Defining default time slots for empty epg data

[cesm23]

Ok the problem i have here, is that i live in portugal (europe) and since i am new using this program, i am still trying to get epg data for my cable service provider (Zon tv), but just in case i am unable to get it to work, i just get empty program guide timeslots.

The problem is that with a empty program guide, the default timeslot for each show is always 2 hours, and i definetly don't want splits in my recorded shows if they go over the time slot... Is it possible to increase the default timeslot duration in the case the program guide feature has no data and it's all empty ? I am tired of searching and i find nothing about this...

[cesm23]

Well never mind i already found a solution for this problem... After using "STV XMLTV Importer" i finally got the epg working for my country, altough i didn't really wanted to use epg feature at all i prefer scheduling my records by myself and without having to worry about split mpg files, so i found a easy solution, i made my own epgdata.xml file and just made a single show with the duration of the whole year of 2009, for each channel i have...

I know this is kinda ridiculous, but i think it's the ONLY way to make sure that recordings don't get split after 2 hours when not using any epg at all...

Anyway please someone tell me if there is still another easier way of doing this since i am still having some trouble adding new channels in the xml file...

[gplasky]

If you are using the XMLTV importer and get your TV data from the correct source your EPG should show the TV show with their correct duration. If a show was 3 hours long it would be 3 hours long in the EPG guide. And in that case it would not split your files. It's much easier to find your show in the EPG and then just click or press the Record button on your remote.

Gerry

[cesm23]

Ok i got it the problem is the epg never being accurate with the beginnings or endings of the shows this is why i won't use the epg, unless the padding option is able to handle this...

So is it completly impossible then to change the 2 hour time slot when there is no epg data, right ?

[GKusnick]

If you don't want to use the EPG at all, can't you just create timed recordings of whatever duration you require? I admit I haven't used this feature much (since I have a functioning EPG), but I don't see anything limiting you to recordings of two hours or less.

That said, EPG data plus padding seems like a more elegant solution to me, since that way you'd actually know what was in each recording.

[cesm23]

If you don't want to use the EPG at all, can't you just create timed recordings of whatever duration you require? I admit I haven't used this feature much (since I have a functioning EPG), but I don't see anything limiting you to recordings of two hours or less.

For example, when the epg data is empty, sage tv sets the time slots with two hours each, for example, one of them would start at 09:00 pm and end at 11:00 pm. If i start a recording at 10:45pm, when there is 11:00pm the recording GETS a split at that time... You see what i mean ?

That said, EPG data plus padding seems like a more elegant solution to me, since that way you'd actually know what was in each recording.

Well yes but i still haven't got the epg working 100% (jeez even using that plugin its still quite complicated), i am not sure i will be able to try it, anyways if i am unable to get it working i have no choie but to create a custom xmltv file and put a tvshow during the whole year... no more splits this way, the only problem now is doing this with the rest of the channels too.

update : finally i got the epg working with the correctly shows guide!! But it's just what i feared, the shows ALWAYS begins 5-10 minutes earlier or later than it's indicated in the guide, and i searched everywhere on sage i have found absolutly no options for padding... how is this done?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by cesm23

For example, when the epg data is empty, sage tv sets the time slots with two hours each, for example, one of them would start at 09:00 pm and end at 11:00 pm. If i start a recording at 10:45pm, when there is 11:00pm the recording GETS a split at that time... You see what i mean ?

As he said, he was referring to Timed Recordings. There is a PDF manual that gets installed with SageTV; see p. 72 of the v6.5 manual for "Create Timed Recording".

update : finally i got the epg working with the correctly shows guide!! But it's just what i feared, the shows ALWAYS begins 5-10 minutes earlier or later than it's indicated in the guide, and i searched everywhere on sage i have found absolutly no options for padding... how is this done?

See start & stop padding for Favorites around p. 69-70 of the PDF manual, and p. 103 for Manual Recordings.

- Andy

[cesm23]

ok thanks!

[cesm23]

wow now after i tried that, that last part about the manual recording is EXACTLY what i wanted, i don't even need epg anymore, since now it doesn't split anymore.