We're shutting down Couchville

[rakeshagrawal]

In the week or two, we'll be taking our free TV listings website, Couchville (http://www.couchville.com/), offline. At least for now, this is the end of the road for any kind of a free TV listings website from SnapStream.

For the Couchville loyalists out there, we're sorry to take the site away from you. If you're wondering why we're making this move, simply put, it doesn't make business sense for us to keep the site running.

So thanks to everyone who blogged about the site, spread the word, wore the t-shirt, and, most importantly, used the site day after day. TV recording software for consumers (and now for businesses too with SnapStream Enterprise) has always been more of our 'thing' and that's where we intend to keep our focus.

[Nick Burns]

It was a great ride while it lasted.

Thanks for the great service!

I'll be sad to see it go. :(

EDIT:

I just told my wife about this. She's none to happy either.
She said it was one of those sites that "just works".

[Darkk]

rakeshagrawal,

I won't bark on the decision to take it offline but I was wondering how it is generating any kind of revenue stream when I don't see any kind of advertisements to help pay for it's operating costs? There are alot of positive reviews about that site which probably generated alot of traffic and I saw alot of opportunities to actually make money off of this venture.

Honesty Rakeshagrawal, your company built a very reputable name in the PVR business and alot of people trusted you with that name. It's a shame that the company as a whole didn't promote it enough or signed up with the big names to help promote the business.

Sadly, if this trend continues I will have to wonder the fate of BeyondTV.

I will keep using it until it breaks.

Darkk

[spaceghost]

Is the reference to couchville.com going to be taken out of the configuration instructions for the HD HomeRun?

[nanook105]

Hopefully, some of the effort/code can be salvaged as a replacement/upgrade to ss.net.

[cfaslave]

Disappointing for these reasons:

The site had real potential. Would have loved to see something like it integrated into SS.net
Snapstream used up some valuable time and resources working on a project that is being dumped.In the long run it obviously makes sense to focus on your core business and projects that will help your business and probably BeyondTV focus as well so I understand the decision.

[nrf]

I think that would be called 'sunk cost', decision made looking forward not back. Anyway, it seems that Snapstream is in a 'downward spiral' as far as ordinary users are concerned. Between this and the pitiful lack of exciting new offerings in the 2008 plan, I am preparing for the inevitable demise of this product line and its support. Note that we are a 2-pvr family so I fear not for this loss.

Snapstream, note that customers will usually be willing to pay for exciting new features so if you are thinking we are a bunch of selfish slobs, you are wrong! Enthusiasm and energy can generate revenue! But what I see here is turning your back on us.

[Voxelflinger]

I used Couchville a few times and there were some nice things about it.

I like the ability to customize the line up.
I loved the jump to channel feature.

The problem I had is whenever I wanted to know what was on TV I was drawn to fire-up BTV or BTV Link to view the listings!

Ok, so I used Couchville to view at work but Yahoo and MSN have the same listings as do most ISP homepages.

What made me use BTV or link and wait for the program to start up? I could decide that moment to record a show. Most of the time I use Link from the bedroom to do most of the programing to BTV. For the more detailed stuff I use the web admin.

I would like to see some of the custom features or the jump to added to BTV. Even a buttons for my x number of favorite channels would be nice.

Couchville was nice and fast but I could not get myself to use it as much as BTV or Link.

[rakeshagrawal]

but I was wondering how it is generating any kind of revenue stream when I don't see any kind of advertisements to help pay for it's operating costs?

You don't have to look too hard to see the ads on the site.

Sadly, if this trend continues I will have to wonder the fate of BeyondTV.

I will keep using it until it breaks.

If anything, shutting down Couchville should be an indicator to you that we're even more focused on our PC DVR business. That's one of the benefits I see of our making this decision.

[rakeshagrawal]

Disappointing for these reasons:
[LIST=1]
The site had real when it had some real potential. Would have loved to see something like it integrated into SS.net


This is still something that could happen. SnapStream.Net isn't going away -- it's just the free TV listings website that's going away.

[cfaslave]

This is still something that could happen. SnapStream.Net isn't going away -- it's just the free TV listings website that's going away.
Understood. I should point out that while I liked Couchville and think its cool, I would much prefer Snapstream focus on BeyondTV and the core functionality of BTV when you're dealing with limited resources. I wasn't clear on that in my first post above.

[ZetaVu]

I too was hoping coucheville could be incorportated into BTV as a way of getting additional information for shows in the guide, so if we click a show, we could hav ethe option to display online info for the show based either on the name or recording time/channel. Of course this could be done with IMDB and tv.com, but such a feature is what I envisioned as the next step for couchville, that and a subscription guide service people with freeware htpc's could use (myth, MP) as that represents another revenue stream.

[pvrguy]

Say it isn't so...really early April fool's...:eek:

The one main thing I will miss is the New indicator...How about adding that to SS.net?

:toast:

[chez-chair]

Thanks for the experience, anyway...the interface has a lot of features I'd love to see somewhere...
I look forward to seeing the results of your focussing more on SS/BTV.
I have U-Verse running on a Media Center PC - neither fish nor fowl nor good red herring. Despite 25+ years in computers and media, I am overwhelmed with the array and amalgam of technologies-hope you can make some kind of coherent interface for us!

