Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Lost finale 30-second button workout
TurquoiseB wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu noozg...@... wrote: Yup, apparently our resident pirate has been drinking too much grog and missed the point we were talking about DVRs. Could it possibly be because no one ever *mentioned* DVRs until I brought this up? All you've been talking about is Comcast and cable/satellite providers. Really? From my post which started this thread: From: Bhairitu noozg...@sbcglobal.net Subject: [FairfieldLife] The Lost finale 30-second button workout To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Date: Monday, May 24, 2010, 12:17 PM According to one report there were about 45 minutes of commercials during last night's two and a half hour Lost finale. I know the 30-second skip button on the remote got quite a workout as I skipped over commercials on the DVR. I tried to start watching at about 9:45 so the show would still end by 11:30. However even then I noticed that the progress bar was beginning to catch up with last recorded position. You must have pressed your 3 word skip button on the words on the DVR. :-D
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Lost finale 30-second button workout
I don't watch On Demand. I find it too slow and cumbersome to use and don't like how it drops some features. Comcast more than doubled its HDTV channels a few months ago and I now have plenty to choose from (like 4 HBOs and 5 Cinemax now, compared to one of each before), plus there is always something on the DVR worth watching again or for the first time. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu noozg...@... wrote: I might also mention that the 30 second skip doesn't work with OnDemand. Only a one level fast forward is allowed there but depending on the source if it is a network show it may only have a brief promo at the beginning and another in the middle. Also be aware if you are recording a program sometimes the DVR will be writing to the hard drive when you press the skip button and it may appear the button isn't working but the skip instead get cued for after the hard drive write. The 15 second back is just part of the remote's original function. Bhairitu wrote: I have Comcast. They sent out info a while back on how to program one of the keys for 30 seconds forward and 15 back. I can't find the mailing but people have posted the info online: http://www.pdxtc.com/wpblog/technology-articles/comcast-remote-30-second-skip-commercials-motorola-dct3412/ I use a Logitech remote instead and programmed the codes into it. gullible fool wrote: Bhairitu, which company provides your TV signal? I have Comcast, which used to have a 30-second skip in both directions, but stupidly changed it to a five-minute skip. I hope to switch to Dish someday. Love will swallow you, eat you up completely, until there is no `you,' only love. - Amma
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Lost finale 30-second button workout
Sometimes if I forget to set a show to record or there are too many shows to record (and I don't want to bother with recording it on my computer) I will watch a show OnDemand. I did that with CSI since CBS would often post it the following day. The only spots CSI had were two promos, one at the beginning and one halfway through and easy to fast forward through. I sometimes watch one of the free movies OnDemand. Since I have HBO I may look at one of their movies OnDemand if it isn't cropped (the new Pan and Scan is to crop 2:35:1 aspect ratio films to 16:9 to fill the screen and it looks horrible). But my viewing paradigm has shifted since I replace my two year old Sony Bluray player with a Samsung player that has streaming services. Now that monthly bill from Comcast seems like it is even less of a value than before. The free movies are often recycled and often the recent ones I've already seen on DVD or BD. Sometimes the Impact channel will have a 1970s movies I find interesting to watch. Most of those offerings aren't cropped either. I resubscribed to HBO last year during a promo when True Blood season two started up. They blew that subscription and in it's place gave me a year free which was their promo for new Comcast subscribers. This paradigm shift has the cable companies concerned since more and more people are going the broadband streaming route. fflmod wrote: I don't watch On Demand. I find it too slow and cumbersome to use and don't like how it drops some features. Comcast more than doubled its HDTV channels a few months ago and I now have plenty to choose from (like 4 HBOs and 5 Cinemax now, compared to one of each before), plus there is always something on the DVR worth watching again or for the first time. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu noozg...