Does V7 address switched digital video failures?

[timg11]

I use Time Warner, and record with an HD-PVR. I find that more and more frequently my recorded shows consist of a screen saying "Channel XXX is not available now please try again" instead of the program I was expecting. I have not tried the V7 beta yet, but I'm getting ready to.

I think this is related to TW using more and more switched digital video, which apparently reduces the probability of actually getting the channel I tune to.

I need an automated way to detect this "failure screen" and re-send the channel selection again until the actual video starts.

Is this something that can be done with a plug-in, or does it need to be in the Sage core? If the latter, we need to put some priority on getting it into V7, because the problem is growing rapidly in frequency, and we don't want to have to wait 2 years for Sage V8.

[Tiki]

I don't really see how Sage could detect this condition. It sounds like your STB is outputting that message screen so that as far as Sage can tell it is just recording a normal TV channel...

I suppose there are some advanced image detection tricks that software like Comskip uses to recognize certain types of images on the screen, but I can't imagine Sage trying to develop something like that.

[Ender]

Originally Posted by timg11

I use Time Warner, and record with an HD-PVR. I find that more and more frequently my recorded shows consist of a screen saying "Channel XXX is not available now please try again" instead of the program I was expecting. I have not tried the V7 beta yet, but I'm getting ready to.

In my experience, Sage does not recognize these errors, fortunately I have had only two such issues since I started the Sage 7 beta, I have been able to get the recording later on, by deleting it, and marking it as a wrong recording, if it was a favorite.

As for the SDV errors, I have only seen them since Time Warner decided to down- I mean upgrade our software from SARA, to Mystro... But I digress.

[Graygeek]

Have same TWC issue ... not using HDPVR but I am using the HAVA with IR Blaster. I modified my batch file that runs the plugin for my channel change to tune to a non SDV channel, (any local network channel in my case) wait 5 seconds then tune the channel I want. Works every time.

Also check here: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48948 ..... start around post 5

[timg11]

Graygeek, can you give me any pointers on how I could do some customizing on my USB-UIRT IR blaster that controls the TWC cable box? I don't think there is a batch file, but there is an .IR file. The .IR file is really simple - just 10 entries for the digits 0-9, containing the IR codes in hex.

How can I "hook" the tuning procedure to perform and "alternate" tuning prior to selecting the real channel?

Also, for another way to solve the "sleeping" cable box problem from your other thread, see this thread on STBkeepalive: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35228

[Graygeek]

Originally Posted by timg11

Graygeek, can you give me any pointers on how I could do some customizing on my USB-UIRT IR blaster that controls the TWC cable box? I don't think there is a batch file, but there is an .IR file. The .IR file is really simple - just 10 entries for the digits 0-9, containing the IR codes in hex.

How can I "hook" the tuning procedure to perform and "alternate" tuning prior to selecting the real channel?

Also, for another way to solve the "sleeping" cable box problem from your other thread, see this thread on STBkeepalive: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35228

not familiar with USB-UIRT .... I'm using a plugin called Exetuner which executes a command via a registry key .... this command calls a batch file that then calls a small utility called HAVA Channel Changer that sends a command to my HAVA's IR blaster. The batch file prompts the IR command to change the channel to 700, in my case, then delays 5 seconds and next sends a IR command for the channel # passed by SAGE as a variable %Channel%. A bit sticky until you work through it. I imagine the USB-UIRT is very different but maybe the HAVA workaround will give you a helpful idea.

[DaveS]

I am having a similar issue with Cox. My shows record the correct program on the correct channel, but occasionally I get a similar error message for exactly 3 minutes and then it goes away.

I don't understand SDV though. If I'm using HD-PVR and it's tuning the STB before the show starts recording, why would that message pop up while the show is recording and then go away. Obviously in my case, the channel is available.