Recording options –A little confusing

[FreeBSD4me]

Hi all.

I’m trying to setup a Monday to Friday recording schedule for Star Trek. It seems I cannot do this unless I go the “timed recording” route. This method is sort of lame, as it doesn’t even correctly label the shows in “Sage Recordings.” Instead, all you get is a weird ‘timed recording’ label. Not sure what good that is, as imagine using this to record several shows? All you’d see is a sloppy mess of ‘timed recordings’ appearing down the list with no way to see what it is you’ve recorded.

Favorites is not possible right now, as I do not have my USB UIRT yet –I’m setting a Monday to Friday schedule on the Sat box, and want STV to follow it. If you do use favorites, it “does” allow you to select the days to record, however looks like it will record all occurrences of the program on the specified channel. I can’t possibly set the Sat box to record all occurrences, as this means STV would be recording all sorts of stuff I don’t’ want –I can’t limit it to 4:00 to 5:00 PM Monday to Friday.

Am I missing something here, or should it be this difficult to set a Monday to Friday recording? Again, “timed recording” seems like the only way to go, but it fails to label the shows with anything meaningful. Right now, I have to set these manually each day from the channel guide.

Many thanks,

Dave H

[nielm]

Originally Posted by FreeBSD4me

–I can’t limit it to 4:00 to 5:00 PM Monday to Friday.

You can in my or mlbdude's STVs (favourite options->Timeslot)

[FreeBSD4me]

So, it looks like after all of the above and beyond recording enhancements STV offers, they fail to provide a simple means to record daily shows, (on one channel; in one time slot), or you must use that ‘timed recording’ thing, or as the above option suggests, edit program files? That’s BRUTAL….

This has to be an oversight on behalf of STV. I mean.. I can’t see them failing to do this intentionally, and since this basic function was native to the first generation of VCR’s. Hey Nielm, I’m not directing this commentary at you –just thinking aloud here I happen to stumble into some recent discussions, which appear to have a few people totally baffled over the same thing.

Oh well.. Hopefully Sage will correct this in a future version. Then again, maybe it’s not possible for some technical reason I’m missing here, but man.. I can’t see manually editing that file for several Monday to Friday recordings, which change frequently. I honestly can't imagine explaining this to my wife

Thanks,

Dave

[mlbdude]

When users generally say "STV" they mean a custom UI for SageTV. What nielm was suggesting is that you go and try one of them since most of them added this ability. It is possible to do in Sage, but for simplicity reasons they left it out of the current UI for SageTV.

[FreeBSD4me]

Thanks for correcting me on that –now I understand the difference in terminologies

I’m using the malore version. I think from the reading I’ve done here, his has this functionality built into it. But I’m still a little lost here. Once I enable this, does a daily recording feature appear in my menu somewhere, or must each individual recording entry be inserted into the file? I’ve seen several sporadic mentions of this method, but they don’t really go into detail about how it works.

Thanks,

Dave

[mlbdude]

Not sure if Malore has it or not. It is a property of a Favorite. It will allow you to specify a Timeslot. It won't let you limit the days but it will allow you to tell it to only record the 4:00 - 5:00 airing. Not sure if that will solve your problem completely.

[FreeBSD4me]

I think that solves part of it, except I think what you’re saying is that it will continue to record those time slots, even outside of the Monday to Friday schedule. I know this may sound like a silly question, but would it be that difficult for someone to hack this option into the recording options menu? In this case, selecting ‘recording options’ would now display the ‘additional option’ of assigning the days of week/ time slot to record. This would simply the task considerably. Yeah, this is the wrong forum to make requests, but I couldn’t help ending off my blurb like this

Thanks mlbdude,

Dave

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by FreeBSD4me

I think that solves part of it, except I think what you’re saying is that it will continue to record those time slots, even outside of the Monday to Friday schedule.

Only if the Favorite happens to air in that time slot on Saturday or Sunday. Remember -- this is a setting for a Favorite, so it doesn't _always_ record that timeslot; it only records the favorite if its airing happens to fall into the specified time slot.

- Andy

[FreeBSD4me]

I think I’ll continue to enter in my daily recordings manually until hopefully, an easier means to accomplish this comes about. I really can’t complain much about the product, as it’s truly opened an entirely new dimension of entertainment, and even after 6-weeks, the novelty is till going strong I’m sure, or at least hope someone adds this small addition sometime in the near future, as I'm certain it's something that many would use.

