Well hopefully AT&T looks at this forum as a way to hear what their users want and maybe think of some things that evidently they either didn't think about or maybe they just thought nobody would miss these kinds of features.  Well we do and they should listen to their users and do what they can to make them happy. 

yeah we definitely need slow motion.  we've officially given up DirecTV and the <cue singing angels>DirecTivo box</cue>, and we are really missing slow motion.

Here's another vote for a slow motion feature. This could be implemented via a software upgrade to the U-verse DVR. Here's a proposed spec for this feature:

While in regular play mode, pressing Pause and then pressing Fast Forward (FF) places the box in "Slow Motion Mode" and starts forward slow motion at a very slow rate (one frame every second -- this would also fill the bill for "frame advance" ). You can also enter Slow Motion Mode by pressing Pause and then pressing Rewind (Rew); in this case slow motion starts in reverse at one frame per second.

While in Slow Motion Mode:
- If you are in forward slow motion, each time you press FF, forward slow motion speeds up a little bit through several increments of forward slow motion speeds until you are at about three-quarters regular speed. And each time you press Rew, forward slow motion slows down a little bit.
- If you are in reverse slow motion, each time you press Rew, reverse slow motion speeds up a little bit. And each time your press FF, reverse slow motion slows down a little bit.
- If you press Pause, the picture freezes at the current frame. If you press Pause again, slow motion resumes at the current direction and speed.
- If you press Play, you exit Slow Motion Mode and resume regular play.
- The progress bar does *not* display at the bottom of the screen because in Slow Motion Mode, you want to observe the entire frame (e.g., the football might be near the bottom of the screen).

Note: If you press Pause from regular play and then press Pause again, regular play will resume as it does now. However, if you press Pause and then press FF or Rew (which enters Slow Motion Mode), then pressing Pause will *not* resume regular play, it will Pause and Unpause the slow motion play. To resume regular play from Slow Motion Mode, you must press Play.

Here's an example of using this proposed slow motion method:
You press Pause, then FF. This starts advancing the video in very slow motion (about 1 frame per second). Then freeze frame on a desired frame by pressing Pause. Then you resume very slow motion by pressing Pause again. Then you press FF three times; each press speeds up slow motion a little bit until the speed is maybe three quarters regular speed. Then you slow down the forward slow motion speed by pressing Rew. You repeatedly press Rew which keeps slowing down the forward slow motion speed until the motion actually stops (this is the "center point" point between the range of forward motion and reverse motion). Then you press Rewind again and the slow motion starts moving in reverse. You repeatedly press Rewind; each press speeds up the reverse slow motion a little bit. Then you want to exit Slow Motion Mode, so you press Play to resume watching at regular speed.

Summary: After you press Pause, pressing Fast Forward or Rewind moves you through a range of forward and reverse slow motion speeds with the ability to pause at any point using the Pause button. The "center point" of this range of speeds is a freeze frame. To resume normal play, you press Play.

With this method for enabling slow motion, you are only giving up one thing: the ability to go directly from Pause to fast forward or rewind. This would be a very small "downside" compared to the "upside" of a slow motion feature.

Well, this is a long write-up, but I really wanted to spec it out in case the U-verse engineers are reading this. There have been many really bad implementations of slow motion on DVRs and DVD players -- I hope if the U-verse engineers implement a slow motion feature, they use a method similar to this. It would be very intuitive and would be consistent with the current friendly U-verse interface (I find it incredibly easy to use). Also, this method would allow very precise control of slow motion for all those sports fans out there -- and Simpsons fans like me who want to read the signs behind Homer. :-)

Message Edited by chezchas9 on 09-23-2007 12:22 PM

Message Edited by chezchas9 on 09-23-2007 12:23 PM

Message Edited by chezchas9 on 09-23-2007 12:27 PM

Message Edited by chezchas9 on 11-23-2007 10:27 PM

Message Edited by chezchas9 on 11-23-2007 10:42 PM

Message Edited by chezchas9 on 11-25-2007 12:20 PM

That's a great explaination! I hope someone at AT&T reads it and implements it.

I wonder if there is a way to forward this request to the Microsoft IPTV Department, as they are the people that actually develop the software, AT&T only uses it.

Dying for slow motion over here...  Missing that functionality combined with not being able to pause a program and then switch over to another show might just be a deal breaker.

Yes, where's our slow motion??? It just can't be that difficult to implement (see the specification I posted last September -- 09-23-2007 above in this thread) -- Come on AT&T software engineers, include this fundamental feature that should have been there in the first place. Does anyone know of any DVR, DVD, or even VHS player that does NOT have slow motion OTHER than the AT&T DVR? It's a "must have" feature that people, of course, assume will be on the box -- what a rude awakening when sports fans sit down to use their shiny new AT&T DVR only to discover that it doesn't have slow motion. It's like buying a car and then finding out that the windows won't roll down. We've been patient and we've been paying our bills every month, so please, get to coding, you guys. Just follow the spec...

Could not agree more!

I agree - we need SLOMO - not just for the sports fans but for the movie fans too.  Love those gory scenes in SLOMO again and again!!  As a former TiVio'r I miss the SLOMO - pass this on to who ever in the AT&T hierarchy!!

