Live TV, press "record" .. unavailable capture card message and black screen

[jeepkeeper]

Hi

I've been using Beyond TV and I decided to try out NPVR as this software has matured and sleek and simple yet powerful.

My apologies in advance for the basic question...

I've set this software up with my new Hauppauge colossus capture card and everything seems to work great with the exception of one thing. An option that every PVR does. I hope I'm missing something here.

When I watch live TV and then press record on the remote, I was expecting that it at a minimum, the software would start recording while I'm watching or at a maximum give me a message with the option to record from where I started to watch it by using the buffer file.

Its not working that way. I press record, I get a system message that the capture card is no longer available , then a black screen.

Is this normal?

Thanks in advance

Cheers

Chris

[sub]

Unfortunately if you're not using a digital tuner, and want to watch live tv and record at the same time, you need multiple tuners.

You can of course watch the in-progress recording in the Recordings screen though.

[jeepkeeper]

Hello

Thanks for the quick response.

That is an unfortunate basic limitation that is a personal deal breaker for me. If I was the only one using it in the family that would not be an issue. However two daughters and my wife.. another story. They have been using Beyond TV since 2005 as well as appliance type PVRs provided by the carrier. Single tuner devices. Imagine that they open the tv get the nice menu and select live tv, then bang the technical error message. Why doesn't the application detect this and start streaming what is being recorded with a message or indication that the show is being recorded. If the user tries to change the channel, an option menu would appear giving the option to stop the recording or to continue. Once they select to stop the recording , the system would change to the channel that the user selected. This is typical basic PVR functionality or at least I thought so.


I guess my only option would to spend more money and get a second HD receiver and Hauppauge Colossus card.

[mvallevand]

Unfortunately if you're not using a digital tuner, and want to watch live tv and record at the same time, you need multiple tuners.

You can of course watch the in-progress recording in the Recordings screen though.

I think he really want's what a lot of people want and that is a way to record the show from the beginning buffer, the way GBPVR and PVRx2 used to. Multiple tuners won't help with the current design. It was almost a deal breaker for me coming from PVRx2, but the other improvement have made up for this one weakness.

Martin

[sub]

I dont think that is the main point of his post.

He said that being able to record from the beginning would be his preferred option, but his main beef was that with his tuner he couldnt be recording and doing live tv at the same time.

[mvallevand]

I seem to remember that GBPVR/PVRx2 would prefer to keep the livetv recording going rather the try and find a new tuner and losing the buffer.

Martin

[Reddwarf]

I think he really want's what a lot of people want and that is a way to record the show from the beginning buffer, the way GBPVR and PVRx2 used to. Multiple tuners won't help with the current design. It was almost a deal breaker for me coming from PVRx2, but the other improvement have made up for this one weakness.

Martin

I have pointed out this a couple of times earlier, it would really be much better if pressing the Record button while in live tv stored the whole buffer as a recording.

[johnsonx42]

He said that being able to record from the beginning would be his preferred option, but his main beef was that with his tuner he couldnt be recording and doing live tv at the same time.

You have to admit though that the way NPVR handles this situation right now is a bit ugly. Perhaps you might add a dialog after a user presses record while watching LiveTV - "Recording started, would you like to watch the recording in progress?". If the user affirms this, then switch to playback of the recording, otherwise return to the TV Guide or Main Menu.

Also, for user-facing message dialogs, you really shouldn't use the term "Capture Card" or "Capture Device". Nobody non-techie knows what the hell that is. Everybody understands "Tuner" however, nevermind that not all possible capture devices are technically tuners.

[sub]

I probably will add something like that in a future release.

[Sykor]

I probably will add something like that in a future release.

GBPVR had a feature for these situations didn't it? When no tuner was available due to ongoing recordings, it would prompt the user to choose which recording to watch (or not). At least I seem to remember it doing it...