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Problems with RCN & TIVO ?

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  • devilsadvacat
    Subject:Problems with RCN & TIVO ? One of the reasons I want to get rid of our cable company and the TIVO that is provided with it, is that I am disgusted with
    Message 1 of 12 , Nov 26, 2018
      Subject:Problems with RCN & TIVO ?

      One of the reasons I want to get rid of our cable company
      and the TIVO that is provided with it, is that I am disgusted
      with the TIVO part of the service that used to be great when
      we had it 2 years ago.

      First I'll start with the TV and movie database.
      One word: horrible !!

      I don't understand how this TIVO service has changed in
      such a negative manner. How do you go from excellent
      to dreadful in 2 short years ?? Usually technical products
      get better over time don't they ?

      I hate the gui interface, it is constantly in the way and not
      an improvement. Sometimes tech companies make changes
      because the can do them, NOTT because they are a genuine
      improvement.

      I also question why the database for TV shows has become
      so useless. When I watch TV shows like SNL they now give
      you a listing of every performer who was ever a regular on that
      show any time in their 40 year history without any regard for
      the actors on that current episode you are watching.

      Two years ago they listed only the actors who were currently
      a regular part of the show at the time it was recorded and also
      the guest performers who would be on that night.

      Then you could click on that guest performer and also see what
      else they have been in. More examples: When you look at
      the Jimmy Kimmel show or the Steven Colbert show the only
      actor listed is the host of the show !! Same thing, every single
      night whether you record the show or not, they aren't giving up
      any information about any actors on any talk show.

      It's pretty much the same thing when you watch a regular scripted
      TV show. They list about half of the cast and ZERO guests
      on every show.

      But it goes wayyyy beyond that, even when you look up the
      regular cast they apparently only list the movies that the actor played
      in AND are also available through RCN. I am only surmising here because
      I have no other explanation why veteran actors would have such an
      obviously short list of credits in their history. Before they used to
      list everything the actor in question ever did ** AND ** in chronological
      order. But that is just a pipedream now.

      2 years ago they also gave you a written bio for almost every actor,
      even older actors that were on old movies at TCM. They also listed
      their place of birth and birth date.

      Now there is no bio and half the birthdates are listed as Dec 31, 1969
      and there is usually no birth place listed either. They also added
      a place for a photo but most of the photos are blank leaving a large
      section of your screen blank, so that "improvement" ends up being
      annoying too.

      I'd love to know why the database is now so screwed-up and what
      company is the REAL source of this information. They must have
      changed database sources for some reason. Either it became too
      costly, somebody decided it wasn't important and/or the original
      database was hacked and wiped out.

      I'd also like to know if the TIVO database is this screwed-up on
      systems not provided by RCN ?

      The curious part of all this is that I noticed a similar problem
      with Comcast that suddenly occurred 2-3 months before we
      terminated them. The Comcast database changed very abruptly
      1 day and when I called their support about it, they had no
      reasonable explanation and that was a big reason we changed
      back to RCN.

      -----------------

      Enough with the database problem, I am also annoyed that when I
      want to set a Season Pass to record all NEW episodes of
      the local news, or news shows on MS-NBC, Fox News, or CNN
      it wants to record every single time that show is run.

      In other words if I set up the Season Pass to record the Rachal
      Maddow or Sean Hannity show I end up with the correct recording
      and then a duplicate recording when the exact same show is
      re-broadcast in the early AM. This happens with many stations
      so I know it is not the station causing this problem.

      I stopped recording the local news because I got tired of sorting
      through and deleting all of the duplicate broadcasts.

      I NEVER had this problem when I had TIVO and RCN 2 years ago.
      When you set up a season pass for NEW episodes that is all you
      got back then.

      Anyone else noticing any of this or have an explanation ?

      There are other problems with TIVO now that I never had before too.

      Bill Z
      Delaware County, PA
    • Glen Farney
      I haven t noticed that my Tivo has changed in any significant way (stand alone, not through the cable company). There s a few nicer features available (the
      Message 2 of 12 , Nov 26, 2018
        I haven't noticed that my Tivo has changed in any significant way (stand alone, not through the cable company).  There's a few nicer features available (the green commercial skip button for example).  I don't recall seeing all the extra data about actors info, birthdates, etc.  It still records new episodes properly, though occasionally one without episode info will get recorded as well.  I don't try to record the news, but one way to avoid the duplicates, try "keep at most" 1 episode if you can.

