So much for the new planner software

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  • davemurgatroyddavemurgatroyd Posts: 13,328
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    poppasmurf wrote: »
    If the box is going to retain information about every programme I record, and then look for the next series, then it's going to spend all it's time doing that as I record virtually every programme I watch so I can zip through the adverts. I don't think the three, four or five pages of Next Series listings I keep getting is going to do much from the RAM of the box.

    And I still have to ask why, when I delete them, do they keep coming back? Who is the boss? Me or the box? As I said, this is some sorry piece of software.

    They are NOT stored in RAM (flash memory) - they are stored in the reserved space on your HDD
  • Jaycee DoveJaycee Dove Posts: 18,762
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    poppasmurf wrote: »
    I got a new Next Series listing today - for the next series of 'Titanic!'

    Now, from memory, at the end of the last series, the ship sank, so I don't know if the makers plan to 'Raise the Titanic' for a new series, or even lower the Atlantic.

    This really is some poor piece of software.

    Yes, it needs a tweak so that it does not treat one off mini series never intended to be a returning show not as an actual series. These are quite common on TV and there are already a few in my list that will never show up. The Enfield Poltergeist next series - for instance - that told the entire true story - so cannot return unless they make something up for a sequel.

    I guess the argument will be if it has a series link its a series and how can it know if it will return. But that's a weakness of the software as it should allow for one offs split into two parts to be coded differently by the channel. Otherwise half the programmes on ITV and BBC will end up showing next series that will never turn up. On top of all the axed ones in the same position (Our Zoo, BBC 1, Forever, Sky are just two axed shows in my list already).

    I guess you could accept this if it actually worked for shows on a short break that ARE returning. But it doesn't even do that.

    All the above junk series links to none returners and Home and Away (on every day and off for just a 4 week break in May) did NOT link to its return next Monday. I had to do it manually when I saw today its not in the list but is in the EPG.

    I am sure it will be argued this is the channel's fault but if major shows like that fail the returns test it is going to be something you cannot rely on.
  • AndrueAndrue Posts: 23,351
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    Dave-H wrote: »
    There's nothing to change as far as Sky are concerned because that facility now already exists, but as Nsewell said, it completely relies on the broadcasters using it properly.
    If there are problems with links on non-Sky channels any complaint about it should be directed to the owner of the channel, not to Sky.
    Having said that, Sky's own EPG schedulers do sometimes get it wrong too!
    :)
    AETN (History, CI amongst others) seem to be particularly inept in this regard. Right now every showing of 'Fatal Vows' has the same series ID so you get three copies of each episode (and unnecessary schedule clashes). The new series of Storage Wars has no series link at all. Whoever sets up the EPG data at AETN is either a careless or clueless muppet.
  • scepticsceptic Posts: 400
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    At the end of the day our boxes have probably been storing all sorts of redundant/out dated information regarding series links. The main difference with this update is that we can actually see some of it!
  • Jaycee DoveJaycee Dove Posts: 18,762
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    sceptic wrote: »
    At the end of the day our boxes have probably been storing all sorts of redundant/out dated information regarding series links. The main difference with this update is that we can actually see some of it!

    Possibly true, but there was likely a reason why they were kept invisible!

    More importantly, there have been reports in the past of channels reusing old recording series links that have become defunct.

    If that does happen will these old links start recording the new shows reusing the link of the named series on your box even if you have not requested it?

    Or has the new software compensated for that possibility.
  • scepticsceptic Posts: 400
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    More importantly, there have been reports in the past of channels reusing old recording series links that have become defunct.

    If that does happen will these old links start recording the new shows reusing the link of the named series on your box even if you have not requested it?

    Or has the new software compensated for that possibility.

    No idea! My guess would be that new software has not compensated for that possibility... Time will tell I guess!
  • Jaycee DoveJaycee Dove Posts: 18,762
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    Just an update on the over hyped new software.

    So far Home and Away has failed twice. It did not link at all after the 4 week break despite dozens of shows in an ever growing list of Next Series that will never happen.

    Then it failed to link after the first episode I set manually so that I missed an episode yesterday thanks to the forthcoming recordings having been extracted from the planner where they are no longer easily visible unless you chase every single thing you have on series link every time it is supposed to have worked. Which rather defeats the point.

    I warned at the start that this was going to be a problem when series links fail (as they do from time to time). It was obvious under the old planner as they were all in one place. Now this change will cause people to lose episodes when the link fails and you don't spot it in time.

