new ideas for hacks: lets brainstorm

[rc3105]

the other day a friend (completely computer illiterate) asked why the tivo didn't have some feature or another and I was floored! in years of video work that particular idea had never crossed my mind (allthough a few were simliar) took about 5 mins to code & has been pretty handy since

lets start a feature wishlist & see where it goes. what's your heart's desire?

[JJBliss]

OK. You got me.

What was the feature.

[rc3105]

where's the fun in telling? got a bet goin to see if anybody else will think of it :D

[JJBliss]

oh fer god sakes.......

:p

umm....
Err....

Slow Motion in REVERSE ?!?!
Screen Capture to Disk once paused?
PIP from other tuner

err...

Auto volume leveling ?
FFWD with sound?
Shuttle Jogging ?
Auto-Update for hacks over the Internet (ala TCS)
IR Keyboard Drivers

OK.. My head hurts

[fixn278]

FFWD with sound?


Hey now...

[JJBliss]

Hey now...


OK.. I got a better one..

you know how WinDVD has that 1.5x option, so it plays everything just a wee bit faster then it should, and keeps the voices from getting all high pitched and chipmunk-like?

How about that?!?!

Then I could watch a 30 minute sitcom, in like 11 minutes once I ffwd past commercials. and Monster Garage/Fear Factor, in like 8 !

I could watch ALL BROADCAST TELEVSION in like 2 hours...

:p

Well, you asked for brainstorming..

[captain_video]

How about a feature that could display a bash prompt on the TV screen? I'd love to be able to connect to my DTivo via ethernet using a wireless keyboard without having to go elsewhere to view my PC monitor.

I'd also like to see all of my deleted programs listed in the recording history with their FSID numbers. In fact, it would be nice to see the FSIDs for all shows. Selecting a deleted show for undeletion from the list would be nice.

A menu listing in Tivo Central to access hacks like xPlusz would be a cool feature. I usually use bash to activate or deactivate the xPlusz hacks rather than the call waiting prefix so just having a bash prompt onscreen would be good enough, but a full menu would still be a treat.

How about a method that would allow editing on the Tivo using your remote to set the cut points. When they transfer over to the PC, just the selected segments would be transmitted. You already have the capability to navigate through recorded shows and can advance one frame at a time. Reassigning a remote code to flag a GOP or frame seems like it wouldn't be all that difficult, would it?

Forgive me if this is considered brainfarting instead of brainstorming. :p

[vu2vu]

Its probably been done, but ill take a guess.

Quick standby for peanut remote.

[feldy]

How about adding a web browser so you can hook up a wireless usb keyboard and surf the net from the comfort of the couch.

[captain_video]

I think that's called a UTV.

[crazyrat]

I'd be happy with the simple caller-id and simple text messaging to the Series 2 DTivo screen.

Also, some script-savy folk could write a very cool script library to store away recordings and retrieve those recordings to a remote "server" computer based on simple remote key combos. Again, this would be for S2 DTivos.

[jasch]

Since messages can be posted (Tivo message) fairly easy (even using TivoWeb), why not create a script that polls your POP3 account every couple of minutes and posts your new email as TivoMail.

[FredThompson]

There's already POP3 forwarding stuff. Look here: http://www.networkhackers.com/tpop/ I don't use it so can't vouch for it.

How about a TRUE "record every episode" capability? Take a look and you'll see the season pass option to records first runs and repeats...doesn't.

Some kind of daily-generated and stored report of upcoming wishlist items would be nice, tied to TivoWeb for adding to the "to do" list.

Given a show or episode title, find a time it can be recorded and fit it into the schedule or tell the user it can't be done without removing an existing recording. That would save "walking" through the upcoming list to find one that fits.

Complete and proper TivoWeb support for programming DTiVos. (Admittedly, I haven't installed the new update, maybe this is already fixed.)

The ability to set default recording options to start 2 minutes early and end 2 minutes later would be great. Not everyone does this by habit. For those who do, it's extra work.

Smart recording that would recognize adjacent shows on the same tuner and make one recording. This is related to the one above. When a recording stops and another one starts there's a little bit of source which is lost. Better to have a large block and pull parts than lose that content. If you buffer the start and stop times, this can potentially free up tuner time.

A way to easily start playing a file at the start of a given part. EVer tried to figure out which parts to pull from a large recording with tytool? What if you could quickly play from the beginning of any specified part?

I like captain_video's idea of on-screen bash prompt, probably done as a text overlay. Keyboard driver might be a bear to create. Would have to make sure conflicts with wirless keyboard for PC won't interfere. I assume he was thinking about an additional IR receiver plugged into the second USB port on an S2.

Allmusic.com info for the music channels would be cool.

Streamed sound via net, maybe, for remote listening. It's fairly easy to use a static HTML like to stream an MP3 without a dedicated server. I wonder if Shoutcast streaming could be done. Remote listening of any channel, not just the music ones, possibly with a mini-page to give some info (WinAmp or similar interval browser.)

[lonaman]

As JJBLiss posted earlier, I think PIP from the other tuner would be a great hack!

[kungpaomaster]

1. Redirect video files to/from a huge mapped network drive. All recordings saved from every Tivo in the house would save to the network drive, and the "Now Playing List" would be the same on each Tivo since they all pull from the networked drive.

2. Give my friend across the country with a cable modem access to my network and allow him/her to watch the shows I have recorded.

3. Gig-E support for USB 2.0 on HDVR2.

KPM

[captain_video]

I like captain_video's idea of on-screen bash prompt, probably done as a text overlay. Keyboard driver might be a bear to create. Would have to make sure conflicts with wirless

Actually I was thinking of using the wireless keyboard with a PC as you normally would but just mirror the bash info onscreen. I have a PC set up in the same room as my DTivos that I use strictly for hacking them so setting up a wireless keyboard would be simple for my system. Using a keyboard directly would be a nice feature but probably more complex to configure as you indicated.

I think PIP would be a great idea but it seems to me that it would require some sort of hardware mod to access the outputs of both tuners simultaneously. If this could be accomplished then it would be a simple matter to include a separate set of outputs on the back of the Tivo for each tuner.

[mrblack51]

How about adding a web browser so you can hook up a wireless usb keyboard and surf the net from the comfort of the couch.

i will never understand why people want this. a super low resolution version that is impossible to read, grossly distorted due to the limitations of the crt. i mean, look at how <sarcasm>imensely successful</sarcasm> webTV has been

[Sleeper]

i will never understand why people want this. a super low resolution version that is impossible to read, grossly distorted due to the limitations of the crt. i mean, look at how <sarcasm>imensely successful</sarcasm> webTV has been

Not only that but when I'm in front of the tube I'm chilling out. And when I'm at my desk I'm computing. Rarely do I watch the tube when I'm computing and vise versa. Call me old fashioned!!

[fixn278]

i will never understand why people want this. a super low resolution version that is impossible to read, grossly distorted due to the limitations of the crt. i mean, look at how <sarcasm>imensely successful</sarcasm> webTV has been

Agreed. I purchased (at the time) one of the best "tv-out" units available and tried to use it on my 60" projection tv and even at that size, it was nearly impossible to use.

