizer is near the top of the list?

[lucky13]

Craig,
Thanks for the confirmation but after I read lucky13's post I understood that he had pressed (R) by mistake instead of play while in the list and the program in the list (without being viewed) was deleted with out a pop-up warning. Lucky's concern was that a program would be deleted with out a warning if one were to press (R).

See below.






Craig and all..try this and report what happens........gotta run 119 is waving at me.

Chuck

OK--upon further review:
I was unable to recreate the problem this morning.
Tried to stop a recording of Meet the Press by pressing R.
Got the pop up warning whether I tried it from Mr Playlist, To Do List, Guide or Mini Guide. So I'll chalk this up to an Elvis bug, not a Wishlist desire. I'm on Martin now, so if this was a software bug, perhaps it's fixed.
I'll repost this on the Elvis thread, in case that's still being monitored for bugs.

Thanks to all.

[lucky13]

This is a minor issue, but I thought it's worth noting.

The mini-guide should launch by pressing the up or down arrow.
This is how it worked on the old Hughes boxes, and I still find myself reaching for the arrows. Also, they're easier to find than the Blue Button, and more user-intuitive. The arrows are used to scroll through the mini-guide, so using the arrows to launch it would be simpler for the user.

Also, I've seen many references in several threads to guide/menu animation. What does that mean?

[Doug Brott]

I am not able to take the survey. It's times out trying to connect. Can someone PLEASE make sure that removing the 50 show limit on the Prioritizer is near the top of the list?

Sorry guys, my system has crashed and I'm not at home to bring it up right now. I'll get it back up tomorrow evening when I return. My apologies in advance.

[oldguy1]

Anyone who has had the HR10 and the HR20 for any time knows the frustration of downloading new software, having problems, and wishing they could fall back to the previous version.

D* should expand the "02468" thing for downloading the current version to include a "13579" feature that would allow you to download the previous version.

[oldguy1]

It would be nice to be able to delete more than one caller from the list at one time, especially if the list is huge!

[Doug Brott]

Sorry guys, my system has crashed and I'm not at home to bring it up right now. I'll get it back up tomorrow evening when I return. My apologies in advance.

Ok, things should be back up now.

Again, sorry for the downtime. Usually stays up just fine, but sure enough, I go out of town and things break.

[tonyd79]

The mini-guide should launch by pressing the up or down arrow.


I agree. It also works that way on the SA8300. It is more intuitive than pushing a button first.

Also, would like to see an alternative to all "press and hold" button functionality. It runs batteries down on remotes, is non-intuitive and doesn't work well with univeral remotes.

[houskamp]

Ok, things should be back up now.

Again, sorry for the downtime. Usually stays up just fine, but sure enough, I go out of town and things break.

What happened? did you put it to close to your hr20? :lol:

[mrshermanoaks]

I am not able to take the survey. It's times out trying to connect. Can someone PLEASE make sure that removing the 50 show limit on the Prioritizer is near the top of the list?

I've been pushing it as hard as I can, but others don't seem as interested in it. On the balance of things (ie trying to reliably get watchable recordings) it doesn't seem that important. But for those of us who have hit this limit it's yet one more crippling problem.

[Zippy]

I humbly submit the following feature requests for inclusion on the list.

I searched through this thread and didn't see a couple of these previously requested. If they have and I missed it, sorry. There were a lot of posts to go through. A couple of them are just my 2 cents worth on already posted requests.

My biggest request has already been addressed, but I would like to be able to turn on and off the closed captioning using one button on the remote, or have it automatically come on when I hit 'mute' or something like that (my other tv does that, its cool).

I would like to see the current (live) time added to the bar that tells you where you are at in a recorded program (timeframe from beginning to end and where you are in that timeframe) when watching a recorded program or having paused/rewind a live program (the bar that comes up when you hit 'play' when watching a recorded program).

I would like to see a 90 minute jump added to the places where you can hit the red or green button and jump ahead 12 hours. I hate having to scroll through the guide instead of being able to just move forward to the next screen.

I would like to be able to clear all the cid messages all at once instead of having to erase them one by one.

Thanks for your consideration!

[machavez00]

How about getting Mac audio streaming to work :icon_hroc

[Doug Brott]

What happened? did you put it to close to your hr20? :lol:

Let's just say that heat caused it to crash and when it was first restarted, Stupid Linux came up with a message that said I needed to fsck the disk because I hadn't done it in 21 reboots. So not only did it crash while I was away, it had to be obstinate about restarting. It's all good now, gave me a chance to vacuum out all the dust.

[mjbehren]

Since many of us have the HR20 on our home networks, how about a web interface for several tasks that are inconvenient to do with the remote such as:

Managing My Playlist (mainly deleting items).
Searching for programs and scheduling.
Show/modify settings in Help/Settings.


Thanks,
Mb

[mjbehren]

I just thoguht of another one...

Could we add an item to delete all of the recordings of one show inside of Mark & Delete?


Thanks,
Mb

[Doug Brott]

Since many of us have the HR20 on our home networks, how about a web interface for several tasks that are inconvenient to do with the remote such as:

Managing My Playlist (mainly deleting items).
Searching for programs and scheduling.
Show/modify settings in Help/Settings.


Thanks,
Mb

Ability to schedule a program and change settings remotely over the Internet is currently #26 on the HR20 Wish List Survey. Perhaps the wording could be adjusted slightly to match everything you are saying. However, what you have listed is the intent of this feature request.

[richlife]

Ok, things should be back up now.

Again, sorry for the downtime. Usually stays up just fine, but sure enough, I go out of town and things break.

Glad to find you up and running again, Doug. Sunday my laptop just powered down on me about 5 or 6 times with no warning or explanation. Finally, I noticed it seemed to be awful hot so I propped up the back edge before starting again. It's worked fine since. This machine has two fans and a very small clearance underneath. I had just brought the memory up to 1.25G recently and apparently hadn't run it flat on a table since. When I did it protested vehemently.

Because you understand your machine so well, I can finally come out of withdrawal with my periodic Wish List Survey fix.

And I really LIKE this one from Zippy: I would like to see a 90 minute jump added to the places where you can hit the red or green button and jump ahead 12 hours. I hate having to scroll through the guide instead of being able to just move forward to the next screen.

[mjbehren]

Ability to schedule a program and change settings remotely over the Internet is currently #26 on the HR20 Wish List Survey. Perhaps the wording could be adjusted slightly to match everything you are saying. However, what you have listed is the intent of this feature request.

You are right, sorry for the confusion, I suppose I didnt think of "Internet" as home networks, but the same functionality could be accomplished with UPnP routing... Sorry for the confusion.
:)

Thanks,
Mb

[PajamaGuy]

Just a note of thanks for maintaining the survey!

(... does D* ever look at it?)

[Doug Brott]

Just a note of thanks for maintaining the survey!

(... does D* ever look at it?)

You're welcome.

I have heard from other forum members that DirecTV has seen the survey. I do not, however, know the extent to which it is reviewed.

[jmschnur]

1. Have the info-test give some resluts of the smart analysis (like in speed fan). This will let us know when our HDs are likley to fail so we can action before they do.
A speed fan reading of temps would also be good-with logging.

2. provide an easy way to go back to a previous version or change between one and another. This is done in the latest ASUS bios versions.

3. Have a way to suspend the HD after x minutes of inactivity but still leave the unit on (like standby in a computer) (is this the off mode now)?

4. permit wireless access via usb.

5. IR and RF work at the same time.

6. esata provides and additional hard disk so BOTH HDs can be used.

7. Let foobar and squeezebox (slimdevices soft squeeze) be used for music selection when connected to a network.
8. perhaps permit a CD collection and picutres in flac lossless etc to be accessed via an esata drive-better wneh system is on a network for file updates.
9. Of course it would be great to permit the recorded tv prograsm to be sent and then viewed via the network (perhaps via a 2nd Direct TV receiver). This has DRM aspects so probalby would be difficult to implement.

[allen13331]

Great idea for the survey. I just took it and I must say that it has everything that I wanted. One suggestion however...you might want a short explanation for "dual buffers" so that people less familiar with DVRs will know what you are talking about. I imagine there are people that rate it low just because the don't know what it means or have never had it. I was surprised to find that it was not #1 on the list.

[Doug Brott]

My biggest request has already been addressed, but I would like to be able to turn on and off the closed captioning using one button on the remote, or have it automatically come on when I hit 'mute' or something like that (my other tv does that, its cool).

Press & hold Mute (or another button) to toggle Closed Captioning On or Off is currently #56 on the Survey

I would like to see the current (live) time added to the bar that tells you where you are at in a recorded program (timeframe from beginning to end and where you are in that timeframe) when watching a recorded program or having paused/rewind a live program (the bar that comes up when you hit 'play' when watching a recorded program).

You can get this by pressing the INFO button and it shows up in the upper left corner.

[Doug Brott]

1. Have the info-test give some resluts of the smart analysis (like in speed fan). This will let us know when our HDs are likley to fail so we can action before they do.
A speed fan reading of temps would also be good-with logging.

I've adjusted the wording of an existing item to accommodate this request.

