How does MP handle sequential recording? (1 Viewer)

[daveyboy]

Hi all,

First let me say I love MediaPortal, by far the best HTPC front end I have used.

Here is my situation: I have 2 tv cards. I want to schedule one recording at, for example, 8pm until 9pm, then schedule another recording on the same channel starting at 9pm. I set the pre and post record times to 3 minutes each.

So, what I would like is for the first tv card to record from 7.57pm till 9.03pm, and the second tv card to record from 8.57pm until the second show ends. But that's not what happens. Instead, the first card does record the first show correctly, and then starts recording the second show at 9.03pm.

Is there any way I can get my desired behaviour? There is nothing immediately obvious in the logs, but i can post them if they will help. Both cards do work fine for recordings on different channels.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Brocklander]

Interesting... If I have a line of recordings one after the other on one channel, my PVR500 will keep switching tuners just the way you want it to, without a problem.

 

[Taipan]

Sequential recordings works fine for me - MP will select the second tuner for the "overlapping" program.

Have you set the priority of the 2 tuners to be different - one at priority 10 and the other at priority 1?

 

[Marcusb]

I noticed something strange a while ago.
around v .1.3 even with only one tuner, if you had sequential shows on the same channel MP would record them both correctly.
Since the tuner was on the same channel it would start a new recording even while the other one was still going. I was very impressed with this.
Around v.2 RC1 this function vanished and now you need the two tuners.

I miss the old way...

As for the original post, I agree with Taipan, check the priorities are different.

 

[Deco]

...around v .1.3 even with only one tuner, if you had sequential shows on the same channel MP would record them both correctly.
Since the tuner was on the same channel it would start a new recording even while the other one was still going. I was very impressed with this.
Around v.2 RC1 this function vanished and now you need the two tuners.

Not just me then. Unfortunately I'm living in 1 tuner land and it's a real pain if I want to record one show after the other. Second show does not begin recording until post-record time has passed. If I decrease this time, risk of loosing end of 1st show due to slight scheduling or showtime differences.

Any suggestions (other that buy 2nd tuner)?

Deco.

 

[robomonkey]

I agree that if you only have one tuner it should ignore the pre\post recording times and finish\start at the correct time. e.g.

Two programs on the same or different channels starting at 20:00 and 21:00 with 3 minute pre\post recording. MP should start at 19:57 and finish at 21:00 and start the second at 21:00 untill 22:03.

That seems more logical to me.

 

[Marcusb]

robomonkey, MP shouldn't have to stop one recording to begin the other if they are both on the same channel. It used to be able to finish the first recording after the second recording had already begun.
If you think about it, it just has to record the same MPG2 stream twice, which is no big deal as it can record a numebr of streams with no problems. This is the way it used to work, but stopped sometime around .2.

For your second point, the way it works now is actually the best, when recording sequential shows on more channels than you have cards.
You have to set the priorities to work in your favour.
For example, we have a situation in aus where one channel always runs late by around 10 minutes. My flatmate records a show from 7:30-8:30 which usually runs until 8:35. I want to record a show on ABC, which usually starts about five minutes after the scheduled start time, due to the news headlines.
Solution, set the first show to have a higher priority and to finish five minutes after it is scheduled. the other solution is to buy a new tuner card, which made life a lot easier.
In any event, the way you describe would mean that the first show would be cut off and the second show would record 5 minutes of headlines.

 

[robomonkey]

We'll have to disagree on that as I firmly think where programs run after each other on different channels MP should ignore the pre/post recording options and start/stop as the guide data.

 

[yankinoz]

I'm with robomonkey on this one. If there is a conflict that is only due to pre and/or post recording settings, the scheduled time should be used to switch channels and start the new recording.

So if Channel 7 has something on from 7:30-8:30 and Channel 10 has something at 8:30-9:30 and there is the default 5 min pre and post you should get Channel 7 recorded from 7:25 to 8:30 and Channel 10 from 8:30-9:35.

Unfortunately, in Australia this will probably mean you will miss the end of BOTH shows, but that's not MPs fault

 

[Marcusb]

yep, while this system as it is works best for me, I unerstand that this is only the case in Australia, where the TV stations try to combat people recording shows by doing silly things like running programs up to 10 minutes late.