        On Mon, Nov 26, 2018 at 12:42 PM devilsadvacat@... [tivocentral] <tivocentral@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
        Subject:Problems with RCN & TIVO ?

        One of the reasons I want to get rid of our cable company
        and the TIVO that is provided with it, is that I am disgusted
        with the TIVO part of the service that used to be great when
        we had it 2 years ago.

        First I'll start with the TV and movie database.
        One word: horrible !!

        I don't understand how this TIVO service has changed in
        such a negative manner.  How do you go from excellent
        to dreadful in 2 short years ??  Usually technical products
        get  better over time don't they ?

        I hate the gui interface, it is constantly in the way and not
        an improvement.  Sometimes tech companies make changes
        because the can do them, NOTT because they are a genuine
        improvement.

        I also question why the database for TV shows has become
        so useless.  When I watch TV shows like SNL they now give
        you a listing of every performer who was ever a regular on that
        show any time in their 40 year history without any regard for
        the actors on that current episode you are watching.

        Two years ago they listed only the actors who were currently
        a regular part of the show at the time it was recorded and also
        the guest performers who would be on that night.

        Then you could click on that guest performer and also see what
        else they have been in.  More examples: When you look at
        the Jimmy Kimmel show or the Steven Colbert show the only
        actor listed is the host of the show !!   Same thing, every single
        night whether you record the show or not, they aren't giving up
        any information about any actors on any talk show.

        It's pretty much the same thing when you watch a regular scripted
        TV show. They list about half of the cast and ZERO guests
        on every show.

        But it goes wayyyy beyond that, even when you look up the
        regular cast they apparently only list the movies that the actor played 
        in AND are also available through RCN.    I am only surmising here because
        I have no other explanation why veteran actors would have such an
        obviously short list of credits in their history.  Before they used to
        list everything the actor in question ever did  ** AND ** in chronological
        order.  But that is just a pipedream now.

        2 years ago they also gave you a written bio for almost every actor,
        even older actors that were on old movies at TCM.  They also listed
        their place of birth and birth date.

        Now there is no bio and half the birthdates are listed as Dec 31, 1969
        and there is usually no birth place listed either.  They also added
        a place for a photo but most of the photos are blank leaving a large
        section of your screen blank, so that "improvement" ends up being
        annoying too.

        I'd love to know why the database is now so screwed-up and what
        company is the REAL source of this information.  They must have
        changed database sources for some reason.  Either it became too
        costly, somebody decided it wasn't important and/or the original
        database was hacked and wiped out.

        I'd also like to know if the TIVO  database is this screwed-up on
        systems not provided by RCN ?

        The curious part of all this is that I noticed a similar problem
        with Comcast that suddenly occurred 2-3 months before we
        terminated them.  The Comcast database changed very abruptly
        1 day and when I called their support about it, they had no
        reasonable explanation and that was a big reason we changed
        back to RCN.

        -----------------

        Enough with the database problem, I am also annoyed that when I
        want to set a  Season Pass to record all NEW episodes of
        the local news, or news shows on MS-NBC, Fox News, or CNN
        it wants to record every single time that show is run.

        In other words if I set up the Season Pass to record the Rachal
        Maddow or Sean Hannity show  I end up with the correct recording
        and then a duplicate recording when the exact same show is
        re-broadcast in the early AM.   This happens with many stations
        so I know it is not the station causing this problem.

        I stopped recording the local news because I got tired of sorting
        through and deleting all of the duplicate broadcasts.

        I NEVER had this problem when I had TIVO and RCN 2 years ago.
        When you set up a season pass for NEW episodes that is all you
        got back then.

        Anyone else noticing any of this or have an explanation ?

        There are other problems with TIVO now that I never had before too.

        Bill Z
        Delaware County, PA

        ------------------------------------
        Posted by: devilsadvacat@...
        ------------------------------------


        ------------------------------------

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        --
        Glen
      • devilsadvacat
        I only record the local news because here in the suburbs of Philly the news is comprised of about 10-12 minutes of weather, depending on weather they have a
        Message 3 of 12 , Nov 26, 2018
          I only record the local news because here in the suburbs of Philly
          the news is comprised of about 10-12 minutes of weather, depending
          on weather they have a "weather event" they are promoting);
          about 5 minutes of pseudo-news that is really commercials
          for some singing or dancing contest on their station, which
          I don't give a damn about, about 8-10 minutes of commercials
          and a few minutes of sports.

          If we get 5 minutes of real news in a half hour show,
          it's a flippin miracle.