[splitsec]

Some ideas:


directly edit "preferences" (ie. thumbs up) data
be able to mark some shows as never record, and be able to prevent re-recording shows you've watched
automatically skip commercials (is it possible to read the video buffer?)
get sendkeys working under 4.x (to re-enable webremote amoung other things)
patches for TivoApp (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29511) that permanently enable sort, 30 skip, backdoors (like MuscleNerds but for all versions, and I don't think he has done the sort one yet)
figure out where Dtivo's store what channel each tuner is currently watching (sorry, pet peeve of mine cause I can't find it to update info.itcl in TWP (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30564&page=1&pp=40))


Split

[FredThompson]

2. Give my friend across the country with a cable modem access to my network and allow him/her to watch the shows I have recorded.TivoWeb...Tyshow...mfs_ftp...

[kungpaomaster]

TivoWeb...Tyshow...mfs_ftp...


Haven't messed with Tyshow. Do recordings show up in the "Now Playing List" from a remote drive?

KPM - obviously still learning this stuff. But what I have learned, I've learned well thanks to this place.

HDVR2 4.0-01. Typical hacks, stable for 1 month so far!

[FredThompson]

TivoWeb has a "Now Showing" list. The new version, which I haven't tried yet, has fixed a bunch of stuff and has some really nice added capabilities. There's a script that does cross-TiVo scheduling conflicts but still needs human interaction. Would be great if there was a way to detect weather damage and send a request to a TiVo in another location to grab the recording. Oh...that would only work on the East Coast ifyou're sending a request to the West Coast for a network show. Nuts. Well, maybe a corrupted recording or "channel moved" filler could be detected and a subsequent broadcast set to record...

[AVD]

What revolutionary hack can be done with only 5 minutes of code (besides hooking up a coffee brewer.

[Fugg]

Riley,
It's been over two day's now. Did anyone get close?
:confused:

are we worthy?
;)

[Sleeper]

Riley,
It's been over two day's now. Did anyone get close?
:confused:
are we worthy?
;)

Yeah, its the new telepathic remote control. Not only does it work on your tivo but it works on your wife too!

[splitsec]

Yeah, its the new telepathic remote control. Not only does it work on your tivo but it works on your wife too!

Hmm, I think that would take more than 5 minutes of programming. ;)

Split

[sanderton]

Some ideas:


be able to mark some shows as never record, and be able to prevent re-recording shows you've watched

Split

Working on it. :)

[sanderton]

Given a show or episode title, find a time it can be recorded and fit it into the schedule or tell the user it can't be done without removing an existing recording. That would save "walking" through the upcoming list to find one that fits.

LJ's SlotFree module does this - shows upcoming eps and marks the ones where TiVo is free.


The ability to set default recording options to start 2 minutes early and end 2 minutes later would be great. Not everyone does this by habit. For those who do, it's extra work..

My EndPad does this.

[jonbig]

Needs two subfeatures to make this work:

1. Be able to programatically start a Save to VCR operation on a given show.

2. Be able to programatically detect when a Save to VCR operation has completed.

[rc3105]

Riley,
It's been over two day's now. Did anyone get close?
:confused:

are we worthy?
;)
close??? haven't even seen a suggestion that hasn't allready been done yet :p

( ok, so maybe the subliminal osd module isn't technically telpathic but it works pretty well :D )

[FredThompson]

Needs two subfeatures to make this work:

1. Be able to programatically start a Save to VCR operation on a given show.

2. Be able to programatically detect when a Save to VCR operation has completed.T60s have this. Shouldn't be too hard to duplicate.

[FredThompson]

LJ's SlotFree module does this - shows upcoming eps and marks the ones where TiVo is free.Hmmm...I'll look into that. Needs to work with non-season pass stuff.My EndPad does this.Woohoo!!! Is it "smart" enough to merge adjacent recordings as well? I guess it would have to be run with chron to take care of season pass and wishlist entries, huh?

[SurfBoy]

Is there a way to select multiple shows to play in sequence?

[wkozun]

Is there a way to select multiple shows to play in sequence?

embeem's merge.tcl script does this by creating one NowShowing entry that is a merge of other entries. It doesn't create a new file it just point to all of the old ones.

[JJBliss]

close??? haven't even seen a suggestion that hasn't allready been done yet :p

( ok, so maybe the subliminal osd module isn't technically telpathic but it works pretty well :D )

OK.. That's not fair. :D

MANY of these suggestions already exist, and are quite popular.... Most of the folks posting in this thread just don't know they exist.... But you gotta spill the beans and tell me where to get the:

Slow Motion in REVERSE
Screen Capture to Disk once paused
PIP from other tuner
Auto volume leveling
FFWD with sound
Shuttle Jogging
IR Keyboard Drivers
Double Speed Playback

hacks.....

:cool:

[jonbig]

Slow Motion in REVERSE
Screen Capture to Disk once paused
PIP from other tuner
Auto volume leveling
FFWD with sound
Shuttle Jogging
IR Keyboard Drivers
Double Speed Playback

hacks.....:

I'd gladly give up all of those for the "record anything I can see in the guide NOW, even if it is scheduled for 10 days from now" hack. :)

[sanderton]

Woohoo!!! Is it "smart" enough to merge adjacent recordings as well? I guess it would have to be run with chron to take care of season pass and wishlist entries, huh?

It doesn't merge ajacent recordings (never had that as a feature request!), or use cron. Follow the link in my sig for details.

[Lost Dog]

How about an undelete?

[FredThompson]

TivoWeb has undelete in the User Interface menu.

What would be really cool is undelete something that's overwritten ;)

[Lost Dog]

TivoWeb has undelete in the User Interface menu.

What would be really cool is undelete something that's overwritten ;)

D'oh! Um... Yeah, overwritten undelete... That's what I meant. I'm sure that would be a simple task.... A year ago I had an episode of "Red Dwarf" I accidentally deleted... Can you get it back for me? :D

While you're at it, can you get back my neighbor's dog that was hit by a car...

[fixn278]

TivoWeb has undelete in the User Interface menu.

What would be really cool is undelete something that's overwritten ;)

I think that's called a time machine. It may take a bit more than 5 minutes to code though.

[AlphaWolf]

Ok lets try a more original suggestion.

Theres one very important section of the MFS database that always deeply varies with each different tivo software version: the resource constants. A lot of interesting stuff is contained here; I am sure that most of you are familiar with the ability to change the livetv buffer size, or change the tivos remote protocols. Theres a lot of stuff contained here, and finding out exactly what it all does could lead the way for some innovative new hacks, or maybe even improve existing ones.

If we are to reverse engineer this properly, there should be a two step process involved:

1) Somebody should come up with an algorithm that can read the resource constants in their entirety, and map them in realtime. (e.g, RG 29 on sw version X is the same as RG 45 on sw version Y, and do this without cheating, such as keeping a list of different sw version layouts. I'll bet that a map probably already exists somewhere in MFS, its just a matter of identifying it and parsing it properly)

2) Mass distributed effort of altering these values, and identifying what changes they bring. ALL of them will do SOMETHING, whether it is immediately apparent or not. Since changing these values requires a reboot, it takes a long time for one person to do anything, thus you need a large scale cooperative effort.

