Unfortnately that is just how the "record" button defaults if there is no valid guide data.
But don't despair: In the time it takes you to say "wow a Van Damme movie" you can still use the manual record option from the menu as your TiVo is already recording the program in the 30 minute live buffer, so if you use the trick of just setting the start time to before the current time then it will also add in the stuff it already has in the 30 minute live buffer for that channel (or part thereof if you changed channels and do not have a full 30 minutes worth).
Hope that helps.
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