Manager wanted

[Phil_C]

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dannylau wrote:

I'm discussing reminders based on what many people on the forums have asked for

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Weren't you one of those who were saying that reminders can't be done in the TiVo because of the posswibility of there being no available tuner (when no tuner was necessary), of course)?

The bottom line is that a reminder system would be very simple to incorporate into the TiVo, and wouldn't negatively impact anything - not recordings, not tuners, not anything.

[dannylau]

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Phil_C wrote:

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dannylau wrote:

I'm discussing reminders based on what many people on the forums have asked for

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Weren't you one of those who were saying that reminders can't be done in the TiVo because of the posswibility of there being no available tuner (when no tuner was necessary), of course)?

The bottom line is that a reminder system would be very simple to incorporate into the TiVo, and wouldn't negatively impact anything - not recordings, not tuners, not anything.

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I dare say it would but many people want it to be the same as the V+ and won't be satisfied until it is even if it means breaking the functionality of the tivo

[Phil_C]

@mike_gain

I don't recall your "possible solution", but I'm sure I've commented on it previously.

I'm jumping to your last sentence:-

The development cost for instituting a reminder function is negligable. It's a simple bit of programming and nothing more. Remember that we are not talking about changing channels - reminders don't change channels.

Now back to the main part of your post:-

You're arguments overlook one very obvious fact - the TiVo allows live TV viewing. That means that you can already set all 3 tuners to start recording at a time when you are watching live TV. In that circumstance, it's down to the user to decide what to do when the recordings are about to begin. That's the way it is now, and the TiVo caters for it. Reminders would be no different. 

You correctly point out that it may be that all the tuners are needed for recording before the programme has finished (as it is now when watching live TV), but you try to complicate things by suggesting that the TiVo needs to do something significant about it, when it doesn't. Because the circumstance could occur, all the TiVo would need to do is get the start and end times of the programme, check if all the tuners are needed during that period, and, if they are, inform the user at the point of setting the reminder. After that it's down to the user to decide what to do about it - just as it is now. It's very simple stuff considering that the programming for popups already exists, and the TiVo has all the required data. The degree of integration that you complicate it with simply isn't necessary. I'm not saying that an "all singing all dancing" function wouldn't be good. I'm saying that the degree of complication that you talk about isn't necessary, so there's no need for it.

Remember:

(1) Reminders don't change channels.

(2) The "3 tuners needed for recording while watching live TV" circumstance already exists, and the TiVo deals with it just fine. A reminder function would be no different. Currently, the TiVo ascertains whether or not 3 recording tuners are needed at the point of them being needed, whereas a reminder function could ascertain that at the point of setting a reminder. It could also do it at the point of the popup, of course, but advanced warning would be preferable. On the other hand, a reminder function wouldn't need to provide the user with that information. The user can sort any problems out for him/herself, just as s/he does now when the TiVo pops up a message that it wants to change channel.

(3) It's always down to user choice, and never down to TiVo choice.

[Phil_C]

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dannylau wrote:

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Phil_C wrote:

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dannylau wrote:

I'm discussing reminders based on what many people on the forums have asked for

---

Weren't you one of those who were saying that reminders can't be done in the TiVo because of the posswibility of there being no available tuner (when no tuner was necessary, of course)?

The bottom line is that a reminder system would be very simple to incorporate into the TiVo, and wouldn't negatively impact anything - not recordings, not tuners, not anything.

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I dare say it would but many people want it to be the same as the V+ and won't be satisfied until it is even if it means breaking the functionality of the tivo

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I think you'd find that most people who want reminders would be far happier having a very similar function to the V+ than not having any reminder function at all.

The only time it would behave differently to the V+ is when the user has set all 3 tuners to record. I really don't think anyone would object to the message, "Warning: you have set all the tuners to record during the period when the programme is airing". On the contrary, I am sure that everyone would actually appreciate the message, especially if it comes at the point of setting the reminder, because it would provide ample time to maybe cancel a recording and set an alternative time to record it - on a +1 channel, for instance.

[Phil_C]

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PrinterElf wrote:

I have to agree with mike_gain - the implementation of reminders will only ever disappoint those who are used to the V+ system

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Why would it do that? (see my previous post)

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PrinterElf wrote:

[...] and auto-change is a definite non-starter because of the risk of overruling an already scheduled/buffering recording is far too great.

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The discussion isn't about "change channel at start", although I see no reason why such a function couldn't incorporated, but that's another discussion.

[mike_gain]

@Phil: read posts 97 (page 10) and 108 (page 11)

And you will see that I have proposed a solution that will "inform the user at the point of setting the reminder" as well as informing a user trying to set a recording that a reminder had been set and let them decide what to do. Which you seem to agree with. We just seem to disagree about the complexity.

I don't know how simple or otherwise it would be to implement what i have suggested (to be honest neither of us do) but there is going to be a regression test as well as the testing of the new functionality. However that said I cannot see this being a simple change, in my experience there's no such thing.

>> You correctly point out that it may be that all the tuners are needed for recording before the programme has finished

It's more that you have 3 programmes due to start recording at the same time as you reminded programme is about to start. If you leave it till the start time of all 4 there's very little time to resolve it.

[Phil_C]

@mike_gain

To be honest, since you gave me occasion to say "there's no need to be rude", I've tended to skim through your posts rather than read them in great detail. They can be a bit long - probably mine can too. As a result, I replied to the last paragraph of your #97 post by suggesting a similar possibility. So it does appear that we have some agreement. I like your "record" and "remind" flags. The system may well use such flags - new, record, whatever, and a remind flag would only need 1 extra bit - if there's one available.

We certainly don't agree on the complexity of it though. I did say that an "all singing, all dancing" function would be great, but not necessary. As a programmer, I do know that a basic reminder funtion is simple to add. The start and end times of the programme are already in the TiVo, as are the start and end times of the planned recordings. The popup message functionality also exists in the TiVo. Everything is already there, and it only needs a simple bit of additonal programming to make use of that data for a reminder function. Of course, the function would need to be added to the TV Guide programming, but that isn't difficult either.

I'm sure you know that informing the user of a conflict at the time of setting a reminder, is something that I've been saying for the last couple of pages, and I've stated the benefits of not leaving it until the programme is about to start.