Paused timeshift buffer lost due to a recording starting (1 Viewer)

matjam

Portal Member
September 11, 2009
21
3
Hi there,

I've just encountered some behaviour which I think shouldn't happen.
Here's the scenario:

Two programmes:
21:00hrs, BBC1, The Apprentice
22:00hrs, BBC2, You're Fired

We like to watch both programmes. I started watching the BBC1 show and paused it for about 20 minutes.
Realising that I'd now miss the start of the 22:00 show on BBC2 I set that up to record, knowing that all of the 21:00 show will be in the timeshift buffer.
However, when it came to 22:00, Mediaportal started recording the the BBC2 show, I still had 20 mins of BBC1 show in the buffer.
Up popped the dialogue box warning me that my buffer would be lost. I thought that MP would just stop writing NEW content to the buffer and allow me to continue watching what was already in there (the rest of my BBC1 show).
I was wrong. All the buffer was erased and I lost the remaining 20 mins of buffered programme due to a new recording.

Do people think this is appropriate behaviour?

Thanks,
Matt.


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mm1352000

Retired Team Member
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  • September 1, 2008
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    Hi Matt

    No, it doesn't sound ideal does it. It would be helpful to have some clarification about *exactly* what TV Server did and "thought" from a log perspective. Do you still have the logs or are you able to reproduce the behaviour again?

    mm
     

    matjam

    Portal Member
    September 11, 2009
    21
    3
    Hi mm.

    I'll have a look at what logs are around - I've not deliberately deleted any.
    I'll also see if I can reproduce it again.

    Cheers,
    Matt
     

    matjam

    Portal Member
    September 11, 2009
    21
    3
    OK. I've ran debug mode and extracted all existing logs.
    I've then removed all the logs from the zip from before yesterday.

    As stated in post #1, I paused Live TV @ appx 21:00 29/06/2011 for about 20 mins.
    So my buffer got clobbered at appx 21:57 (with pre-record) when BBC2 recording started.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    When I get time I'll try and recreate.

    Thanks,
    Matt
     

    Wbunaarf

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    December 9, 2005
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    Here's a clean set of logs.

    1. Scheduled a recording starting 00.15
    2. Started watching another show at ~23.59 and paused it
    3. Had a cup of tea
    4. Resumed watching at ~00.08
    5. At 00.12 (00.15 - 3 minutes pre-recording) MP switched from full screen TV to the main TV-view and stopped playback since a recording was starting

    //Johannes
     

    mm1352000

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    Thanks folks

    I'm at work at the moment but I'll take a look at the logs this evening.

    mm
     

    craigparris1

    Portal Pro
    May 20, 2008
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    In my opinion, I think this is what should be expected (at least it's what I would expect). Yes, it's a bit frustrating, but in reality pausing live TV (and then being able to watch that buffer) is a function of LIVE TV, so if your live TV session ends (either by you stopping it, or by a scheduled recording on a different channel starting) I think it's only fair that the buffer is lost. I don't think I've ever had a PVR in the past that's let me watch a paused TV buffer after stopping the TV stream or changing channel, for example.

    Now what would be a nice feature is if MediaPortal gave you the choice to save the current buffer off as a "Recorded TV" episode, then you could come back and watch it anytime .....
     

    Wbunaarf

    Portal Pro
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    While I'm not surprised either that the buffer is dropped, I still believe it could be a great feature to keep it. I have never seen a PVR with this ability either, but on the other hand I have never seen a PVR with all the other possibilities MP has..

    My preferred behaviour would be to have a requester pop up with a question like 'Live TV is about to be stopped due to a recording. Do you wish to keep watching the available buffer?'.

    //W
     

    infinite.loop

    Retired Team Member
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  • December 26, 2004
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    TV-Server will only kick a user / stop LiveTv if it has been configured to do so -> allow tv-server to stop livetv when no free tv card is available

    So atm. you only have 2 choices to avoid the reported problem:
    1. install more TV-Cards
    2. disable that option, but end up with an incomplete recording

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Continuing to playback the buffer to the point where the tv-server started to tune a different channel seems like a good idea.

    I would propose this behaviour:
    1. user tunes ChanA
    2. user pauses LiveTv for 30 minutes
    3. user continues to watch LiveTV and has 30minutes of buffer ahead
    4. tv-server has to record on ChanB. ChanB is not on the same transponder as ChanA, there is no free tv-card, tv-server is configured to stop livetv and do the recording
    5. user is notified that tv-server just tuned to a different channel, and that he can only watch the buffer to the end - user has to "okay" that dialog to ensure he did not miss it
    6. at the end of the buffer user is asked if he wants to watch the recorded (or in progress recording)

    An alternative to that would be that:
    when the channels are changed, the tv-server simply continues to store data into the ts-buffer and the recorded *.ts.
    So the LiveTV Stream is never interrupted. At the point the tv-server switched channels, you will simply see the channels changeing inside the LiveTV stream you are watching.

    Simmilar to zapping through channels, then go back to the beginning of the timeshift buffer.
    I would definitely prefer that because it does not require any userinteraction.
     

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