Automatic soft padding running on the TiVo (new version)

[Pete77]

Moved to Channel Five IIRC.

They merely restarted showing it from the first episode and then gave up when they didn't get the ratings figures as far as I can recall.

I can't be too sure as in those days we couldn't get Channel 5 here anyway.

[Pete77]

692 episodes to watch. Liable to keep anyone quiet for a while :eek: :D :D

http://www.43things.com/things/view/230011

Well Thames only showed it at one episode a week and then missed the odd week for Christmas or some boring special program or other. Also they had "seasons" of it and took it off air completely for several months sometimes.

I think I watched it with them for may be 7 or 8 years so I don't know how far away we were from episode 692 by the time it went off air.

[Pete77]

I have a wishlist for this

I knew there were some matters in life where you and I would turn out to share the same point of view. ;) :p :up:

The extreme characterisations in this program were just so addictive somehow. Of course I'm sure it helped that it was set in Australia. If it had been set in a UK women's prison I doubt I would ever have watched it.

[Pete77]

Moved to Channel Five IIRC .

There's a 172-disk boxed set coming out on DVD later this year should you run out of things to watch!

What you mean it wouldn't have been able to fit even on to my 613 hours of Basic recording capacity! :eek:

2TB Hitachi hard drive Tivo here I come. ;) :D

[Raisltin Majere]

I knew there were some matters in life where you and I would turn out to share the same point of view. ;) :p :up:


'sokay, I've booked counselling sessions :p

The extreme characterisations in this program were just so addictive somehow. Of course I'm sure it helped that it was set in Australia. If it had been set in a UK women's prison I doubt I would ever have watched it.

I watched Bad Girls, but it was never as good

[Raisltin Majere]

Moved to Channel Five IIRC .

There's a 172-disk boxed set coming out on DVD later this year should you run out of things to watch!

I think they've started releasing them already in Australia - not available anywhere else last time I looked, I can't find my source though.

ETA

43 volumes of 4 DVD's each, first few available now. Complete box set august/september this year

http://fulfillment.com.au/prisoner/index.html

[Pete77]

43 volumes of 4 DVD's each, first few available now. Complete box set august/september this year]

And how much for that little lot? Has to surely be at least £100 if not £200 or £300 for the lot, bearing in mind how many episodes and DVDs are involved.

I should have thought they would be better of waiting until Blue-Ray or HD-DVD players are in wider spread circulation and then releasing it in SD on say only 10 disks on one of those two mediums.

Or once broadband tv is in widespread use there will no longer be any need for the DVDs and they can simply charge per episode viewed. Of course with this many episodes this might prove to be a more expensive method of viewing than the full DVD set.

[TCM2007]

I should have thought they would be better of waiting until Blue-Ray or HD-DVD players are in wider spread circulation and then releasing it in SD on say only 10 disks on one of those two mediums.


Less than 10p a DVD to have them duplicated now, so no saving.

[RichardJH]

Pete have you seen this site http://www.prisoner-cellblockh.co.uk/

[ericd121]

[Edit] Realised my post was off-topic.

[riw20]

Is it possible to install Endpad without having Tivoweb or a cachecard? I have just done my first tivo surgery (replacing dead original HDD with new 300GB HDD) and might be getting the bug. However the Tivo is flipping miles from my PC and the cabling would be a nightmare. I'meven dubious whether I'd even get there with a wireless bridge, so seems a bit pointless to buy a cachecard just for installing hacks.

[AMc]

Yes it is I described how to do it in this post...you'll need to remove the drive again
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4733241&&#post4733241
Feel free to point out any ommissions, corrections or bits that are confusing.

If you have a PC with a serial port then you may want to explore enabling serial access on the Tivo and getting a lead made up so you can fiddle with Tivo without pulling it to bits.

AMc

[Pete77]

I'meven dubious whether I'd even get there with a wireless bridge, so seems a bit pointless to buy a cachecard just for installing hacks.
You can instead network the Tivo to your router or PC through ethernet adapters that work over your existing mains power supply as the cabling. These are a lot simpler and more reliable than any long distance wireless connection.

[riw20]

Thanks AMc and Pete77. Will try without Cachecard and see how we go! Powerline idea is a good one to fall back on.

Richard

[Pete77]

Thanks AMc and Pete77. Will try without Cachecard and see how we go! Powerline idea is a good one to fall back on.

Powerline idea relies on also having a network card in the Tivo.

AmC's suggestion does in theory let you install Endpad without a Cachecard though.

[SJC]

"To start EndPad every time the TiVo starts up, add the following line to /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.author"
When I FTP into Tivo I find that the /etc directory is empty, how therefore do I modify the sysinit.author?
I can remember editing this when I had the Tivo drive in my PC during upgrade but I don't know how to re-access it now.
All tips welcome.

[atari_addict]

"To start EndPad every time the TiVo starts up, add the following line to /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.author"
When I FTP into Tivo I find that the /etc directory is empty, how therefore do I modify the sysinit.author?

You need the top level /etc directory, not the one in /var (which is empty on mine also).

[Duncan]

Endpad has started doing something weird on our Tivo: it isn't adding any padding to the end of programs, and seems to be cancelling some recordings. I tried stopping and restarting endpad but that doesn't seem to have helped. As you can see from the log pasted below, it seems to think it is constantly recording a suggestion when it isn't. The last log entry 4 minutes before the start of 'The amazing race' said it had added 3 minutes padding to the start (which it shouldn't have because the previous program was still recording), but in fact 'The amazing race' didn't get recorded.

The times are all out by an hour, but I guess that is just a timezone issue.