[AlphaWolf]

Oh, two more things that are old but do need working on:

Skinning tivoapp. Yes, you can do this, all of the information is available. It's just a matter of somebody setting up a series of scripts, etc, to do it. And to go along with that (for changing the menu bg's):

Converting mpeg-2 streams to tystreams.

[wkozun]

Another nice to have, IMHO is to be able to specify a preferred time for season passes to record. The movies that I want to record are often on several times in a two week span and I prefer recording them when no one is watching the TV - from midnight to 10 am. Occasionally the TiVo does not record a show during other hours because someone changes the digital cable box to a different channel. What I would want is a way to tell the TiVo to record stuff at a certain time if at all possible before it tries to record at other times.

That brings up something else - a multi-channel Season Pass with prioritization of channels.

[jlharing99]

I second the Multi-Channel Season Pass. I would LOVE to be able to have a season pass that if it can not record a show, because of conflict, on say ABCEast then record it 2 hours latter on ABCWest.

[tommyw]

Working on it. :)

I had the TV on, live (obviously the mistake ;), the other day, when [B}America's Next Top Model[/B] came on.

Not only a function to "never record this show" but a function to actively change the channel if a particular show comes on! I don't care what channel it's changed to! Just get rid of this unpleasantness from my screen!

[sanderton]

I second the Multi-Channel Season Pass. I would LOVE to be able to have a season pass that if it can not record a show, because of conflict, on say ABCEast then record it 2 hours latter on ABCWest.

You can just have two season passes and they will work together, but I agree; we have dozens of + 1 hour channels here, and it would be cool if TiVo automatically recognised them as being the same channel.

Actually, this one's quite do-able.

You'd need to set up a list of channels which are equivalents, say UKGLD and UKGLD1. You could then write a script to go through the SP list and for every entry for one of the duplicated channels, ensure that there was a second SP for the other channel. Run it every day with cron to keep the list up to date.

[jlharing99]

You can just have two season passes and they will work together, but I agree; we have dozens of + 1 hour channels here, and it would be cool if TiVo automatically recognised them as being the same channel.


Never thought about that..The ABCWest would only record if it did not record the ABCEast show. I do like your idea about an automated version though.

[FredThompson]

Another nice to have, IMHO is to be able to specify a preferred time for season passes to record...

That brings up something else - a multi-channel Season Pass with prioritization of channels.
Already working on this. Things are still in the idea/concept/design stage. I don't have East/West so didn't think about that. It's a good idea. You should see multiple channels in the upcoming episodes lists but the season passes aren't cross-channel.

Basically, we're working on a more powerful "best fit" for teh scheduling. The default method is pretty dumb, allocate the manuals then do the first match for season pass 1, then do season pass 2, etc. It could use a little more brains.

Another thought was to record multiple eps and keep the largest under the theory the quality will be better.

[AVD]

What am i missing? Why can't you just set up a title wishlist? (except for the channel prioritization)

[FredThompson]

What am i missing? Why can't you just set up a title wishlist? (except for the channel prioritization)
time to record. Look at TLC or Fox News to see examples of shows that are on multiple times throughout the day. Suppose you want the 1 AM show from TLC to be recorded repeatedly, not the 10 PM (or whenever it's on.) That's not currently an option. If you could set it as such, it opens up the 10 PM slot for something else.

[sanderton]

What am i missing? Why can't you just set up a title wishlist? (except for the channel prioritization)

Here in the UK we have channels which specialise in reruns; a Wishlist would pick up all kinds stuff you didn't want, and FRO does not work reliably here as many shows are shown "exclusively" on on a digital channel then a couple of months later on a free/analogue channel. Plus there are shows that can't easily be wishlisted because of their name.

[FredThompson]

Hmmm...that sounds interesting. I'm helping with development of a more powerful scheduler. There are a number of inconsistencies in the U.S. as well. Some channels' listings from TiVo are by episode name only with no mention of the series name. Record first run and repeats doesn't record every match. Wishlists give lots of false hits. Organizing long lists is awkward, to say the least. These are things we're working on. Will be very interested in seeing if it helps in the U.K. as well.

[malfunct]

Hmmm...that sounds interesting. I'm helping with development of a more powerful scheduler. There are a number of inconsistencies in the U.S. as well. Some channels' listings from TiVo are by episode name only with no mention of the series name. Record first run and repeats doesn't record every match. Wishlists give lots of false hits. Organizing long lists is awkward, to say the least. These are things we're working on. Will be very interested in seeing if it helps in the U.K. as well.

Would be interesting if an advanced scheduler were able to coordinate recording between multiple tivos. Mainly my interested would be in keeping each tivo as free as possible by scheduling one tuner on each, and then filling the lowest ranked (would have to rank them ahead of time) to highest. This would allow my wife to be able to watch whatever she wanted on the main tivo and yet still get all the recordings we want.

[FredThompson]

Yes, that's one of the large components I was hoping would work. It starts to get real difficult, though. If there's a way to get the TiVo guide data into a usable format, it should be possible. Load sharing across multiple TiVos would also help with keeping the drives equally filled for longevity.

It gets to be a big challenge, though, because you need access to the complete TiVo scheule data, a way to verify it (look at the schedule for VH-1, for example) and external processing. Then the programs themselves would probably have to me individually requested and not real season passes. What happens if the support computer system goes down?

Cross-TiVo for conflict resolution is possible, though.

[TivoGeezer]

I'm not sure if this is possible and I have not had time to dig through existing code to see if it is, but I have many times when I am happily watching a recording from my Tivo when the phone rings. I have to fumble for the remote and pause the show so I can answer the phone without missing anything. Sometimes, the remote is in another part of the room and I don't have time to run and get it, so I end up rewinding later to find where I was.

I know there is code to detect an incoming phone call on the modem, because there is code around for a caller ID display. I also know there is code around to do remote operations on the Tivo, although I do not know if you can detect the current play state (paused or not).

I would like to have a hack which would automatically pause the Tivo when the phone rings. It would have to be able to detect the state because I would not want a phone call to start the Tivo playing if it was paused.

[captain_video]

An easy solution to this would be to keep the remote by your side or get a cheap universal remote that has the Tivo codes to keep by the phone.

[TivoGeezer]

An easy solution to this would be to keep the remote by your side or get a cheap universal remote that has the Tivo codes to keep by the phone.

Ah, but it is a wireless phone and sometimes the phone is not even near the phone (eh?) :)

What good is a computer based entertainment device if it can't save you a few steps? This is like saying the solution to a lost remote is to get up and change the station on the TV.

"You have to use your hands? That's like a baby's toy!" - Back to the Future - Part II (look for the future star in this scene).

[malfunct]

Yes, that's one of the large components I was hoping would work. It starts to get real difficult, though. If there's a way to get the TiVo guide data into a usable format, it should be possible. Load sharing across multiple TiVos would also help with keeping the drives equally filled for longevity.

It gets to be a big challenge, though, because you need access to the complete TiVo scheule data, a way to verify it (look at the schedule for VH-1, for example) and external processing. Then the programs themselves would probably have to me individually requested and not real season passes. What happens if the support computer system goes down?

Cross-TiVo for conflict resolution is possible, though.

I don't know how you would do it but I was thinking that you schedule everything on the primary tivo and that divies it out amongst the slave tivos. That way everything is on the tivo and you don't really need a computer in between.

