Back-to-back issue?

[stefan]

First off, I'm still using 0.90.10, but I can't find anything in the changelogs for 0.91 about this, so I assume it hasn't :-) If the behavior is different in 0.91, my apologies.

Previously, when you schedule to recordings from say 7.00 to 7.30 and 7.30 to 8.00 respectively, any padding at around 7.30 was ignored, and the first one would end at 7.30, the next one start at 7.30. Since I haven't had the time to investigate this, I don't know what the status on this behavior is in recent versions of gbpvr.

What I did yesterday was to first schedule a show at 7.30 to 8.00. Then, we were watching a show (not through gbpvr, though) that was on between 7.00 and 7.30, and then my kid demanded my attention, so I decided I'd let gbpvr record the rest of the show. This was at around 7.20. So I entered the EPG and asked it to do a quick record of the show. I have a 5 minute post padding on by default. This first recording then started, and went on until 7.35, at which time show number two started to record. The two shows were on different channels, if that makes any difference.

Is this behavior by design? And does it apply to two shows scheduled on beforehand, or only when you start recording a show after it's already begun?  

[xtoph]

This change was introduced with v0908. I liked the old one more, but learned to live with the new.

[stefan]

Thank's.

[AOSandman]

In 0.91, I'm seeing the behavior reversed now. In 0.90x the post-padding for the first program was recorded, and the second recording started late. In 0.91, I now see the first recording end early so that the second program can get it's pre-padding.

I would really like to see the programs get scheduled on different tuners, if available. If no alternate tuner is available, then drop the post-padding on recording #1 and the pre-padding on recording #2. For now, I do this manually by editing the mdb with Access.

[AOSandman]

Ouch!  Here's what's happening with back to back recordings on the same tuner.  The relevant portion of gbpvrrecordingservice.exe.log follows:

3/17/2005 8:29:00 AM.001 INFO [35] Found new programme requiring recording: A Short History of Ireland
3/17/2005 8:29:00 AM.017 VERBOSE [35] Changing to channel (GBPVR.Backend.Common.NullTunerController): 59
3/17/2005 8:29:00 AM.017 VERBOSE [35] Requesting IRecordingSource to start recording: D:\PVR\Recordings\A Short History of Ireland\A Short History of Ireland_20050317_08301000.mpg
3/17/2005 8:29:00 AM.048 VERBOSE [35] DirectRecordingSource about to start recording  oid:2 channel:59
3/17/2005 8:29:00 AM.985 VERBOSE [35] recording started
3/17/2005 8:29:00 AM.985 VERBOSE [35] Programme is now recording
3/17/2005 8:29:00 AM.985 VERBOSE [35] RecordingFactor.save()
3/17/2005 8:29:00 AM.985 VERBOSE [35] Save(): Updated existing scheduled recording
3/17/2005 9:59:00 AM.108 INFO [35] Found new programme requiring recording: The Dick Van Dyke Show
3/17/2005 9:59:00 AM.108 INFO [35] Stopping existing recording on this capture source. (removing from currentlyRecording)
3/17/2005 9:59:00 AM.108 VERBOSE [35] Stopping recording oid:2
3/17/2005 9:59:00 AM.264 VERBOSE [35] RecordingFactor.save()
3/17/2005 9:59:00 AM.280 VERBOSE [35] Save(): Updated existing scheduled recording
3/17/2005 9:59:00 AM.280 VERBOSE [35] Adding D:\PVR\Recordings\A Short History of Ireland\A Short History of Ireland_20050317_08301000.mpg to commercial detection queue
3/17/2005 9:59:00 AM.295 VERBOSE [35] Changing to channel (GBPVR.Backend.Common.NullTunerController): 60
3/17/2005 9:59:00 AM.311 VERBOSE [35] Requesting IRecordingSource to start recording: D:\PVR\Recordings\The Dick Van Dyke Show\The Dick Van Dyke Show_20050317_10001030.mpg
3/17/2005 9:59:00 AM.327 VERBOSE [35] DirectRecordingSource about to start recording  oid:2 channel:60
3/17/2005 9:59:00 AM.592 INFO [740] Running postprocesing.bat on: D:\PVR\Recordings\A Short History of Ireland\A Short History of Ireland_20050317_08301000.mpg
3/17/2005 9:59:01 AM.280 VERBOSE [35] recording started
3/17/2005 9:59:01 AM.280 VERBOSE [35] Programme is now recording
3/17/2005 9:59:01 AM.280 VERBOSE [35] RecordingFactor.save()
3/17/2005 9:59:01 AM.295 VERBOSE [35] Save(): Updated existing scheduled recording
3/17/2005 9:59:01 AM.545 INFO [35] Found new programme requiring recording: A Short History of Ireland
3/17/2005 9:59:01 AM.545 INFO [35] Stopping existing recording on this capture source. (removing from currentlyRecording)
3/17/2005 9:59:01 AM.545 VERBOSE [35] Stopping recording oid:2
3/17/2005 9:59:01 AM.686 VERBOSE [35] RecordingFactor.save()
3/17/2005 9:59:01 AM.717 VERBOSE [35] Save(): Updated existing scheduled recording
3/17/2005 9:59:01 AM.749 VERBOSE [35] Adding D:\PVR\Recordings\The Dick Van Dyke Show\The Dick Van Dyke Show_20050317_10001030.mpg to commercial detection queue
3/17/2005 9:59:01 AM.811 VERBOSE [35] Changing to channel (GBPVR.Backend.Common.NullTunerController): 59
3/17/2005 9:59:01 AM.811 VERBOSE [35] Requesting IRecordingSource to start recording: D:\PVR\Recordings\A Short History of Ireland\A Short History of Ireland_20050317_08301000.mpg
3/17/2005 9:59:01 AM.874 VERBOSE [35] DirectRecordingSource about to start recording  oid:2 channel:59
3/17/2005 9:59:02 AM.499 VERBOSE [35] recording started
3/17/2005 9:59:02 AM.499 VERBOSE [35] Programme is now recording
3/17/2005 9:59:02 AM.499 VERBOSE [35] RecordingFactor.save()
3/17/2005 9:59:02 AM.514 VERBOSE [35] Save(): Updated existing scheduled recording
3/17/2005 9:59:05 AM.999 INFO [740] comskip has completed.
3/17/2005 9:59:10 AM.999 INFO [740] Running postprocesing.bat on: D:\PVR\Recordings\The Dick Van Dyke Show\The Dick Van Dyke Show_20050317_10001030.mpg
3/17/2005 9:59:16 AM.140 INFO [740] comskip has completed.
3/17/2005 10:00:00 AM.033 VERBOSE [35] Recording has passed endtime+padding. Stopping.
3/17/2005 10:00:00 AM.033 VERBOSE [35] Stopping recording oid:2
3/17/2005 10:00:00 AM.189 VERBOSE [35] Adding D:\PVR\Recordings\A Short History of Ireland\A Short History of Ireland_20050317_08301000.mpg to commercial detection queue
3/17/2005 10:00:00 AM.189 VERBOSE [35] RecordingStatus is now RecordingStatus.RECORDING_COMPETED
3/17/2005 10:00:00 AM.189 VERBOSE [35] RecordingFactor.save()
3/17/2005 10:00:00 AM.205 VERBOSE [35] Save(): Updated existing scheduled recording

