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Two Thumbs Up
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Posted by: MiamiRay

Ever wonder who does that one star to 4 star rating for the movies in TiVo? Me too.

How about if Tivo allowed us to see more than that one rating system? And let the raters give their names. Let us have 4 or 5 different raters, who give their names, critics with different proclivities and preferences that we could be used to.

And the ability to search by their ratings.

This could be an add-on premium service.This I would pay a couple dollars a month extra for.

Posted by: chloejackson

I am just guessing that the movie "stars" ratings just come with the Tribune guide service that TIVO buys and downloads to its subscribers.

Posted by: rbird

So what if Tivo's employees got together and picked a bunch of stuff they think we might like? They could organize it and put it in a special menu all by itself. What could they call it? How about "Tivolution Magazine"....oh, wait...

Ok, how about this idea then. Tivo currently "owns" some paid programming time. Why couldn't they produce a weekly program featuring show and movie (p)reviews, and download it to our Tivos automatically? They could call it something like "Tivo Takes", and we could have a separate forum here at Tivocommunity to discuss the show....what? Damn.

:D

It's possible that nobody wants to pay attention to what Tivo (or anyone else) thinks about movies or shows. But I personally like both of the above ideas, so I choose to believe that their failure indicates that Tivo, Inc. just doesn't have the resources at this time to commit to something like this. (Yes, I know Tivolution Magazine still exists, but it is obvious that the resources committed to it are minimal at best.)

Bob

Posted by: markcrocker

I think it's strange that TiVo allows three thumbs up. I only have the two that I know of. Any other appendage I can think of is way to big to think of as a third thumb ;)

Posted by: atreyu

Wow, I'm feeling really dumb... where are the star ratings? I've had my DirecTivo for a month now, and haven't stumbled across movie ratings. They'd be rather appreciated, even if inconsistent...

Posted by: MiamiRay

When I suggested that there be more reviews and that I would be willing to pay for them, I wasnt suggesting that the reviews be done by Tivo Staff, spending a little spare time. I was suggesting that TiVo buy additional review services from reviewers who write more about the movies. For instance, they could purchase the reviews of the Siskel and Roper (I think thats their names) the two thumbs up guys.

Actually, the best would be to purchase the reviews of someone who reviews videos, not movies. That way the popular success of the movie could be a factor. For instance, I notice that the movie "Somewhere In Time" only got 2 stars. Yet that movie has become one of the most successful cult movies ever made. A well versed movie critic would know that. Like "Night of the Living Dead", cult movies deserve at least 3 stars, no matter how they were reviewed when they first came out.

Posted by: markcrocker

No! Don't do that. What would be much better would a user driven rating system like what Netflix uses. This is certainly within the capabilities of TiVo and would provide a much better idea of what YOU would like.

For those of you who don't know, Netflix is a DVD rental by mail service. You select DVD's that get added to a queue and mailed to you when you return the ones you have out already. Keep them as long as you want, but you're limited to how many you can have out at a time.

Although all of that is cool, what makes Netflix a killer app is that they allow/encourage you to rate movies you've seen. Then they use an algorithm that looks at how other people who have rated the movies you've rated in a similar way and uses their ratings of movies you haven't seen to provide a guestimated rating for those movies. The end result is that you get a rating based on the opinions of people just like you rather than some movie snob or someone whose tastes are different than yours. it's a little like the suggestions system on steriods ;)

Posted by: atreyu

quote:
Originally posted by MiamiRay For instance, they could purchase the reviews of the Siskel and Roper (I think thats their names) the two thumbs up guys.

It used to be Siskel & Ebert, but Gene Siskel died a while back... Roper's the replacement. So now it's Ebert & Roper.

Posted by: atreyu

quote:
Originally posted by markcrocker
This is certainly within the capabilities of TiVo and would provide a much better idea of what YOU would like.

Ok, I'd concede that this system is "within the capabilities of TiVo," in that the hardware is capable of supporting something like this, given a substantial software upgrade.

But in my opinion it's never going to happen. Ever.

Here's why: people are very concerned about their privacy, and rightly so. Anyway, I've found that alot of times people shy away from TiVo because they don't understand how suggestions work -- they think the TiVo is spying on them. These people are often very relieved to discover that suggestions are made without sending any information to TiVo.

