FOX attempting to thwart DVR Fast Forwarding

Greebo

Greebo

N9017H - C172M (1976)
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Retired Evil Overlord
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14935685/

Basically they plan to post 30 second long still images of an ad, playing dialogue from the show behind the ad for those viewers who don't use DVRs.

Only, with my DVR, I don't care if its a 30 second movie or 30 second picture, I'm still fastforwarding...

Seems like a waste of effort on Fox's part - likely to mostly annoy the non DVR users and the DVR users like me will put out a resounding, 'wha?' and pick up playback where we want. :)
 
I will still ignore the ad and fast-forward as necessary.

I will determine when, and how, I am marketed too as much as humanly possible.

Why do I pay for cable/satellite and still have to deal with commercials? Was that not the original premise of HBO and Showtime and cable television? Pay for it and get no ads?

I am sick of advertising and marketers.
 
tdager said:
I will still ignore the ad and fast-forward as necessary.

I will determine when, and how, I am marketed too as much as humanly possible.

Why do I pay for cable/satellite and still have to deal with commercials? Was that not the original premise of HBO and Showtime and cable television? Pay for it and get no ads?

I am sick of advertising and marketers.
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that's what I thought too - and how long did it last?
 
woodstock said:
that's what I thought too - and how long did it last?
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Same thing you're seeing on Sirius and XM. As soon as people get used to paying for it, they'll slowly creep in the ads.

Same with movie theatres. You pay close to 10 bucks to be a captive audience for all those little ads before the film. Whatever happened to the movie starting when they said it would start?
 
Same with movie theatres. You pay close to 10 bucks to be a captive audience for all those little ads before the film. Whatever happened to the movie starting when they said it would start?
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I read somewhere that now the theaters are supposed to list the "start time" and then the "real start time" or something like that, to show how much advertising time is at the start of the film.

We almost never go to the theatres anymore - Netflix FTW!
 
It won't last. They'll see how ineffective it is, and how it irritates non-DVR viewers and they'll change.

Story:

Comcast, in its infinite wisdom, decided to put an add at the bottom of the on screen guide for Motorola boxes, figuring its just a banner add, and no one would care.

People cared, massive amounts of people called in and complained, and in some instances, cancelled their service. Three days later, Comcast pulled the add.

Fox will follow suit.
 
They don't care around here - Comcast around here has the most horrible guide I've seen so far - it shows about 3 channels data at a time for about 45 minute blocks, and the rest of it is taken up by ads.

Fortunately, I have DirecTV and the TiVo Guide - but my mom-in-law - well trying to find something to watch over there is just painful...
 
Greebo said:
They don't care around here - Comcast around here has the most horrible guide I've seen so far - it shows about 3 channels data at a time for about 45 minute blocks, and the rest of it is taken up by ads.

Fortunately, I have DirecTV and the TiVo Guide - but my mom-in-law - well trying to find something to watch over there is just painful...
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The old analog Comcast box had three ads on the screen so there was no room left for the actual guide. Do you want to watch "Ever...Raymond" ?

They also WILL NOT get rid of the idea that you MUST see all 400 channels whether you get them , or want them, or not. They think it's a submininal way to make you subscrbie to everything or something. To us it's a reminder each time to dump Comcast.

I just junked the digital Comcast receiver in the bedroom and connected basic cable direct to the TiVo. Jann is MUCH happier having the direct TiVo interface even if means she loses all of the premium channels. She LOVES the TiVo peanut remote. TiVo has the absolute best UI and remote - bar none.

We're stuck with a Motorola DVR for HD in the main room. Even with the best programable remote I set up for it Jann flipped out yesterday when she accidently sent the UI off to parts unknown to her. I know to handle it. I we didn't have the good remote *I* would have been smashing things.

We'll have a Motorola DVR burning party by year end when we get a Series 3 TiVo provided that Comcast hasn't managed to thoroughly kill CableCARD as they are wont to do. They should realize they have the best TV experience in the country falling into their lap thanks to TiVo, but I don't expect much. DirecTV didn't get it. If Comcast doesn't get with it we'll have a Comcast burning party.
 