Best wishes!

[chillexistence]

would you consider keep it running and accessible to those who have a SnapStream.net account, because the Guide on SnapStream.net sucks and doesn't work half the time compared to this service!

[Tired_]

Would you consider letting it remain up for a subscription fee (whatever it would take to keep it running)? Obviously, it won't be a major profit center, but it's really useful, and I'd pay a little to keep using it.

[gdewar]

I'll second the motion to have the guide available on a subscription basis - there just aren't any reliable, easy-to-use sites like this one!

[Hamsterdan]

In the week or two, we'll be taking our free TV listings website, Couchville (http://www.couchville.com/), offline. At least for now, this is the end of the road for any kind of a free TV listings website from SnapStream.

I'll admit, I never used Couchville. But then again, I never used BTV for a couple of years, even after buying the software, the remote, and Beyond Media. My purchases were based on promises of an integrated product.

I now have an integrated product... it is called Windows Media Center Edition.

-It has a remote, check...
-It plays DVDs, check (even the ones burned with the software)
-It plays MP3s, check
-CallerID, check
-Can control set top boxes, check
-Commercial Ad detection, check (it even *skips* the adds by itself, thanks to DVRMS toolbox)
-Is INTEGRATED, check

Heck, it even works with my iPod, Digital Camera, is an INTEGRATED product.

Sorry, but you guys *lied* to us when you promised us an integrated product. Check my account, I've got valid licenses for both products, and am entitled for a *FREE* upgrade when the integrated product comes out.

That was back in 2005. We are now in 2008.

I would like to use something else than a Microsoft product (really), but MCE does the job for an INTEGRATED MEDIA CENTER PC.

But seeing this post, you're shutting down another nice thing, I really wonder if you care about your customer base...

[NickHark]

.... I really wonder if you care about your customer base...

I think that this shows that he and SS REALLY care about the customers because, if you can believe what he said, they are FOCUSING! on their core products. I am happy to see this in SS. Unfortunately, we see too little of this. I want this company to survive. Don't you?

[Gary King]

I would gladly pay a subscription fee to be able to continue using Couchville. It's the most useful TV guide that I have ever used!

P.S.
I thought the site was basically automated, meaning very little human intervention was required? Or am I mistaken, and it actually requires a lot of man hours?

[fergusonsa]

My wife is going to freak! This is miserable news.

We would be willing to subscribe to a site like this, for $20 or $30 a year.

saF

[caperj]

Bummer that your taking couchville offline.....
I'm a frequent visitor to the site, it was certainly nice while it lasted.

[Hamsterdan]

Bummer that your taking couchville offline.....
I'm a frequent visitor to the site, it was certainly nice while it lasted.

Shows they really care about customers....

Still waiting for integration promises for about two years...

[Tired_]

Ok, Hamsterdan, I hear you. You're bitter. Moving on....

[btvfreak]

I wish Snapstream much success in their business decision to focus resources on the Enterprise and simplifying the product for home/new users because if successful, then perhaps they can hire more people to add more features advanced and loyal users are screaming for.

Regarding Couchville...I'm surprised that people actually use online TV guides so much. I rarely use them and have only really used Couchville a few times. For the majority of people I'm sure removing Couchville isn't a huge loss.

[chillexistence]

Yeah I'm at couchville.com all day long, by far the best and easiest TVGuide Website ever! Wouldn't mind paying a little $$ to keep it alive... Would the creators be willing to offer the source code of the website so others can run the site? Maybe make it Open Source, I'm sure people would be willing to chip in and help where needed!

[joey2264]

I just wanted to say that I used Couchville all the time. I have been a loyal BeyondTV owner for about a year and a half (I don't even own a regular TV any more, I watch all my TV on my laptop), but I preferred viewing the listings in Couchville, where I could see all my channels at a glance instantly, instead of scrolling through the Viewscape after waiting for it to start up.

There never was a serious attempt to monetize Couchville. It seems like simply putting a Google Ad at the bottom, top, and side of the page would make enough money for the minimal maintaining effort that the site must require. Yet I have never seen a paid ad on the site, ever (An "ad" for Beyond TV 4 doesn't count). Why did you not at least try to sell ads on the site!!? Far more esoteric and limited interest websites than this have been able to make a modest living on Google Ads, I can't think of a reason why this would be a failure.

Why don't you just try it? Put some Google ads on the site for a week before you take the site down, and see if it makes enough money to maintain the site. Please?!!

I would certainly pay $20 or $30 a year to access the site (assuming the one glaring feature addition was added, a login account to save lineups online). If that is the only way that you feel you can justify maintaining the site, then please try it.

Or what others have suggested, open source the site code and let a web community maintain the site. Maybe similar to how the Web admin is community supported. It might even gain some serious geek cred if it is open sourced.

Please, please pick one of the options I have cited above. At the very least, make a serious attempt to make money from the site by throwing some Google Ads on the site before you abandon the effort entirely. Please!!? I think the amount of users is probably far more than you realize, especially among your loyal and, I would hope, valuable Beyond TV customers.

