Any way to force use of 2nd tuner on back to back recordings?

[notverysage]

OK here's the problem: On Monday - Friday I record the PBS News Hour from 6-7 pm on 12-1 and then separately record the Nightly Business Report from 7-7:30 also on 12-1. The problem is that the first few seconds of NBR are always cut off. I have it set to record an extra minute before the start time of NBR but it isn't doing that. My guess as to the reason why is that the software is using the same tuner for both News Hour and NBR. Is there any way to force the software to use Tuner 1 for News Hour and Tuner 2 for NBR? That way I could record both programs in their entirety, i.e. get Tuner 2 to start one minute before NBR officially starts. No other shows on other channels are being recorded during the times in question. Thanks for any suggestions.

[Fuzzy]

It is probably ignoring the padding because they are back-to-back recordings on the same channel. there's an option in, I think, the detailed setup -> customize section, called 'Remove Padding on Back to Back favorites'. Make sure that options is turned off (disabled).

[notverysage]

Thank you! I found it where you said and it does mention that with this enabled it will use only one tuner which is not what I want.

[RonBoyd]

Originally Posted by notverysage

Thank you! I found it where you said and it does mention that with this enabled it will use only one tuner which is not what I want.

I suffer from the same irritating behavior and my system has four tuners to choose from. I will try this solution but I (too?) am skeptical.

[Fuzzy]

No reason to be skeptical, that's exactly what that option does.

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by notverysage

Thank you! I found it where you said and it does mention that with this enabled it will use only one tuner which is not what I want.

Actually, it does not mean that. Sometimes Sage will use different tuners to record back to back favorites on the same channel. However, it doesn't matter if it uses the same tuner or a different one; if remove padding on back to back favorites is enabled, Sage will ignore the padding and start/stop the recordings at the times listed in the EPG, so you may miss a couple of seconds during the transition.

If you do not let Sage remove padding on back to back favorites, you may end up with more recording conflicts or at times you may find that Sage records one show with 2 minutes of padding included and another show will end up missing its first 2 minutes. So you have to be careful about doing this unless you have a lot of tuners (or don't record many shows).

[RonBoyd]

Originally Posted by Tiki

Actually, it does not mean that. Sometimes Sage will use different tuners to record back to back favorites on the same channel. However, it doesn't matter if it uses the same tuner or a different one; if remove padding on back to back favorites is enabled, Sage will ignore the padding and start/stop the recordings at the times listed in the EPG, so you may miss a couple of seconds during the transition.

If you do not let Sage remove padding on back to back favorites, you may end up with more recording conflicts or at times you may find that Sage records one show with 2 minutes of padding included and another show will end up missing its first 2 minutes. So you have to be careful about doing this unless you have a lot of tuners (or don't record many shows).

Okay. I am really confused. I, currently, have the "padding" option "On." I have 2) SiliconDust Dual Tuners (four tuners). When I record, for instance, two shows on the same OTA channel (ending the first 4 minutes after the hour and starting the second show 4 minutes before the hour), I get a variety of results -- among them: 1) the first show cuts off on the hour, 2) the second show has the first 4 minutes on the first show's recording only, 3) they both start/end on the hour -- clipping both.

I guess, I am looking for the answer to the OP's question: How can I select the Tuner?... or barring that, how can I make the recordings start/end at the times I select... even if received via the same tuner?

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by RonBoyd

I, currently, have the "padding" option "On."

If you're talking about "Remove padding on back to back Favorites'", the possible choices are Yes and No. You want it set to No to keep your four-minute padding in all cases (even if that causes a conflict due to tuner shortage).

There is no option to keep padding on back-to-back recordings using only one tuner. If padding causes two recordings to overlap, Sage will need two tuners to record them both (unless you turn on the option to remove padding in that case).

[RonBoyd]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

If you're talking about "Remove padding on back to back Favorites'", the possible choices are Yes and No. You want it set to No to keep your four-minute padding in all cases (even if that causes a conflict due to tuner shortage).

There is no option to keep padding on back-to-back recordings using only one tuner. If padding causes two recordings to overlap, Sage will need two tuners to record them both (unless you turn on the option to remove padding in that case).

Yes, that is what I meant (The option is set to "Yes" -- I was lazy and went from memory.) I will set it to "No" and hold my breath.

Just to confirm -- my having four tuners should be adequate right? Or is that two too many?

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by RonBoyd

Yes, that is what I meant (The option is set to "Yes" -- I was lazy and went from memory.) I will set it to "No" and hold my breath.

Just to confirm -- my having four tuners should be adequate right? Or is that two too many?

would just depend on hoe many simultaneous programs you want to record at a time (including padding overlaps).

[RonBoyd]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

would just depend on hoe many simultaneous programs you want to record at a time (including padding overlaps).

We have been speaking of recording only two shows but, yes, I have taken it to the limit. Nevertheless, those (few) times are not at issue here.

I will report back on how things go... it will take several days to get a true sense of what takes place.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by RonBoyd

I will report back on how things go... it will take several days to get a true sense of what takes place.

It shouldn't take much waiting, you should be able to get a sense for what will occur by looking at the Parallel Recording Schedule.

[notverysage]

Thanks Fuzzy! I've been playing around with the padding on back to back recordings and looking at the effects on the parallel schedule. News Hour is on 6-7 pm followed by NBR from 7-7:30, both on channel 12-1. With News Hour scheduled to start one minute early and end two minutes early and NBR scheduled to start one minute early, everything on the parallel schedule occurs on one tuner. When I change the News Hour to end on time, everything else the same, the two programs are scheduled on different tuners. So it appears to be working just as you said. Hopefully this solves my last little impediment to recording nirvana.

The only time this setup is going to cause conflicts is when another program is scheduled to record at the same time as one of the back to back recordings and this isn't going to happen very often. And when it does I also have a dual tuner DTVPal DVR I can use to pick up the conflicting show. So it looks like I'm good to go.

[notverysage]

It works! It works! It works! Padding of one minute before start of NBR tonight is there so now I can go back 10 or 20 seconds to watch beginning of program. Thanks to all.