My 501 cut Odyssey 5 short!

1874 Views 12 Replies 9 Participants Last post by Bill Mullin, Jul 31, 2002

Bill Mullin

Discussion Starter · Jul 28, 2002

The upper right of page 59 of the manual says, "A once timer is keyed to a program, not a time. So even if the program comes on late, the timer works for the program". Later the manual tells you that if you edit the times on a program, then the recording will start and stop using the start/stop times you've set, not when the program actually starts/stops.

This all seems clear, but Friday (7/26) I recorded "Odyssey 5" from SHO-E. The show started on time but for some reason ran late. I found this out the hard way as I was watching the program when it switched off. Since I had not edited the program, I don't understand why it was not completely recorded. Could it be that:

- When creating the program, I told it to start 1 minute early. Could the 501 be seeing this as an edit?

- Odyssey 5 may have run past the end time shown in the Guide. If this happens, does this mean that I lose the end of my program?

In any event, I do not understand why I lost the end of this program - can anyone help?

BTW - Odyssey 5 is repeated Sunday night, so I WILL find out what happened!

TIA, Bill

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JohnR

· #2 · Jul 28, 2002

Odyssey 5 ran about five minutes overtime. It has run over the past several weeks. I have the whole hour for the show on my timer. Just adjust the timer to the full hour with an edit to your weekly timer. Just one of those things when the programmer doesn's adhere to the published schedule.

JohnR

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Bill Mullin

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 28, 2002

Originally posted by JohnR
Odyssey 5 ran about five minutes overtime.

I understand that - what I don't understand is why the manual says it will tape an entire program when you record from the Guide, but then it does NOT. So far it seems that the Guide gives you a good start on recording a specific program, but you need to tweak the times to ensure you don't miss anything.

- Bill

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Tony S

· #4 · Jul 28, 2002

Bill, I guess the timer will work OK if the guide listing is aware of the time changes. If the info in the guide is wrong, then the 501 will also be wrong.

Hey, this isn't a TIVO! :lol:

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Bill Mullin

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 28, 2002

Originally posted by Tony S
Bill, I guess the timer will work OK if the guide listing is aware of the time changes. If the info in the guide is wrong, then the 501 will also be wrong.

Sounds reasonable to me, but then why does it say otherwise in the manual?

Hey, this isn't a TIVO! :lol:

I don't know anything about TIVO so can't comment. :shrug:

- Bill

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rjl

· #6 · Jul 28, 2002

Bill, from what I read with tivo users, it will record the program regardless of when its on. Do I have that right everyone? I'm still trying to decide between tivo and a 508 myself, leaning to the latter.

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MrPete

· #7 · Jul 29, 2002

Your timers are only as good as the guide data.
If the guide data is incorrect or the programmer doesn't adhere to the schedule, there is NOTHING you can do. All the current PVR's will start/stop based on the guide data.
The main difference between the TIVO and the 501 is that the timer's in a 501 are based on the info from the guide at the time you setup the timer, whereas the TIVO uses the info from the last update of the guide.
If the program is timeshifted by 10 minutes and the programmer (ie. SHO) sends out the new time info at least 24 hrs in advance, a TIVO will adjust to the new time ASSUMING it has downloaded the updated guide info. However, PVR's only update their guides once a day.

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Bill Mullin

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jul 29, 2002

Originally posted by MrPete
Your timers are only as good as the guide data.
If the guide data is incorrect or the programmer doesn't adhere to the schedule, there is NOTHING you can do. All the current PVR's will start/stop based on the guide data.

Thanks for the detailed explanation Pete. It looks as if I'll have to add about 15 minutes to any program, just as I did when I was recording to tape, for insurance that I get the entire program! I can live with that.

- Bill

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abospaum

· #9 · Jul 29, 2002

If your manual says anything about being synched to the program and not the time then it is telling lies. The timer on DISH PVR's only cares about the time that is on the program guide. TIVO has a much better ability to actually adjust to find out when a show's time has changed. TIVO records the program not just a set period of time like DISH PVR's.

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Danny R

· #10 · Jul 29, 2002

The manual is most definately wrong.

Also note that if you have a weekly timer setup, that timer will only be for the times found in the slot where you selected the show. Future time changes will not be reflected in your timer.

Thus if you had set up your weekly timer on this show, you would always be taping 5 extra minutes. However if you set it up on a previous show, you will be taping only the times found for that episode and you may miss portions.

I noticed that the guide was actually correct for this episode and reflected the longer showtime, at least on the SHO-W channel.

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Randy_B

· #11 · Jul 30, 2002

Originally posted by abospaum
TIVO has a much better ability to actually adjust to find out when a show's time has changed.

Tell that to the World Cup fans out there who relied on their Tivos. :bang: Simply not true abospaum. Unless your Tivo calls the stations and gets updates just before a show or you have a special guide that is a constant stream, your unit is JUST as dependent on the routine guide update as anyone else.

The manual is poorly written, but what they are trying to say and failed to express is that IF you set a timer with the default info from the guide ONLY, then IF the time as contained in an updated guide changes, then the timer will adjust. IF you override the default guide info (add your own extra minutes), then the 501 views this as a "manual entry" and assumes this timer is set in stone and will not adjust.

Perhaps the Tivo is "smart" enough to carry over the extra minutes before and/or after on the "new" times IF they are in a new guide, but it doesn't have a special method of going out and verifying you have the latest times before the show comes on.

My DishPlayer did pick up on the time change. :eek2:

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Adrian_R

· #12 · Jul 30, 2002

Just wondering something. Why doesn't Dish broadcast, along with the show, a show "identifier", even if its just the title of the show being shown. That way, a D/PVR can properly record a show, even if its running over its timeslot?

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Bill Mullin

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jul 31, 2002

Originally posted by Adrian_R
Just wondering something. Why doesn't Dish broadcast, along with the show, a show "identifier", even if its just the title of the show being shown. That way, a D/PVR can properly record a show, even if its running over its timeslot?

Sounds like a winning suggestion to me, hopefully Dish techs are reading this post!

Bill

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