View Full Version : New Feature Request - single live buffer while watching recorded program
I didn't notice this until recently, but when you are watching a recorded program, the buffer on whatever channel the live tuner is on (OTA or satellite) is not active.
I may put the OTA tuner on Jeopardy @ 7:30pm and watch a 20 minute recorded program. After the recorded program is over (say, at 7:50pm), I delete it and then go back to the live tuner and try to rewind it to 7:30pm to start watching Jeopardy from the beginning. The buffer starts, however, when I stopped watching the recorded program, in other words, only live TV. No buffer from the past 90 or 30 minutes even though the tuner has been on this channel for more than 30 minutes.
Why do the HR20 tuners (OTA or satellite) not buffer whatever is on the live tuner when watching a recorded program? This seems to me to be a basic DVR function for a single live buffer. My Tivo unit does this. What gives?!?
I think it should buffer in that case. I'm pretty sure mine does/has. I'm running a test right now. I'll post back in a few minutes.
You might try a reset.
Carl
Doug Brott
05-03-07, 09:30 AM
I noticed this phenomenon (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=830061) in the past. The funny thing is that sometimes it doesn't have this problem, but more often than not, it does. I think a non-working SLB is the biggest reason why we don't have DLB.
I think it should buffer in that case. I'm pretty sure mine does/has. I'm running a test right now. I'll post back in a few minutes.
You might try a reset.
Carl
Mine most definately does not buffer while watching recorded content. Resets have had no effect on it.
Just did about a twenty minute check, and it worked fine. Watched a recorded show, stopped the recorded show and went back to live TV and was able to rewind the buffer through the entire period.
Did not try recording anything (per Brott's comments in the other thread).
One question though - if you know you want to go back and watch the first show, why not just record it?
Carl
Michael D'Angelo
05-03-07, 09:47 AM
It works for me. I do it all the time. If I am watching something and want to watch like a 30 minute show I watch it and when it is over I am able to rewind and finish watching what I was watching before. I do it a lot with ESPNEWS because I am waiting to see something and I don't feel like watching everything else so I will watch something recorded and then I will rewind the live buffer back to the thing that I wanted to see comes on.
One question though - if you know you want to go back and watch the first show, why not just record it?
Carl
Sometimes that works but sometimes I, and I imagine the OP, just want to watch part of a long scheduled show. THe ESPN news example is a good one. It might have 2 hour guide blocks but I don't want to record the whole thing as it will conflict with other stuff set to record later. Or maybe I don't have enough space. The same holds true for many baseball games. Often on a weeknight I have multiple recording going at the same time for part of the night. So I can't record the Mets game. However I like to catch bits and pieces of it while I have a tuner free. Not being able to rewind or pause and hold my place while I'm watching a recording (who wants to ever watch commercials) is very annoying.
One question though - if you know you want to go back and watch the first show, why not just record it?
I can't speak for the OP, but what if I don't know that I want to watch the show? If the thing isn't buffering while the DVR is being used as a DVR should (to watch recordings), what's the point of having a live buffer at all? Sometimes I come out of watching recorded content and catch the tail end of something that interests me, and it's frustrating to not be able to rewind.
techntrek
05-03-07, 11:08 AM
I have this problem, too. Some times it buffers, some times it doesn't. We've missed the first 20 minutes of many shows even though I made sure we were on the right channel before we started watching a recording.
I have found one temporary fix, though. If I change to the right channel, then pause live TV, then play live TV, then play my recording it seems to buffer right every time. Its like the quick pause forces the buffer to start working.
I have found one temporary fix, though. If I change to the right channel, then pause live TV, then play live TV, then play my recording it seems to buffer right every time. Its like the quick pause forces the buffer to start working.
Very interesting - I'll have to give that a try. That's what I love about this place. If you get enough people banging away on the remotes and trying different stuff, any workarounds that may exist will be discovered! :grin:
armophob
05-03-07, 11:33 AM
It is my #1 problem with the HR20
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=84453&highlight=slb
It works for me. I do it all the time. If I am watching something and want to watch like a 30 minute show I watch it and when it is over I am able to rewind and finish watching what I was watching before. I do it a lot with ESPNEWS because I am waiting to see something and I don't feel like watching everything else so I will watch something recorded and then I will rewind the live buffer back to the thing that I wanted to see comes on.
How odd that some work and some don't. Mine is fine with this. I can rewind up to 90 minutes on whatever channel it's been on for live tv while I've been watching a recorded program.
How can this be??
Mike Bertelson
05-03-07, 02:34 PM
How odd that some work and some don't. Mine is fine with this. I can rewind up to 90 minutes on whatever channel it's been on for live tv while I've been watching a recorded program.
How can this be??
That's $64,000 question. This happens to me some times but not always. I'll be watching a recorded show and exit to live TV(before the recording is over) and the buffer will have cleared. Then I'll finish watching that same show, exit and the buffer's intact.....but not always
IMHO, this should be D*'s #1 issue.
Mike
P.S. See the link in armophob's post above...
Doug Brott
05-03-07, 02:42 PM
How odd that some work and some don't. Mine is fine with this. I can rewind up to 90 minutes on whatever channel it's been on for live tv while I've been watching a recorded program.
