Muting ads

[SJ2571]

So, whatever happened to Ice being able to mute commercial breaks?

[prl]

So, whatever happened to Ice being able to mute commercial breaks?

What gave you the idea that it would be able to?

[bruiser333]

In the early days, there was talk about other services Ice may provide (ie other than an EPG), including the ability to automatically skip or hush advertisements by using some sort of wireless transmissions to users STBs.

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=7819&hl=icetv

[prl]

Currently it doesn't even "react to late-running TV programs". The subscription is in the range suggested by the CNET article ($2-3/week, actual subscription ~$1.90-$3.00/week), but none of the fancy features in the article (ICE Hush, ICE Surf or ICE Nanny) are available; certainly not to my Beyonwiz.

[Marc]

These features would need to happen during playback: this is entirely in the domain of the PVR or Media Center. Right now our focus is on easier searching of the TV guide and making recording TV more convenient.

I'd say the chance of Ice Hush becoming a reality is very slim. Sorry.

[bruiser333]

These features would need to happen during playback: this is entirely in the domain of the PVR or Media Center. Right now our focus is on easier searching of the TV guide and making recording TV more convenient.

I'd say the chance of Ice Hush becoming a reality is very slim. Sorry.

I didn't say in my previous post, but I'm pretty sure I recall that some time ago the news broke that these services wouldn't eventuate, and that Ice would concentrate on it's EPG and related bits & pieces. I'm certainly not holding out for it in any case.

[SJ2571]

> What gave you the idea that it would be able to?

A personal demo a few years back, where I saw it in action. Seems to have gone the way of the Dodo. Shame then.

[pvogel]

Quite right - before IceTV there was ZapTV and in the early days I demonstrated a STB that had a separate volume control for the ads.  Th eearliest public demontsration of this dates back to 1994 on an ABC TV show called "Great Idea".   

Potential investors, however, did not think this was a great idea as they thought that it was a fast track to court. 

As it turned out even the humble EPG proved too much for the networks, so they were probably right.

Peter Vogel

[prl]

When we're watching live TV, we use the input source buttons on the remote for the amp to switch over to ABC FM, which is usually fine, except when Julian Day is playing Mad Music :)

[j s]

Potential investors, however, did not think this was a great idea as they thought that it was a fast track to court. 

More likely they realised that any such device could be easily "broken" by the networks (by tweaking whatever attributes the device was testing for.

[pvogel]

Well, the system worked by someone physicaly monitoring the broadcasts, for exactly the reason you identified. Sounds clunky, but it actually worked!

[SJ2571]

> Potential investors, however, did not think this was a great idea as
> they thought that it was a fast track to court

That's insane. There's no law that says a home owner can't have a device
that mutes the ads. People panic over nothing and we miss out as a result.

[mtb]

I believe that in Europe there are some Taps for the Topfield which can trigger an ad. skip/mute function based on the audio type - 2.0 or mono for adverts and 5.1 for the programmes.  As has been said though, the networks would soon twig to this and tweak accordingly.

We find the simplest thing is never to watch live TV any more, let the Toppy and Ice combo. record all our favourites and watch at our leisure, skipping the ad's as the appear.

[SJ2571]

> the networks would soon twig to this and tweak accordingly

The best way is to just check for the presence of the bug (station logo). On = programme, off = adverts. Then the networks can't tweak at all without removing the bug altogether -- but that means the consumer wins, and they won't have any bar of that! ;)