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We need better DVR software.
I would like to see some new and innovative features brought to the Motorola DVR's on Comcast. I'm sure SA DVR users would like to see some new features as well. Here's a short list:
-Remote DVR Scheduling. Did you catch that DirecTV commercial yet? Hey even Verizon Fios has this, as well as Tivo.
-Multi Room DVR. Fios has this. Very convenient. You have Anyroom on Demand for VOD, how about Anyroom for your DVR?
-DVR Expandable Hard Drive. Why is this so difficult? SA boxes work, Pace boxes work, DirecTV boxes work, and heck, Dish Network gets a $39.95 fee to activate this feature. If you feel so inclined you could generate revenue from this as well. Although the DVR fee itself should allow for this.
-Native HD Resolution Passthrough. On Motorola set tops you can only choose one resolution for HD. Either 1080i or 720p. There needs to be a native option because TV's generally have better scalars than the cable box. I find my self hitting the format button on the DCH to manually change the resolution for 720p for FOX/ABC/ESPN, etc.. and changing it back to 1080i for the others. I really wish this was automatic like it is for EVERY OTHER BOX OUT THERE! (SA, Pace, DirecTV, Dish Network, Tivo, Moxi, etc...)
-The guide needs an update. Seriously the guide is so bland and doesn't use the full screen. The Screen Saver doesn't protect the pillar area's on a 16:9 TV, and the 4:3 overlays are slightly adjusted to the left (not centered). The graphics look like they came out of a Sega Genesis from 1991. There's no Channel Logo's, the UI resolution must be something horrible like 320x240, you can only see 5 channels in the full guide due to a big obnoxious ad at the bottom, yet there's physically room for 7 lines (see for yourself, push Guide twice).
-When playing VOD content, I should still be able to browse the guide or alter system settings. Instead those buttons don't do anything. Pushing Info should display the VOD title info. Getting into menu's is useful if you just remember that you need to set something to record, or your want to look something up quickly to verify what time something is coming on later.
-Where's the interactive TV? Why can't we order pizza from the box, like Tivo? Why can't we do one click QVC/HSN ordering from our remote without using the phone? Why can't we vote on interactive polls? What about social networking where we can recommend shows to friends, or see what our friends are watching or recommending? See what's popular in our area? What about on screen games to pass the boredom (like Cablevision and Fios have). I don't care if the poker table has a Pepsi logo on it. Get where I'm coming from? You can actually make money from ad placement in games.
What about Yellowpages search (like U-Verse)? Heck we have CDV, we should be able to look up some phone numbers. What about more indepth searching by Actor/Actress, Genre, Title, Year? Search should also return VOD listings. Currently you can't even search VOD! VOD "Project Infinity" is useless when you can't find anything! How about suggesting similar programs based on what we record or watch on demand? What about on screen widgets like sports tickers, news tickers, traffic tickers, weather tickers, etc...? How about a fantasy sports applet (Fios has this)?
-We need DLNA/Home Networking support. How about let the box grab content from your PC, or vice-versa? View slideshows and pictures from your PC or a USB thumb drive plugged into the front USB port. Playback MP3 audio off your home network or again, a thumb drive. Maybe pull Youtube content over the internal DOCSIS modem? Again this is another area where Fios, U-Verse and DirecTV are way ahead. Dish Network is soon to have a place shifting "slingbox" built in to their new DVR.
-Let's get into some specifics on the UI. First off, someone needs to take a look at the slick UI's of Tivo, Moxi, Vista Media Center, Boxee, U-Verse, and Fios. Every channel needs a logo for branding purposes. When your scrolling through the guide, a logo helps identify where you are looking. There's so many channels that a simple logo isn't hard to ask. Every Satellite box has this, and even SA cable boxes on many providers offer this. There should be transparency effects, fades and on screen animations. These sorts of visual screen transitions help focus your attention to where it's required. For example in Passport when you push guide or settings, the screens slide into view. Not only does this look polished and professional, it gets your eyes planted where they need to be. Why not put some click sounds like Tivo has? It's good recognition that you've clicked on something. Then you know your remote command got through either by visual or audio cue's. Take a look at Vista, Windows 7, Mac OSX, and an iPhone. Everything in those UI's are so fluid and effortless. These are the kind of innovations we need.
