Please provide a Grid view for Interactive TV Guide !

[jorkrim]

I have just started using IceTV and I am having real trouble avoiding recording conflicts with you Interactive TV Guide.

Firstly, a grid view (as a appears on the PVR or say http://yourtv.com.au) would solve most of my probs.

Even without a grid view, if I program 3 simultaneous records, why can't the TV Guide warn me immediately and prompt me to resolve ? As it stands at the moment, I have to wait up to half an hour to hear back from the PVR if there are conflicts, and even then, most of the time it doesn't mark them accurately as conflicts, it just leaves them as Queued and nothing gets sceduled.

Unless Interactive becomes more user-friendly I really can see it being of much use to me :(.

[strangr]

well we hope that grid view has been included in the recent up date of ice-tv, but i really begin now to think that it has not. after all the day is almost half over and the only thing i've really seen in the update is that i have to re-set all of my series programs for some reason, but really see no major improvment elsewhere.

[Trial_Master]

well we hope that grid view has been included in the recent up date of ice-tv, but i really begin now to think that it has not. after all the day is almost half over and the only thing i've really seen in the update is that i have to re-set all of my series programs for some reason, but really see no major improvment elsewhere.

The HD/SD options for Series Recordings is a major update!!

[strangr]

there was an option like that before, i could set prefer HD or Prefer SD, so why is it a major update.

The Important thing for ICETV is to make the view of the guide easy for users to see what they are recording and a list view just does not cut it, you need a landscape grid view by timeslot not a running minute. similar to that of yourtv.com.au.

you almost got so close, by allowing us to view just one channel, how about letting us put another channel side by side, so close to a grid view.

[Trial_Master]

there was an option like that before, i could set prefer HD or Prefer SD, so why is it a major update.

You could do it for Keyword recordings, the major update to Series Recordings was released this morning.

Did you read the last paragraph of the email you received? Sounds promising too me.

In terms of the new features that will be made available as of tomorrow via the IceTV Interactive website, mini mobile phone site (m.icetv.com.au), IceTV iPhone app & IceTV (Dashboard) Widget… this is only the tip of the ice-berg!

Don’t panic… more information will follow shortly… so stay tuned!

[strangr]

well i hope a grid view is coming soon. It's the clincher for me, it just how a tv guide should look, it is how it has always looked. So lets hope that the final paragrah in the email does mean something because so many companies say that just to keep suspense when nothing is really coming. Lets hope ICETV is different, and soon follows the masses.

[A_G]

Actually there is merit in having the TV guide like it is. It is easy to see exactly what is on at the same time as the shows are all grouped together. IceTV is doing a great job and shouldn't be given ultimatums. The service they provide is brilliant and far and away better than FTA guides and manually setting timers.

I admit there are some issues and quirks but once you get used to them you work around them. It is worth it! Unlike most companies today they really do value customer service and try and help any one with a problem.

It's the clincher for me, it just how a tv guide should look, it is how it has always looked.

That doesn't mean that the way it has always been is right. I dare say that grid TV guides were invented for the purpose of putting them in newspapers! Times change. I agree that a gridded guide can be handy but so is the current format.

[prl]

I've yet to see a grid EPG/online guide that was anything like as easy to read as a printed guide. The printed guide has it all over a screen-based guide on resolution (pixels/cm) and total number of pixels, and this affects how much information can easily be made available in a single glance over the guide.

[strangr]

That doesn't mean that the way it has always been is right. I dare say that grid TV guides were invented for the purpose of putting them in newspapers! Times change. I agree that a gridded guide can be handy but so is the current format.

And thats the point i raise, grid style, or list style with all networks side by side forming a grid or something relevant to a grid is the way the tv guide has always been presented to them, so to attract new customers would you not want to make the guide so much more like what they are used to in appearance. Thats why most people stick with Windows OS because the GUI is similar to what they've always known.

It's the same with TV guides, i always buy the sunday herald sun (melb) because their TV guide is far better and easier to read then the Age's Version, and this is the way people will view the guide. They look at the list view and it looks nothing like they are used to.

My two cents worth.

[grahford]

I would love to have a grid guide.  Like the one on the about page, (media centre isn't it?) http://www.icetv.com.au/about/

I've had a few incidents lately where I was unaware I had clashes and things didn't record properly.  With a grid layout I wouldn't need a notepad and pen, a clock and a calculator to work out the clashes by hand </exaggeration :) >

[tonymy01]

With a grid layout I wouldn't need a notepad and pen, a clock and a calculator to work out the clashes by hand </exaggeration :) >

Now that you mention it, that kind of thing would be handy, I have a similar experience.   I don't mind the way they group the timeslots, but having them side by side rather than vertically aligned like in the Widget and the web makes it difficult to see if the red dots are even close to each other.   Would also be handy if you could setup a "number of tuners" preference at ICE so that it doesn't simply schedule 3 or 4 things at once and leave it up to your PVR to fight it out amongst which ones it chooses to implement.

[prl]

...Would also be handy if you could setup a "number of tuners" preference at ICE so that it doesn't simply schedule 3 or 4 things at once and leave it up to your PVR to fight it out amongst which ones it chooses to implement.

That would need a fairly sophisticated model of the recorder's tuner allocation algorithm, including a model of padding, particularly the "hard" "soft padding" priorities in the Beyonwiz like pre- and post-padding priority, which can reserve a timer unconditionally outside of the scheduled time slot for a program. IceTV would also need to know all the padding settings to make this work. The Beyonwiz is also known for the, let's say, quirky nature of its tuner allocation algorithm in some firmware versions.

[Trial_Master]

...Would also be handy if you could setup a "number of tuners" preference at ICE so that it doesn't simply schedule 3 or 4 things at once and leave it up to your PVR to fight it out amongst which ones it chooses to implement.

That would need a fairly sophisticated model of the recorder's tuner allocation algorithm, including a model of padding, particularly the "hard" "soft padding" priorities in the Beyonwiz like pre- and post-padding priority, which can reserve a timer unconditionally outside of the scheduled time slot for a program. IceTV would also need to know all the padding settings to make this work. The Beyonwiz is also known for the, let's say, quirky nature of its tuner allocation algorithm in some firmware versions.

prl

I'm curious how the BW latest firmware (I'm not using it due to H1 issue) now handles tuner allocation. Have they improved the situation?

[grahford]

That would need a fairly sophisticated model of the recorder's tuner allocation algorithm, including a model of padding, particularly the "hard" "soft padding" priorities in the Beyonwiz like pre- and post-padding priority, which can reserve a timer unconditionally outside of the scheduled time slot for a program. IceTV would also need to know all the padding settings to make this work. The Beyonwiz is also known for the, let's say, quirky nature of its tuner allocation algorithm in some firmware versions.

I would just like to say to it, "I have 2 tuners.  Please let me know if I've accidentally set 3 shows to record at the same time.  Don't worry about padding, just let me know if the scheduled start and end times overlap.  I'll work it out by hand if I'm aware of a possible issue.  An email alert would be great.  Ta."

[grahford]

I would just like to say to it, "I have 2 tuners.  Please let me know if I've accidentally set 3 shows to record at the same time.  Don't worry about padding, just let me know if the scheduled start and end times overlap.  I'll work it out by hand if I'm aware of a possible issue.  An email alert would be great.  Ta."

Now that I've said that, it might be useful to also say "I normally pad the end of a show by 30 minutes.  So if you could just shoot me a line if it looks like that could cause an overlap that would be super.  Don't do anything, just let me know."