|
||||||||
Can't trust series link |
![]() |
|
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
|
|
#26 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 478
|
Quote:
But you suggested in your post #16 (quoted above) that the brodcatser could change the control data in a way that is not compatible with the way the Now/Next (EITp/f) system works. You seem not to realise that the fundamental way the Now/Next system works is that the data changes to indicate the end of one programme and the start of the next programme. This is fundamental, not pedantic.
Consider the situation where the PVR is set to record two consecutive programmes on the same channel. Following your suggestion the first recording is terminated at the end of the first ad after the programme finished i.e. this advert break is included as part of the first recording. However, your suggestion requires that this same advert break is included at the start of the recording of the following programme i.e. the advert break would need to be recorded twice. This is simply not possible using the Freeview Now/Next system. To implement your suggestion would require independant start and stop signals for each programmeI'm afraid I don't see the relevance of any of that. Colin ![]() As I said there is a mechanism etc.... Are you really telling me that ITV (for example) can't shift the time when the now/next data changes by plus or minus 30 seconds? And why would the advert break need to be recorded twice? The beginning part of the ad break would be recorded once and the end part of the same ad break would be recorded once. As for the second part you quoted, I think you'll see the relevance when there's only the BBC - paid for by the license fee - and subscription channels and maybe a couple of public service channels showing 'I Love Lucy' and 'Bilko' 24 hours a day. |
|
|
|
|
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
|
|
|
#27 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 478
|
Quote:
Interesting idea ... although BSkyB don't have any channels of those types ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
#28 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 3,118
|
What are other people seeing for Thursdays episode of Coronation Street in the EPG? On ours it isn't flagged but both Friday episodesare flagged.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#29 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Thatcham, Hannington Transmitt
Posts: 5,274
|
Quote:
What are other people seeing for Thursdays episode of Coronation Street in the EPG? On ours it isn't flagged but both Friday episodesare flagged.
It may be relevant that following the successful recording of last Fridays (16th) second episode all trace of the Corrie Series Record setting had been lost (no entries in the Recording Schedule and no flags in the Guide). I left it alone until Sunday and then reset the Series Record which produced the correct result above. I'm thinking that maybe ITV have sorted the problem but it requires the existing Series Record setting to be deleted and restored in order to clear incorrect data and collect the now correct data? Colin |
|
|
|
|
|
#30 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Brackley, UK
Posts: 16,657
|
Quote:
Even on Sky's flagship Sky1 & 2 channels if there are two programs from the same series on consecutively you'll often find that the split happens part way into the second episode.
![]() Edit:Ah, I see. You mean start/stop times being a bit out. Yeah, that happens sometimes but I've been running my box with zero padding before/after for a couple of years now (a workaround for another bug) and rarely miss anything. But my comments were concerning series link. I stand by my comments that you can rely on Sky to record what you want. Possibly some channels might cause you to miss a minute or two off the start/end but that's all. Once something has been put in the planner it (and anything else in the series) will be recorded if there's a tuner available. I think it's because Sky's system is old and crude. It doesn't look for any signal or status change. Just looks at the EPG and when the time rolls up it starts recording. Totally dumb and possibly ideally suited to broadcasters ![]() Mind you - there have been cases of Sky boxes recording indefinitely after a signal fault so there might possibly be a controlling signal. I dunno but it's the only PVR I've found that can be relied on almost totally. The Humax HDR is a very close second place though - if it hadn't been for ITV it would be at least as good. |
|
|
|
|
|
#31 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 15
|
Quote:
I think it's because Sky's system is old and crude. It doesn't look for any signal or status change. Just looks at the EPG and when the time rolls up it starts recording. Totally dumb and possibly ideally suited to broadcasters
![]() Mind you - there have been cases of Sky boxes recording indefinitely after a signal fault so there might possibly be a controlling signal. For example, recently I've been trying to bias more of the recordings over to the Humax as I've been thinking about upgrading the Sky box. So, while we were on holiday last week I setup series links for Mistresses & The Deep. Neither recorded (and neither did Californication I had linked the week before). So, it managed to p**s off my wife, son & me respectively in one swoop ![]() I seldom rant about these things but IMHO (and for whatever technical/political/financial reasons) to say the 9200Ts recording reliably is inferior to Sky's is the understatement of the century. There. That feels better
|
|
|
|
|
|
#32 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,083
|
Hi Quote:
Well, I've had a 9200T and a Sky+ box running in parallel for the last couple of years. I've tended to split the recording of freeview channels between the 2 (to conserve disk space). In my experience the Sky box has been vastly more reliable wrt to series links (& general recording reliability). So much so, my family now refer to the 9200T as the 'crappy' box
For example, recently I've been trying to bias more of the recordings over to the Humax as I've been thinking about upgrading the Sky box. So, while we were on holiday last week I setup series links for Mistresses & The Deep. Neither recorded (and neither did Californication I had linked the week before). So, it managed to p**s off my wife, son & me respectively in one swoop ![]() I seldom rant about these things but IMHO (and for whatever technical/political/financial reasons) to say the 9200Ts recording reliably is inferior to Sky's is the understatement of the century. There. That feels better ![]() Happens at random, is okay for a while then just when you are trusting it capture all episodes you suddenly find one week the episode is missing and there is no sign of it in the scheduled list. Regards Phil |
|
|
|
|
|
#33 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 2,669
|
Well just to put the other side of the coin my 9200 just simply works. I record everything I want using AR/SL and my selected programmes are there in the play list when I want to watch them. The only hiccup recently was a couple of weeks ago when apparently the BBC changed the series link for Family Guy so I can't blame the Hummy for that, excellent machine.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#34 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Kent
Posts: 8,954
|
Quote:
Well just to put the other side of the coin my 9200 just simply works.
