BTV Suggestions

[risen]

I recently checked out several PVR software, and I'm proud to announce that I selected to purchase BeyondTV above all the others. It simply "felt" the best overall. Congrats to the development team for a great product!

That said, there are a few things I think would take BTV a step beyond where it is now.

First up, Reminders/Bookmarks. There is currently a "record episode" feature in the guide menu, however reminders would add another dimension to this. Perhaps I dont necessarily want to record it, but I just want to be reminded that it's on. Would be nice to get a little blurb alerting me when the show comes on, and giving me the option to switch to that channel. If I have multiple "reminders" set for the same time, be able to choose. And if I go to my "reminder" list at any time, it could show me which ones are airing now and coming up soon, give me the ability to go to that channel, remove a reminder, etc. -- Similar to what some of the newer Digital Cable boxes do,

I'm sure Comcast Digital users will understand where I'm coming from with that.


Second, a couple of "PIP" (picture in picture) modes would be nice. For instance a small square in a configurable corner of my screen, only slightly opaque so I can be watching TV but still see what I'm working on in a full screen. A semi-transparent overlay, if you will.

Another PIP mode might be to just integrate with the desktop -- have BTV running in the desktop window and if I open another window, btv is still there in the background as my "wallpaper".


Well, thanks again for a great product, and I do hope you're open to customer suggestions. These are just a couple things that I would put BTV yet another notch above the competition.




--edit:

ok, forgot another one.

It would also be great to be able to set different recording qualities for different shows. I might not need a great quality for most shows, but would be nice to set a higher-quality preset for some!

Thanks again!

[mayhem70]

You might want to explore the Webadmin aspect of the software. Much of what you are looking for (sans PIP) is available through that. I also believe once you have scheduled a recording, you can go back and edit it/change the recording quality from default to what you want.

[risen]

Well the Rec Quality thing does appear to be in the Web admin, but it would still be nicer be able to specify the quality per-show in the TV interface.

but... I didn't see anything in reference to Reminders or PIP in there
...

[queonda]

You can set different record qualities for upcoming recording or future recordings through web admin and through BTV menu; go to setup recordings and go to edit details.

[mayhem70]

As far as the reminder function, I think it's an interesting suggestion. But with Tivo, you have a "fixed" disk space and why reminders would be necessary. You can just easily add more disk space and thus record more on a pc unit.
And the PIP option in the guide/EPG has been requested, but I think you were just looking for video transparency.

[risen]

Originally Posted by mayhem70

As far as the reminder function, I think it's an interesting suggestion. But with Tivo, you have a "fixed" disk space and why reminders would be necessary. You can just easily add more disk space and thus record more on a pc unit.
And the PIP option in the guide/EPG has been requested, but I think you were just looking for video transparency.

Well not all of us have "unlimited" disk space, hehe. And would still like to keep a list of whats on and coming up without necessarily recording it. Just a little list of stuff of interest to me. And they'd get deleted as they end. I don't think its unreasonable at all, common sense at least to me.


The PIP i was talking about was just a basic dock and transparency, yeah. And the other mode was to just "become" my wallpaper. No window borders just plug into my desktop/wallpaper and draw there (not including the taskbar of course). I think both would be cool, I think I saw another PVR which does the transparency one but I can't remember which.

Thought of something else too.. why is it that I can't just hit "record" like a "record now dangit" button? That one seems like common sense too. There is record this episode, etc. But what if I want to just use it like a VCR and "record now, until i say stop". Or it could even prompt for how long.

Hey dont get me wrong I'm not complaining! Its a great program. Just some stuff I've thought would be nice and haven't found.

[queonda]

Originally Posted by risen

The PIP i was talking about was just a basic dock and transparency, yeah. And the other mode was to just "become" my wallpaper. No window borders just plug into my desktop/wallpaper and draw there (not including the taskbar of course). I think both would be cool, I think I saw another PVR which does the transparency one but I can't remember which.

Thought of something else too.. why is it that I can't just hit "record" like a "record now dangit" button? That one seems like common sense too. There is record this episode, etc. But what if I want to just use it like a VCR and "record now, until i say stop". Or it could even prompt for how long.

The ATI software allowed you to do that back in the day, don't know if it still does.

There is a manual record or record now through web admin. Also, if you watching live tv, you can hit the record button and will record the show.

[Fonceur]

Originally Posted by risen

First up, Reminders/Bookmarks.

I would love that too, but mostly as a way to make my life easier for the external recordings...