Any suggestions?
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal..............................
Monday 16:25:00 : Woken up
Monday 16:25:00 : Recording {Seaside Rescue} on UKTVPPL (Suggestion) now
Monday 16:25:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:40
Monday 16:25:00 : Next recording is {Attenborough Explores: Our Fragile World} on UKTVDOC (Suggestion) at 17:00
Monday 16:25:00 : No end padding required:
Monday 16:25:00 : End padding of 600 seconds already set
Monday 16:25:00 : Next end padding setting due 17:55
Monday 16:25:00 : Not time to add start padding yet
Monday 16:25:00 : Next start padding setting due 16:56
Monday 16:25:00 : Next wake up will be 16:55
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal.........
Monday 16:33:00 : Stopped due to kill signal
Monday 16:39:35 :
Monday 16:39:35 : endpad.tcl 1.5.4 log file, starting up
Monday 16:39:35 : Start padding set to 180 seconds
Monday 16:39:35 : End padding set to 600 seconds
Monday 16:39:35 : Negative start padding set to 0 seconds
Monday 16:39:35 : Force Negative startpadding is 0
Monday 16:39:35 : Suggestions will be padded, even if that means cancelling a subsequent suggestion
Monday 16:39:35 : Detected TiVo software version 2.5.5-01-1-023
Monday 16:39:35 : Suggestion quality change disabled
Monday 16:39:35 : Timezone 00:00
Monday 16:39:35 : Sorted configuration options (last match used):-
Monday 16:39:35 : startpad 3 endpad 10 negpad 0 forceneg 0 maxneg -1 sugqual -1
Monday 16:39:35 : Woken up
Monday 16:39:35 : Recording {Seaside Rescue} on UKTVPPL (Suggestion) now
Monday 16:39:35 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:40
Monday 16:39:35 : Next recording is {Attenborough Explores: Our Fragile World} on UKTVDOC (Suggestion) at 17:00
Monday 16:39:35 : No end padding required:
Monday 16:39:35 : End padding of 600 seconds already set
Monday 16:39:35 : Next end padding setting due 17:55
Monday 16:39:35 : Not time to add start padding yet
Monday 16:39:35 : Next start padding setting due 16:56
Monday 16:39:35 : Next wake up will be 16:56
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal..................
Monday 16:56:00 : Woken up
Monday 16:56:00 : Recording {Seaside Rescue} on UKTVPPL (Suggestion) now
Monday 16:56:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:40
Monday 16:56:00 : Next recording is {Attenborough Explores: Our Fragile World} on UKTVDOC (Suggestion) at 17:00
Monday 16:56:00 : No end padding required:
Monday 16:56:00 : End padding of 600 seconds already set
Monday 16:56:00 : Next end padding setting due 17:55
Monday 16:56:00 : Gap to previous recording is 595200 seconds
Monday 16:56:00 : Added 180 seconds start padding to {Attenborough Explores: Our Fragile World} on UKTVDOC (Suggestion)
Monday 16:56:00 : Next start padding setting due 17:55
Monday 16:56:00 : Next wake up will be 17:26
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal...............................
Monday 17:26:00 : Woken up
Monday 17:26:00 : Recording {Seaside Rescue} on UKTVPPL (Suggestion) now
Monday 17:26:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:40
Monday 17:26:00 : Next recording is {Nigella Express} on BBC2 at 19:30
Monday 17:26:00 : No end padding required:
Monday 17:26:00 : End padding of 600 seconds already set
Monday 17:26:00 : Next end padding setting due 19:55
Monday 17:26:00 : Not time to add start padding yet
Monday 17:26:00 : Next start padding setting due 19:26
Monday 17:26:01 : Next wake up will be 17:56
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal...............................
Monday 17:56:00 : Woken up
Monday 17:56:00 : Recording {Seaside Rescue} on UKTVPPL (Suggestion) now
Monday 17:56:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:40
Monday 17:56:00 : Next recording is {Envie(s) de voir} on TV5EU (Suggestion) at 18:25
Monday 17:56:00 : No end padding required:
Monday 17:56:00 : End padding of 600 seconds already set
Monday 17:56:00 : Next end padding setting due 18:26
Monday 17:56:00 : Not time to add start padding yet
Monday 17:56:00 : Next start padding setting due 18:21
Monday 17:56:00 : Next wake up will be 18:21
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal..........................
Monday 18:21:00 : Woken up
Monday 18:21:00 : Recording {Seaside Rescue} on UKTVPPL (Suggestion) now
Monday 18:21:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:40
Monday 18:21:00 : Next recording is {Envie(s) de voir} on TV5EU (Suggestion) at 18:25
Monday 18:21:00 : No end padding required:
Monday 18:21:00 : End padding of 600 seconds already set
Monday 18:21:00 : Next end padding setting due 18:26
Monday 18:21:00 : Gap to previous recording is 600300 seconds
Monday 18:21:00 : Added 180 seconds start padding to {Envie(s) de voir} on TV5EU (Suggestion)
Monday 18:21:00 : Next start padding setting due 18:26
Monday 18:21:00 : Next wake up will be 18:26
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal......
Monday 18:26:00 : Woken up
Monday 18:26:00 : Recording {Seaside Rescue} on UKTVPPL (Suggestion) now
Monday 18:26:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:40
Monday 18:26:00 : Next recording is {Nigella Express} on BBC2 at 19:30
Monday 18:26:00 : No end padding required:
Monday 18:26:00 : End padding of 600 seconds already set
Monday 18:26:00 : Next end padding setting due 19:55
Monday 18:26:00 : Not time to add start padding yet
Monday 18:26:00 : Next start padding setting due 19:26
Monday 18:26:00 : Next wake up will be 18:56
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal...............................
Monday 18:56:00 : Woken up
Monday 18:56:00 : Recording {Seaside Rescue} on UKTVPPL (Suggestion) now
Monday 18:56:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:40
Monday 18:56:00 : Next recording is {Nigella Express} on BBC2 at 19:30
Monday 18:56:00 : No end padding required:
Monday 18:56:00 : End padding of 600 seconds already set
Monday 18:56:00 : Next end padding setting due 19:55
Monday 18:56:00 : Not time to add start padding yet
Monday 18:56:00 : Next start padding setting due 19:26
Monday 18:56:00 : Next wake up will be 19:26
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal...............................
Monday 19:26:00 : Woken up
Monday 19:26:00 : Recording {Seaside Rescue} on UKTVPPL (Suggestion) now
Monday 19:26:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:40
Monday 19:26:00 : Next recording is {Nigella Express} on BBC2 at 19:30
Monday 19:26:00 : No end padding required:
Monday 19:26:00 : End padding of 600 seconds already set
Monday 19:26:00 : Next end padding setting due 19:55
Monday 19:26:00 : Gap to previous recording is 604200 seconds
Monday 19:26:00 : Added 180 seconds start padding to {Nigella Express} on BBC2
Monday 19:26:00 : Next start padding setting due 19:55
Monday 19:26:00 : Next wake up will be 19:55
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal..............................
Monday 19:55:00 : Woken up
Monday 19:55:00 : Recording {Seaside Rescue} on UKTVPPL (Suggestion) now
Monday 19:55:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:40
Monday 19:55:00 : Next recording is {The Amazing Race} on LIVIN2 at 20:00
Monday 19:55:00 : No end padding required:
Monday 19:55:00 : End padding of 600 seconds already set
Monday 19:55:00 : Next end padding setting due 20:55
Monday 19:55:00 : Not time to add start padding yet
Monday 19:55:00 : Next start padding setting due 19:56
Monday 19:55:00 : Next wake up will be 19:56
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal..
Monday 19:56:00 : Woken up
Monday 19:56:00 : Recording {Seaside Rescue} on UKTVPPL (Suggestion) now
Monday 19:56:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:40
Monday 19:56:00 : Next recording is {The Amazing Race} on LIVIN2 at 20:00
Monday 19:56:00 : No end padding required:
Monday 19:56:00 : End padding of 600 seconds already set
Monday 19:56:00 : Next end padding setting due 20:55
Monday 19:56:00 : Gap to previous recording is 606000 seconds
Monday 19:56:00 : Added 180 seconds start padding to {The Amazing Race} on LIVIN2
Monday 19:56:00 : Next start padding setting due 20:55
Monday 19:56:00 : Next wake up will be 20:26
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal...............................

[TCM2007]

Endpad thinks it's recording that suggestion because that's what the database it telling it is going on. So it sounds as if the database is screwed up. Tried a restart?

[cwaring]

There's nine pages here and I don't have time to wade through them all :(

I'm recording some old episodes of something back-to-back this afternoon (same channel) and would like each recording to start, say, 1 minute early; ie cut off the previous ep by 1 minute.

Can EndPad handle this and how?
Would this work:

programme Buffy endpad -1

Thanks.

ETA: Ahh! After reading a few more posts, it looks like this can't be done :( Oh well!

[jed]

5 - Make some directories to reference the copy of endpad and the tivo partitions...
mkdir /mnt/dos
mkdir /mnt4
mkdir /mnt7
mkdir /mnt9


7 - Mount the Tivo partitions to /mntn...
First the operating system partitions(hdc refers to the Secondary Master, 4 refers to the fourth partion and 7 the seventh)
mount /dev/hdc4 /mnt4
mount /dev/hdc7 /mnt7
(My attempt to mount 7 failed with "Must specify filesystem" probably due to the Tivo upgrade. That meant I only needed to make changes on partitions 4 and 9.)


8 - Mount partition 9 or /var
(hdc refers to the Secondary Master, 9 refers to the ninth partion)
mount /dev/hdc9 /mnt9

10 - Move to the start up folder on partition 4
cd /mnt4/etc/rc.d

12 - Add the endpad start up line
Your endpad settings may vary from mine check the settings with endpad for configuration options.
#!/bin/bash
/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 1 -e 6 -sugqual 75 -sugeq -auto >> /dev/null &

15 (Optional) - If you have a 7 partion you need to repeat steps 10-14 on the other opertating system partition. The only difference will be when you move to the start up folder on partition 7 you use the mnt7 directory
cd /mnt7/etc/rc.d


16 - Change to the /var partion on 9
cd /mnt9



With reference to the above I'm having problems.
I can see a /mnt4/etc/rc4.d however can't see a /mnt7/etc/rc4.d
also I'm not convinced /mnt9 is where /var lives
If I page back up through the linux boot I can see
hdb1 has Bootstrap1
hdb4 has Bootstrap 2
hdb7 has Linux swap
hdb8 has /var
hdb9 has MFS appl region

So I had thought rather than use /mnt4 and /mnt7 I should use /mnt4 and /mnt1 however an ls on /mnt1 suggests it is empty!
I assume since this is a recently restored drive there is no backup (which would be on /mnt1?) Does this mean I only do this on /mnt4 and then use /mnt8 for my /var - although if I try this /mnt8 can't be changed to as it appears to be swapspace, so maybe it is 9?!

Thanks,
Jed

[AMc]

Hi Jed,

As I said in the original post...
I referenced most stuff from http://tivo.stevejenkins.com/network_cd.html I would read the whole page before you start so you get an idea about what you're doing and how the Tivo file system works, it may even encourage you to fit a network card.
This is the section on mounting the filesystem
http://tivo.stevejenkins.com/network_cd.html#_Toc101001756

My understanding doesn't go much beyond that I'm afraid. As far as I can tell the active and inactive operating systems are always on 4 and 7 and var is on 9 but I'm no expert.

My initial thought is that may be you've restored a virgin image and until this is initialised in Tivo as part of guided setup it isn't set up how that guide suggests?

I assume you've restored a version of 2.5.5 from the thread here?
Have you run guided setup since you did that?

[Gavin]

Hi, My Endpads not starting from the sysinit.author file.

The line is

/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 3 -e 5 -auto >> /dev/null &

but it's not starting, is there a problem using the -s and -e strings in the .author file? I have tivoweb in the same file so I know it's being read OK. Taking the main part of the string and removing the -auto and >> part it starts OK, so any suggestions greatfully recieved

[Ian_m]

Hi, My Endpads npot starting from the sysinit.author file.

/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 3 -e 5 -auto >> /dev/null &



Double > issue.

My rc.sysinit.author.edit contains.

/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 1 -e 5 -auto > /dev/null 2>&1 &

Could I suggest you use TiVoWeb startup editor as editing rc.sysinit driect is very dangerous :eek:

[Tim L]

Double > issue.

My rc.sysinit.author.edit contains.

/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 1 -e 5 -auto > /dev/null 2>&1 &

Could I suggest you use TiVoWeb startup editor as editing rc.sysinit driect is very dangerous :eek:

The readme for endpad uses >> in its example. What does that bit do anyway?

Also, what's the tivoweb startup editor?

You've got me worried now, because I added endpad to my rc.sysinit.author last night.

[Gavin]

Double > issue.

My rc.sysinit.author.edit contains.

/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 1 -e 5 -auto > /dev/null 2>&1 &

Could I suggest you use TiVoWeb startup editor as editing rc.sysinit driect is very dangerous :eek:

it's on the .author exactly so I don't have to go near the .sysinit

I'm not that brave, or Unix literate, I just copied it from the example.. :)

[Tim L]

The readme for endpad uses >> in its example. What does that bit do anyway?

