3 Apr 2001
The true power of TiVo will be realized when every commercial for a TV show I see features the “thumbs up” symbol in the corner of the screen, allowing me to instantly mark that show for recording with the push of a button. However, so far the only commercials I’ve seen with that feature have been for Friends and Ed, both of which I already have season passes for.
I agree, but I’d like to add one more request. The ability to encode a signal like this into a TV broadcast allows for some other interesting possibilities. Most importantly in my mind right now: the amount of time the current channel is delayed due to sports broadcasts, special news break-ins, or whatever. With this information encoded, the TiVo could intelligently figure out (using recording-priority rules available in TiVo OS 2.0) to wait and record the desired program during its actual air time. Similarly, programs (such as Friends) that always run a minute or two long (to fit in those extra commercials) could encode that information. Obviously, sports events should encode such information (in real-time) so that TiVo would record the whole thing.
And then, of course, programs that play time-adjacently on the same channel should smoothly transition so I don’t lose a few seconds of the end of one or the beginning of the other between the recordings.
Finally, multiple tuners in the same TiVo box are essential. I often have need for more than one (Friends vs. Survivor), and sometimes even more (Boston Public vs. South Pacific vs. SMS Lady Bears basketball game). So I think TiVo would do well to include the extra tuner in all its boxes (like DirecTivo and UltimateTV do).
Anyway, as much as I complain, TiVo is the coolest thing to ever happen to TV. Thank you TiVo!
Dave Adams | 3 Apr 2001