          So when I watch the recorded news, I can usually get
          through it in about 10 minutes or less.

          It's probably the same everywhere, and I suspect this is why
          young people have stopped watching their local news on TV.

          WRZ
        • Sandra Cochrane
          I always have the choice to record just the New or All and it only records my choice. I have Roamio. My biggest problem with TiVo is that it keeps dropping the
          Message 4 of 12 , Nov 26, 2018
            I always have the choice to record just the New or All and it only records my choice. I have Roamio.
            My biggest problem with TiVo is that it keeps dropping the connection and after trying every possible solution it is no better. I know it's the TiVo and not the cable company.
            Most annoying is when I am taping a live meeting with a program called Zoom and it just goes off with an error message called 5003. I have no problem with this program when I use it on my computer, only when it's coming through the TV.
          • Rob Van der Star
            The problem to keep only one is that it records the new one and erases the one already recorded AFAIK. Who is providing the guide info for tivo these days?
            Message 5 of 12 , Nov 26, 2018
              The problem to ''keep only one'' is that it records the new one and erases the one already recorded AFAIK.
              Who is providing the guide info for tivo these days?

              On Mon, 26 Nov 2018 at 16:00, Glen Farney glen.farney@... [tivocentral] <tivocentral@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
               

              I haven't noticed that my Tivo has changed in any significant way (stand alone, not through the cable company).  There's a few nicer features available (the green commercial skip button for example).  I don't recall seeing all the extra data about actors info, birthdates, etc.  It still records new episodes properly, though occasionally one without episode info will get recorded as well.  I don't try to record the news, but one way to avoid the duplicates, try "keep at most" 1 episode if you can.

              On Mon, Nov 26, 2018 at 12:42 PM devilsadvacat@... [tivocentral] <tivocentral@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
              Subject:Problems with RCN & TIVO ?

              One of the reasons I want to get rid of our cable company
              and the TIVO that is provided with it, is that I am disgusted
              with the TIVO part of the service that used to be great when
              we had it 2 years ago.

              First I'll start with the TV and movie database.
              One word: horrible !!

              I don't understand how this TIVO service has changed in
              such a negative manner.  How do you go from excellent
              to dreadful in 2 short years ??  Usually technical products
              get  better over time don't they ?

              I hate the gui interface, it is constantly in the way and not
              an improvement.  Sometimes tech companies make changes
              because the can do them, NOTT because they are a genuine
              improvement.

              I also question why the database for TV shows has become
              so useless.  When I watch TV shows like SNL they now give
              you a listing of every performer who was ever a regular on that
              show any time in their 40 year history without any regard for
              the actors on that current episode you are watching.

              Two years ago they listed only the actors who were currently
              a regular part of the show at the time it was recorded and also
              the guest performers who would be on that night.

              Then you could click on that guest performer and also see what
              else they have been in.  More examples: When you look at
              the Jimmy Kimmel show or the Steven Colbert show the only
              actor listed is the host of the show !!   Same thing, every single
              night whether you record the show or not, they aren't giving up
              any information about any actors on any talk show.

              It's pretty much the same thing when you watch a regular scripted
              TV show. They list about half of the cast and ZERO guests
              on every show.

              But it goes wayyyy beyond that, even when you look up the
              regular cast they apparently only list the movies that the actor played 
              in AND are also available through RCN.    I am only surmising here because
              I have no other explanation why veteran actors would have such an
              obviously short list of credits in their history.  Before they used to
              list everything the actor in question ever did  ** AND ** in chronological
              order.  But that is just a pipedream now.

              2 years ago they also gave you a written bio for almost every actor,
              even older actors that were on old movies at TCM.  They also listed
              their place of birth and birth date.

              Now there is no bio and half the birthdates are listed as Dec 31, 1969
              and there is usually no birth place listed either.  They also added
              a place for a photo but most of the photos are blank leaving a large
              section of your screen blank, so that "improvement" ends up being
              annoying too.

              I'd love to know why the database is now so screwed-up and what
              company is the REAL source of this information.  They must have
              changed database sources for some reason.  Either it became too
              costly, somebody decided it wasn't important and/or the original
              database was hacked and wiped out.

              I'd also like to know if the TIVO  database is this screwed-up on
              systems not provided by RCN ?

              The curious part of all this is that I noticed a similar problem
              with Comcast that suddenly occurred 2-3 months before we
              terminated them.  The Comcast database changed very abruptly
              1 day and when I called their support about it, they had no
              reasonable explanation and that was a big reason we changed
              back to RCN.

