In my recent Hands on with the new THR22 DirecTV TiVo HD DVR post, I noted that the interface of the brand new TiVo for DirecTV is similar to the old HR10-250 HD TiVo. Of course it's not identical to that interface and there are some cool new features in this new TiVo. Below I describe some of the best ones that I've found so far:
Multiple search terms in WishLists
The new THR22 TiVo lets you create WishLists using multiple search terms, like two actors, several keywords, etc., and putting conditions on them (this and that, this or that, this but never that). This is pretty slick and the TiVo makes it pretty easy to do. This TiVo page tells you how:
http://www.tivo.com/mytivo/howto/getthemostoutoftv/howto_create_wishlist_search.html
The example on the TiVo website shows how to set the TiVo up to record all programs with George Clooney but never the series ER:
- Title Keyword: -ER
- Actor: George Clooney
A minus sign means that this term is excluded. Press the thumbs button twice to make a term optional (shows in parentheses). Press it again to make the term required (default).
Wildcard matches in wishlists
Use asterisks when you're looking for a range of similar words, or are uncertain how to spell a word. For example, the keyword MUPPET* catches the "Muppet Movie", the "Muppet Show" and "Muppets Take Manhattan".
Suggestions appear in their own folder now so they don't clutter your own recordings. I don't remember this being an option on the HR10-250 TiVo.
Swivel search
This is TiVo's version of a "unified search" - more like the HR-series search but providing deeper results. Swivel search requires an Internet connection and looks across all accessible video, including upcoming programming, on-demand, and available downloads. TiVo calls it Swivel search because you can "swivel" off the results. For example, drill down into the cast, then pivot on the actor, and see other TV shows and movies they're in.
Swivel Search finds programs that match the text entered. Like a WishList, the results include more than just title matches. Even better, it's a live search, narrowing results as you type.
At first I thought this was something that DirecTV had TiVo make just for them because the interface seems a little different, and less TiVo-like, but it turns out this is a standard TiVo feature: http://support.tivo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/198
I'm sure there's more in this new TiVo that I haven't found yet, but these are a few of the cool new features making it more than just a direct copy of the previous DirecTV TiVo.
