How to record same channel on two encoders

[Jesus-Ninja]

OK, this might sound like a daft request, but I can't get mythTV to record on the same channel at the same time, on two difference encorders.

I'm over the moon with my setup, and with 4 encorders (2 Nova T500s), I don't miss anything. It's transformed the way we watch TV, especially as we have a new born son! Being able to sit down when we get time, andto always have something we want to watch, not to mention being able to pause it when he kicks off, is excellent.

But here's my problem. The BBC don't always get their timings right, and we all know how annoying it is to miss the first couple of minutes, or even worse, the last couple of minutes, of a show. Easy solution, set the default to record 5 mins either side. This is even better, as I get to see the ads for other programs that I might like to record.

Trouble is though, when I have two programs scheduled that are on the same channel, immediately after each other. eg Programme A is on 7:00 to 8:00 and programme B is on 8:00 to 9:00. My scheduler always adds 5 mins each side, that in reality the slots are 6:55 - 8:05 and 7:55 - 9:05.

I'm quite happy for myth to choose encoders, but it chooses for Programme B, the same encoder as for Programme A (presumably as they are on the same channel), so programme A actually stops recording to file when Programme B starts, meaning I miss the end of Programme A.

Am I missing a setting somewhere, as with up to 3 other encoders to chose from, I would have though that myth would see that A is still recording, and use a different encoder for B. Now of course, it's possible to find programme B and watch the "beginning" of that to catch the end of A, but that's a faff, and B might not have been a programme I wanted to watch, and the misses might have watched it and deleted it....

..any suggestions?

[AKADAP]

Originally Posted by Jesus-Ninja

OK, this might sound like a daft request, but I can't get mythTV to record on the same channel at the same time, on two difference encorders.

I'm over the moon with my setup, and with 4 encorders (2 Nova T500s), I don't miss anything. It's transformed the way we watch TV, especially as we have a new born son! Being able to sit down when we get time, andto always have something we want to watch, not to mention being able to pause it when he kicks off, is excellent.

But here's my problem. The BBC don't always get their timings right, and we all know how annoying it is to miss the first couple of minutes, or even worse, the last couple of minutes, of a show. Easy solution, set the default to record 5 mins either side. This is even better, as I get to see the ads for other programs that I might like to record.

Trouble is though, when I have two programs scheduled that are on the same channel, immediately after each other. eg Programme A is on 7:00 to 8:00 and programme B is on 8:00 to 9:00. My scheduler always adds 5 mins each side, that in reality the slots are 6:55 - 8:05 and 7:55 - 9:05.

I'm quite happy for myth to choose encoders, but it chooses for Programme B, the same encoder as for Programme A (presumably as they are on the same channel), so programme A actually stops recording to file when Programme B starts, meaning I miss the end of Programme A.

Am I missing a setting somewhere, as with up to 3 other encoders to chose from, I would have though that myth would see that A is still recording, and use a different encoder for B. Now of course, it's possible to find programme B and watch the "beginning" of that to catch the end of A, but that's a faff, and B might not have been a programme I wanted to watch, and the misses might have watched it and deleted it....

..any suggestions?

This is a software problem. It should be possible to record this correctly even with only one tuner. The tuner only provides a data stream, there is no reason that during the overlap in the recording times that the data stream could not be routed to both recording files.

I am not aware of any workaround for this issue yet.

[NT4usB]

Guess I'm confused then.
I have the default set for a minute or so before and after.
Shows going back to back on the same channel alternate between PVR-150-1 and PVR-150-2 so at some point both tuners are recording same show.
Then -1 stops and -2 finishes the show.
May not be the same for my multirec DVB cards though. Haven't looked that closely...

[AKADAP]

Originally Posted by NT4usB

Guess I'm confused then.
I have the default set for a minute or so before and after.
Shows going back to back on the same channel alternate between PVR-150-1 and PVR-150-2 so at some point both tuners are recording same show.
Then -1 stops and -2 finishes the show.
May not be the same for my multirec DVB cards though. Haven't looked that closely...

I have 5 tuners (two HDHomeRun boxes, and a ATI HD Blunder) on my system, one each for antennas aimed in different directions, and 3 on cable. Back to back recordings on the same channel on cable do not have the requested extra time, even though there are three possible ways this could be implemented (one tuner sending data to two files during the overlap, recording the same channel on two tuners during the overlap, or join the two back to back recordings into one long recording and bookmark the start of the second show.)
Not only does this mean that I don't get the extra requested time recorded, but there also appears to be a minute gap between the end of the earlier recording and the beginning of the later recording. This usually means I miss the last minute of the first show.

[benh]

Hi

I think what you are experiencing is this:

The default padding is soft padding only, which means that once all the timers are set, the padding will be applied if it can. When myth has two shows back to back, it sets the two recording schedules on the same tuner (because it can). After that it will apply your pre-padding before the first and your post padding after the second. It will not be able to apply the other padding.

The only way I have found to accommodate this, is to go into each recording schedule and set the padding manually for each (hard padding). Whether it uses the same tuner or not will depend on what other timers are set, but due to multirec it can use the same one if required.