But in order for this scheme to work, every user's TiVo would have to devote part of its daily call to informing the TiVo servers of how its users voted on certain movies! Big privacy no-no... TiVo would have a really hard time convincing users that this info was not being passed along to media companies (i.e. "Mark likes porn... here's his address if you want to direct market to him.")

Posted by: markcrocker

quote:
people shy away from TiVo because they don't understand how suggestions work -- they think the TiVo is spying on them.

Yes. It has always disturbed me how much of a negative impact stupid people have on product marketing and development. Unfortunately, I think I have to conceed that point. However, if you go to the latest TiVo Buzz, you'll see from their Super Bowl statistics that they are keeping track of at least some of this information.

quote:
i.e. "Mark likes porn

How did you know ;)

Getting back to my point... I'd still like to suggest that user based rating systems are better than reveiwer suggestions. TiVo could use it's existing data keeping to set ratings or use a third party such as Internet Movie Database to get reviews.

Posted by: Hunter Green

Ummm, guys, TiVo already does all this. Search on "collaborative suggestions" and you'll see the skinny.

Posted by: atreyu

quote:
Originally posted by atreyu
"Mark likes porn...

quote:
Originally posted by markcrocker
How did you know ;)

<blushes furiously> omigosh! I totally picked a name out of thin air... sorry about that!

quote:
Originally posted by markcrocker
TiVo could use it's existing data keeping to set ratings or use a third party such as Internet Movie Database to get reviews.

This *would* be an alternative... say, if TiVo licensed Netflix's info... the reviews would reflect that communities preferences vs. the TiVo viewing community's but I don't see why they wouldn't still be valid.

But nobody has answered my question yet... where are these star ratings? I've got a DirecTiVo, and can't for the life of me find them on the program info screen! I specifically looked last night...

Posted by: phone1

When I first got TiVo, I spent almost as much time looking at the menus as I did watching programs. (My wife said I gave up surfing live TV to surf TiVo.) I used to like the Leonard Maltin reviews, but they're long gone. TiVolution Magazine is just a shadow of it's former self. I seldom look at Showcases. Outside of the program quide, there's not much about the service to get excited about anymore. :(

Would it absolutely break them to pay a few royalties and maybe hire just ONE more person to assemble some of this content?

Posted by: MiamiRay

quote:

But nobody has answered my question yet... where are these star ratings? I've got a DirecTiVo, and can't for the life of me find them on the program info screen! I specifically looked last night...

Maybe the directTivo is different than the standalone. If you dont get the TiVo service (necessary with Series 2) you wont get reviews or stars.

On my standalone Series 2, most of the descriptions of movies have from 1 to 4 stars right at the beginning of the description of the move. The stars only appear on the lengthy discription that you get when you click inside the movies to record. Right where you have the option to record this showing or see upcoming showings. Im not at my TiVo now, so I cant give a better description. If you still cant find it, post that here and Ill give exact directions when I get home to my TiVo.

quote:

in order for this scheme to work, every user's TiVo would have to devote part of its daily call to informing the TiVo servers of how its users voted on certain movies! Big privacy no-no... TiVo would have a really hard time convincing users that this info was not being passed along to media companies (i.e. "Mark likes porn... here's his address if you want to direct market to him.")

Or howabout you go for a job interview and there is the interviewer with a copy of your viewing record for the past 10 years, and an analysis of whether that viewing suggests you have the right kind of personality that makes you the "right kind of person" for the position.

I agree with the idea that the best would be something like the Net Flix reviews. How about, if you want to be on the service you would have to opt in and be willing to have your watching recorded. And TiVo would give us their written promise NOT to ever tie our selections to our names if they sell data to outside companies. They can use it to sell things to me, but if they give it to ANYONE else, I want the right to call a lawyer, so I want that promise in writing. The alternative would be for them to buy the data from NetFlix, as you suggest

Posted by: kelstertx

quote:
Originally posted by atreyu
Wow, I'm feeling really dumb... where are the star ratings? I've had my DirecTivo for a month now, and haven't stumbled across movie ratings. They'd be rather appreciated, even if inconsistent...

They don't rate porn... try changing the channel! ;) LOL