May 30, 2011

What are your TiVo top tips?

Streaky 7 commented:
Maybe a top tips post would be good? Then you could take the tips people leave in the post and then make up a top 10/20 section on the home page in an easy to read, easy to find section. This could be updated over time as and when new tips get found out.
Which is a mighty fine idea. So please let me know what your top TiVo tips are and I'll compile a list for this blog.
Here are a few of mine to begin with:
  1. To reboot the TiVo don't yank out the power lead without trying to do a soft reboot on the interface first: Thumb Down - Thumb Up - Play - Play
  2. To move up and down a list a page at a time, use the Channel Up and Down buttons
  3. To quickly delete a recording, select and press Clear
  4. To improve the picture quality of SD channels, ensure that both 720p and 1080i are selected in video out
  5. If (4) makes your TV judder too much when switching between SD and HD, just select 720p

19 comments:

streaky_7 said...

Great Stuff Nialli!!

Ok, a couple more to add to the list that we have mentioned

1) just press the play button when you are on a show - you don't have to go through all the options to then select play show.

2) Remember the Tivo will pick up all the recordings but it will not record them all. It recognises when you have a programme/episode recorded so doesn't record it again

3) HD NUT? When you set up a wishlist, then go to Category and select HD. This will mean when the programme/film you want to record comes on, it will record the HD version = be aware though, if there is no HD version and only SD, and you have HD selected in category, then it probably wont record it in SD!

4)Hiccups Folder - My Shows & Recordings on the main menu (home button), then select 'Recording Hiccups'. Here you can see why recordings are failing to record if you are wondering.

5) Series Links - My Shows & Recordings on main menu (home button), then select Manage my series links. Move the series links and wishlists up or down depending on priority. This will ensure your favourite shows/films will be recorded over a lesser important programme should there be an issue like 'overlapping'. I have found this to cause the longest red doughnut based on it re-sorting all the programmes but it will be worth it.

Cheers

Nialli said...

Here's another one: when navigating the Guide, the FF and REW buttons shifts you through the timeline in two hour jumps rather the the usual half hour.

Richard said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Richard said...

Quick jumps in menus
pressing channel up or down when in a menu with a list takes you to the top or bottom option in the menu.

EPG to search in a single click(courtesy of CWaring)
Pressing ‘Last CH’ (aka button on bottom right of peanut ) whilst in the full EPG will take you to the "Search All TV" page.

Understanding the FF or Rew
FF and Rew have 3 speeds; the more times you press the faster it goes.
Press the 4 time and it is back to the slowest of the 3 speeds.
FF and Rew also have a ‘reaction’ control when you press play.
@ speed 1, Play just starts from the point you press it. you should react fast enough when you press the play.
@ speed 2 and 3, when you press play it bounces back (or forward when rew) a few second. (30 at fastest I think!)
To prevent the reaction bounce, press Pause instead and then play.

Missed something (or I’m bored of this bit!!)
In a recording or buffer (ie regular viewing)
• Jump backward 8 seconds... Use the ‘back’ button (@ 7oclock from the yellow pause)
• Jump forward 30 seconds... Use the forward button (@ 5oclock from the yellow pause)
• Press and hold these buttons to jump to the start or finish of a recording.

Pausing a 2nd (or 3rd turner)
You can switch between tuners by pressing Info, then scrolling down to the bottom icons. Then you can switch between tuners and pause any of them to go back to them later. note the buffer is only an hour (I think) so if you want to pause for longer – press the record button!

Super short cut keys (courtesy of Miker @ tivo community)
The good old shortcuts still work - though it's "home" and not "TiVo" button:
• Home+Home : My recordings (now playing)
Home+1 : Manage series links
Home+2 : Planned recordings (todo list)
Home+3 : Wishlists
Home+4 : Search all TV
Home+5 : Browse all TV
Home+0 : full screen TV + pause ?

Other tips from his entry in the other forum
• Pressing CLEAR works as a shortcut for delete on most pages - most handy on the "my shows" page
• Press SKIP >| to quickly jump to the top or bottom of long lists , e.g. My Shows
• Channel up/down works as page up/down in lists
• Press and hold TEXT switches your TV AV sources - that's how I flip between VM TiVo / TiVo S1 / DVD
• Press and hold POWER button turn turn TV on/off - a short press makes TiVo go into standby
• Press SLOW to toggle mini TV screen at top right
• Pressing UP while watching a recording, cycles the output through all the available video formats. e.g. 576p / 1080p
• Pressing OK while watching Live TV or a recorded program brings up a small 3 line TV listing guide

Richard said...

Checking the series link
When using the series link...
the program should record reguardless of channel its on.
(suggest you check in the todo list just to be sure)

When you view upcoming episodes, you can see a tick by the ones that will be recorded.

What episode was recorded
because someone commented on this!

When you scroll through your list of recordings, the episode and channel are listed on the window on the bottom right of the screen,

Richard said...

re sreaky's tip number 5

2 quick points...

i. if there is a different copy of the same episode showing at a later time of the lower priority program. Tivo will record this.
So don't panic! The program may just appear later in the week if you were recording 3 things at once and this was the 4th,

ii. The more season passes/wish lists the longer the red donut (nice term streaky) will appear.
think about what is happening...
every program time is being recalculated then matched against the higher priority programs to identify if there is a conflict. Then it calculates the optimum recoding table.
With 14 day epg and the more things in the season pass, the longer it takes.

As such, I recommend a 6 monthly tidy up to delete season passes of programs you will never watch again.

Richard said...

season passes remember next year!!!
If you set a season pass for say "doctor who" (well its been mentioned several times on this site!!!)

Leave the season pass set and forget about it.

When the christmas special and next series happen. It will record them.

