However, over the weekend I tripped over another bug, this one in TiVo Web Video. Before Systm was in TiVoCast I subscribed to it through TiVo Web Video. But while other Rev3 shows, like popSiren, are still in the Web Video list, Systm was dropped – apparently around the time it was added to TiVoCast. But it remained in my local config files in TiVo Desktop, and the only way to unsubscribe is via the on-TiVo list. So without it there it was a similar situation – stuck with the subscription. Fortunately I’m geeky enough that I manually edited the RSS feed and WSPC XML files in TiVo Desktop to kill it myself.

I renew my call for a local UI in TiVo Desktop to manage your RSS fees for TiVo Web Video. Right now the way I believe it is meant to work is that if TiVo drops a show from the TiVo Web Video list any users who subscribed to it will have their subscriptions killed automatically. (In my case I’m guessing some bug in TiVo Desktop caused it not to delete the subscription, putting me into the weird state where I couldn’t unsubscribe. At least it is better than TiVo Desktop wiping out the entire file by itself, which I’ve had happen three times now.) But that’s not very nice. You subscribe to a feed and you’re happy, but at some point in the future the episodes stop showing up. You might not notice at first, and then you’re missing your show. I think they should leave the existing subscriptions in place, which they could do if there were a UI in TiVo Desktop to allow users to unsubscribe later.

The UI should, of course, also allow users to add feed URLs that aren’t in TiVo’s pre-approved list. It is really quite silly that you need a separate RSS feed reader and then have to have TiVo Desktop ‘watch’ the folder for ‘unapproved’ feeds, when TiVo Desktop has everything required to handle it natively – except the UI to add and remove feeds. So you have to leave two server applications running on your PC all the time for want of a simple UI in TiVo Desktop.

I’m also having issues TiVoCast and TiVo Web Video. My Series3 has rebooted several times in the past couple of days (it just rebooted while I was writing this post, which is what reminded me) and it seems directly related to broadband video. Every time I’ve seen it happen the blue light was on just before the reboot, and in the Recording History there is a failed transfer with a spurious reason such as “was not found on the source” for TiVo Web Video, when I can see the file is there. And it’ll generally successfully transfer the same thing later. I’m getting a number of errors in Recording History, and there seems to be a trend for several to occur in a row – then a reboot. And, oddly, when the unit comes back the blue light often lights up – but there is no sign of a transfer happening. Not in the Now Playing List, nor in the To Do List. And when that happens it almost always reboots again before too long. So something is clearly amiss.

I’m just not having a lot of tech luck lately. The drive in my Series2 DVR-810H died a couple of days ago after 4.5 years of service, going out with a very loud Click of Death. It was the 80GB factory drive, so I’m replacing it with a 750GB drive from DVRupgrade. It costs a little more than imaging my own drive, but I’m really busy these days and it is worth it to me not to have yet another thing to find time to do. And today an external USB drive I use with my laptop stopped showing up. Still spinning, so maybe it is the enclosure, but then again it is also pretty hot to the touch, so it may be dead. Fortunately it was shows I’d saved via TiVoToGo, which while annoying to lose isn’t a crushing blow, and backups of other drives. So nothing mission critical. (I coincidentally ordered another drive the other day, so I guess that’ll be a replacement.) I’m still troubleshooting this one. I’d be happy if nothing else failed on me in the near future.

My S3 just rebooted again, as expected. And now the blue LED is off, so hopefully it will be up for a while this time.

It didn’t occur to me last night, but the only place to cancel a TiVoCast Season Pass is through Find Programs & Downloads -> Download TV, Movies, & Web Video -> Browse Other Videos. You can’t cancel it from within a downloaded episode and you can’t cancel it online. I realized this because I signed up for it yesterday to make sure it worked before posting. But I’m really not into wine, at all, and I quickly decided the show wasn’t for me, so I went looking for a way to cancel the Season Pass. Oops.

So beware, if you sign up for Wine Library TV (again, don’t confuse it with Wine Library Reserve) you’ll be stuck with the Season Pass until TiVo gets around to fixing things so that it shows up in the TiVoCast list on the TiVo itself. In the meantime if you don’t like it you’ll be stuck deleting new episodes once they download. I hope TiVo fixes this soon.

iFanboy:

iFanboy is all about comic books. Each week, the guys shed new light on the world of comics and graphic novels. Be it finding new comics, going in-depth, or exclusive interviews, iFanboy has something for new and old readers alike.

Subscribe online or on your TiVo via Find Programs & Downloads -> Download TV, Movies, & Web Video -> Browse Other Videos -> All -> iFanboy

PixelPerfect:

Be amazed and learn as master digital artist Bert Monroy takes a stylus and a digital pad and treats it as Monet and Picasso do with oil and canvas. Learn the tips and tricks you need to whip those digital pictures into shape with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator

Subscribe online or on your TiVo via Find Programs & Downloads -> Download TV, Movies, & Web Video -> Browse Other Videos -> All -> PixelPerfect

popSiren:

popSiren, the first variety show of its kind, offers today’s culture-savvy diva her weekly “hip fix”. popSiren offers a feminine perspective on interests ranging from cool Internet tricks, to indie flicks and music, as well as plenty of the tech tips today’s women unknowingly desire-all condensed into a 15-minute episode.

