Comments on: It’s official, Vista Media Center is so much better than TiVo

By: Ben Drawbaugh

Ben Drawbaugh — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:41:36 +0000

Jon,
That’s a good trick that I didn’t know, but it isn’t skip to tick.

On a TiVo’s scrub bar there are marks called ticks. If you hit fwd, then the skip button it will skip to the next tick.

For example, lets say you were watching a 1 hour show and fell asleep half way through. The DVR can’t tell when you fell asleep so you have to find the spot yourself, but you remember making it half way.

With skip to tick you can hit fwd, then skip twice and you are instantly at the 30 min mark because a 1 hour show as ticks every 15 minutes.

A 3 hour football game might have them every 30 minutes. The overall length of the program determines where the ticks are.

This feature would come in very useful when watching shows you can’t fwd through because they are not DVR-MS. Skipping 30 seconds at a time to find the 1 hour and 30 minute mark is very annoying.

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:36:57 +0000

Ben,

I’m not sure if it’s simply the remote I have with VMC, but when I hold down the skip forward button, it skips either to the beginning or end of the program. I think this is what you mean by “skip to tick”.

By: Ben Drawbaugh

Ben Drawbaugh — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:11:50 +0000

Joe,
I really like the thumbnails, but it would be nice if there were more options when it comes to viewing recorded tv.

By: Joe TiVo

Joe TiVo — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:55:35 +0000

I wish there was a way to turn off the thumbnails while viewing Recorded TV. With TiVo I can page up, page down, zip to the top and bottom of the list.

With Media Center it adds a delay and wastes screen space having a thumbnail for each program. I just want a list view!

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 24 May 2008 01:42:57 +0000

Media Center can play back one recording while recording another.

By: Ben Drawbaugh

Ben Drawbaugh — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:57:12 +0000

Wow, play back one recording while recording another, maybe I’ll have to reconsider my opinion!

By: TiVo Series 2

TiVo Series 2 — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:14:46 +0000

Hello,TiVo offers a wide range of special features to enhance the digital TV experience. TiVo lets viewers watch a pre-recorded program while another program is being taped.

By: links for 2008-04-30 | MyHTPC.TV

links for 2008-04-30 | MyHTPC.TV — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:28:31 +0000

[...] It’s official, Vista Media Center is so much better than TiVo – Ben Drawbaugh (tags: Windows Vista MediaCenter HTPC CableCARD) [...]

By: Ben Drawbaugh

Ben Drawbaugh — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:18:35 +0000

Kevin,
I’ll check it out, but the site says it’s for XP and won’t work if your using more than 2 of the same tuner (I’m using 3 ATSC).

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:15:18 +0000

Ben,

Check out the link below for prioritizing your tuners.

http://www.salloway.org.uk/mediacenter/util/index.htm