TiVo Summer Update (9.4) Trickles Out

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As TiVo does, they’ve started rolling out the summer software update ahead of a general release. In fact, the priority page hasn’t been updated yet. Though, I hear all boxes should be upgraded by the end of the month. Of the disclosed new features, two in particular caught my eye.

Stringing together multiple shows has been a long time request of parents and those who “save up” multiple episodes to watch in sequence. So the new Play Folder functionality is a welcome enhancement.

I often continue watching television after Melissa has fallen asleep, so I drop the volume (not completely) and pull up Closed Captioning. Under my current software (9.3), when I hit the CC button I end up in a menu of caption customizations that requires three or four more remote clicks, rather than the new streamlined 9.4 process of simply toggling captions via the show banner.

I assume support for the SDV Tuning Adapter and digital-to-analog converter boxes is also present in this build. But what I’d really like to know is if additional decoding capabilities have been hidden within the Series3/TiVoHD platform… to enable YouTube and more… perhaps Amazon Unbox in HD?

Subject: You have a new service update!
From: The TiVo Team
Date: Tue 7/15

Congrats! You’ve just received the Summer 2008 TiVo Service Update for TiVo HD and Series 3 DVRs, including these new enhancements to your TiVo Experience:

* Play or Delete a Folder
Play or delete an entire folder of programs with a single button press (including kids shows, music videos ext). Highlight a folder and press PLAY to play all the shows in sequence. Pres CLEAR to delete the entire folder.

* Browse the Guide Any Time
Press the GUIDE button to display the program guide over what you’re watching: live TV, a previously recorded program, or even a video download.

* Jump Forward in the Guide
When the Guide is on-screen, press the ADVANCE to jump 24 hours ahead. Press INSTANT REPLAY to go back 24 hours.

* Find a Station in the Guide
Now you can search for a station “call sign” within the Guide, e.g. KQED, WPIX, MSNBC. When viewing the program guide, press ENTER to bring up Guide Options, then SELECT Find by call sign.

* Toggle Closed Captioning On and Off
The Closed Captioning icon in the Channel Banner now toggles closed captioning on and off.

* Review Thumb Ratings
To display a list of all programs that you have rated, select Find Programs, then TiVo Suggestions. Press ENTER to bring up the Review Thumbs screen

Enjoy!
-The TiVo Team

22 thoughts on “TiVo Summer Update (9.4) Trickles Out”

  1. I’ve been in touch with TiVo and learned that this update is solely for the TiVoHD/Series 3 platform only and all boxes are expected to be updated by the end of this month. Wonder if the Series2 units are only getting maintenance patches, such as the digital-to-analog converters (but no new real features) going forward…

  3. It looks like it may be just maintenance patches for the series2 as the D-to-A converter update specifically mentioned the version as 9.3.1

  5. I dream of the day when I will finally get folders for my Suggestions!

    But I did just figure out a quick work around. Take a suggestion recording and delete it. Then undelete it. It suddenly gets promoted to a planned recording an no longer falls in the Suggestion list, but in the main now playing. Voila! A folder is auto-formed and all others of the same show now are in the folder.

  6. I appreciate the guide anytime feature – that’s been an annoyance for a long time. However, when will they update the guide to show a damn indication that a program is scheduled to be recorded / not recorded like DirecTV’s HR20? That was the only redeeming feature of that abomination of a DVR when I had it. ( I only had it for a few months after it was just released. I hear its much better now ).

    It’s pretty annoying to have to go into the To Do list, then page through the guide.

  7. “However, when will they update the guide to show a damn indication that a program is scheduled to be recorded / not recorded like DirecTV’s HR20? ”

    Amen, brother. That drives me crazy, too. Even my old crappy Time Warner DVR used to do this.

  8. I’m very happy to have the guide anytime feature. That was all I felt like was really missing. The ability to see what is scheduled doesnt matter to me because I either know what ive recorded, or dont mind using the to-do list for a better view of upcoming stuff then the guide would show anyway

  9. @John, @Tim I believe the Comcast-Moto-TiVo has visual indication of recordings in the grid guide, so (if my memory is correct) it wouldn’t surprise me if that ultimately migrated onto stand alone units.

  10. The new optimized closed-caption setting will be awesome (if/when the update arrives for me… where’s the 9.4 priority page anyway???). Besides being useful (on shows like ER where it’s sometimes difficult to follow the fast med-tech-dialog), captions can be fun too; the typos (or misinterpretations) on some shows can be absolutely hilarious, such as on The Daily Show…

  11. Well all of these sound like improvements, so I can’t complain too much, though like others I think the most important improvements (red record icon on Guide for things that will record, folders to represent folders in Tivo Come Back) aren’t in the list…

  12. Great new features, but not for my S2? I guess we have reached the point where TiVo is going to abandon the S2…

  14. Meanwhile, the priority page is now up for the S2 9.3c update. It only applies to folks who use an over the air antenna.

  15. Oh, I should mention the ever-more-annoying audio delay after returning from ff/rew to play, which generally requires two jump backs (i.e. 14 seconds or so, meaning the audio takes > 7 seconds to return).

    Not sure why this is at all. I know the audio in the stream isn’t more than a few seconds off (ahead actually) of the video. I presume there’s some synchronization done, and maybe the device is in mute during trick and it takes a while to come out, but its quite annoying!

  17. Robert – You’re working too hard. If you want to move a show in TiVo Suggestions, just set the Save Until date.

    Just take the default. It doesn’t have to be “Save until I Delete.”

    The show listing will be sent directly to the main Now Playing list with the normal folder functionality.

  18. I like the ability to play a whole folder, although I still don’t think there is a way to sort by original air date, which would be so useful when recording something that is syndicated.

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