              -----------------

              Enough with the database problem, I am also annoyed that when I
              want to set a  Season Pass to record all NEW episodes of
              the local news, or news shows on MS-NBC, Fox News, or CNN
              it wants to record every single time that show is run.

              In other words if I set up the Season Pass to record the Rachal
              Maddow or Sean Hannity show  I end up with the correct recording
              and then a duplicate recording when the exact same show is
              re-broadcast in the early AM.   This happens with many stations
              so I know it is not the station causing this problem.

              I stopped recording the local news because I got tired of sorting
              through and deleting all of the duplicate broadcasts.

              I NEVER had this problem when I had TIVO and RCN 2 years ago.
              When you set up a season pass for NEW episodes that is all you
              got back then.

              Anyone else noticing any of this or have an explanation ?

              There are other problems with TIVO now that I never had before too.

              Bill Z
              Delaware County, PA

              ------------------------------------
              Posted by: devilsadvacat@...
              ------------------------------------


              ------------------------------------

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              --
              Glen
            • devilsadvacat
              I was hoping a few people could answer this question before the service call tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon. It s not a complicated question. I just need to
              Message 6 of 12 , Nov 27, 2018
                I was hoping a few people could answer this question
                before the service call tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon.

                It's not a complicated question.

                I just need to know when you hit the guide button and then
                look at the very early morning listings, do reruns of news shows
                like (Fox News) Hannity and MSNBC Rachal Maddow or the
                people on CNN have an indicator next to the show name that
                makes the show appear to be a "new show" rather than a re-run.

                Or if your 11:00 PM local news is re-run in the early am,
                does that re-run have the "new show" indicator ?

                You do not even need to actually set a recording or "one Pass"
                to know how this will play out.

                Weekly shows are not the problem. They are never re-broadcast
                within a short time frame..

                And I would also like to know if you are with a cable company or
                just using TIVO as part of an OTA set up.

                It's hard for me to conceive of this being an RCN problem
                but on the other hand, if this problem was occurring for
                all TIVO customers, it seems like they would have noticed it
                and resolved the problem by now.

                Bill Z
                Delaware County, PA
              • Glen Farney
                Here s a snap shot of what I see in the morning. Some of the short programs don t show the new tag because the title takes up too much space, but it does
                Message 7 of 12 , Nov 27, 2018
                  Here's a snap shot of what I see in the morning. Some of the short
                  programs don't show the "new" tag because the title takes up too much
                  space, but it does show "new" in the description.

                  It might be helpful to be very specific, like look at the programs giving
                  you issues, specific channel, specific time and date, and ask for details
                  on that show.

                  <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail>
                  Virus-free.
                  www.avg.com
                  <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail>
                  <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

                  On Tue, Nov 27, 2018 at 9:42 AM devilsadvacat@... [tivocentral] <
                  tivocentral@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

                  > I was hoping a few people could answer this question
                  > before the service call tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon.
                  >
                  > It's not a complicated question.
                  >
                  > I just need to know when you hit the guide button and then
                  > look at the very early morning listings, do reruns of news shows
                  > like (Fox News) Hannity and MSNBC Rachal Maddow or the
                  > people on CNN have an indicator next to the show name that
                  > makes the show appear to be a "new show" rather than a re-run.
                  >
                  > Or if your 11:00 PM local news is re-run in the early am,
                  > does that re-run have the "new show" indicator ?
                  >
                  > You do not even need to actually set a recording or "one Pass"
                  > to know how this will play out.
                  >
                  > Weekly shows are not the problem. They are never re-broadcast
                  > within a short time frame..
                  >
                  > And I would also like to know if you are with a cable company or
                  > just using TIVO as part of an OTA set up.
                  >
                  > It's hard for me to conceive of this being an RCN problem
                  > but on the other hand, if this problem was occurring for
                  > all TIVO customers, it seems like they would have noticed it
                  > and resolved the problem by now.
                  >
                  > Bill Z
                  > Delaware County, PA
                  >
                  >
                  > ------------------------------------
                  > Posted by: devilsadvacat@...
                  > ------------------------------------
                  >
                  >
                  > ------------------------------------
                  >
                  > Yahoo Groups Links
                  >
                  >
                  >
                  >

                  --
                  Glen


                  [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
                • devilsadvacat
                  I got an answer on the database issue. When ROKU bought TIVO approx 2 years ago, they forced TIVO to begin using the ROKU database, which totally sucks in my
                  Message 8 of 12 , Nov 28, 2018
                    I got an answer on the database issue.