@... wrote: I might also mention that the 30 second skip doesn't work with OnDemand. Only a one level fast forward is allowed there but depending on the source if it is a network show it may only have a brief promo at the beginning and another in the middle. Also be aware if you are recording a program sometimes the DVR will be writing to the hard drive when you press the skip button and it may appear the button isn't working but the skip instead get cued for after the hard drive write. The 15 second back is just part of the remote's original function. Bhairitu wrote: I have Comcast. They sent out info a while back on how to program one of the keys for 30 seconds forward and 15 back. I can't find the mailing but people have posted the info online: http://www.pdxtc.com/wpblog/technology-articles/comcast-remote-30-second-skip-commercials-motorola-dct3412/ I use a Logitech remote instead and programmed the codes into it. gullible fool wrote: Bhairitu, which company provides your TV signal? I have Comcast, which used to have a 30-second skip in both directions, but stupidly changed it to a five-minute skip. I hope to switch to Dish someday. Love will swallow you, eat you up completely, until there is no `you,' only love. - Amma
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Lost finale 30-second button workout
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu noozg...@... wrote: I have Comcast. They sent out info a while back on how to program one of the keys for 30 seconds forward and 15 back. I can't find the mailing but people have posted the info online: http://www.pdxtc.com/wpblog/technology-articles/comcast-remote-30-second-skip-commercials-motorola-dct3412/ I use a Logitech remote instead and programmed the codes into it. OK, I'm an eyepatch-wearing pirate, and don't have to show anyone any steenkin' badges (or monthly payment receipts) to watch the TV shows I want to watch. But I'm having a little trouble with this idea of a cable service providing a 30-second forward button. Doesn't this imply that they are *not* broadcasting in real time? I mean, think this through. If a one-hour show is really only 40 minutes long, and you give your customers the ability to fast forward through those 20 minutes of commercials 30 seconds at a time, doesn't that mean that they had to start the broadcast of the one-hour show 20 minutes earlier than the listed broadcast time? Now think about an entire evening's worth of view- ing and Skip button pushing. Say three hours of TV, skipping a full *hour* of commercials. Doesn't this imply that the real starting time of that evening's programming was an hour earlier than it appeared to be? Someone explain this to me. Are these TV shows not streaming in real time? And the even more important question -- if I had been sitting there watching the last episode of Lost and pushed my 30-second Skip button enough times, could I have seen the end before it was even broadcast, and thus scooped everyone in the country? :-)
RE: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Lost finale 30-second button workout
From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of TurquoiseB Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 1:49 AM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Lost finale 30-second button workout --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife%40yahoogroups.com , Bhairitu noozg...@... wrote: I have Comcast. They sent out info a while back on how to program one of the keys for 30 seconds forward and 15 back. I can't find the mailing but people have posted the info online: http://www.pdxtc.com/wpblog/technology-articles/comcast-remote-30-second-ski p-commercials-motorola-dct3412/ I use a Logitech remote instead and programmed the codes into it. OK, I'm an eyepatch-wearing pirate, and don't have to show anyone any steenkin' badges (or monthly payment receipts) to watch the TV shows I want to watch. But I'm having a little trouble with this idea of a cable service providing a 30-second forward button. Doesn't this imply that they are *not* broadcasting in real time? I mean, think this through. If a one-hour show is really only 40 minutes long, and you give your customers the ability to fast forward through those 20 minutes of commercials 30 seconds at a time, doesn't that mean that they had to start the broadcast of the one-hour show 20 minutes earlier than the listed broadcast time? Now think about an entire evening's worth of view- ing and Skip button pushing. Say three hours of TV, skipping a full *hour* of commercials. Doesn't this imply that the real starting time of that evening's programming was an hour earlier than it appeared to be? Someone explain this to me. Are these TV shows not streaming in real time? And the even more important question -- if I had been sitting there watching the last episode of Lost and pushed my 30-second Skip button enough times, could I have seen the end before it was even broadcast, and thus scooped everyone in the country? :-) If you're using a DVR, which most satellite and cable TV watchers are, then everything is always recorded as you watch it. If you pause or rewind, you end up with a buffer that enables you to skip commercials. Or you can program your DVR to record shows, then the whole thing is buffered. If you're watching live, as it's broadcast, and haven't built up a buffer, you can't fast forward or skip anything.
Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Lost finale 30-second button workout
Rick Archer wrote: From: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com [mailto:fairfieldl...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of TurquoiseB Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 1:49 AM To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: The Lost finale 30-second button workout --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com mailto:FairfieldLife%40yahoogroups.com , Bhairitu noozg...@... wrote: I have Comcast. They sent out info a while back on how to program one of the keys for 30 seconds forward and 15 back. I can't find the mailing but people have posted the info online: http://www.pdxtc.com/wpblog/technology-articles/comcast-remote-30-second-ski p-commercials-motorola-dct3412/ I use a Logitech remote instead and programmed the codes into it. OK, I'm an eyepatch-wearing pirate, and don't have to show anyone any steenkin' badges (or monthly payment receipts) to watch the TV shows I want to watch. But I'm having a little trouble with this idea of a cable service providing a 30-second forward button. Doesn't this imply that they are *not* broadcasting in real time? I mean, think this through. If a one-hour show is really only 40 minutes long, and you give your customers the ability to fast forward through those 20 minutes of commercials 30 seconds at a time, doesn't that mean that they had to start the broadcast of the one-hour show 20 minutes earlier than the listed broadcast time? Now think about an entire evening's worth of view- ing and Skip button pushing. Say three hours of TV, skipping a full *hour* of commercials. Doesn't this imply that the real starting time of that evening's programming was an hour earlier than it appeared to be? Someone explain this to me. Are these TV shows not streaming in real time? And the even more important question -- if I had been sitting there watching the last episode of Lost and pushed my 30-second Skip button enough times, could I have seen the end before it was even broadcast, and thus scooped everyone in the country? :-) If you're using a DVR, which most satellite and cable TV watchers are, then everything is always recorded as you watch it. If you pause or rewind, you end up with a buffer that enables you to skip commercials. Or you can program your DVR to record shows, then the whole thing is buffered. If you're watching live, as it's broadcast, and haven't built up a buffer, you can't fast forward or skip anything. Yup, apparently our resident pirate has been drinking too much grog and missed the point we were talking about DVRs. Most folks with DVRs don't watch a show real time. The closest thing to watching real time most of us do is to wait long enough usually 15 minutes after a recorded show has begun to start watching. That way we are able to skip the 15 minutes of commercials. Advertisers are pissed of course but their ad agencies figured out how to make commercials that you still get the ad info if it is just a 1 frame flash. We don't necessarily use the skip button to avoid commercials but to reduce the time needed to watch the show. Many VCRs had 30 second skip buttons. Many folks with DVRs don't even watch the show the same night its on. This has resulted in strong spoiler rules on many of show's fan forums. And I've been thinking that Logitech actually had the 30-second skip programmed in but I never had tried the chapter button (which is the 30-second skip) on shows the DVR had recorded and only did so after I heard about the skip on the Comcast remote. With theseLogitech remotes you connect it to your computer via USB cable and use their software to setup the remote and it will go to the website and download to the remote the codes needed for the equipment you're using. On my remote there is a menu screen with Watch TV, Watch Bluray etc and when you select one of those all my devices get set for that kind of viewing. And while I'm at it the 24 finale was far better than the Lost one.
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Lost finale 30-second button workout
Bhairitu: According to one report there were about 45 minutes of commercials... So, why are you supporting a huge, multinational, capitalist corporation like ABC and Disney? I thought you were going to start a revolution and go on strike. http://abc.go.com/watch/lost/93372
[FairfieldLife] Re: The Lost finale 30-second button workout
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Bhairitu noozg...@... wrote: Yup, apparently our resident pirate has been drinking too much grog and missed the point we were talking about DVRs. Could it possibly be because no one ever *mentioned* DVRs until I brought this up? All you've been talking about is Comcast and cable/satellite providers. And while I'm at it the 24 finale was far better than the Lost one. Having now seen both, that's not saying much. The 24 finale was sheer, unmitigated propaganda for I should be able to get away with murder if I think I'm right, emphasis on Right, as in Right-wing. Bad writing, bad thinking. As for Lost, while it was fun to see them try to dig themselves out of the nonsense hole they've been digging for six years, I found it less than satisfying. Yeah, it's sweet seeing Hurley and Libby together and all, and in a way the whole series was a tribute to They'll buy anything if we just put attractive-enough stars in it, I'm less than impressed with its overall cosmology. In fact, I don't think there was one.
