New feature ideas

[jbrzez]

I have a few new ideas for new features that I would like to see and would like to share.  I'm sure there are others out there too.  Feel free to respond with them and maybe we might get lucky enough to see them some day.

1. I would like to see my Caller ID tied in with my TV.  I had this on  my old DirecTV.  I know that it will be an option in U-Verse soon but I have a twist for them.  Add photos to the Caller ID.  It is actually a simple fix.  On my DirecTV when an incoming call came in AND you happen to be watching TV it would pop-up on the bottom of the screen with the name and number of the person calling.  Since I have AT&T for everything they could add a feature that I could upload a picture assocaited to a phone number.  When the incoming number matches one in my file it shows the picture.  If it doesn't then it just shows a generic siloette or an AT&T logo. This feature is already available on most cell phones why not an all encompassing network like U-Verse?

2. With a DVR you can schedule recordings in the future, here's an enhancement for all the other times:  Everyone has a pretty set schedule of schows that they watch every day of the week.  Instead of recording them offer an option to switch to that program/channel at that time.  You know that you watch Lost on Wed on ABC then you switch to some other station afterwards.  My wife loved this feature on DirecTV.  That way she never had to remember what program was on what night on what channel, it did it all for her.

I know I mentioned DirecTV in both of these features but they were nice features.  Small enhancements go a long way at pleasing customers.  I think these would be huge.

Any others out there?  Please leave a reply.  maybe we will get enough good ones to get someone's attention and we could start to see them soon.

[trparky]

Ok, here's a few more to add to the list...

• Multiple Favorite Channel Lists
• An easy way to get to the Favorites list
• The ability to queue-up multiple seven-second fast-forwards to go through commercials in recorded content
• The ability to hide channels from the master list that you don't receive as part of your package
• A meter on the bottom of the Recorded TV to show you how much hard drive space you have left

I'll think of some more.

[mibrnsurg ACE - Master]

You can hide channels now if you don't want to see them in the Guide or pip browser: menu>options>channel options>hide channels.  A percentage of space left is currently available: menu>options>system settings>system information>system resources-disk usage xx%.  On the 160G hard drive units 1hr of HD is about 2% of disk usage.

Chris

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Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
1-800-983-2811 to avoid Mr. Voice Recognition
YRMV

[spd2demun ACE - Expert]

CC on all channels, including VoD and recorded.

And a way to customize the captioning with different fonts, colors, bold/light (like what I've seen on Dish).

[SHollandIL]

I've had U-verse now for bout 3 weeks, so I have several suggestions to add as well.  They all correspond to U-verse TV service:

1. Ability to change U-verse Cable Box Sleep / Green Settings.  I often times use my television as my alarm clock.  Because of the green settings I get no audio or video being fed while the TV has been off for 8 hours.
2. Ability to set a "wake" time (see #1 for reasoning)
3. Ability to remotely schedule programs from an iPhone (e.g. an iPhone application should be created for easy scheduling).
4. Ability to setup recurring manual recordings.
5. Ability to have set top box interface with Amazon Unbox (download movies or shows that can be saved and viewed on the television).
6. Ability to either interface with itunes or other video library applications that reside on the wireless network.

Crossing my fingers that a developer or an executive who holds the purse strings get a hold of this list of enhancements :-)

[TexasEd]

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spd2demun wrote:

CC on all channels, including VoD and recorded.

And a way to customize the captioning with different fonts, colors, bold/light (like what I've seen on Dish).

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Also, for CC, I'd like a one button turn on/off (rather than plowing thru the menu), and auto CC when you press mute.

[dscglfgeo]

I just requested the switch today and from what I can tell it looks like I have lost the "On Demand" feature from my cable network.  I didn't use it a lot but when I wanted to it was awesome. 

I would like to see AT&T come up with something like this.  Comcast has it, WOW has it...AT&T needs it. 

thats all I have for now I'm sure I'll discover more as I begin to use the service.

[jhibbs1009]

ummm, yeah, how do I say this,, THEY HAVE VIDEO ON DEMAND!!!!!!

