Display Limited to 1.5 hours and 5 Stations?

[kevkf]

Hi, I am a new trial user. I just signed up today, and very much would like to purchase this product. It would make things a whole lot easier. I have the Hauppauge USB 2.0 tuner.

My question is:

- Is there any way to show more than just 1.5 hours and 5 channels on one display screen?????

If so, then please tell me how as I've looked all over for what I would think would be an obvious feature.

If not, then please tell me because then I will look no further and go back to manually programming my recording times. It would be unbelievable that they would only show such a "tunnel vision" view. I would like to see about as much as I can show on a web page listing like the Titan TV web listing that comes with the tuner.

Anyone please e-mail me with an answer -- I like immediate gratification :-) something hopefully this product will give me via more information / page.

Kevin

[Neilm]

I don't think the EPG display is configurable, but I presume you've seen the little navigation icon at the top of the display (the 4 direction arrows- pressing each lobe moves the EPG in that direction)

An alternative is a proper Web based EPG display like This one from LMGestion

[Seattlite]

You can also use your keyboard arrow keys (4 directions) and mouse wheel (2 up/down).

[frantid]

You can do remote recordings using snapstream.net. you can see all the channels and see different themed groupings. Just setup to retrieve remote recordings with the web admin.

[kevkf]

Thanks -- I went to snapstream.net with my trial e-mail/password, and can now see 2 hours and all the channels. I really want to see 6 hours and all the channels, but 2 hours is a vast improvement. I doubt I will buy Beyond TV with its limited "tunnel vision". Is there a good competitor product? A friend mentioned Sage TV but I haven't tried it yet.

If there's anything about remote recordings that I need to know please tell me. I tried to record a program already in progress but it wouldn't do that. I also set one to record in 20 min at 10am -- will see if it automatically records that.

[kevkf]

I saw and used the navigation arrows. Pretty pathetic I think. The arrows are fine, but if I want to look at what is available for an evening and then record, what a horrible interface!!! Give us more than just 5 lines and 1.5 hours -- I have been past using VGA screens for about a decade now!!!

[kevkf]

Woo hoo, using my keyboard to spend a few hours tooling around to see if there's something i'd like to record, instead of a nice hi-res interface. I mean, c'mon, is this an april fools day joke -- is this *really* the interface they have???

[Kilrsat]

You're going to be disappointed by all the interfaces then. Every program is limited in the channels or time they display.

Some quick glances at screenshots of various ones have shown
5 channels x 1.5hrs
5 channels x 1.5hrs
5 channels x 2hrs
7 channels x 1.5hrs

If you take a look at the poll here: Do you have a PC connected to your TV?

You'd see that 86% of the BTV users have a TV connected to the PC. Given that SDTVs are limited in what resolutions they display and the fact that you're trying to read the text from 10ft away, you now know why the guide display is presented as it is. You also now know why every other program will present the guide data in the same fashion.

[merrypig]

How surprising then, that almost all satellite / cable channel guides I've seen show slightly more on the same display.

[Kilrsat]

My satellite guide shows 5 channels x 2 hrs.

I'll give credit to TiVo for showing 8 channels x 1.5hrs.

But if you can point out to me a guide designed for viewing on a tv that shows more than 10 channels (including a little summary banner for the current selection) or more than 3 hrs, I'd like to see it.

[nanook105]

Originally Posted by Kilrsat

My satellite guide shows 5 channels x 2 hrs.

I'll give credit to TiVo for showing 8 channels x 1.5hrs.

But if you can point out to me a guide designed for viewing on a tv that shows more than 10 channels (including a little summary banner for the current selection) or more than 3 hrs, I'd like to see it.

I don't know if I'd like to see it, because I probably couldn't read it on my TV

[merrypig]

hey, I said slightly

[kevkf]

It amazes me that all the interfaces would be that way. While I understand having the option of showing very large text is good for people who are remote, there are some people like myself that set up, record, and watch from their laptop.

I can use many TV guides to get a lot of info. on the screen at once. It is a shame that Beyond TV / Snapper don't do that. I would really like to give them my business but it's not worth it to view schedules in tunnel vision

[jkoon]

kevkf,

Don’t forget there are other ways to view upcoming shows. The full screen interface also gives you the ability to search for show titles or keywords in the show description.


I think the best solution for your needs is to view the program guide through http://www.snapstream.net/ The website’s interface can be configured to display all of your channels and up to 5 hours of guide data per page.

From this website, you can schedule recordings by clicking on the appropriate icon (for record once, first run, and record all). Depending on how you have the remote recording settings configured on the site BTV will either grab the recording immediately or when it checks the website to see if you have schedule anything (I think it checks every 5min). Because it periodically checks the website for recordings, you can schedule a recording from any pc that has internet access (not just the machine with BTV installed).

[frantid]

kevkf,

Go to myaccount on snapstream.net and set your page size to large, this will give you the option of 5 hours per page. Also if your using a trial, you should be going to trial.snapstream.net -- sorry I forgot that one - you can only schedule in the future not present. I believe it may check about every 15 minutes.