Also, what's the tivoweb startup editor?

You've got me worried now, because I added endpad to my rc.sysinit.author last night.

Can anyone help me out with these please?

[whitebj]

Hesitate to offer my views given the much greater expertise of others ...

(caveat: this is how I have it working which seems to be OK for me)

Sanderton's startup editor is a less risky way of editing a file that can be run as part of the Tivo startup. The editor is an extra module for TivoWeb and enables editing using a browser so you don't need to keep transferring files to/from the Tivo using FTP. It also mitigates the issue of some text editors not editing unix-type text files 'properly'.

Here's a link to a thread about this (there may be other threads):
http://archive2.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=146542

(Unfortunately, when threads get archived, they're a bit hard to find from the TivoCommunity search button but thankfully, the admins let Google index the archives so you can search through Google.)

Here is the contents of my extra startup file that I can see using the startup editor

#!/bin/bash
/var/hack/tivoweb-tcl/tivoweb >> /dev/null &
/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 2 -e 5 -auto >> /dev/null &

As I understand it, the >> /dev/null & bit means that the messages generated when the two items of software run (which would have gone to e.g. a Telnet window) are "thrown away". The reason is that, once you know it's working OK, you don't need to see the messages any more. The ampersand is so that the software runs in the background.

Hope this helps

[atari_addict]

Can anyone help me out with these please?

I am not an expert, but I would expect this to be true:

>> Send the output of the command to the specified device - in this case to nothing (device null). I suspect the single > you mentioned is a typo.

[verses]

When you run a command in Linux, "date" for example, its output is sent to the terminal that you ran it from. If you are using Windows telnet in a DOS box the output will be displayed in that window, below where you ran the command.

If you wanted the output in a file instead you can run "date > myfile".
If you reran the above, the file "myfile" would be overwritten with the new output of the "date" command.

If you wanted the output to append to the original file rather than overwriting it you can use the double greater-than, "date >> myfile". Now each time you run the command, the output of "date" will be appended to the file "myfile" and the file will get larger each time the command is run.

Linux has some "special" files, one of which is "/dev/null". Redirecting the output of an application to that basically just throws the output away. This is very useful when running commands at startup so that their output isn't accidentally being stored in memory with the potential to cause problems once too much output has built up.

The upshot of this is using ">" or using ">>" should have little impact on what you're attempting to do. Incidentally I'm just using the single ">".

Hope that helps.

Cheers.

Ian

PS: I hope "date" is part of the standard TiVo command-set :)

[Pete77]

Can anyone help me out with these please?

You can edit what will then become the rc.sysinit.author.edit file far more easily by using Sanderton's Startup Editor. I have just added this module to the list of Tivoweb modules found at the Wikipedia Tivoweb modules page(unaccountably it was not listed previously) including full installation instructions at:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tivoweb

Once you have this module installed you need to make sure every line in the file apart from the top line (#!/bin/bash) ends with the following string:-

>>/dev/null 2>&1 &

So for instance my Startup file looks like this

#!/bin/bash
/var/hack/setpri ts 0 $$ >>/dev/null 2>&1 &
/var/hack/autospace.tcl start >>/dev/null 2>&1 &
/var/hack/tivoweb-tcl/tivoweb >>/dev/null 2>&1 &
#/var/hack/TivoWebPlus/tivoweb >>/dev/null 2>&1 &
/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 2 -e 4 -sugqual 0 -sugeq -auto >>/dev/null 2>&1 &
#/var/hack/tserver >> /dev/null 2>&1 &
/var/hack/bin/cron >>/dev/null 2>&1 &
/var/hack/setrgb.sh >>/dev/null 2>&1 &
/var/hack/sortnp.tcl >>/dev/null 2>&1 &

Hopefully this should sort things out for you.

[TCM2007]

One word of warning about the Startup Editor script; because it allows you to enter a set of bash commands to be run when the TiVo boots, it's a bit of a security hole if your TiVo is exposed to the internet. Theoretically a Bad Person could key in a set of commands to install and run software on your TiVo.

While I doubt there is much real risk, at the very least you should make sure you have a password on TW before using.

[verses]

/var/hack/tivoweb-tcl/tivoweb >>/dev/null 2>&1 &
var/hack/TivoWebPlus/tivoweb >>/dev/null 2>&1 &


Pete, you appear to be launching both TivoWeb and TivoWebPlus, is this intentional? If so you appear to be missing the leading "/" from the TivoWebPlus line.
If not you should comment one line out with a "#"

Cheers,

Ian

[Pete77]

Pete, you appear to be launching both TivoWeb and TivoWebPlus, is this intentional? If so you appear to be missing the leading "/" from the TivoWebPlus line.
If not you should comment one line out with a "#"

That was an accidental error that I noticed just after I read the post I made in this forum listing my rc.sysinit.author.edit file's contents. The line should have been deactivated with a # but in editing the file at some point in the past I had clearly messed this up. However due to missing the leading / it fortunately still wasn't running.

You can actually run Tivoweb and Tivowebplus at the same time on the Tivo but it takes up a lot of memory and makes it more unstable and likely to reboot. It is better to change between them using the Hackman module to close one down and start the other one up as I'm sure you are aware.

There is also a Startup Editor utility in Hackman but I still find Sanderton's Starup Editor module a simpler and more reliable way of editing this file.

[Tim L]

Excellent - thanks folks!

I've got a few more questions though:

>>/dev/null 2>&1 &

What's the 2>&1 bit for?

More generally speaking, I'm just editing rc.sysinit.author using joe, which seems straightforward enough. Are there any dangers in this approach, when compared with sanderton's tivoweb module? I can't see myself ever wanting to edit my startup file outside of my local network, and within it I always have access via telnet.

[Pete77]

While I doubt there is much real risk, at the very least you should make sure you have a password on TW before using.
Nearly three years and counting but yes I have always had a long user name and password for web access to Tivoweb, both of which have several numbers as well as letters.

[Pete77]

What's the 2>&1 bit for?

See www.linuxhelp.net/guides/cron/

The >> /dev/null 2>&1 part means to send any standard output to /dev/null (the linux trash can) and to redirect standard error (2) to the same place as the standard output (1). Basically it runs the command without any output to a terminal etc.

More generally speaking, I'm just editing rc.sysinit.author using joe, which seems straightforward enough. Are there any dangers in this approach, when compared with sanderton's tivoweb module?

Yes its much easier to incorrectly save a file using Joe and/or not be sure if you have saved it or not or what have you saved. If you screw up the content of rc.sysinit.author then Tivoweb won't boot any more and you will have to pull the drive to fix it.

There is also a Startup file editor in the American Hackman module (also compatible with our Tivos) for that reason.

[verses]

What's the 2>&1 bit for?

Ok, sticking with my "date" example.

When you run "date" it outputs the date and time to the console (the telnet window where the command was run); valid output such as this is known internally to Linux as "1".
If for some reason "date" wasn't able to run, it would output an error, this would also, by default, be sent to the console; error output is known internally to Linux as "2".
The ">> /dev/null" tells Linux to send the valid output ("1") of the script to "/dev/null" instead of to the console, however the outputting of errors remains unaffected.

The "2>&1" is there to tell Linux that for the command being run, its errors ("2") should be redirected to the same place as it's valid output ("1").

Cheers,

Ian

PS: The much more simple explanation from Pete's link is;
The >> /dev/null 2>&1 part means to send any standard output to /dev/null (the linux trash can) and to redirect standard error (2) to the same place as the standard output (1). Basically it runs the command without any output to a terminal etc.

[Pete77]

Ok, sticking with my "date" example.

When you run "date" it outputs the date and time to the console (the telnet window where the command was run); valid output such as this is known internally to Linux as "1".
If for some reason "date" wasn't able to run, it would output an error, this would also, by default, be sent to the console; error output is known internally to Linux as "2".
The ">> /dev/null" tells Linux to send the valid output ("1") of the script to "/dev/null" instead of to the console, however the outputting of errors remains unaffected.

The "2>&1" is there to tell Linux that for the command being run, its errors ("2") should be redirected to the same place as it's valid output ("1").

I think the explanation I found explained that in English though.;):p

[AMc]

If you screw up the content of rc.sysinit.author then Tivoweb won't boot any more and you will have to pull the drive to fix it.
My understanding was if you screw up rc.sysinit then Tivo won't boot and you'll have to pull the drive.
The whole point of rc.sysinit.author is that it is called at the very end of rc.sysinit when Tivo has booted. Unless you do something spectacularly bad that causes the whole thing to crash in seconds and reboot then you are reasonably safe in rc.sysinit.author.

...if you stuff up your Tivoweb then Tivoweb won't start anymore, but you can fix that over Telnet and FTP which are loaded by the network drivers in rc.sysinit.

[Tim L]

My understanding was if you screw up rc.sysinit then Tivo won't boot and you'll have to pull the drive.
The whole point of rc.sysinit.author is that it is called at the very end of rc.sysinit when Tivo has booted. Unless you do something spectacularly bad that causes the whole thing to crash in seconds and reboot then you are reasonably safe in rc.sysinit.author.

...if you stuff up your Tivoweb then Tivoweb won't start anymore, but you can fix that over Telnet and FTP which are loaded by the network drivers in rc.sysinit.

That's what I thought - I was under the impression that sanderton's rc.sysinit.author.edit had just as much potential to screw things up as the regular rc.sysinit.author.

