How do you get a handle on program guide clutter?

There is not a way to share your favorites list.

I handle it by going to custom list 1, removing all channels, add channels I get, and just going through each channel one by one and removing those that I do not want to see. I am very picky about what channels I see in my guide because it's faster to only go through the ones I actually watch. About once a month I go through each one to see if there is something I want to add or delete.

Yes it is very tedious especially with 7 receivers in the house. My daughters dvr has a very short list, she's nine and we don't allow her to watch most channels without us around.

 

Oh, and I make sure that the SD duplicates are hidden.

 

I hide hd duplicates, create my favorites lists, and then just update them whenever Sixto mentions a new channel.. Plus I do a full check of them about once a year..

I would love to be able to push favorites lists from one unit to all other units in a WH setup. That would be so NICE!

 

Once set up, maintenance is easier through the info bar. On a channel you want to remove, tune to it, arrow over to the favorites slot and select remove from the lists.

 

Is that a typo about hiding HD duplicates?

 

Like Scott said I hide the SD duplicates and add channels I get then go through and pick what I want. I actually create two sets a "long list" & a 'short list". The long list has anything the kids & I might watch and includes seasonal channels like NASCAR hot pass (I know some of them disappear automatically though). The short list is essentially just HD channels, local channels and a few SD channels I regularly watch like HLN. Once this is done on one receiver I write them down so I can quickly recreate them on the others (I only have three though so that's easy). But with the iPad app I did find I could recreate the long list there and use that as my notes, so that was handy!

 

I just ignore them. I know I only care about ~2 - ~50 and ~200 - ~330. If I'm surfing, when I get to 50, I'll just jump to 200. I leave both HD and SD channels on because I know some older shows were not shot in HD and I'd prefer to watch them pillared vs. stretched & distorted.

 

I actually downloaded the 'print version' of the channel list from their website, and after I did as many suggested above, hide SD dups and do the 'channels I get', went through the list and unchecked everything not on that list up to channel 700. That weeds out most of the junk. There were a couple obvious mistakes there (1 or 2 of the newer channels noted wrong, and some of the internationals noted with the wrong channel), but the print guide was fairly accurate.

I also unchecked all the PPV and On Demand channels as you can get to those through the Cinema option on the Menu.

Got a pretty clean and concise guide now.

 

!rolling

I mean I hide the SD duplicates.. Yeah, that was an ops!

 

I just ignore them. Simplest solution I could think of.

Rich

 

DirecTV is very clever at sprinkling the "worthless" channels among the channels most people watch so if you just choose the "channels I get" list you will have to put up with the clunkers in your guide right next to your favorites.

The only solution is to bite the bullet, get out a pad and pencil, and go through the guide with "channels I get" selected. Write down the channel numbers of the ones you enjoy and then create your own favorites list.

An added bonus is that some of the irritating ads for shows disappear also! I haven't quite figured out how but those colorful ads for shows depend on adjacent channels appearing in the guide. Sometimes, when that adjacent channel isn't in your favorites list, the colorful ad disappears too!

 

I ignore those channels as well.

I would be happy if channels I don't get....like some movie channels that I don't subscribe to....wouldn't show up in the "channels I get" option.

 

AMEN!

 

I maintain favorites lists myself. I wish DIRECTV would allow this stuff to be stored in the cloud and downloaded to multiple receivers but I've been asking for that for years... doesn't seem like it's going to happen.

 

I hardly do any channel surfing so I just leave my channel list at ALL. Sometimes it's easier to use the menu search feature to find a channel of interest that I don't usually watch. Other times I just pull out the written channel list provided by DirecTV with my last-installed DVR to find such a channel.

 

Between a custom list, the Quick Tune feature, and a Harmony One this problem is slowly disappearing for me.

 

I sit down at one TV and come up with a custom favorites list. I start off by using channels I get, and then I go through and uncheck all of the shopping networks, infomercial networks, foreign language networks, etc. Once I have that custom list finished on that receiver I write them all down and then go around to my other receivers and set them up with the same favorites list. Sure it takes a while, but once it's done I don't have to mess with it much at all, just add channels as needed when they are added, or delete a few if I change packages/drop a premium package.

 

Do they stay in place when you reboot?

Rich