Just a thought, how come my media center pc with digital tuner card can do series link (and has done for over a year), but none of the PVR's have it working yet?...

What tuner card have you got?

It's a creatix jobby, nothing special. Came as standard in my Fujitsu Media center system.

I guess this is running Windows XP Media Center..?

It all depends what you call a 'series link'... The ability for you to do this is via the info in the EPG and/or software that organises the TV reception etc i.e. in this case WMC...

The Toppy can do a 'series link' via a TAP or two... The Hummy can't because this facility hasn't been programmed into it. Humax are looking into doing this - using the Freeview EPG - and especially the new Freeview EPG specs called Freeview Playback...


This wrong; TiVO invented the 'seasons pass' and Sky+ implemented its own 'series link'. Both are PVRs.
Last edited by son_t : 09-11-2006 at 10:14

Yup.

Just surprised Hummax haven;t added it before.

Very much looking forward to the freeview playback updates.

Re the Tivo and Sky plus, should have been clearer, I meant the currently available Freeview PVR's
Last edited by WYNIR0 : 09-11-2006 at 10:15

You're new to the Hummy? Did you know Chase Play wasn't available on until the 1.00.06 firmware release?

The 'Seasons Pass' and 'Series Link' are patents of TiVO and Sky respectively. There were issues such as patents when makers looked into implementing such facilities with Freeview PVRs.

Didn't realise they were able to copyright the series link idea. Surprises me.

Relativly new to the Hummy,yes. Got mine during World cup final weekend.

Have been reading these forums since before the purchase but only de-lurked recently.

Unfortunately ideas are no longer free! Think of an idea, a new idea - someone would have thought of it before, and have already patented it! (A bit like domain names, really! )

Let's take an example; Apple's iPod - you would think that it was an original idea but along came Creative - who sued them for infringing on their MP3 player patents. Apple recently settled with Creative by paying them lots of greenbacks... (see http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006...ettlement.html)

Original inventions (or discoveries) are hard to come by nowadays - 'a scientific fact' - most inventions nowadays are just refinements of an old idea...
Last edited by son_t : 09-11-2006 at 10:36

I have a totally non Humax related idea which I really hope no one has ever thought of. I've just got absolutely no idea about how I go about patenting it lol.

Best place to start: http://www.patent.gov.uk/

I imagine your PC is not using the standard Freeview EPG - it's probably downloading a different EPG from the web.

The standard Freeview EPG simply does not contain the necessary information to implement a true series link. Specifically, there is no data to indicate that a programme is part of a particular series of programmes.

The Sky EPG is slightly more advanced than Freeview's, and does contain this information, hence series link is possible.

If your PC is using an EPG from the web to schedule Freeview recordings, it is quite possible that the metadata for series linking is present.

A TAP for the Topfield Freeview PVR allows you to do an approximation of series linking, based on searching the EPG for matches to a text query. However, this is not a true series link, since repeat showings will also be recorded (this doesn't happen for 'proper' series linking).

The best solution for the Humax 9200T currently is to set up a daily/weekly recording. But this is far from perfect.

Series link functionality should be on the way soon for Freeview PVRs with an improved EPG which will allow manufacturers to implement the upcoming Freeview Playback spec.

That'll be it, it downloads a EPG from Microsoft.

I believe TiVo were not licensing anyone to use Season Pass in order to keep TiVo as a superior product when compared to generic PVRs. TiVo still sell their boxes in the USA. I understand Sky, and now presumably Freeview, have been allowed to license it only because these boxes do not compete in TiVo's home market.

Interesting BTC. I must say, I do wonder how that works given Freeview dont own the recording services on terrestrial television, unlike Sky which owns and controls the Sky+ product. Do manufacturers have to pay a licence to use the feature or did Tivo say if anyone wants to do series link for recording tesrrestrial television in the UK they can do? You wont need to have a freeview playback certified machine for it to be able to do series link. presumably any box can be modified to to be able to do it using information available free to air over DTT.

Yea heard the person that introduced torchwood on bb2 last night say about this,
'For those who want to watch the full series and have a digital recorder on freeview press the series link to set record for the full series' Would be cool if we could have this......

'Another' playback thread here: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=479118

That isn't what they said... they just mentioned digital TV not Freeview specifically. What they should have said was "if you are watching on $ky Plus"

Cool im wrong and the bbc is wrong then for not saying the right thing!!
Im 99% sure she said that cos i was talking to the wife at the time, and as for saying she should have said sky+ it i have never heard and other channel say this unless its a sky channel

I'm not bothered about a series link facility. What I would like is a method of being able to e.g. playback 3 recordings of Coronation Street one after the other automatically instead of having to watch each once separately. Unless of course I've missed how this can already be done!

This will be in the next release of the firmware.

It is in the latest beta for testing.

See this thread: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=475063

You can watch or record the omnibus on Saturday (ITV2).

I think the pedants among us would argue that because the current freeview recorders haven't got things like season passes, suggestions, etc, they are actually DVRs, not PVRs. I'm not one of those people though - PVR, DVR, whatever.

Hello! Welcome to the forum.

I posted an opinion on the meaning of DVR on another forum. Digital Video Recorder (DVR) can apply to a whole range of kit, including CCTV recorders, whereas Personal Video Recorder (PVR) is specifically taken to mean a device to allow independent scheduling of a stream of TV programmes for personal viewing. As such, the presence of any particular feature(s) is not necessary. IMHO

Excellent, thanks.

PVR ShcmeeVR