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Series Link... what's the point?

alpine*alpine* Posts: 23
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in Freesat+ Recorders #1
My mum went on holiday and asked me how she can rec Eastenders omnibus when it's not in the epg in 2 weeks time, I said Series Link it. So when she returned, no recording, it appears for that week it moved from BBC1 where SL was set, to BBC2.

Also, Points of View was set as SL and posponed this Sunday as the GP over-ran and rescheduled for Monday, again SL failed to pick it up but has got the following weeks episode set.

So, what is the point of it? Is too much expected of it?

Foxsat HDR
Cheers

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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 4,624
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    #2
    Why didnt she record the normal version as I think its always on 1 channel, series record never goes across the channels. MOTD2 has this problem too.

    As for the latter, about once a month that happens for me but the HDR can only handle the data its given. Blame the channels.
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    Night WatchmanNight Watchman Posts: 1,820
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    #3
    It's easy to say now after the event but in future you could always consider recording the regular Eastenders individual episodes on BBC3 on a series link - AFAIK they show every episode and are not subject to these schedule changes between 1 & 2. Although there is no guarantee.
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    gomezzgomezz Posts: 44,682
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    #4
    There is always iPlayer. And in this case a dutiful daughter (?) to make sure they recorded it for her.
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    jwballjwball Posts: 1,248
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    #5
    I think series link can cross channels, motd sometimes records if shown on bbc2.
    I also noticed eastenders recording on bbc3 on monday night which nobody knowingly set?
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 4,974
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    #6
    As long as the broadcaster looks after them they can work very well.

    Automan.
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    AndrueAndrue Posts: 23,383
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    #7
    It's up to the broadcaster but in my experience broadcasters can be a little lax on the Freesat and Freeview platforms and I don't really understand why. Sky's platform has had series link for years now and they rarely screw that up. Obviously it's a different system but you'd think if they had systems in place to update Sky's EPG then extending them for Freesat/Freeview/whatever would be easy enough. It's hard to understand how the mistakes creep in on the other platforms. I suppose we just have to put it down to the usual broadcaster incompetence :-/

    But in general SL is reliable. We time shift everything so we rely on it and it's almost unheard of us to miss something. Then again 90% of what we watch is via Sky so perhaps it's just that you don't get such issues on that platform.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 85
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    #8
    Series link is a great feature. You just have to remember some of its limitations due to the broadcasters of certain channels. As someone has mentioned it never does the cross channels and changes from BBC 1 to BBC 2 for example. The channel I usually have problem with is channel 4, some of the programs overrun and you will miss the ending, I record these weekly and give it an extra 5 minutes. Most of the time for me I never get any problems.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 69
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    #9
    jwball wrote: »
    I think series link can cross channels(...)

    True, true:)
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 188
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    #10
    .....and sometimes series link can be too smart for its' own good! Thursday night I am recording 'Three in a Bed' Ch 4 8-9pm and wish to record ITV1 at the same time. Unfortunately I have also got ITV1 HD as a series record from next week (when BGT has finished) but my Hummy seems to think that I am also recording it this week as it comes up as three conflicts: Ch4 and ITV1 HD this week and ITV1 HD next week! :cry:
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    REPASSACREPASSAC Posts: 2,017
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    #11
    alsatian wrote: »
    .....and sometimes series link can be too smart for its' own good! Thursday night I am recording 'Three in a Bed' Ch 4 8-9pm and wish to record ITV1 at the same time. Unfortunately I have also got ITV1 HD as a series record from next week (when BGT has finished) but my Hummy seems to think that I am also recording it this week as it comes up as three conflicts: Ch4 and ITV1 HD this week and ITV1 HD next week! :cry:

    That is as it should do if the series CRID matches.
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    AndrueAndrue Posts: 23,383
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    #12
    REPASSAC wrote: »
    That is as it should do if the series CRID matches.
    And of course that's one of the areas where Freesat/Freeview are better than Sky. Sky can only show you the next scheduled recording. There are times (especially when there's a back to back showing) that it can cause problems with conflicts. Sky just doesn't handle conflicts at all and for HD channels that can be very annoying since they don't have +1 variants :mad:

    I've said it before:What we need is the FreeSat EPG with Sky's content :rolleyes:
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    AndrueAndrue Posts: 23,383
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    #13
    Lol, must be something going around at the BBC:

    http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?p=50519881

    Also some vaguely interesting info on the differences between Sky and Freesat EPG. Sounds like in this case a Freesat PVR wouldn't have been caught out.
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    alpine*alpine* Posts: 23
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    #14
    Flyer 10 wrote: »
    series record never goes across the channels. MOTD2 has this problem too.
    jwball wrote: »
    I think series link can cross channels, motd sometimes records if shown on bbc2.

    So, I'm confused, should it cross channels or not? In my experience it doesn't!
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    AndrueAndrue Posts: 23,383
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    #15
    alpine* wrote: »
    So, I'm confused, should it cross channels or not? In my experience it doesn't!
    Well the two statements you quoted are not contradictory. Just because it can cross channels doesn't mean that broadcasters send the correct data to make it do so.

    I don't know for sure but since it can find alternate showings on different channels I would assume it can handle a series doing that as well. At a guess it relies on the CRID. Perhaps it just looks across the entire programme database for a suitable CRID and doesn't need to even consider the channel. That's probably how I'd do it. The whole concept of a 'channel' is becoming an anachronism. Personally I pay little attention to it now - if you time shift everything then both transmission time and channel become unimportant.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 4,624
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    #16
    alpine* wrote: »
    So, I'm confused, should it cross channels or not? In my experience it doesn't!

    Maybe its technologically possible but it never happens in my experience.
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    Night WatchmanNight Watchman Posts: 1,820
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    #17
    On the positive side for SL recordings, after the recent software update several one-time-only recordings (mainly BBC 3) disappeared from my Schedule but the SL ones were all intact. Fortunately I noticed in time so was able to re-schedule the missing ones.
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