See www.linuxhelp.net/guides/cron/

Thanks - that's a useful site to a non-penguin botherer like myself. ;)

he >> /dev/null 2>&1 part means to send any standard output to /dev/null (the linux trash can) and to redirect standard error (2) to the same place as the standard output (1). Basically it runs the command without any output to a terminal etc.

I gather it's a good idea to have that in all lines which run programs in rc.sysinit.author, then? What would happen if there was an error without the line being there?

[verses]

I gather it's a good idea to have that in all lines which run programs in rc.sysinit.author, then? What would happen if there was an error without the line being there?

In general yes, all lines in rc.sysinit.author should have it; I believe that some apps are written to correctly background themselves and divert their output appropriately, however there should be no harm in putting the command after them too.

The consequences of not having it are unpredictable, but ultimately it could lead to the TiVo rebooting unexpectedly. There should be no permanent damage but it helps keep to the system as stable as possible.

Cheers,

Ian

[Tim L]

Excellent, cheers. :)

[TCM2007]

That's what I thought - I was under the impression that sanderton's rc.sysinit.author.edit had just as much potential to screw things up as the regular rc.sysinit.author.

Indeed. It only removes the possibility of screwing things up by editing the file on a PC. It's to make editing easier, not safer.

Re: the error redirect, I'm not aware of any problem caused by that particularly, however not backgrounding an application will cause the script to stop and wait for the program to complete before continuing.

Most programs, like EndPad, background themselves whether you put the & there or not, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

[Ian_m]

There is similar redirection in NT/XP command language as well.

With no error redirection (assuming flibble is not a recognised command).
C:\Download\TiVo>flibble > text.out

'flibble' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Download\TiVo>type text.out

C:\Download\TiVo>

With error redirection.

C:\Download\TiVo>flibble > text.out 2>&1

C:\Download\TiVo>type text.out
'flibble' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.


Much better and sorted in MS PowerShell, just pipe (|) to out-file cmdlet, add "-options" eg charset, encodings etc and redirection all nicely done.

[petestrash]

drnull at the other place has just added a cool feature to endpadplus, which automatically adds a bookmark to the place where a show is meant to start (skipping any start padding).

I find that I am fast forwarding just about every show to get to the start, but start padding does come in handy sometimes.

So with this feature when you press play the show is already lined up at it's scheduled start time, but for the few that started early you may need to rewind a little.

I have modified the code to work with endpad.tcl, and it works for me. I have not tested it with negative endpadding, as I don't use it but would like to hear if it works.

As usual with these things no guarantees and if you break something, you own all the pieces.

Here is the diff between the current release and what has been added.
1380,1383d1379
< # Add Bookmark for this showing to start at the original time
< set nbm [db $db createsub Bookmark $rec]
< dbobj $nbm set TimeMs [expr $startpadtoset * 1000]
< dbobj $rec set Bookmark $nbm


This is what it looks like in the code.
if {$startpadtoset > 0} {
RetryTransaction {
# Alter the database record to add the padding
set db [dbopen $dbPoolSize]
set rec [db $db openid $nextrecfsid]
dbobj $rec set StartPadding $startpadtoset
# Add Bookmark for this showing to start at the original time
set nbm [db $db createsub Bookmark $rec]
dbobj $nbm set TimeMs [expr $startpadtoset * 1000]
dbobj $rec set Bookmark $nbm
dbclose $db
}
msg " Added $startpadtoset seconds start padding to $ntitle on $ncallsign $ntypestring"
} else {
log " Can't add start padding to $ntitle"
}


I have included a patched v1.5.4 endpad.tcl

Peter.

[TCM2007]

Nice one.

[cwaring]

I'm trying to put this new version onto my system and re-start the program without re-booting my Tivo.

However, I have come up against a slight problem.

Welcome to the wonderful world of TiVo hacking :)
Filesystem on / set to READONLY - type rw to make READ/WRITE
TiVo: {/var/tmp} % cd /var/hack
TiVo: {/var/hack} %
TiVo: {/var/hack} % ls
00ui.itcl endpad.config.backup npf
DEADJOE endpad.config~ npfauto
DeleteAll.tcl endpad.err osdcons
TivoWebPlus endpad.tcl scripts
UKGENRE.JS etc setpri
autospace.err favchan sortnp.tcl
autospace.err~ fixmwstate.tcl sortnp.versionlog
autospace.tcl folder-s2-p2.PNG tbin.tar
bin hackbackup tivo-bin
blocklist.txt httpd-tt.tcl tivoguy.tcl
blockpatt.txt joe tivoweb-tcl
core joe.tar tivoweb-tcl-1.9.4.tar
cron joerc tracker
cron.test.out loadlogos.tcl trackerupdate.tcl
dailymail logos tserver
deletelogos.tcl newtext2osd ukgenre.js
endpad.config newtext2osd.txt vserver
TiVo: {/var/hack} %
TiVo: {/var/hack} % endpad.tcl -stop
bash: /var/hack/endpad.tcl: No such file or directory
TiVo: {/var/hack} %
TiVo: {/var/hack} %


Why does Tivo think the file isn't there when it clearly is?

I'm assuming it will be something simple and obvious, but I'm not too good with Linux so if someone could explain using small words and visual aids. Thanks.

(and a bonus point for recognising which TV show I nicked the last part of that sentence from :D)

[petestrash]

Try this instead.

./endpad.tcl -stop


Peter.

Ps The quote was from Toby on West Wing :)

[petestrash]

I have just changed the attachment, as I had uploaded a version based on 1.5.1 not 1.5.4 by mistake.

Peter.

[cwaring]

Try this instead.

./endpad.tcl -stop
I did. Didn't help!

Ps The quote was from Toby on West Wing :)
Damn! Too easy, obviously ;):p

[TCM2007]

Why does Tivo think the file isn't there when it clearly is?



It's probably that endpad.tcl is generating a "file not found" error when it runs. The file that isn't found isn't endpad.tcl, but whatever file endpad.tcl was looking for.

Usual reason is the TCL file being FTP's in text mode by mistake; this tags a character onto the end of the first line of the file, and the first line of the file is a command which tells TiVo which shell to use to run the rest of the programme. But the extra charachter menas the filename of the shell is now wrong, hence the file not found error.

[cwaring]

The point is that this is the EndPad that is currently installed-and-working and has been since Day 1.

I'm only trying to 'stop' it so I can install and start the new version posted the other day :mad:

Okay, I could just re-boot my Tivo but that seems like an extreme solution :D

[AMc]

Have you already copied over the new version to /var/hack ?
My guess would be once the program is running it's copied into memory not called from the tcl file in /var/hack/ each time it's needed/

If you've copied a "DOSed" version of endpad then Tivo won't be able to open and run the new endpad.tcl to respond to your new instruction to kill it but the currently running instance will be OK.

You could kill it by finding it's PID "ps -x" then "kill its PID number" but if your copied version is corrupt you won't be able to start it again. Likewise if you reboot it will fail on start up.

Can you check your copied version in /var/hack with Joe to see it it looks broken?

[cwaring]

Can you check your copied version in /var/hack with Joe to see it it looks broken?
I wouldn't know how, but thanks for the other tips. Will work on it :)

[AMc]

If you telnet in
cd /var/hack
then type
joe endpad.tcl
It will open up and you can check the line endings.
(Control+C to exit without changes).

I FTPed a PC text file in binary and got
IW dos.txt (Modified) Row 2 Col 1 3:50 Ctrl-K H for help

This doc is in PC formatMM
These returns are uselessMM
MM
MM
MM

This is a text file saved by Textpad in UNIX format and copied in binary mode

IW unix.txt (Modified) Row 2 Col 1 3:51 Ctrl-K H for help

unix
unix
unix

This is the same text file saved by Textpad in UNIX format but FTPed in ASCII mode on purpose

IW unix.txt (Modified) Row 2 Col 1 3:52 Ctrl-K H for help

unixM
unixM
unixM

So basically if there are one or two M's on the end of each line the file has been borked and you should copy it across being careful to set the type to binary.

I've had .tcl files converted to PC format text files by downloading from Internet Explorer. I converted them back by opening them in textpad and saving them again. There's probably a way to get them downloaded without changing the format, but I don't know how.

[mikerr]

dos2unix fixes these files directly on tivo, as sometimes its caused by editing the file on the PC side.

put that on tivo, and then you can just run

dos2unix <filename> to fix any files with DOS line endings
BTW it does no harm running dos2unix on a file that already has the correct line endings either

[cwaring]

Thanks for that.

ETA: Well, I just re-uploaded the original version of endpad.tcl in ASCII mode and checked that and there is still an M at the end of each line, so I'm now even more :confused: than I was before.

Also, I tried to run 'dos2unix' and it said "Cannot allocate memory".

DOS was so much easier ;):p

[AMc]

??? You should be FTPing in Binary mode as that will stop your file getting its line endings messed up ???

[cwaring]

:o (Another one to file under "D'oh!" then ;))

ETA: SUCCESS :D:D

[AMc]

Good for you! :D

[TCM2007]

You can just take the M off the end of the first line with Joe, and that will probably be enough to fix it. The TCL shell doesn't seem to care about line endings, but bash does - only the fisrt line is run by bash.