[Riffz]

Ah this is horrible news! I use the site daily, and it is a shame to see it just closed.

Please consider keeping it open for subscriptions, given it would save our custom lineups.

I have no use for a full pvr type software, and couchville was literally perfect. Please consider any alternative.

Thank You!

[Asmordean]

I rarely used the site but have always thought it would be a great replacement to SS.net if only one could scroll with a mousewheel on it. Otherwise it was very nice.

You don't have to look too hard to see the ads on the site.

Are the ads regional then? I've never seen a single ad on couchville. Even with ads I can see it being a money loss just like Zap2It had. People run scrapers on the data and use up bandwidth without actually generating revenue.

[suible]

I, too, am sorry to see Couchville shutdown. After trying various tv guides, I found Couchville to be the best by far.

Best of luck to SnapStream.

[btvfreak]

Just thought about this. Will Snapstream be moving Buzz (http://couchville.com/buzz) to the Snapstream domain? I find that service very useful.

[searchguru]

I am probably some of the far and few between, I have been not able to set up my own PVR due to cost and at the present where I am living. But have been a fan of Beyondtv for many years and have sold more than I can count to friends. That said I have tried and used every tv listing on the net and COUCHVILLE is the best thing out there period! I too would pay or better yet lets run it ourselves. I would gladly team up with some other members and takeover the site. I have about 20 websites none of which are doing anything as of right now. There has to be a solution to this, if they do shut this down I will no longer support any products from this company. :aldnce:

[Darkk]

IThere has to be a solution to this, if they do shut this down I will no longer support any products from this company. :aldnce:

That's pretty harsh. I can understand where you're coming from but it's was a business decision to shut it down to put more focus on BTV. I have pointed out to Rake about lack of ads on the site even though he claims there are.

They built a wonderful platform for everybody to enjoy and at the same time lack of ads really put it into it's demise. Honestly, they should reconsider and try revamping their ads to help support it. I know we all hate ads but for something that is free we're willing to live with it.

Yahoo would be a wonderful sponsor for the site. Yahoo could even be smart about adding couchville into their IMs and the websites. The possibilities could be endless.

Darkk

[ZetaVu]

I would assume they could sell the code to someone wanting to run tv listings, or if there were no interested parties, open source it for those who would be willing to host and maintain it. I have no idea what is involved in running it, I assume you have to pay for the subscription feed to the channel guide (which SS already does) and I assume they could provide that to whoever maintains the site.

If enough users are willing to commit their time to maintain it, I don't see why Rakesh wouldn't make the site available to them to run, even host it and exclusively advertise SS products on it. Don't give up the source but just require that the volunteers maintain it much like forum moderators. Perhaps those interested should PM Rakesh and offer their services, if he gets enough offers he might make something available.

[rakeshagrawal]

Just thought about this. Will Snapstream be moving Buzz (http://couchville.com/buzz) to the Snapstream domain? I find that service very useful.

Yes, buzz isn't going away - most likely it'll go back to being hosted on www.snapstream.net (that's where it was before couchville).

The idea of keeping couchville around just for beyond tv users is an interesting one. I need to talk to one or two people about it, will let you all know if it is a possibility.

[ZetaVu]

I think you could not only make it something for btv users but also offer it and a guide download service on a subscription basis to other users (which of course would encourage them to swithc to btv which is cheaper in the long run) I also think if you opened up some of this to the community they might be able to integrate it (yes I said it) eventually into btv, maybe not today but later. I think it would be a great feature to search the guide in btv, click a show and get the info that has been downloaded, then click another option and get additional info from Couchville.

This way you are not tying up SS resurces, let it be a community project, and you guys can focus on the HD-PVR. ;)

[joey2264]

Rakesh, please keep us informed about any developments. If you could at least keep the site open to Beyond TV users, possibly by putting the site on the snapstrem.net domain, that would be wonderful!

[JUSTiNB]

Awwwww CRAP!

This means there will be no good TV guide sites out there now :/ Only other slightly good one is TitanTV. Yahoo ruined their's after they "Upgraded" it.

Oh well, farewell. I guess great things can't last forever.

[matthall28]

Hi, my names Matt and i work for a company called Kerplunc (http://kerplunc.com/). We are in talkings with SnapStream about buying Couchville from them. Problem is that it's going to cost us $$$. Email me (matt@kerplunc.com) if you would be interested in paying a monthly/yearly fee for Couchville.

[queonda]

Hi, my names Matt and i work for a company called Kerplunc (http://kerplunc.com/). We are in talkings with SnapStream about buying Couchville from them. Problem is that it's going to cost us $$$. Email me (matt@kerplunc.com) if you would be interested in paying a monthly/yearly fee for Couchville.

Here is what I think. :dedhrse:

Comeon. There's Tv.com, tvguide and many others which offer tv information for FREE.

[merrypig]

Personally, I think kerplunc needs to take a class in human interface design and then use what they learn to fix their own website and couchville...

[darkdays]

In the week or two, we'll be taking our free TV listings website, Couchville (http://www.couchville.com/), offline. At least for now, this is the end of the road for any kind of a free TV listings website from SnapStream.

