Hi,

I have a question that's been bugging me, as I've owned a Tivo and a Sky HD box in the past, and they seemed to treat series links differently. I would like to understand how Freesat treats them.

On my Tivo, if I set up a series link for e.g. The Sopranos, it would record the current series, and remember the series link for the next one when it came on. Brilliant, this meant I didn't miss the next series - quite easy to do when looking for it manually.

I *think* my Sky HD box series link would disappear once the current series had ended. This wasn't good, as I would not necessarily see when the next series started.

Which way does the Humax box work?

Thanks!

The HDR box will keep the S/L data for a pending schedule for 13 weeks before removing it

So, are you saying that the series link info identifies a series across series numbers, and would pick up on the next one if set for the current one?

I guess it's a moot point, as a new series will often follow later than 13 weeks from the end of the previous one ?

Yes it will providing the broadcaster uses the same S/L data for the next series

and if as you say the new series is later than the 13 weeks it's pretty useless in that respect

Annoyingly it also stays in the schedule so I end up deleting them even if the program is off air for a couple of weeks.

As a new series is always more than 13 weeks after the old one, the keeping it in the schedule is useless and I hope its fixed with the next upgrade.

It can't be fixed . Freeview+ and Freesat+ has no end of series code so there's no way the stb can know it's finished.

But they can remove the finished series from the schedule so you dont keep on thinking theres another show left to come when you go into the schedule.

I dont see a valid reason for keeping expired programs at the start of the schedule.

How would the stb know the series had finished ? The series link coding has no detail of the number of recordings making up the complete series and the next episide could be outside the 8 day epg data coverage. Thirteen weeks is chosen because the +spec makes this the minimum period after the last programme before the series crid can be reused for a different sequence
Last edited by grahamlthompson : 08-06-2009 at 17:43

It doesnt have to know its finished, if there isnt another episode in the next 7 days, remove if from the display in the scheduled recordings.

This is the reason why I dont use series record for football games, GPs, TOCA etc or you have pages on the schedule with recordings that have already happened which makes zero sense.

So in the event of an episode skipping a week for some reason you would lose the whole series, not a very good idea. AFAIK all freesat+ and freeview+ pvrs work this way. Or are you suggesting having hidden recording schedules another recipe for total confusion.

No, it keeps the series link for 13 weeks as usual, but past recordings are not shown up in the schedule. Its not logical and theres no need for it.

Why would taking past recordings out of the future schedule cause confusion. Theres more confusion cause by having them in there.

Sorry now getting a little confused. As you may have gathered I don't use series recording.
To me the above seems to be contradictory.

Are you saying that the schedule retains previous recorded entries in effect creating a new scheduled entry for each new recording as para 2 infers.

Or that as soon as the current entry is recorded the next recording date is inserted if it can find one, this is what I would expect and it's how the Humax 9200 works. Clearly if the next episode is more than 8 days away or if it's the last episode the date won't update until it finds the next episode if there is one. I can't see how it can work any other way.

Flyer 10,

Are you saying that the Timer is still there in the background, "hidden" somewhere, so does not show up in the Schedule list in the past, and appears again if it finds a next episode, but gets deleted in the background if it does not find one in 13 weeks?

I can see why you think this would be "better" by not having historic timers in the Schedule list. However, in the case where episodes take a break for only 1 or 2 weeks for, say sporting events, I think it would drive me mad not knowing if I had a Timer set or not. Also, having it there reminds me to actually check it, as the broadcasters are known for bringing episodes back with a different Series CRID. If I know a Series has actually ended/not coming back until next season, beyond the 13 weeks, it is easy to delete it.

On balance, I prefer the way it works now - each to their own.

Rgds.


Les.

No, the previous recorded entry is at the top of the schedule, by nature, schedule is what is coming up and should not have a list of dead timer in there.

I absolutely hate it as I use the schedule to see what Im going to be watching that day and its littered with stuff thats not going to be recorded. At least the user should be able to choose if they remain the or not.

I hate having folders, hate having to do 20 clicks to delete a few programs, theres no option to turn them off. I can see why people would want them, I cant see why they are forced on us.

Let's not turn this Series Link thread into another "Everything we dislike about the User Interface"; there's enough of them already

Rgds.

Les.

This is a fair point, but there's an easy way to get round it — place such timers at the bottom of the list, after a divider, either in a different colour or under a heading of (eg) "Looking for new programmes in the following series".

Much of the confusion in the HDR UI is simply down to bad or non-existent labelling, and unfortunately this is one such instance.

I wouldnt mind it at the bottom of the list, its hidden but people can check to see it if they want to.

Exactly. I'd also like to see series folders with no contents moved to the bottom of the Media list, for the same reason. And non-series programmes listed alphabetically within the list, rather than after folders. And a label on the folders indicating how many of the programmes within are unwatched. And, and...

(Before anyone starts a pile-on; the above suggestions would mainly make things easier for non-"hardcore" users, that's all. I'm not suggesting it's impossible to navigate without them.)

Its a pain to get around, I understand refining the OS isnt a top priority at release. These things should be sorted for the update though. Cutting down on clicks and navigation should be high priority.

On a Sky+ the link disappears off the planner, but if the series begins again within a certain time (no idea how long it is, perhaps the 13 weeks mentioned elsewhere here?) it will add itself back to the planner.

It's quite disconcerting when things record when you haven't set them.

Thats exactly how it should work. Its logical and doesnt clutter up the schedule with past programs. Also these past programs have their info deleted at midnight so you cant even check to see if they are the last one in the series!

Prefer the Humax way myself. The only reason I ever look at the schedule is to check what I've set the box to record, and it shows exactly that. When the date's in the past, it just means there's not a 'next episode' in the epg yet but we're still looking out for one.

Youve just contradicted yourself there, you say you check it to see whats recorded (like I do) but it prefer it to be littered up with past schedules.

Not at all, because the 'past schedules' include stuff that will be recorded in the future, just we don't know when yet. For example the F1, episodes of which are often two weeks apart so for a week it appears as a past recording rather than future.