Comcast banners in the guide

[queonda]

I was looking through the comcast guide and notice they put a advertisment banner in the bottom of the screen. This is when you look at the guide in full screen. I was PI$$3d. Now I can only see 4 lines (channels) of what's showing!

Has anyone else noticed this?

I guess I'm pissed cuz I pay them to use the box and they want to force ads down my throat.

[btvfreak]

Yup, just noticed this last night on the HD DVR box. Good thing I rarely use it.

[queonda]

My wife told me the banners are no longer there! I complained and I'm sure they had a lot of compaints.

[btvfreak]

Story at PVRBlog:
http://www.pvrblog.com/pvr/2006/08/comcast_adding_.html

[rakeshagrawal]

Let's say Comcast was going to run ads no matter what... Where do you think it *would* be acceptable to do some targeted advertising within a PVR interface?

Bunch of screenshots here of Beyond TV to feed your thinking:
http://www.snapstream.com/products/b...v/features.asp

This is a question that I've always tossed around in my head as I've thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we could give Beyond TV away for free and just make money on targeted advertising... advertising, in turn, that was actually useful/helpful to users."

[queonda]

Originally Posted by rakeshagrawal

Let's say Comcast was going to run ads no matter what... Where do you think it *would* be acceptable to do some targeted advertising within a PVR interface?

Bunch of screenshots here of Beyond TV to feed your thinking:
http://www.snapstream.com/products/b...v/features.asp

This is a question that I've always tossed around in my head as I've thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we could give Beyond TV away for free and just make money on targeted advertising... advertising, in turn, that was actually useful/helpful to users."

If you got it free, sure put ads. but don't put ads when I'm paying for a service and box rental.

[btvfreak]

I don't really like to see advertising, but if it were a free product, then I suppose I'd understand. However, there's only so much I could take before I'd ditch the product all together. I guess as long as it didn't interfere with things, then I'd be fine. The Comcast ads interfere though since they remove 1 line of programming info in the guide.

BTW...I still see them on my Motorola box.

[Jakesty]

Another form of Ads that I hate is while I'm watching a show, the station decides to advertise upcoming programs like Steven Segal, Jackie Chan or Monk. It takes up the lower corner of the screen, usually has motion and sometimes has sound.
This one really Pi$$es me off too.

[geoffstewart]

<rant>
Up here in Canada, the annoying ads at the bottom of screen are moving as well... advertising what show is on next. That in itself is annoying, but the worst case was when the stupid ad was covering up subtitles so you couldn't actually get what was said.... granted, it was family guy, but STILL! grrrrr.... I hate global for that (global is name of the TV network)
</rant>

[Mistergq]

Another reason I call them ConCast! I can't wait until Verizon FIOS gets to my neighborhood. I live in a condo units next to a 1000 unit apartment complex. I just don't understand why we are a low priority to Verizon because they are going to get about 25% between both complexes.

As to those ads, yes they are annoying. I hate when they have sound. I hate that they animate. It is bad enough there is 18 minutes worth of commercials, do we really need commercials during shows?

[MarcP]

Originally Posted by rakeshagrawal

This is a question that I've always tossed around in my head as I've thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we could give Beyond TV away for free and just make money on targeted advertising... advertising, in turn, that was actually useful/helpful to users."

It's a trade-off and one I would accept. Free, but ads supported? Sure!

But in the case of my cable provider, I pay a monthly fee for cable access PLUS a rental fee for the PVR PLUS a monthly PVR fee (yes, Rogers in Canada charges that) so there's NO excuse to cut a big portion of our EPG screen space for ads.

I saw in an email that BTV 4.4 is the last of the free updates. So I guess BTV 5.0 is next. If 5.0 was free with reasonable advertising (i.e not intrusive to the point of ruining the experience), I'd be okay with it. And if an ad-free version was available for a fee, I'd be okay with that too.

[pwlong]

Originally Posted by MarcP

I saw in an email that BTV 4.4 is the last of the free updates.

Really? Since when? Do you have any additional information on this?

[rakeshagrawal]

Beyond TV 4.4 will most likely not be the last update to Beyond TV 4. So if we miscommunicated something, please let me know about it.

[pwlong]

Thanks for the confirmation, Rakesh. I suppose I would like clarification on the following, and can only guess others may too:

I joined the SnapStream "family" by purchasing BTV 3.7.4, and of course, received the 4.0 upgrade and subsequent point releases for no additional charge. Does that arrangement expire at some point, when I'll need to purchase an upgrade license for a future 'major release' of BTV? Or perhaps you folks (SnapStream) are still contemplating such a possibility, but have not yet made a decision? Enquiring minds would very much like to know... ;-)

To weigh in on the ad-supported licensing model idea: I would personally opt to pay for an ad-free license over an ad-supported one, and here's why:

SnapStream has done a fantastic job, IMHO, of "freeing" me from the bonds of external control of my TV viewing: Non-proprietary file formats, for starters. SmartSkip. Unlimited tuner support. Client-server architecture. Seamless, configurable, stateful media distribution that matched my "wish list" feature set very nearly to the letter. Overall performance and stability. No monthly fees. Willingness to involve community developers into the product lifecycle. Very attentive, responsive, and diligent customer service. Face it, folks: BTV puts the competition to shame. It would seem contrary to the whole philosphy of the thing to opt _into_ an ad-supported version of the software, which would, IMO, taint the overall feel of refinement of the product.

But I *LOVE* this software and what it does for me, and want SnapStream to succeed and prosper, so long as their dedication to the quality of the product and their customer base doesn't get lost in the shuffle. So I will pay to stay ad-free, as long as I'm given the option.

So Rakesh: are you feeling the love? My one regret is that I'm not closer to the SnapStream offices, because I'd be all over the in-house customer product testing thing you guys have going on right now.

[rakeshagrawal]

Originally Posted by pwlong

Thanks for the confirmation, Rakesh. I suppose I would like clarification on the following, and can only guess others may too:

I joined the SnapStream "family" by purchasing BTV 3.7.4, and of course, received the 4.0 upgrade and subsequent point releases for no additional charge. Does that arrangement expire at some point, when I'll need to purchase an upgrade license for a future 'major release' of BTV? Or perhaps you folks (SnapStream) are still contemplating such a possibility, but have not yet made a decision? Enquiring minds would very much like to know... ;-)

Here's how we make decisions like that... Let's say that Beyond TV 8 comes out on May 12, 2016. We'd probably offer a free upgrade to anyone who purchased within 30 or 60 days of that release. Or let's say we announce Beyond TV 8 on February 15, 2016 -- in that announcement we might offer a free upgrade to Beyond TV 8 for anyone that purchases Beyond TV 7 on or after that date.

This is similar to what we did between Beyond TV 3 and 4 -- we announced Beyond TV 4 sometime in late July 2005 and everyone who bought it after got a free upgrade to Beyond TV 4 when it was released on early November.

So based on what you told me, Beyond TV 5 will most likely be something that you will have to pay to upgrade to.