2. provide an easy way to go back to a previous version or change between one and another. This is done in the latest ASUS bios versions.

The current methodology for this is to roll back from a pre-release version if it does not work well for you. Anything else would require DirecTV to support multiple versions of released firmware. I don't think that this is something that we want at this time. perhaps when the system is stable and supporting multiple releases makes sense.

3. Have a way to suspend the HD after x minutes of inactivity but still leave the unit on (like standby in a computer) (is this the off mode now)?

The system is never really off, thus the need for the drive to continue spinning.

4. permit wireless access via usb.

There are wireless devices called Bridges or Gaming Adapters that can be plugged into the available Ethernet port on the back of the HR20.

5. IR and RF work at the same time.

Ability to set the HR20 to accept both IR (infrared) and RF (radio frequency) remote control inputs is currently #66 on the Survey

7. Let foobar and squeezebox (slimdevices soft squeeze) be used for music selection when connected to a network.
8. perhaps permit a CD collection and picutres in flac lossless etc to be accessed via an esata drive-better wneh system is on a network for file updates.

The current method to play multimedia data on the HR20 is via VIIV technology. There are alternatives available which are detailed in the HR20 Information Resources sub-forum.

9. Of course it would be great to permit the recorded tv prograsm to be sent and then viewed via the network (perhaps via a 2nd Direct TV receiver). This has DRM aspects so probalby would be difficult to implement.

Multi-Room Viewing via the Ethernet Port is currently #20 on the Survey

[Doug Brott]

HR20 Wish List Changes 19-Jan-2007 - Complete List of changes (http://www.redh.com/hr20/index.php?module=changes&op=_list) - Guidelines for changes (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=699858&postcount=1)

Additions to the List

19-Jan-2007 The mini-guide should launch by pressing the up arrow [lucky13, tonyd79]
19-Jan-2007 The ability to page forward or backward in time while using the GUIDE. The red/green buttons are good, but jump too far. [zippy]
19-Jan-2007 The ability to do an erase-all on the Caller ID menu [zippy]
19-Jan-2007 Enable the E-SATA port for additional capacity, not just replacement capacity. [jmschnur]
22-Jan-2007 Option to set the front panel blue light brightness level for ALL LEDs from the remote control [luckycarl]

Wording Changed

Option to view more technical information about a recording (MPEG2 or MPEG4, disk usage, etc.)
.. changed to ..
Option to view more technical information (MPEG2 or MPEG4, disk usage, fan speed, etc.)

Removed from the list

2.978 Popup a confirmation when ending the recording of a currently program - problem fixed in 0x119
1.825 Allow per-title permanent parental unblocking regardless of whether or not parental controls are active or inactive - significantly negative

Chopping Block - will be removed if significantly negative again next Friday

Nothing

Saved from the Chopping Block - past weeks values noted

2.780 User-sorted channel listings - a favorites list with channels sorted to your preference http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif

http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif = marked as "unlikely to be implemented"

[texal316]

Question from first-time newbie: Does the HR20 allow you keep the buffer on a channel when you switch to another channel, then come back to the previous channel? This was a feature of Tivo I used to have, but not with my R15 DVR, hoping they put that back in before I buy a HR20. Seems to me, if it has 2 tuners, it could run 2 buffers. I miss that. Otherwise, it would be a wishlist item for me.

[Doug Brott]

Question from first-time newbie: Does the HR20 allow you keep the buffer on a channel when you switch to another channel, then come back to the previous channel? This was a feature of Tivo I used to have, but not with my R15 DVR, hoping they put that back in before I buy a HR20. Seems to me, if it has 2 tuners, it could run 2 buffers. I miss that. Otherwise, it would be a wishlist item for me.

This is commonly referred to as Dual Live Buffers which is currently #2 on the Survey.

[texal316]

This is commonly referred to as Dual Live Buffers which is currently #2 on the Survey.

Ah yes, thanks Brott.
Why don't all receivers have sleep timers in case they're in the bedroom?

[CraigM]

What about adding a web browser and email and you could use them with your existing internet connection?

[kevinturcotte]

What about adding a web browser and email and you could use them with your existing internet connection?

That's a bad idea unless they've improved the technology since Dish Network's 7100/7200. I used that as both my DVR and internet, and quite a few times while browsing the internet, the receiver had to be restarted because Webtv couldn't handle the page I was viewing.

[Doug Brott]

What about adding a web browser and email and you could use them with your existing internet connection?

The ability to access web content (E.G. Yahoo! Photos, ESPN.com, CNN.com etc.) is currently #62 on the Survey.

[CraigM]

Is web content the same thing as a web browser? I think Tivo has web content but not an actual web browser.

The ability to access web content (E.G. Yahoo! Photos, ESPN.com, CNN.com etc.) is currently #62 on the Survey.

[luckycarl]

More efficient coding for shorter channel switch times.

On satellite signals channel switch times run about 3 sec. On OTA signals, switch times can take anywhere from 6 to 40 sec.

[Atherwood]

Here's my sugestion. This would be particularly useful for keeping a 4yr old entertained for a couple hours....

The ability play several recorded shows by pressing play on the show heading name (For example : Clicking on "Thomas and Friends" heading will play all the episodes of Thomas that are recorded.)

[Doug Brott]

Here's my sugestion. This would be particularly useful for keeping a 4yr old entertained for a couple hours....

The ability play several recorded shows by pressing play on the show heading name (For example : Clicking on "Thomas and Friends" heading will play all the episodes of Thomas that are recorded.)

The ability to select multiple recordings and then show them back-to-back without touching the remote was removed from the Survey on 15-Dec-2006 because it was significantly negative.

One thing that I have not added to my guidelines is a methodology for re-adding items to the list. The current practice is to simply leave it off of the list. Certainly, there have been a number of new additions to the DBStalk.com forums in the past month, so I will consider a method that would benefit everyone.

My initial thought is to simply create a Poll in the HR20 Q&A forum asking if a particular item should be returned to the list. I wouldn't want to do this willy-nilly, as that would become burdensome for me and for folks participating.

Do any of you have ideas that might work?

[Atherwood]

My initial thought is to simply create a Poll in the HR20 Q&A forum asking if a particular item should be returned to the list.


I defer to your visibility as to what should be added to the poll. This idea might be the best balance of opportunity and effort.

[CraigM]

It could have been a WebTV issue and not the Dish DVR you are using. I was saying have the web browser built into the HR-20's software. You were using Microsoft's WebTV right?

That's a bad idea unless they've improved the technology since Dish Network's 7100/7200. I used that as both my DVR and internet, and quite a few times while browsing the internet, the receiver had to be restarted because Webtv couldn't handle the page I was viewing.

[Doug Brott]

I missed an item from luckycarl on the list last Friday - Sorry Carl it wasn't your lucky day :D . In any event, I've added it to the list since it should have been added on Friday.

I have added:

Option to set the front panel blue light brightness level for ALL LEDs from the remote control

[Milominderbinder2]

[COLOR="Sienna"][B]My initial thought is to simply create a Poll in the HR20 Q&A forum asking if a particular item should be returned to the list.
Doug,
I would like to see a Poll in the Q & A area for all new items before items at this point for two reasons:

1. You have been honing this for months. You have had well over 100 items on the list. We have discussed at least 100 others. If we add something new now, it should be very thoughtfully done.

2. The Poll would be a chance to ask Q & A forum users to come back and take the survey again.

Asking first is more democratic as well. It can be as simple as just a YES/NO answer and a simple question.

I would also say that if there is no downside, no new menu item, no replacement of an existing feature, I am more inclined to say add it. But anything that is going to add to the complexity of the user interface even by one menu item should be considered carefully.

Also consider that this is far from a normal sampling of HR20 users. DBSTalk users have dangerously high IQs. If you don't get at least 60% of us to want a new feature, it does not seem fair to ask D* to invest in it for normal people.

Long term I think that 2.99 should be the bar for items on the list as well. It is not fair to ask D* to do less than C work.

- Craig

[Doug Brott]

I'm open to modifying the guidelines. While the data is still useful, the biggest problem that I see at this point is that taking the Survey is becoming more difficult. It's basically a function of the number of items on the list .. who really wants to answer that many questions?

One thing for sure is that most things are covered at this point. I'll consider a method that might be more democratic. Anyone else have some ideas?

[Milominderbinder2]

Here's my sugestion. This would be particularly useful for keeping a 4yr old entertained for a couple hours....

The ability play several recorded shows by pressing play on the show heading name (For example : Clicking on "Thomas and Friends" heading will play all the episodes of Thomas that are recorded.)
First: Welcome!

This request has been talked about since August in the HR20 forum. At one point it was called the Dora the Babysitter feature. There is a small but vocal group of sleep-deprived parents who beg for this.

One suggestion was to add an option when you are highlighting a group in my playlist to click Menu and have a new option Play Group. Some have said that this menu option should automatically repeat forever.