[mibrnsurg ACE - Master]

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dscglfgeo wrote:

I just requested the switch today and from what I can tell it looks like I have lost the "On Demand" feature from my cable network.  I didn't use it a lot but when I wanted to it was awesome. 

I would like to see AT&T come up with something like this.  Comcast has it, WOW has it...AT&T needs it. 

thats all I have for now I'm sure I'll discover more as I begin to use the service.

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Yeah, that's the problem, the cable systems have a stranglehold on alot of the free VOD and make it hard for ATT to get much of it, but there is lot of free VOD on Uverse (maybe not what you'd consider alot, but having came from Dish I'm not used to using it).

Chris

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Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
1-800-983-2811 to avoid Mr. Voice Recognition
YRMV IMHO

Message Edited by mibrnsurg on 04-25-2009 09:12 PM

[AUBand72]

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jbrzez wrote:

I have a few new ideas for new features that I would like to see and would like to share.  I'm sure there are others out there too.  Feel free to respond with them and maybe we might get lucky enough to see them some day.

1. I would like to see my Caller ID tied in with my TV.  I had this on  my old DirecTV.  I know that it will be an option in U-Verse soon but I have a twist for them.  Add photos to the Caller ID.  It is actually a simple fix.  On my DirecTV when an incoming call came in AND you happen to be watching TV it would pop-up on the bottom of the screen with the name and number of the person calling.  Since I have AT&T for everything they could add a feature that I could upload a picture assocaited to a phone number.  When the incoming number matches one in my file it shows the picture.  If it doesn't then it just shows a generic siloette or an AT&T logo. This feature is already available on most cell phones why not an all encompassing network like U-Verse?

2. With a DVR you can schedule recordings in the future, here's an enhancement for all the other times:  Everyone has a pretty set schedule of schows that they watch every day of the week.  Instead of recording them offer an option to switch to that program/channel at that time.  You know that you watch Lost on Wed on ABC then you switch to some other station afterwards.  My wife loved this feature on DirecTV.  That way she never had to remember what program was on what night on what channel, it did it all for her.

I know I mentioned DirecTV in both of these features but they were nice features.  Small enhancements go a long way at pleasing customers.  I think these would be huge.

Any others out there?  Please leave a reply.  maybe we will get enough good ones to get someone's attention and we could start to see them soon.

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One of my favorite DirecTV features dealt with the remote control... you could watch one channel and press the down arrow to switch to another channel, then if you wanted, go back (by pressing the down arrow again) to the first channel and not lose anything. You could back up to watch what you had missed while checking out the 2nd channel. I loved that feature. Now, with U-verse when you switch to another channel (i.e., Weather on Demand to view the weather), you start from "now" when you switch back to the previous channel. Would be a great addition.

[donatom3]

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AUBand72 wrote:

One of my favorite DirecTV features dealt with the remote control... you could watch one channel and press the down arrow to switch to another channel, then if you wanted, go back (by pressing the down arrow again) to the first channel and not lose anything. You could back up to watch what you had missed while checking out the 2nd channel. I loved that feature. Now, with U-verse when you switch to another channel (i.e., Weather on Demand to view the weather), you start from "now" when you switch back to the previous channel. Would be a great addition.

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Yeah I remember this on DirecTV, it was definitely a great feature.  One thing you'd have to remember this could be done but you'd be taking up multiple streams at a time.  On the DirecTV setup this isn't an issue since the single DVR can only be watched by one person at a time, so it's two streams are exclusive to that box. 

If we ever got to 4HD/2SD I don't think this would be an issue, but as of right now that would probably increase the amount of times you are told on another box to interrupt a tv.  I guess we need this feature to be added once we have more streams.

[AUBand72]

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donatom3 wrote:

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AUBand72 wrote:

One of my favorite DirecTV features dealt with the remote control... you could watch one channel and press the down arrow to switch to another channel, then if you wanted, go back (by pressing the down arrow again) to the first channel and not lose anything. You could back up to watch what you had missed while checking out the 2nd channel. I loved that feature. Now, with U-verse when you switch to another channel (i.e., Weather on Demand to view the weather), you start from "now" when you switch back to the previous channel. Would be a great addition.

