Automatic soft padding running on the TiVo

[somegeeza]

Many thanks, right-clicking and saving to target works fine.

Andy

[maxwells_daemon]

Hi sanderton,

Thanks for the nice module. I just installed it, so I'll have to see how it goes, but from your documentation it looks just the sort of thing I've always wanted - and nicely coded too.

If I understand it correctly, endpad applies the same padding to all programs (where it can), regardless of what channel they are on. Right? I was wondering whether one could apply different padding to different channels, eg. -e 15 for BBC and -s 1 for SKYONE (that's like what I usually used when I did it by hand).

If you like, I could give it a go. I know tcl quite well, but haven't done anything for the TiVo, so I don't know how easy that might be. What do you think? Sorry if this has already been discussed and I didn't notice among the 991 posts!

Thanks,
Tim.

[sanderton]

It has been; it is perfectly possible; I don't need it (and not that many folks seemed bothered) so haven't done it.

Feel free!

[maxwells_daemon]

Hi Stuart,

OK, my modified version is attached (or if, like me, you prefer to be able to download and unpack directly on the TiVo, you can get the tar.gz file here). It has run OK on my TiVo for the last couple of days, so I thought I'd post it for you and other people to try if you are interested.

This new version can read an endpad.config file (from the same directory as endpad.tcl - or you can specify another location with the -config option) with lines like

endpad 2
channel BBC1STH,BBC2STH,BBC4 endpad 15
channel SKYONE startpad 1

which adds 15 minutes' end padding on BBC programs, and 2 minutes for everything else. It also adds 1 minute's start padding on SKYONE programs. The global "endpad 2" line is equivalent to the "-e 2" command-line option. This means that all the settings can go in endpad.config so it can be started without any options (except, if needed, -auto -stop -debug or -config, of course).

The configuration file allows you to specify any of the endpad options separately for each channel, ie. "startpad", "endpad", "sugqual" (suggestion recording quality), and "sugeq" (disabling soft padding-prompted suggestion cancellation). Any that aren't specified, default to the command-line or global options.

I also took the liberty of making a few other small improvements to endpad.tcl.

1) Explicit help option (-? or -help).

2) Separate activity summary log in /var/log/endpad.msg. This shows just the actions that EndPad took, so you don't have wade past all the details of its calculations in endpad.log. This logfile is rotated weekly, so you get a longer view. The activity messages now include the channel name and whether the program is a suggestion.

3) New -debug option runs in the foreground with messages going to the screen and a kill signal check every 5 seconds.

4) For compatibility between the configuration file and the command-line options, -s and -e can be specified as -startpad and -endpad respectively (and vice versa for the configuration file).

5) When spawning into the background, use the same tivosh as was used to run endpad.tcl. This allows one to do a few tests on a PC by specifying tclsh explicitly.

I named this version 1.4.1-md1 to distinguish it from your latest. If you approve of these changes, feel free to include them in any future version you make (and you can drop the "-md1" suffix).

This probably does all I wanted for the moment. The configuration file format was designed to allow additional selections (eg. by time period, season pass, or wishlist). One possibility would be to allow TivoWeb to update the file and hence schedule soft padding from the Season Pass or To Do list. I might take a look at that if there were sufficient interest (anyone?) - and if you didn't want to run with it (I don't want to tread on your toes, Stuart).

Tim.

[maxwells_daemon]

To give an example, here is a snippet from my /var/log/endpad.msg (with the endpad.config settings I gave in my last post).

Tuesday 16:25:00 :  Added 120 seconds end padding to Seinfeld on PARCOM2 (Suggestion)
Tuesday 17:00:00 :  Added 900 seconds end padding to {Party Election Broadcast by the Conservative Party} on BBC2STH 
Tuesday 18:58:00 :  Added 60 seconds start padding to {Star Trek: Enterprise} on SKYONE 
Tuesday 21:45:00 :  Added 120 seconds end padding to {Judge John Deed} on UKDRMA

It would have added 120 seconds end padding to Enterprise, but Judge John Deed came immediately after.

I should point out that my TiVo is usually a good left-wing PVR and the Conservatives' election broadcast was only included for political balance.

Tim.

[sanderton]

No toe-treading Tim; as far as I'm concerned EndPad development is complete. Free free to take it on and run with extra features, so long as the licence is not changed. I'm happy for you to increment version numbers.

I will however leave the version in the top post as-is, as it's stable, tested with over 1,000 users for over a year, and therefore useful for people who don't want development code controlling their TiVo.