[jamesmb]

Just a quick note - I installed endpad yesterday morning and found the instructions here very helpful. I was nervous about using a unix text editor - it's been a long time since I used vi but joe was much easier - given the magic ctrl-k x way to exit.
Thanks largely due to blindlemon / Tivo Heaven for having installed TivoWeb and the FTP server bit on the upgrade disk I put in a year ago. Endpad is the hack I really wanted but I'm getting to use Tytools too now and the Tivo web interface is handy.
Thanks again for endpad and for the great instructions, first success was the Mr Men double bill - always problematic for Season passes!

[Foxy]

I'd like to start by saying how useful this feature is! I've recently networked my TiVo and wish I'd done it ages ago! I'm having lots of fun playing with various hacks and Tivoweb.
I have 2 questions about Endpad:
1) Can someone clarify the use of "timezone hh:mm" in the config file? I have it set to 00:00 (or rather, I don't have it set!). The time is currently 22:45 and ToDo tells me that I have the following recordings scheduled:Fri 15th Aug 23:00 BBC2SCO Manual: T in the Park No Episode Title
Sat 16th Aug 00:00 BBC2SCO Star Trek: The Next Generation Rightful Heir
Sat 16th Aug 00:50 BBC2SCO Star Trek: The Next Generation Second Chances

but the last update to endpad.log tells me :Friday 21:24:01 : Woken up
Friday 21:24:01 : Recording {Agatha Christie's Poirot} on STVSCO now
Friday 21:24:01 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 22:00
Friday 21:24:01 : Next recording is {T in the Park} on BBC2SCO at 22:00
Friday 21:24:01 : Not time to add end padding yet
Friday 21:24:01 : Next end padding setting due 21:55
Friday 21:24:01 : Not time to add start padding yet
Friday 21:24:01 : Next start padding setting due 21:56
Friday 21:24:01 : Next wake up will be 21:54
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal....................
Would adjusting the TZ value correct the timings in the log or would it make matters worse? Can the TiVo, and therefore Endpad, not tell which timezone it is in?

2) Am I correct in thinking that the (startpad and) endpad variables in the config are FIXED values? I.E. Endpad will try to add exactly that amount (nn) of padding but if there is only an nn-1 gap until the next program then NO padding is added? The scenario that I'm thinking of is live motor racing, where a crash on the warmup lap (or a sudden downpour) may delay the start by a considerable period of time. In my old luddite (pre Endpad) days, I used the remote control (!) to manually pad the end of the program by as much as I could so as not to clash with the following program. I'm looking for an automatic method for Endpad to do the same thing. So the value that I'd set in the global or specific endpad variable would be added if possible. The startpad for the following program would be taken into account and as much extra endpadding as possible would be added up to a global or specific MaxEndPad value. I can't think of a scenario where a similar style of startpadding would be required, but maybe someone else can. Am I hoping for the impossible:confused::D

[TCM2007]

1) TiVo does everything in GMT internally, only converting for display to the user. True for US TiVo too! All TiVo logs are in GMT.

2) No EndPad should schedule as much as is possible, not drop to nothing if the full amount can't be done.

[Foxy]

1) TiVo does everything in GMT internally, only converting for display to the user. True for US TiVo too! All TiVo logs are in GMT.Ahh! So I just have to get used to the GMT timings - OK I can cope with that. I take it they'll still be in GMT when BST ends?

2) No EndPad should schedule as much as is possible, not drop to nothing if the full amount can't be done.Excellent!! I take it that it will use all of the available gap for endpadding (i.e. no startpadding on the next program). I'll have to test that on Sunday.

program {British Touring Car Championships} endpad 180

Thanks!

[Pete77]

1) TiVo does everything in GMT internally

I believe they call it UTC outside the land of the Greenwich Meridian?;):rolleyes:

[kitschcamp]

No they don't. UTC is not GMT. They are quite different. One is atomic time (UTC) and one is solar time at the Greenwich Observatory (GMT or UT1).

[Pete77]

No they don't. UTC is not GMT. They are quite different. One is atomic time (UTC) and one is solar time at the Greenwich Observatory (GMT or UT1).

But in practical terms they have now become the same as both UTC and GMT now have to add or remove leap seconds at the same time when the rotation of the earth does not exactly follow the linear path of atomic time. I expect back in the 1800s that GMT really did follow just the vagaries of the sun's movements.

GMT may in theory once have been something different from UTC but in practice it is now interchangeable. I bet what the BBC World Service calls GMT on their news broadcasts is in fact derived from a UTC based atomic clock time system.

[ColinYounger]

I bet what the BBC World Service calls GMT on their news broadcasts is in fact derived from a UTC based atomic clock time system.Oh - you mean the Greenwich time signal? :D

[atari_addict]

Oh - you mean the Greenwich time signal? :D
...which has an extra pip added to it from time to time (ouch) in order to bring it into line with Atomic Time.

The MSF time signal has extra bits in the first few seconds coded to describe the current offset between it and Atomic Time, just to round this off.

[Pete77]

...which has an extra pip added to it from time to time (ouch) in order to bring it into line with Atomic Time.

Au contraire it is UTC or Atomic Time that periodically in theory has to be brought in to line with GMT as it does not allow for the vagaries in the rotation of the earth whereas GMT in theory (bot not in actual day to day practice) does.

[kitschcamp]

But in practical terms they have now become the same as both UTC and GMT now have to add or remove leap seconds at the same time when the rotation of the earth does not exactly follow the linear path of atomic time.

There is only ever a tiny fraction of a second when they are the same. From that moment on, GMT and UTC are different. In common parlance they may be interchangeable, but it doesn't alter the fact that they are different things calculated in different ways, and are not the same thing. Just being common doesn't make it right. In common parlance a metric byte and a computer byte are the same thing, but in actual usage are quite different.

I expect back in the 1800s that GMT really did follow just the vagaries of the sun's movements.
And it still does. That's why GMT is defined from observation at Greenwich... Which I believe I've already said...

[atari_addict]

Au contraire
I just knew I'd get them mixed up!

[Pete77]

And it still does. That's why GMT is defined from observation at Greenwich... Which I believe I've already said...

Its good to hear that Microsoft are directly hooked in to a sundial in Greenwich for their internet time keeping then rather than using any new fangled sort of digital or atomic time keeping device.:p

I wonder what they do at Greenwich when its raining and cloudy for a week or so in a row.:rolleyes:

[kitschcamp]

Its good to hear that Microsoft are directly hooked in to a sundial in Greenwich for their internet time keeping then rather than using any new fangled sort of digital or atomic time keeping device.:p

GMT is only used in the zero longitude timezones, and the UK only in the winter. Everyone else uses UTC offsets. The fact that Microsoft et al mislabel things doesn't make it right.

[Pete77]

You seem to be favouring a pedantic and fairly pointless form of differentiation when to most people they are two different terms for the same concept:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GMT

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is a term originally referring to mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London. It is now often used to refer to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) when this is viewed as a time zone, although strictly UTC is an atomic time scale which only approximates GMT in the old sense. It is also used to refer to Universal Time (UT), which is the astronomical concept that directly replaced the original GMT. In the UK, GMT is the official time only during winter; during summer it's British Summer Time.

Noon Greenwich Mean Time is not necessarily the moment when the sun crosses the Greenwich meridian (and reaches its highest point in the sky in Greenwich) because of Earth's uneven speed in its elliptic orbit and its axial tilt. This event may be up to 16 minutes away from noon GMT (this discrepancy is known as the equation of time). The fictitious mean sun is the annual average of this nonuniform motion of the true Sun, necessitating the inclusion of mean in Greenwich Mean Time.

Historically the term GMT has been used with two different conventions for numbering hours. The old astronomical convention (before 1925) was to refer to noon as zero hours, whereas the civil convention during the same period was to refer to midnight as zero hours. The latter is modern astronomical and civil convention. The more specific terms UT and UTC do not share this ambiguity, always referring to midnight as zero hours.

[kitschcamp]

No, I'm not being pedantic. I'm being accurate. There was a very definite need for a specific definition and a new method of calculating time - that was UTC. It is inherently different to GMT, and you deciding I'm being pedantic doesn't alter the fact that I am correct you are most definitely wrong. But as we know, you never let the facts get in the way.

[Pete77]

No, I'm not being pedantic. I'm being accurate.

There is usually a rather thin dividing line between those two things and it often has to do with whether you are a New Scientist reader or a reader of The Times.

There was a very definite need for a specific definition and a new method of calculating time - that was UTC. It is inherently different to GMT, and you deciding I'm being pedantic doesn't alter the fact that I am correct you are most definitely wrong. But as we know, you never let the facts get in the way.

Regardless of which UTC and GMT are generally the same to all intents and purposes most of the time because UTC is adjusted periodically for deviations from GMT.

Seems most people agree with me.

See www.mirage-avm.com/mu/cloxfaq.htm

The letters "UTC" are basically a compromise between the English "Coordinated Universal Time" (CUT) and the French "Temps Universel Coordiné" (TUC). The use of "UTC" also maintains consistency with other official time abbreviations like UT0 and UT1 which offer different degrees of precision. Unless you want to know what time it is to the millisecond (you really don't) then for all intents and purposes UTC and GMT are the same thing.

As a general rule: If you want to be politically correct say 'UTC'. If you want people to understand what you're talking about then say 'GMT'.

Just to ensure widespread confusion, UTC is also sometimes called Z Time, Zulu Time, Zero Time or Universal Time (UT). They all still mean the same thing:- The official (solar) time of day on the Greenwich meridian (GMT).

or http://h71000.www7.hp.com/wizard/wiz_6373.html


I need to write a C routine that takes a date and converts it to CET and
returns the result (without changing the callers Time Zone as a result).

