New IceTV branded PVR

Started by Mantorok, July 17, 2013, 01:13:43 PM

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Paul55

Quote from: Mantorok on July 24, 2013, 01:02:30 PM
Since the Ice staff are monitoring this topic I thought I'd kick off with a list of features I'd like to see in the new "Icebox":

PVR Features:

  • Date and Time syncing with time servers (the broadcast time can be wrong which stuffs up timers)
  • Automatic handling of Daylight Savings including its impact on EPG and timers (ie. no need to clear EPG caches and resending timers)
  • Pre and Post padding to handle early/late running of TV shows
  • Consecutive timers with padding on the same LCN should not leave a small gap between the recordings. The recordings should overlap in this case.
  • Concurrent recordings on the same network but different LCNs should only use one tuner leaving the other(s) free (although with 4 tuners maybe this is not that important)
That's probably enough from me for now. Anyone else like to add the features they'd like to be included?

ESSENTIAL:
SKIPPING User programmable skipping as per Beyonwiz or a TAPped Toppy. You won't be selling one to me, if it doesn't have skip.

Highly Desirable:
Ability to transfer recordings to external HDD via USB.
Enough power at the USB port to run a portable HDD.
FTP capable e.g. Filezilla
TAP like capability to take advantage of the skills of end users to enhance the product.

Heinz

Thanks for your input. It's going in our specification "hopper" :)

csutak40

Quote from: RoderickGI on July 26, 2013, 12:20:18 PM


Bottom line: You have been playing around with PVRs and TEDS as long as I have, based on how long I have seen you on forums, and you have been able to make them work. So if you have built a Windows 7 HTPC, do yourself a favour and have a look at J River Media Center. http://www.jriver.com/ Take a long look, because they provide a 30 day trial, and you might need that long to be convinced. Enjoy.

Thank you for that - will have a look at it, if/when I sort out the rest of my mess  ;D
Cheers,
Judy
Last Update Dec 9 2020; Beyonwiz V2, T2,

csutak40

    Quote from: Paul55 on July 31, 2013, 07:42:43 AM
    Quote from: Mantorok on July 24, 2013, 01:02:30 PM
    Since the Ice staff are monitoring this topic I thought I'd kick off with a list of features I'd like to see in the new "Icebox":

    PVR Features:

    • Date and Time syncing with time servers (the broadcast time can be wrong which stuffs up timers)
    • Automatic handling of Daylight Savings including its impact on EPG and timers (ie. no need to clear EPG caches and resending timers)
    • Pre and Post padding to handle early/late running of TV shows
    • Consecutive timers with padding on the same LCN should not leave a small gap between the recordings. The recordings
      should overlap in this case.
    • Concurrent recordings on the same network but different LCNs should only use one tuner leaving the other(s) free (although with 4 tuners maybe this is not that important)
    That's probably enough from me for now. Anyone else like to add the features they'd like to be included?

    ESSENTIAL:
    SKIPPING User programmable skipping as per Beyonwiz or a TAPped Toppy. You won't be selling one to me, if it doesn't have skip.

    Highly Desirable:
    Ability to transfer recordings to external HDD via USB.
    Enough power at the USB port to run a portable HDD.
    FTP capable e.g. Filezilla
    TAP like capability to take advantage of the skills of end users to enhance the product.

    Well, in that case, I'll add my wish list, stolen (and slightly edited) from TED  :P


    • Timers can be set as either ongoing or OneTime Favourites. Both use extensive keywords and filters.
    • Keyword searching can be by the standard method or by regular expression (Regular Expressions provide a great deal of power to searches
    • Timers can have padding automatically applied to cater for programmes which may run over time.
    • Each Favourites entry has a number of options and filters which can be applied:
      /
      • Star Ratings which are used to resolve timer clashes.
      • A separate Repeat Rating applied to programme repeats.
      • Individual timer padding.
      • Title Abbreviations.
      • No Repeat filter (to exclude Repeat programmes).
      • Channel filter (programme must be on a certain channel).
      • Time filter (programme must start in a certain time period, eg. 8-9pm).
      • Day filter (programme must be on certain days).