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Yeah I remember this on DirecTV, it was definitely a great feature.  One thing you'd have to remember this could be done but you'd be taking up multiple streams at a time.  On the DirecTV setup this isn't an issue since the single DVR can only be watched by one person at a time, so it's two streams are exclusive to that box. 

If we ever got to 4HD/2SD I don't think this would be an issue, but as of right now that would probably increase the amount of times you are told on another box to interrupt a tv.  I guess we need this feature to be added once we have more streams.

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Thanks for the info. It's going to take awhile to get used to the positives and negatives of changing from satellite to fiber optic and erase 7 years of DirecTV habits.

[DouglasPHill]

Ahh yes, dual line buffers and truely usable picture in picture. (but I'll settle for being able to set maximum number of episodes to keep)

[mikedamirault]

I had some ideas that I posted on uverseusers, but everybody seems to blow it off over there (they just tell me alternatives I already know of how to do something, or they explain how THEY don't need it, so therefore it's not important (they just don't get that it's not their house, it's not set up the same way as theirs, so just because something is fine for them, it's not always the same case for me), I know that some uverseusers members lurk here too)

I will add links to my ideas later (uverseusers seems to be down currently)

USB clock attachment- I had an idea for a USB clock attachment that can be connected to either the front or back USB port, that would read the time and syphon power from the STB, and would display the time on an indigo (or any other color) backlit (preferrably flat panel) LCD screen (like the LCD screns on calculators), a nice feature I had back when I had cable

Better TS/CS/I&R-Prem Tech support-I had an idea they they could have a direct dispatch number, educate the T1 TS/CS to send a tech when requested, or make changes to the automated support system, I lost service for about 20 hours due to an accedent from my neighbor, CS was not very helpful

Web Remote Program Download-The tabbed browsing trick doesn't work, only one user can be logged on at a time on a single web browser, you would need to download a secondary web browser (like Firefox for example) just to use both accounts at once, instead of having to run 2 web browsers, it would be nice to have a program that we can use instead, it would be a big help before they release the next phase of THDVR, and could be just as helpful later on when on vacation (record to the DVR from a hotel for example)

That's it so far, I may find more, I like the idea of truely usable PiP

[mikedamirault]

Uverseusers is finally back up

USB Clock Attachment

http://www.uverseusers.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=2&topic=12798.msg111828#msg111828

Better TS/CS/I&R-Prem Tech support

http://www.uverseusers.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=2&topic=12939.msg113971#msg113971

Web Remote Program Download Idea

http://www.uverseusers.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=2&topic=13122.msg115244#msg115244

[nctech]

"One of my favorite DirecTV features dealt with the remote control... you could watch one channel and press the down arrow to switch to another channel, then if you wanted, go back (by pressing the down arrow again) to the first channel and not lose anything. You could back up to watch what you had missed while checking out the 2nd channel. I loved that feature. Now, with U-verse when you switch to another channel (i.e., Weather on Demand to view the weather), you start from "now" when you switch back to the previous channel. Would be a great addition"

Just FYI; Dual line buffers are long gone at DTV. These were available when DTV was aligned with TiVO. Once TiVO got greedy and tried to hold DTV hostage with rate increases, DTV opted to design their OWN DVR's. TiVO is no longer offered at DTV, and TiVO does not work with DTV's HD service. DTV's DVRs do NOT give you dual line buffers, but the single buffer IS awesome; about 90 minutes worth!

[DouglasPHill]

Who knows if it ever will materialize but Direct and TIVO are working on a new HD DirecTivo.  It will have dual line buffers and for those willing to pay extra for TIVO, it will be great.  I would love Microsoft/ATT to open up the USB port and TIVO to use it to make it easier to use a TIVO with Uverse. 

But, I would guess the market is so small, Uverse users who want to use TIVO, that there just isn't a real incentive to go there.

[mikedamirault]

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DouglasPHill wrote:

Who knows if it ever will materialize but Direct and TIVO are working on a new HD DirecTivo.  It will have dual line buffers and for those willing to pay extra for TIVO, it will be great.  I would love Microsoft/ATT to open up the USB port and TIVO to use it to make it easier to use a TIVO with Uverse. 