For the Couchville loyalists out there, we're sorry to take the site away from you. If you're wondering why we're making this move, simply put, it doesn't make business sense for us to keep the site running.

So thanks to everyone who blogged about the site, spread the word, wore the t-shirt, and, most importantly, used the site day after day. TV recording software for consumers (and now for businesses too with SnapStream Enterprise) has always been more of our 'thing' and that's where we intend to keep our focus.

Can't you sell the site to somebody who it does make business sense for? :P

[ZetaVu]

Well, I fail to see why anyone would really pay for access to online webguide if it doesn't interface with their pvr, specifically since there are free ones out there, not as elegant, but sufficient. If couchville could work with pvr's then people like mythtv or mediaportal users might be interested.

But, If SS can get some money for it, more power to them. I don't see it flying, and many here would probably be willing to support it if it were btv user only or open sourced. I personally would not pay to use it.

Oh, that assumes the offer is genuine and not just a front to plug their website and solicit interest.

[darkdays]

Speaking about Couchville in the broader context of our company, SnapStream, Couchville represents a big step for us.Source: http://blogs.snapstream.com/2007/03/06/welcome-to-couchville/

In my opinion, I think this decision's a big step back.

[hmb29]

Oh, that assumes the offer is genuine and not just a front to plug their website and solicit interest.

I'm sorry, looking at that site....he must be joking if he wants to buy couchville ..... dude, i think my 12 year old brother can design his webpage....

[Rich A]

There is more to just providing support or in-house man-power to maintain something like this. As an open site, on the web with free access for anyone in the entire world, they have to consider the load on a server and/or bandwidth requirements, not to mention hardware backup. SS isn't Google you know.

[hokieinidaho]

I didn't even know about couchville until now. Checked it out, and was pretty impressed. I've used TitanTV in the past, but this one seemed light and easy on the eyes.

[ZetaVu]

There is more to just providing support or in-house man-power to maintain something like this. As an open site, on the web with free access for anyone in the entire world, they have to consider the load on a server and/or bandwidth requirements, not to mention hardware backup. SS isn't Google you know.

This should be a wash with a proper ad supported model, more view, more income.

Then again if it were available only to BTV customers or people who subscribed, that would be another thing. Again, I see no reason to subscribe as a btv customer, and the only reason for non-customers to subscribe would be to also be able to download guide data to their application (which we can't yet). That's the model I think would work best, specifically if you included SS ads for those non-btv users who subscribe. Also keeps bandwidth under control.

[johnb]

Only the best TV Listing Interface in the UNIVERSE!!

Thanks,

Now I will go back to the freakin dark ages.

JohnB

[chillexistence]

Yeah I guess we'll all have to start ordering our TV Guides again... going to be a huge demand for new TV Guide Customers, hopefully TV Guide can handle all these new customers coming there way wanting the TV Guide delivered to their house :applause:

Only the best TV Listing Interface in the UNIVERSE!!

Thanks,

Now I will go back to the freakin dark ages.

JohnB

[joey2264]

People need to remember that non-geeks (the majority of the population) just want to know what's on at a given time, with a minimum of fuss. Couchville is absolutely perfect for these users. I use BeyondTV, and I happen to love Couchville as well, because I like seeing nearly all the channels I normally watch on a single screen, instead of having to page through the listings like in the Viewscape.

I wonder if Google would like to take Couchville under it's wing. Maybe one of the Googler's can maintain the site on his 10% time. They don't really have any kind of TV Guide listings in their portfolio, unlike Yahoo, and they might be interested. Just an idea!

[joey2264]

At the very least, Snapstream really needs to keep the TV episode listings (the actual information about past and future episodes that comes up when you click "More Series information", and then "Episodes") I use Couchville for this info almost as often as I use it for TV listings. (I know about the same information is available on Wikipedia and elsewhere, but I find the Couchville presentation more convenient, and Wikipedia doesn't usually have information about future episodes like Couchville does).

[chillexistence]

I second that as well, I use the Show/Episodes part of the site all the time, although at times it's not always accurate for air dates, but at least you've got the episode names and summaries,

At the very least, Snapstream really needs to keep the TV episode listings (the actual information about past and future episodes that comes up when you click "More Series information", and then "Episodes") I use Couchville for this info almost as often as I use it for TV listings. (I know about the same information is available on Wikipedia and elsewhere, but I find the Couchville presentation more convenient, and Wikipedia doesn't usually have information about future episodes like Couchville does).

[rugby]

Couchville looks great, but does it actually DO anything?

[joey2264]

What the hell do you mean, does it "do" anything? Why don't you read the thread and find out all the myriad things that people have found to "do" with it before you post on here and look like an ass!

[kimmybear]

Well that's just ducky, considering several people at my office actually used this site for work purposes. Argh! Does anyone know of any other listing service that will go back previous days once midnight has passed? This was the only one we'd found, and we really need to be able to search listings sometimes one or two days previous. Titan TV and TV Guide are both awful in this respect, as apparently a previous day's programs no longer exist after midnight. I guess we're kind of a niche market here, but there were quite a few of us that depended on Couchville to do our jobs more effectively.

[rugby]

What the hell do you mean, does it "do" anything? Why don't you read the thread and find out all the myriad things that people have found to "do" with it before you post on here and look like an ass!