    Oh, and I was over optimistic in saying the software avoids multiple stacks via the 'New' problem. The last episode of Law and Order missed it out and so it ended up in a separate stack with last weeks episode now a page further back from it.

    I appreciate what Sky have tried to do here but this software still needs work sadly.
  • sodafountainsodafountain Posts: 16,829
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    So far Home and Away has failed twice. It did not link at all after the 4 week break despite dozens of shows in an ever growing list of Next Series that will never happen.

    Then it failed to link after the first episode I set manually so that I missed an episode yesterday thanks to the forthcoming recordings having been extracted from the planner where they are no longer easily visible unless you chase every single thing you have on series link every time it is supposed to have worked. Which rather defeats the point.

    I would say this is a problem with Channel 5 data, rather than the series link.

    The Sky box is not intelligent, it does not know what is a new episode or an old episode like we do, it needs telling by some sort of data or flag. If the channel do not set this right, how is the box to know it is a returning series? This is proven by the fact you set a series link up, and it still missed the next episode, Channel 5 couldn't even get that data right.

    Also, i deleted 2 shows from my list (The Enfield Haunting and The Hotel), on both occasions, it stated that deleting them would stop the box looking for future episodes, and i pressed SELECT to confirm, neither have returned, so if any do, i presume it is an error that just needs informing to someone, so you can make you list smaller. As said, the box won't know if a mini series is a 1 off and will never return, it doesn't "understand" what things are like we do.

    I warned at the start that this was going to be a problem when series links fail (as they do from time to time). It was obvious under the old planner as they were all in one place. Now this change will cause people to lose episodes when the link fails and you don't spot it in time.

    It takes all of a second to press RIGHT to see what you have set to record, i do it every time i pop into the planner, so i know what it coming up, it is hardly difficult, and all your future recordings are still in 1 place.
    Oh, and I was over optimistic in saying the software avoids multiple stacks via the 'New' problem. The last episode of Law and Order missed it out and so it ended up in a separate stack with last weeks episode now a page further back from it.

    I appreciate what Sky have tried to do here but this software still needs work sadly.

    All i can say is that all my episodes are correct, with or without NEW:, they are in the same stack. Did the last episode have a different spelling, as well as missing the NEW:, or was it maybe on a different channel? Only reasons i can think of for this to happen, i don't record it so don't know how it appears.
  • scepticsceptic Posts: 400
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    I actually think the addition of the Next Series/Next Episode entries in the Scheduled tab make it easier to find series that silently drop their links mid series run. I've caught a couple so far checking these each day. Previously they would just disappear and were very hard to spot!

    As usual the software/box tends to get the blame for issues actually caused by incorrect data provided by the channel... :(
  • mjrmjr Posts: 2,361
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    sceptic wrote: »
    I actually think the addition of the Next Series/Next Episode entries in the Scheduled tab make it easier to find series that silently drop their links mid series run. I've caught a couple so far checking these each day. Previously they would just disappear and were very hard to spot!

    That's a very good point.
  • kempshottkempshott Posts: 1,881
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    I had a weird problem with my DRX-895 / R011.075.52.00P box yesterday.

    It wouldn't come out of standby even though the box LED flashed. After a power off/reboot it was OK for about 10 minutes then the Sky banner kept popping up. Backup cleared it but it immediately reappeared. This was happening on both recorded programs and live TV. This happened after another reboot.

    So I thought I'd try a planner rebuilld. But after Services/001 although I could move across to the Rebuild tab the lower half of the screen didn't change from "Setup".

    I then did a Forced Update but (not surprisingly) remained on 52 rather than 60. But at least that let me do a rebuild. Fingers crossed that will sort it.

    There are several reports of the "stuck banner" problem but they are mostly from 2010.
  • jonmorrisjonmorris Posts: 21,680
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    Does anyone know why one box has a box marked 'Sports' (second box in on bottom row) and on another box it's marked 'Kids'?

    I can't seem to choose what 'shortcuts' are shown, and it doesn't even appear to correlate with what I watch most of, or record.
  • NsewellNsewell Posts: 824
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    jonmorris wrote: »
    Does anyone know why one box has a box marked 'Sports' (second box in on bottom row) and on another box it's marked 'Kids'?

    I can't seem to choose what 'shortcuts' are shown, and it doesn't even appear to correlate with what I watch most of, or record.