Let's work on getting these boxes up to, and surpassing the abilities of the competition! So far every competitor runs circles around what the Comcast DVR can do! If U-Verse, Fios, or I had line of sight for a dish, I would leave Comcast because they just don't have any innovative software on their DVR.
See:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r2198...
There's quite a following, and growing.
-Remote DVR Scheduling. Did you catch that DirecTV commercial yet? Hey even Verizon Fios has this, as well as Tivo.
-Multi Room DVR. Fios has this. Very convenient. You have Anyroom on Demand for VOD, how about Anyroom for your DVR?
-DVR Expandable Hard Drive. Why is this so difficult? SA boxes work, Pace boxes work, DirecTV boxes work, and heck, Dish Network gets a $39.95 fee to activate this feature. If you feel so inclined you could generate revenue from this as well. Although the DVR fee itself should allow for this.
-Native HD Resolution Passthrough. On Motorola set tops you can only choose one resolution for HD. Either 1080i or 720p. There needs to be a native option because TV's generally have better scalars than the cable box. I find my self hitting the format button on the DCH to manually change the resolution for 720p for FOX/ABC/ESPN, etc.. and changing it back to 1080i for the others. I really wish this was automatic like it is for EVERY OTHER BOX OUT THERE! (SA, Pace, DirecTV, Dish Network, Tivo, Moxi, etc...)
-The guide needs an update. Seriously the guide is so bland and doesn't use the full screen. The Screen Saver doesn't protect the pillar area's on a 16:9 TV, and the 4:3 overlays are slightly adjusted to the left (not centered). The graphics look like they came out of a Sega Genesis from 1991. There's no Channel Logo's, the UI resolution must be something horrible like 320x240, you can only see 5 channels in the full guide due to a big obnoxious ad at the bottom, yet there's physically room for 7 lines (see for yourself, push Guide twice).
-When playing VOD content, I should still be able to browse the guide or alter system settings. Instead those buttons don't do anything. Pushing Info should display the VOD title info. Getting into menu's is useful if you just remember that you need to set something to record, or your want to look something up quickly to verify what time something is coming on later.
-Where's the interactive TV? Why can't we order pizza from the box, like Tivo? Why can't we do one click QVC/HSN ordering from our remote without using the phone? Why can't we vote on interactive polls? What about social networking where we can recommend shows to friends, or see what our friends are watching or recommending? See what's popular in our area? What about on screen games to pass the boredom (like Cablevision and Fios have). I don't care if the poker table has a Pepsi logo on it. Get where I'm coming from? You can actually make money from ad placement in games.
What about Yellowpages search (like U-Verse)? Heck we have CDV, we should be able to look up some phone numbers. What about more indepth searching by Actor/Actress, Genre, Title, Year? Search should also return VOD listings. Currently you can't even search VOD! VOD "Project Infinity" is useless when you can't find anything! How about suggesting similar programs based on what we record or watch on demand? What about on screen widgets like sports tickers, news tickers, traffic tickers, weather tickers, etc...? How about a fantasy sports applet (Fios has this)?
-We need DLNA/Home Networking support. How about let the box grab content from your PC, or vice-versa? View slideshows and pictures from your PC or a USB thumb drive plugged into the front USB port. Playback MP3 audio off your home network or again, a thumb drive. Maybe pull Youtube content over the internal DOCSIS modem? Again this is another area where Fios, U-Verse and DirecTV are way ahead. Dish Network is soon to have a place shifting "slingbox" built in to their new DVR.
-Let's get into some specifics on the UI. First off, someone needs to take a look at the slick UI's of Tivo, Moxi, Vista Media Center, Boxee, U-Verse, and Fios. Every channel needs a logo for branding purposes. When your scrolling through the guide, a logo helps identify where you are looking. There's so many channels that a simple logo isn't hard to ask. Every Satellite box has this, and even SA cable boxes on many providers offer this. There should be transparency effects, fades and on screen animations. These sorts of visual screen transitions help focus your attention to where it's required. For example in Passport when you push guide or settings, the screens slide into view. Not only does this look polished and professional, it gets your eyes planted where they need to be. Why not put some click sounds like Tivo has? It's good recognition that you've clicked on something. Then you know your remote command got through either by visual or audio cue's. Take a look at Vista, Windows 7, Mac OSX, and an iPhone. Everything in those UI's are so fluid and effortless. These are the kind of innovations we need.