For simplicity of menus and implementation I might suggest rewording this:

The ability to select multiple recordings and then show them back-to-back without touching the remote

To:

New My Playlist menu option to Play & Repeat Group

- Craig

[Doug Brott]

OK, here's my idea for some modifications to the list to make it more accommodating for both the Survey takers and the Survey reviewers (DirecTV are you listening?):

Additions

In order to keep the list from becoming unwieldy, I'd like to propose a 3-day voting period for any new additions to the list. The data will be collected on Friday (as normal) but instead of me automatically adding them to the list, I will create a Poll for each question asking Yes or No to add it to the Wish List. 50% or better on the Yes side means it gets added to the list.

Items that have been removed may be nominated to be added back to the list, but there MUST be a 4 week waiting period before it can be added back to the list and it will be done using the same polling method described above.

Removals

The current list has over 70 items. This becomes tough for the Survey taker as there is a lot of information to wade through. The current method of removals helps get the bottom feeders off of the list, but does little to prevent the lower scoring items from remaining. So to be fair and give the lower scoring items a chance to recover, I will remove any item scoring below a 3.0 for 4 consecutive weeks as a low-scoring item. This should help keep the list a useful device. For the initial run, I'm going to back date the scoring such that the scores from 05-Jan-2007, 12-Jan-2007 and 19-Jan-2007 will count. That means that any item that scored below a 3 for each of those three weeks AND continues to score below a 3.0 on Friday will be removed.

The other removal rules will still be in effect so significantly negative items may be removed sooner. Items will continue to have a 15-day grace period. This means that if they are marked NEW, then they will not be removed regardless of any rules that may otherwise remove them. Once they are NOT marked new, they are eligible for removal.

Please review these guideline changes and offer any input. Barring a lack of support, I will make the changes to the guidelines in the original post and I will begin the implementation on Friday 26-Jan-2007.

[Doug Brott]

Just a short note regarding the data collection ..

The HR20 Wish List Survey has been taken almost 2000 times since it started on October 24, 2006. That is over 20 times per day on average. Of those 1990 entries, 1419 are from unique IP numbers.

[richlife]

OK, here's my idea for some modifications to the list to make it more accommodating for both the Survey takers and the Survey reviewers (DirecTV are you listening?):
...
Please review these guideline changes and offer any input. Barring a lack of support, I will make the changes to the guidelines in the original post and I will begin the implementation on Friday 26-Jan-2007.

You may not get many responses, but your proposal looks well thought out (sort of amazing to me you can think anything through that red haze ;) ) and you've looked at it as much or more than anyone. You've got my vote.

[richlife]

What is the difference between these two items. They look like the same thing to me.

10 Enable consumer installable Hard Drive Expansion Device - Investor Day 2/22/06 Slide 41

16 Enable the E-SATA port for additional capacity, not just replacement capacity

[Doug Brott]

What is the difference between these two items. They look like the same thing to me.

10 Enable consumer installable Hard Drive Expansion Device - Investor Day 2/22/06 Slide 41

16 Enable the E-SATA port for additional capacity, not just replacement capacity

Why nothing .. I think this goes to the point that the list might be too big. Thanks for pointing it out. I'll go ahead and remove the most recently added item now.

[luckycarl]

Wish List Removals

Have you considered shortening the Wish List by moving items scoring over 3.5 for a month to a permanent wish list?

[Doug Brott]

Wish List Removals

Have you considered shortening the Wish List by moving items scoring over 3.5 for a month to a permanent wish list?

The Survey is somewhat of a permanent wish list. I'm just looking for a way to make it more manageable.

[luckycarl]

The Survey is somewhat of a permanent wish list. I'm just looking for a way to make it more manageable.

Are you trying to shorten the wish list or the voting wish list?
If you want to shorten the voting wish list, removing wishes above 3.5 would shorten the voting list by 15 to 20 items.

[Doug Brott]

Are you trying to shorten the wish list or the voting wish list?
If you want to shorten the voting wish list, removing wishes above 3.5 would shorten the voting list by 15 to 20 items.

I'm not clear on what you are suggesting. Removing the upper end items would defeat the entire purpose of a Wish List. We certainly shouldn't remove the higher scoring items as that is what collectively we want implemented on the HR20.

There have been folks in the past that are unhappy with any items being removed from the list. I've taken a relatively conservative approach until now and I'm open to continuing that if this is what folks want to do. So far, there has been minimal input so either (1) people are no longer reading this thread or (2) there is a consensus of agreement that is simply not being voiced (crickets chirping, silent room , etc.).

It certainly sounds like you are against making a change which is fully understandable. Maybe a better approach would be to change up the results display to focus on the top 30 items only. In addition, move the current threshold of 2.5 for "unlikely to be implemented items" less than 3.0 and move the threshold for all other items from 2.0 to less than 2.5.

In fact, as I write this I'm more inclined to go down this path as it is both easier to implement and might ultimately prove more effective. I'll work on re-writing the guidelines and then follow through with some code updates that will generate the proper results.

[Coffey77]

I'd like to suggest this for when downloading new software:

RIGHT - National Release Version
LEFT - Previous National Release Version
UP - Release Candidate (when window is available) (LEFT, RIGHT, A, B, B, A, SELECT on your NES controller :D)
DOWN - Revert to Original Software (0xAC, or whatever yours was)

They could build in a code for when they do the Nationwide updates to do them automatically as these features would most likely be more in our favor while doing our tests.

Sometimes, I'd like to revert back to different software to make tests but, not owning two HR20's I hate to lose my "updated" software.

[Milominderbinder2]

How about having a Back Burner Area?

I just took the survey from scratch. I tried to think through the questions like we are asking the user.

I would say to allow at least 10-15 seconds per multiple choice question. That's 12-18 minutes we are asking a casual user to spend.

They say you can't make a casual internet survey take longer than 3-5 minutes. Otherwise the users start just exiting out, leaving items blank, or worse, just mark all remaining items high or low.

So how about this. For now, move items have all-time scores below 2.75 for at least 4 weeks to the "Back Burner". These could were barely a C- or less. At least right now. Let the Back Burner be a list that we can see through a link at the top. It would still show what score the item was last receiving etc.

If a new item scores less than 2.0 after 4 weeks it should go to the Delta House (gone).

I think most previously removed items mostly were removed because they were were implimented, were duplicates, combined, very low score (below 2.0 - Delta House), etc. and so would not be back burnered. But some might now be able to go on the back burner.

I think people would be happier if their pet item were just moved to the back burner instead of no longer considered.

At some point as the Wish List features are done, pull some of the back burner items out again. Maybe once the top priorities are done, those back burner items will be more important.

That way the we are asking D* to focus on our key priorities without forgetting the items that we have moved to the Back Burner for now. Also I don't want D* to see our Wish List as a smorgasbord where they can pick any item. I want them focused on our top items.

One other thought. Consider changing:

The ability to page forward or backward in time while using the GUIDE. The red/green buttons are good, but jump too far

to:

In the Guide enable the FFW and REW buttons to move 1 screen forward and back.

I don't want this request to be misunderstood to remove the function of the red and green buttons.

Doug, as always great work.

- Craig

[luckycarl]

I'm not clear on what you are suggesting. Removing the upper end items would defeat the entire purpose of a Wish List. We certainly shouldn't remove the higher scoring items as that is what collectively we want implemented on the HR20.

There have been folks in the past that are unhappy with any items being removed from the list. I've taken a relatively conservative approach until now and I'm open to continuing that if this is what folks want to do. So far, there has been minimal input so either (1) people are no longer reading this thread or (2) there is a consensus of agreement that is simply not being voiced (crickets chirping, silent room , etc.).

It certainly sounds like you are against making a change which is fully understandable. Maybe a better approach would be to change up the results display to focus on the top 30 items only. In addition, move the current threshold of 2.5 for "unlikely to be implemented items" less than 3.0 and move the threshold for all other items from 2.0 to less than 2.5.

In fact, as I write this I'm more inclined to go down this path as it is both easier to implement and might ultimately prove more effective. I'll work on re-writing the guidelines and then follow through with some code updates that will generate the proper results.


I'm not suggesting removing items 3.5 and above from a Wish List. After a thousand or so votes these items belong on a Permanent Wish List However, they contribute to a lenghty Voting List and by removing them and scores below 2.5 you could cut the Voting List in half.

[Doug Brott]

I'm not suggesting removing items 3.5 and above from a Wish List. After a thousand or so votes these items belong on a Permanent Wish List However, they contribute to a lenghty Voting List and by removing them and scores below 2.5 you could cut the Voting List in half.

OK, but we do want to continue scoring the higher-ranked items. It helps to order them and is the purpose of the list. If we simply say the top items are all on a "permanent wishlist" the scoring system will be obsolete at some point. If we only included the lower scoring items in the Survey, then fewer people would be inclined to vote. These factors would, in my mind, render the HR20 Wish List Survey useless.

[Doug Brott]

How about having a Back Burner Area?So how about this. For now, move items have all-time scores below 2.75 for at least 4 weeks to the "Back Burner". These could were barely a C- or less. At least right now. Let the Back Burner be a list that we can see through a link at the top. It would still show what score the item was last receiving etc.

If a new item scores less than 2.0 after 4 weeks it should go to the Delta House (gone).