Okay, let me rephrase this a different way since you don't seem capable of reading.

When I'm using couchville to see what's on tv, does it provide any functionality other than showing me what's on tv? Can it download to my BTV? Can I schedule recordings from it?

So far as looking like an ass, you certainly seem to have taken that trophy. I asked a question, and you respond to me like you did? Nice job Ace.

[merrypig]

Just because it doesn't "DO" anything for you rugby, doesn't mean it doesn't do something for other people which is what joey was pointing out. Read kimmybear's post and you'll see that there's at least one thing it does for people for example.

Joey perhaps could have avoided calling you an ass, but honestly, his point was fair. For myself, I agree, not having it integrated into BTV's scheduling /snapstream.net was the craziest thing I thought. And I admit, I never used it as a result. However having taken a quick look recently , I just found it did something pretty useful in tracking down episodes and air dates of a particular show - complete with episode info and so on.

Ironically, now that it's about to go bye bye, I find a use for it. Typical :)

[rugby]

Just because it doesn't "DO" anything for you rugby, doesn't mean it doesn't do something for other people which is what joey was pointing out. Read kimmybear's post and you'll see that there's at least one thing it does for people for example.

Joey perhaps could have avoided calling you an ass, but honestly, his point was fair. For myself, I agree, not having it integrated into BTV's scheduling /snapstream.net was the craziest thing I thought. And I admit, I never used it as a result. However having taken a quick look recently , I just found it did something pretty useful in tracking down episodes and air dates of a particular show - complete with episode info and so on.

Ironically, now that it's about to go bye bye, I find a use for it. Typical :)

I was trying to ask a question to see if it did anything other than just list shows. I've never used it, I personally don't think I would ever use it as it doesn't connect to anything useful like my DVR in my living room. If it did that, I would be complaining here as well.

Not having it connect to snapstream.net is the 2nd craziest thing I've heard at this forum....we won't talk about the first one.

calling me an ass for asking a question is just stupid, childish, and he's now on my ignore list for doing it.

[nanook105]

It would have been nice if it was integrated/with/replaced snapstream.net for BTV users, but I still find it useful. I haven't found any other site that does such a good job of consolidating/organizing guide data with historical show information. I don't use it often (several times a week), but I always find what I was looking for easily.

[samundsen]

I also had switched to use Couchville exclusively as my guide. It was the quickest, cleanest and easiest to use of the guides out there. I had been hoping for some more development, not a shutdown.....

[joey2264]

I absolutely could understand somebody not finding what Couchville provides useful for them, but to come on the 4th page of this thread and ask what Couchville "does", you clearly didn't read any of the thread and/or trying to provoke somebody who cares about Couchville. You succeeded on the second point. It is one of my pet peeves that I don't suffer fools easily.

I think integration of BeyondTV with Snapstream.net is another fantastic idea. Hopefully a Snapstream representative will come on here and respond to people's questions soon.

[rugby]

I absolutely could understand somebody not finding what Couchville provides useful for them, but to come on the 4th page of this thread and ask what Couchville "does", you clearly didn't read any of the thread and/or trying to provoke somebody who cares about Couchville. You succeeded on the second point. It is one of my pet peeves that I don't suffer fools easily.

I think integration of BeyondTV with Snapstream.net is another fantastic idea. Hopefully a Snapstream representative will come on here and respond to people's questions soon.


Oh please, you're not my best friend. I simply asked a question about what it "does". It's a guide. Plain and simple, correct? I was asking to see if I was missing anything features-wise like say integration with BTV. Was there a cool feature I was missing, because to me it looks just like a tv-guide. Sure it's cool, sure it probably is a great guide, however I've never used it. I checked it out quickly, wondered what the big deal was, and then posted my question.

You could have simply answered the question and been on your way, but you called me an ass for asking it? Whatever, get over yourself.

[joey2264]

You could have at least skimmed the thread, and you would have gotten the basic information. Or if you were really curious what people liked about it, you could have asked. Or you could have spent five seconds to delve into the features yourself, like information about all future showings on a show in the next week (on all channels), information on airdates and episode descriptions, etc. etc. Maybe I overreacted, but when you come into a thread on the fifth page and ask what the thread is about, what do you expect?


FYI, there are far more people that don't want to deal with the hassle of a DVR, much less a PC-DVR. For the vast majority of these people, Couchville would be invaluable.

[rugby]

You could have at least skimmed the thread, and you would have gotten the basic information. Or if you were really curious what people liked about it, you could have asked. Or you could have spent five seconds to delve into the features yourself, like information about all future showings on a show in the next week (on all channels), information on airdates and episode descriptions, etc. etc. Maybe I overreacted, but when you come into a thread on the fifth page and ask what the thread is about, what do you expect?


FYI, there are far more people that don't want to deal with the hassle of a DVR, much less a PC-DVR. For the vast majority of these people, Couchville would be invaluable.


I did ask a question. I asked what couchville DID. I didn't ask what the thread was about. I can see it's a guide, and it looks pretty. It doesn't actually DO anything other than show you programming.