Let's work on getting these boxes up to, and surpassing the abilities of the competition! So far every competitor runs circles around what the Comcast DVR can do! If U-Verse, Fios, or I had line of sight for a dish, I would leave Comcast because they just don't have any innovative software on their DVR.
See:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r2198...
There's quite a following, and growing.
I’m hoping!
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The company has this under consideration.
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"I would like to see some new and innovative features brought to the Motorola DVR's on Comcast. I'm sure SA DVR users would like to see some new features as well."
I agreed with you. I actually tested our New Guide/DVR Interface yesterday. Many new features and improvements.
"-Remote DVR Scheduling. Did you catch that DirecTV commercial yet? Hey even Verizon Fios has this, as well as Tivo."
We are working on this. We anticipate the scheduling will be done through http://tvplanner.comcast.net.
"-Multi Room DVR. Fios has this. Very convenient. You have Anyroom on Demand for VOD, how about Anyroom for your DVR? "
We are working on this. Our 'Whole Home DVR' will be different then FiOS. Their system stores the content locally. We are working towards storing on our servers. This would help reduce potential box issues.
"-DVR Expandable Hard Drive. Why is this so difficult? SA boxes work, Pace boxes work, DirecTV boxes work, and heck, Dish Network gets a $39.95 fee to activate this feature. If you feel so inclined you could generate revenue from this as well. Although the DVR fee itself should allow for this. "
We are working on this. I was able to see this during my testing yesterday.
"-Native HD Resolution Passthrough. On Motorola set tops you can only choose one resolution for HD. Either 1080i or 720p. There needs to be a native option because TV's generally have better scalars than the cable box. I find my self hitting the format button on the DCH to manually change the resolution for 720p for FOX/ABC/ESPN, etc.. and changing it back to 1080i for the others. I really wish this was automatic like it is for EVERY OTHER BOX OUT THERE! (SA, Pace, DirecTV, Dish Network, Tivo, Moxi, etc...) "
I will share this feedback with the appropriate members of our team.
"-The guide needs an update. Seriously the guide is so bland and doesn't use the full screen. The Screen Saver doesn't protect the pillar area's on a 16:9 TV, and the 4:3 overlays are slightly adjusted to the left (not centered). The graphics look like they came out of a Sega Genesis from 1991. There's no Channel Logo's, the UI resolution must be something horrible like 320x240, you can only see 5 channels in the full guide due to a big obnoxious ad at the bottom, yet there's physically room for 7 lines (see for yourself, push Guide twice). "
I agree with you 200%. My jaw dropped during my testing of the New Guide/DVR GUI Interface yesterday. We are working on this. I do not have an ETA at this time. We are hoping to have testing sometime this year.
"-When playing VOD content, I should still be able to browse the guide or alter system settings. Instead those buttons don't do anything. Pushing Info should display the VOD title info. Getting into menu's is useful if you just remember that you need to set something to record, or your want to look something up quickly to verify what time something is coming on later. "
I will share this with the appropriate team members. During my testing yesterday there will also be several new innovative vod features launched.
"-Where's the interactive TV? Why can't we order pizza from the box, like Tivo? Why can't we do one click QVC/HSN ordering from our remote without using the phone? Why can't we vote on interactive polls? What about social networking where we can recommend shows to friends, or see what our friends are watching or recommending? See what's popular in our area? What about on screen games to pass the boredom (like Cablevision and Fios have). I don't care if the poker table has a Pepsi logo on it. Get where I'm coming from? You can actually make money from ad placement in games. "
I will share this with the appropriate members of our team. The next version of the Guide/VOD/DVR GUI will more upgradeable for future technologies. One feature you have mentioned. As an example, I would like to know which of my FaceBook Friends watch what VOD Content. I will then know which Content I should or should not watch. We also think an iPhone App would be interesting to look at.
"What about Yellowpages search (like U-Verse)? Heck we have CDV, we should be able to look up some phone numbers. What about more indepth searching by Actor/Actress, Genre, Title, Year? Search should also return VOD listings. Currently you can't even search VOD! VOD "Project Infinity" is useless when you can't find anything! How about suggesting similar programs based on what we record or watch on demand? What about on screen widgets like sports tickers, news tickers, traffic tickers, weather tickers, etc...? How about a fantasy sports applet (Fios has this)?"
Enhanced VOD & Guide Searchs are anticipated to launch with the next GUI for the boxes. We are currently testing our next gen search in the Salt Lake Area.
