MySky series link and other recording woes continue

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JohnPorter

187 posts

Master Geek

Topic # 7131 22-Mar-2006 00:45

The changes to the EPG data a week ago certainly improved things, but there are still issues with MySky recording.

I had One News on series link. From tuesday to saturday last week it worked flawlessly, but after the recording on sat night, the next booking showed up as mon night (ie, skipping sunday). If I didn't have my HDDR doing a backup recording of 3 News, I would have booked sunday's One News, but I thought I would try leaving it and see what happens.

What happened was that it recorded it sunday night too, and carried on since then recording every day. I wonder what would have happened if I had rebooked it - two copies? A clash? If I wanted to be sure not to miss it, that's what I would have done.

Then, after monday's 3rd Rock (6pm, Sky 1), it did not put another entry in the planner. I rebooted, and waited a few minutes. Still not there. After a meaningful sigh, I went and did something else for a few minutes, then went back to the planner and it WAS there. It did record correctly on tue 6pm.

On monday I had a NASCAR race booked for 11pm. The race had been rain delayed, and soccer was shown instead. MySky recorded the soccer, which it is not supposed to do. The doc says if the start time is changed by less than 6 hours, the planner is updated, and if more than 6 hours the booking is cancelled. I deleted the soccer program. No biggie there. I'd rather delete extra unwanted stuff than have things missing. Like those bookings for the Animal Planet channel on sundays at noon that I never booked but showed up twice. Anyone else get those?

Anyway, I booked the race again for midnight tonight. When I got up this morning, the booking was gone. I watched tonight as midnight approached, to see if maybe it would magically appear and record the program. It didn't. So after the program started, I fluffed around trying to get it to record the channel I was watching. Didn't realise you have to push R twice to do that, so I went to the guide and booked it from there, and it started recording. Only lost a minute or two. This isn't a series link issue - the booking was simply lost.

I also see that Criminal Minds, which recorded tonight, has not placed another booking for next week's episode, even though it is in the guide already. What should I do? Trust? Hope? Rebook? Reboot? Rebok? Help! Kings of Construction was recorded tonight, and the new booking placed while it was recording.

Ellen, which has been preempted by the games for a couple weeks, has reappeared with a booking for next monday. We'll see if it works. I would have thought a ..searching entry would be appropriate in this type of case, so I'd know it hadn't forgotten about it.

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42 posts

Geek

Reply # 31266 22-Mar-2006 10:18

Nope John, I think the issue with the Series Link have gotten worse not better since the upgrade. Before last Tuesday the Series Link worked perfectly - except that on TV1/TV2/SkySports you got a "...seaching" entry rather than the correct entry. However, you saw that *something* was going to be recorded and the day and time. Once I found out that deleting one of these meant needing to do a soft reboot then I was confident that what I wanted to record was being recorded. The only isse was reconciling the ...searching entries with a recording. As these entries had a date/time then as long as there wasn't dozens of series linked programs you knew what was going on.

Now, we have no idea what is going on. I series linked Smack The Pony - a daily program on UKTV. It worked 4 nights running then last night - no recording. I did notice that the entry was not in the planner and maybe I could've booked it but I trusted MySky as another poster (manaia) had said but it didn't work. I had monitored this program before and sometimes the next link turned up - sometimes it didn't and recorded anyway (as your 3rd Rock example) - and last night nothing.

I have noticed that "The Smoking Room" on the same channel recorded fine a few nights ago and also put the next episode in the planner for next week - so why not the other.

Now my problem is this. I record a few other shows on series link.These have recorded their current episode and yet no new entries have turned up ... yet. Why not? They are in the guide already, so MySky should know about them. Do I rebook them? If so will I risk two tuners being used to record one show and clash errors?

FYI these shows have always worked before ... Deperate Housewives on TV2 used always put in a ...searching entry, but recorded fine And CSI and Arrested Development on TV3 have always worked fine with a correct entry once the previous show was recorded.

Prior to Upgrade Tuesday, MySky had issues but I trusted it. Series Link had a known bug ( deleting ..seacrching needed a rebbot) and I had not seen any of the non-recoding problems seen by John P and Tony.

Now I cannot trust it. Its gone backwards :(

I also agreen with John about the lack of seaching for his Ellen program. Surely if mySky cannot find the next episode in the EPG immediately after the program is finished then a ...searching entry is entirely appropriate - we want to know that it hasn't been forgotten - the probelm was a ..searching entry when the episode WAS there and mySky didn't reconcile it.

Has Sky fixed the wrong bug!?