2 points...
i. Recommend you do check the todo list or the upcoming episodes to check when you remember they are on again!
(not 100% confident with christmas special because I'm not confident with the metadata at the moment but after a year of this model of Tivo, I would be able to answer)
ii. I am assuming you set 'new episodes only' in the series link, other wise you will have a year of the repeats on the other channels!!!

Richard said...

should have put this as my number one tip at the start...

when you have 10 minutes do the following...

rewind the buffer by about 20 minutes.

press the buttons on the remote and see what happens and learn what the unmarked commands are.

The fastest way to learn is to play when there is nothing of interest on the box!!!

streaky_7 said...

Following Richards comments which was making some good points following on from mine, I also forgot to say, i believe though not 100% sure as can't check right now, every wishlist or series link you set will go to the bottom of the priority list. So if you set a link or wishlist you deem vital not to be missed then move it up the list.

I have had a couple of partial recordings which I'm not sure if that's due to overlapping based on priority or metadata issues (timing of programme). And as they partial recorded they didnt re-record at a different time. But I reorganised all my links earlier which I hope will help?!!

Richard said...

suff you should know but just in case...

part way through and I like the program (or Im popping out!)
press record part way through the program and the program will record from the start (or the earliest part of the program still in the buffer.)

I'm just away for a bit and need to pause!
the buffer isn't infinite! (though I cant remember if it is 30 or 60 mins - so someone can remind everyone for me! - sorry I hacked the series 1 I had so I had non standard settings for these things)

If you pause and then realise you are going to be away for longer than, say, 30 mins - press the record button as well. Then you are paused and the whole program is recorded. You can unpause when free again.

NOTE: this doesn't mean the program after is going to be in the buffer! You will only have the duration of the buffer held to go back to.

streaky_7 said...

@Richard, (or anyone else of course, its just Richard seems knowledged up after having the series 1)

Any top tips for re thumbs up/down to improve the discovery bar?

The suggestions it records are not great but at least it's close (normally old repeats of programmes I have given thumbs up).

The discovery bar however has been rubbish for me...so far...I still hve programmes on there which I gave 3 thumbs down too weeks ago. I can't seem to improve it - I didn't know if there was something I could do or if it's just a matter of time?

Philip Guest said...

Excellent TiVo tips - thanks guys!

On the subject of Suggestions - after a month, I've turned off the function. It was recording far too many episodes of shows that are well into their series runs. I also began to get p***ed off that when watching "live" TV, I would get requests to change the channel, so it could record additional Suggestions.

I do like the TiVo - the huge recording capacity, Wish Lists, three tuners - but this feature doesn't work for me.

Richard said...

off subject as this should be tips not answers to questions.

@streaky re discovery bar...

its new to tivo... no real experience with it.

Think it is intended to work like suggestions; so depends on thumbs up and down and what you record.
also there are some settings to help restrict its content a little.

to be honest I just ignore it and I would expect it to improve in about a year once the viewing habits are better know, metadata is superb and the other priorities in f/w are fixed.

treat is a eye candy in menu screens!!!

@philip...
my old f/w did something similar but not had the problem for ages.
Think it is when you set 3 programs to record at same time so it asks what to do with the live channel.
suggestions should not overrule any other activity. these should be background tasks happening because it has a free channel and something you might like is showing.
suggest you go to the VM support forum off the VM site and raise the question there; everyone is helpful there.

Richard said...

new or new and rerun?
if you want everything with that prgram name, record the reruns.

NOTE: it only records the episode onces, so you dont get 500 copies of the same program like with V+ and sky+


if you only want the new series and not those reruns, you can set this in the season pass.

Three things to remember...
1. check it is recording in the upcoming programs link. The metadata sometimes thinks the program is a rerun (USA programs most likely to have this problem)

2 new does not mean the first showing. It means the first showing and its repeats in the first 28 days. so if it doesn't record Dr Who on a saturday night, it will pick it up next time it is shown or later in the week.

3. this is important
don't get confused between 'channel premier' and 'first showing'... I've had this and reported it as a metadata problem with series 1's and got this nice reminder from the team.

Just because CSI is season premier on Channel 5 doesnt mean it didn't show on a different channel in the UK. This means it is classed as a rerun.

So for people who are waiting for any program currently showing on sky atlantic to be rerun later this year on a different channel with VM, when this does happen, it is a rerun NOT a new showing.

wickywoowoo said...

Sky Box Office would be nice.

A delete all button for the Recycle Bin would save half an hour a week too.

I cannot tape Andrew Marr's new program on Thursday due to a showing of Castle on Sunday night apparently, it is total gibberish.

There is also the thing of my Doctor Who series link being stopped because Doctor Who is now listed as starring Jon Pertwee and shows that Alaister bloke in the picture.

There are a lot of bugs to iron out still.

Richard said...

@wickywoowoo

Don't mean to be rude, but what is your tip to help others.

Philip Guest said...

@Richard - appreciate your comments. Thanks.

Crooner5 said...

What a waste of money my old virgin box was miles better. The picture on sports channels is awful , you cant set reminders and the general layout and navigation is slow and very poorly designed. Asked Virgin for a refund and they said my 28 day warranty had expired. Avoid at all costs

Omendata said...

I watch Tivo whilst using my laptop or pc almost all the time - the tv is really just a background noise until there is something decent to watch.
There is a little known program you can run in windows to replace your physical remote control.
I rarely use my physical remote control now and it might come in handy if you drop your remote and break it as has happened many a time with folks.
Its known as VM Tivo Net Remote by Andy Wheeler.
You will also need to allow network remote control on your Tivo menu options.
Get it here or google it and download:-
www.andypwheeler.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/tivoremote