                    When ROKU bought TIVO approx 2 years ago,
                    they forced TIVO to begin using the ROKU
                    database, which totally sucks in my opinion.

                    Prior to that, TIVO was using something called the
                    Tribune movie database.

                    I only noticed this recently because I had switched
                    to Comcast shortly before all this happened.

                    I'm surprised no one here apparently noticed this.
                  • devilsadvacat
                    A bigger problem is that some news stations like BBC news broadcast their news multiple times in the same day and TIVO will record all of them if they are on
                    Message 9 of 12 , Nov 28, 2018
                      A bigger problem is that some news stations like
                      BBC news broadcast their news multiple times in
                      the same day and TIVO will record all of them
                      if they are on the same station and there is no
                      way to avoid that.

                      I like the BBC news because there is no weather
                      no commercials and usually no sports, so you are
                      getting 30 minutes of news in a 30 minute broadcast.

                      What a concept !

                      And it is sometimes interesting to hear a foreign view
                      of our crazy politics.
                    • Glen Farney
                      So put a keep at most of 1, so it records the same thing, but the old ones disappear. Or set up a manual recording repeatd daily. Not perfect, but gets the job
                      Message 10 of 12 , Nov 28, 2018
                        So put a keep at most of 1, so it records the same thing, but the old ones disappear. Or set up a manual recording repeatd daily. Not perfect, but gets the job done. 

                        On Wed, Nov 28, 2018, 3:04 PM devilsadvacat@... [tivocentral] <tivocentral@yahoogroups.com wrote:
                        A bigger problem is that some news stations like
                        BBC news broadcast their news multiple times in
                        the same day and TIVO will record all of them
                        if they are on the same station and there is no
                        way to avoid that.

                        I like the BBC news because there is no weather
                         no commercials and usually no sports, so you are
                        getting 30 minutes of news in a 30 minute broadcast.

                        What a concept !

                        And it is sometimes interesting to hear a foreign view
                        of our crazy politics.



                        ------------------------------------
                        Posted by: devilsadvacat@...
                        ------------------------------------


                        ------------------------------------

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                      • MegaZone
                        On Wed, Nov 28, 2018 at 2:09 PM devilsadvacat@gmail.com [tivocentral]
                        Message 11 of 12 , Nov 28, 2018
                          On Wed, Nov 28, 2018 at 2:09 PM devilsadvacat@... [tivocentral] <tivocentral@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
                           

                          I got an answer on the database issue.

                          When ROKU bought TIVO approx 2 years ago,
                          they forced TIVO to begin using the ROKU
                          database, which totally sucks in my opinion.

                          Prior to that, TIVO was using something called the
                          Tribune movie database.


                          Rovi bought TiVo, not Roku.  Totally unrelated companies.

                          TiVo used to use Tribune Media Services, which was acquired by Gracenote.  Gracenote is a competitor to Rovi and TiVo's contract was expiring in May, 2016, so they either had to switch to Rovi's guide data or extend the contract with Gracenote.  Gracenote was unwilling to offer an extension and any new contract would be at a much higher cost to Rovi/TiVo, so the latter accelerated the switch to Rovi data.

                          Honestly it has never made a noticeable difference for me on my TiVos.  Some of the channel names changed - such as 'TOON' becoming 'TOONHD-E', but the overall guide data has been about as accurate.  And actually I used to have a lot of issues with the TMS data being inaccurate, and it seems like I have fewer issues these days. 

                          --
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                        • devilsadvacat
                          That would only work if I was willing to schedule my time to watch 1 show every day. But I frequently get sidetracked on my computer researching stuff and
                          Message 12 of 12 , Nov 28, 2018
                            That would only work if I was willing to schedule my time
                            to watch 1 show every day. But I frequently get sidetracked
                            on my computer researching stuff and it's easier to just
                            binge watch 3 or 4 shows at a time. There are a handful
                            of frequent topics that annoy me and I just fast forward
                            through them. MS-NBC loves to throw a pity party for
                            illegals trying to invade our borders and I can't watch that
                            crap very long.

                            So me binge watching 4 or 5 shows takes the same amount
                            of time as it would for a normal person to watch 1 show.

                            It's actually better for me to go through the "To-Do
                            list" every 3 or 4 days and spend a half an hour
                            canceling the shows that I know will be duplicates.

                            WRZ
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