TiVo not smart enough sometimes ?

[85turbo]

Hi all.

i have noticed an issue where my tivo isn't smart enough to record some programs on the same ch on one tuner
when they are back to back.

ie on ch 7 they have a lot of programming that's 30 minutes back to back to make up 1 hr.

i want to record both shows, so the tivo uses two tuners instead of just recording 1hr on 7 on one tuner.
i realise i would end up with one recording that's 1hr 15 mins, and that's fine. (5 mins early, 10 mins longer)

ill try to be more specific.

say for example i want to record dog squad & surf patrol on ch 7.
dog squad is 7:30 to 8pm. surf patrol is 8pm to 8:30.

doing this i can not record the new inventors on the ABC at 8pm. as the 1st tuner is still busy recording
dog squad.

i extend recordings (10 mins usually), so i don't miss the endings.

the tivo also often also screws up the second recording if it's on the same ch. the second recording is often scrambled.

the only solution i have found is to set up manual recordings, but that then doesn't allow for the times when a
shows time slot is moved, or is not on for a week.

anyone else notice these things ?

is there something im missing ?

Jason.

[rhamer]

Edit the first program in the season pass and set it to finish on time.

You can do this without fear of missing the end if it runs overtime, because it will be on the beginning of the second show.

You can leave the second show to record longer, or add even more time the same way if you think the show will run way over.

I wish we had the same rules as the UK where shows have to start within 30secs of the advertised time by law.

[Skolink]

I have complained to TiVo about the back-to-back shows on the same channel tying up both tuners, and they have replied with the usual lame suggestions. Hopefully they have lodged it with the software developers as a 'to do' as I as I asked them to. Would you mind filling out a support request on the website too, so they might give it some priority.
I am about to replace the PROM chip on my TiVoHD so that I can hack it and install EndPadPlus. It is far more intelligent than the autopadding built into the TiVoHD. It looks at what you have schedualed to record and intelligently pads the shows.

The main reason we bought a TiVoHD to compliment our Series1 was becuse of the dual tuners. Not as good as expected...especially from TiVo.

Three months ago I had an issue with some shows being scrambled, or no sound. I happened intermittently for about 2 weeks, and has never happened since.

[petestrash]

The functionality of back to back shows should be improved soon, as TiVo started to use exact timings from the stations for the shows. This should make padding almost unnecessary (in OZ anyway).

Peter.

[85turbo]

The functionality of back to back shows should be improved soon, as TiVo started to use exact timings from the stations for the shows. This should make padding almost unnecessary (in OZ anyway).

Peter.

so your saying that TiVo will have access to live timing on all shows ? i don't see that happening any time soon.
too Labor intensive. and if they did have this service, i wouldn't trust it.

what happens if a show starts on time, but for some reason ends late ?
e.g. an unscheduled news bulletin in the middle, can they actually adjust a recording while it's going in order to extend it ?

the tivo should be able to recognise that im recording two shows back to back on one ch, and use one tuner to record both shows.
or at least offer that as a solution on a per recording basis. (ie it should ask if i want to use one tuner or two).
surely that shouldn't be too hard to do in the next software update.

until the TV stations are held accountable for running late / early there will be no simple solution, but to manually extend recordings.

i have emailed TiVo about the issue.

Jason.

[petestrash]

so your saying that TiVo will have access to live timing on all shows ? i don't see that happening any time soon.
too Labor intensive. and if they did have this service, i wouldn't trust it.

There are quite a number of TiVo's already running with the new system on 7/7HD/7TWO and 9/9HD/GO!, and default padding on these has been dropped from 10 minutes to only 1 minute.

Results are fairly good so far, not perfect but pretty good.

Only time will tell if it is better than what we currently have. But having only 1 minute cut from the start of show for clipping is a better option then the current 10 minutes on most channels.


what happens if a show starts on time, but for some reason ends late ?
e.g. an unscheduled news bulletin in the middle, can they actually adjust a recording while it's going in order to extend it ?

You will not get the end if you are only recording the scheduled times, but this is the same for any device.


the tivo should be able to recognise that im recording two shows back to back on one ch, and use one tuner to record both shows.
or at least offer that as a solution on a per recording basis. (ie it should ask if i want to use one tuner or two).
surely that shouldn't be too hard to do in the next software update.

You can do that now on a show by show or season pass basis, by just changing the first show from extend to finish on time.


until the TV stations are held accountable for running late / early there will be no simple solution, but to manually extend recordings.

i have emailed TiVo about the issue.

This is the real problem, and you would probably be better off emailing the stations to keep to their published schedules rather than emailing TiVo about things that it really cannot solve for all situations.

The solution I use to this problem is to have more than one TiVo, so you virtually never have to choose between shows or what gets padded and what doesn't. The multiroom feature works well allowing you to watch content from any TiVo on any other TiVo.

Peter.

[85turbo]

the 2nd tivo idea is a good one, i might look into in the future, as budget allows.

for the moment, i still have my old topfield masterpiece for those times i really need it, (though it's SD only)

for the time being, ill just continue to run manual programming i guess. the simplest solution as far as i can see.

if i do buy a second tivo, it will live in the lounge room with the 1st one. don't have two tv's. only the one 46" HD LCD.
it has multiple HDMI inputs, so im covered there. don't need the multi room viewing.

i assume i wont have to purchase a second networking package ? or MAK ? though i would have to purchase a network switch for it.
im already running two cat 5 cables across from the PC to the tv. one for the tivo, and one for the PS3. and i dont want to run another

might look into it after tax time.

Jason.

[petestrash]

In your case you don't even need HNP as you will not be transferring shows.

But for others, once you have HNP it will be added to all TiVo's on the same account.

Peter.

[85turbo]

thats good news, i do have the HNP though as i transfer shows to my pc and edit / convert to divx files.

Jason.