[captain_video]

Ah, but it is a wireless phone and sometimes the phone is not even near the phone (eh?)

A couple of Velcro strips would take care of that for ya. Just slap the remote on the backside of the phone and they'll always be in the same place. :D

[FredThompson]

The reason to do it outside the TiVo is unlimited complex wishlist. What you suggest might work for regular season passes, though. I'll have to think about this a little more.

There are some other things we're planning like a nice printout to show what times your season passes occupy and a report to show possible replacements for earlier recordings. IOW, suppose you've recorded show AAA and it has a length of 600 then another recording of the exact same episode of AAA happens with a lenth of 700, you would be notified of a possible higher-quality copy. This would be nice if you collect a series to hard drive before burning.

[malfunct]

The reason to do it outside the TiVo is unlimited complex wishlist. What you suggest might work for regular season passes, though. I'll have to think about this a little more.

There are some other things we're planning like a nice printout to show what times your season passes occupy and a report to show possible replacements for earlier recordings. IOW, suppose you've recorded show AAA and it has a length of 600 then another recording of the exact same episode of AAA happens with a lenth of 700, you would be notified of a possible higher-quality copy. This would be nice if you collect a series to hard drive before burning.

Yeah thats nice, another thing I was thinking that would make my idea not work so well is when there are 3 or more episodes you would like to schedule in the same timeslot, you have enough tivos, but the software on the primary tivo wouldn't allow you to grab that many epi's. Maybe the tivo geniuses would be able to modify the software somehow or I'm just thinking about it all wrong.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind using a separate computer to keep track of the stuff, but if my wife can't schedule the shows with her tivo remote its a no go :)

[rc3105]

1) yes you can tie caller id & auto-pause together, piece of cake

2) unlimited complex wishlist is doable in the tivo itself. tcl is plenty flexible & c compiles just fine ;)

3) a CW util could import / redistribute / enhance regular sp's automatically

4) a CW util could interface with mythtivo & such to coordinate sp's & guide data across sa / dtivo / xbox / pvr sw...

[Tiros]

Heres an idea,
Save to VCR = Dump .ty file to a network drive.
Or maybe to a USB DVD burner.

[Lost Dog]

Heres an idea,
Save to VCR = Dump .ty file to a network drive.


OOooooohh! I like that one!

I have a friend who is setting up a media server in his house. With his HTPC he could play shows anywere and is looking for a good solution to dump TiVo'd shows to his system....

[FredThompson]

True on-screen positional readout

Easy go to beginning or specified spot in a recording

display of used space (without TiVo suggested recordings) and date/time when free recording space is used up

JJBliss' bufferhack timeline fixed

edit TiVo suggestions criteria

[rc3105]

anybody interested in transferring recordings via e-mail? ( would an infomercial in your inbox count as spam? :p )

how about automatic segment/upload & retrieve/assemble from newsgroups?

[lonaman]

If we add the following to the ToDo List, will the Tivo do it for me...

Feed the Dog
Walk the Dog
Water the the Plants

:)

[rc3105]

if your dog/plants were x-10 enabled that'd be feasable...

( posted in jest, but the scary thing I realize as I'm typing is that's TRUE!!! :eek: )

[FredThompson]

anybody interested in transferring recordings via e-mail? ( would an infomercial in your inbox count as spam? :p )

how about automatic segment/upload & retrieve/assemble from newsgroups?Fly low and beat the radar.

[AVD]

anybody interested in transferring recordings via e-mail? ( would an infomercial in your inbox count as spam? :p )

how about automatic segment/upload & retrieve/assemble from newsgroups?


that would be a very big e-mail...

Actually I got one => change the channel at a given time (like so a VCR could record somthing, or the kids channel or news would be on, and in the buffer in the morning).

Easy to do, and 5 minutes of code...

[sanderton]

that would be a very big e-mail...

Actually I got one => change the channel at a given time (like so a VCR could record somthing, or the kids channel or news would be on, and in the buffer in the morning).

Easy to do, and 5 minutes of code...

Or 30 seconds of setting a repeating manual recording. :)

[captain_video]

anybody interested in transferring recordings via e-mail?

Check out this (http://loci.cs.utk.edu/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=34) for info on sending large files via e-mail. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet but it definitely looks like it might have possibilities. I saw references to using this or related programs with Internet2 so it may not even be a reality for most of us.

[lonaman]

How about selecting something in the future in the Guide gives you the option of changing the channel to that show at that time (instead of having to record it). I had a hughes satellite receiver before getting my DTivo, and you could put a check on a future show and it would change to that channel at that time.

[AVD]

Or 30 seconds of setting a repeating manual recording. :)
but then it records somthing, I was trying to avoid that..

[sanderton]

but then it records somthing, I was trying to avoid that..

True, but set it to 2 mins, Keep only 1, lowest SP priority and it's hardly causing a problem!

[AVD]

look someone stole my idea: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=158029

sendkey and cron, 5 minutes of code.

[eastwind]

How about a TRUE "record every episode" capability? Take a look and you'll see the season pass option to records first runs and repeats...doesn't.



What about "All Including Duplicates"? I guess that's too much work to find all the dupes and delete them.

ew

[eastwind]

From Now Playing....

Pick a recording and rather than hit SELECT or PLAY you could hit FF and enter a timecode for the recording to start playing from:

Superbowl FF 5310

To start playing from 53:10 in the Superbowl recording.

ew

[JJBliss]

look someone stole my idea: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=158029

sendkey and cron, 5 minutes of code.

What stole ??!?!
Did I miss something, or should there have been a smiley face on that somewhere?
EDIT:
Oh.. ok.. i get it....

heh

;)

[JJBliss]

From Now Playing....

Pick a recording and rather than hit SELECT or PLAY you could hit FF and enter a timecode for the recording to start playing from:

Superbowl FF 5310

To start playing from 53:10 in the Superbowl recording.

ew

Nice one..

[rc3105]

speaking of stolen... :mad:

The crackdown begins... (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32035&page=1&pp=40)

[JJBliss]

speaking of stolen... :mad:

The crackdown begins... (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32035&page=1&pp=40)


At least *I* gave credit where credit was due on MY post.....

:p

[sanderton]

From Now Playing....

Pick a recording and rather than hit SELECT or PLAY you could hit FF and enter a timecode for the recording to start playing from:

Superbowl FF 5310

To start playing from 53:10 in the Superbowl recording.

ew

Sound possible with TCS or similar; capture the keypresses and set a bookmark.

[FredThompson]

What about "All Including Duplicates"? I guess that's too much work to find all the dupes and delete them.

ewI don't see an "all including duplicates" option on my T60 2.5x. Where is that?

What does your second sentence mean? I want a setting to record all broadcasts of an episode for which there is a season pass, subject to prioritizing by the TiVo.

[malfunct]

I don't see an "all including duplicates" option on my T60 2.5x. Where is that?

What does your second sentence mean? I want a setting to record all broadcasts of an episode for which there is a season pass, subject to prioritizing by the TiVo.

I was just thinking about your scheduling manager, and it might be nice to be able to prioritize recording of first runs higher than repeats. For instance I am trying to get a bunch of southpark, and first runs are really valuable to me, but I'd like to set repeats to a level where it would get them if it had time. Right now it seems you can only schedule one season pass.