I think most previously removed items mostly were removed because they were were implimented, were duplicates, combined, very low score (below 2.0 - Delta House), etc. and so would not be back burnered. But some might now be able to go on the back burner.

I think people would be happier if their pet item were just moved to the back burner instead of no longer considered.

At some point as the Wish List features are done, pull some of the back burner items out again. Maybe once the top priorities are done, those back burner items will be more important.

That way the we are asking D* to focus on our key priorities without forgetting the items that we have moved to the Back Burner for now. Also I don't want D* to see our Wish List as a smorgasbord where they can pick any item. I want them focused on our top items.

This might be a reasonable solution. It will help to keep a storage point for all of the lower scoring items without them blurring the bigger picture. Let's hear from other folks .. Does this make sense?

[richlife]

I'd like to suggest this for when downloading new software:

RIGHT - National Release Version
LEFT - Previous National Release Version
UP - Release Candidate (when window is available) (LEFT, RIGHT, A, B, B, A, SELECT on your NES controller :D)
DOWN - Revert to Original Software (0xAC, or whatever yours was)

They could build in a code for when they do the Nationwide updates to do them automatically as these features would most likely be more in our favor while doing our tests.

Sometimes, I'd like to revert back to different software to make tests but, not owning two HR20's I hate to lose my "updated" software.

My background is software support and this suggestions scares me! It's been said elsewhere that trying to support more than one level is difficult to impossible -- my experience certainly validates that. The only way I could agree with a suggestion like this is that the current National Release is supported, any back releases are "at your own risk" -- any problem solution is to upgrade to Natinal Release level. And of course, the RC is as defined.

[luckycarl]

OK, but we do want to continue scoring the higher-ranked items. It helps to order them and is the purpose of the list. If we simply say the top items are all on a "permanent wishlist" the scoring system will be obsolete at some point. If we only included the lower scoring items in the Survey, then fewer people would be inclined to vote. These factors would, in my mind, render the HR20 Wish List Survey useless.


I’ll give one last try for reducing the voting times.

• Take the current Wish List and limit voting to once per week.
• Create a New Idea List with current voting limits.
• After a few weeks on the New Idea List transfer items, above a scoring threshold, to the Wish List.

This should keep the daily voting to less than 20 items and allow voters to spend more time reading and understanding the new proposals. With the current 70 plus items on the list, if I don't understand the wish at first glance I give it a 1 and pass on. With 10 to 20 items I'd be willing to spend more time considering all wishes.

I also think the "Back Burner" proposal is a good idea and that you are doing a great job.

[richlife]

How about having a Back Burner Area?... Doug, as always great work.

- Craig

I really like the back burner idea (even tho some things I like would be back burnered). It puts the focus on the most popular items for both D* and for voters.

[inbloom]

New to the game, but I would really like to see this: 30 Second Skip -- Make it jump forward instantly when pushed , no visible FF.

[luckycarl]

Does it make sense to add a column to the All Time Wish List for the number of votes. This would give a person such as a D* rep the relative importance of two equally high scores say 4.4 but one with a few thousand votes and the other with only a hundred votes.

[Doug Brott]

Does it make sense to add a column to the All Time Wish List for the number of votes. This would give a person such as a D* rep the relative importance of two equally high scores say 4.4 but one with a few thousand votes and the other with only a hundred votes.

I've considered doing this in the past, I haven't done it because the data is already available if you look in the 'changes' section. I agree that it is useful data to a degree, but it really only says how long that particular item is on the list since, typically, if someone votes, they vote for all of the items on the list.

[Doug Brott]

I’ll give one last try for reducing the voting times.

• Take the current Wish List and limit voting to once per week.
• Create a New Idea List with current voting limits.
• After a few weeks on the New Idea List transfer items, above a scoring threshold, to the Wish List.

This should keep the daily voting to less than 20 items and allow voters to spend more time reading and understanding the new proposals. With the current 70 plus items on the list, if I don't understand the wish at first glance I give it a 1 and pass on. With 10 to 20 items I'd be willing to spend more time considering all wishes.

I also think the "Back Burner" proposal is a good idea and that you are doing a great job.

I've done a cursory check and if I set a backburner threshold at 2.75, then 12 items drop from the list. If I increase the threshold to 3 (a C-grade), then that number jumps up to 22 which would reduce the list to 50 items .. Still a lot, but the time to take the survey would be reduced by 1/3 and would include items that statistically people want. I'm inclined to make the limit 3 or higher over the past 4 weeks for it to stay on the list .. I'll do some more checking to see how the recent items are faring .. That may make a difference over time and suggest a different threshold.

With regards to voting a 1 for items that you don't understand. It's OK and actually preferable if you simply leave that line blank on the survey. I should probably add some wording to that affect on the Survey itself.

Thanks for the feedback.

[luckycarl]

I've considered doing this in the past, I haven't done it because the data is already available if you look in the 'changes' section. I agree that it is useful data to a degree, but it really only says how long that particular item is on the list since, typically, if someone votes, they vote for all of the items on the list.

Here's a scenerio. A D* rep goes to the ALL Time Wish List to implement the number 1 item on the list. Numer 1 on the list is a 4.5 which has only 2 votes whereas the number 2 item with a score of 4.3 has 2000 votes. If there was a column for the number of votes along side the score he would probably disregard the first item for the second. I don't think he will go to 'change' section and scroll through the list looking for the number 1 item.

[Doug Brott]

Here's a scenerio. A D* rep goes to the ALL Time Wish List to implement the number 1 item on the list. Numer 1 on the list is a 4.5 which has only 2 votes whereas the number 2 item with a score of 4.3 has 2000 votes. If there was a column for the number of votes along side the score he would probably disregard the first item for the second. I don't think he will go to 'change' section and scroll through the list looking for the number 1 item.

Check it out .. I just finished adding it on the results page. Now off to the backburner :).

[luckycarl]

Check it out .. I just finished adding it on the results page. Now off to the backburner :).

Thanks. Looking forward to the backburner effort.

[Milominderbinder2]

I've done a cursory check and if I set a backburner threshold at 2.75, then 12 items drop from the list. If I increase the threshold to 3 (a C-grade), then that number jumps up to 22 which would reduce the list to 50 items .. Still a lot, but the time to take the survey would be reduced by 1/3 and would include items that statistically people want. I'm inclined to make the limit 3 or higher over the past 4 weeks for it to stay on the list.
Doug,

In the past removal from the list meant that your favorite item just disappeared. Now it just means that we are holding it until more urgent issues can be addresses. That changes everything. A well-run committee does not try to tackle every issue at once. It is healthy to table some items for the time being.

For instance, a new user asking for Skip could see that we have considered it and have just tabled the discussion for the time being.

I agree that we want to Back Burner at as high a number as we can. I like 2.99 because that means it was not even a C grade. Keep 3 and up (C or better).

I also am really liking seeing the votes cast. This is especially interesting for the past week's results. For instance, 2/3rds gave no opinion on LED brightness control.

One other thing to confuse this a little more. I would say that we keep all Missing Promised Features on the Wishlist no matter what. You should not even have to wish for a box to do what the book says. Otherwise we take off fixing Closed Captioning. CC is currently OK for me but still a huge issue for many others.

As always, thanks!

- Craig

[Doug Brott]

-- Draft Proposal --

Please review and comment on changes
Here is my first draft of a new first post for this thread. I'd like to hear feedback based on these comments. I have made the necessary adjustments to the application, but have not released it yet.

Take the HR20 Wish List Survey (http://www.redh.com/hr20)

Welcome to the HR20 Wish List Survey - The unofficial feature request list

The survey consists of a number of items that have been suggested by folks here at DBStalk.com. You can rate each item from lower to higher with the lowest value being one (1) and the highest value being five (5). The value displayed in the results section is the average of all of the values entered.

The HR20 Wish List Survey is evolving as new ideas are hatched and old ideas are implemented. For this reason, I have adopted the following guidelines for changes to the Survey so that the process is constructive for both the participants and for folks at DirecTV that may review it.

Guidelines

The Survey will typically be updated each Friday morning (PST).

Additions to the list
Prior to 26-Jan-2007, any new item suggested was added to the list. Beginning 26-Jan-2007, the following guidline will be used instead:
With the exception of a "killer" feature, all new item requests will be automatically added to The Back Burner. Features/Items will make their way off of The Back Burner and onto the main list by illiciting a popular demand. This will be done by having a "Call for Poll" where there must be a First (the Call) and a Second within a 24 hour time period before a Poll will be created on DBStalk.com. The Poll will simply ask if the feature/item should be moved from The Back Burner onto the main list. The Poll should be a 3-day poll to give sufficient time for voting, and a link to the poll should be placed in this thread for reference. A simple majority (50% or higher) will move the item from The Back Burner onto main list. Items will be added to the HR20 Wish List Survey during the Friday updates.

