Re: Which pvr skips over the ads ?

[Ext User(Matt McLeod)]

Kevin Hendrikssen <spam@spam.com> wrote:
> No, it records it all, you have to press a button on the remote when you
> play it back to skip ahead. You can skip in 30 sec jumps. As mentioned
> there's a TAP for the Topfield which lets you jump ahead in 3 min jumps, but
> ad breaks are rarely exactly 3 mins.

I've noticed a lot that are just far enough under 3 minutes that the
TAP becomes more of a nuisance than a help. Rewinding on the Topfield
is a bit clunky -- I wish it were more like the Foxtel iQ in this
respect.

Matt

[Ext User(Kevin Hendrikssen)]

"Matt McLeod" <matt@boggle.org> wrote in message
news:c1do34-rh6.ln1@gaspode.boggle.org...
> Kevin Hendrikssen <spam@spam.com> wrote:
>> No, it records it all, you have to press a button on the remote when you
>> play it back to skip ahead. You can skip in 30 sec jumps. As mentioned
>> there's a TAP for the Topfield which lets you jump ahead in 3 min jumps,
>> but
>> ad breaks are rarely exactly 3 mins.
>
> I've noticed a lot that are just far enough under 3 minutes that the
> TAP becomes more of a nuisance than a help. Rewinding on the Topfield
> is a bit clunky -- I wish it were more like the Foxtel iQ in this
> respect.

That's why I just use the 30 sec / 20 sec jumps for breaks.

[Ext User(Netmask)]

"Matt McLeod" <matt@boggle.org> wrote in message
news:c1do34-rh6.ln1@gaspode.boggle.org...
> Kevin Hendrikssen <spam@spam.com> wrote:
>> No, it records it all, you have to press a button on the remote when you
>> play it back to skip ahead. You can skip in 30 sec jumps. As mentioned
>> there's a TAP for the Topfield which lets you jump ahead in 3 min jumps,
>> but
>> ad breaks are rarely exactly 3 mins.
>
> I've noticed a lot that are just far enough under 3 minutes that the
> TAP becomes more of a nuisance than a help. Rewinding on the Topfield
> is a bit clunky -- I wish it were more like the Foxtel iQ in this
> respect.
>
> Matt
>

Well you could always change the setting in the ini file from 180 seconds to
say 160 or 170 etc. Same with the 10 second jump. Part of the ini file
below

[Macro Keys Mode 1]

RedKey=ApiJump
RedCnt=180
BlueKey=ApiJump
BlueCnt=-10


So work out what the Foxtel iQ is and make the change in PBK to match...

[Ext User(Matt McLeod)]

Netmask <netmask@geemail.com> wrote:
> So work out what the Foxtel iQ is and make the change in PBK to match...

It doesn't have a skip button, which took some getting used to.
Instead it has fast-forward/rewind which goes up to (I think) 16x.
Or maybe it was 30x. Don't recall at present.

The Topfield's equivalent is pretty slow by comparison. You can zip
about quite quickly with the iQ and you can kick into reverse instantly
when you overshoot rather than fussing about.

Matt

[Ext User(wilburight@hotmail.com)]

Matt McLeod wrote:
> Netmask <netmask@geemail.com> wrote:
> > So work out what the Foxtel iQ is and make the change in PBK to match...
>
> It doesn't have a skip button, which took some getting used to.
> Instead it has fast-forward/rewind which goes up to (I think) 16x.
> Or maybe it was 30x. Don't recall at present.
>
> The Topfield's equivalent is pretty slow by comparison. You can zip
> about quite quickly with the iQ and you can kick into reverse instantly
> when you overshoot rather than fussing about.

I have set PBK's primary jump to 3 minutes on the red button, then on
the 3 remaining coloured buttons set +/- 10 secs and + 30 secs. Quickly
hitting the red, followed by an appropriate additional press or two
gets me within a few seconds of the program resuming. I rarely see 5
seconds of an ad break and lose even less in real time accomplishing
the jumps. I hardly even need to glance at the buttons now - fingers do
the 'thinking'.

I thought the lousy Toppy fast forward/reverse was going to really
annoy me, but I find the above possibly easier than carefully
'watching' the ads go by at ?x only to have to reverse back and forth
anyway to the right spot. Blink and you might miss it. As I said, it's
a no brainer fingers only for me now.

I've seen a TAP mentioned on the Toppy/DTV forums that can apparently
spot ad breaks - at least in Germany where it was written, I think. I
don't know if it'd work OK here since, if I recall correctly, it spots
either video synching changes or volume levels at the program/advert
boundary.

[Ext User(Little Red Hen)]

<wilburight@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1165121075.212161.303730@l12g2000cwl.googlegr oups.com...
> Matt McLeod wrote:
>> Netmask <netmask@geemail.com> wrote:
>> > So work out what the Foxtel iQ is and make the change in PBK to
>> > match...
>>
>> It doesn't have a skip button, which took some getting used to.
>> Instead it has fast-forward/rewind which goes up to (I think) 16x.
>> Or maybe it was 30x. Don't recall at present.
>>
>> The Topfield's equivalent is pretty slow by comparison. You can zip
>> about quite quickly with the iQ and you can kick into reverse instantly
>> when you overshoot rather than fussing about.
>
> I have set PBK's primary jump to 3 minutes on the red button, then on
> the 3 remaining coloured buttons set +/- 10 secs and + 30 secs. Quickly
> hitting the red, followed by an appropriate additional press or two
> gets me within a few seconds of the program resuming. I rarely see 5
> seconds of an ad break and lose even less in real time accomplishing
> the jumps. I hardly even need to glance at the buttons now - fingers do
> the 'thinking'.
>
> I thought the lousy Toppy fast forward/reverse was going to really
> annoy me, but I find the above possibly easier than carefully
> 'watching' the ads go by at ?x only to have to reverse back and forth
> anyway to the right spot. Blink and you might miss it. As I said, it's
> a no brainer fingers only for me now.
>
> I've seen a TAP mentioned on the Toppy/DTV forums that can apparently
> spot ad breaks - at least in Germany where it was written, I think. I
> don't know if it'd work OK here since, if I recall correctly, it spots
> either video synching changes or volume levels at the program/advert
> boundary.
>

In Germany commercials are in stereo and the programs are in Dolby 5.1
audio. The TAP you are referring to distinguishes between the two types of
formats. It will fail once commercials are made in 5.1 audio