[FredThompson]

It's more drnull and me kicking ideas around at this point. I've been spending a LOT of time with tytool stuff lately and work. Just haven't had time to get back to that. My work has been demanding a lot of time and it pays the bills so...

The idea isn't to replace the internal scheduler, it's to combine adjacent recordings so there's no missed content, pad the start and end times and manually insert additional recordings when they'll work. There's a point at which the wish list and manual recording interface of a TiVo get really awkward due to large lists. That's something else we've thought about as is load-sharing across multiple TiVos.

What you mention is exactly what we were thinking. Suppose you're collecting something and the files aren't burned yet. It would be nice to record other showings of stuff you already have then generate some kind of report to alert the user to a potential duplicate. Guide data isn't reliable enough to automatically replace an extracted recording. Still, wouldn't it be nice to know you've now got potentially better quality copies?

[eastwind]

I don't see an "all including duplicates" option on my T60 2.5x. Where is that?
I have a HDR112 w/3.0 software and if I go to Season Pass Manager and select a show I can 'Change recording options' .. 'Show Type: All (with duplicates)' (this option is Right Arrow from 'First run only'). I don't know if that is an option w/2.5x software.

What does your second sentence mean? I want a setting to record all broadcasts of an episode for which there is a season pass, subject to prioritizing by the TiVo.
Just means that you would eventually have to manually pick which of the duplicate airings that you would keep and delete the rest. I can't imagine needing to keep more than one copy of any given epsiode once you figure out which is best.

ew

[eastwind]

How about being able to push a number button on the remote during a playback that will skip that number of 30 sec commercials? Push a 4 to skip 2:00 or an 8 to skip 4:00. I don't use TCS, so I don't know if this is already possible or not.

ew

[FredThompson]

I have a HDR112 w/3.0 software and if I go to Season Pass Manager and select a show I can 'Change recording options' .. 'Show Type: All (with duplicates)' (this option is Right Arrow from 'First run only'). I don't know if that is an option w/2.5x software.those are the same 2 options available with teh 2.5x OS but the names are different. The problem is "firt run and repeats" doesn't always record all the possible repeats.Just means that you would eventually have to manually pick which of the duplicate airings that you would keep and delete the rest. I can't imagine needing to keep more than one copy of any given epsiode once you figure out which is best.Neither can I.

[eastwind]

those are the same 2 options available with teh 2.5x OS but the names are different. The problem is "firt run and repeats" doesn't always record all the possible repeats.Neither can I.

Actually I have 3 options and the "First run & repeats" is LEFT ARROW from "First run only" and "All (with duplicates)" is RIGHT ARROW. YMMV as I don't know the 2.5x software, but I think this has been around since 1.x or at least 2.0.

(First run & repeats-> <-First run only-> <-All (with duplicates))

ew

[FredThompson]

OK, time to upgrade. This will make it easier to get the scheduler working.

[AVD]

What stole ??!?!
Did I miss something, or should there have been a smiley face on that somewhere?
EDIT:
Oh.. ok.. i get it....

heh

;)


for the record: someone had the same idea i had as a concept (i said "stole" purley as sarcasm) for a feature,

sanderton provided the solution, which was not my idea or in my thoughts at all.

I linked to that thread purly to validate the feature request as valid and not frivolous.

sorry for the confusion, and terrible sense of humor.

[TomCrazyCat]

I'd be happy getting the old series 1 apps working on my series 2...

Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to even get the timezone issues resolved, nevermind the OSD and Sendkey issues that prevent adapting them. Could be because I'm not a good programmer. :cool:

I for one would donate to anyone who could get TCS working on a SA series 2... I miss that app! :p

[FredThompson]

more options for the stop time of a season pass or record button recording would be nice. +31 minutes, +61 minutes, +91 minutes, +121 minutes, etc.

better on-screen display during playback, similar to a tape counter would also be nice.

[AlphaWolf]

Actually I have 3 options and the "First run & repeats" is LEFT ARROW from "First run only" and "All (with duplicates)" is RIGHT ARROW. YMMV as I don't know the 2.5x software, but I think this has been around since 1.x or at least 2.0.

(First run & repeats-> <-First run only-> <-All (with duplicates))

ew

Thats only 3.1+

[eastwind]

Thats only 3.1+
Okay, I'll take your word for it (except I've got 3.0 software).
ew

[AlphaWolf]

Well, 3.X+ then :P (dtivo user here)

[dengland]

When I pull up the guide date to see what is on tonight, I would like to see that I have a particular show set to record already. Something similar to the symbol that is in the guide when it is actually recording. My current work around is to press the record button and see if it asks me to record as planned.

[wkozun]

Another "nice to have" would be to be able to watch a show at faster than real time, say at 110-120% (or faster) of actual, but have the audio processed so it doesn't sound like the Chipmunks. I know there is such audio processing software available for PCs, but the TiVo may not have the horsepower to do something like this.

College students are using this type of software to watch their lectures online and now they are able to watch a 1 hour lecture in half the time or so. That's what you call productivity improvements in the service sector!

[FredThompson]

@wkozun,

That's a pretty cool idea. Do you remember the TV ads from the 80s with the fast talker guy? Partly, it was funny which drew attention. Partly, increased spoken rate leads to higher retention because English is a comparatively slowly-spoken language. Increasing the rate of spoken English actually forces the listener's brain to pay more attention and better assimilate what is being said because there is less time for them to mentally wander. On-the-fly pitch reduction can be very simple to implement if the playback rate is a nice fraction of the original rate. By "nice" I mean simple math inside the playback device.

[FredThompson]

Is there a test for the "health" of Season Passes? I've noticed when DTV changes the channel name, season passes aren't properly updated on my 2.5.2 S1.

It's happened twice in the past year when TNT became SPKE became 325 SPKE. It's also happened when they changed the name of one of my local PBS affiliates.

It looks like the station designator is used to find matches int he guide data but that designator is not being updated to match new designations for the same channel number.

It would sure be nice to have a routine which could be run periodically to report any changes in the channel designators and optionally modify existing Season Passes to eliminate "MIA" entries.

[sanderton]

It looks like the station designator is used to find matches int he guide data but that designator is not being updated to match new designations for the same channel number.

SPs are related to "Stations" in the db, which are objects which include the CallSign but NOT then channel number. Channels (which hold the channel number) are linked to Stations, but it's not a 1:1 relationship. If an update is just a name change for Station, it will be done just by changing the CallSign of the Station, and SPs are not affected. Sometimes however it's done by creating an entirely new Station object - in that case any SPs will not transfer. Which is what you're talking about, I think.

If what your after is a script to transfer SPs based on channel number, then I guess that's possible - but it's tricky as one Station can link thorough to several Channels. For example my lineup shows BBC 1 on two different RF frequencies, on digital terrestrial and satellite. All four are BBC1WEST and a single SP applies to all. How would the script cope with a change to that?

I guess you could build a module to "move" an SP from one Station to another - but why not just re-create it?

[FredThompson]

Ah, that's more complex than I thought.

Well, how about a scan that would notify the user of any orphans? That could be run daily and if there's an error, let you know, maybe via the tivo email interface. Manually creating new season passes isn't a big deal. It's just frustrating when the renaming screws everything up.

[FredThompson]

Streamcast server support would be real cool.

