Say goodbye to EPGs by IceTV and PVRs?

[Ext User(Kevin Hendrikssen)]

"Chock" <chock@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:452ec0eb$0$1467$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
>
> Exactly. Point in case was Nein suddenly dropping Sopranos from last
> Wednesday night.

They didn't drop it, they just changed it to Mon night midnight (12.05am
Tue)

[Ext User(Matt McLeod)]

In aus.tv.digital Malcolm Taylor <taylormv@telstra.com> wrote:
>
> "Matt McLeod" <matt@boggle.org> wrote in message
> news:tog104-2k4.ln1@gaspode.boggle.org...
>> In aus.tv.digital Malcolm Taylor <taylormv@telstra.com> wrote:
>>> In your subject line, are you suggesting that PVRs need EPGs to exist?
>>> They
>>> are exteremely useful without them. There are other ways to program timer
>>> recordings.
>>
>> All of which rely on keeping an eagle-eye on shifting TV schedules.
>
> Not a problem for me.

I'm very happy for you.

>> A PVR without an EPG is a glorified VCR. Which is useful, certainly,
>> but not anywhere near as useful as it could be.
>
> A very glorified VCR. Ever tried recording two shows while playing a third
> on a VCR?

Of course not.

Look, I have a Toppy, I was using it for ages without any sort of EPG.
It's better than a VCR, and if the stuff you record has stable scheduling
then it's pretty decent.

Having (or not) an EPG doesn't have any effect on people skipping ads.
I'm still not going to watch "live" commercial TV. If Nine thinks that
killing off IceTV will get more eyes on their ads then they're deluding
themselves. If anything, I'm more likely to see their ads if I've got
a decent EPG because I'm more likely to record stuff they show, and ad-
skipping isn't perfect.

Matt

[Ext User(GR)]

"Malcolm Taylor" <taylormv@telstra.com> wrote in message news:12j36kjl2i0pocf@corp.supernews.com...

>> A PVR without an EPG is a glorified VCR.
>
> A very glorified VCR. Ever tried recording two shows while playing a third on a VCR?

And more: a PVR also lets you pause and rewind live TV... I'd love to see
any VCR that can do that! :)

[Ext User(Kath)]

GR wrote:
> "Malcolm Taylor" <taylormv@telstra.com> wrote in message
> news:12j36kjl2i0pocf@corp.supernews.com...
>>> A PVR without an EPG is a glorified VCR.
>>
>> A very glorified VCR. Ever tried recording two shows while playing a
>> third on a VCR?
>
> And more: a PVR also lets you pause and rewind live TV... I'd love to
> see any VCR that can do that! :)

Mine's stopped letting me do that for some reason, not sure why! But I don't
want to do it very often anyway.


--
Katharine
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get
its pants on." - Sir Winston Churchill

[Ext User(Malcolm Taylor)]

"Matt McLeod" <matt@boggle.org> wrote in message
news:osl804-er8.ln1@gaspode.boggle.org...
>
> Look, I have a Toppy, I was using it for ages without any sort of EPG.
> It's better than a VCR, and if the stuff you record has stable scheduling
> then it's pretty decent.
>

I still use mine without an EPG, as I can't be bothered going to the extra
effort (or cost) of an external one. I certainly would use one if the
broadcasters would transmit a useful one, as I do on the Foxtel iQ. I also
tend not to trust non-integrated EPGs. I prefer to trust my own checking of
various manual guides and on-air promos (the occasional ones I see in time,
since I too record almost everything and generally watch it a couple of days
later).

> Having (or not) an EPG doesn't have any effect on people skipping ads.
> I'm still not going to watch "live" commercial TV. If Nine thinks that
> killing off IceTV will get more eyes on their ads then they're deluding
> themselves. If anything, I'm more likely to see their ads if I've got
> a decent EPG because I'm more likely to record stuff they show, and ad-
> skipping isn't perfect.
>

I agree that Nine's behaviour is ridiculous in trying to kill off IceTV. As
you say, it won't get any more viewing of their ads (they would be much
better off spending the money on their programs which are getting pretty
ridiculous these days). If the rumours are true, Packer may have finally
seen the light and decided to sell Nine.

[Ext User(Anthony Horan)]

On Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:21:28 +0930, Malcolm Taylor wrote:

> If the rumours are true, Packer may have finally
> seen the light and decided to sell Nine.

Half of it, anyway:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/pbl-set-to-sell-nine-magazines/2006/10/17/1160850902458.html

[Ext User(Pete)]

Matt McLeod wrote:
> In aus.tv.digital Malcolm Taylor <taylormv@telstra.com> wrote:
>> In your subject line, are you suggesting that PVRs need EPGs to exist? They
>> are exteremely useful without them. There are other ways to program timer
>> recordings.
>
> All of which rely on keeping an eagle-eye on shifting TV schedules.
> A PVR without an EPG is a glorified VCR. Which is useful, certainly,
> but not anywhere near as useful as it could be.

Tell me about it, I set my toppy to record "13 Days" on nine the other
night, knowing what nine is like, i added around 30 minutes to the run
time in case it started late, and i still missed the end, i should have
added an extra hour.