[iankb]

Just in case you're wondering, there is interest in allowing for variable time-slots. e.g. Increase the padding on ITV after 8pm.

Of course, what I really want is increased padding on ITV after they show a routinely (and intentionally) overrun episode of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire'.

[pmk]

For some reason last night Hit More Baby 1 More Time result show was not recorded at 20:15. This show was in my To Do list and the EndPad log below mentions it once but it was ignored and Doctor Who Confidential got 15 mins of end padding instead of HMB1MT being recorded?

Can anyone suggest a method of finding out what happened?

TIA

Saturday 18:42:00 : Woken up
Saturday 18:42:00 : Recording {Doctor Who} on BBC1NW now
Saturday 18:42:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 18:45
Saturday 18:42:00 : Next recording is {Doctor Who Confidential} on BBC3 at 18:45
Saturday 18:42:00 : Gap to next programme is 0 seconds
Saturday 18:42:00 : Can't add end padding to {Doctor Who}
Saturday 18:42:00 : Next end padding setting due 19:10
Saturday 18:42:00 : Gap to previous recording is 0 seconds
Saturday 18:42:00 : Can't add start padding to {Doctor Who Confidential}
Saturday 18:42:00 : Next start padding setting due 19:10
Saturday 18:42:00 : Next wake up will be 19:10
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal.............................
Saturday 19:10:00 : Woken up
Saturday 19:10:00 : Recording {Doctor Who Confidential} on BBC3 now
Saturday 19:10:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:15
Saturday 19:10:00 : Next recording is {Hit Me Baby One More Time} on ITV1GRA at 19:15
Saturday 19:10:00 : Gap to next programme is 0 seconds
Saturday 19:10:00 : Added 870 seconds end padding to {Doctor Who Confidential}
Saturday 19:10:00 : Next end padding setting due 19:25
Saturday 19:10:00 : Not time to add start padding yet
Saturday 19:10:00 : Next start padding setting due 19:12
Saturday 19:10:00 : Next wake up will be 19:12
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal...
Saturday 19:12:00 : Woken up
Saturday 19:12:00 : Recording {Doctor Who Confidential} on BBC3 now
Saturday 19:12:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:29
Saturday 19:12:00 : Next recording is {Click Online} on BBC24 at 19:30
Saturday 19:12:00 : Not time to add end padding yet
Saturday 19:12:00 : Next end padding setting due 19:24
Saturday 19:12:00 : Not time to add start padding yet
Saturday 19:12:00 : Next start padding setting due 19:27
Saturday 19:12:00 : Next wake up will be 19:24
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal..............
Saturday 19:24:30 : Woken up
Saturday 19:24:30 : Recording {Doctor Who Confidential} on BBC3 now
Saturday 19:24:30 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:29
Saturday 19:24:30 : Next recording is {Click Online} on BBC24 at 19:30
Saturday 19:24:30 : Gap to next programme is 900 seconds
Saturday 19:24:30 : Added 900 seconds end padding to {Doctor Who Confidential}
Saturday 19:24:30 : Next end padding setting due 19:55
Saturday 19:24:30 : Not time to add start padding yet
Saturday 19:24:30 : Next start padding setting due 19:27
Saturday 19:24:30 : Next wake up will be 19:27
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal....
Saturday 19:27:00 : Woken up
Saturday 19:27:01 : Recording {Doctor Who Confidential} on BBC3 now
Saturday 19:27:01 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:30
Saturday 19:27:01 : Next recording is {Click Online} on BBC24 at 19:30
Saturday 19:27:01 : No end padding required:
Saturday 19:27:01 : End padding of 900 seconds already set
Saturday 19:27:01 : Next end padding setting due 19:55
Saturday 19:27:01 : Gap to previous recording is 0 seconds
Saturday 19:27:01 : Can't add start padding to {Click Online}
Saturday 19:27:01 : Next start padding setting due 19:55
Saturday 19:27:01 : Next wake up will be 19:55
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal.............................
Saturday 19:55:00 : Woken up
Saturday 19:55:00 : Recording {Click Online} on BBC24 now
Saturday 19:55:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 20:00
Saturday 19:55:00 : Next recording is {Crazy Drivers} on FTN (Suggestion) at 20:30
Saturday 19:55:00 : Gap to next programme is 1800 seconds
Saturday 19:55:00 : Added 900 seconds end padding to {Click Online}
Saturday 19:55:00 : Next end padding setting due 20:55
Saturday 19:55:00 : Not time to add start padding yet
Saturday 19:55:00 : Next start padding setting due 20:27
Saturday 19:55:00 : Next wake up will be 20:25
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal...............................