The Answer is :

Though time-pedants and specific applications requiring accuracy
of 0.9 seconds or better will correctly indicate that the values do
differ, this particular discussion will assume that UTC and GMT can
be used interchangeably. The term Zulu will here be used to reference
the particular time value at the Zero Meridian, or Paris Mean Time (PMT)
diminished by 9 minutes 21 seconds.

[Pete77]

Or www.jamescronen.com/?paged=2

The International Earth Rotations and Reference Systems Service has announced a leap second will be inserted into the calendar immediately before the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2009.

If you’re a real geek and are sitting at your PC rather than partying on New Year’s Eve, run the date command once per second around midnight London-time. The time as reported would progress like this:

Wed Dec 31 23:59:56 UTC 2008
Wed Dec 31 23:59:57 UTC 2008
Wed Dec 31 23:59:58 UTC 2008
Wed Dec 31 23:59:59 UTC 2008
Wed Dec 31 23:59:60 UTC 2008 (?!)
Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 UTC 2009
Thu Jan 1 00:00:01 UTC 2009
Thu Jan 1 00:00:02 UTC 2009

Why?!

A leap second is inserted into the calendar whenever the time as measured by a collection of atomic clocks (UTC) and the time as measured from the stars (UT1) differs by more than 0.9 seconds. If there is a difference, a second (or two, in extreme cases) can be added or subtracted from our “official” time. This brings our clock time (called TAI) as close as possible to the Earth’s rotation, while still maintaining a regular clock-tick second.

The U. S. Naval Observatory is the official time-keeping entity of the United States. They currently host 34 cesium clocks and 14 hydrogen-maser clocks that together provide an exceptionally stable second. The USNO Time Service Department hosts a wonderful reference for all things time. In particular, their summary systems of time is a good (if not confusing) overview of the different time scales.

There are a few standards for leap seconds. Leap seconds are only added at two points each year — the last second of June 30 or December 31. They’re announced at least a few months ahead of the leap second — this allows plenty of time to alert those who really do need to worry about this stuff. Leap seconds occur simultaneously at all points around the world. Because UTC is based on Greenwich mean time, the leap second will occur then. (For those of us on the east coast of the United States, five hours behind GMT, the leap second will occur at 18:59:60 EST on December 31, 2008.)

Most clocks aren’t precise enough to care. Your bedroom alarm clock probably deviates UTC by more than one second, unless you’re a complete time pedant (or you’re just really lucky). Being off by one additional second (or one fewer second, depending on whether your clock is slow or fast) isn’t going to make any considerable difference.

Some clocks do care. The GPS system’s clocks started at zero at midnight UTC on January 6, 1980. There have been fourteen leap seconds since this date, and so the GPS system runs fourteen seconds faster than UTC. After the next New Year’s party, GPS will be an even quarter-minute faster than UTC. The lesson? Don’t synch your atomic clock to your GPS receiver.

If you have one of those fancy-dancy radio-based atomic clocks and you happen to be standing near it at midnight, I’d love to see if at 23:59:59 UTC it hangs for two seconds instead of one. If you get video of this I’ll give you a dollar.

[steveroe]

All you are proving here is that kitschcamp is right - they are different! :p

[Pete77]

All you are proving here is that kitschcamp is right - they are different! :p

But only for time pedants.;):p

[TCM2007]

There is only ever a tiny fraction of a second when they are the same. From that moment on, GMT and UTC are different. In common parlance they may be interchangeable, but it doesn't alter the fact that they are different things calculated in different ways, and are not the same thing.

Always different, but never by more than a fraction of a second. As TiVo operates to the minute level, any differenced between UTV and GMT are therefore not relevant in that context. Everyone knows what GMT is, only geeks know UTC (or UT1 or UT2 or..) are, so it's a reasonable everyday approximation.

In the same way as we now know Newton's gravity theory is wrong, but it's close enough for everyday use.

[Pete77]

Always different, but never by more than a fraction of a second. As TiVo operates to the minute level, any differenced between UTV and GMT are therefore not relevant in that context. Everyone knows what GMT is, only geeks know UTC (or UT1 or UT2 or..) are, so it's a reasonable everyday approximation.

It seems that for once we are near to being in agreement on an issue.:eek::p

[kitschcamp]

It seems that for once we are near to being in agreement on an issue.:eek::p

No, I don't think you do. You said:

I believe they call it UTC outside the land of the Greenwich Meridian?;):rolleyes:

whereas TCM2007 says

Always different, but never by more than a fraction of a second. ... Everyone knows what GMT is, only geeks know UTC (or UT1 or UT2 or..) are, so it's a reasonable everyday approximation.


You said they were the same, TCM acknowledges they are different.

[Pete77]

You said they were the same, TCM acknowledges they are different.

It all depends on whether you are a time pedant or not as to whether you think they are different.;):p

Perhaps we can now have a discussion about UK vs US gallons of petrol which really are different in quantity.

[kitschcamp]

It all depends on whether you are a time pedant or not as to whether you think they are different.;):p
No, they are different, that's why they have different names and definitions, as you yourself have proven many times in this thread.
Perhaps we can now have a discussion about UK vs US gallons of petrol which really are different in quantity.
I'll give you a clue, they are called Imperial and US gallons for a reason. They are different. You accept they are different, though. Curious.

[Pete77]

No, they are different, that's why they have different names and definitions, as you yourself have proven many times in this thread.

I challenge you to provide an explanation of any significant practical differences for a reader of The Sun newspaper.

I'll give you a clue, they are called Imperial and US gallons for a reason. They are different. You accept they are different, though. Curious.

Because they are also actually different for people other than Time Pedants.:p

[kitschcamp]

I challenge you to provide an explanation of any significant practical differences for a reader of The Sun newspaper.

That was never the point. YOU claimed they were the same, and that one was "the new name" for the other. That's wrong, as well you know. There is little point continuing this, as you can never be wrong, even when you provide your evidence that you are.

[ColinYounger]

Stephen - Pete I suspect knows he's wrong, he's just enjoying yanking your 'chain'. Or should that be 'cable' outside Greenwich... :)

Remember when this thread was about soft padding?

[Foxy]

:(Remember when this thread was about soft padding?A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...I really, really wish I hadn't asked!:(

Is there no "off topic" forum that the trolls can play in?

[petestrash]

:o (Another one to file under "D'oh!" then ;))

ETA: SUCCESS :D:D

Carl, Sorry I didn't answer earlier, but the forum didn't send me any update emails, so assumed it was quiet.

Glad to hear you got working in the end.

Is the bookmark feature working for you, and do you use negpadding on any shows?

Peter.

[dmacalpine]

I installed Endpad on my Tivo last week and, for a while, it was great.
The trouble is that it has stopped working and I'm flummoxed. I have tried telnetting into Tivo and sending the command to start it, only to get the message that it is already running. I've tried sending the -stop command, waiting a minute, then restarting it again - only to get the message that it is already running!

My rc.sysinit.author file currently looks like this;

#!/bin/bash
#/var/hack/bin/tivoftpd &
/var/hack/tivoweb-tcl/tivoweb &
#/var/hack/tytools/tserver -s /var/hack/tytools/NowShowing.tcl &
/var/hack/suggs.tcl -threshold 1 &
/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 1 -e 5 >> /dev/null &

The only thing that I changed in it between Endpad working and not working was to add the "&" at the end of the Suggs line in order to get my daily call working again. (Suggs is still working fine by the way)

I admit that I don't know anything about the programming language and I have only been following intructions from these forums.

Can anyone see what I'm doing wrong and correct me?

[verses]

Can anyone see what I'm doing wrong and correct me?

When launching endpad from rc.sysinit.author I think it's supposed to use the '-auto' option, e.g.

/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 1 -e 5 -auto >> /dev/null &

Also, I would replace the redirection/backgrounding on every line with '>>/dev/null 2>&1 &' (this backgrounds your processes and handles any error output more neatly), e.g.
#!/bin/bash
#/var/hack/bin/tivoftpd >>/dev/null 2>&1 &
/var/hack/tivoweb-tcl/tivoweb >>/dev/null 2>&1 &
#/var/hack/tytools/tserver -s /var/hack/tytools/NowShowing.tcl >>/dev/null 2>&1 &
/var/hack/suggs.tcl -threshold 1 >>/dev/null 2>&1 &
/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 1 -e 5 -auto >>/dev/null 2>&1 &
Cheers,

Ian

PS: I'm pretty sure the file doesn't need the #!/bin/bash line at the top, but it doesn't appear to do any harm.

[ColinYounger]

I'm pretty sure the file doesn't need the #!/bin/bash line at the top, but it doesn't appear to do any harm.That line tells the OS what kind of commands it's likely to find inside - I'd rather see it there. :)

[verses]

That line tells the OS what kind of commands it's likely to find inside - I'd rather see it there. :)

The line does do that in a script, but as this is a system file rather than a script I'm not sure it's necessary. The rc.sysinit.author file doesn't access shell specific functions or commands and merely launches a series of other processes.

Although it's quite possible I'm making a non-existent differentiation between two types of file :) Is it just the case that rc.sysinit.author is just a shell script that's run at boot time? In which case, should it be run as a bourne, bash, ksh, etc shell?

