xmlTVNZ & GBPVR Padding issues

[hexed]

I've been having this problem for ages now and I thought it was time I asked if anyone else has it. I'm not even sure if it's an xmlTVNZ issue or if it's related to GB-PVR...

I'm using the latest verion of GB-PVR (GBPVR09905) and xmlTVNZ 2.4.3.2 - but as I say, I've had this for a while - even with prior versions.

When I record a program, I need to put about 20 minutes of padding onto the end of the scheduled recording to be sure that the end of the program is recorded. I'm living in NZ and part of this could be attributed to sloppy scheduling - I need to do some testing to see if the programs start exactly when they're supposed to.

Has anyone else experienced this issue? Perhaps there's an offset that everyone is using...or maybe it's just something I have to live with and default the padding to 20 mins, but I don't want to do this without checking if anyone else has seen this...

As mentioned before - several months ago, I would have considered 10 minutes to be an over the top padding amount...

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.


Cheers.

[sub]

Cant say I've ever had to do that. Its been pretty good for me.

What are example shows which run this late after the time xmltvnz supplies?

[hexed]

Actually - it's mainly the shows that I tape for my girlfriend!! Typical.

Shortland Street on TV2 rarely has the ending recorded...I set it last night with a 10 minute buffer. I need to set it for 20 minutes to guarantee a recording. This isn't that big a deal except if there are multiple shows on at the same time...

...but I know it shouldn't be the case!

I'll do some testing of the times the pending recording says and compare that against what it should be in the xml file. I can also cross-check this against the Sky GUI times when it flicks across and also the total length of the recording - it should last for the full length of the show, plus padding.

Hopefully I'll be able to see if it's getting cut short, or following the XML file exactly...

[sub]

Shortland Street runs from 7:00 - 7:30, and is correct in the xmltvnz listings, but TVNZ often push the definition of "7:30" with this show (maybe a minute late). It wont be 10 minutes or 20 late though.

Assuming your PC clock is correct, you shouldnt have any problems with this. I'm happy to look at your logs for after an attempt to recording one of these shows.

[Lindsay]

NZ, too. I set pre-padding to 1 min and post to 4. Very rarely does this let me down. Except for one notable recording of 'Midsommer Murders' or whatever it is called. It chopped off the final revelation! Wife wasn't best pleased

Something is seriously wrong with your setup. I'd check the xml file to see whether it has accurate times and make sure the computer clock is OK. Hard to think what else could cause the problem.

[hexed]

Cool, thanks for the advice - at least I know there's something wrong with my setup. I only recently did a complete reinstall of XP and I've only got the bare minimum of stuff on now (in an attempt to get it all working properly).

I checked it tonight with Shortland Street and the tvguide.xml had the correct value.

Interestingly enough I set it to record with a pre-padding of 5 mins and a post-padding of 15 mins. It started right on cue, but finished after 30 mins...which is the length the program should be without the padding...

That means that instead of having a recording of 50 mins (5 + 30 + 15), I had a recording of 5 + 25 mins...and missed the end - again!!!

I take it there's no setting somewhere that causes it to ignore the padding?

Also, this isn't completely relevant, but I have a PVR-500 (2 tuners). I scheduled Coronation Street on TV1 and Ugly Betty on TV3. I obviously put loads of padding on there too (both pre and post), but that's fine considering I have multiple tuners.

The only thing is the primary tuner flicked across before the end of Coronation Street and I lost the end of that - I'm assuming that it switched at about 5 minutes before Ugly Betty started to try and honour the paddings.

In my case, would it be better to have it preferring to use alternative tuners? And to try to honour the padding? I know this has come up before and there are pros and cons...


Sub - I'll try this again and see if I can get you some log files etc. Excuse the ignorance, but would you mind letting me know the names of the files you'd be looking to check out?

Thanks in advance...

[psycik]

I take it you've checked the really obvious like your clock is set right, and/or timezone??

[stefan]

Sub - I'll try this again and see if I can get you some log files etc. Excuse the ignorance, but would you mind letting me know the names of the files you'd be looking to check out?

If you zip up all the files in c:\program files\devnz\gbpvr\logs you'll be fine.

[sub]

What he said.

Attach the logs and I'll tabe a look.

[hexed]

Cool thanks for the responses. I'll test it again tonight.

Yes, I've checked my system clock and time zone and it's identical to Sky. I must point out that most recordings do work fine. It doesn't appear to be a global thing...perhaps it just doesn't like Shortland Street!!