"-We need DLNA/Home Networking support. How about let the box grab content from your PC, or vice-versa? View slideshows and pictures from your PC or a USB thumb drive plugged into the front USB port. Playback MP3 audio off your home network or again, a thumb drive. Maybe pull Youtube content over the internal DOCSIS modem? Again this is another area where Fios, U-Verse and DirecTV are way ahead. Dish Network is soon to have a place shifting "slingbox" built in to their new DVR."
I personally agreed 1000%. I would love to see these features too. I was able to discuss and share these ideas during my testing yesterday. We are currently are working on many different features related to this type of usability.
"-Let's get into some specifics on the UI. First off, someone needs to take a look at the slick UI's of Tivo, Moxi, Vista Media Center, Boxee, U-Verse, and Fios. Every channel needs a logo for branding purposes. When your scrolling through the guide, a logo helps identify where you are looking. There's so many channels that a simple logo isn't hard to ask. Every Satellite box has this, and even SA cable boxes on many providers offer this. There should be transparency effects, fades and on screen animations. These sorts of visual screen transitions help focus your attention to where it's required. For example in Passport when you push guide or settings, the screens slide into view. Not only does this look polished and professional, it gets your eyes planted where they need to be. Why not put some click sounds like Tivo has? It's good recognition that you've clicked on something. Then you know your remote command got through either by visual or audio cue's. Take a look at Vista, Windows 7, Mac OSX, and an iPhone. Everything in those UI's are so fluid and effortless. These are the kind of innovations we need."
You are right. Very Slick Interfaces. I believe you and the rest of our customers will be very impressed with our New GUI. Very Slick, But Unique.
"Let's work on getting these boxes up to, and surpassing the abilities of the competition! So far every competitor runs circles around what the Comcast DVR can do! If U-Verse, Fios, or I had line of sight for a dish, I would leave Comcast because they just don't have any innovative software on their DVR."
I believe the above summarizes our continued efforts to upgrade our services and products.
Thank you,
George Lunski
Comcast Corporate Office
Comcast Customer Connect
George_Lunski@Cable.Comcast.Com
I’m happy
The company and 1 other person think
this is one of the best points
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Inappropriate?"I would like to see some new and innovative features brought to the Motorola DVR's on Comcast. I'm sure SA DVR users would like to see some new features as well."
I agreed with you. I actually tested our New Guide/DVR Interface yesterday. Many new features and improvements.
"-Remote DVR Scheduling. Did you catch that DirecTV commercial yet? Hey even Verizon Fios has this, as well as Tivo."
We are working on this. We anticipate the scheduling will be done through http://tvplanner.comcast.net.
"-Multi Room DVR. Fios has this. Very convenient. You have Anyroom on Demand for VOD, how about Anyroom for your DVR? "
We are working on this. Our 'Whole Home DVR' will be different then FiOS. Their system stores the content locally. We are working towards storing on our servers. This would help reduce potential box issues.
"-DVR Expandable Hard Drive. Why is this so difficult? SA boxes work, Pace boxes work, DirecTV boxes work, and heck, Dish Network gets a $39.95 fee to activate this feature. If you feel so inclined you could generate revenue from this as well. Although the DVR fee itself should allow for this. "
We are working on this. I was able to see this during my testing yesterday.
"-Native HD Resolution Passthrough. On Motorola set tops you can only choose one resolution for HD. Either 1080i or 720p. There needs to be a native option because TV's generally have better scalars than the cable box. I find my self hitting the format button on the DCH to manually change the resolution for 720p for FOX/ABC/ESPN, etc.. and changing it back to 1080i for the others. I really wish this was automatic like it is for EVERY OTHER BOX OUT THERE! (SA, Pace, DirecTV, Dish Network, Tivo, Moxi, etc...) "
I will share this feedback with the appropriate members of our team.
"-The guide needs an update. Seriously the guide is so bland and doesn't use the full screen. The Screen Saver doesn't protect the pillar area's on a 16:9 TV, and the 4:3 overlays are slightly adjusted to the left (not centered). The graphics look like they came out of a Sega Genesis from 1991. There's no Channel Logo's, the UI resolution must be something horrible like 320x240, you can only see 5 channels in the full guide due to a big obnoxious ad at the bottom, yet there's physically room for 7 lines (see for yourself, push Guide twice). "
I agree with you 200%. My jaw dropped during my testing of the New Guide/DVR GUI Interface yesterday. We are working on this. I do not have an ETA at this time. We are hoping to have testing sometime this year.