JohnPorter

187 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 31295 22-Mar-2006 16:03

Next time I see a booking fail to appear, I will try rebooking it rather than trusting. I just double-booked One News for tonight, which is on at the same time as 3rd Rock. It's not quite the same as replacing a missing series link booking. I simply went into the guide and booked it again. It took me to the planner, and only showed one booking for it, but who knows what is happening behind the scenes? Obviously the list of programs shown as booked in the planner is not the same as what will be recorded.

I have a ..searching line! It showed up since my last post last night. It says 29th at 11:50pm. That time is not yet available in the guide, but checking with The Listener (!!), it would be Darren Brown Mind Control, which I do have on series link. I wonder what else it is searching for that I don't know about. Perhaps Animal Planet at noon on sunday?

hilsdb

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 31306 22-Mar-2006 16:38

OK, well I got MySky installed on Friday afternoon. I set up various recordings for the weekend as I was away - from what I can see all was recorded OK, and the 2 min before, 5 min after buffers were correct. Something interesting in line with what you guys are seeing though. I recorded The O.C. on series link - as it is shown around Lotto I set up two recordings because it's in as two programmes in the EPG. Both shows recorded correctly - interestingly the second half started 5 seconds into the recording rather than 2 mins into - perhaps something to do with the "smarts" they put around programs being record back to back etc...though considering technically they weren't, who knows. Either way, I didn't miss anything. I noticed after watching the first half that the Series Link entry for that half appeared straight away, but not for the second half. I watched the second half, and expected to see the Series Link entry appear - it didn't. It still hasn't. So, at this stage I'm leaving it and waiting to see what happens - should I do a soft reset? If it doesn't show up by Friday night, I'll rebook it. All the other Series Link entries appear to have been created OK. As an aside, I noticed a Searching entry appear briefly for another show, then pop up with the right info after about 5 seconds...

Limerick

42 posts

Geek

Reply # 31358 23-Mar-2006 10:06

(see my previous post yesterday).

Well, I did a soft reboot and they all appeared again, One News, Smack the Pony and all. So maybe my box got itself mixed up again after the Big Tuesday reboot.

Not sure what I did afterwards to confuse it, I think I did delete a future series linked entry (what used to be a ...searching); maybe this aspect hasn't quite been cleared up.

Still don't quite trust it but at least it is not ignoring me .... :)

hilsdb

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 31368 23-Mar-2006 12:18

(see earlier post)
OK, well I gave up waiting. I was about to do a soft reset, but thought I'd try a few things. I noticed that I'd stopped watching the recording at the credits, so I fast forwarded to the end just in case - still no series link entry. I double checked that it was in the planner, and it was. Interestingly, all of my other series link entries appear pretty much straight away after the last episode has been recorded. I did find something interesting though. All the other series link entries have both the series link icon at the end of the row, AND when you click on the row the green Series Link soft button appears. EXCEPT, on this dodgy 2nd O.C. row - the series link icon appears on the row, but I noticed that there was no Green button option to toggle series link on or off. I figure the series link info must be corrupted. So, I deleted the entry (which was the last recording), and then re-added it from the guide - the green series link soft button appeared, so I linked it. It said "Looking for Series Link info, please wait" for a few seconds, then found it and all appears good. When I click on that row I now get both the icon, and the soft button. I'll keep an eye on it and see what happens. So, you guys might like to check those entries of yours that aren't bringing up the next series link entry and see if the soft button option is there......

Limerick

42 posts

Geek

Reply # 31704 29-Mar-2006 12:11

it happened again - after Deperate Housewives i noted that the next weeks episode hadn't turned up, then i noticed that Smack the Pony for that night wasn't in the list .... so I rebooted and they appeared...

we're not there yet.... :(

hilsdb

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 31705 29-Mar-2006 12:25

Happened again for me too - exactly the same symptoms for the second half of the OC again.......I should have tried rebooting, but I just deleted the entry and redid it - I'll try rebooting next time, as I'm sure it will happen again! Other than that, MySky is performing exactly as I'd hoped and all is good with the world.......touch wood. 8-)

JohnPorter

187 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 31706 29-Mar-2006 12:41

...and I had a ..searching still for wed 11:50pm, which a reboot didn't clear. I deleted it, rebooted and booked Darren Brown. Should work I reckon. My best guess is that it was on series link from before the EPG change, and so needed to be deleted and rebooked as part of that.

On the plus side, ALL programs recorded have been the correct length for me, which is a bonus.