Subscribe online or on your TiVo via Find Programs & Downloads -> Download TV, Movies, & Web Video -> Browse Other Videos -> All -> popSiren

Scam School:

If Harvard offered a PhD in deceit, this would be it. Award-winning magician Brian Brushwood takes viewers on an inside tour of bar tricks, street cons, and scams. If you watch carefully, you’ll never have to pay for a drink again!

Subscribe online or on your TiVo via Find Programs & Downloads -> Download TV, Movies, & Web Video -> Browse Other Videos -> All -> Scam School

The Digg Reel:

Every Wednesday the Digg Reel covers the top rated videos from Digg.com, the most popular social news site on the web. That means you’ve got thousands of Digg contributors scouring the web for you. Then join host Andrew Bancroft as he adds the stories and people behind the videos you can’t stop watching.

Subscribe online or on your TiVo via Find Programs & Downloads -> Download TV, Movies, & Web Video -> Browse Other Videos -> All -> The Digg Reel

XLR8R TV:

Every week XLR8R TV goes behind the scenes with the musicians, artists and scenes covered in the pages of XLR8R.

Subscribe online or on your TiVo via Find Programs & Downloads -> Download TV, Movies, & Web Video -> Browse Other Videos -> All -> XLR8R TV

Remember way back to yesterday when I said Wine Library TV was listed on the website with a broken link and not showing up on the TiVo at all? Well, they’ve half fixed that. Now it is listed correctly on the TiVoCast web page so you can subscribe there, but it still isn’t showing up on the TiVo. They’ll probably fix that eventually. Again, not to be confused with Wine Library Reserve.

Wine Library TV:

Gary Vaynerchuk, not your typical wine expert, describes what he tastes on the Internet’s most passionate wine program. Gary’s spontaneous, informal approach makes wine both accessible and fun. Explore WLTV and join the legion of viewers changing the wine world.

Subscribe online, but not yet on your TiVo. Eventually it should show up under Find Programs & Downloads -> Download TV, Movies, & Web Video -> Browse Other Videos -> All -> Wine Library TV

One odd thing I noticed, the listings are sorted differently on the TiVo and on the TiVoCast web page. For example, on the TiVo ‘The Digg Reel’ is sorted under ‘T’, but on the web page it is under ‘D’. Similarly The Gourmet Channel is under ‘T’ on the TiVo and ‘G’ on the web. The New York Times is under ‘T’ on TiVo, and ‘N’ on the web. Notice a trend? Same pattern for The Watcher on TiVo and The Weather Channel. Of course, The Totally Rad Show is under ‘T’ on both, but sorted differently – ‘h’ vs. ‘o’. Looks like the website ignores the leading ‘The’ and the TiVo does not.

Here’s something else odd. We known GeekBrief.TV hasn’t been delivering new episodes for TiVoCast for about a month for some reason, but I noticed that while it is correctly listed as GeekBrief.TV on the TiVo, on the web it is hiding as PodShowTV, which is the old name for the site that hosts GBTV, now called Mevio. And there are more oddities. Alaska Podshow, Fit Life, and The Masthead with Marie Claire are all listed on the TiVo, but not the web. They’re all PodShowTV/Mevio programs. I suspect the problem is that the ‘PodShowTV’ entry on the website is supposed to be a sub-list of all of the programs, much the same as The New York Times, instead of just a listing for GeekBrief.TV. Looks like someone broke the website.

So this covers nearly all of the Revision3 shows, just a few left. Best Of… is perhaps redundant, but it could be a nice sampler for people looking to check things out. The GigaOm Show is currently on hiatus, so perhaps that’s why it has not been added, but I’d still like to have it added so I can be sure to subscribe for when it returns. The Revision3 Gazette also seems to be on hiatus, or perhaps dropped. Web Drifter I’m pretty sure has ended, despite still being in the active list on the site. So it looks like the only currently active show not carried by TiVo is ‘Best Of…’.

I’m really happy to see TiVo adding all of this content to TiVoCast, I hope they keep it up.

Systm is the Do It Yourself show designed for the common geek who wants to quickly and easily learn how to dive into the latest and hottest tech projects. We will help you avoid pitfalls and get your project up and running fast.

Subscribe online or on your TiVo via Find Programs & Downloads -> Download TV, Movies, & Web Video -> Browse Other Videos -> All -> Systm

And here’s an odd one. On the TiVoCast web page Wine Library TV is listed, not to be confused with Wine Library Reserve. But if you try to follow the link for Wine Library TV you get a 500 Server Error (at least you do as I write this). And it isn’t in the list on the TiVo itself. So perhaps someone jumped the gun and put it on the online listing too early, but it will be coming soon? That it is a mistake is reinforced by it being out of order in the list – the list is alphabetical, but it is at the bottom under Zipidee Action Sports.

In any case, keep them coming TiVo!