"-When playing VOD content, I should still be able to browse the guide or alter system settings. Instead those buttons don't do anything. Pushing Info should display the VOD title info. Getting into menu's is useful if you just remember that you need to set something to record, or your want to look something up quickly to verify what time something is coming on later. "
I will share this with the appropriate team members. During my testing yesterday there will also be several new innovative vod features launched.
"-Where's the interactive TV? Why can't we order pizza from the box, like Tivo? Why can't we do one click QVC/HSN ordering from our remote without using the phone? Why can't we vote on interactive polls? What about social networking where we can recommend shows to friends, or see what our friends are watching or recommending? See what's popular in our area? What about on screen games to pass the boredom (like Cablevision and Fios have). I don't care if the poker table has a Pepsi logo on it. Get where I'm coming from? You can actually make money from ad placement in games. "
I will share this with the appropriate members of our team. The next version of the Guide/VOD/DVR GUI will more upgradeable for future technologies. One feature you have mentioned. As an example, I would like to know which of my FaceBook Friends watch what VOD Content. I will then know which Content I should or should not watch. We also think an iPhone App would be interesting to look at.
"What about Yellowpages search (like U-Verse)? Heck we have CDV, we should be able to look up some phone numbers. What about more indepth searching by Actor/Actress, Genre, Title, Year? Search should also return VOD listings. Currently you can't even search VOD! VOD "Project Infinity" is useless when you can't find anything! How about suggesting similar programs based on what we record or watch on demand? What about on screen widgets like sports tickers, news tickers, traffic tickers, weather tickers, etc...? How about a fantasy sports applet (Fios has this)?"
Enhanced VOD & Guide Searchs are anticipated to launch with the next GUI for the boxes. We are currently testing our next gen search in the Salt Lake Area.
"-We need DLNA/Home Networking support. How about let the box grab content from your PC, or vice-versa? View slideshows and pictures from your PC or a USB thumb drive plugged into the front USB port. Playback MP3 audio off your home network or again, a thumb drive. Maybe pull Youtube content over the internal DOCSIS modem? Again this is another area where Fios, U-Verse and DirecTV are way ahead. Dish Network is soon to have a place shifting "slingbox" built in to their new DVR."
I personally agreed 1000%. I would love to see these features too. I was able to discuss and share these ideas during my testing yesterday. We are currently are working on many different features related to this type of usability.
"-Let's get into some specifics on the UI. First off, someone needs to take a look at the slick UI's of Tivo, Moxi, Vista Media Center, Boxee, U-Verse, and Fios. Every channel needs a logo for branding purposes. When your scrolling through the guide, a logo helps identify where you are looking. There's so many channels that a simple logo isn't hard to ask. Every Satellite box has this, and even SA cable boxes on many providers offer this. There should be transparency effects, fades and on screen animations. These sorts of visual screen transitions help focus your attention to where it's required. For example in Passport when you push guide or settings, the screens slide into view. Not only does this look polished and professional, it gets your eyes planted where they need to be. Why not put some click sounds like Tivo has? It's good recognition that you've clicked on something. Then you know your remote command got through either by visual or audio cue's. Take a look at Vista, Windows 7, Mac OSX, and an iPhone. Everything in those UI's are so fluid and effortless. These are the kind of innovations we need."
You are right. Very Slick Interfaces. I believe you and the rest of our customers will be very impressed with our New GUI. Very Slick, But Unique.
"Let's work on getting these boxes up to, and surpassing the abilities of the competition! So far every competitor runs circles around what the Comcast DVR can do! If U-Verse, Fios, or I had line of sight for a dish, I would leave Comcast because they just don't have any innovative software on their DVR."
I believe the above summarizes our continued efforts to upgrade our services and products.
Thank you,
George Lunski
Comcast Corporate Office
Comcast Customer Connect
George_Lunski@Cable.Comcast.Com
I’m happy
The company and 1 other person think
this is one of the best points
1 Comment Add a comment
This is one of the best points
-
Thanks George. It sounds like things are headed in the right direction. Thanks for reading my posts and allowing to vent my ideas and/or frustrations. I'm really excited to see what comes from Comcast. I know that going into the future things can only get better. I appreciate you taking the time to forward my suggestions on to the appropriate team members.