Off topic, but when did that ever stop me?

My wife's grandmother has a TV she bought a couple of years ago, with a "feature" she could not stand; when you turn it on, it automatically starts at a "Guide" to programming based upon your local cable or off-the-air selections. It also has targeted local advertisements.

She does not want ads.

She does not want the Guide.

She just wants TV. Amzaingly enough, there was no setting on the damned thing for "no guide," but I did find a way to fool it. It decides what programs and ads to show you based upon what your zip code is, which (in turn) you have to tell it in teh setup. I just told it that we were at zip code "00000" and, voila (or, as netsters the world over like to write, "wala"), no more guide.

Now: what to do about the TV screens with ads in the elevators at the office....
 
SCCutler said:
Off topic, but when did that ever stop me?

My wife's grandmother has a TV she bought a couple of years ago, with a "feature" she could not stand; when you turn it on, it automatically starts at a "Guide" to programming based upon your local cable or off-the-air selections. It also has targeted local advertisements.

She does not want ads.

She does not want the Guide.

She just wants TV. Amzaingly enough, there was no setting on the damned thing for "no guide," but I did find a way to fool it. It decides what programs and ads to show you based upon what your zip code is, which (in turn) you have to tell it in teh setup. I just told it that we were at zip code "00000" and, voila (or, as netsters the world over like to write, "wala"), no more guide.

Now: what to do about the TV screens with ads in the elevators at the office....
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Good on ya, Spike. You found the off case. Any true hacker would guessed that. We'll have to make you an honorary member.

Remember in "War Games?"

"How go I get it to play itself?"
"Number of players? 0"

The building I worked in, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange was where they first tested these screen. I got to see them reboot when crashed. They run QNX, which is an embedded Unix-like OS. They probably have a wireless access method. The 2600 crowd would be dying to put up a custom screen.
 
mikea said:
We're stuck with a Motorola DVR for HD in the main room. Even with the best programable remote I set up for it Jann flipped out yesterday when she accidently sent the UI off to parts unknown to her. I know to handle it. I we didn't have the good remote *I* would have been smashing things.
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It trns out that Jann didn't hit a worng key. We just had the Comcrap DVR go nuts. It wouldn't let us pause or change channels. It showed a circle-line "not allowed;." Nice to know it will decide what we can do. It eventyally gave us phone number to call.

I almost reached for the phone when I went "yeah. Let's hang on hold for 45 minutes o they guy can tell us the dedicate procedure to power cycle the POS>" So I power cycled it. It's back to the normal crappiness. Of course, it takes several hours to know what the channel is, much less what's on it.

You're so right guys. :( There was no reason to pay $1 a month to license TiVo. It's trivial to make your own. idjits.
 
Greebo said:
They don't care around here - Comcast around here has the most horrible guide I've seen so far - it shows about 3 channels data at a time for about 45 minute blocks, and the rest of it is taken up by ads.

Fortunately, I have DirecTV and the TiVo Guide - but my mom-in-law - well trying to find something to watch over there is just painful...
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Skip the Cable guide and use ZAP2IT.com. On target, entertaining and customizable. Best of all, it's FREE!
 
silver-eagle said:
Skip the Cable guide and use ZAP2IT.com. On target, entertaining and customizable. Best of all, it's FREE!
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That's where TiVo gets its data. It's part of the (Chicago) Tribune company.

It's obviously NOT where Comcast gets it's data because another "fun" thing is the Comcast guide is often wrong.
 
I hate when they start making shows end 3 minutes past the hour instead of right on the hour or 1/2 hour. That causes head aches to the DVR users as well. If your tuners are both in use and you have something scheduled to go on at the top of the hour it will not record because of the overlap. They do it on purpose damnit.
 
