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Comcast/Motorola DVR pet peeve regarding spoilers

I've playing with a new TiVo this week and since I'm still interacting with my Comcast/Motorola box at home, it's easy to make comparisons and I'm again reminded of how well TiVo gets the user experience and how cable company DVRs can sometimes falter. One example this week really drove the point home for me.

I've been using DVRs for six years now, so I frequently watch prime time shows on the same night they air, but about 20-40 minutes after they start so I can fast forward commercials and still get to bed at a decent hour.

When you fire up your TV and your TiVo, hitting the TiVo button clears the screen and sound and gives you a menu. You can select the show being recorded in-progress and watch it from there. With the Comcast/Motorola box, when you turn it on live TV is playing and hitting the 'My DVR' button will shrink live TV down to 1/4 its size with audio still playing, and you can use the menu to select a show to watch.

You can probably guess what happened. I watch American Idol and frequently wait a while so I can fast forward the silly breaks and bad songs and when I was sitting down to watch this week's result show, it was about 25 minutes after the hour. As I was navigating the slow My DVR menu, I hear Ace being sent home, spoiling the show.

I like the live TV playing in a small window when using the guide (TiVo does this as well), but when using the DVR menus of finding shows to record or playback, it can get in the way, as I found out. When I had TiVo, I would purposely hit the TiVo button before turning the TV on, to make sure I never got any spoilers, but with the Comcast box, there's no way to guarantee it (aside from switching tuners immediately if you spot your show on).

by Matt Haughey April 21, 2006 in Op-Ed

Comments

I feel your pain very much and can not wait for Series 3 TiVo's or the TiVo software on a Moto box, but I have a couple of tips for you. If you are only recording one thing, don't have the DVR on the channel you are recording, it will always record your show on the second channel which isn't visible unless you swap tuners. If you don't want to do that or are recording two things at once then you could hit the pause button before turning on your TV (just like hitting the TiVo button before) and that solves your audio problem. Yeah there is still a screen frozen in the corner, but it's easy enough to avoid that. Hope this helps

Posted by: ewtony at Apr 21, 2006 12:03:24 PM

Can't you just pause the show before going into the DVR menu?

Posted by: Grant at Apr 21, 2006 12:05:13 PM

I hear the next-gen DirecTivo will automatically block American Idol. I have placed myself on the waiting list. :)

Posted by: Mike D. at Apr 21, 2006 12:31:35 PM

I have the same box to record high def while I wait for a series 3.

The only way I've found to avoid spoilers (like when watching Lost!!!) is to:
a) mute the receiver first
b) hit the mydvr button quickly
c) try very hard to only stare at the list of show titles
d) scroll quickly to the right one
e) hit play and unmute the receiver

What a PITA.

Posted by: Brad at Apr 21, 2006 12:38:02 PM

While your point is certainly valid, I'd just like to point out that I despise you for supporting American Idol.

I'll be waiting for some quality programming to be added to television before I decide to get a DVR. That said, your review has persuaded me to get a TiVo when that day comes.

Posted by: RJ at Apr 21, 2006 1:06:52 PM

I agree with Grant above. Before I turn on my TV, I always hit the pause button. I guess it helps having been on a ReplayTV box for a while and not having the option of a TiVo button taking me to a menu that doesn't have the show that is currently recording turned off.

The pause button should be universal on any DVR since that is one of the biggest selling points of a DVR. The ability to pause live TV.

Posted by: Dave M. at Apr 21, 2006 1:18:14 PM

Personally I hate the way Tivo disrupts a live program just to enter the Tivo menu.

Everybody seems to think that Tivo has this wonderful user interaction, but compared to my old ReplayTv box it sucks. On Tivo my remote occasionally falters for no reason. The channel guide gives no indication that a show is set to record. I cannot pause a live program for more than 30 minutes. The list goes on and on about how lame Tivo is. I love PVR and hate Tivo enough that I just completed building a Myth TV setup. Anybody interested in an 80hr series 2 with lifetime subscription?

Unfortunately my ReplayTv box died and they have gone the way of Betamax (another superior technology that died at the expense of a lesser technology)

Posted by: Mark at Apr 21, 2006 1:20:22 PM

The same problem happens with Time Warner/Scientific Atlanta boxes. Maybe Tivo has a patent on this feature?

Posted by: Justin at Apr 21, 2006 2:10:55 PM

I know, I shouldn't watch American Idol, it's like a car wreck though.

I forgot to mention this happens with LOST a lot too -- a couple weeks ago I turned on the TV and the few seconds of The Map was shown right as I was trying to select the show, which sort of screwed with my mind the whole time I watched it until that moment.

