[mjs31]

Curious about this...The last two programs I watched (non HD) would not take it to the beginning when I held the six second rewind button in. Wondering if this is no longer working?

 

[Earl Bonovich]

It worked last night for me...

 

[mjs31]

It worked last night for me...

Just checked things out. All programs in SD will not work doing this. Some were recorded 2 weeks ago. Boston Legal from last night as well as Desp. Housewives both allow this function.

5 SD channels checked...none worked with holding down the button

2 HD channels and both worked.

Strange thing here.

 

[nocaster]

I noticed it was not working last night. I would hold down the button and the HR20 started to jump around like it was confused. It worked fine the last time I tried it a few days ago.

 

[nocaster]

Just checked things out. All programs in SD will not work doing this. Some were recorded 2 weeks ago. Boston Legal from last night as well as Desp. Housewives both allow this function.

5 SD channels checked...none worked with holding down the button

2 HD channels and both worked.

Strange thing here.

Now that I think about it, the program I watched last night was SD and I think I've only tried it on HD stuff before.

 

[mjs31]

Now that I think about it, the program I watched last night was SD and I think I've only tried it on HD stuff before.

I am going to try some other SD channels. Not sure it is SD vs HD but something is making it not work.

 

[mjs31]

I am going to try some other SD channels. Not sure it is SD vs HD but something is making it not work.

Ok it is not directly related to SD. I check my wifes "americas castles" recordings and they worked fine. I then went and checked several (8) other recordings from Lifetime and TVland and none of them worked.

All recordings were from different dates.

 

[Earl Bonovich]

Reboot, or wait for the next software update (which forces a reboot)

 

[iacas]

Curious about this...The last two programs I watched (non HD) would not take it to the beginning when I held the six second rewind button in. Wondering if this is no longer working?

FWIW, I think this is a dumb, dumb feature. I mean, I like the feature itself, but I despise waiting three seconds for something to happen AFTER something else has happened. For example: I press and hold the FF button. It starts to FF, then does something else.

I still like the TiVo way of doing it. Put the thing into a RW or FF, then hit the advance or replay buttons to go to tick marks. It's almost like hitting the "2nd" button on a calculator to access the secondary functionality of the buttons. The longest programs would only have a few tick marks, so yes, you had to hit the button a few times, but that was fine. There was no "holding a button down, having one thing happen, then having another happen."

I've set my remote to RF, and I think my success rate with this feature is about 40-50%. I'll hold down the replay button and... half the time or so it'll go back, then start playing again while I'm still holding down the darn button. Where's the "go to the beginning"?

This maps over to computer UI a little. Most actions should take place when the mouse releases the click, known as "mouse up." Things that activate on mouse down are generally BAD. Click and hold on your browser's close button - then move your mouse off of it before you release the mouse button. What happens? The window doesn't close.

Now because most everything in the DTV HR20 interface is pretty modal - and there is no mouse you can "move off" before releasing a button - most of the time this is fine. But here's a case where it should not.

If I were the designer, and I was forced to map the current features to the current remote and buttons, I'd maintain a timer on these four buttons. The default action for the button would activate if the button was "clicked" - a timer of about one second max. It'd act on "mouse up" and any "click" that occurred within a second would be send the default action (i.e. "slip" or "fast forward.").

If the button is held longer than that time, the secondary function activates. Since it's on a timer, the user could continue to hold down the button to get the secondary action in a "repeat" fashion where appropriate (skip to ticks/bookmarks) or to end the action where appropriate (skip to beginning/end).

These are very subtle distinctions, but they stick out if you pay attention to them. Which is not to say you can't get used to them, either.

 

[mjs31]

FWIW, I think this is a dumb, dumb feature. I mean, I like the feature itself, but I despise waiting three seconds for something to happen.

I still like the TiVo way of doing it. Put the thing into a slow RW or FF, then hit the advance or replay buttons to go to tick marks. The longest programs would only have a few tick marks, so yes, you had to hit the button a few times, but that was fine. There was no "holding a button down."

Ultimate TV had the best way. When you hit stop and then start again it asked if you want to start over or start from where you left off (cant remember exactly what it asked, but you get the idea). No waiting 3 seconds or holding down several buttons. Surprises me that more dont throw in this basic concept.

 

[iacas]

Ultimate TV had the best way. When you hit stop and then start again it asked if you want to start over or start from where you left off (cant remember exactly what it asked, but you get the idea). No waiting 3 seconds or holding down several buttons. Surprises me that more dont throw in this basic concept.

That doesn't solve the problem for people who want to skip to the end of the program, and in general I'm not a fan of prompts. Part of being a software developer is making choices for the user, and "play from where the user left it" seems to me to be a pretty obvious choice to make. I'd be annoyed if every time I started watching a program, it asked me where to play.

Plus that "back" trick to fake dual tuners (by recording one program) may not work well if every time you went back you had to hit another button to say "Where I Left Off."

No surprise here that Microsoft would design software that took the wizard approach to something as general as hitting a "play" button...

 

[mjs31]

That doesn't solve the problem for people who want to skip to the end of the program, and in general I'm not a fan of prompts. Part of being a software developer is making choices for the user, and "play from where the user left it" seems to me to be a pretty obvious choice to make. I'd be annoyed if every time I started watching a program, it asked me where to play.

Plus that "back" trick to fake dual tuners (by recording one program) may not work well if every time you went back you had to hit another button to say "Where I Left Off."

No surprise here that Microsoft would design software that took the wizard approach to something as general as hitting a "play" button...

Actually no different than having to hit the guide button twice. It also was much easier than having to hold a button down for 3 seconds and very reliable. As much as you actually "stop" a recorded program and then go to watch it again...this is not an issue unless very anal. Pause is pause and stop is stop. I would say that my wife and I actually stop a program and then go back and finish watching it maybe 2 times per month at most. More times than not one of us will be watching and the other walks in so we want to start over. Very easy to do here. If something comes up we just paused the program then hit play when we were ready.

Also..skipping to the end was a snap as well. Took about 2 secs.

 

[iacas]

Actually no different than having to hit the guide button twice.

Right, and that's an acknowledged bug and something we all kvetch about from time to time. It's broken. It doesn't work as it's intended. Two wrongs don't make a right.

It also was much easier than having to hold a button down for 3 seconds and very reliable.

As my post above said, having to hold a button for three seconds is "broken" in my opinion - and in the opinion of usability experts and usability common knowledge - also (particularly when the primary action occurs on mouse down).

More times than not one of us will be watching and the other walks in so we want to start over. Very easy to do here. If something comes up we just paused the program then hit play when we were ready.

That's in your case. In my case, I'm far more likely to start watching one of my programs for 15 minutes while my wife puts the kid to bed, then start playing back an entirely different program when she comes down. Then, when she falls asleep, I'll pick up where I left off.

And all of that is beside the original point I was making: that the current way the DTV remote handles the "alternate" functions of four of the buttons is broken (or if you don't want to call it broken since it "works", "horribly designed and implemented.").