I'm curious as to how it would be valuable if it doesn't sync anywhere? I guess if I'm concerned about what the upcoming episode of House is about I could go browse couchville, however my tv also shows me this in the upcoming recordings or the channel guide.

I just don't get what the big deal is. Maybe it's because I don't browse guides outside of my tv or snapstream.net.
You called me a jerk for asking a question and you "might" have over-reacted? Ya think?

[queonda]

Couchville looks great, but does it actually DO anything?

Just to look at your current listings. SS never gotten beyond that. There were talks of integrating or replacing SS.net or just another guide for anyone to use. IMO, I think SS was thinking this could go mainstream and non-btv people will see it and maybe they would buy BTV.

[rugby]

Just to look at your current listings. SS never gotten beyond that. There were talks of integrating or replacing SS.net or just another guide for anyone to use. IMO, I think SS was thinking this could go mainstream and non-btv people will see it and maybe they would buy BTV.

They sure did it in a weird way:

SS - "Hey, check out our new guide that's web-based. Looks great, right?"

Potential buyer - "Yeah, that looks great."

SS - "We also have a great TV product called Beyond TV, it's cool too"

Potential buyer - "Does it integrate with this guide?"

SS - "Errrr...not exactly"

Potential buyer - "Does it do things like play DVD's and show pictures?"

SS - "Errr...not exactly"

Potential buyer - "Why would I buy this then?"

This is satirical btw, don't hold anything against me.

[queonda]

Rugby, Have you been listening to my conversations? lol

[rugby]

Rugby, Have you been listening to my conversations? lol

I've had them myself, with other companies who are just as silly at times.

The only saving grace with me keeping Btv is that it's already set up and it just works.

[jkoon]

rugby, please watch your language on the forums. i will sanitize your previous posts.

[dhrandy]

This sucks. Seems like every time I find something I like, it shuts down. It's always the good things that shut down. I used this at work every day. It was nice while it lasted.:cry:

[rugby]

rugby, please watch your language on the forums. i will sanitize your previous posts.


Somehow it lost it's impact....oh well.

I apologize for having a potty mouth.:toast:

[joey2264]

It's pretty clear why I snapped at you. You came into this thread with a preconceived notion, that Couchville somehow needed to integrate with BeyondTV in order to be successful. The thing is, this is just not the case. It is geared towards the vast majority of TV watchers that don't use DVR's, along with DVR users that appreciate a TV Guide with a very pleasant interface and vast, accurate information about a show, its various episodes, and their showtimes.

I think if TPTB at Snapstream had made any kind of serious attempt at monetizing Couchville (Google Ads perhaps?) they would have made far more money than it cost to maintain the site.

As far as what it offers that BeyondTV users don't already have, I would point you towards the fact that clicking a show immediately brings up all future showings on all channels over app. the next two weeks. You have to go into BeyondTV's future showings view to show that, and it only shows future showings that you have downloaded guide data for (usually far less than two weeks), and it only shows you showings on a single channel. Couchville also lets you see many channels and many hours of programming on one screen, which is harder to do on BeyondTV with its bigger font. And of course there is also the past and future showings information you can get if you go into details on a show in Couchville, which goes far beyond anything available with BeyondTV.

Just because you don't find Couchville useful, doesn't mean there is anything "silly" about the endeavor for many other people, rugby.

[rugby]

It's pretty clear why I snapped at you. You came into this thread with a preconceived notion, that Couchville somehow needed to integrate with BeyondTV in order to be successful. The thing is, this is just not the case. It is geared towards the vast majority of TV watchers that don't use DVR's, along with DVR users that appreciate a TV Guide with a very pleasant interface and vast, accurate information about a show, its various episodes, and their showtimes.

I think if TPTB at Snapstream had made any kind of serious attempt at monetizing Couchville (Google Ads perhaps?) they would have made far more money than it cost to maintain the site.

As far as what it offers that BeyondTV users don't already have, I would point you towards the fact that clicking a show immediately brings up all future showings on all channels over app. the next two weeks. You have to go into BeyondTV's future showings view to show that, and it only shows future showings that you have downloaded guide data for (usually far less than two weeks), and it only shows you showings on a single channel. Couchville also lets you see many channels and many hours of programming on one screen, which is harder to do on BeyondTV with its bigger font. And of course there is also the past and future showings information you can get if you go into details on a show in Couchville, which goes far beyond anything available with BeyondTV.

Just because you don't find Couchville useful, doesn't mean there is anything "silly" about the endeavor for many other people, rugby.


I couldn't care less what you say, you called me a name for asking a question. Plain and simple.

[MarcP]

Just because you don't find Couchville useful, doesn't mean there is anything "silly"

And where did he call it silly?

[rakeshagrawal]

Hey guys, can we drop this whole business about name calling?

It's clear (to me at least) why a Beyond TV user would be puzzled about why we never integrated Couchville with Beyond TV.

And it's also clear that there were non-Beyond TV users who loved Couchville just for what it was.

Let's just leave it at that.

Changing the topic back to Couchville, it looks like the site will be coming down in the next few days. Just another heads up.

[chillexistence]

any idea on the exact date/time and what the future holds, seems like you still haven't answered any of the questions or suggestions, everyone's just been focusing on this stupid name calling but ignoring the facts and problems that lie ahead for those who use this service 24x7.