Thanks,

Dave

[Opus4]

Don't forget that this problem is occurring because of a non-optimal use of SageTV, where you are essentially trying to use it w/o its EPG and setting up timed recordings as if it were a 'dumb' VCR with no knowloedge or control of what it is actually recording. Once you've got the USB-UIRT to control the converter box, I think your issue pretty much goes away, since SageTV will be able to change the STB to the appropriate channel at the correct times.

- Andy

[FreeBSD4me]

That’s what I’m not sure of. It seems that available recording options does not really accommodate that type of functionality. When you opt to record from ‘Live TV’ you get some additional recording options. This is where the daily option should be. Now you have favorites, and it almost works, but not quite. Favorites more or less assumes you want to record every show of the desired choice.

Granted, you can limit it to one channel, but still.. It now attempts to record ‘every’ instance of that show –not good. Then you have “create timed recordings”, and I’ve yet to see the usefulness of this feature. Sure, it does exactly what it says, but fails to insert the appropriate information into the Sage recorded shows list.

As a result, now you have a mess of “timed recording” labels appearing down the list with no mention of what it was that was recorded. This would actually work “IF” it had ability to grab the show information and correctly insert it into the list. Without this, the ‘timed recording’ considerably undermines the best features of the “Recorded Shows” interface, which is a nice meaningful listing of what you’ve recorded. Hmm.

Many thanks,

Dave

[mlbdude]

Can I ask just for curiosity, if it did record on Sat and Sunday too because Star Trek is airing, what is wrong with getting 7 episodes a week?

I know what you are saying, but having used this stuff for years I have not seen that kind of feature for awhile. SageRecorder does it I think.

[salsbst]

Dave, I think you have laid out a feature that is not in SageTV, no argument there.

But I do think the feature is not terribly useful. Given the ability to record only new episode or only reruns and the ability to set a single timeslot and channel, and the ability to prioritize favorites, I have all the control I need over my favorites recordings.

Is it possible that the problem here is due to the fact that SageTV is unable to control your cable box because you haven't got an IR transmitter yet?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by FreeBSD4me

Now you have favorites, and it almost works, but not quite. Favorites more or less assumes you want to record every show of the desired choice.

I do want every airing... that's why I mark the show as a favorite.

Granted, you can limit it to one channel, but still.. It now attempts to record ‘every’ instance of that show –not good. Then you have “create timed recordings”, and I’ve yet to see the usefulness of this feature.

As a result, now you have a mess of “timed recording” labels appearing down the list with no mention of what it was that was recorded.

I'm not really sure whether you've understood all the above suggestions to use the "TimeSlot" feature. TimeSlot is a function of a Favorite, not a Timed Recording. It is not available in the standard STV that Frey provides when you install SageTV. Currently, it is only available in some of the custom STVs: mlbdude2, MalDude, and nielm; not sure about others. Using one of those STVs, you would go to the Favorites Manager and select your Favorite to get to the Favorite Details menu. From there, you would select the Time Slot option to tell SageTv what 1-hour time slot is allowed to be used to record that favorite. You will end up with recordings with the proper name & description in your list of SageTV Recordings and it will only record that favorite if it airs sometime during that 1-hour time slot.

The only thing is doesn't do is allow you to limit that time slot to specific days of the week, months of the year, or years that are divisible by 4. Who knows, if you file a suggestion to Frey that they consider allowing limiting a favorite to specific days, _maybe_ it will get implemented. I doubt they will bother with being able to choose months or years, though.

Then, once you make that time slot setting, you cna go back to use any other STV & the favorite will continue to use the tie slot option as set.

- Andy

[FreeBSD4me]

Originally Posted by salsbst

Dave, I think you have laid out a feature that is not in SageTV, no argument there.

But I do think the feature is not terribly useful. Given the ability to record only new episode or only reruns and the ability to set a single timeslot and channel, and the ability to prioritize favorites, I have all the control I need over my favorites recordings.

Is it possible that the problem here is due to the fact that SageTV is unable to control your cable box because you haven't got an IR transmitter yet?

Thanks salsbst,

Yep, at this point, I set my sat box to record Start Trek for example, Monday thru Friday from 4:00 to 5:00 PM. Similar to the VCR, it allows you to check off the days you want to record, and then switches to that channel. Then in Sage, I select the show in Live TV Guide, and that’s it, now it’s synchronized. Although this is quite easy, you don't want to do it every day.

As for favorites, I agree with what you’re saying, however many discussions here have pointed out problems with it recording endless duplicates of the same show, “if” there’s no ID number with the show. That said, I will certainly try it just the same to see how it works for me, but correct.. I can’t try this until my UIRT arrives, which I hope is soon.