Take care,
Keith -
Inappropriate?George, this looks very, very promising. Hopefully Comcast doesn't botch this up like they have some other stuff ;)
I’m excited
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Inappropriate?Two different reps have told me that there is one DVR box with hard drave expansion capabilities through the SATA port. I was told two different boxes, however. First was the DCT3400. Then I was told that is incorrect and only the DCT6412 is capable. They also failed to provide me a list of capable hard drives. Has anyone had success getting this information? -
Inappropriate?Any hard drive that you can put an e sata cable to would work... This is something you would have to research or probably in your case have to pay someone to do. The fact that you feel it should be spoon fed to you for free, and without doing so much as even reading a manual is probably why their technology isn't increasing.
Too bad this post won’t be seen by a whole lot of people, but I hope they integrate the "follow me TV" service that Motorola has. This post was made 5 months ago, and I haven't seen a single change except some stupid caller-id on my TV. I live in the north east, what would you consider being the ETA on such improvements? -
Inappropriate?Rawkus, I have done the research and would like to purchase the My DVR Expander by Western Digital (1 TB), but Comcast disables the eSATA port on either all or a majority of their boxes. This is why I would love for someone on their side to give me a straight answer on which boxes might allow it and if their firmware supports this particular hard drive. I am asking nothing from them for free except for them to actually make some changes in their DVR firmware, as I have seen no improvements to it in over three years.
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Inappropriate?Great, but what I want my DVR to do is MUCH simpler!
I want to be able to priorize recordings so that recordings aren't randomly dropped. I want to be able to select "Keep until space is needed" so that my DVR knows what it can get rid of if it's full. I want to be able to set up my DVR to automatically record two airings of a show that airs several times weekly. I want to be able to SEARCH by the name of the show.
Every time I ask for these things, I get the same 2 responses:
First, the Comcast people tell me that indeed I my DVR can do all this!!! Then they give me instructions, which never work. I finally learned that MOST Comcast customer have these features, but in my area we have even CRAPPIER DVRs than they give out most places.
Second, the Comcast people tell me that they are "working to upgrade the software." Um, yeah. You've already told me that everything I want can be done and that many Comcast customers already have it. So, problem solved, right? Just give me one of those DVRs too! How many of you think that has actually happened? -
Inappropriate?Yeah, I think that many of us are getting frustrated with the DVR shortcomings. I can see that a Comcast Rep has stated he has seen the new features of the DVR, but when are we going to get a release date for these updates? Can a Comcast Rep at least give us an expected time frame for when we will see these changes? Not knowing this type of information makes me want to cancel my service because I feel that Comcast leaves us out of the loop and just drags us along for a ride. Comcast, can we please get some feedback?
I’m frustrated
-
Inappropriate?Feature wish list:
User Interface / Guide:
Revamped 16:9 HD interface.
User interface enhancements (Drop shadows, alpha blending, animated windows, smooth scrolling, anti-aliasing, fades and other element transition effects).
Channel logos on guide / info bar for easy identification purposes
In depth program information – click on actor/actress names and find related content.
Sound effects (configurable on/off) for user element confirmations.
Smart searching by keywords, including on demand results.
Option to map HD channels to Standard numbers. IE) if Ch 3 is available in HD, then show it in HD when on 3.
Setup multi user profiles (IE, Husband, Wife, Kids all have their own favorites and recording lists).
Ability to save settings / preferences on server. Useful for equipment swaps so you don’t have to setup all of your series recordings / personalization elements again.
Ability to transfer personalization elements from one box to another within your home. (Server based, or USB stick backup based).
Ability to set program reminders or ‘bookmarks’ to VOD content on the web, and retrieve this information on the set top box.
Downloadable “Themes” or “Screen Savers”. Could even be show promo themes. Want your guide to look like ABC’s Lost? Want it to look like Family Guy? Want it to look like your favorite NFL football team?
Ability to recommend shows (TV or On Demand) to friends.
Ability to continue to browse the guide, alter system settings, and perform searches even when playing VOD content.
Web based programming (not only DVR, but setting up favorite’s lists, parental controls, etc...)
On screen help and remote code database to walk you through the most common questions, and look up remote codes for TV’s, DVD Players, Audio Equipment, etc...
Ability to connect to home network and share content from PC’s (Pictures, Music, Videos). DLNA, PlayON, etc...