It's stopping the first program early to begin recording the second program, then stops the second program to finish (actually restart) recording the first program.  You end up with the last 1-2 minutes of the first program, and 1-2 seconds of the second program.  Both programs show up as available, not failed. This exact sequence has happened 3 times now since installing the latest version. It definitely did not happen in previous version.

[scottdurnell]

1st off, let me say hello to everyone.  This is my first post, as I have just recently gotten into this whole PVR arena.  For the past 10 days, I've been staying up until 2:00am - 3:00am, installing, trying out new software, etc.  It is ADDICTING!!!

Ok, on to my question.  I currently have a PVR-350, and want to purchase a PVR-150.  I want to purchase the 2nd card so that I can record multiple shows at one time, BUT also in hopes of overcoming this issue of recording back-to-back.  

I was hoping that if was able to successfully install two tuner cards and I chose to record two shows that were back-to-back (ie, 7:00pm-7:30pm, and 7:30pm-8:00pm), and that I had a 5 minute pre/post record buffer set up, whether on the same channel or not, that Tuner #1 would record the 1st show (from 06:55pm-07:35pm), and that the #2 tuner would record the 2nd show (from 07:25pm-08:05pm).

Is this NOT the case?

Quote[/b] ]I would really like to see the programs get scheduled on different tuners, if available.  If no alternate tuner is available, then drop the post-padding on recording #1 and the pre-padding on recording #2.  For now, I do this manually by editing the mdb with Access.

Also, AOSandman, I noticed that you mentioned that you "do this manually by editing the Access DB".   How do you do this (I'm very familiar with DBs, so I'm more asking what values you change in the table(s)?)

[AOSandman]

What you would like to see happen is currently not happening. When scheduling recordings, GB-PVR tries to put all recordings on the same tuner regardless of padding. It only schedules recordings on additional tuners when the scheduled runtimes overlap (again, regardless of padding).

As for manually editing the gbpvr.mdb, just open it up with Access & go to the RECORDING_SCHEDULE table. It will be pretty self-explanatory once you look at it. One tip, it's much easier to make sense of what's in there if you "Sort Ascending" on the manual_start_time column.

[scottdurnell]

Thanks for the quick reply.  

Man, I was afraid you were going to say that.  Looks like I'm going to need to do this manually, or write a utility to do this for me automatically.

[HINT] It would be nice if this was automatically done by the GBPVR application (to take into account the pre/post record padding), and move the recording to the other tuner.

I guess, if the back to back shows are on the same channel, you could create a Manual Recording, and just record both episodes into one MPG file (and then use Womble or some other MPG editor to split it up into the two pieces).

AOSandman, did you have many problems setting up the PVR-350 and the PVR-150 on the same PC???

[AOSandman]

Quote[/b] (scottdurnell @ Mar. 17 2005,17:08)]AOSandman, did you have many problems setting up the PVR-350 and the PVR-150 on the same PC???

No, not really. Just had to swap the Device IDs in GB_PVR config and it was smooth sailing.

[scottdurnell]

Well that sounds promising (the installation of the two cards). On the way home I picked up a PVR-150 (non-MCE), and I just installed the card.

I'll let you know how (or IF) the install went...