[mrshermanoaks]

I came across three big annoying things about the buffers all tonight which prompted me to finally write about these:

1. If I'm watching a show that's delayed and I change the channel, I get no warning about losing the buffer. Often I've changed the channel not realizing I was delayed and then lose the buffer. If it's delayed more than 30 seconds, there should be a warning.

2. If I'm watching a show delayed and a new show starts to record on the same tuner, the HR20 will automatically start showing the program that's newly recording and dumps the buffer I was watching. No reason or excuse for this.

3. If I'm watching a live show and get a message that it needs to change the channel to start recording (meaning two shows are about to record), I only get the option to cancel the show on the one tuner. What if I want to cancel the other show that is about to record? It should give me the option to either let it do what it wants to do, or to cancel either of the two shows about to record. #2 makes this especially a problem.

 

[Earl Bonovich]

I am not sure about #2... I don't recall that happening, but that would "kinda" go into #3...

As if you where going to record just 1, it "should" go to the background tuner.

As for #1 and #3; those are great ideas... and send them onto Brot so they can be added to the wishlist.

 

[mrshermanoaks]

I am not sure about #2... I don't recall that happening, but that would "kinda" go into #3...

As if you where going to record just 1, it "should" go to the background tuner.

As for #1 and #3; those are great ideas... and send them onto Brot so they can be added to the wishlist.

Thanks, Earl, I will.

I was dubious about #2 as well, but we were half-watching a show and got the notice. My wife said "watch, it will change and we'll lose the rest of this show" and sure enough it did and we did....

 

[Stuart Sweet]

Reading your posts it sounds like you may only have one tuner active. Are you sure both tuners are actually running?

 

[CerpinTaxt]

I came across three big annoying things about the buffers all tonight which prompted me to finally write about these:

1. If I'm watching a show that's delayed and I change the channel, I get no warning about losing the buffer. Often I've changed the channel not realizing I was delayed and then lose the buffer. If it's delayed more than 30 seconds, there should be a warning.

I understand your frustration as I have had the same thing happen, but too bad. I would hate to have to confirm my choice to change any channel that was tuned for more than thirty seconds. Just my two cents, but this is a bad, bad idea.

 

[Baron Ken]

I understand your frustration as I have had the same thing happen, but too bad. I would hate to have to confirm my choice to change any channel that was tuned for more than thirty seconds. Just my two cents, but this is a bad, bad idea.

Don't think he was talking about what you have in bold. He was saying that the show was delayed, i.e. not up to live tv. He has rewound, etc. so that he had a show he was watching in the buffer and the only way to finish watching it now would be to watch what was in the buffer (which is lost once the channel changes).

 

[CerpinTaxt]

Don't think he was talking about what you have in bold. He was saying that the show was delayed, i.e. not up to live tv. He has rewound, etc. so that he had a show he was watching in the buffer and the only way to finish watching it now would be to watch what was in the buffer (which is lost once the channel changes).[/QUOTE

I did understand that and STILL think it's a bad idea. I don't care if I'm 30, 40 or 90 minutes behind live tv...if I come to a commercial and forgot that I could simply FF, but change the cahnnel and lose all the buffer, too bad. I should have paid more attention to what I was doing. I HATE the idea of having to confirm that I want to change the channel...not to be confused with coming out of a recorded show and both tuners are in use and then you are warned that changing the channel will stop one of the recordings...this I like.

Maybe I'm in the minority here. If enough people really want this than by all means, DirevTV should listen to the people...but I'm one of the people too and as you can tell, I don't like the idea.

 

[bigpro]

I like the idea. How many times have I been watching a buffered show and the remote gets accidentally hit by an errant plate or the dog or whatnot and.... it... is... all... gone... A warning would keep my wife from throwing the dog at me. What's wrong with that?
I actually have started recording anything that's buffered 10 minutes or more so that doesn't happen, then when it's over going to menu and instant deleting it.

 

[bwaldron]

I like the idea. How many times have I been watching a buffered show and the remote gets accidentally hit by an errant plate or the dog or whatnot and.... it... is... all... gone...

All I can say is that I cannot recall that ever happening to me in almost 7 years of using DVRs.

I'd vote no on the idea, unless it was an option that could be turned on/off as a preference.

 

[Milominderbinder2]

Here were my answers to you from from the Wishlist thread...

It already does these things...

1. New behavior: If I'm watching a show that's delayed and I change the channel, I get no warning about losing the buffer. Often I've changed the channel not realizing I was delayed and then lose the buffer. If it's delayed more than 30 seconds, there should be a warning.

The HR20 does this in one keystroke! The key thing is that the HR20 does already warn you that it is about to stop the live TV that you are on and change the channels. Press ®. Set up padding to extend your time as needed. The key here is to use the DVR capabilities. This is not documented. I will add it to the Tips and Tricks.

2. New behavior: If I'm watching a live show and get a message that it needs to change the channel to start recording (meaning two shows are about to record), I only get the option to cancel the show on the one tuner. What if I want to cancel the other show that is about to record? It should give me the option to either let it do what it wants to do, or to cancel either of the two shows about to record.

This is also not documented but still only one keystroke. Tell it to change channels. You have two minutes while still on the show you are watching. Press ®. It will give you the choice to record the new program or either of the new ones! I will also add this to the Tips and Tricks.

3. I consider this a fix: If I'm watching a show delayed and a new show starts to record on the same tuner, the HR20 should not automatically start showing the program that's newly recording and dump the buffer I was watching. No reason or excuse for this.

Again, the key here is to use the DVR capabilities. The HR20 will only do this if you have two shows that need to record at the same time. It does warn you when it is about to change channels. Use the trick from #1 above.

Bamm!

It's in there! Undocumented but in there.

- Craig

 

[mganga]

I like the idea. How many times have I been watching a buffered show and the remote gets accidentally hit by an errant plate or the dog or whatnot and.... it... is... all... gone... A warning would keep my wife from throwing the dog at me. What's wrong with that?
I actually have started recording anything that's buffered 10 minutes or more so that doesn't happen, then when it's over going to menu and instant deleting it.

i know what you mean about those "errant plates." they can really be deadly!:

 

[mrshermanoaks]

As I said in the other thread: I'm amazed that there's so much complaining about the lack of dual buffers, but nobody seems to care that the one buffer they do have - the only buffer we'll probably see with this unit - gets dumped easily and without warning... Whether I've touched the remote or done something stupid - or not. Maybe I was just dumb enough to schedule something else to record.

And Craig, as much as I respect your tips and tricks, I have no idea what you're talking about here.

 

[Xaa]

I would vote no to number one as well. I think the channel changing experience needs to remain clutter free. I'm happy that the user should either manage their own buffer, or hit record if they have trouble remembering.

Just my $.02