[Ext User(Malcolm Taylor)]

"Pete" <pete@home.net.au> wrote in message
news:12kvev173uimica@corp.supernews.com...
> Matt McLeod wrote:
>> In aus.tv.digital Malcolm Taylor <taylormv@telstra.com> wrote:
>>> In your subject line, are you suggesting that PVRs need EPGs to exist?
>>> They are exteremely useful without them. There are other ways to program
>>> timer recordings.
>>
>> All of which rely on keeping an eagle-eye on shifting TV schedules.
>> A PVR without an EPG is a glorified VCR. Which is useful, certainly,
>> but not anywhere near as useful as it could be.
>
> Tell me about it, I set my toppy to record "13 Days" on nine the other
> night, knowing what nine is like, i added around 30 minutes to the run
> time in case it started late, and i still missed the end, i should have
> added an extra hour.

How would an EPG avoid this problem? EPGs only show what the network
decides to tell us are the scheduled start and end of the show, which are
frequently different from reality. They can't even get their own integrated
EPGs correct.

[Ext User(Max Power)]

Matt McLeod wrote:
>
> Having (or not) an EPG doesn't have any effect on people skipping ads.
> I'm still not going to watch "live" commercial TV. If Nine thinks that
> killing off IceTV will get more eyes on their ads then they're deluding
> themselves. If anything, I'm more likely to see their ads if I've got
> a decent EPG because I'm more likely to record stuff they show, and ad-
> skipping isn't perfect.

Here here. I've had my Toppy for over 6 months and now I couldn't
imagine life without it.

I will be more inclined to watch Network X's programs if they made them
easier for me to preselect via the EPG.

These dumb-arse network execs just don't get it.

[Ext User(Kath)]

"Max Power" <maxpower@hairdryer.com> wrote in message
news:12l5uoj9qgh1fc3@corp.supernews.com...
> Matt McLeod wrote:
>>
>> Having (or not) an EPG doesn't have any effect on people skipping ads.
>> I'm still not going to watch "live" commercial TV. If Nine thinks that
>> killing off IceTV will get more eyes on their ads then they're deluding
>> themselves. If anything, I'm more likely to see their ads if I've got
>> a decent EPG because I'm more likely to record stuff they show, and ad-
>> skipping isn't perfect.
>
> Here here. I've had my Toppy for over 6 months and now I couldn't imagine
> life without it.
>
> I will be more inclined to watch Network X's programs if they made them
> easier for me to preselect via the EPG.
>
> These dumb-arse network execs just don't get it.

Good point. Ditto on the Toppy :)


--
Katharine
Math problems? Call 1--800--[(10x)(ln(13e))]--[sin(xy)/2.362x]

[Ext User(Kirilenko)]

On Tue, 10 Oct 2006 22:07:52 +1000, "GR" <gruber@gmale.com> wrote:

>http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/nine-takes-on-icetv-over-eprogram-guide/2006/10/09/1160246043440.html
>
>Of course Nein will win this battle. Oh well. Australia sucks, as I always say.
>

Foxtel which is 25% owned by 9, claim that 7 and 10 should pay Foxtel
to add their TV guide to the EPG, however PBL claims the service
proviging the TV guide should be the ones who pay?

Isnt' that being hypocritical?

[Ext User(Kirilenko)]

On Fri, 13 Oct 2006 08:26:17 +1000, "Chock" <chock@nospam.com> wrote:

>
>"Matt McLeod" <matt@boggle.org> wrote in message
>news:tog104-2k4.ln1@gaspode.boggle.org...
>> In aus.tv.digital Malcolm Taylor <taylormv@telstra.com> wrote:
>> > In your subject line, are you suggesting that PVRs need EPGs to exist?
>They
>> > are exteremely useful without them. There are other ways to program
>timer
>> > recordings.
>>
>> All of which rely on keeping an eagle-eye on shifting TV schedules.
>> A PVR without an EPG is a glorified VCR. Which is useful, certainly,
>> but not anywhere near as useful as it could be.
>>
>
>Exactly. Point in case was Nein suddenly dropping Sopranos from last
>Wednesday night.

And if you read the TV guide you would have known that.

Also guides like Foxtels EPG did not automatically update for those on
series link. It just deleted the request and didnt' record any more
episodes unless you added it again in the new timeslot.

[Ext User(Kirilenko)]

On Tue, 07 Nov 2006 08:49:03 +1000, Pete <pete@home.net.au> wrote:

>Matt McLeod wrote:
>> In aus.tv.digital Malcolm Taylor <taylormv@telstra.com> wrote:
>>> In your subject line, are you suggesting that PVRs need EPGs to exist? They
>>> are exteremely useful without them. There are other ways to program timer
>>> recordings.
>>
>> All of which rely on keeping an eagle-eye on shifting TV schedules.
>> A PVR without an EPG is a glorified VCR. Which is useful, certainly,
>> but not anywhere near as useful as it could be.
>
>Tell me about it, I set my toppy to record "13 Days" on nine the other
>night, knowing what nine is like, i added around 30 minutes to the run
>time in case it started late, and i still missed the end, i should have
>added an extra hour.

And using Foxtels EPG you can only add 10 minutes to the end of the
show.

Iv'e used it to record Survivor in past seasons many times in the
past. At least 4 out of 5 episodes I missed the end even when I told
Foxtel EPGs to add 10 mintues to the end of the show