Cheers,

Ian

[dmacalpine]

When launching endpad from rc.sysinit.author I think it's supposed to use the '-auto' option,

Do'oh, you are quite right, I didn't do my reading. :o


Also, I would replace the redirection/backgrounding on every line with '>>/dev/null 2>&1 &' (this backgrounds your processes and handles any error output more neatly)

I have followed your suggestion on this and all seems to be working now, many thanks for your patience with a simpleton... :up:

One thing I noticed after rebooting and checking the logs to see that all was well:- having started up endpad was then shut down by a kill command??? I'm presuming that this was the one I sent previously when trying to get it to work and that, having restarted endpad manually, this won't happen every time Tivo reboots?

Thanks again for your swift help Ian.

[TCM2007]

That line tells the OS what kind of commands it's likely to find inside - I'd rather see it there. :)

The script is called from another Bash script (rc.sysinit) so it doesn't need it as it's not interpreted by teh console.

[Pete77]

I just made this post in the Confused Progress Bar thread over at www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7816364#post7816364

However as it appears possible that Endpad might have caused this glitch with a recording that begin at midnight not having a normal Now Playing bar I thought it was also worth posting the item here:-

Just to continue on this very old thread (thanks to Tivocommunity's new function to search for relevant subjects near that of one's own proposed new thread).

On Monday 1st March 2010 at 12am (12 midnight) I had scheduled a recording of an episode of a series called Globe Trekker on The Travel Channel Plus 1 (on Sky EPG channel number 252) about the Spanish Islands. To be honest now I can't even think how I came to schedule it as it wasn't picked up by a Wishlist but I think I spotted it while using HiGuide or some other such other such thing in Tivoweb. However we have a family apartment out in Mallorca hence why I was interested in the program.

However when I came to watch the program Tivo's Now Playing summary only showed the program as being 1 hour in length (even though End pad normally adds 2 minutes to the start and four minutes to the end of my recordings unless they overlap with another program) and when I selected Play I got a Now Playing bar that showed 0:00 on the left hand side but both 1:00 and 24:00 on the right hand side.

Although all the Now Playing bar that ran from 0:00 to 1:00 was completely blank with no colour (like it is with a failed recording when a Sky box has been off or had a software hang) when I pressed Play the program started playing as normal with a single green arrow on the far right of the empty Now Playing bar and showing 24:00 as the position in the program. The program then played the full hour all the way through to the end where it showed 24:59 above 1:00 below it but the Now Playing bar continue to remain vacant and colourless, although I could use the Skip 15 minutes function as normal during fast forwarding or rewind etc. It seems more than a coincidence that the Tivo ignored Endpad and did not add any time to the recording at the start or end as this would then have forced it to show 1:00 twice on the same screen. But it managed to avoid this by only recording the full hour without the start and end padding.

I would tend to assume that this is a glitch of some kind perhaps being caused by EndPad as if there was a general problem with recording programs that begin at 24:00/0:00 surely Tivo would have picked it up long ago. Although perhaps the fact that not many of us record programs starting at midnight could perhaps have allowed the bug to go undiagnosed for all this time.

Has anyone else experienced this kind of odd behaviour by a Tivo and if so is it a Tivo on which they also run Endpad?

Any comments on the above issue in the relevant thread would be appreciated.

[pemills]

I have been tinkering with my TiVo's for a few years and have read with interest the thread about 'endpad' but to be honest although I heave read a lot about setting it up it all seems a bit 'bitty' to me and hard to follow?? is there a definitive guide to step me through setting endpad up, even to the extent of what program to use rather than just assume I know what I am doing.

I have ftp'd the file over to the tivo but as for starting it or doing the CHMOD I am completely lost! does this get done in a telnet session or what? as I said I am concerned about screwing up the tivo by trying to do something simple by doing something stupid.

Peter

[Automan]

The information in
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=454458

Makes intalling and loading it fairly easy along with other goodies...

Automan.
I have been tinkering with my TiVo's for a few years and have read with interest the thread about 'endpad' but to be honest although I heave read a lot about setting it up it all seems a bit 'bitty' to me and hard to follow?? is there a definitive guide to step me through setting endpad up, even to the extent of what program to use rather than just assume I know what I am doing.

I have ftp'd the file over to the tivo but as for starting it or doing the CHMOD I am completely lost! does this get done in a telnet session or what? as I said I am concerned about screwing up the tivo by trying to do something simple by doing something stupid.

Peter

[pemills]

Hi Automan, thanks for the link and advice but I now am going to sound really stupid but what do you do with it, should I run it and if so from where I tried placing it in the modules folder of tivo web and did a restart but that did not help, obviously doing something wrong but what??

Peter

[Automan]

Hi Automan, thanks for the link and advice but I now am going to sound really stupid but what do you do with it, should I run it and if so from where I tried placing it in the modules folder of tivo web and did a restart but that did not help, obviously doing something wrong but what??

Peter

Post http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=8187358#post8187358 covers that.

To add them into your startup file:

mount -o remount,rw /
echo "/var/hack/endpad.tcl -e 5 -auto >> /dev/null &" >> /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.author
chmod 700 /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.author
mount -o remount,ro /


If you got the install program to install joe that is a file editor that lets you edit the startup file with ease to add the command line

/var/hack/endpad.tcl -e 5 -auto >> /dev/null &

See http://www.tivohelp.com/archive/tivohelp.swiki.net/41.html and its the rc.sysinit.author which you need to edit with care to get the endpad.tcl to load by itself on tivo power up.

If in any doubt, just type endpad from the bash command to load rather than editing the startup file.

Automan.

[pemills]

Sorted, I realised I had the wrong install file and needed the zip with the .itcl file as I had the code only, oops, ftp'd the right one across to the tivo did a full reload and everything is as it should be. now just need to sort out the Nowplaying RSS and daily e-mail module that was on this machine when I bought it and everything will be sweet.

Peter

[pemills]

I thought that the endpad module was working as I was not getting the error that I was getting, but I spoke too soon, I can now see that it can't find the endpad log file where is this to be found, who or what creates it??

[PhilG]

I thought that the endpad module was working as I was not getting the error that I was getting, but I spoke too soon, I can now see that it can't find the endpad log file where is this to be found, who or what creates it??

It's in var/log/

You should have an endpad.msg and an endpad.log - both created by endpad itself I think (I certainly never created them)

[pemills]

I looked in the /var/log/ directory and there is no such files, maybe I need to re-install endpad?

[pemills]

The error I am getting is

INTERNAL SERVER ERROR
--cut here--
action_logs '/endpad.log/' ''
couldn't stat "/var/log/endpad.log/": no such file or directory
while executing
"file size "$TIVO_ROOT/var/log/$path""
(procedure "::action_logs" line 40)
invoked from within
"::action_$action $chan $part $env"
("eval" body line 1)
invoked from within
"eval {::action_$action $chan $part $env}"
--cut here--
which suggests no log file, unless I am reading it wrong!!

[PhilG]

Do you have a /log/ directory in /var/??

I'd be surprised if you didn't - but who knows!

I assume you are trying to start endpad from the command line with

/var/hack/endpad.tcl -auto -e 5 or something similar?

I'm afraid you've now reached the limit of my Tivo/Linux skills :(

[PhilG]

PS Which version of endpad do you have - the top of my endpad.tcl says

# endpad.tcl
# (c) Stuart Anderton, 2005
# Version 1.5.0, 11 Feb 2006

I've assumed you're working with the same version as me (which might not be true! :D)

[pemills]

Yes there is, I'll have to delete all the files and do a fresh install, re-start etc. although I am a bit nervous of editing the rc.sysinit.author file again

[pemills]

My version is 1.5.4 18th Jan 2007 by Stuart Anderton

[PhilG]

Yes there is, I'll have to delete all the files and do a fresh install, re-start etc. although I am a bit nervous of editing the rc.sysinit.author file again
I'd leave that until you're certain it's working!

Also, BEFORE you reinstall, try starting endpad from the command prompt with debug activated


/var/hack/endpad.tcl -auto -e 5 -debug and see if that is any more helpful

[Pete77]

All your rc.sysinit.author file command lines should end with

>>/dev/null 2>&1 &

eg

/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 2 -e 4 -sugqual 0 -sugeq -auto >>/dev/null 2>&1 &

I forget exactly why now (if you want to know why Google the Tivocommunity forum for that string of text) but it cures all manner of known Tivo ills and stops one application from hogging the whole Tivo memory and so on.

You would also find editing your rc.sysinit file easier and safer if you either installed the Hackman module and used the built in file editor in that for editing it or if you installed Sanderton's (or as he is now known TCM2007's) Startup Editor module as listed on the Wikipedia web page of Tivoweb modules at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tivoweb

[PhilG]

All your rc.sysinit.author file command lines should end with

>>/dev/null 2>&1 &

eg

/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 2 -e 4 -sugqual 0 -sugeq -auto >>/dev/null 2>&1 &

I forget exactly why now (if you want to know why Google the Tivocommunity forum for that string of text) but it cures all manner of known Tivo ills and stops one application from hogging the whole Tivo memory and so on.

You would also find editing your rc.sysinit file easier and safer if you either installed the Hackman module and used the built in file editor in that for editing it or if you installed Sanderton's (or as he is now known TCM2007's) Startup Editor module as listed on the Wikipedia web page of Tivoweb modules at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tivoweb

But I did say try starting endpad from the command prompt - these are NOT suggestions for starting endpad automatically!

[Pete77]

But I did say - these are NOT suggestions for starting endpad automatically!