Posted by: Matt Haughey at Apr 21, 2006 2:28:43 PM

I have the same problem with live sporting events. Since my TiVo can't do HD I always watch sports on my POS SA8300. To avoid this problem I tune the TV to the TiVo input, mute the TV, hold my hand up so I can’t see the top right corner of the TV, press the list button on my SA8300 remote, then switch over to cable. It's a pain in the rear, but gets the job done.

And while I don't agree with the negative opinion that Dave M has about TiVo, I do have to admit that it would be nice to have the option of running the TiVo menus with a show playing in the background. That way if I'm watching a pre-recorded show and want to manage my To Do list during a slow part I can do that without stopping the show altogether.

Posted by: tedbill at Apr 21, 2006 4:41:07 PM

How are you able to play live TV on your TiVo while looking at the menu? Can I get a Series 1 to do that?
My biggest problem with the Comcast DVR is when I'm watching a recorded show late at nught, the picture and sound vanish when the Emergency Brodcast signal is tested. When the high-pitched squeal is over,the recorded show has stopped and there's the live signal. this is especially irritating when I'm copying from the DVR.

Posted by: jnik at Apr 21, 2006 6:01:38 PM

"How are you able to play live TV on your TiVo while looking at the menu?"

No one is, but I posted this story because I like the feature that hides live TV and I wish the comcast DVR did it too.

Posted by: Matt Haughey at Apr 21, 2006 7:29:31 PM

Dave M.

Hey, ReplayTV boxes don't die...they just might need a hard drive replacement now and then. This is easily done. If you haven't sold that "dead" ReplayTV box, think about resurrecting it and using it or selling it. At least give it away for parts, cuz it ain't dead.

In fact, post whether you have it still, and I'll give you my contact info.

Posted by: NSN at Apr 22, 2006 9:14:25 PM

While the TV is off, or set to another source, I hit the DVR button, then down arrow five times and hit play, then something innocuous is playing and I can switch over to the DVR source.

Posted by: s p at Apr 22, 2006 11:15:49 PM

Mute

Posted by: wendell at Apr 24, 2006 2:12:38 AM

What drives me nuts is the (in)ability to start a still-recording show from the beginning. You have to manually rewind to the beginning. And at the end, if you haven't caught up, the buffer clears and skips you to the next show. GAAAH!!!! I've got an SA8100HD from Comcast. Do the 8300's have this horrendous feature?
I really can't wait until the S3 comes out.

Posted by: pedro at Apr 24, 2006 1:40:59 PM

Ditto here when I had the Sony DHG unit...I'm an insane hockey fan, and it never failed that, when I'd start watching the game (delayed, of course), the "current" screen would pop up showing the score. Pi**ed me off. Bring on Series 3!

Posted by: Bierboy at Apr 24, 2006 3:47:07 PM

Pedro,

I have the SA8300HD from Comcast. They do have the "horrendous" feature you mention (on both counts).

Tivo 3 - save us!

Posted by: Mark at Apr 25, 2006 4:29:32 AM

This used to happen to me all the time. So now with my Motorola box, I always hit pause as soon as I turn on the TV.

This generally works, unless I pause it on a spoiling scene.

I really hope that the new Series 3 boxes will show up soon and won't be prohibitively expensive.

Posted by: Brett at Apr 25, 2006 6:37:31 AM

But, as I mentioned above, hitting pause will NOT work for sporting events that continuously display a score.

Posted by: Bierboy at Apr 25, 2006 11:40:56 AM

I had DirecTiVO for a while and wondered why it did not have a small window when you are in menus. Now that I have FiOS with the Motorola box I understand why, just for this reason. I hate it.

Posted by: Matt at Apr 25, 2006 12:55:48 PM

My pet peeve concerning my Comcast/Motorola DVR: it gets into situations where it doesn't respond to button presses on the remote. How the hell can this be?

More often than I can believe, I'll be on FF1 and press either FF (to go to FF2) or Play, and nothing happens. Then 5-20 seconds later it either handles that button press, or not, or it will handle the 4 or 5 it's gotten while I've gotten impatient.

In my mind this is THE single most important feature of a DVR -- navigation through a recorded show. It should be rock solid, not flaky. Yes, the Comcast/Motorola DVR is a real POS. As someone previously stated: Series 3 save us!

Posted by: Mark at Apr 26, 2006 7:02:36 AM

I believe that there is a new firmware update for the SA8300HD-DVR boxes, because I had the same delayed show problem (when the recording reached the end, it suddenly stops what you're watching and goes to liveTV), but about two months ago it just stopped happening, and some other things were different as well, so I figure the firmware was updated. I don't know if this is true for Comcast also, because I have the SA box from Cablevision.

Posted by: classic at May 7, 2006 6:44:03 AM

How exactly does watching a show by skipping the commercials get you to bed any quicker than if you just watched it? It still ends at the same time, you just aren't wasting time watching the ads.

Posted by: eddiebauer79 at Aug 16, 2007 2:37:13 AM

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