How can this be??
I cannot say for certain, but I believe it has to do with which tuner it thinks it's tuned to. When you start a recording, if it thinks it's on the "other" tuner, once the recording/playback is finished, it switches back to the "other" tuner and flushes the buffer. However, if it thinks that you are on the right tuner, then things work out correctly.
It could be as simple as DIRECTV keeping the "recorded from tuner" information along with any recording. If that tuner does not match the current tuner then the program thinks that it has changed tuners (even though in reality, it hasn't) and then flushes the buffer. Certainly if the recording that you go to watch is a complete recording, then ANY "recorded from tuner" should be ignored. Once it's on the disk, then it no longer matters. If a program is currently recording, then it could be somewhat unknown. More care would need to be taken to record/playback from one tuner while buffering from the other tuner. The last problem is a DLB problem.
techntrek
05-04-07, 06:06 AM
I'm not sure of this, but this thought just came to me so I'll put it out there. I think this happens when I've only had a channel on for a few seconds before I start a recording, so maybe the buffer hasn't "settled in". Not that it should matter! I do this often when I know I want to watch something that's coming on at 9, its currently 8:30 and nothing is on live TV so I'll watch a recording, knowing it will run over to about 9:10 (which will let me skip some of the commercials from the live program, bonus). So I change to the channel I will want to watch, starting the buffer, then watch something from the List. I think it doesn't happen when I'm already on the one I want to watch at 9, so the buffer has been going for some time before I start something from List. Again, its not something I've consciously paid attention to - but I'll make an effort to duplicate both scenarios this weekend.
Use case 1 (cause buffer to malfunction):
- watch channel A for a few minutes
- change to channel B
- immediately open List and play something recorded, watch to end, skipping recorded commercials like normal
- delete recording at end
- channel B comes on screen, verify buffer is active or inactive
Use case 2 (cause buffer to operate normally):
- watch channel A for a few minutes, verify that buffer is active
- open List and play something recorded, watch to end, skipping recorded commercials like normal
- delete recording at end
- channel A comes on screen, see if buffer is active or inactive
Something else I just thought about, maybe deleting the recording flushes the buffer? The whole screen seems to jump for a split second when you delete, so maybe in that time slice the buffer gets hosed? There are programs I stop in the middle or can't bring myself to delete even after I've watched them (Planet Earth) so I don't delete them. So make that Use Case 3 & 4, the same as 1 & 2 but don't delete the recording in either one. And UC 5 & 6 would be to stop the recording in the middle so the "Delete Recording?" code isn't run. This would be whole lot easier to debug on a test rig where they (the programming team) could just set up a "watch" to see when code that erases the buffer is run. But of course as users we don't have that luxury. We're validators just playing with a "black box".
Can you tell I'm a programmer? :grin:
Can we formally make my suggestion a request for a fix (assuming that it sometimes works) or a request for a new feature (if it doesn't)??
Brott.. can you add this to your list?
I wonder if it may be related to the current CE release (14f). I don't recall if this problem has always been there or just recently with the latest beta version.
Are you guys that see the same problem I have using the latest national release or a CE release?
I've got two HR20's. One has the CE, the other has the national release. Both behave the same way as far as the live buffer. It works (for me, in the manner I use the HR20). I don't really think there is a difference between the national release and the CE as far as this specific issue is concerned, but have not done any playing around or testing on this particular issue.
Carl
veryoldschool
05-04-07, 05:08 PM
That's $64,000 question. This happens to me some times but not always. I'll be watching a recorded show and exit to live TV(before the recording is over) and the buffer will have cleared. Then I'll finish watching that same show, exit and the buffer's intact.....but not always
IMHO, this should be D*'s #1 issue.
Mike
P.S. See the link in armophob's post above...
Me too, sometimes it does & most of the time it doesn't.
Me too, sometimes it does & most of the time it doesn't.
Assuming there isn't something obviously we are missing, the fact that this sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, it indeed sounds like a bug. If it never worked, it would seem like a non-ready feature.
veryoldschool
05-06-07, 05:20 PM
Assuming there isn't something obviously we are missing, the fact that this sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, it indeed sounds like a bug. If it never worked, it would seem like a non-ready feature.
From the CE: mine is better now [as in it works when it didn't].
techntrek
05-07-07, 05:45 AM
I ran a few tests Friday night w/o making the buffer fail. Then I loaded the CE release so I figured I would put off any more formal testing unless I see the buffer fail again. With all the "under the hood" changes maybe they figured this one out.
Mike Bertelson
05-07-07, 09:31 AM
Assuming there isn't something obviously we are missing, the fact that this sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, it indeed sounds like a bug. If it never worked, it would seem like a non-ready feature.
In this thread we discussed all the conditions that caused the buffer to clear.
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.ph...&highlight=slb
It turns out that there is no pattern to this. At least none apparent by the conditions that causes the problem.
I would like as many people to read the thread as I can get(it's a little long but good info). See if there are any conditions not included or any ideas anyone has. All info is need no matter how trivial.
Mike
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