OK understood. But I was just trying to help with starting it up from rc.sysinit as I noticed that those line endings were missing and that has often turned out to cause problems in the past.

[pemills]

I'd leave that until you're certain it's working!

Also, BEFORE you reinstall, try starting endpad from the command prompt with debug activated

and see if that is any more helpful

Hi Phil, I tried the line you suggested and it came back with "debug not recognised"

[pemills]

Retried without the 'debug' and it certainly did not come back with any error message, just an indication of the creator and then saying "switching to background" is this what I should be seeing?

[PhilG]

Retried without the 'debug' and it certainly did not come back with any error message, just an indication of the creator and then saying "switching to background" is this what I should be seeing?
After it switched to background, do you now see any endpad.msg or endpad.log files in /var/log/??

Did you say "debug" or "-debug"?? The hyphen is CRITICAL

I'd be surprised if the debug switch had been taken out, but if you can mail me YOUR endpad.tcl I'll take a quick look at it

If you PM me, I'll give you my eMail address

Phil G

[pemills]

Hi Phil, I tried again with the full command line from the bash prompt as you wrote it and it comes back with;

Argument debug not recognised
Usage:
endpad.tcl -s x -e y -sugqual z -sugeq -auto -stop
and the a description of the switches

Without using the debug switch I get the following;

EndPad v1.4.2 (c) 2004 Stuart Anderton
Strictly no commercial distribution
See file header for terms of use and distribution
Switching to background...

Will PM you for your e-mail and give you mine.

[maxwells_daemon]

Hi Phil, I tried again with the full command line from the bash prompt as you wrote it and it comes back with;

Argument debug not recognised
Usage:
endpad.tcl -s x -e y -sugqual z -sugeq -auto -stop
and the a description of the switches

Without using the debug switch I get the following;

EndPad v1.4.2 (c) 2004 Stuart Anderton
Strictly no commercial distribution
See file header for terms of use and distribution
Switching to background...

The -debug option wasn't available in version 1.4.2, which explains why it wasn't working for you. You don't have to upgrade, but it might help to work out what's going on: just download the new endpad-1.5.4.zip from the top of this thread, copy to your TiVo, and unzip. If you put endpad.tcl in the same place as you had it before, then you don't need to update your rc.sysinit.author file. You can then use the -debug option to run the command in the foreground so you can see what it's doing.

Tim.

[AMc]

If you telnet into your Tivo and type
ps -x
You will see a list of processes running - including endpad.tcl if it's running.
It's possible it's crashing because there are no log files or it can't write to them (I don't know just guessing) it might be worth simply creating the two files in the right place with joe - it can't hurt.

[pemills]

I tried the ps -x and all I got was ps: command not found!

[AMc]

Hmmm well at a guess your PATH isn't set up properly or you haven't installed the usual binaries when hacking your Tivo.

This guide might be helpful
http://tivo.stevejenkins.com/network_cd.html#_Toc101001772

[PhilG]

I tried the ps -x and all I got was ps: command not found!
You did mention that dailymail was not reporting whether endpad was running...

Well in the dailymail config file it says

## (4.2) Location and name of the ps file required to run the the ps (process) command :
## This is required for a number of features of the dailymail program, including the
## endpad status checking, no-red-do-blast status and current running hack (TiVo status)
## checking. If you wish to use these features you must have the ps software installed,
## and provide the path to and name of the ps file in the variable.

and if you're getting an error when you type "ps x" then that seems to imply ps is NOT installed on your Tivo.......

On my Tivo, ps is in /var/hack/bin/ BUT I'm not sure it's always been there - something at the back of my mind is telling me I "installed" it from somewhere, but I can't remember where

Looking around, it seems it was part of the dailymailjazz installation packaging

[alek]

I wanted simply to have ten minutes padding both ends, so I put "/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 10 -e 10 -auto >> /dev/null &"

In "/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.author"

It put ten on the end but not the start.

?

Alek

[maxwells_daemon]

I wanted simply to have ten minutes padding both ends, so I put "/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 10 -e 10 -auto >> /dev/null &"

In "/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit.author"

It put ten on the end but not the start.

That ought to work. Can you check the log files to see what it tried to do? There is a weekly summary in /var/log/endpad.msg and a detailed log of the last day in /var/log/endpad.log (with backups of the previous log in Oendpad.msg,Oendpad.log).

The only things I can think of are if you didn't setup endpad before the programme was set to record, or if there was another programme immediately before your programme (which would prevent the start padding - that's the whole point of soft padding :) )

Tim.

[alek]

I checked the endpad log and according to it I have 10 mins before and after. I have set a recording for 8:30 so will see what happens.


Alek

[alek]

worked ok that time.

Guess all is fine

Alek

[AMc]

IIRC the process is only called every few minutes - if you set a test recording in a few minutes and don't give it time to wake up then endpad doesn't have time to set the start padding.

[spitfires]

Is it just me or is endpad (1.5.4) ignoring the command line parameters?

e.g
[TiVo [p0] /hack/endpad]# ./endpad.tcl -s 5 -e 10 -debug -auto

Saturday 14:30:35 : endpad.tcl 1.5.4 log file, starting up
Saturday 14:30:35 : Start padding set to 120 seconds
Saturday 14:30:35 : End padding set to 120 seconds
...
Saturday 14:30:35 : Sorted configuration options (last match used):-
Saturday 14:30:35 : startpad 2 endpad 2 negpad 0 forceneg 0 maxneg -1 sugqual -1


It seems to be overriding the commandline args with the config file args, which is of course the wrong way round.

Looking at the code, reloadConfig{} is sorting the config options after the cmd line options. Changing the code to # command line arguments override config file settings
if [array size cmdopt] {
set cmdopt(linenum) 999999
lappend config() [array get cmdopt]
} fixes it and gives proper precedence to the cmd line options.

...Or have I misunderstood something? :confused:

[Pete77]

I call it from my rc.sysinit.author.edit file with:-

/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 2 -e 4 -sugqual 0 -sugeq -auto >>/dev/null 2>&1 &

This seems to work fine and my programs are start padded by two minutes and end padded by four minutes as long as no other recordings are scheduled immediately before or afterwards.

I have to say I think you may be the only person trying to directly call the program from the command line manually.

[Trinitron]

I have to say I think you may be the only person trying to directly call the program from the command line manually.Shouldn't make the slightest bit of difference as all your rc.sysinit file is doing is issuing the same commands as you would if typed directly in a terminal.

@spitfires, I think you are correct. Don't have the problem myself but I have gone down the 'belts & braces' approach by putting the same parameters in the config file and rc.sysinit. :)

[spitfires]

Here's a new version of endpad.

Changes:

1) (by petestrash) Add a Bookmark for this programme to start at the original (i.e. unpadded) start time

2) Fix crashing when no recording scheduled in ToDo list

3) Make petestrash's mod a configurable option ( "-bookmark" option)

4) Fix bug where command line arguments were usually ignored (i.e. not given precedence over config file)
.

[TCM2007]

Hopefully maxwells_daemon will update the first post?

[maxwells_daemon]

Here's a new version of endpad.

Lots of nice improvements here. I'm just checking them out now (need to load onto my S1 TiVo tonight) and then I'll update the version at the head of the post. I hope that's OK with you.

I'm embarrassed about the bug where command-line arguments weren't given precedence over global options in the config file. I'm surprised this didn't get spotted sooner - I guess most people don't put those settings in the config file.

Tim.

[spitfires]

No problemo. The change was mostly just to stop it barfing on blank AltEPG TiVi. Oh and include petestrash bookmark mod - sweet! :up:

I've tested most permutations (of ToDo list) on a blank TiVo and on my live one and I don't think I've scr*w*d anything up but a second opinion is always nice :D

[maxwells_daemon]

Hi spitfires,

OK, I've updated the version at the top of this post with all your changes. I made a few minor changes to the spacing and comments for consistency, but otherwise it is identical to yours.

I tested that it runs OK on my old S1 TiVo, and immediately saw your fix stopped it crashing due to no scheduled recordings (must update to AltEPG for my old TiVo, but I'm mostly happy with VM TiVo). I couldn't yet test the bookmarks feature, but that looks like a nice improvement.

Tim.

[spitfires]

Thanks Tim, and thanks for removing the stray debug line which inadvertently got left behind! ;)

[sanjonny]

Sorry if I missed it somewhere, but I was wondering if by chance this will work on a hacked TiVo hd? I have been looking for something like this for quite awhile (longtime replaytv user and a similar feature called show guard exists for the replay) but I cannot find something that doesthis for the tivo other than this. So if this will not work on the hd model, is there something else that will or does this work on the hd and I jus cannot find anyone who has it. Thanks in advance for your help.

[petestrash]

I use endpad on S1's and endpadplus on TiVo HD as is supports dual tuners.

I can't give a direct link on this forum, but if you google "endpadplus deal" you should find it.

Peter.

[TCM2007]

I'd advise looking at EndPadPlus.

[baggsey]

maxwells_daemon - I was reading with interest your website listing the teletext decoder you wrote to extract PDC (Program Delivery Control) information, and the suggested potential to extend endpad to detect projected overrun times of the current programme being recorded, and extend the padding as required.

Did you ever pursue developing this option? As PDC was designed for analog transmissions, would your existing code decode "Accurate Recording" signals transmitted on Freeview+, which I understand follows the same specification as PDC?

[TCM2007]

TiVo has no access to the Freeview EPG data.