But, I would guess the market is so small, Uverse users who want to use TIVO, that there just isn't a real incentive to go there.

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How is that possible?  Last I heard, DirecTV stopped partnering with TiVo because TiVo kept raising their prices towards DirecTV, DirecTV didn't want to pay it and cancelled the partnership, now all DirecTV boxes produced after that split has a propriatary DVR, just like cable and U-Verse

I don't see TiVo coming out with a DVR with a USB connection to connect to STBs, also, I doubt that television service providers, especially U-Verse, would be willing to open their firmware to allow the use if TiVos, if I remeber right, AT&T is doing all they can to block the possibility to use a TiVo, why would they convert their firmware to allow something they are trying so hard to block?

[DouglasPHill]

DIRECTV and TiVo to Launch New HD DIRECTV DVR with TiVo Service

http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=404052

You could be correct that ATT might be trying to prevent TIVOs but I can't imagine why they would try to prevent it.  It would mean more revenue for them.  But again, the number of people who would want and pay for it is probably very small.

Message Edited by DouglasPHill on 05-24-2009 06:59 PM

[mikedamirault]

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DouglasPHill wrote:

DIRECTV and TiVo to Launch New HD DIRECTV DVR with TiVo Service

http://tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=404052

I didn't say you were wrong or anything, just wondering how it was possible, I could of gotten misinformation

You could be correct that ATT might be trying to prevent TIVOs but I can't imagine why they would try to prevent it.  It would mean more revenue for them.  But again, the number of people who would want and pay for it is probably very small.

I agree, there is no reason for them to block it, I just remember hearing that AT&T saying that TiVo wasn't compatible as a deterrant, but it happens that the SD versions do work, but the HD ones only seem to work for cable (no IR blasters), it may have something to do with anti-piracy protection

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[felix_1]

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jbrzez wrote:

2. With a DVR you can schedule recordings in the future, here's an enhancement for all the other times:  Everyone has a pretty set schedule of schows that they watch every day of the week.  Instead of recording them offer an option to switch to that program/channel at that time.  You know that you watch Lost on Wed on ABC then you switch to some other station afterwards.  My wife loved this feature on DirecTV.  That way she never had to remember what program was on what night on what channel, it did it all for her.

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I second this idea... it was a feature on Dish Network also and I miss it a lot. 

 

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SHollandIL wrote:

Ability to change U-verse Cable Box Sleep / Green Settings.  I often times use my television as my alarm clock.  Because of the green settings I get no audio or video being fed while the TV has been off for 8 hours.
Ability to set a "wake" time (see #1 for reasoning) 

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This was another feature that Dish Network had and I miss this one, too, for the same reason. 

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SHollandIL wrote:

Ability to have set top box interface with Amazon Unbox (download movies or shows that can be saved and viewed on the television).

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I'd like to take this a step further... why can't the computer and DVR truly interact with each other (not just with Remote Access)? I'd love to be able to move some shows from my DVR to my computer for safe keeping until I'm ready to watch them. And I'd also really like to be able to watch something that's on my computer on one of my TVs instead (without the help of a Slingbox or similar equipment). I've got the Netflix Roku box and I really like being able to watch Netflix and Amazon stuff on a TV, but I would love being able to do away with an extra piece of equipment and just use the DVR instead.

[rdameronsme]

One button for CC would be great. Lots of great comments from everyone. One feature I didn't see that I really liked with Directv was the way a recorded show was shown in white when it was "new" and changed to gray after you watched it. It's hard to tell which shows you have seen with Uverse when you record a series.

And I also like the way Directv allowed you to skip 12 hours ahead in the guide. Uverse remotes have extra buttons that aren't being used.

[smcleod1106]

how about SAP for spanish or other foreign language channels so i can hear them in english

[spd2demun ACE - Expert]

I didn't know such an animal existed! 

[smcleod1106]

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spd2demun wrote:
I didn't know such an animal existed! 

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i don't know if it exists eitherbut i just think it would be nice to have. 

[spd2demun ACE - Expert]

And only fair, IMO.