[thundermax]

i never quite understood the plan with couchville anyway. You couldn't compete with existing listing services, and it was confusing for BTV users to use snapstream.net for scheduling, but use couchville for seeing what's on TV? huh?

maybe now BTV devs can focus on enhancements and/or integration ;)

[rakeshagrawal]

any idea on the exact date/time and what the future holds, seems like you still haven't answered any of the questions or suggestions, everyone's just been focusing on this stupid name calling but ignoring the facts and problems that lie ahead for those who use this service 24x7.

chillexistence, I don't have the exact schedule, but we'll probably take it down in the next couple of days. On your original suggestion of possibly keeping the site up for Beyond TV users, we made the decision to not do this.

We talked to a few folks that wanted to take the site over but backed off when they realized the costs that would be involved. And I'm still talking to one person who has an idea around taking over the site that might be viable.

[joey2264]

Originally posted by rugby:
"I've had them myself, with other companies who are just as silly at times."

It was a stupid comment, and a stupid question that started this whole rigamarole.

It would also be nice if Rakesh could give a brief comment why Snapstream never tried to monetize the site. I am sure it was a money drain while there were no ads and the site was free, but at least putting some Google Ads would have started a revenue stream.

[cfaslave]

It would also be nice if Rakesh could give a brief comment why Snapstream never tried to monetize the site. I am sure it was a money drain while there were no ads and the site was free, but at least putting some Google Ads would have started a revenue stream.

Google ads have been there from the beginning and they're there today. I think SS did try to monetize the site with these ads, but decided the site wasn't their core focus and therefore it wasn't worth further development/maintenance time on their part.

[rakeshagrawal]

It would also be nice if Rakesh could give a brief comment why Snapstream never tried to monetize the site. I am sure it was a money drain while there were no ads and the site was free, but at least putting some Google Ads would have started a revenue stream.

We did try to monetize the site -- if you take a look at it now, it's got Google Adsense ads all over the place on it. In the program guide, on the TV shows database pages, on the search results page. Sure, we might have tried more ads or tried different ad networks other than Google Adsense. But it just looked like doing those things wasn't going to get us anywhere.

From a product strategy standpoint, a web-based program guide is kind of a tease. Sure you get to read information about TV shows, but you don't get the TV shows themselves. As more and more stuff is available through web, what people are using the web for (when it comes to television) is, well, *watching* television shows. And I'm not saying that there aren't people who use web-based program guides every day and get a lot of value out of them -- there are, but it's not an increasing number of people. We had ideas for Couchville that would take it beyond just a program guide. We thought about turning it into a social network so people could connect around TV shows that they watched. We thought about making it so users could edit program guide data to make it better a la imbd (and in turn use that better data in Beyond TV). We thought about making it the best online program guide for DVR owners (ie integration with different DVRs, including Beyond TV). So there were lots of ideas but when the business model for Couchville came under pressure in the past few months, when we realized that we couldn't keep doing it as a hobby and had to make a decision to really get behind it or abandon it and we decided on the latter in favor of focusing on our PC DVR software.

[joey2264]

I guess there are ads on the main page, sometimes, (either a single google ad in the corner or the Beyond TV non-ad). And there are a lot more ads on the detailed listing pages.

I certainly understand your reasoning, but I hope you can come to some kind of arrangement to allow the site to live on in some form in the future. It would be such a shame for all that work you put into the database to go to waste, and there really isn't another site with close to as good of an interface.

[rugby]

Why not embed it into BTV locally so that the webadmin could use it at least.

[EEdev]

chillexistence, I don't have the exact schedule, but we'll probably take it down in the next couple of days. On your original suggestion of possibly keeping the site up for Beyond TV users, we made the decision to not do this.

*sigh* First the Pats blow the SBowl and now this...what's next - a puppy runs under the wheels of my car?
I can't express how, as a long term SnapStream customer & upgrader, how disappointing it is to hear this won't be offered to at least those of us who have promoted & stood by StrapStream's value added to it's customers (which isn't always easy given the letdown the stagnant BeyondMedia suite has been). While this would have made an excellent replacement for the SS.net UI as it stands (in isolation) it is an enormous value added for those of us trying to plan our PVR programming & viewing.

As an engineer and small business owner I certainly get the trade-offs involved in picking projects, and the pros to allocating more resource to existing product lines, but given what discussed it would seem the heavy lifting of the couch are done and this is more a matter of bandwidth/serving costs and maintenance, no? I also get that there may have been grand plans for couchville that no longer look tenable but I'm not sure that's what your existing customers would care about. I guess can only hope that we users WILL be re-considered as candidates for such preferential services as couchville OR that all that achieved through the Couchville UI (not perfect but awesome in utility) would at least be transferred to the .net UI. Yea, now you've done it - you've hooked us on a great convenience and utility that you're now pulling away like Lucy with the football. This fall will be hard - open to suggestions for how I'll be able to find out the odd schedules for Sci Channel & DIY/PBS programmes.
B
Beyond TV licensee & payer of upgrades
Beyond Media licensee
Firefly and multi card purchaser through SS sales.
Couchville addict

[Kilrsat]

Rolling a Couchville style guide into the SnapStream.Net site (or even Beyond TV's Web Admin) are still options that are on the table. What Rakesh specifically is referring to is keeping the actual Couchville site up.

