cypherstream's dashboard

In a 500+ channel universe finding content is becoming more and more tedious. Remember the song 57 channels and there's nothing on? Well with hundreds of channels and free VOD there's bound to be something on. Besides advanced searching and guide improvements suggested in another topic, we need a more organized channel lineup that is consistent from area to area.

While the logistics and requirements of this project would be absolutely huge, once the B2 tier is digital only, channel moves will be much easier. When DTA's become the mainstream, all that changes is a virtual channel mapping. If the B2 tier and above were pretty much standardized, a Comcast subscriber in California visiting family with a subscriber in Pennsylvania will still be able to find the most popular cable channels from ESPN, Disney, Discovery, TLC, MTV, to their HD counterparts.

Additionally it would be beneficial to group like channels together. For instance, put all of the sports channels near each other in the lineup. ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, ESPN-U(wishful thinking). Put all the news channels together (CNN, CNBC, Fox News, MSNBC, Bloomberg, etc..) Put all of the kids/cartoon channels together (Nick, NickToo, Disney, DisneyXD, Nicktoons, Noggin, Sprout, Cartoon Network, etc..)

If you take a look at Verizon Fios lineup, you'll see they manage to group like channels together nicely.

Let me give you an example of how NOT to do it. In my home system, Reading PA, what is ESPN doing on Ch 45 while ESPN2 is on Ch 72, a whole 27 channels away! The same deal goes with CNN/CNBC/Fox News/MSNBC, VH1, BET and MTV are not close to each other, Cartoon Network and Nick are far apart, TBS is not next to TNT like it should be, etc..

As an added bonus I'd also like the HD version to show up if I have an HD box. DirecTV, Dish Network and Cablevision all have the ability to do this. If I want to watch the SD version make me have to toggle something in the mini-guide. If I want to record something in SD to save space on the DVR, give me the option under the recording settings.

Thanks for reading. I know things are difficult to do massive movements any time soon, but please put this on the project list when that DTA penetration starts hitting 2/3rds of Comcastland.

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.

I'd like to see TV Tuner integration, be it USB/PCI/PCI-E, HD-HomeRun etc... ClearQAM, ATSC, DVB-T, NTSC, etc.. I'd love to see DVR Functionality as well, perhaps utilize Dual tuners and more. Final goal would be cable card support for full premium channel access.

Boxee is so good, but add full blown TV integration with a searchable slick guide and you've got a Tivo/Cable DVR replacement!