Integration of Catchup Viewing into Recording Schedule
Lbear1
Member Posts: 741 ✭
Not quite sure if that is the correct way of putting it as it is in two parts, the second being an extended feature.
Briefly my idea is that the "forward" EPG should indicate if a programme will be available on the relevant catchup service after broadcast. Many US shows are not, presumably for contract reasons. This would get over the (admittedly rare) scenario where somebody might be out but wants to watch three programmes being broadcast at the same time. So you could, for example, decide to record two long films and watch a shorter programme on BBC iPlayer.
The extension of this would be a "catchup schedule" rather similar to the recordings menu but with warnings when the (particularly BBC iPlayer) availability was about to expire. This could give an on-screen notice, say, a day before, to avoid you missing the catchup period end.
A further sophistication might be including watching by catchup as an alternative to either recording a time shifted channel or deleting a recording booking where clashes exist.
Briefly my idea is that the "forward" EPG should indicate if a programme will be available on the relevant catchup service after broadcast. Many US shows are not, presumably for contract reasons. This would get over the (admittedly rare) scenario where somebody might be out but wants to watch three programmes being broadcast at the same time. So you could, for example, decide to record two long films and watch a shorter programme on BBC iPlayer.
The extension of this would be a "catchup schedule" rather similar to the recordings menu but with warnings when the (particularly BBC iPlayer) availability was about to expire. This could give an on-screen notice, say, a day before, to avoid you missing the catchup period end.
A further sophistication might be including watching by catchup as an alternative to either recording a time shifted channel or deleting a recording booking where clashes exist.
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Comments
In the guide show a symbol for items that will be in on demand before they have aired not just afterwards - idea 9 in the consolidated list of improvements and feature requests
On demand bookmarks - idea 29 in the consolidated list of improvements and feature requests
Also, the current notification/on screen advice in the event of "triple booking" is either to use a later showing of one or to delete one of the existing booking recordings. Neither of course are much use if you want to watch 3 HD programmes at a later time/date as, for example, ITV+1 is not HD and HD programming from BBC 3 and 4 now tends to be relegated to an "after Newsnight" slot if at all.
You have already noted that multiple recordings are possible technically if they are on the same mux which suggests one (admittedly hard disc hungry) solution would be an option that would record the entire transport stream from a mux rather than the individual programme stream. This by the way would be a "Tivo beater" and trump their "watch 1, record 3" USP with "record up to 4 HD and/or 10 SD channels and watch any other" feature. I believe there are existing DVB-T PVRs which have this ability.
Perhaps these additional options in the event of "triple recording" clashes could be toggled in the options menu in the same way the confirm delete flag is. That would enable those with disc drives just meeting the 320Gb minimum to avoid filling their hard drives at a gallop while providing extra facilities for those with 2Tb drives. (BTW, has it been established that 2Tb is the maximum?)