Questions on update frequency of IceTV Remote?

[marcusstringer]

That's great and all, but what's the point if it can't update your machine as soon as you make any changes.

I still haven't found out how much delay is on it???

Which is frustrating when I schedule a program to record 10 minutes before it suppose to start only to find it hasn't recorded.

So I think you guys should focus all you time on that, which will make it truly interactive... before you spend all you time making cosmetic changes...

BTW I'm using an iPhone   ;)

[Daniel Hall at IceTV]

For EyeTV the lowest you can set the automatic remote scheduling updates to is 1 hour.

For Windows (both XP and Vista) the remote scheduling updates happen every 15 minutes.

Either way scheduling something 10 minutes before it starts is highly unlikely to record the whole show.

If your system is not updating this quickly you may have a technical issue and should contact our support team to get it fixed.

[marcusstringer]

Either way scheduling something 10 minutes before it starts is highly unlikely to record the whole show.

Why not??

Why can't this be achieved? are there physical restraints that don't allow you to sent out a guide update as soon as a change has been made to it???

That way it's up to the user to determine whether or not they get these updates in a timely fashion.

Sorry for jumping on this thread, but it's driving be bonkers, if I at least knew what the restraints were, then I could counter for them...at the moment all I know is it's 15 minutes delay because we want it to be.

Is the 15 minute delay at your end or is it hardcoded in the machines, therefore there is nothing anyone can do about it

[Daniel Hall at IceTV]

I've split this topic off so it doesn't clutter up the other topic and make it easier to find for other users.

The way the system works is that the client on your PVR (whether this be IceTV Interactive or EyeTV) requests the data from our server a minimum of once every 15 minutes (in terms of EyeTV this would be once per hour as limited within EyeTV itself). There is no physical way for the IceTV server to contact your machine (their are both technical and security reasons that don't make this an option) if something gets scheduled, a list is kept on the server waiting for the next update from your device.

The 15 minutes itself is limited on the server as this was found to be the best compromise between server load and allowing as many updates as possible to allow the scheduling of shows to be made as late as possible.

[markb]

The way the system works is that the client on your PVR (whether this be IceTV Interactive or EyeTV) requests the data from our server a minimum of once every 15 minutes.

Daniel, why does the user have to configure the device type on the server side? If the device is contacting the server, then why doesn't the device-side software indicate what it is?

[marcusstringer]

(Windows XP MCE)

Well then that's not truly interactive...

I would have thought that a 1 minute interval would have been appropriate considering its a system designed to allow you record shows remotely.

I would have also thought if you going to introduce this feature then you would have the correct sever specs to be able to cope with the influx.


For example,

I'm out to dinner with some friends and we are talking about the latest episode of whatever. I then remember that it's on tonight and it starts in 5 minutes..
Don't worry I say to my wife, I have my mobile with me, I'll just record it from here, that way you can watch it when you get home.

No such luck apparently.

[Marc]

I would have thought that a 1 minute interval would have been appropriate considering its a system designed to allow you record shows remotely.

I would have also thought if you going to introduce this feature then you would have the correct sever specs to be able to cope with the influx.

There's several important things to note...

- The amount of server load goes up drastically when you reduce the time to something like 1 min. It really is at least 15 times the work.

- All that extra bandwidth and server load can be used on other cool things we're developing. Hopefully you'll enjoy the new features we're working on more than an extra 14 minutes accuracy for IceTV Remote.

- The interval is about 15 mins. That doesn't mean each request will take 15 mins to be sent home... if it's been 10 mins since the last request then your media center should get it in about 5 mins. However, we really didn't design the service to be something that works in realtime. It was never intended for users to try and schedule at the last possible second.

- Media center PCs check about every 15 mins. Macs running Elgato's EyeTV software check with a minimum interval of 1 hour (as mentioned by Dan, but I thought it was worth repeating)! This is interval is set by Elgato, not IceTV. I think you'll find 15 mins is very respectable when compared to any other similar services around the world. The best way to have things work instantly would be to set up your media center as a server and access it directly, but that negates all the hard work we've done for you ;)

- Having your media center check our server every minute will also use up 15 times the bandwidth at your end, which might not matter to you, but we want to keep our service as lean and mean as possible for everyone's benefit.

I'm out to dinner with some friends and we are talking about the latest episode of whatever. I then remember that it's on tonight and it starts in 5 minutes..
Don't worry I say to my wife, I have my mobile with me, I'll just record it from here, that way you can watch it when you get home.

So while I agree it's slightly less impressive to not have it work instantly (or within 1 min), I hope you still find it useful. Keep in mind that a lot of shows run late, so if it's 8.30 and you schedule a show that's supposed to begin at 8.30, you still might catch the start of it :)

Don't take this as us saying it'll never be realtime... we're all as keen about this technology as you are and we want everything we do to be the best it possibly can be, but right now 15 min intervals seem like the smart choice.

[Marc]

BTW I'm using an iPhone   ;)

Have you checked Remote mobile recently? Looks much nicer on iPhones now. We're planning to improve Remote mobile for advanced phones even more in 2008.

[marcusstringer]

OK, Thanks guys...
I wasn't bagging your service, as I think it is the best one getting around, which is why I'm using it...

I just needed those things cleared up for my own sanity, and for other people who maybe reading this and were getting frustrated with the delay.

Lets hope in future these issues may be able to be sorted out with emerging technology...

Thanks again for the great support and work your guys are doing there...

Let me know if you need any help   :)

[as I slink back into my corner to check out remote with the iPhone]

[tai]

Guys my qustion to this, the updates seem to stall once a day requiring  re start of icetv interactive to resume updating every 15 min or so, wats that about?