Removals from the list
Each new item will get at least 15 days on the HR20 Wish List Survey. These items are easy to identify by the http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/newleft.gif icon. After 15 days, the following guidelines will be used. An item will be removed from the list as soon as practical if it can be determined that the item is no longer necessary (e.g. DirecTV fixed it or someone discovers a suitable workaround). With the addition of The Back Burner, items are less likely to be removed entirely from the HR20 Wish List Survey if they are low-scoring. However, if in the first 4 weeks, an Item fails to maintain a score of 2.0 or higher, it will be removed completely from the HR20 Wish List Survey. In addition, if an item marked "unlikely to be implemented" fails to maintain a score of 2.5 or higher, it will be removed completedly from the HR20 Wish List Survey. Items will be removed from the HR20 Wish List Survey during the Friday updates.

The Back Burner
Begining 26-Jan-2007, there will be a new type of item on the HR20 Wish List Survey called The Back Burner. This is simply a holding area for any item that consistently scores below a 3.0 for a 4 week time period. While some of these items may be nice to have, there is a poor response from the community to have these items added to the HR20. These items are not removed from the list, but, instead, put on the back burner for future reference. As some of the more important items from the main list become new features of the HR20, The Back Burner items may become more desired. Simply follow the Additions guideline above for getting them back onto the main list. Non-new items on The Back Burner must spend 4 weeks off of the HR20 Wish List Survey before they can be considered again for the main list.

Wording adjustments
The wording of an item may be changed for clarification.

Changes To the List

2007
January: 19-Jan-2007 (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=796396&postcount=600), 12-Jan-2007 (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=786329&postcount=554), 05-Jan-2007 (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=776855&postcount=539)

2006
December: 29-Dec-2006 (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=769575&postcount=498), 22-Dec-2006 (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=764005&postcount=479), 15-Dec-2006 (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=754222&postcount=428), 08-Dec-2006 (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=745531&postcount=360), 01-Dec-2006 (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=737709&postcount=320)
November: 24-Nov-2006 (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=731038&postcount=281), 17-Nov-2006 (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=724875&postcount=236), 10-Nov-2006 (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=718015&postcount=190), 08-Nov-2006 (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=715270&postcount=175), 03-Nov-2006 (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=710684&postcount=131)
October: 27-Oct-2006 (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=703443&postcount=66)

The HR20 Wish List Survey started on 24-Oct-2006


Click here (http://www.redh.com/hr20/index.php?module=changes&op=_list) to see all of the changes that have been made to the list.

[Milominderbinder2]

Doug,

This is perfect!

Don't change a word. This is very fair to everyone.

I am assuming that the Back Burner items will be on a separate page available from a link on the main pages?

- Craig

[Doug Brott]

Doug,

This is perfect!

Don't change a word. This is very fair to everyone.

I am assuming that the Back Burner items will be on a separate page available from a link on the main pages?

- Craig

Go ahead and look now. There is currently nothing on The Back Burner, but in the Results Page, Choose "The Back Burner" from the drop down. That is how you will be able to see all of these items. When it actually displays, the current actual ranking will be noted (along with vote count).

When taking the Survey, Items on the Back Burner will NOT be listed.

[Doug Brott]

The initial items that would fall on The Back Burner are as follows (I haven't done it yet):

2.965 The ability to set manual recordings for a date well into the future rather than a week or so
2.963 Negative Padding - The ability to automatically adjust a recording (start late/end early) by a user definable number of minutes
2.939 TiVo style guide grid http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.926 Offer more than two Custom Channels Favorites Lists in the Guide
2.918 The ability to have My Playlist display more shows on the screen at the same time
2.879 Enable "Sound Effects" as shows in the photo on p. 29 of the manual
2.860 Increase the number of items in the prioritizer - the current limit is 50
2.798 Press & hold Mute (or another button) to toggle Closed Captioning On or Off http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.779 The ability to SEARCH (with RECENT SEARCH ability) from the TO DO menu
2.729 Option to view more technical information (MPEG2 or MPEG4, disk usage, fan speed, etc.) http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.666 HD programs with DD+, and the ability to pass decoded DD+ stream in LPCM over HDMI http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.637 User-sorted channel listings - a favorites list with channels sorted to your preference http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.636 The ability to turn Picture-in-List off to prevent spoiling a broadcast that may still be in progress
2.632 The ability to access web content (E.G. Yahoo! Photos, ESPN.com, CNN.com etc.) http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.625 The ability to auto-tune to a channel - same as if recording program without actually recording it
2.616 User based Grouping - ability to group your recordings in to user created folders so that different people can quickly see which of their programs are available for viewing http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.561 scrolling title in the mini guide - length of title display area is too short http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.553 Ability to set the HR20 to accept both IR (infrared) and RF (radio frequency) remote control inputs http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.544 Intelligent record to VCR/DVD
2.438 Ability to disable the Screen Saver
2.334 Enable Closed Captioning during 1x FF
2.283 Show small countdown timer on corner of window a few minutes before recording is to begin

[luckycarl]

Looking at the All Time Wish List separated by categories I noticed the following in order of there appearance on the list:

Missing Promised Features had 85% of the items above 3.0
Ease of Use Enhancements had 74% of the items above 3.0
New Features had 36% above 3.0
Legal Hurdles had 25% above 3.0

It seems strange that the further down the list the poorer the performance. Does this suggest that after several minutes the survey taker tires and is more prone to enter ones as his choice?

The survey randomly lists each item in the category but not the categories. Should the survey be grouped by categories? If would be interesting to see the results by removing categories.

Similar results occur for weekly and daily surveys.

[Doug Brott]

Looking at the All Time Wish List separated by categories I noticed the following in order of there appearance on the list:

Missing Promised Features had 85% of the items above 3.0
Ease of Use Enhancements had 74% of the items above 3.0
New Features had 36% above 3.0
Legal Hurdles had 25% above 3.0

It seems strange that the further down the list the poorer the performance. Does this suggest that after several minutes the survey taker tires and is more prone to enter ones as his choice?

The survey randomly lists each item in the category but not the categories. Should the survey be grouped by categories? If would be interesting to see the results by removing categories.

Similar results occur for weekly and daily surveys.

Thanks Carl, That's a good data point. I think I like your suggestion and I will just go ahead remove the category designation. I debated which way to go when I first added categories. Your evidence makes a good argument that I chose the wrong method. Look for that to go in tomorrow as well.

[luckycarl]

Here's my wish:

Mute audio from the HR20 with RF Remote.

I have my HR20 connected to my computer and I would like to be able to mute audio coming from the receiver when viewing another application. I don't know if this a hardware problem.

Also, are you considering wishes which could be implemented in future receiver releases?

[Milominderbinder2]

I keep thinking about two of the items that may be removed today:

35 3.025↑ Enable "Sound Effects" as shows in the photo on p. 29 of the manual
37 2.951↑ Make Closed Captioning (Setup>Display Menu) work reliably

I would say that no matter what we keep the promised features from the manual on the front burner. No matter how a missing promised feature is rated it should be on the list.

And in the case of Closed Captioning, that is a big deal. That is an FCC violation big deal. For most of us on the forum it may not matter but we aren't deaf. If we were thinking about someone we knew who was deaf, this would be a 5.

Maybe this tells us the threshold for the list should be 2.9 at least for now. Or just declare that Missing Promised Features will always stay on the list until they are done.

One final thing to consider is the constant banter about a class action lawsuit. Saying too many units have failed is hard to prove. How do you prove that the problems were not related to:
+ Installation (Old Cables, ohmic connections,etc. )
+ Setup (On top of another hot device, etc.)
+ Bad Power (Lack of UPS, Surge Protector)
+ Usage

But it is really easy to prove that someone did not keep their promise in their online manual, a form of advertising. In most states, that doesn't fall under Lemon Law. If that were prosecuted, it would be under consumer fraud. D* has to get it stable and then provide each promised feature.

We have to make them listen to the people who can't.

And your promise should never go to a back burner.

- Craig

[luckycarl]

Doug,

Have you thought anymore about adding a note at the top of the Survey about not needing to vote on an item if they don't understand or have no opinion on the wish.
I noticed early this morning that people are voting on all items with a number of 1 votes.

[luckycarl]

Thanks Carl, That's a good data point. I think I like your suggestion and I will just go ahead remove the category designation. I debated which way to go when I first added categories. Your evidence makes a good argument that I chose the wrong method. Look for that to go in tomorrow as well.

Looking at todays survey with the exception of 4 votes, 4 out of 10 voters didn't vote for any of the 28 tems on the New Features List.

[Milominderbinder2]

Looking at todays survey with the exception of 4 votes, 4 out of 10 voters didn't vote for any of the 28 tems on the New Features List.
Out of 11, 7 voted on almost everything. 3 voted on just the things they really wanted or didn't want. 1 appears to have made no votes?

Participants have six options: 1-5 or blank. Maybe they leave it blank if they don't understand the question, don't use the feature, or just want to leave it to others who have stronger feelings on that point. I would expect more people to have an opinion about basic features or ease of use.

- Craig

[luckycarl]

Out of 11, 7 voted on almost everything. 3 voted on just the things they really wanted or didn't want. 1 appears to have made no votes?

Participants have six options: 1-5 or blank. Maybe they leave it blank if they don't understand the question, don't use the feature, or just want to leave it to others who have stronger feelings on that point. I would expect more people to have an opinion about basic features or ease of use.