    [li]Timers for adjacent programmes will be automatically joined to form a Sequential timer.[/li]
    [li]Title Abbreviations can be set for Timers. This is particularly useful for Sequential Timers where the joining of Timers may lead to an excessively long Timer name.[/li]
    [li]The Timers currently set on the PVR can be viewed.[/li]
    [li]The existing Recordings on the PVR can be viewed.[/li][/list]
    [li]Currently set Timers can be deleted from the PVR.[/li]
    [li]Resolve timer clashes by using the Star Ratings assigned in Favourites.[/li]
    [li]When Timers are uploaded to the PVR the Timer Upload Results (TUR) dialog shows the results, such as Timers which were not uploaded and the reason why, eg. Expired Timers, Duplicate Timers. It will also show how any timer clashes were resolved.[/li]
    [/list]
    Cheers,
    Judy
    Last Update Dec 9 2020; Beyonwiz V2, T2,

    IanL-S

    #19
    Quote from: Paul55 on July 31, 2013, 07:42:43 AM

    ESSENTIAL:
    SKIPPING User programmable skipping as per Beyonwiz or a TAPped Toppy. You won't be selling one to me, if it doesn't have skip.

    Highly Desirable:
    Ability to transfer recordings to external HDD via USB.
    Enough power at the USB port to run a portable HDD.
    FTP capable e.g. Filezilla
    TAP like capability to take advantage of the skills of end users to enhance the product.


    All of the above enhance the user experience. A robust and comprehensive add-on API that allows customisation and additional features (like Topfield TAPs) would be big selling feature for those looking at a high specification PVR. I assume that like most modern media players and PCRs the OS will be an Android based (the new Topfield TF-T6000 and the not so new TRF-2100 apparently run an OS based on Android), so it should be relatively easy to create such an API.

    Hardware wish list:
    1 Local network connection speeds can be critical; 10/100/1000 Ethernet and wireless b/g/n/ac should be included.
    2 Should also support USB 3 transfer speeds
    3 HDD dock, either 2.5 or 3.5, or combination.
    4 eSATA connection - given USB 3 probably redundant

    Ian
    IceTV: IceBox + BYOB IceBox + 2xTRF-2400 + 2xTF7100HDPVRtPlus + SKIPPA [RIP] + T2 + U4 + V2
    No IceTV: a few Toppys and T2
    Synology NAS
    Check out the oztoppy wiki and oztoppy Forum for Toppy help

    Mantorok

    Here's a couple more features related to HDMI I'd like to have included:


    • Support for automatic audio syncing (to remove lip sync issues between AV Receiver and TV)
    • Support for Consumer Electronics Control (HDMI-CEC)

    prl

    Quote from: IanL-S on August 01, 2013, 04:43:03 PM
    ... given USB 3 probably redundant ...
    I'm a bit puzzled by this claim. I couldn't find any Seagate or Western Digital eSATA capable external HDDs on their Australian Web pages. They do, however, have USB3.0/2.0 external HDDs. Same for Toshiba.

    I have an oldish 500GB WD My Book Home Edition that has USB2, Firewire 400 and eSATA, so WD did at some time have eSATA capable external drives.

    It looks to me as though the trend is away from eSATA.
    Peter
    Beyonwiz T4 in-use
    Beyonwiz T2, T3, T4, U4 & V2 for testing

    IanL-S

    Quote from: prl on August 05, 2013, 02:43:20 PM
    Quote from: IanL-S on August 01, 2013, 04:43:03 PM
    ... given USB 3 probably redundant ...
    I'm a bit puzzled by this claim. <<<snip...>>>

    It looks to me as though the trend is away from eSATA.

    Not as clearly expressed as it could be: I was trying to say the eSATA is probably redundant given penetration of USB 3 storage devices, and as pointed on in the above post, the difficulty of finding eSATA storage devices.

    Ian
    IceTV: IceBox + BYOB IceBox + 2xTRF-2400 + 2xTF7100HDPVRtPlus + SKIPPA [RIP] + T2 + U4 + V2
    No IceTV: a few Toppys and T2
    Synology NAS
    Check out the oztoppy wiki and oztoppy Forum for Toppy help

    prl

    Ah, OK. We find ourselves in vigorous agreement then :)
    Peter
    Beyonwiz T4 in-use
    Beyonwiz T2, T3, T4, U4 & V2 for testing

    gibster

    I'm looking forward to this. If it can have the Topfield capabilities, along with true quad tuner, and an ice interface that works every time I'd get one.