TiVo has an option to let you start recoring 1, 2, 5, and 15 minutes in advance, and up to at least a hour after the end on your season passes. If you know about that ability, they only get you once with the "delayed end" crap. :)
 
mikea said:
It's obviously NOT where Comcast gets it's data because another "fun" thing is the Comcast guide is often wrong.
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Nope. Comcast gets its guide information from TV Guide. TV Guide is responsible for the guide information, and unlike zap2it, they don't update as often, so if there is a programming change, it is not reflected.

However - the printed TV Guide and the On Screen Guide from Comcast is always identical. (which means nothing to someone trying to find something worth watching right now).

I should point out how happy I am that you decided to power cycle your box before you called. You realize that the reason there is a 45 minute hold is mostly because people call, wait 10 minutes, and then spend 5 minutes complaining about being on hold, just so the rep can tell them to powercycle. 10 minutes turns to 20, 20 turns to 30, 30 to 45, etc.

The solution could be to hire more reps, but believe it or not, that would actually raise your bill (yes, you're being overcharged, but raising overhead will invariably raise consumer cost as well).

The good solution: Powercycle your own box first. If you don't know how, that's fine, go ahead and call, but don't complain about being on hold. All you are doing is making it worse for everyone else. Even a jab of "Finally!" does nothing but make the rep feel bad. Why would you want to make an innocent person who is trying to help you feel bad?
 
Greebo said:
TiVo has an option to let you start recoring 1, 2, 5, and 15 minutes in advance, and up to at least a hour after the end on your season passes. If you know about that ability, they only get you once with the "delayed end" crap. :)
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Yeah but the point for doing this is to keep you from getting a competitive show. What the TiVo can't do is adjust the times of recordings on at the same time (when it's out of available tuners. - if has two tuners it can only record two shows at once, and this still blocks one). If they make a show go just 1 minute into the next hour, that will make it so you can't record the show that began at the top of that last hour. You'd have to put in a manual recording to record the 59 minutes of the other show, but they make these schedule changes at the last minute to try to make that hard.

NBC is the one who started this. I think the best answer is refuse to record the NBC show where they do this and send them feedback that you did that. Enough do that and they'll see in the in the numbers.
 
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mikea said:
Yeah but the point for doing this is to keep you from getting a competitive show. What the TiVo can't do is adjust the times of recordings on at the same time (when it's out of available tuners. - if has two tuners it can only record two shows at once, and this still blocks one). If they make a show go just 1 minute into the next hour, that will make it so you can't record the show that began at the top of that last hour. You'd have to put in a manual recording to record the 59 minutes of the other show, but they make these schedule changes at the last minute to try to make that hard.

NBC is the one who started this. I think the best answer is refuse to record the NBC show where they do this and send them feedback that you did that. Enough do that and they'll see in the in the numbers.
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Well, with dual tuners it can't record the next show if it has to change channels, true enough. Fortunately we don't record so much TV that this poses much of a problem for us. I agree, tho - it's obnoxious.
 
SCCutler said:
Off topic, but when did that ever stop me?

My wife's grandmother has a TV she bought a couple of years ago, with a "feature" she could not stand; when you turn it on, it automatically starts at a "Guide" to programming based upon your local cable or off-the-air selections. It also has targeted local advertisements.

She does not want ads.

She does not want the Guide.

She just wants TV. Amzaingly enough, there was no setting on the damned thing for "no guide," but I did find a way to fool it. It decides what programs and ads to show you based upon what your zip code is, which (in turn) you have to tell it in teh setup. I just told it that we were at zip code "00000" and, voila (or, as netsters the world over like to write, "wala"), no more guide.

Now: what to do about the TV screens with ads in the elevators at the office....
Click to expand...

Never mind the ads above the urinal :rofl:
 
kevin47881 said:
Never mind the ads above the urinal :rofl:
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ABOVE??? :dunno:

I've been at a few places where the correct word is "IN"....
 
wsuffa said:
ABOVE??? :dunno:

I've been at a few places where the correct word is "IN"....
Click to expand...

At UNM, every urinal now has a black plate in it. Pee on it, and I assume the warmth changes the black to a white background with text that reads: "Another cool thing about smoking. Your teeth could look like this!"

Urinals. Not just for peeing anymore.
 
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