Ability to bring in web video content (YouTube, Vimeo, Google video, etc...).
Ability to stream On Demand content over DOCSIS tuner, so you can still play VOD programs when dual tuners are busy recording.
Start Over feature (Like Time Warner’s).
Ability to playback MP3’s, pictures and video from USB sticks.
Cell phone style predictive text entry with number keys (as an option).
Pull guide data over the much faster DOCSIS channel. For DVR’s store the data on Hard Drive, tohelp avoid the hours of “To Be Announced” after minor power inconsistencies.
Add Native display mode to HD DCT and DCH set tops.
If set top is off display a screen saver on the video output (See Dish Network).
DVR Specific:
Recommendations based on what you currently record. IE) If you record Grey’s Anatomy, it might recommend Mercy or Trauma.
Multi-Room DVR. Both playback, and manage series recordings list. Intelligently Pool multiple DVR’s storage space and available tuners if you have more than one DVR in the home.
Ability to pool unused tuners from other rooms to supplement dual tuner DVR. (Live as well)
If second tuner is available, ability to utilize it for picture in picture functionality.
Ability to expand DVR storage with eSATA or USB 2.0 external Hard Drives.
Intelligent monitoring of recording repeated shows, or duplicate recordings.
Ability to setup DVR recordings (at low priority) based on keywords or interests. They will be deleted first however, as these recordings are only suggestions. Also live tuning requests always take priority.
Applications:
App store environment (Free apps, and paid apps up to 4.99). Store apps on DVR hard drive. User decides what he/she wants.
Interactive games to pass long commercial breaks, or boredom moments.
Advanced Caller ID functions. Caller logs, check voicemail through TV’s speakers. Setup call forwarding. Pull Caller ID name from Plaxio contacts list.
Advanced Information lookup. (Yellowpages phone numbers, imdb information)
Web based applications such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, Myspace, etc...
Ability to check and write Comcast.net e-mail on TV screen.
Ability to check Comcast account balance (useful if you order a lot of paid VOD content). Possibly even pay bill.
Widgets (Yahoo, Traffic, Sports and News tickers, rss feeds).
Ability to order goods and services straight from the guide. (Pizza delivery, Flowers, Home Shopping, infomercial products, etc...)
Connection with online music services (Pandora, Last.fm, Shoutcast)
Hardware / Service enhancements:
Backlit remotes with more than 3 device programmability.
One touch “TV Power” on remote. “All On” is not reliable if DVR is currently recording.
Larger Internal Hard Drives (500GB, 750GB).
VOD Movie package. For $xx dollars a month, give the customer 5 or 10 credits for movie allotments (like a Netflix subscription). Could save money over retail ala-carte costs, as some customers may not use all credits each month.
Longer movie retention times in “VOD Saved Programs” list. Example: 48-72 hours from initial purchase.
Use of REC2 light on newer DVR’s. This frees up the main display for time or channel even when both tuners are recording.
Triple tuner DVR's
Sirius/XM package through TV.
Bugfixes:
Series recording does not work right, especially for non-network daily shows.
The DVR records in SD when you've set it to an HD channel (Not an issue in all areas).
Some channels can't be rewound or fast forwarded or has other problems with recording.
Simultaneous series recording cancellation problem, aka whack-a-mole.
"To Be Announced" displayed instead of program information when the Info button is pressed.
Program guide listings for the second week have few descriptions; many are listed as "To Be Announced".
The DVR records endlessly until all space is full.
When I turn the DVR off, the Record light turns on, but there is no recording going on.
The DVR menu erroneously states the DVR hard drive is 100% full.
The DVR stops responding to the remote for several seconds.
On some display screens, you only see a corner of the video instead of it being scaled to fit.
Reports of local commercial insertion switching resolutions on HD channels when Native Mode is set on DCX (Not an issue in all areas).
Firewire issues on DCX, and DCT boxes.
Screen saver not filling (and protecting) the entire screen on HD channels.
I’m frustrated
1 Comment Add a comment
This is one of the best points
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It seriously frustrates me to see these long losts of requests when in my area we can't even get DVRs that don't randomly drop recordings.
I've been told that there is nothing Comcast will do for me since the DVR functions properly "as desinged," even though it doesn't function properly as a DVR. -
Inappropriate?Please participate in this multiple choice poll over at Broadbandreports:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r2334...
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