    I've been a Topfield user forever, and like some previous users posted I still use TED/TEDS with my TRF2400. The only real problem with my current setup is there are too many times that 3 interesting shows are on at the same time, or overlap by a few minutes and you can only record 2 events. Also the fact that keeping the TED/TEDS combo along with EPGUploader updated with channel changes is a PAIN.

    It definitely needs commercial skipping capabilities, whether automatic, or 1 minutes jumps forward and a 15 second back skip key.

    Also a 1.5 or 2.0 TB hard drive.

    Would also be nice to be able to substitute recording names in advance. Such as all the CSI's. With TED/TEDS I have it setup to rename the shows CSI Vegas, CSI NY, CSI Miami. It would also be nice to get the extended info for shows that are recorded in an extended times included instead of just  the info for the first recorded program.

    Would be nice as a Christmas Present this year, but I'll accept it as a Birthday Present on Jan. 22nd (I'll buy myself the present of course :)

    Gib
    BeyonWiz V2

    IanL-S

    Quote from: gibster on August 08, 2013, 04:24:43 PM
    <<<SNIP>>>

    Also a 1.5 or 2.0 TB hard drive.
    <<<SNIP>>>

    Would be nice as a Christmas Present this year, but I'll accept it as a Birthday Present on Jan. 22nd (I'll buy myself the present of course :)

    Gib

    Given the price difference between 2TB and 3TB AV drive, 3TB would be great (provided the OS supports drives of more than 2TB).

    Not sure if I'll be allowed such a birthday present. Currently have 4 active Toppys IceTV advantaged, with one in reserve.

    Ian
    IceTV: IceBox + BYOB IceBox + 2xTRF-2400 + 2xTF7100HDPVRtPlus + SKIPPA [RIP] + T2 + U4 + V2
    No IceTV: a few Toppys and T2
    Synology NAS
    Check out the oztoppy wiki and oztoppy Forum for Toppy help

    Paul55

    Quote from: gibster on August 08, 2013, 04:24:43 PM
    The only real problem with my current setup is there are too many times that 3 interesting shows are on at the same time, or overlap by a few minutes and you can only record 2 events.

    With PVRs so (comparatively) cheap these days, why not just buy another one to supplement the 2400? Then if one fails, you still have a backup. I'm sure the 4 tuner model being discussed will be more expensive than the current twin tuners.

    csutak40

    Quote from: IanL-S on August 08, 2013, 04:39:20 PM

    Would be nice as a Christmas Present this year, but I'll accept it as a Birthday Present on Jan. 22nd (I'll buy myself the present of course :)

    Given the price difference between 2TB and 3TB AV drive, 3TB would be great (provided the OS supports drives of more than 2TB).

    Ian

    ;D  I was going to suggest 4TB  :D
    Cheers,
    Judy
    Last Update Dec 9 2020; Beyonwiz V2, T2,

    csutak40

    Quote from: Paul55 on August 08, 2013, 05:36:38 PM
    Quote from: gibster on August 08, 2013, 04:24:43 PM
    The only real problem with my current setup is there are too many times that 3 interesting shows are on at the same time, or overlap by a few minutes and you can only record 2 events.

    With PVRs so (comparatively) cheap these days, why not just buy another one to supplement the 2400? Then if one fails, you still have a backup. I'm sure the 4 tuner model being discussed will be more expensive than the current twin tuners.

    I can only speak for myself, but using TED/S is becoming a bit of a pain and I have no doubt (so far so good) that MS will come out with a version that will no longer support TED and I am not sure that one can use TED on two machines, so I would LOVE a machine that would do the lot without having to fiddle with other things
    Cheers,
    Judy
    Last Update Dec 9 2020; Beyonwiz V2, T2,

    mcpaton

    I'd like it to be able to download Movie data from a movie database, or read movie metadata when streaming from an SMB connection.

    I'd also like an SMB availability to copy files off the box for archiving.

    As mentioned previously, Ad Skip keys are a must as are recording multiple shows from the same transport stream at a time without chewing up actual tuners.
    Guide Region: Regional Qld (Townsville)
    PVR: Beyonwiz DP-P2 & DP-H1