[ronnythunder]

i guess mine is kind of related to some others: basically, i want to be able to have a "master" and 1-n "slaves" for the purposes of scheduling. all scheduling is handled by the master, and it just behaves as if it had as many tuners as the master plus the slaves.

it wouldn't even be so terrible if i had to watch shows scheduled on the slaves on the slaves themselves, rather than backhauling the ty to the master or something. the backhauling idea wouldn't always work for me anyway as we'll frequently use the "skip to ticks" to go forward in a show, so unless the backhaul was "hella fast" as my stepkids say, it wouldn't help anyway.

other than that, thanks to the work of a ton of people here and elsewhere, i'm good! :)

ronny

[FredThompson]

Funny you should mention that idea. drnull and I have kicked it around a bit. Lately, some of the new TivoWeb scripts have helped fill in some of the functions. Take that idea and throw in auto-padding and combining subsequent programs on the same tuner if needed rather than losing a recording plus the ability to externally work with your lists and parse program listings (PC app as a super wishlist, basically.) Imagine the TiVos don't have to be on the same LAN since all they're doing is farming out recording schedules...

Don't know if it would be possible to do this with an internal modification to the scheduling. The slaves would probably be all manual recordings. Maybe it would take a completely new scheduling program. If so, how to get access to the TiVo guide data? You'd need that to set the recordings.

sanderton has scripts to do auto-padding (but not combining which is important if you don't want momentary loss when one recording stops and another starts) and farming conflicts out to a secondary tivo. His thread about the later says he started with the idea of forcing the recordings on the slave but it didn't work out well for some reason.

There's also one called TivoMovies (I think) which was announced here recently. It has a nice TivoMail method of communicating. That might be a slick, safe way to route scheduling information.

Oh, about the external list thing, the idea is by keeping the main want lists externally, it's very easy to modify them. If you've already got lists of recordings in your collection or things you'd like, it would be far easier to move that data into a PC file than manually through the remote. There's also a point at which the TiVos just get dog-slow if the scheduling requests are huge. Put 100+ season passes on one then see how long it takes to realign the schedule when you change recording orders. Why not do that offline?

[Sleeper]

Couple the Master/slave idea with a big honking "MFS" server and now you have a really cool setup.

[eastwind]

...There's also a point at which the TiVos just get dog-slow if the scheduling requests are huge. Put 100+ season passes on one then see how long it takes to realign the schedule when you change recording orders. Why not do that offline?Sounds almost like this (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=144391) TiVoWeb module....

[mrblack51]

Sounds almost like this (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=144391) TiVoWeb module....

tivowebplus has season pass re-ordering built in

[FredThompson]

Yes, you are correct, that's a far better way to sort the list.

In trying to be brief, what I meant to communicate somehow didn't make it to the end of my fingers, sorry.

It's not the re-ordering of the season pass list which takes a huge amount of time when the list is long, it's the update of the todo list as the new priorities are assigned to it.

Good catch, guys.

[danhi]

Would people be willing to have this done via a program on the PC that then could schedule multiple TiVo's as described above? I've written an app, TivoMovies that, among other things, allows you to schedule movies on a TiVo. One of the things that I'm thinking about doing is getting it to support the dual tuner feature of DirecTivo's (even though it will be a little tricky, as I don't own one). If I do that, I could just virtualize the tuner concept, so that it didn't matter if it were an additional tuner on a DirecTivo, or a tuner on a separate TiVo.

Then I could put in function that allowed movies to be moved around from one TiVo to another (but since I'd be doing it on the PC, I'd have to use a store and forward approach).

Anyway, I'd consider working on this if people were interested.

Dan

[rc3105]

the tivoweb manual season pass module or manual recording scripts can be updated to pull from a pc "master list" or multiple lists on alternate tivos

as a tivoweb or mfs_ftp module with ping_pong/cron type scheduling they can scan the list(s) periodically


what works for me...

since the tivo's allready run tivoftpd ;) each scheuler ant (scheduling daemon) looks for "tokens" via ftp (each ant has limited ftp client capability & the tokens are dump_obj type xml pulled from schedule data ahead of time) produced by a queen (scheduling daemon that scans upcoming listings for season pass / wishlist / manual / RSS type matches) which generates /Recording/Active recordings that can be viewed / overridden from the ToDo list & as such are available to a local queen (for example, the 192.168.0.2 queen wishlist matches & schedules a long sought stargate episode, 192.168.0.4 sees that while browsing 192.168.0.4/var/cache/scheduled on 192.168.0.2 & doesn't worry about recording it, even though it matches a master wishlist pulled from the pc / wherever)

[FredThompson]

Would people be willing to have this done via a program on the PC that then could schedule multiple TiVo's as described above? I've written an app, TivoMovies that, among other things, allows you to schedule movies on a TiVo...That's what I hinted at in a PM to you a few days ago. I'll drop a note to drnull and see if he's still interested. We might even have some of the old discussion emails. There were all kinds of things we considered like matching lists from sites like TitanTV and TV Guide because TiVo's data doesn't always show series name and locals are sometimes messed up. You have DigiGuide, right? Done properly, this would be rule-based so filters could be created to handle schedules from sites like TLC, DIY, PBS, whatever.

Things kind of broke down due to our time constraints and when we realized we didn't know how to access all the guide data. Without that, it would be pretty hard to search by categories or names of actors, etc. Maybe the whole thing would have to be done from scratch instead of building on the internal schedulers.

TivoTokens also has some potential.

So would a nice suggestion list of upcoming shows.

We also considered keeping a master list of recordings and sizes. Suppose, for example, you made a recording at 500K which was on again 4 months later and was recorded at 1200K. That would be nice to know about.

drnull also wrote a nice module to show dual tuner todo allocations on a time chart. I'll ask him for a screendump.

One interesting idea was a more powerful "best fit" for scheduling. The TiVo allocates season pass 1 then 2 then 3 and so on. It's not smart enough to pick the second showing of season pass 1 if that would allow a recording of season pass 2, for example.

Running on a PC or in the TiVo was never really decided. Personally, I'd rather run on a PC because there's a lot more processing power available. What happens if the PC goes down, though? Somehow, the TiVos' scheduling should be used with the PC doing "manual" tweaks and keeping a copy of recording records.

Uberscheduler was the planned name but it would have to be pretty complete to earn that moniker...

[sanderton]

You could do master/slave with some tweaking to the conflict resolution model I built:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=138225

I never followed it through to full automation because my second TiVo is used independently and I didn't want its internal SPs overruled automatically, but to change that would be trivial; if it were merely a slave that would not be an issue. You could add further TiVos too with a bit more tweaking.

A single Tivo maintaining the master SP list is not an issue for it, performance wise.

No insect analogies I'm afraid, and very low tech compared to Riley's suggestion, but it would work with no PC involved.

Although Fred has tried to explain it to me, still I don't really get the need for "autocombining" with the padding code.

[sanderton]

One interesting idea was a more powerful "best fit" for scheduling. The TiVo allocates season pass 1 then 2 then 3 and so on. It's not smart enough to pick the second showing of season pass 1 if that would allow a recording of season pass 2, for example..

This would be great, but don't underestimate the computing power required to get "best fit" when the number of SPs grows. the brute force method of testing combinations goes (literally) exponential.