- Craig
Craig,

Thanks for the input.

My point was to emphasize that the further down the survey list the more likely the person was to skip voting by issuing the blank vote or 1 vote.

I guess I'm the exception since most features that I use work, except for ocassional freezes, and I'm more interested in new features.

Carl

[Doug Brott]

HR20 Wish List Changes 26-Jan-2007 - Complete List of changes (http://www.redh.com/hr20/index.php?module=changes&op=_list) - Guidelines for changes (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=699858&postcount=1)

Additions to the List

Nothing

Wording Changed

Nothing

Removed from the List

Nothing

Moved to the Back Burner

2.941 The ability to SEARCH (with RECENT SEARCH ability) from the TO DO menu
2.933 User-sorted channel listings - a favorites list with channels sorted to your preference http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.920 The ability to access web content (E.G. Yahoo! Photos, ESPN.com, CNN.com etc.) http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.904 User based Grouping - ability to group your recordings in to user created folders so that different people can quickly see which of their programs are available for viewing http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.899 scrolling title in the mini guide - length of title display area is too short http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.845 Intelligent record to VCR/DVD
2.781 Ability to set the HR20 to accept both IR (infrared) and RF (radio frequency) remote control inputs http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.734 Offer more than two Custom Channels Favorites Lists in the Guide
2.734 The ability to turn Picture-in-List off to prevent spoiling a broadcast that may still be in progress
2.587 Ability to disable the Screen Saver
2.582 Show small countdown timer on corner of window a few minutes before recording is to begin
2.526 Press & hold Mute (or another button) to toggle Closed Captioning On or Off http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.041 Enable Closed Captioning during 1x FF

Chopping Block - will be removed if significantly negative again next Friday

Nothing

Saved from the Chopping Block - past weeks values noted

Nothing

http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif = marked as "unlikely to be implemented"

[Doug Brott]

I've adjusted the Guidelines and made the changes noted above. I have not reviewed this week for additions yet (Back Burner) but will do so later today or perhaps tomorrow.

In addition, I'm considering changing the way the results are displayed. there are a few people that are voting heavy which gives their input more weight that it should probably have. I have calculated the results by using the most recent entry by IP and they are different. I will put up a sample of the data so that you can see the differences later today.

[Doug Brott]

Oh, Carl. I like the concept of merging the categories. I tried to do it quickly and it failed to work right. I'll add it later when I have more time to concentrate on the code.

[Doug Brott]

I've calculated all of the results based on the current method which accepts every response and a new method which accepts each persons most recent response. I was shocked to find that some of the results are greatly skewed, but the top 4 remain unchanged. In addition, many of the top scoring items do OK. Item #9 on the once-per-person rankings is ranked #33 on the list that you see now.

It is very likely that I'm going to adjust my report screen to reflect more accurate results. My Pet-Peeve item (Ability to disable the Screen Saver) ranks #69 - the same in both results.

The gray columns on the left are the current rankings that you see today. The violet columns are the rankings using one-vote-per-person. Column G is simply the difference between the two rankings.

[richlife]

I've calculated all of the results based on the current method which accepts every response and a new method which accepts each persons most recent response. I was shocked to find that some of the results are greatly skewed, but the top 4 remain unchanged. In addition, many of the top scoring items do OK. Item #9 on the once-per-person rankings is ranked #33 on the list that you see now.

It is very likely that I'm going to adjust my report screen to reflect more accurate results. My Pet-Peeve item (Ability to disable the Screen Saver) ranks #69 - the same in both results.

The gray columns on the left are the current rankings that you see today. The violet columns are the rankings using one-vote-per-person. Column G is simply the difference between the two rankings.

Wow! There are some real differences in how the results would come out. I'm a little disappointed that some of my key issues would drop so much and also for some of the items that would go up. But I agree that basically allowing one vote per one week period is 1) more fair and 2) more informative.

It also might help generate more discussion on the value of specific items. (For example, why vote for: "Do not clear Live Buffer when changing channels - keep old-channel content" if you are voting for Dual Live Buffers? It's conflict of programming resources and I'd prefer a focus on DLB.) There are many items that will steal away programming resources to create a new feature or function, when there a currently still many features/functions that need fixing (beyond the hard core functions of a DVR).

I like the latest vote only scenario. If I want to change my mind this still allows it. If I want to stuff the ballot box, it doesn't allow that.

[luckycarl]

Wow! There are some real differences in how the results would come out. I'm a little disappointed that some of my key issues would drop so much and also for some of the items that would go up. But I agree that basically allowing one vote per one week period is 1) more fair and 2) more informative.

It also might help generate more discussion on the value of specific items. (For example, why vote for: "Do not clear Live Buffer when changing channels - keep old-channel content" if you are voting for Dual Live Buffers? It's conflict of programming resources and I'd prefer a focus on DLB.) There are many items that will steal away programming resources to create a new feature or function, when there a currently still many features/functions that need fixing (beyond the hard core functions of a DVR).

I like the latest vote only scenario. If I want to change my mind this still allows it. If I want to stuff the ballot box, it doesn't allow that.

Rich,

Did Doug's analysis looked at one vote per week or one vote per day? It's not clear to me but, I would almost favor the one vote per week for the reasons you give.

Carl

[Milominderbinder2]

I've calculated all of the results based on the current method which accepts every response and a new method which accepts each persons most recent response. I was shocked to find that some of the results are greatly skewed, but the top 4 remain unchanged. In addition, many of the top scoring items do OK. Item #9 on the once-per-person rankings is ranked #33 on the list that you see now.
Doug,

Thank you for finding these trends. The Wish List continues to be so important because it was not a one-time thing. It evolves every week. I had been in favor of allowing people to vote four times a day but that lets a few determined people stuff the ballot box.

I like the suggestion of letting people vote once a week for these reasons:
1. The survey changes every week with additions, changes, clarifications, etc.
2. You could post an announcement each week on the HR20 forum asking people to take the revised Wish List.
3. Users have a reason to keep their focus on the Wish List.
4. You arlready have a timer to stop people from voting to early, instead of 360 minutes, it would be 168 hours.

Also, I have set up a number of on-line surveys. Casual users leave 10% to 30% of questions blank. For the Wish List it is only 7 to 15%, as good as governmental elections. I think that may be more due to relavance than placement on the list. I also think if you don't understand a question you leave it blank. So I have been trying to re-think wording of items users are skipping.

For instance, people often ask what Dual Live Buffers means. Maybe it would get more votes and a better rating if it were explained a little:

Dual Live Buffers - Toggle between two live shows with 30+ minute buffers on each.

I think others could be better clarified and hopefully some shortened.

Just thoughts. You have done an amazing job with the Wish List. It has unified our message to D*.

Craig

[luckycarl]

Doug,

Thank you for finding these trends. The Wish List continues to be so important because it was not a one-time thing. It evolves every week. I had been in favor of allowing people to vote four times a day but that lets a few determined people stuff the ballot box.

I like the suggestion of letting people vote once a week for these reasons:
1. The survey changes every week with additions, changes, clarifications, etc.
2. You could post an announcement each week on the HR20 forum asking people to take the revised Wish List.
3. Users have a reason to keep their focus on the Wish List.
4. You arlready have a timer to stop people from voting to early, instead of 360 minutes, it would be 168 hours.

Also, I have set up a number of on-line surveys. Casual users leave 10% to 30% of questions blank. For the Wish List it is only 7 to 15%, as good as governmental elections. I think that may be more due to relavance than placement on the list. I also think if you don't understand a question you leave it blank. So I have been trying to re-think wording of items users are skipping.

For instance, people often ask what Dual Live Buffers means. Maybe it would get more votes and a better rating if it were explained a little:

Dual Live Buffers - Toggle between two live shows with 30+ minute buffers on each.

I think others could be better clarified and hopefully some shortened.

Just thoughts. You have done an amazing job with the Wish List. It has unified our message to D*.

Craig

Craig,

I totally agree with you. Of interest when I checked todays survey it had one vote and he or she voted half the survey as 5's and the other half as 1's. If this person is voting three times a day it almost makes you have to vote 3 times a day in defense.

Carl

[luckycarl]

Doug,

Have you thought anymore about adding a note at the top of the Survey about not needing to vote on an item if they don't understand or have no opinion on the wish.
I noticed early this morning that people are voting on all items with a number of 1 votes.

Doug,

I stumbled on your note addition at the top of the survey list today. I had not noticed it until I scrolled to the top of the survey to check a couple of my votes. Would it make sense to highlite the note with a color?

Thanks,

Carl

[luckycarl]

Does this current wish include the OTA channels? If not, I would like to add it to the Wish List or combine it with this Wish.

Receive an alert via Calls & Msgs from DirecTV when the channel lineup changes.

[carl6]

Somewhere, in one of the many HR20 threads, I indicated I would very much like a live buffer that kept recording when the unit was in standby.

Well, I discovered today that the buffer on the HR20 does in fact keep recording in standby. I never realized it or even tried it because I was used to the R15, which does not.

Happy I am with my HR20.

