Favorite being created but not being scheduled for recording...

[t4uecker]

hi there -

i'm having some troubles with recording a "favorite" recording that i've created and was wondering if anyone had ideas for a solution.

summary-level description

i seem to be able to create a favorite just fine, but the upcoming episodes don't show up in the "to be recorded list". instead, i end up having to go to the favorite, click on additional airings, then manually tell it to record one of the upcoming airings.

more details

my system has an hvr-1600 tuner, which can record both standard and qam channels, and my source is comcast cable. i've configured the digital and analog inputs using separate epgs and everything works just fine and dandy if i watch the channels live (meaning i can watch the analog version of nbc as well as the digital version).

as an example, here are the steps i take:

1. i search on my epg for "heroes"
2. it shows an upcoming episode on february 2 on analog nbc (channel 5) and also on nbc-dt (channel 5-1).
3. i select the nbc-dt episode, click record options, then click add as a favorite. that takes me to the favorite details screen, which for now i just leave alone (favorites and reruns, any channel, any day, etc).
4. i go back to the home screen on sage.
5. i go to schedule recordings / view recording schedule. the upcoming episode that i'd just selected doesnt' show up on the list.
6. if i go to the "favorite details" for the show, click on additional airings, the feb 2 episode shows up again, i click on record options, then click "record this show." it works.

obviously i'd rather not have to tell it to record episodes of the favorite i just created. what's going on?

thanks,
tu

[GKusnick]

The default scheduling lookahead for favorites is three days. Feb 2 is four days away as I write this, so no surprise if it doesn't show up in the schedule yet.

The reason your manual recordings show up is because there's no lookahead needed for them; you've already told Sage exactly which airing to record, so it goes into the schedule immediately.

There's a FAQ about this.

[bjp999]

Sorry to piggyback on this thread, but it seems related, at least in my mind ...

I understand that Sage schedules favorites 3 days in advance. But say that I setup a manual recording to record a movie (let's say Jaws) in 4 days at 8PM. When SageTv schedules my favorites, it has a problem at 8PM on that day which creates a recording conflict. What I would like Sage to do is realize that Jaws is playing again at 3AM and record THAT showing instead.

I used to use Tivo and it would schedule for, I think, 2 weeks out, and warn you if you were trying to overbook a timeslot. Since Sage only does it 3 days in advance, I'm wondering how to prevent missing an important favorite because of a manual recording that could be easily rescheduled.

Thanks!

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by bjp999

I understand that Sage schedules favorites 3 days in advance. But say that I setup a manual recording to record a movie (let's say Jaws) in 4 days at 8PM. When SageTv schedules my favorites, it has a problem at 8PM on that day which creates a recording conflict. What I would like Sage to do is realize that Jaws is playing again at 3AM and record THAT showing instead.
...
I'm wondering how to prevent missing an important favorite because of a manual recording that could be easily rescheduled.

SageTV will not reschedule Manual Recordings, so just record the movie by creating a Favorite for it. You can easily remove the Favorite after it is recorded by using the Favorite command while the recording is highlighted.

- Andy

[bjp999]

Thanks Opus4! That works.

I'll likely try to be smart in setting up manual recording times by looking at the future airings schedule. 75% of the time I can likely pick a slot I know is safe, and the other 25% of the time I can set up and later delete a favorite as you describe.

Might be a nice enhancement to have a "flexible manual" recording option, that would allow Sage to reschedule without a favorite.

[t4uecker]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

The default scheduling lookahead for favorites is three days. Feb 2 is four days away as I write this, so no surprise if it doesn't show up in the schedule yet.

hmmm...that makes sense but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be the issue. i just tried creating a new favorite that had an episode just 6 hours away...still the same thing: shows up in additional airings but not in the to be recorded list.

one other tidbit: i'm using one of the hd extenders on another tv and on that i'm running sagemc instead of the default ui. when i look at the "other showings" list on that sagemc ui, it shows a "to be recorded" icon next to the airing but that icon is gray instead of red. don't know what that means or why it would show that...

also: i have been experiencing this problem when creating new favorites, but some existing favorites are working just fine.

[jtshea]

T4uecker...

Having exact same problem. Looking forward to some ideas for solving this. I'll be sure to share anything I may discover.

[Opus4]

If everything has been checked out in the FAQ linked by Greg above, and there are no conflicts on the Recording Conflicts menu, then contact SageTV.

Be sure you have disabled any customizations and are using the default STV while doing this & before submitting a support request.

Also, if SageTV v6.4 is being used, try v6.5.

- Andy

[JohanDW]

Any progress yet? Same problem here in SageTV v6.4 and v6.5. Some favorites record fine, others don't or only once. Did check the favorite options. Can see no difference between the working ones & the bad ones. Have issued a bug report today. Will keep you posted.

[ozfiles]

Having the same problem here.
I watched a favourite start to record fine last night and then when I looked in the favourites this morning, it wasn't there and no sign of it on the recording drive.

Recently upgraded to V6.5.9.204 and that seems to be when things started to happen.

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by ozfiles

Having the same problem here.

Actually yours sounds like a different problem. Your recording got scheduled just fine (you saw it start to record), but Sage was unable to complete the recording successfully and deleted the partial file. Typical reasons for this include low disk space, poor signal strength, or tuner hardware/driver issues.

[ozfiles]

You could be right GKusnick with all but low disk space, plenty of space available.
I am keeping an eye on it and it seems to be on one channel more than others.

I recently upgraded the computer and put vista on as the operating system and it seemed to be working fine until, I upgraded to the lastest build of Sage.

[ozfiles]

Ok just checked my freq file and it seems to have been the cause of my problems.
The first line had a double CH for the first channel in the list and this is the channel that was causing the problems.
I must have done it when I was editing the freq file after I upgraded to the latest Sage build.

So all good now and glad to have worked it all out.