PVR 501 with smarter timers now???

[Unthinkable]

Noticed this morning that one of my PVR 501's with P166 software rev. managed to catch a time shift in Tech TV's programming schedule which I don't believe this PVR has ever done prior to now.  This is almost Tivo-like in its smartness and I think unprecedented if I'm not mistaken.  Looks like it caught the time shift by program title here.  

Here is what happened for curious minds:

1) I have a Mon-Fri 8:00AM - 9:30AM timer automatically setup to catch The Screen Savers on Tech TV - channel 191.

2)I have a Mon-Fri 9:30AM - 10:00AM timer automatically setup to catch Tech Live on Tech TV - channel 191.

Today 10/9, I check my recordings from last night and this morning and I see two events listed for The Screen Savers listed exactly as follows:

Event (1 of 7)                   Duration          Date          V

(2) The Screen Savers       00:30             10/9          

(1) The Screen Savers       01:30             10/9

I went in and checked the record start times and saw both of them listing the same thing: 8:30AM despite the timer being set to start at 8:00AM.  End time is listed as 10:00AM for both events even though its set to end at 9:30AM automatically. 

I played the one which recorded an hour and a half of TSS and sure enough it started off with the last half hour of Microsofts Insider Live program so it ends a half hour short as far as The Screen Savers is concerned.  I played the second recording and sure enough it was the last half hour of TSS so I didn't miss a thing despite the time change for the day in Tech Tv's schedule.

Tomorrow's schedule has TSS starting at 7:30AM and again the guide has it properly selected as an event to record despite my automatic timer set to catch it at 8:00AM.

Am i completely nuts here or is this all of a sudden doing the things that everyone wanted it to do from day one here?  Ken Stuart, can you shed any light on this by chance?   I have never seen this happen before prior to today.  I should note that it didn't record Tech Live today so maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part.

  

  

 

[toddjb]

It could also be (just a guess here) a bug in the guide/info screen. I've seen many random guide bugs since 166.

Your post confuses me a bit. Didn't you actually miss your 9:30 Tech Live recording? It seems only an accident that you happened to catch the end of TSS since your TL timer fired.

Guess I'm missing something. Looks to me like they may have shifted programming times (or you have a guide bug) and the guide will always show a clock symbol for the show that takes up the majority of the recording time. Basically, see what happens tomorrow. My guess is you get TSS at 8:AM and miss the first half hour if it starts at 7:30..

? or else i totally misunderstand your post...

[Unthinkable]

It looks like it was smart enough to catch the first time change for TSS, but not the second one for Tech Live - although it looks now like Tech Live was bumped entirely this morning and not even aired at all.  I looked in the program guide at tomorrows start time for TSS and the timer clock was again properly adjusted for a 2nd straight time shift with the program starting at 7:30 AM despite an automatic timer telling it to fire everyday at 8AM.  This is a different start time from today.  Checked Tech Tv's website and it listed Tech Live being aired today only at 8:30PM and 11:30PM EST which would explain why I didnt get it this morning.

http://www.techtv.com/news/shownotes/story/0,24195,3402073,00.html 


Also, I checked the Dish Network Gist TV listings online just to see if Tech Live was listed this morning at 10AM and it wasn't.  Technology of Prison tech was aired instead so again it looks like the 501 software code is checking more then it used to with regards to daily timers and events changing time slots.  Prior to today for me it would have recorded the Technology of Prison tech this morning even though that is the wrong show for one day.

[andrzejpw]

If this is real, this is HUGE.

[Unthinkable]

I will post a followup tomorrow on whether or not it does the same thing again with regards to catching The Screen Savers at its temporary shifted time slot the way the guide data suggests it will with the timer icon over the correct program at 7:30 am and whether or not it grabs Tech Live from 9:30-10 am like it should.

The whole Microsofts Insider Live thing has thrown a bit of a monkey wrench into Tech Tv's normal programming schedule. It appears like the 501 is now able to correctly identify and make corrections for when an automatic timer you have setup for a repeating program changes time slots providing that the guide data is correct of course. The whole key to this possible discovery will be entirely dependant on the guide data being properly updated and correct, but it could be potentially huge news if this really what is happening here and not just an odd quirk for one day.

There has to be something here buried in the coding/guide data stream with regards to explaining how timers sometimes wouldn't fire at all in the past and movies or shows would be completely missed despite them being properly setup with no true conflicts preventing them from doing their jobs.

[Unthinkable]

10/10 Update...

My first push of the PTV button brought up a menu which showed only the 30 minute Tech Live program had been recorded this morning. I immediately hit cancel and went back into the PVR menu and there was now magically the TechLive and The Screen Savers shows listed with the correct duration times.  Somehow the very first time I checked it, the data hadn't been properly refreshed and it had only displayed one of the two Techtv shows i record each morning which was slightly alarming on first glance, but I've had this unit since it was first released and I've come to expect some of the strange quirks it exhibits from time to time.  Side note: there are still lingering problems with the PVR recorded events screen occasionaly displaying a vincent van goh like freeze-frame jagged image from whatever was aired on live tv right before i exited instead of the standard blue/grey Dish Network PVR Recorded Events background.  Not a big deal, but strange this bug still exists today.

My M-F 8:00am - 9:30am automatic timer for The Screen Savers on channel 191 again properly adjusted itself to the shows temporary time slot this morning (just as the program guide suggested it would do with the timer icon on the correct program at its new timeslot last night when I looked at it) which had been aired earlier then usual at 7:30am. Tech Tv's website showed TSS being aired this morning at 7:30am as well. Realized while watching TSS that the first 30 minutes of the show had been missed and the last half hour of the show would be the inevitable Microsofts Insider Live! show again, but technically the PVR 501 went exactly by what the guide data told it was TSS for an hour and a half so it did its job properly. This looks to be more of a case where TechTV didn't send Dish Network the proper guide data with regards to the Insider Live program being randomly tossed into the mix yet again... Gist TV listings online showed the Microsoft Insider Live program being aired at 9am, but my pvr recorded it from 8:30-9am in reality.

Tech Live timer went off at its normal time (9:30am) and caught the entire 30 minute show as it normally does with no issues.  This now makes two days in a row where the 501 has automatically corrected an automatic M-F timer to a shows new time slot which is huge as long as the guide data is accurate of course.  I wonder if this software code only looks ahead or backward by a few hours in checking program names with time slots or if it goes out a full 24 hours.  Obviously this isn't going to catch things like the President of the U.S. addressing the nation on all the locals for 30 minutes when the guide data suggests its Fear Factor for an entire hour, but this looks to be a big step in the right direction with regards to making this pvr much smarter then before.  

[DarrellP]

This is not new. The 501 records whatever the duration is for the start period of the timer. So if you had a weekly timer set for 8:00 pm to 8:30 but one week they stuck a movie in there that starts at 8:00 pm, the entire movie will record. I've seen this several times through several software revisions.

Now if you were to set a Manual timer for the same weekly time slot, you would get ONLY the time you manually set up.

[boyddr]

I had weekly timers set for Buffy, but for the two hour season finale in May, I only got the first hour. So, my 501 didn't record the whole show...