My hummy only ever seems to have recording issues when it's the broadcaster messing things up.(the short notice schedule changes that atfect the EPG is a different issue) What some don't seem to realise is that SKY look after their own EPG and spend alot of money on trying to make their machines work as expected on a 24/7 basis which is payed by subscriptions. The likes of Humax only get revenue from the sale of each device so it's no wonder SKY's is vastly superior even though I'm sure it has it's own amount problems too. |
|
|
|
|
|
#35 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,083
|
Hi Quote:
Pretty much Snap!.
My hummy only ever seems to have recording issues when it's the broadcaster messing things up.(the short notice schedule changes that atfect the EPG is a different issue) What some don't seem to realise is that SKY look after their own EPG and spend alot of money on trying to make their machines work as expected on a 24/7 basis which is payed by subscriptions. The likes of Humax only get revenue from the sale of each device so it's no wonder SKY's is vastly superior even though I'm sure it has it's own amount problems too. ![]() Regards Phil |
|
|
|
|
|
#36 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Easternmost England
Posts: 1,120
|
Quote:
What some don't seem to realise is that SKY look after their own EPG and spend alot of money on trying to make their machines work as expected on a 24/7 basis which is payed by subscriptions.
However, my 9200T pretty much just works for me too and I use SL - accepting that very occasionally the broadcasters will cods things. I haven't noticed a dropped SL schedule for some time now... (no doubt it will now happen again)... but I do check my schedule every now and then. The Deep and Mistresses have both recorded OK where I am. |
|
|
|
|
|
#37 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Thatcham, Hannington Transmitt
Posts: 5,274
|
Quote:
However, my 9200T pretty much just works for me too and I use SL - accepting that very occasionally the broadcasters will cods things.
Colin |
|
|
|
|
|
#38 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 501
|
I've been generally happy with my 9200T and have had Andrew Marr's Sunday Morning programme and the one following it on SL since they started with no problems.
Except for the last 2 weeks when neither of them has recorded at all. Very annoying indeed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#39 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 113
|
I had Heartbeat on series link but it failed to record yesterday.
Looking in the Recording Menu it was still on last weeks date. When is it supposed to update to the next in the series ? Not sure whether this is an ITV or Humax issue but series link isn't that reliable anymore. |
|
|
|
|
|
#40 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 501
|
Yeah, ironic isn't it! Series Link is the one function that you hope is reliable so you can set it and forget it. What a pity it isn't. (Whether it's the broadcaster or the PVR).
|
|
|
|
|
|
#41 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 2,669
|
Quote:
I had Heartbeat on series link but it failed to record yesterday.
Looking in the Recording Menu it was still on last weeks date. When is it supposed to update to the next in the series ? Not sure whether this is an ITV or Humax issue but series link isn't that reliable anymore. I record the weekday old Heartbeat episodes using Series-Link and the Sunday morning old episodes are ignored so they must be on a different Series-Link. The new series on Sunday evening is on another Series-Link so there are three Heartbeat Series-Links going at the moment. My 9200 recorded last night's episode fully using Series-Link. |
|
|
|
|
|
#42 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Thatcham, Hannington Transmitt
Posts: 5,274
|
Quote:
It should update to the next in the series immediately after recording the current episode providing the next episode appears in the EPG.
Quote:
I record the weekday old Heartbeat episodes using Series-Link and the Sunday morning old episodes are ignored so they must be on a different Series-Link. The new series on Sunday evening is on another Series-Link so there are three Heartbeat Series-Links going at the moment. My 9200 recorded last night's episode fully using Series-Link. Colin |
|
|
|
|
|
#43 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 113
|
I have quite a few setup but it only seems to be odd one or two that fail to update ready for next week.
Must remember to keep an eye in the menu and check whether they are end of series or not. The daughter setup Robot Wars on series link and I now have a list as long as your arm of them, and still growing. Hope she finds time to watch and delete them
|
|
|
|
|
|
#44 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Kent
Posts: 8,954
|
For Corrie fans you may wish to check your EPG for tonight as it's not flagged up to record.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#45 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Chester
Posts: 198
|
Same here for tonight's Corrie and also the 2nd Emmerdale. Both were showing on the recording schedule but not on the epg. How can this happen? Is it the machine or the broadcasters?
|
|
|
|
|
|
#46 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 2,669
|
Quote:
For Corrie fans you may wish to check your EPG for tonight as it's not flagged up to record.
PeterF, Almost certainly the machine will flag the EPG so it looks like a machine fault. |
|
|
|
|
|
#47 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Chester
Posts: 198
|
Thanks for that. However the same problem occurred on both my 9200 and 9150 machines. Is it a coincidence that there is football on this evening which is interfering with the epg problems which are still there even after the last ota update.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#48 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 2,669
|
Quote:
Thanks for that. However the same problem occurred on both my 9200 and 9150 machines. Is it a coincidence that there is football on this evening which is interfering with the epg problems which are still there even after the last ota update.
|
|
|
|
|
|
#49 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 2,669
|
Quote:
Thanks for that. However the same problem occurred on both my 9200 and 9150 machines. Is it a coincidence that there is football on this evening which is interfering with the epg problems which are still there even after the last ota update.
I think the software update caused the problem. |
|
|
|
|
|
#50 |
|
Forum Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Thatcham, Hannington Transmitt
Posts: 5,274
|
Quote:
Bump bump bump.
I think the software update caused the problem. The issue was discussed previously in the thread here. My Vestel PVR shows the re-scheduled programmes correctly. Colin |
|
|
|
![]() |
|
All times are GMT. The time now is 09:56.