One other funny bit that was rather annoying - it refused to put JAG in the planner for yesterday noon, so I had to do a manual recording. Then I missed the first bit because I forgot MySky's clock isn't set a minute or two ahead like I have always done with my vcrs and hddrs. The first time I tried, Ellen was booked for 1pm but there were no other recording conflicts. Even after deleting the Ellen booking, it still wouldn't book JAG, even just the night before.

Limerick, any chance of kiddies getting in and changing things? Maybe we still need to reboot after deleting bookings. Theory: if a booking is deleted, it can interfere with future appearance of series link bookings, unless you reboot after the delete. I don't delete bookings very often, and the whole series link issue has settled down considerably.

As far as everything being good in the world, I still find the imprecision of the rewind-to-play transition very annoying. After a couple years of practicing and honing my split-second timing on my hddr, now I have to leave it a couple seconds and hope it leaves it somewhere in the vicinity and that I can recognise the point it skipped off to.

But basically I am very happy with the box.

Limerick

42 posts

Geek

Reply # 31707 29-Mar-2006 12:49

John, yes my kids sometimes go in and book lots of stuff and I go in after them and delete them.... also I have been recording One News on series link and sometimes I delete that as it is finishing (if we watched live) while it is recoding the overlap time.... however, One News continued to show up correctly for the following day....

Don't get me wrong - I am happy with the box - however I simply don't trust it. I may get to trusting it if I knew its foibles and also knew what state is was in... but with a technology-savyy 8yo in the house I come home and she has booked tons of Disney channel stuff, some on series link - a row develops and most get deleted.... then what state is the box in!?

If we don't know what state it is in and keep having to rebook "just in case" then there is still a fairly serious problem which SKy should be doing their utmost to address....

Question. Is Sky happy with the box since Big Tuesday? Or are they aware of the issues we have had over the past few days and are working on it. Manaia??

JohnPorter

187 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 31708 29-Mar-2006 13:07

I think we are in complete agreement. I don't trust it either! I check the bookings carefully each day. Up to now, I have been checking the recorded length of every single recording too. I present theories to attempt to find ways to make it more predictable. Certainly there are still issues which I would certainly hope they are addressing.

Did you mean "keep having to rebook 'just in case'" or "keep having to reboot 'just in case'"?

You are right - we don't know what state it is in. Like my comment about ..searchings hiding and reappearing after weeks.

I have been routinely deleting programs after watching them, and have not had any trouble with that. But I do check that the future booking has appeared before doing so. Usually the booking show up during recording.

Limerick

42 posts

Geek

Reply # 31709 29-Mar-2006 13:09

reboot I meant :) - it seems that reboot fixes things if your series link programs aren't showing up.....

I love the box and am enjoying it - I just want peace of mind....

JohnPorter

187 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 31712 29-Mar-2006 13:32

Agreed. The best peace of mind comes from the box doing what it should. The second best comes from it being predictable.

Is an 8 year old wannabe geek capable of understanding the need to reboot? Perhaps you could delegate that responsibility. I haven't ever know a reboot to cause a problem (aside from stopping a recording in progress).

hilsdb

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 31717 29-Mar-2006 14:44

Interesting, I haven't had any problems with the rewinding.......it seems to work perfectly for me.......mind you, I haven't done a "Home & Away" test, but I don't notice anything odd when I rewind then press play, it starts where I'd expect it too.....particularly useful when I 30x fastfoward through ads, miss the start, and rewind back....

Can you guys remind me what the reboot buttons are?

Thanks

JohnPorter

187 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 31745 30-Mar-2006 03:16

Haven't you ever noticed that you went all the way back into the ad, but when you hit play it is already into the program? It seems to happen more often if you only go back a short way. If you overshoot way past and go back a long way, it doesn't happen. Try backing it up to repeat just the last 2 or 3 words that were spoken.

BTW, it you skip through the ads at 30x, you can back it off to 6x after 6 seconds or so (hit << twice), and not overshoot so much.

Rebooting is done by holding GoBack and Select on the front panel.

jehallinan

16 posts

Geek

Reply # 31808 30-Mar-2006 20:41

I have experienced a problem that I have not seen mentioned previously. This has happened a couple of times in the last two months.

I'd recorded tv3 news. So, I press play, the first 2 minutes plays ok, then, it skips forward by about 10 minutes for no reason. I had not touched anything on the remote. So, I press rewind, and it rewinds ok back to the point it skipped forward. But, whenever it tries to play over this particular point in time, it always jumps forward approx ten minutes.

Not a major, but, I am getting tired of mysky. I've missed lots of pgms now. The tv link used to work, the other day it did not record a program.

I keep missing the end of programs which is damn annoying.

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