I refuse to watch TV ads, so all my TV watching is done via Tivo or the Microsoft Media software. Both of those make it difficult to skip ads; you have to fast-forward, watching the TV to get past the ads. It a royal PITA. I always wonder if the ads are working, even though I'm watching them at double speed. I hate the idea that corporations are shaping my desires, manipulating me.
Tivo is a Linux box. The Media software runs on a PC. That means someone should be able to create software to pre-edit OUT the ads. The service would Tivo all the shows, note the precise time that ads start and stop, then post that data so it could be accessed by software running on the Tivo. That software would then remove those bits. By the time I watch it, the ads would be deleted. Shows would run continuously without ads, like DVDs. The same process works for the Media software.
I'd pay $$$ for that service.
Tivo the company can't do it because the TV people would bring lawsuits. It would have to be some off-continent organization, to avoid the lawyers. It would have to be a patch to the Tivo software that individuals could apply somehow.
Until that service exists, can someone please hack Tivo and the Media software to provide a "skip one minute" function? It seems like an obvious feature. I suppose it's missing because the TV companies won't allow it.
Someone, please, create the ad removal service. I'll pay gratefully.
- Hoytster
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TiVo running Linux means nothing. It is for all practical purposes a closed system. To date, nobody has written a ground up replacement DVR app, or modified the existing TiVo app (which itself is closed). I don't think anybody will start, since PCs are open and easy to write for, plus you may be under threat of a lawsuit by releasing competitive software for their hardware, especially if it underminse their business model, or their standing with the media industry.
ReplayTV got sued to a shell of its former self, partly because of of their commercial skipping feature (although that paled to their program sharing feature).
TiVo does have a skip 30 second backdoor feature though. You can apply it by playing a program, and entering Select>Play>Select>3>0>Select . The 30 is fixed at 30 seconds. the 3-0 in the key sequence is just the key sequence it looks for.
Thanks for the info about the Tivo skip feature, Classicsat.
You're wrong about the impossibility of hacking the Tivo. It happens a lot. There's an O'Reilly book on the subject. Goolging "Hack the Tivo" turns up plenty of hits. It's a minor cottage industry.