Tivo conflict resolution question

[dbronstein]

Here's a situation that happened to me the other night on my 721 and I'm wondering how Tivo would handle it.

I had two overlapping timers set. I went to set a timer for Horatio Hornblower, and the initial airing of it overlapped the other two timers. Since A&E was airing the movie 4 or 5 times in a row, I just went to a later airing and set the timer for that one.

From what I could tell from the Tivo screen shots, if I tried to set a timer for the initial airing, it would generate a conflict. But is it smart enough to pick up a later airing of it automatically, or would I still have to do the same thing and manually set the timer off of a later airing?

Thanks,
Dennis

[bonscott87]

Yes, Tivo will record at the next available showing.

Thus if I have a season pass to COPS, Stargate and Soprano's (in that order from the season pass manager) and they all happen to be at the same time, it will record the first two and try to record Soprano's at a later airing.

It then helps to know which of your shows have later airings. For example I always had several conflicts on Friday nights. I learned that shows like Monk would have later airings of the same episode. Thus I lowered their priority. "Network" shows almost never have later airings, but stuff on "cable" channels like Sci-Fi, TNT or HBO usually have multiple airings. Thus set those shows lower and it will catch them at a later time. Thus the power of name based recording. I don't have to actually do anything, just setup the season passes and their priority in the first place, Tivo does the rest. I do check my "To Do" list every few days to make sure things are still running smooth, but that's it.

Also another trick on a Tivo is to use a wishlist. Thus for Soprano's, it's shown at various times and on various different HBO channels. Thus I could setup a title wishlist for "Soprano's" which will then record it at the first time it's available on *any* channel. I set this as a real low priority knowing it's show 10+ times a week, many in the middle of the night, and I know it will record at some point.

[dbronstein]

But this was just a one-time recording, it wouldn't be a season pass. Would it still figure out to record a later showing of it, or would I need to set it up as a season pass or wishlist to do this?

Thanks,
Dennis

[bonscott87]

In the Tivo world, a one time recording will take 1st priority over any season passes/wishlists. When you create the one time recording it will warn you if it has a conflict and tell you what it plans to not record (and give you the choice to cancel if you wish). Assuming there are later airings of the show the season pass will automatically pick up and record a later showing.

So for example I setup a one time recording of the Red Wings game tonight. I also have a season pass to CSI and lets say Trading Spaces for example (lower priority then CSI) both at 9pm. When I tell it to record the game it will warn me that it can't record Trading Spaces. No problem, it will now record the game and CSI and pick up Trading Spaces when it airs again at say midnight.

IF however you have all one time recordings then no, it won't try to pick up any later airings because it's just a one time thing. If a season pass or auto record wishlist gets bumped it will pick up later airings as that is their function.

[dbronstein]

Okay, so in this case I would have had to manually select a later showing. The other two timers would be season passes on a tivo, but they are regular network shows so they don't get rerun later.

I want to be clear I'm not trying to criticize Tivo with these threads, I'm just trying to gather information as I start to consider whether to switch. Unfortunately I don't know anyone locally who has a Tivo (SA or DirecTV) so I can't just check it out in person.

Another question: Can you specify how many episodes of a particular show to keep? On my old Replay, when you created the timer you would specify how many eps of the show to keep. So for something like Bob the Builder, which I record every day for my son, I could specify 1 and just have the latest episode, but for something like 24 which I don't want to get deleted until I've watched it, I could just put 20 or something ridiculously high.

Thanks for the info,
Dennis

[spanishannouncetable]

You can tell the TiVo to "Keep at most" 1-5 episodes or all episodes, then you modify that by telling it when to delete them. Some examples -

(A) You set an SP for 24. You tell TiVo to KAM 2 episodes, and to automatically delete them when it needs the space. The TiVo will store 2 episodes, and when the next one starts recording the oldest one will be deleted, thus KEEPING only 2 episodes at a time. HOWEVER, if the HD space is tight you may have less than 2 episodes as it MAY delete one or both episodes early to record something else. It is Keep at MOST, not Keep at least.

(B)You set an SP for 24. You tell TiVo to KAM 2 episodes, but to keep them until you delete them. This will result in TiVo recording 2 episodes and, if you have not deleted them, not recording any more episodes until you delete one of these you already have. It will save them FOREVER until you say otherwise.

(C) You set up a SP for 24. KAM = all episodes. Auto-delete them as necessary. This setup will fill up the HD with episodes if that's what you want, deleting the oldest shows as the HD fills up. You may have 1, you may have 50.

(D) You set up a SP for 24. KAM = all episodes. Save until I delete. Your HD will save every episode it records forever or until you say so, whichever comes first.

You can further modify any of the combos above by telling it to record only brand-new first-run episodes and ignore reruns, or record every episode it finds, both new and old.

Auto-delete does not mean it WILL delete it on the expiration date, only that it MIGHT delete it soon. The default storage time of a show is 48 hours, and after that it will auto-delete it when it really NEEDS the space. I've had shows marked for possible deletion stay on my Now Playing list for months without disappearing.

Use the combos wisely depending on the show. For rotating kids shows, set it KAM = 5, autodelete as necessary. For primetime, set it for KAM = 3, SUID (save until I delete). And if you have upgraded you storage space, set CSI, L&O and other top-shelf shows to KAM = all & SUID in anticipation of reruns. Last year, I didn't watch the season finale for CSI (which aired during May sweeps) until August, just in time for the new season to start :D

[dbronstein]

Thanks for the info. So it does have a lot of flexibility and control.

Dennis

[Scalper]

Back to your fist question. This is how I handle it when it happens to me.

I have 2 SP shows set to fire both at 8pm on Thursday. Lets say one Tuesday i am looking for movies to record, I see one I want that is on at 8pm on Thursday and tell it to record. It comes up with a conflict asking me what to do. I still want to record the 2 SP's so I cancel the recording. I go back to the movie and select "Season Pass & Other Options".

That will take me to a new screen. From there I can select "View upcoming showings" and then it will come up with all the show times for the movie I want to see and I can select anyone I want.

I hope this gives you a good picture on how that works.

[dbronstein]

Thanks for the info. So you need to manually fix it, but it makes it easy to do so.

I am definitely moving closer to switching, although I won't do anything until next summer.

Dennis

[ccwf]

No, you can create a wishlist for the movie instead. I do this for a number of unreleased and old movies and occasionally for new ones.

[Mark Holtz]

I have my season passes set up in the following order: Shows which will NOT be repeated at all (i.e. Survivor) Shows which will be repeated at another time in the not-so-distant future (i.e. CSI, Angel) Shows that air on a network channel but repeat on a cable channel (i.e. 24 aired on both Fox and F/X for the first two seasons, but not this season. You would use a wishlist here. Shows which have multiple airings (i.e. Junkyard Wars, Inuyasha)The only gotcha you have to watch out for is the "Keep At Most" setting. By default, it is set to keep five episodes. Since I have a large drive, I prefer to Keep At Most All episides as space is needed, then delete the shows after I watch them.