I’m sure all will work out. I was just a little thrown off with the idea that with all of the highly robust/ advanced scheduling options, I could not find a traditional recording feature.

Dave

[FreeBSD4me]

Originally Posted by Opus4

I do want every airing... that's why I mark the show as a favorite.

I'm not really sure whether you've understood all the above suggestions to use the "TimeSlot" feature. TimeSlot is a function of a Favorite, not a Timed Recording. It is not available in the standard STV that Frey provides when you install SageTV. Currently, it is only available in some of the custom STVs: mlbdude2, MalDude, and nielm; not sure about others. Using one of those STVs, you would go to the Favorites Manager and select your Favorite to get to the Favorite Details menu. From there, you would select the Time Slot option to tell SageTv what 1-hour time slot is allowed to be used to record that favorite. You will end up with recordings with the proper name & description in your list of SageTV Recordings and it will only record that favorite if it airs sometime during that 1-hour time slot.

The only thing is doesn't do is allow you to limit that time slot to specific days of the week, months of the year, or years that are divisible by 4. Who knows, if you file a suggestion to Frey that they consider allowing limiting a favorite to specific days, _maybe_ it will get implemented. I doubt they will bother with being able to choose months or years, though.

Then, once you make that time slot setting, you cna go back to use any other STV & the favorite will continue to use the tie slot option as set.

- Andy

Ok, I gotcha.

I went to Favorites, and no.. That option does not exist, or am I supposed to enable it somehow? I’m using Malore’s STV, so maybe it’s not present in his version? I don’t really want to start messing with that, as it part of the com-skip feature. I noticed you didn’t mention Malore’s as one of the STV’s with the time slot option, so I can confirm then that it’s not present in my config? Is there some other way to add this without really messing something up, or is the only option to change STV’s?

Thanks,

Dave

[mls]

Although this isn't the right place for a feature request, the comment about "traditional recording feature" made me think of something else also.

Would be nice if there were some easy way to pick/switch one tuner card to either composite or S-video in to do a recording from an external source occasionally. Would make it a lot easier to get say a camcorder video of the kids birthday or whatever directly in SageTV without having to use outside software. Could be hidden in one of the lesser used menues like Schedul Recordings maybe.

Just a passing thought.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by FreeBSD4me

That option does not exist, or am I supposed to enable it somehow? I’m using Malore’s STV, so maybe it’s not present in his version? I don’t really want to start messing with that, as it part of the com-skip feature. I noticed you didn’t mention Malore’s as one of the STV’s with the time slot option, so I can confirm then that it’s not present in my config? Is there some other way to add this without really messing something up, or is the only option to change STV’s?

You have to change to an STV that has the TimeSlot feature enabled. Once you make the setting, you can switch back to your preferred STV, as I mentioned above.

- Andy

[FreeBSD4me]

Originally Posted by mls

Although this isn't the right place for a feature request, the comment about "traditional recording feature" made me think of something else also.

Would be nice if there were some easy way to pick/switch one tuner card to either composite or S-video in to do a recording from an external source occasionally. Would make it a lot easier to get say a camcorder video of the kids birthday or whatever directly in SageTV without having to use outside software. Could be hidden in one of the lesser used menues like Schedul Recordings maybe.

Just a passing thought.

Funny you should mention that, as I was wondering how to get Sage to switch to a direct source, i.e., the camcorder. I can easily do this from the Hauppauge default software, but it dosen't look like Sage is really setup for recording home movies.

Dave

[FreeBSD4me]

As promised, I said I would get back to this once I had my UIRT installed. Well.. I installed mlbdude and found the time slot recording option for scheduling daily programs. It’s only for 1-hour slots, you can’t do 30-minute slots. That seems to address that problem to some degree.

The only thing still confusing me is how to schedule a weekly recording “without” using that ‘timed recording’ thing, which fails to display whatever it recorded –still not sure of what use this feature would be to anyone, unless you want a bunch of “timed recording’ messages appearing in your Recorded Shows library.

At this point, I need to download 13-days of EPG data, and manually select the weekly shows I want to watch in advance. Using the favorites feature is not viable, since it wants to record everything, and I don’t want the drive packed up with a bunch of reruns. I still love Sage to death, however am a little disappointed at the amount of messing about that is necessary to schedule a basic daily or weekly time slot.

Anyway, if there something I’m missing here, by all means, I’m all ears, otherwise thanks to all that provided help here

Dave