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Short-sighted series link causes unnecessary clashes
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[Deleted User]
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I am now a Sky subscriber and have, I think a relatively new box, although it's a bit short on disk space.
On the whole the user experience and usability of the box is pretty good.
One thing that's surprised me though - the series link. For a while, I used MediaPortal with the DJBlu plugin that reads the Sky EPG data and series link, then implements them within MediaPortal.
In MediaPortal, once a series link is enabled, every existing episode in the EPG that belongs to the series link is added to the timer instantly.
However, with Sky+, the next programme is only added, it appears, when the current one either starts or finishes recording.
Why?
This, in the 3 weeks we've had Sky, has caused a number of clashes. If 2 or more episodes are being shown in a row (ie a marathon showing of an entire series) on the same day, and I series link it, only the first one is added to the planner. I can then go and schedule 2 other programmes to record straight after the first episode of the marathon and the box won't argue as there doesn't appear to be a clash.
However, when the first show in the marathon starts to record, or stops recording (whichever it is), it will look to schedule the second episode in the marathon - but fail, because 2 programmes are scheduled already.
So why doesn't the box schedule all episodes that are currently in the EPG that belong to that series link and reduce the risk of clashes? That's what MediaPortal does with the same data and it works well.
It doesn't have to be a one evening marathon either - episodes shown over a number of nights in one week - Moonfleet, for example, had the same problem.
On an otherwise clever box, it surprises me that such a fundamental issue still exists.
On the whole the user experience and usability of the box is pretty good.
One thing that's surprised me though - the series link. For a while, I used MediaPortal with the DJBlu plugin that reads the Sky EPG data and series link, then implements them within MediaPortal.
In MediaPortal, once a series link is enabled, every existing episode in the EPG that belongs to the series link is added to the timer instantly.
However, with Sky+, the next programme is only added, it appears, when the current one either starts or finishes recording.
Why?
This, in the 3 weeks we've had Sky, has caused a number of clashes. If 2 or more episodes are being shown in a row (ie a marathon showing of an entire series) on the same day, and I series link it, only the first one is added to the planner. I can then go and schedule 2 other programmes to record straight after the first episode of the marathon and the box won't argue as there doesn't appear to be a clash.
However, when the first show in the marathon starts to record, or stops recording (whichever it is), it will look to schedule the second episode in the marathon - but fail, because 2 programmes are scheduled already.
So why doesn't the box schedule all episodes that are currently in the EPG that belong to that series link and reduce the risk of clashes? That's what MediaPortal does with the same data and it works well.
It doesn't have to be a one evening marathon either - episodes shown over a number of nights in one week - Moonfleet, for example, had the same problem.
On an otherwise clever box, it surprises me that such a fundamental issue still exists.
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People will say that this is Channel 4s fault for poor coding etc, as in reality it is, of course, but the point made by the OP is down to Sky design and has exacerbated the error.
Luckily this was the first episode of the week so the failure of the series link is obvious by looking in the planner and seeing that there is only one instead of two episodes recorded. So I can set the E 4 repeat tomorrow in time.
However - and this is a point I made on day one of the Sky introduction of series links in this forum - had it been tomorrow when the double episode occurred then you would have not been given a visual clue of a problem because the missing episode would be hidden behind the stack without any indication when opening the planner that one of them has been skipped.
Surely, whether it adds 1 episode at a time, or 7 days worth, if CH4 don't link the episode in, it won't be recorded either way.
Thanks but that's not going to work for me. I don't know when a clash is going to happen, so in order for this to be foolproof I'd not only have to have an app running, but have to carry the tablet / phone with me wherever I go in the house so I can react immediately to any notification and run to the box?
I think that compromises the usability and simplicity somewhat...
Fair point, but if it were linking in them all at once then I would assume the error would be easier to spot at the inputting end?
Is full app control from anywhere possible in the future?
Given that the boxes are now Internet connected, I'd guess that, yes, it is technically possible.