Carl

[cbaker]

There are a couple of items that were on the survey but seem to be missing (not on the move to backburner list nor removed for other reasons that I can see in Jan when I know they were there):

1) Increase the number of items in the prioritizer - the current limit is 50
2) Negative Padding - The ability to automatically adjust a recording (start late/end early) by a user definable number of minutes

Any idea what happened to them?

[richlife]

Somewhere, in one of the many HR20 threads, I indicated I would very much like a live buffer that kept recording when the unit was in standby.

Well, I discovered today that the buffer on the HR20 does in fact keep recording in standby. I never realized it or even tried it because I was used to the R15, which does not.

Happy I am with my HR20.

Carl

I've always thought the same, but when I turned the HR20 on the other day, there was no buffer even though it had been on the same channel all night during standby. I have no idea what determines when the buffer will be active during standby. Anyone?

[luckycarl]

Here's my wish:

Normalize audio output from one channel to the next.

At best, AGC all channels, at least, increase OTA channel audio by a fixed amount.

Most OTA audio, in my area, is about 30% lower in output than satellite audio.

[richlife]

Hey, Doug. I just completed the survey and apparently messed up my confirmation code (I swear it was right - shrug). I had checked to have my input saved and it was, but I was taken to the message that the confirmation was wrong and I needed to reinput all the data. Instead, I did a browser Back and was brought back to my input completely filled in and a new confirmation code. It worked fine this time.

And, BTW, in case you missed it -- GO HEELS! Beat State! (Follow by Tarheel fight song including the appropriate conclusion -- with assistance from my grandsons ;) )

[luckycarl]

Hi Doug, I like your new survey format.

I have two questions under Missing Promised Features. For the item 'The ability to edit "all the programs" in the Prioritizer (even when there are no upcoming episodes) p. 28.' and 'Search "with your desired...keyword" p. 2 - Allow @, :, etc. & better search logic - AND, OR, NOT. Ignore "The" and "A" in titles.' I can't find them on the referenced pages. Are they referring to the manual?

Thanks,
Carl

[Doug Brott]

There are a couple of items that were on the survey but seem to be missing (not on the move to backburner list nor removed for other reasons that I can see in Jan when I know they were there):

1) Increase the number of items in the prioritizer - the current limit is 50
2) Negative Padding - The ability to automatically adjust a recording (start late/end early) by a user definable number of minutes

Any idea what happened to them?

There was a period of time last week when there were some problems. This must be when you looked at the list. Things have been steady now since late last Friday and these two items remain on the list as expected.

[Doug Brott]

Here's my wish:

Normalize audio output from one channel to the next.

At best, AGC all channels, at least, increase OTA channel audio by a fixed amount.

Most OTA audio, in my area, is about 30% lower in output than satellite audio.

Someone will need to second this request before a Poll will be created. The Poll will determine whether or not it goes on the HR20 Wish List. I will add it to The Back Burner for now.

[Doug Brott]

Hi Doug, I like your new survey format.

I have two questions under Missing Promised Features. For the item 'The ability to edit "all the programs" in the Prioritizer (even when there are no upcoming episodes) p. 28.' and 'Search "with your desired...keyword" p. 2 - Allow @, :, etc. & better search logic - AND, OR, NOT. Ignore "The" and "A" in titles.' I can't find them on the referenced pages. Are they referring to the manual?

Thanks,
Carl

Yes, these are in the manual. The wording uses some of the text from the manual, but still needs to be shortened as much as possible. That may be why there is some disconnect.

[Doug Brott]

HR20 Wish List Changes 02-Feb-2007 - Complete List of changes (http://www.redh.com/hr20/index.php?module=changes&op=_list) - Guidelines for changes (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=699858&postcount=1)

Additions to the List

02-Feb-2007 Normalize audio output from one channel to the next - added to The Back Burner

Wording Changed

Dual Live Buffers => Dual Live Buffers - Toggle between two live shows with 30+ minute buffers on each.

Removed from the List

Nothing

Moved to the Back Burner

2.999 The ability to auto-tune to a channel - same as if recording program without actually recording it
2.990 Enable USB ports for keyboard use in searches, game lounge, etc
2.965 Option to put search results in folders by program title
2.954 Full screen menu (like the guide) when choosing Music & Photos
2.931 A confirm delete after hitting Dash-Dash in My Playlist or the Prioritizer
2.928 The ability to SEARCH (with RECENT SEARCH ability) from the TO DO menu

Chopping Block - will be removed if significantly negative again next Friday

2.439 The ability to erase/clear the history screen

Saved from the Chopping Block - past weeks values noted

Nothing

http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif = marked as "unlikely to be implemented"

[Zippy]

Press & hold Mute (or another button) to toggle Closed Captioning On or Off is currently #56 on the Survey

Just adding my two cents worth on this one..


You can get this by pressing the INFO button and it shows up in the upper left corner.

I would also like to see it on the other bar. I like to be able to gear how much time I have left in a program with the live time so I can make decisions about my viewing all at once instead of having to look in two places. I don't have another clock in this room, so if I want to know what time it is, I have to look in the "info" too. which is two steps (and one step too many in my opinion). Its truly the thing about the HR20 that annoys me the most. Maybe I should just buy a clock and quit worrying about it...

Thanks for doing the survey. You've done an awesome job!!

[KVH]

I hope I have the right forum to post this.... (first post)

I work for a custom home theater company, and I deal with DIRECTV HD and HD dvr's all the time. The two things that have to change are IR sensor sensitivity (too sensitive) and an IR port on the back of the boxes. We use Universal remotes that either work RF with a base station or IR with a sensor on the tv. Both are routed to single emitters that control each device. The H20's and HR20's both are very difficult to control with emitters. (H10's worked so much better) Anyway, if DIRECTV actually reads any of this.... Then they really need to look into these issues. It's really frustrating when hooking up a system and it takes an hour just to get the sat box to function 80% of the time. Please don't recommend setting the box in RF mode. Our remotes dome work on the RF frequency. (Besides, DIRECTV went cheap, new boxes come without RF remotes).

Long rant I know... but it's an issue that needs to be fixed ASAP.

[armophob]

How about, "Do you want D* to leave pinky alone?"

[Stuart Sweet]

I just got back from a long trip where I had . . . p l e n t y . . . of time to think while on the plane and I had some suggestions. I apologize for not reading all 28 pages of this post but I have read them in the past and I don't think that these are there.

-Increase framerate to at least 15fps in 1xFF and 2xFF
-Add a line on the info screen with date and time of last reboot

[westernamerican]

My wish is for D* to give us a box that works or give us some reduced pricing to compensate for all of the failed boxes..............

[Doug Brott]

HR20 Wish List Changes 09-Feb-2007 - Complete List of changes (http://www.redh.com/hr20/index.php?module=changes&op=_list) - Guidelines for changes (http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=699858&postcount=1)

Additions to The Back Burner

09-Feb-2007 audio fade in/out when coming out of trickplay, selectable option(as to not startle the baby)
09-Feb-2007 Add current time info to the program time line bar at bottom of screen
09-Feb-2007 Increase framerate to at least 15fps in 1xFF and 2xFF
09-Feb-2007 Add a line on the info screen with date and time of last reboot

Moved to The Back Burner

2.943 The ability to erase/clear the history screen http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif
2.798 Enable Cruise Control functions (FF, REW, etc.) on the XM music channels and My Music (Network)


http://www.redh.com/hr20/themes/default/images/bullseye.gif = marked as "unlikely to be implemented"

[Doug Brott]

-Add a line on the info screen with date and time of last reboot

This would be a great feature addition. I've created a Poll (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=79271) to see if it should be added to the HR20 Wish List Survey. 50% or more for YES votes gets it on the list. The poll is open for 3 days.

[Milominderbinder2]

Add a line on the info screen with date and time of last reboot
I like this one as well. CSR's should be able to ask this question. Why isn't there anything in my Guide? The HR20 may have reset on it's own. I am sure they already have this as a datapoint.
-Craig

[tucker301]

These are a bit out there, but I think they will be features in the future.

Online Management:
Imagine if we ran software on our PC's that allowed us to choose programming from a webpage. Our programming preferences are then sent over to the DVR via our home network and recording schedules are set accordingly.

Not only could we choose programming from DirecTV's website, but also from any program's website.
For example, let's say I was on Fox's website for a new show and liked what I saw. Now the software running on my PC allows me to click an icon on the toolbar and "Add to DVR Schedule" the series.
The information is then immediately transferred to my receiver via Ethernet.

The software should also allow us to manage many of the functions of the receiver, but from a PC environment.
Favorites, To Do's, etc. would be a lot easier with the use of a mouse rather than a remote.

Podcast Style Downloads:
Let's say I missed the season opener of 24. All is not lost. Working in conjunction with the network, DirecTV allows subscribers to download the program via their computer and have it stream directly into their DVR while they sleep or do other things. When it's done, I have my missed episode.
I'd pay a buck for that.


More from the USB:
I've got a Philips DVD player that has a USB on the front. Through this port I can play the same media that I can play from a disc.
mp3, jpg, DivX, XviD, wmv, etc. all play from the USB port beautifully.

