The Challenges of A DVR Service

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Friday April 21, 2006 @06:36AM from the under-the-antennas dept.

ChelleChelle writes "'The two burdens that are probably most annoying to the user are a complex and difficult control interface and lack of reliability.' So says TiVo cofounder Jim Burton as he describes the challenges of designing and delivering an easy-to-use yet highly effective and reliable DVR service. The article is quite broad in focus, providing information on the design aspects of TiVo (hardware, security, source code, etc) yet also taking into consideration the human element, with a large section devoted to service design principles. Overall, a good read for anyone interested in purpose-built systems." Update: 04/21 18:54 GMT by Z : Tim Burton no longer cofounding Tivo.

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offtopic, but why can't I "save" my live buffer? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-04-21 07:10 · Score: 0, Offtopic

Although not service related, why is it on every DVR that lets you watch live TV, there is no option to save the current buffer. It is obviously recording what you are watching since I can "rewind" up to an hour back and watch that touchdown again and again and again...
What I want button called "save what I've watched for the past half-hour"
Sometimes, halfway into a show, I decide that I wanted to record it, but I can't....the best I can do is hit record and continue to record from that point on.
Grrrr