Isn't it time to fix the CSI-ER overlap problem?

[stevehiner]

The conflict resolution features need to be improved. ER starts at 8:59pm causing a minor overlap with CSI which ends at 9:00pm. If I set up to record both of them the viewscape correctly warns me of a conflict. In order to resolve that conflict I have to raise the priority of one of the shows. Currently the show with the lower priority doesn't record at all. I believe it would not be too difficult for BTV to record the low priority show but give preference to the high priority show.

In the ER vs. CSI example:
If ER is higher priority it should record CSI until 8:59pm then switch to ER, missing the last minute of CSI.
If CSI is higher priority it should record all of CSI, until 9:00pm (no padding) and switch to ER, missing the first minute of ER.

If a user records two shows in a row BTV skips padding the end of the first show and the beginning of the second show. That same priciple would apply here.

I realize CSI could be set up as a manual recording to end at 8:59 but if a user wants to set up a Record All for CSI and ER it would be a pain to deal with it every week. Many users aren't going to be able to figure out they should set up a manual recording so they'll just miss one of the shows. Even setting up a manual recording like that you'd have to use the web admin since the viewscape limits you to 15 minute increments.

Here's a more exteme example:
The SuperBowl is on from 4pm to 9pm
Pets on Parade is on from 5pm to 6pm
It would be nice to be able to set up both to record, set Pets on Parade to higher priority and BTV could record the beginning and end of the Super Bowl, missing an hour in the middle for Pets on Parade.

I could see that as being really useful during things like the Olympics where there are hours upon hours of shows that a user might not mind missing a bit while still recording as much as possible. A user could set up to record all the Olympics but set their weekly recordings to the highest priority so it would interupt any Olympic programming.

[MickP]

I vote yes. I probably wouldn't be considering a third card if this was possible.

[Bilar Crais]

You can go into the FSUI and set the recording to end one minute early. It's a very simple matter; I do it myself regularly. Since it's only a show or two that this happens to, it's not really that much of a hassle.

[stevehiner]

So if I have 2 minutes padding do I need to tell it to end CSI 3 minutes early and start ER 2 minutes late or is it one minute early for CSI and on-time for ER?

It just seems like this isn't all that complicated and it could be handled automatically.

[DonK]

I vote we boycott shows that have idiot marketers with goofy schedules to mess with pvr users :P

[Bilar Crais]

So if I have 2 minutes padding do I need to tell it to end CSI 3 minutes early and start ER 2 minutes late or is it one minute early for CSI and on-time for ER?

It just seems like this isn't all that complicated and it could be handled automatically.

I'm not sure exactly how it would work. All I know is that I have Twilight Zone on sci-fi set to record always. With two minute padding, the begining of the second episode always gets clipped a bit. If I go into the FSUI and set the job to finish one minute early, I'm always assured to get every episode in totality.

[lectro]

I'd be happy if there was a setting in conflict resolution to say 'record as much of each as possible' (worded more concisely, of course).

Whenever the first show finishes, start recording the next; if I miss the first two minues of Desperate Housewives, I'll just have to get over it.

[DanielS]

So if I have 2 minutes padding do I need to tell it to end CSI 3 minutes early and start ER 2 minutes late or is it one minute early for CSI and on-time for ER?

It just seems like this isn't all that complicated and it could be handled automatically.

Steve, I agree with your assessment and proposed solution and added a comment to the bug/feature request to that effect.

I.e.:
In the ER vs. CSI example:
If ER is higher priority it should record CSI until 8:59pm then switch to ER, missing the last minute of CSI.
If CSI is higher priority it should record all of CSI, until 9:00pm (no padding) and switch to ER, missing the first minute of ER..

The SuperBowl example with the "cutout" in the middle is excellent as well.

[Gunn]

Great idea; I love it. When I was a new user to this product...and before multiple cards were supported, I was constantly irritated with the problem of missing a complete show, only to see that it was becuase of a 1 minute overlap.

And the idea with the SuperBowl and Olympics is Great. Also applies to those channels that do 6-8hr. blocks of shows in the guide. You could get some of it, but your higher priority shows would still record around it. Excellent.

[DanielS]

I kinda caved in on the stevehiner's SmartSkip suggestion further down (at least for now), but I'm still really kieen on this one about this CSI/ER type overlappy/thingy.

This definitely IS in the realm of the PVR app and I think it would be quite useful. Steve you did a nice job explaining this.

[/LOBBYISTIC BUMP]

[Nil Einne]

I don't live in the US and don't use the guide at the moment but I agree totally with this. On occassion I have a somewhat similar problem here. Of course, it is possible to manually adjust it but I don't see any reason why BeyondTV shouldn't be smart enough that it will record as much of the low priority show as possible even if it conflicts. Of course, it should still warn but this really needs to be done.

I also want another option. An easy way to temporarily disable a regular recording! Currently, you can change the date or whatever but this is very inconvient.

I had a very terrible case about a week ago. I have a MCE500 and a ATI 9000 AIW but because I very rarely need 3 tuners I haven't yet bought a third tuner license. So I use the ATI software for my AIW (it's better quality too). So I needed to do this a few days ago for a special recording. Because the special recording was on my satellite box but I don't have enough outputs to connect this to my AIW, I choose to record the special recording with BTV. Trouble was, I had my regular recording scheduled already of course. So one of my regular recordings was already recording. So I told it to start recording the special recording, I had not yet disabled the other regular recording. Trouble was, my second regular recording was set with a higher priority so what happened was my first recording stopped recording because it conflicted with my second regular recording even tho my second regular recording wasn't going to begin for another 20 mins. I changed the priority but this didn't fix it and in fact it made things worse because somehow this made BeyondTV go insane and I spent the next 30 mins shouting at BTV until I worked out I had to delete my first regular recording schedule to fix it!