I received the 144 build for my 5504. It appears that the automatic commerical skip feature is gone. The show navigation is still there, so it is easy to skip commericals via the the 'nav' button but I do need to hit the button. Does anyone have a link to a summary of the software changes in the 144 build and if there is a hack to reestablish automatic commercial skip

steve

the main fix in 144 was to address a problem in closed captioning that many had been hammering on the company to fix for a long while. But it does appear that they've implemented something in the daily connection for guide data that checks the unit model and reverts a "hacked" unit back to the functionality it was supposed to come with.

But you made a good point that the ShowNav function (which lets you hit the left/right directional buttons) works very well and is a decent substitute for commercial skip while it is unavailable.

I went with RTV instead of TIVO (after looking at a few of the comparison sites) because of the commercial skip feature. I just bought a 5508 and was very disappointed to find that it does not have it. Also, the show navigation does not work work a **** on my unit. Sometimes it skips 10 seconds and other times 50 minutes. It seems to work better on movies than recorded news shows or sitcoms. If I'd known RTV was going to bow to corporate interests instead of cater to it's customers, I'd have paid $5 a month extra for a cable box/DVR combination with ONE HUNDRED hour capacity, instead of spending $$ on the unit and $$$$ yearly for the service.

received the update. commercial advance and shownav are not working. downloaded a recorded show, opened with reVue, and only 1 chapter had been created (beginning of show all the way to the end). my 5040 is no longer marking chapters (such as commercials). no changes on cable feeds, happens on all channels, quality is good with black transitions to commercials. anyone else seeing this ??? and found a solution ????

received bld 144, and commercial advance / show nav stopped working. downloaded a recorded show and reVue shows only 1 chapter (beginning to end of recording). my 5040 unit has stopped marking chapters. no cable changes, tv signal is strong w/black transitions. any fixes ?

It may be just me, but did this release add the option of Serial Port(APG)? I have read that the RCA DRD486RH did not work with the low-speed data port. I noticed after the update the 3rd option on receiver control, Serial Port(APG). Controls the RCA DRD486RH without problems.

*Uhmmmm* Since when did 5504's have automatic CA for you to loose?

I notice it will not skip commercials on WNBC (Channel 4 in NY Metro Area). I also noticed that the recording on shows has dropped in quality. Almost as if I put the record quality to low.

there was software available that could be used to enable those features on a 5500. but it doesn't work on this new version.

One of the reasons I got a 5500 was because I heard about the hacks to get around the removal of the CA and IVS (CA being the big kicker for me, don't care much for IVS). Just after I got them, I noticed the post about the hacks not working anymore.
Well, I have the latest software patches and I have yet to watch a single commercial during a show. Just hitting the Left Arrow skips everything and puts me back at the show. Granted, it's not perfect, but damn near.
So, what's the big deal? No hacks over here and everything working exactly as I had hoped.

The "problem" is that Commercial Advance is the AUTOMATIC commercial skipping functionality (i.e. you DON'T have to hit a button to skip commercials); this feature is disabled by the update. You're not using CA when you hit the left/right arrows, you're jumping around the "chapters" of the show. This feature also doesn't workf or some users after the update.

Q: When is Commercial Advance not supposed to work?

A: Commercial Advance does not skip commercials longer than 1 minute. Commercial Advance does not skip commercials during the first or last two minutes of a show.


commercial breaks lasting more than a minute, will NOT BE SKIPPED! Goodbye ReplayTV, you failed me!

CA doesn't work all the time guy. Some commercials don't have distinct characteristics which CA keys in on to make the markers. If you still want to get rid of your Replay, somebody will surely buy it from you on Ebay.

Mdoggy

What I find interesting is that the options out there for not necessarily free, but corporate free control services are increasingly available.

Do a search on the net for DVR, PVR and HTPC and you'll find COUNTLESS projects in the works by people using relatively cheap PC gear to create incredibly powerful and feature rich machines which not only do EVERYTHING that the Tivo and ReplayTV can do but MUCH more. Plus, you're not under the providers control, you aren't forced to suffer changed because they've decided to bow to corporate pressure.

And before you say "Oh, sure, but you need to be VERY technically... blah blah blah", Ok, yes, some of the projects are difficult indeed but everything good starts out that way and, it won't take long for those who learn how to build them to be happy to build one for you as well.

I'm totally floored as to why Tivo or ReplayTV would want to limit their customers in ANY way whatsoever?

It seems to me that they would be wanting, very badly, to keep customers happy with plenty of features and functionality, with few limits since their business model, as it currently is, will surely die soon enough as people simply won't need these services since they can get them anywhere else.

I try to support this company by being a customer, yet, I have all of the skills, knowledge and equipment to build my own PVR. I don't because it does what I want, when it works well, for a fair price. That's how I look at things. But when things go wrong and you have to call in for help, oh my god!!!

I spent HOURS on the phone, waiting on hold, being hung up on because I acted frustrated with the person who finally answered, only to have to call yet again and get even more frustrated at having to wait all over again. And to top it all off, having to fight my way up the ladder to finally find someone who understood what I was telling them, that my problem went beyond 'can you unplug your unit please sir'. Ack!

Anyhow, that's my rant, don't bother firing cheap shots at me, I'll likely not be looking here again nor replying, just leaving food for thought.