Buffer No Longer Records

[TishTash]

We're lucky to have syndicated Lost reruns in HD here locally, two episodes from 12mn to 2am Saturdays. The unfortunate part is that it comes after college football, which unlike pro sports tends to UNDER-run, not OVER-run. In their infinite wisdom, the geniuses at WABC-TV have saw fit to move up ALL their ensuing programming when the college game ends early. (You would think they could pad the local newscast or show some filler so everything would start on time, but no.)

This resulted this past week in Lost starting a full 15 minutes early; since the TiVo allows upto just 10 minutes lead time, suffice to say I lost the first 5 min of the program (argh). Going forward, I could manually record the program from 11:45, but that would result in the show being filed under "Local News" instead "Lost" (although at least they both start with "L"). So I did for the following show (also starting 15 min early) what I thought would work: I changed channels at 12:45 to flush the buffer, and then at 1am started to record the (scheduled) program, hoping the TiVo would record the buffer as well.

Well, it didn't; the TiVo recorded the program starting at 1am, when it was scheduled to start, dumping the 15 minutes of buffer. Ever since 9.x, the TiVo's been recording lead times upto 30-40 minutes of unwanted previous programming lodged in the buffer. The ONE TIME I wanted to record the buffer, it reverted to 8.x system software habits of recording just the current program.

Is this is a new change in buffer recording, or did I experience a freak incident, or is this some random fluctuation between extremes? I've given up guessing.

[TexasGrillChef]

Only solution to that is to stay up late and tell it exactly when to start.

OR...

do a manual recording and put in the exact start and end times that you wish to record.

TGC

[Roderigo]

We're lucky to have syndicated Lost reruns in HD here locally
...
I changed channels at 12:45 to flush the buffer, and then at 1am started to record the (scheduled) program, hoping the TiVo would record the buffer as well.
...
Ever since 9.x, the TiVo's been recording lead times upto 30-40 minutes of unwanted previous programming lodged in the buffer. The ONE TIME I wanted to record the buffer, it reverted to 8.x system software habits of recording just the current program.

A couple of things here:
1) Tivo's never changed how the live buffer has been managed (and, certainly not between 8.x and 9.x). What people notice is that on HD boxes, the amount of "extra buffer" that gets recorded can be much larger when recording *SD* channels. But, there's always been a chance of getting some extra when starting a recording from live tv.

2) Since you're recording an HD channel, you'd never see 30-40 minutes of extra buffer. You'd see in the same range as SD on a series2 box, somewhere between 0 and around 5 minutes.

3) The real flaw in your plan, is that you used a scheduled recording. Scheduled recordings always start the recording as per the scheduling, regardless of what channel the box is on before the recording starts. The only time you may get extra is when starting a recording by pressing record (or using the banner).

[greg_burns]

Going forward, I could manually record the program from 11:45, but that would result in the show being filed under "Local News instead "Lost" (although at least they both start with "L").

Can't you just setup up a Season Pass for Lost and tell it to start 15 minutes early in the Recording Options for the SP. That way it will record and be filed as "Lost", regardless of what is airing when it starts recording.

[TishTash]

Only solution to that is to stay up late and tell it exactly when to start.

OR...

do a manual recording and put in the exact start and end times that you wish to record.

TGC

Only the second one would work, and then the show would be filed under the previous program (which would sort of work for the second in the double feature, but not for the first program).

(The first part would end the show at the top of the hour, since that's when the show is supposed to end.)

[TishTash]

A couple of things here:
1) Tivo's never changed how the live buffer has been managed (and, certainly not between 8.x and 9.x). What people notice is that on HD boxes, the amount of "extra buffer" that gets recorded can be much larger when recording *SD* channels. But, there's always been a chance of getting some extra when starting a recording from live tv.

2) Since you're recording an HD channel, you'd never see 30-40 minutes of extra buffer. You'd see in the same range as SD on a series2 box, somewhere between 0 and around 5 minutes.

3) The real flaw in your plan, is that you used a scheduled recording. Scheduled recordings always start the recording as per the scheduling, regardless of what channel the box is on before the recording starts. The only time you may get extra is when starting a recording by pressing record (or using the banner).

Not exactly true: I once recorded an HD version of Jaws from Cinemax a little over a half-hour into the show, and the buffer went back about half-an-hour. Likewise, I tried to record the Olympics opening ceremonies repeat telecast early the next morning, scheduled at 2am, but since everything ran a bit over, I pressed record when the show actually started at around 2:10am. I ended up getting over 20 minutes of buffered Conan O'Brien at the beginning.

As for your third point: I didn't schedule the recording. I press the record button at around 1am, and expected the buffer to be recorded (as in the examples above). It didn't even record 5 minutes of the buffer; it recorded NONE of the buffer. I can see your point if I recorded the show off the Guide, but I recorded it "live," and none of the buffer was saved (which is what I expected from my Series 2, but not on my Series 3 [if as is said the system version doesn't matter]). The only thing I can think is that I was running low on hard disk space, but even then I would expect the TiVo to erase an old show and keep chugging along, saving buffers and all.

[TishTash]

Can't you just setup up a Season Pass for Lost and tell it to start 15 minutes early in the Recording Options for the SP. That way it will record and be filed as "Lost", regardless of what is airing when it starts recording.

Well, as mentioned earlier, it's my understanding that TiVo only allows recording a maximum of 10 minutes earlier (as opposed to upto 3 hours later). The ten minutes had worked pretty well until this past week. Unless Season Passes have a higher maximum "earlier" amount, it wouldn't have helped this past weekend. (But thanks for trying!)

[greg_burns]

Well, as mentioned earlier, it's my understanding that TiVo only allows recording a maximum of 10 minutes earlier (as opposed to upto 3 hours later). The ten minutes had worked pretty well until this past week. Unless Season Passes have a higher maximum "earlier" amount, it wouldn't have helped this past weekend. (But thanks for trying!)

You are correct. 10 minutes is the earliest it goes apparently.