[rugby]

Rolling a Couchville style guide into the SnapStream.Net site (or even Beyond TV's Web Admin) are still options that are on the table. What Rakesh specifically is referring to is keeping the actual Couchville site up.


If you could get the couchville guide into btv and have the functionality of snapstream.net into it that would ROCK.

[Gary King]

I just want to point out that, one of the main reasons that I use Couchville is because it supports Canadian listings. Most online TV guides do NOT support Canadian listings (Zap2it is the only one that I can think of, but I prefer Couchville's dragging style and ability to see information on specific episodes.)

(Also, as others have pointed out, I highly value the 'Buzz' page - most other online TV guides DON'T have this feature. It's really useful when I just want to see what's popular today and watch only one show instead of flipping through the guide to see what's on.)

[rakeshagrawal]

An update: as of a few minutes ago, Couchville has been taken down.

[Fickey]

Yes, buzz isn't going away - most likely it'll go back to being hosted on www.snapstream.net (that's where it was before couchville)...Is there an ETA for when/where BTV Buzz is expected to reappear?

[rakeshagrawal]

It now resides here:
http://www.snapstream.net/Buzz.aspx

[EEdev]

"It now resides here:"


What does? I saw only Buzz statisitics.
Don't tease us!
B
(who's experiencing severe Couchville withdrawrals & phantom pain)

[JUSTiNB]

...And... it's gone. This sucks.


:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

[Tired_]

*sigh* So, is it a new Prison Break tonight?

[Nick Burns]

Yes, season finale, too.

[gregz]

Hello!
Since it has been shut down...What do you recommend as the "Official Couchville Replacement"?

Who will now retain the crown as the best one out there?

How about a list of sites?

Thanks!
Greg

[Tired_]

I've been using snapstream.net since Couchville closed. I had forgotten how old, slow, ugly, and idiosyncratic that site was. Apparently Vista Home Premium has a listings subscription built in to it...I'll probably use that once my new system arrives.

(Note: new system would have needed a BTV and BTV Link license, if you hadn't given me a reason to check out Microsoft's service by killing Couchville. That's, what, $80 down the tubes?)

[EEdev]

Hi Greg,
Yea, still having phantom main from the amputation of couchville but here's what I've been using as a sub (mostly to enhance setting my PVRs and DVD recorder and planning what to watch when not infront of em):

TitanTV.com:
* The Bad - more clicky than couchville click & drag, No nice summaries of up & coming (i.e. repeat) showings of programs, only goes back ~1 day (that nice "hey what was that show I was watching last weekend" thing that couchville somewhat allowed for (TiVo not so bad in that regard too)), Can't customize channels of interest by 1st clearing all and then adding ones you care about (couchville got this right). Slow load times (every time you change time frames), kinda has a windows 3.1 look to it (LOL).
* The Good - Though one can't drag schedules horizontally at least one can fit up to 6 hours horizontally and around 7 or so shows vertically and then click in 6 hour increments or set a specific time & date (at the top) easily. Lets you see all predefined channels with quick page scrolling, and as a final good - they haven't taken it away from us!! <big wink>

TvGuide.com:
* The Bad - Limited to 3 hour width.
* The Good - Pretty much the same as Titan - IMO a little easier on the eyes (fonts & colors) Lots of channel customizing functions etc, cool little channel icons for context.

Snapstream.net
* Bad - log in, crude looking (fair given we know Couchville the potential), controls & options rather clicky based (again we know the scroll options possible).
* The Good - interactive with BeyondTV scheduling....other than that meh....I'll leave it for those who use it more often to add detail to this list (though a BeyondTV & BeyondMedia owner they're not getting much use these days over my TiVos or WindowsMCE box).

Add to the list folks! And if anyone at SS is listening - the Couchville IP really need be integrated into SS.net (if not the BTV GUIs) - you spoiled us with click drag scrolling and convenient upcoming show listings.
TGIF

[Darkk]

Whoops...NM

[ChefJoe]

Guys, just an FYI... I recently bought a copy of beyondTV and Link for a friend's wedding gift and there's still a couchville banner/link at the order confirmation page.

[myktek]

Guys, just an FYI... I recently bought a copy of beyondTV and Link for a friend's wedding gift and there's still a couchville banner/link at the order confirmation page.

thanks for the heads up, i'll get that taken care of.

[rugby]

Those of you who miss couchville, check out the public beta. Yes, it actually DOES something now.

;)

[chillexistence]

What public beta? I just noticed that snapstream.net is using the Couchville interface, much better :)

Those of you who miss couchville, check out the public beta. Yes, it actually DOES something now.

;)

[Terminal]

What public beta?

It's not in Beta anymore it's being used in the current released version.

[Darkk]

What public beta? I just noticed that snapstream.net is using the Couchville interface, much better :)

Snapstream.net is NOT using the Couchville interface, they moved that directly into the BTV's web admin page. I'm happy to see they made this move for us to use.

Darkk