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traconbb wrote:
I agree - we need SLOMO - not just for the sports fans but for the movie fans too.  Love those gory scenes in SLOMO again and again!!  As a former TiVio'r I miss the SLOMO - pass this on to who ever in the AT&T hierarchy!!

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If you like you can send them and email.

And to add insult to injury, the following is a quote from page 15 of the U-verse Feature Guide:

 

Create your own instant replays during an
exciting game. Or watch the play again in
slow motion to see how it was done.

RRiight!!  Very disappointing, if not false advertising/marketing on the part of AT&T!

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head8 wrote:

And to add insult to injury, the following is a quote from page 15 of the U-verse Feature Guide:

 

Create your own instant replays during an
exciting game. Or watch the play again in
slow motion to see how it was done.

RRiight!!  Very disappointing, if not false advertising/marketing on the part of AT&T!

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Maybe the people who are secretly beta testing whdvr also have the Cisco boxes that have the slo mo feature.  Just a though.

What the heck, no slow motion??? After my first month since switching from TimeWarner, I'm reasonably happy with U-Verse except I'm in disbelief that there's no slow motion.

Two at a time HD and DVR in the bedroom would sure help too, assuming that the periodic glitches in transmission don't get any worse.

AT&T, get'r done will ya?

Thanks,

Michael

 

Lost is one of the biggest shows of all time. Fans of that show live and die with Slo-motion replay. Its unthinkable that Uverse would forget about this 1980's technology

I don't think they forgot it, I think its a matter of completing the updates that will enable the stbs to playback the video in slow motion after they decode the IPTV packets.  IMHO.

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jpaw32 wrote:
Lost is one of the biggest shows of all time. Fans of that show live and die with Slo-motion replay. Its unthinkable that Uverse would forget about this 1980's technology

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jp do you really need slo motion for a regular tv show? i've never seen lost so forgive the question. don't really need slomo for sporting events anymore, anything worth seeing more than once is played over and over anyway...

I definitely need slow mo!

 

On a side note, I would like a UHF or RF remote too.

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showtime48 wrote:

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jpaw32 wrote:
Lost is one of the biggest shows of all time. Fans of that show live and die with Slo-motion replay. Its unthinkable that Uverse would forget about this 1980's technology

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jp do you really need slo motion for a regular tv show? i've never seen lost so forgive the question. don't really need slomo for sporting events anymore, anything worth seeing more than once is played over and over anyway...

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Show, Lost is a really good show but it has a lot of what I call "left turns".  Just when you are following one plot line they will either jump into the future or the past or go someplace altogether different.  If you don't like shows with twists you definitely won't like this one.  I have watched it from day one and have only wanted to have slo mo once.  I usually just play the scene back over and over until I have studied what I was looking at thoroughly.  But in answer to your question, no I don't "need" slo mo for a tv show.

I see this thread gets plenty of views, but is there any answer? Is slow motion ever coming? Is it even possible! With Football season in full swing, I am missing the option badly! While here, I would also request that they add one more fast forward speed, that is a little slower and not so choppy. I like to scan many shows (Like NASCAR) for the action. I find the U-verse first level of FF to be pretty choppy and just to fast (DirecTV-Tivo) did both of these just right, heck they even had a single frame forward option. (I won’t even mention getting the ability to jump ahead in 30 minute segments, or through the recording by 1/4 1/2 and 3/4. that was to convenient. ) I really liked the update to get the whole house DVR, can I get slo-mo and a slower FF and single frame control next?

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johnrav wrote:
I see this thread gets plenty of views, but is there any answer? Is slow motion ever coming? Is it even possible! With Football season in full swing, I am missing the option badly! While here, I would also request that they add one more fast forward speed, that is a little slower and not so choppy. I like to scan many shows (Like NASCAR) for the action. I find the U-verse first level of FF to be pretty choppy and just to fast (DirecTV-Tivo) did both of these just right, heck they even had a single frame forward option. (I won’t even mention getting the ability to jump ahead in 30 minute segments, or through the recording by 1/4 1/2 and 3/4. that was to convenient. ) I really liked the update to get the whole house DVR, can I get slo-mo and a slower FF and single frame control next?

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It is quite possible that slo-mo could show up with one of the additional upgrades of the thdvr.  Wouldn't that be nice.  They bundled the multiple recordings of shows, as well as a few other features that they never mentioned.  So it is possible that slo-mo could be rolledout in one of the next two thdvr upgrades. IMO

Ah,  thanks for the pacifing reply.  

 

I just received the lastest update (as mentioned) and I agree that there were some possibly 'unexpected' additions.    Is this how ATT normally handles smaller upgrades,   by just throwing them out there? 

 

I guess I just looking for amore solid answer.  Anyone heard anything else,  or anyone from ATT care to answer for this # 1 request. . .  (ok, maybe #2 to PQ)

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johnrav wrote:

Ah,  thanks for the pacifing reply.  

 

I just received the lastest update (as mentioned) and I agree that there were some possibly 'unexpected' additions.    Is this how ATT normally handles smaller upgrades,   by just throwing them out there? 

 

I guess I just looking for amore solid answer.  Anyone heard anything else,  or anyone from ATT care to answer for this # 1 request. . .  (ok, maybe #2 to PQ)

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John, what are the additions that they added to thdvr.

Grouping of required shows in the recorded list and something else (?)   all known here, I think.

 

 

 

 

 

SO, what about Slo-Mo?