There is also a risk of aunwanted results with schedule changes (SP1 showing 1 not recorded because SP1 showing 2 gives a better overall fit. SP1 showing 2 then cancelled).

[FredThompson]

@sanderton,

yeah, when I notcied your code it seemed we'd gone over the halfway point, so to speak...er...type.

Yeah, you're right about the "best fit" getting exponetially messy. Realistically, if you've got 4 tuners or more, you should be able to get most of what you want. Scratch that part of the description, it's a rabbit hole.

Let me try to explain the combining again. Suppose there is a show on channel ZZZ from 7-8PM and one from 8-9PM. You'd like both. The safest way to ensure they are both completely recorded is to have a "manual" recording from 7-9PM with padding on the lead and trail ends. Your existing code will pad the lead edge of the 7-8PM show and the trail edge of the 8-9PM show.

The challenge shows up with channels that typically have "wandering" start times or run very close to the clock. With a DTiVo, there is a slight delay between stopping one recording and starting another. (I don't have an SA unit and can't say how they operate.) That's why the option to combine sequential recordings from the same tuner would be helpful.

Having said that, there are channels which are consistently very "safe" at the clock points so they don't need this type of protection. I don't know about the British programming from the Discovery networks but the stuff they run in the U.S. very often has around 5 seconds between shows.

The alternative is to ensure padding on both ends. Suppose the 7-8PM show has the higher priority and there's nothing to be recorded from 9-930PM. If both ends are padded, the tuner isn't available to get a good copy of the 8-9PM show. Hence, the idea was to combine then pad.

What happened as we discussed an uberscheduler was first the idea of farming out programming to another TiVo if time was available on it. Your stuff made that possible. Then we started paying attention to how the shows are actually timed on the channels we watch and these types of timing issues became evident. We also found a lot of inconsistencies in the TiVo guide data. It's not uncommon for the TiVo guide to list an episode title but not a series name. That's why we thought about augementing with website or email schedules. Interestingly, your module to compare schedules showed up about a month after we started thinking about it.

Another thing we thought about was a report to tell you when multiple occurrences of a show have been recorded which would show you the lengths. IOW, it should help save time if you're collecting something prior to burning and, for example, 3 duplicates were recorded. The theory being the largest has the greater chance of being highest quality due to bitrate. That's a DTiVo issue only, of course.

[sanderton]

With a DTiVo, there is a slight delay between stopping one recording and starting another. (I don't have an SA unit and can't say how they operate.) .

Ah, I see. No, on a SA unit when back to back shows are recorded there is no "gap".

Have re: your other ideas, have a look on the TC UK forum and search on DigiGuide.

I've written a TiVoweb module which attempts to match DigiGuide data to TiVo's - with the objective of highlighting posible TiVo data errors. It's very crude as I just designed it as a heads-up. (or is that the module you were referring to already?)

Others have written plug-ins for DigiGuide's PC app which allow scheduling on the TiVo directly from Digiguide.

[FredThompson]

Yeah, I saw your module for DigiGuide. It seems the majority of this idea now exists in other modules.

[rc3105]

This would be great, but don't underestimate the computing power required to get "best fit" when the number of SPs grows. the brute force method of testing combinations goes (literally) exponential.

that's why I went with insect colony design - each agent can be only slighly smarter than pocket lint but you still get a beehive full of honey :)

[eastwind]

:eek: Pandemonium!!!!! Now the ants are making honey in the beehive. And the pocket lint will mutiny for sure.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :p

[rc3105]

welcome to my world :)

don't even get me started talking about the tivo core wars (http://www.corewars.org/) port... ( you sank my wishlist! :eek: )

[BioHazard]

2 features I would like to see:

- The ability to specify in wich language to record a program or season pass.
My default audio language is spanish but in channels like TBS the show's audio is always "You are listening to the secondary audio program..." so it would be useful to be able to keep the default audio setting but record shows in those channels in english.

- Cut the end of the last program.
Sometimes you have in the buffer 25 minutes of the last program and 5 minutes of the current program and you decide you want the current program to be recorded, you press the record button and ALL the buffer gets in the recording, including the 25 minutes of the last program, that's annoying.

[sanderton]

- Cut the end of the last program.
Sometimes you have in the buffer 25 minutes of the last program and 5 minutes of the current program and you decide you want the current program to be recorded, you press the record button and ALL the buffer gets in the recording, including the 25 minutes of the last program, that's annoying.

That's exactly what my TiVo does? (S1 SA 2.5.5)

[erhan]

I always had that problem, starting with 3.1.1b and now 4.0. This could be a DirecTivo problem, though. It's always consistent, when you hit the record key on live TV, the entire live buffer goes to the recording until end of the current show. When you play it back, you may have up to 30 mins of "extra footage" in the beginning.

[FredThompson]

2.5.2 does this. It's not a problem, just a different design than you'd prefer. You can always but chunks internally if you want. It's a default 30 minute buffer, not a buffer to the start of a program slot up or 30 minutes, whichever is less.

[eastwind]

FWIW, SAs (I have a series 1-3.0) don't behave that way. They check the guide data and record from the beginning of the show and dump the rest of the buffer.
ew

[FredThompson]

Interesting. I've also heard there's no loss of content when SAs make recordings of adjacent shows on the same tuner. All I have are DTiVos so don't know if that's true. DTiVos will drop a few frames. Hence, if you've got one show set to record pas the end to make sure you have the whole thing, hitting the record button after the first recording stops will yield a short gap.

[eastwind]

Interesting. I've also heard there's no loss of content when SAs make recordings of adjacent shows on the same tuner. All I have are DTiVos so don't know if that's true. DTiVos will drop a few frames. Hence, if you've got one show set to record pas the end to make sure you have the whole thing, hitting the record button after the first recording stops will yield a short gap.
May well be true, but it doesn't stop the networks from having their clocks set different than TiVos.
ew

[nullman]

Agreed. I purchased (at the time) one of the best "tv-out" units available and tried to use it on my 60" projection tv and even at that size, it was nearly impossible to use.

That's not the case today with DVI (or component) and HDTVs. Windows looks very impressive at 1280x720 on my Grand Wega. :D I have a HTPC to play back HD content recorded to my PC (an HD-TiVo, if you will.)

[FredThompson]

in any event...

the ability to make a Season Pass "inactive" so it's not used when generating the ToDo list but the entry is still inside the Season Pass list. Upon reactivation of entries, the ToDo list is updated.

Benefit: You can "remove" a season pass for a while then reactivate it later without having to enter it from scratch. Useful for extended travel when access to the TiVo isn't possible.

[sealevel]

something to make all your recorded shows play back to back with one command, so you just let the whole collection roll.

[malfunct]

something to make all your recorded shows play back to back with one command, so you just let the whole collection roll.

I think the batch record to VCR hack that was made ages ago is most of the way to allowing this.

[sanderton]

in any event...

the ability to make a Season Pass "inactive" so it's not used when generating the ToDo list but the entry is still inside the Season Pass list. Upon reactivation of entries, the ToDo list is updated.

Benefit: You can "remove" a season pass for a while then reactivate it later without having to enter it from scratch. Useful for extended travel when access to the TiVo isn't possible.

