No TV Party tonight

[cyrano]

I am decidedly unthrilled with TiVo's new 'Red Flag' programming.
For those who don't know, there are apparently certain broadcasters who have demanded that some of their programs be presented so that (a) they can only be kept on the hard drive for a week and (b) cannot be recorded off the hard drive. EDIT: (c) as soon as somebody cracks the seal (watches any of it--like a few seconds) it will be deleted within 24 hours. Which is wicked ritahded especially if more than one person lives in the house and they don't share the exact same schedule.
This means that, for those of us with nonstandard schedules (me) who watch programmes of a serial nature (me) will probably miss chunks of the storylines. And at this point, I'm figuring that if I can't keep up then I'm just going to say 'screw it' and not bother watching those series. Inuyasha was on the bubble already, and I've seen Doctor Who on the sly, but I'd kind of miss Battlestar Galactica and Heroes. And who knows what shows are going to be next on the chopping block.
If we had a home network set up quest thing, then maybe we could shuttle them to a hard drive where we controlled the date and could tell it that these programs should be deleted in about six or seven years. I don't know. We don't have one of those things.

Comments

[phillipalden.livejournal.com]

Stuff like that is partly why I don't watch live TV. If I like the sound of a show I put it in my Netflix queue and watch it when it becomes available. I does mean I'm not watching the stuff when all "the buzz" is going about, but I just hate live TV nowadays, and don't really care if I've seen the same show that "friend-x" may be watching.

I'm a social retard.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but (a) I can't guarantee that something I like is ever going to come out on DVD or that Netflix will pick it up (b) I like occasionally being surprized by plot twists. And with TiVo I don't have to watch commercials so there's very little difference to me between live and dead TV.

[aberrantvirtue.livejournal.com]

What's red-flagged? Because I watch all of the shows you named except Inuyasha, and none of them are flagged on my Tivo.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

It means that, next to the program name, instead of a green circle or a yellow circle, there's a red flag. If you're not getting that, I want to move in with you.

[aberrantvirtue.livejournal.com]

Ummm. I don't have red flags. As far as I know, Broadcast Flagging is currently disabled on all Tivos. It is possible yours is broken.

(I actually meant "give me a list of redflagged programs. ;)")

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Hunh. Leigh Ann said she called TiVo and they told her it was on and there was nothing they could do about it.
(Um. I'm out of the house at work, but those four mentioned above and some things that showed up on the 'suggested' list are the only ones I remember seeing flagged.)

[kol-isha.livejournal.com]

(I'm logged in with an alt journal, but it's Rowan.)

Who manufactures your tivo? At this time, there is no broadcast flag approval (I just did some googling). You should complain to the manufacturer and to Tivo.

I can try to google you up some stuff to cite if you'd like.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I recognize the name. (:
Ummm. Humax or humanx or something like that. And yeah, if you have citable material I'd love to see it. Because this blows.

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

There is no broadcast flag, but this isn't a broadcast flag. The 'red flags' are due to Macrovision flags, which TiVo and most other recording devices support. They aren't supposed to be applied to most content, but sometimes it happens - a cable box goes wonky, or a cable provider turns the flags on when they're not supposed to, etc. Basically it is a flag in the Vertical Blanking Interface of the video signal that indicates what the restrictions are supposed to be.

It sounds like the video source is flagging content that should not be flagged, and the TiVo is obeying the flags as they're required to. Here is the official TiVo FAQ page. (http://customersupport.tivo.com/LaunchContent.aspx?CID=CA3A26CB-6823-4FC3-B67F-17DA8524ECC6)

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you got a bad support rep too, because they should help resolve these problems, it is a known issue. If support won't help out, send a message to the user 'TiVoStephen' at TiVoCommunity.com. He used to be the operations manager and he's still a good guy at getting people help.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Much appreciating all the advice! Thanks very.
So this is something we should be talking to the cable provider about fixing, it sounds like.

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

Probably, though it may help to have TiVo poking them too.

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

If you're seeing red flags, something is wrong. The Macrovision flags are only supposed to be applied to PPV or OnDemand type programs, or other premium content. If it is showing up on 'normal' TV then your provider could erroneously be flagging shows. Sometimes it also happens when a cable box or satellite receiver goes wonky and starts outputting the flags when it isn't supposed to.

If you have a cable box, try power cycling it - sometimes that clears things up.

This isn't unique to TiVo, most recording devices support Macrovision. TiVo has had it for a few years now, so if this just started showing up something probably changed on you video source.

(I run tivolovers)

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Welcome to my journal. (:
And thank you very much--this confirms some of what I'm hearing from aberrantvirtue, that what's going on isn't supposed to be going on.
We just switched over to digital cable, which may be a root cause for this in addition to being its own fresh hell. (We're seeing too many recordings of blank screen with intermittent colorful pixellation, or an hour of 'this channel will be available momentarily'. Which is adding to my 'screw television' mood at the moment.)

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that sounds like you're getting a bad signal too. That could even be causing this problem - since the signal is embedded in the VBI, which is the gap between video frames. NTSC is 525 lines, only 480 are visible. The other 45 are used to carry Closed Captioning, Macrovision flags, time signals, etc. If the signal is that bad it is possible that the VBI is scrambled, causing erroneous flags. Or the cable box is doing it because it is confused.

[drivingblind.livejournal.com]

I have never experienced this phenomenon, just to add another voice to the cascade of "this ain't normal, dude".

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

I would be sorely grateful to discover that ComCast says "Oh we certainly can fix this and also your crappy digicable reception which means that many of the television shows you're paying to watch are unwatchable. We'll be right over!" Yes, that would be nice.
And also, if Jewel Staite were to stop by the house and offer to shower with me, that would also be nice.

[drivingblind.livejournal.com]

Mmmm... Staite.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Oh PS: Congrats on selling out the SotC back order, and I wish I could make it to the party.