On March 22, 2006 at 11:33, rgbyhkr said...
Hey Jeff,
Firstoff, thanks for the prompt reply. Secondly,
I think you and I had some back and forth a couple
months back about the 950 and the upcoming universal
editor. Although I really did like various aspects
of the 950, I wound up returning it mostly because
of the slight delay from button press until command
issuance. This was in comparison to my 700 and
800 units. It made menu navigation a bit less
smooth and less snappy. Someone had suggested
that the fundamental additional complexity and
capability of the 950 may be the root cause.
I wouldn't say it's a bug or anything and might
not even be noticed by someone who hadn't used
a previous design. It wasn't a huge lag, but
again, enough to be noticeable in comparison.
My hope is that the 900 will be closer to the
700/800 in this respect. Of course, it doesn't
have all the capabilities of the 950, but it does
improve upon the 700/800/850 enough for me to
get it. Can you comment on this based on any
experience with pre-production models? Thanks.
Jeff
Well, I got the 900 today. I like layout and the overall ergonomic feel. Unfortunately, that slight lag I experienced with the 950 is still present. I'm not sure if I can get used to that or not.
For those who are still wondering how I even noticed something this slight, consider another example I came across almost immediately today. When using Tivo, multiple presses of FF and REW are common when watching pre-recorded or even live content. On many occasions, users will press either button 2-3 times in a row to access the faster scan speed. When using the same codeset and trying them one after the other, I found that I have to press the FF button on the 900 at a slower cadence than I can with the 700. If I try to use the faster cadence on the 900, one or more of the IR commands is not received by the Tivo. What's odd is that the audible "beep" that the 900 makes for each button press stays in time with the faster cadence even though the IR command may not have been issued (I'm assuming it isn't issued since the Tivo doesn't receive it). IOW, when I press REW on the 900 3 times at the same cadence as I would on the 700, the 900 beeps 3 times but the Tivo only responds by scanning at speed 1 or 2 vs level 3.
Now, it's certainly possible to outpace the 700. If I press the 700's REW 3 times at too fast a cadence, I get the same result where only 1 or 2 of the REW presses are received as commands by the Tivo box. Again though, the allowable cadence speed is faster on the 700 then either the 900 or the 950. I've been using the 700 and 800 for a while now so I have a feel for how they respond. As a result, the difference in the 900 and 950 makes me think of them as more sluggish and less desirable to use as a result. Over time, I might be able to adjust but unless I were to use the 900 in every zone and replace the 700 and 800, I'll probably always notice it.
Darn, I was really hoping the 900 would be different.
Jeff