Easy one; just make a TW module to change the Station the SP is set to use to a dummy one, and back.

[FredThompson]

Easy one; just make a TW module to change the Station the SP is set to use to a dummy one, and back.Cool. This can be done with your Season Pass manager TivoWeb module? btw, I like your visula sort a LOT better than the numeric one in TWP.

[FredThompson]

Simple web broswer support to handle Streamcast and MP3 streaming from a site.

FWIW, it's possible to stream MP3s from an html page without any type of streaming server. I've done it but can't seem to locate how the link is done right now.

Yes, I know, we'd need streaming MP3 support, Shoutcast support and a simple browser support with mirror to the screen. Easier with TiVoWeb than onscreen but potentially possible.

[FredThompson]

Well, having watched an S2 get confused about the actual time and run 2 minutes slow, I'd LOVE to have a daily setting of the clock based on a poll of a Naval atamoic clock.

[AVD]

Well, having watched an S2 get confused about the actual time and run 2 minutes slow, I'd LOVE to have a daily setting of the clock based on a poll of a Naval atamoic clock.


Cant you just use NTP on a cron job?

[FredThompson]

Idea: TWP module to compare file sizes in an attempt to identify duplicates and automagically delete the smaller versions. The user should specify those series for which this filtering is applied and the maximum number of copies of each matching episode to keep.

Benefit: Stations like Discovery Science, DIY, TechTV (soon to be techG4 or something like that), History International, etc. re-broadcast the same episodes repeatedly. This type of module would allow the user to set a SP which records all episodes keeping only the largest versions in an attempt to obtain maximum quality by virtue of higher bitrates. It would help to minimize the risk of filling up the drives on the TiVo.

Caveat: This is something the user should specifically enable for each program title to be filtered. Many shows do not have episode-specific information so it's quite risky to enable this for all titles.

This might be combined with an intelligent kill filter such that the user would mark an episode as "never record again" and when that particular episode shows up in the ToDo list, the kill filter cancels it.

[Ego]

Idea: TWP module to compare file sizes in an attempt to identify duplicates and automagically delete the smaller versions. The user should specify those series for which this filtering is applied and the maximum number of copies of each matching episode to keep.

Benefit: Stations like Discovery Science, DIY, TechTV (soon to be techG4 or something like that), History International, etc. re-broadcast the same episodes repeatedly. This type of module would allow the user to set a SP which records all episodes keeping only the largest versions in an attempt to obtain maximum quality by virtue of higher bitrates. It would help to minimize the risk of filling up the drives on the TiVo.

Caveat: This is something the user should specifically enable for each program title to be filtered. Many shows do not have episode-specific information so it's quite risky to enable this for all titles.

This might be combined with an intelligent kill filter such that the user would mark an episode as "never record again" and when that particular episode shows up in the ToDo list, the kill filter cancels it.


I really, really like this idea. Another situation where this comes in handy is for those of us who use the automatic padding of recordings hack. I'll use your TechTV example. Say the Screen Savers records, but the tivo's clock is a little off, and it misses the first 30-60 seconds of the show (and no auto-padding happened because something else was recording prior on both tuners). Then the Screen Savers records again later, and this time, it does some auto-padding (5 minutes on the front and back of the recording) - with this hack you describe, my smaller recording which is missing part of the episode gets nuked, and the larger, padded version is what's left.

Neat idea, I like it!

[eastwind]

First, this is not my idea. I'm just bringing it from here. (http://www.dealdatabase.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35203)

Would it be possible to have the Live Buffer *not* reset each time you change channels, but instead just keep plugging along until it gets full?

I know you can kludge the same thing by using a cable box remote to change the channel without telling the TiVo, but this guy was looking for something more elegant (and hackerish).

ew

[FredThompson]

I know you can kludge the same thing by using a cable box remote to change the channel without telling the TiVo, but this guy was looking for something more elegant (and hackerish).SA only

There's a neat hack on the other forum to display drive usage in the Now Showing header. S1 only, though: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?threadid=153732

[classicsat]

They do that as part of their daily update.

[FredThompson]

They do that as part of their daily update.
who does what?

[bato]

who does what?

My guess: update tivo's time in daily call

[sazma]

Since I have a DTiVo S2, the "window" button does nothing. It'd be nice to make it do stuff. A one-button "play the first/last thing in NP" comes to mind.

Another use for it might be out in left field, but it sure would be cool: while in playback of a recorded stream, hit pause when a commercial comes up. Then hit the window button which starts playback again. When the commercials are over, hit pause again and then Window again and you've just deleted the commercial from your recording!

[lgkahn]

not likely to happen currently since any script/process waiting on an event to do something currently increses the likelyhood that your box will freeze up due to the famous "event bug" maybe someday....

[rc3105]

Zirak solved that ages ago, read through the tcs source

[mike_s]

Newbie warning. I haven't waded through all 10 pages, so this may be a repeat.

Since pop mail access is possible, why not a process which would poll for new mail and parse it for commands to allow adding "to do's" or wish lists, or requesting to do or now playing or what's on lists. This would be better than web access for a couple of reasons - security, as you wouldn't have to expose the Tivo to the Internet in order to do this stuff. It also wouldn't require direct net access, heck, you could probably program your Tivo from a cell phone which support messaging!

To: tivo@domain.com
Subject: password
Add todo
7:30pm,1:00,2,high #record channel 2 at 7:30 for one hour at high quality.

Add wishlist
"Monty Python",all,record,medium #record all Monty Python shows.

Show whatson me@myemail.com

End

#or whatever makes sense

[sanderton]

I program my TiVo and search the EPG though my mobile phone right now?

[FredThompson]

signaldrop - detects when the signal is lost when a DTiVo is recording. When dropped, it sets the next occurrence of the episode to record, subject to priorities in the SP and wishlist.

[StanSimmons]

Now that Series II SA's have HMO and MRV for free, and the mods have decreed that the HMO superpatch can be discussed for standalones, has anyone explored sniffing the MRV protocols?

I'm guessing that the HMO superpatch would have to be ported to v4.01b for the S2SA's to be able to store unencrypted shows and move them to S2DTiVo's. MRV between superpatched S2DTiVo's has already been tested and works.

Would it be possible to document the MRV protocols and develop a app for the Series I TiVo's (SA and/or DTiVo) that would allow the Series I to serve MRV shows? I doubt that any Series I will every be able to recieve a MRV show.

Could a similar app be developed for Win32/Linux/JavaHMO?

I think that S1SA's don't currently encrypt shows, but S1DTiVo's would have to have the scrambling/encryption turned off.

[darrin75]

Tivo commerical editing by itself. Not only does it same time it also will save space. Of course i think this impossible to do

[lenroc]

Tivo commerical editing by itself. Not only does it same time it also will save space. Of course i think this impossible to do

Chunk Edit allows editing to remove ads, etc.

How would you propose making the TiVo edit commercials by itself? A black space detector of some sort, like in some ReplayTV units? That would be tough if you are cutting out & deleting what it detects as "ads".

I've seen discussion before (maybe in this thread?) of a method that would distribute "cut lists" over the Internet, so when one user marked ads, anyone else who uses this (hypothetical) service could download and apply their cutlists, automatically...

Maybe now that Chunk Edit seems to have taken off, this would be easier to implement?