Something like that on the receiver would be nice.

[JMCecil]

Am I miss-reading the wish list? One of the questions is:

"Enable consumer installable Hard Drive Expansion Device - Investor Day 2/22/06 Slide 41 "

Hasn't this been enabled with the ESata port? Or is it staying on the list until it is an official feature?

[Doug Brott]

Am I miss-reading the wish list? One of the questions is:

"Enable consumer installable Hard Drive Expansion Device - Investor Day 2/22/06 Slide 41 "

Hasn't this been enabled with the ESata port? Or is it staying on the list until it is an official feature?

Yes, that is correct. It is likely that the HR20 Wish List will go into version-2 status soon. I'm mulling over the process, so there will be more to come.

[Doug Brott]

These are a bit out there, but I think they will be features in the future.

Online Management:
Imagine if we ran software on our PC's that allowed us to choose programming from a webpage. Our programming preferences are then sent over to the DVR via our home network and recording schedules are set accordingly.

Not only could we choose programming from DirecTV's website, but also from any program's website.
For example, let's say I was on Fox's website for a new show and liked what I saw. Now the software running on my PC allows me to click an icon on the toolbar and "Add to DVR Schedule" the series.
The information is then immediately transferred to my receiver via Ethernet.

The software should also allow us to manage many of the functions of the receiver, but from a PC environment.
Favorites, To Do's, etc. would be a lot easier with the use of a mouse rather than a remote.

Ability to schedule a program and change settings remotely over the Internet is currently #10 on the HR20 Wish List Survey. This item is a bit broad, so in the current grand scheme of things, this item should cover what you are suggesting (which is a really cool implementation of this item, BTW).

Podcast Style Downloads:
Let's say I missed the season opener of 24. All is not lost. Working in conjunction with the network, DirecTV allows subscribers to download the program via their computer and have it stream directly into their DVR while they sleep or do other things. When it's done, I have my missed episode.
I'd pay a buck for that.

Broadband Video on Demand - Investor Day 2/22/06 Slide 54 is currently #35 on the HR20 Wish List Survey. Including First Run Shows on this list would be MOST Excellent.

More from the USB:
I've got a Philips DVD player that has a USB on the front. Through this port I can play the same media that I can play from a disc.
mp3, jpg, DivX, XviD, wmv, etc. all play from the USB port beautifully.

Something like that on the receiver would be nice.

The ability to load/play multimedia files from an external source (iPod, PC, etc.) was removed from the list on 15-Dec-2006 when the VIIV features were added to the HR20. I'll add this to the Back Burner for now.

[lucky13]

Am I miss-reading the wish list? One of the questions is:

"Enable consumer installable Hard Drive Expansion Device - Investor Day 2/22/06 Slide 41 "

Hasn't this been enabled with the ESata port? Or is it staying on the list until it is an official feature?

Unless I missed this in one of the new downloads, the ESATA now works only as a replacement for the internal drive, not in addition to it. So if you plug in a 500GB ESATA, you get only 400GB of recordable space (500 less 100 for DTV's use), instead of 700 (500+300-100).

[Doug Brott]

Unless I missed this in one of the new downloads, the ESATA now works only as a replacement for the internal drive, not in addition to it. So if you plug in a 500GB ESATA, you get only 400GB of recordable space (500 less 100 for DTV's use), instead of 700 (500+300-100).

True. Thank you for the correction.

[BubblePuppy]

I do have a couple of wishes:
1. When watching live tv, such as the news, and I want to record just a segment I think it would be great if there were three options 1) Start Recording Now 2) Start Recording at Beginning of Program 3) Record at Beginning of Buffer.

2. Being able to rewind buffer and record a show that is already over even if it's a partial. Basically to start recording anywhere within the buffer.

[Doug Brott]

The results are in ... Add a line on the info screen with date and time of last reboot has been added to the HR20 Wish List Survey (http://www.sizethis.com/index.php?module=survey&survey=1) today. If you have voted in the past, you can vote again. Your most recent votes will be tallied over any votes you may have cast in the past.

[dvrblogger]

displaying 2 tuners side by side (PIP) is impossible on current hardware as the box can only decode(decompress) one stream at a time even though it can record multiple streams.

[Doug Brott]

displaying 2 tuners side by side (PIP) is impossible on current hardware as the box can only decode(decompress) one stream at a time even though it can record multiple streams.

That's not entirely true, but for practical purposes of the HR20, you are correct.

Checked out the Product Brief for the BCM7411 (http://www.broadcom.com/collateral/pb/7411-PB05-R.pdf) from Broadcom and on page 2, the following statement is made:

The BCM7411 supports the following decoding operations:

1 HD (MPEG-2, H.264 or VC-1) in real-time
2 SD (MPEG-2, H.264 or VC-1) in real-time

H.264 = MPEG-4

In addition, I believe that the main CPU is the BCM7038 (I'm not certain as it is hidden by a heat sink). The BCM7038 is used by Pace in similar DVR hardware. The BCM7038 DOES support dual MPEG-2 decoding as well either HD or SD, but does NOT support MPEG-4 decoding. Check out the Product Brief for the BCM7038 (http://www.broadcom.com/collateral/pb/7038-PB01-R.pdf)

The combination of the BCM7038 and the BCM7411 could (in theory) do just fine supporting PIP for any stream as long as two MPEG-4 data streams are not being viewed at the same time. Unfortunately for the HR20 to operate the same regardless of the data source being viewed, PIP must be tossed out. Consider it a feature that could "almost" work, but yes, it is really not feasible with the current architecture.

The BCM7411 can clearly be seen in this photo. The BCM7038 is most likely the chip that is under the heat sink in the top of the photo.

http://www.dbstalk.com/hr20/images/Small/20-underharddrive.jpg

[Sharkhat]

One button press (red or green) during playback to toggle Closed Captioning OFF/ON

[jediphish]

Brott,
There's a thread that got started on this one http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=831312&posted=1#post831312. We should be able to watch recorded content on our HR20s without satellite connections. This is useful, if the sat goes out and you lose power, but get power back without the sat coming back. Also useful if you need to move the HR20 to a room in your house temporarly to watch something, but can't hook it to a sat feed there. Also useful for when you move houses and don't yet have your dish up, you could watch something recorded until the installer got there. This was a function on the old HR10 and supposedly worked on the R15.

WL item - be able to watch recorded content without sat feeds connected to HR20.

[NYHeel]

Brott,
There's a thread that got started on this one http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=831312&posted=1#post831312. We should be able to watch recorded content on our HR20s without satellite connections. This is useful, if the sat goes out and you lose power, but get power back without the sat coming back. Also useful if you need to move the HR20 to a room in your house temporarly to watch something, but can't hook it to a sat feed there. Also useful for when you move houses and don't yet have your dish up, you could watch something recorded until the installer got there. This was a function on the old HR10 and supposedly worked on the R15.

WL item - be able to watch recorded content without sat feeds connected to HR20.
I completely agree and don't understand why there's no way to bypass the searching for signal at the startup. THis should be added to the wishlist survey. It seems like it would be a simply fix. I know with the DirecTivo boxes you just hit the Directv/Menu button and you could get to the now playing list that way. Why not have the Hr20 be able to do the same thing via the Menu button. It doesn't seem like this would be too hard to program.

[Doug Brott]

I've opened a discussion about the moving to a new version of the HR20 Wish List Survey. The current Survey has stabilized to the point that I think it is time to close it. Please review the Need your help: HR20 Wish List Survey (rev 2) ideas (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=79768) thread.

[Doug Brott]

Today, I closed the HR20 Wish List Survey related to this thread. The Survey has been open Since 24-Oct-2006 which is a total of 116 days. It is clear that this particular survey has matured sufficiently.

Please review the new Survey Discussion thread (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=79768) to offer your input for the next generation HR20 Wish List.

The final results for this HR20 Wish List Survey can be found here (http://www.sizethis.com/index.php?module=results&survey=1).

[DJSooner]

I don't know what it is called, but TIVO had a feature where if you fast forwarded too far, it actually jumped back a few seconds. I find I'm having trouble finding the end of the commercials and end up going back farther than I should and they going forward farther. I wanted to add this to suggestions--am a new user and having problems.

[Doug Brott]

I don't know what it is called, but TIVO had a feature where if you fast forwarded too far, it actually jumped back a few seconds. I find I'm having trouble finding the end of the commercials and end up going back farther than I should and they going forward farther. I wanted to add this to suggestions--am a new user and having problems.

This is know as Fast Forward Autocorrection. It finished at #5 on the HR20 Wish List Survey. Unfortunately, this particular item is a TiVo patent and is not likely to be implemented by DirecTV.

[Coffey77]

I'd like to suggest, since we've talked a bit about UPS's, that the HR20 could interface with one via the USB port. Maybe small on the list but if the HR20 and your UPS could somehow coordinate during an outage or brownout - and I'm sure the smart people here could expand upon this... Just a thought. :)

[montman22]

It would be nice to choose how My list is viewed. Toggle between Date and Name. View alphabetically. Would be great if you could list by genre also.