    The Sports tile has been replaced with the Kids tile in the latest software update.
  • tvsatweektvsatweek Posts: 863
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    I would like a new tab in the planner where we see all scheduled deleted downloads purchased kids entertainment movies documentaries sports lifestyle news music so I would like them to add 1 more new tab saying NEXT EPISODE and NEXT SERIES so we can just see them on there own
  • jonmorrisjonmorris Posts: 21,680
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    Nsewell wrote: »
    The Sports tile has been replaced with the Kids tile in the latest software update.

    Ah, that'll explain it.

    Wouldn't it be nice to be able to choose for yourself? Obviously from a choice of topics that Sky continues to curate.
  • NsewellNsewell Posts: 824
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    jonmorris wrote: »
    Wouldn't it be nice to be able to choose for yourself? Obviously from a choice of topics that Sky continues to curate.

    Maybe one day😉
  • DWA9ISDWA9IS Posts: 10,557
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    jonmorris wrote: »
    Ah, that'll explain it.

    Wouldn't it be nice to be able to choose for yourself? Obviously from a choice of topics that Sky continues to curate.

    Dynamic tiles that change based on viewers/customers habits would be good, but also promoting things that sky think viewers/customers would like.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 22
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    Just an update on the over hyped new software.

    So far Home and Away has failed twice. It did not link at all after the 4 week break despite dozens of shows in an ever growing list of Next Series that will never happen.

    Then it failed to link after the first episode I set manually so that I missed an episode yesterday thanks to the forthcoming recordings having been extracted from the planner where they are no longer easily visible unless you chase every single thing you have on series link every time it is supposed to have worked. Which rather defeats the point.

    I've had the same problem. I set up The Clangers on series link for the first episode,it recorded ok and then it ignored episode 2 showing it as a Next Series so I set it up to record ep3 on series link and we'll see if it works for ep4 etc. I have had Breaking Bad on series link since it started on Spike with no issues until the planner change and it missed a couple of episodes before I noticed. I set it up again for last night on series link and it did that one but hasn't got it listed for tonight.

    We almost missed the last episodes of several series that were ending over the last week because of this.

    I don't care how it looks; I just want it to record what I ask it to :(
  • sodafountainsodafountain Posts: 16,829
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    Did you set it up on Cveebies, or CBeebies HD?

    Set mine for Monday on HD at 5.30, recorded fine all 3 days, so worked fine on my box.
  • scepticsceptic Posts: 400
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    Breaking Bad was a weird one as Spike listed each series as its own link, so users had to set a new link up for each series. From the looks of it they did this on all platforms, so it was not just a Sky issue.
  • Alan58Alan58 Posts: 1,892
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    Agree it is the job of the individual channels to provide the right data for the box to work.

    I like The Middle on Comedy Central. It took a mid-season break and the box had it listed in the "looking for next series" list Last night I noticed the programme had returned but not recorded on checking it restarted three weeks ago. Fortunately I was able to find them in On Demand. The box is still saying it is looking for the next series.
  • aerofly2aerofly2 Posts: 2,408
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    Alan58 wrote: »
    Agree it is the job of the individual channels to provide the right data for the box to work.

    I like The Middle on Comedy Central. It took a mid-season break and the box had it listed in the "looking for next series" list Last night I noticed the programme had returned but not recorded on checking it restarted three weeks ago. Fortunately I was able to find them in On Demand. The box is still saying it is looking for the next series.

    This is the exact reason why I still use Sky's "Never Miss" service, which tells me all of the new showings which the "Smart Series Links" miss (which is most of them). >:(
  • sodafountainsodafountain Posts: 16,829
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    aerofly2 wrote: »
    This is the exact reason why I still use Sky's "Never Miss" service, which tells me all of the new showings which the "Smart Series Links" miss (which is most of them). >:(

    Unfortunately, that is down to the channel not using the right data,

    If it just picked up a show because it had the same name, you would get all repeats, imagine if you had Simpsons in your list. The box doesn't know it is a new episode unless some sort of flag is put on it to get picked up.
  • aerofly2aerofly2 Posts: 2,408
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    Well I've been watching both "Bones" and "Marvels Agents of Shield" on series links, which have now both finished their present series, and NEITHER of them appears in my "next series" list.
    I rest my case >:(
  • sodafountainsodafountain Posts: 16,829
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    aerofly2 wrote: »
    Well I've been watching both "Bones" and "Marvels Agents of Shield" on series links, which have now both finished their present series, and NEITHER of them appears in my "next series" list.
    I rest my case >:(

    I've not had a problem with anything appearing, so either a glitch, or something wrong with your box (as you seem to have more trouble than anyone else).
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