scheduling changes not handled well?

[johnsonx42]

Sub,

As I sense a new release is near, I must ask if you've been able to fix this bug in the 'don't record duplicates' logic?

[sub]

No, I've never been able to reproduce the problem.

[johnsonx42]

The problem is fairly easy to reproduce, but of course you do need EPG data with the episode numbers. If you don't have a schedules direct account for testing purposes, then I can send you my login info or simply a copy of my Zap2It.xml.

Once you have the EPG data loaded, a few fake channels enabled, and of course the don't record duplicates option set, then it's easy to reproduce:

1. Find an episodic show that runs daily, schedule a recurring recording of all shows.
2. Verify that all the episodes are scheduled correctly.
3. Edit the EPG .xml data for one of the shows other than the first one, change the time a little or flip the timeslot with an adjacent show.
4. Force an EPG update with the edited data.

The original recording schedule will stick, it won't accept the change. I believe this is because the scheduler adds each episode to the 'already has' list as soon as it's scheduled, so when it processes EPG updates later it ignores all episodes already in the list.

A (presumably) simple fix would be to add the episode number to the 'already has' list only AFTER each episode is successfully recorded. That would have some side effects both good and bad though:

1. initially, all episodes of a show would be scheduled, and then as episodes record any duplicates later in the schedule would drop off
2. duplicate shows on the same day would still get recorded, since there'd be no EPG update between them
3. failed recordings would get rescheduled to a later episode automatically, since the episode number wouldn't be added to the list (though perhaps the system already does that for failed recordings, I don't know)

None of those side-effects are tragic though, and certainly better than the current condition.

[thawk]

Sub

I can confirm this problem also happens for regulalry me - it is the one final niggle i have with GBPVR - overall a great piece of software - even my wife now agrees (and tells our friends) since we have no more crashes!!

Here in the UK changes to TV schedules happen around once or twice a month to my recordings - enough to be annoying when you miss 15-30min of a recording when GBPVR records the old timeing and not the new! This was an area i was going to suggest adding to wishlist but i see in this trail its not clear there is a problem or what it is?

Visually what i see on the guide is that scheduled recordings are highlighted in red and if the timeslot changes, the old red timing block remains - an attempt is made to record the new slot as well (which can also be seen around the old slot), but as i only have 1 tuner now, this creates a conflict and the new slot doesnt get recorded. (next time it happnes i will try and get a screen shot)

Possible solutions i can imagine:
1) get more than 1 tuner!
2) update EPG with only 1 week rather than 2 weeks (so that the risk of a change is reduced - less changes happen in the last week before transmission)
3) when updating EPG fully delete from the pending recordings any existing planned recordings (but i understand that is already supposed to happen although it doesnt seem in practice to happen - indeed if on occasion the EPG update fails due to lack of connection i sometimes get an EPG with lots of empty slots except the planned recordings which still remain which actually is great!)
4) when updating EPG let the newest recording found have priority rather

Best

Tim

[Elmo Putney]

Interesting thread, I also see this problem pretty regularly and exactly as thawk describes, I've always pretty much ignored it as an annoyance but I thought it was worth chipping in here so you don't think you're all going mad.
I have to go to my capture sources and empty EPG then update EPG to fix the guide, I'll post a screen grab next time it happens to me...I'm not sure if I have don't record duplicates enabled or not, I'll have a look later tonight.

[martint123]

I'd check the logs to see if there is an error around where the emptying of the EPG takes place. I used to get an error on one of my sources and this stopped the whole "empty and reschedule" process working properly.
p.s. make sure you have a valid EPG source for all tuner sources - "EPG None" will create this problem.

[sub]

I have made a change in the next release that may help with this.

[johnsonx42]

great to hear there's possibly a fix in the next version.

[thawk]

That will be great - look forward to it!