So as not to waste too much space, I have removed the soft padding (so as not to double up on padding), but it means that whoever sets the timers must remember to add the padding or we will definitely miss the end of the show (always late in Aus). Fortunately I'm the only one who schedules recordings in my house and once they are set up well, there aren't that many changes to make.

Ben

[bungledb]

Yeah, that's exactly the conclusion I came to as well. I've only got 2 encoders in my box, but I've found the only way to get 2 programs back to back is to set hard padding on everything. I've got into the habit now and rarely don't do so. But I still have soft padding enabled; I keep telling myself I can always edit the extra stuff off later. Of course, that assumes that I'll ever find the time...

I guess it would be nice if there was an option to tell mythtv to make the default padding hard unless there are specific types of conflict - eg when recording 2 shows back to back on one channel while at the same time recording something on another channel.

Maybe the simplest is just to put more and more tuners in the box until we can record every show ever broadcast all at once...

[AKADAP]

Originally Posted by bungledb

Yeah, that's exactly the conclusion I came to as well. I've only got 2 encoders in my box, but I've found the only way to get 2 programs back to back is to set hard padding on everything. I've got into the habit now and rarely don't do so. But I still have soft padding enabled; I keep telling myself I can always edit the extra stuff off later. Of course, that assumes that I'll ever find the time...

I guess it would be nice if there was an option to tell mythtv to make the default padding hard unless there are specific types of conflict - eg when recording 2 shows back to back on one channel while at the same time recording something on another channel.

Maybe the simplest is just to put more and more tuners in the box until we can record every show ever broadcast all at once...

More tuners does not help. Even with 3 tuners on cable, I've had back to back recordings cut short, even when those two back to back recordings are the ONLY thing being recorded the entire day.

[bergqvistjl]

Originally Posted by Jesus-Ninja

OK, this might sound like a daft request, but I can't get mythTV to record on the same channel at the same time, on two difference encorders.

I'm over the moon with my setup, and with 4 encorders (2 Nova T500s), I don't miss anything. It's transformed the way we watch TV, especially as we have a new born son! Being able to sit down when we get time, andto always have something we want to watch, not to mention being able to pause it when he kicks off, is excellent.

But here's my problem. The BBC don't always get their timings right, and we all know how annoying it is to miss the first couple of minutes, or even worse, the last couple of minutes, of a show. Easy solution, set the default to record 5 mins either side. This is even better, as I get to see the ads for other programs that I might like to record.

Trouble is though, when I have two programs scheduled that are on the same channel, immediately after each other. eg Programme A is on 7:00 to 8:00 and programme B is on 8:00 to 9:00. My scheduler always adds 5 mins each side, that in reality the slots are 6:55 - 8:05 and 7:55 - 9:05.

I'm quite happy for myth to choose encoders, but it chooses for Programme B, the same encoder as for Programme A (presumably as they are on the same channel), so programme A actually stops recording to file when Programme B starts, meaning I miss the end of Programme A.

Am I missing a setting somewhere, as with up to 3 other encoders to chose from, I would have though that myth would see that A is still recording, and use a different encoder for B. Now of course, it's possible to find programme B and watch the "beginning" of that to catch the end of A, but that's a faff, and B might not have been a programme I wanted to watch, and the misses might have watched it and deleted it....

..any suggestions?

you could just manually set the second show to record on the other (unused) card. Although it is a pain. Perhaps someone could make a rule that if theres more than 1 card available, with back-2-back programs, to always record the 2nd show on a different card.

[bigb]

Hi,

There are three places to set the padding. The first is the soft padding which is applied to every schedule new and old (and in addition to any hard padding inplace), which will be ignored if the backend decides it is ok to ignore. The second is for each schedule, this is hard padding and won't (shouldn't) ever be ignored by the backend, it is found in the "schedule options" of each recording. The third place is the default hard padding for NEW schedule items, this is somewhere in the menus, in a different location to where the soft padding is set, and is for new schedules only.

Hope this helps, and sorry i don't have directions to the actual menu locations

BigB.

[AKADAP]

Originally Posted by bigb

Hi,

There are three places to set the padding. The first is the soft padding which is applied to every schedule new and old (and in addition to any hard padding inplace), which will be ignored if the backend decides it is ok to ignore. The second is for each schedule, this is hard padding and won't (shouldn't) ever be ignored by the backend, it is found in the "schedule options" of each recording. The third place is the default hard padding for NEW schedule items, this is somewhere in the menus, in a different location to where the soft padding is set, and is for new schedules only.

Hope this helps, and sorry i don't have directions to the actual menu locations

BigB.

I don't believe those items are anywhere in the menu (which is why you can't remember where they are) They do show up in mythweb, though they, like everything else, are undocumented there.

My guess is that they are the items called "defaultstartoffset" and "defaultendoffset". I took a wild guess and assumed that they are in seconds, and a positive defaultstartoffset starts earlier, and a positive defaultendoffset ends the recording later.

I found these yesterday, so I'm waiting for a new recording to happen to see if I guessed correctly.