[lcsneil]

I suppose the question is what version of EndPad?

Sanderton's or Maxwells_deamon?


Neil

[sanderton]

No idea at all. That log looks very odd. Seems to have added 14 and half minutes padding, then added another 15 on top (making 29 and half in total), while cancelling non suggestions.

It shouldn't do that, and I've never seen it, or seen it reported before.

I haven't the least idea why it would do that. I can only think that the guide data for Dr Who Confidential was really, really odd in some way, or some kind of memeory glitch screwed up EndPad's varaiables.

[maxwells_daemon]

Originally Posted by lcsneil

I suppose the question is what version of EndPad?
Sanderton's or Maxwells_deamon?

It's Sanderton's (the log messages would have been different - I added the channel name to some of them), though I doubt the bug is restricted to that version, since I only made small changes to the logic.

[6022tivo]

Could it be it is running twice one time with 14 mins padding and another with 15, both ammending to the log file??

[pmk]

Can anyone tell me what command I should use to see what processes are running via telnet? I can then check if nothing is running more than once. I doubt this however as nothing has been changed for months.

TIA

[6022tivo]

at a bash prompt type

ps -ax



to kill a process type

kill -9 ****

where **** is the process ID

[maxwells_daemon]

As 6022tivo suggests, you can use

ps ax

to list processes. One of them should have "endpad.tcl" as part of the command string. There shouldn't be two.

However I would urge you not to kill endpad with the kill command. That can cause your TiVo to reboot. Instead, create a file endpad.kill in the directory where endpad.tcl is located. After a few minutes, all endpad processes should have stopped (you can see in the logfile).

If you don't have "ps" installed on your TiVo, you can get it from Craig Leres' page (or a newer port from my page, but that comes as part of a bigger package).

[sanderton]

The 14 1/2 minutes is a/the clue I think.

Endpad checks the start time of the next but one show as well when adding padding. For it have reduced that time by 30 seconds, there must have been a show scheduled to start 14:30 after the start of Hit me Baby One More Time. That show would have forced the recording of HMB1MT to be cancelled as it is 15 mins long.

Looks to me like the datbase got itself well confused over a period of minutes. I don't think that was directly caused by EndPad - I can't see how it could "imagine" a show starting 14.30 later - but it being busy accessing the database at the time may have added to the confusion.

I'd just restart your Tivo.

[pmk]

ps showed only one copy of endpad running.

Thanks I will restart my TiVo just in case - luckily I noticed HMB1T had not started recording and managed to see the last 2 minutes so I know who won.

Cheers

[pmk]

Originally Posted by pmk

luckily I noticed HMB1T had not started recording and managed to see the last 2 minutes so I know who won.

Same problem happened yesterday except this time I did not manage to catch it so I do not know who won. I use 2 min starting and 15 min end padding. Could there be a problem if the program you are trying to record matches the length of the end padding? Appears funny the problem seems to be reproducible?

TIA

Saturday 18:42:00 : Woken up
Saturday 18:42:00 : Recording {Doctor Who} on BBC1NW now
Saturday 18:42:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 18:45
Saturday 18:42:00 : Next recording is {Doctor Who Confidential} on BBC3 at 18:45
Saturday 18:42:00 : Gap to next programme is 0 seconds
Saturday 18:42:00 : Can't add end padding to {Doctor Who}
Saturday 18:42:00 : Next end padding setting due 19:10
Saturday 18:42:00 : Gap to previous recording is 0 seconds
Saturday 18:42:00 : Can't add start padding to {Doctor Who Confidential}
Saturday 18:42:00 : Next start padding setting due 19:10
Saturday 18:42:00 : Next wake up will be 19:10
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal.............................
Saturday 19:10:00 : Woken up
Saturday 19:10:00 : Recording {Doctor Who Confidential} on BBC3 now
Saturday 19:10:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:15
Saturday 19:10:00 : Next recording is {Hit Me Baby One More Time} on ITV1GRA at 19:15
Saturday 19:10:00 : Gap to next programme is 0 seconds
Saturday 19:10:00 : Added 870 seconds end padding to {Doctor Who Confidential}
Saturday 19:10:00 : Next end padding setting due 19:25
Saturday 19:10:00 : Not time to add start padding yet
Saturday 19:10:00 : Next start padding setting due 19:12
Saturday 19:10:00 : Next wake up will be 19:12
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal...
Saturday 19:12:00 : Woken up
Saturday 19:12:01 : Recording {Doctor Who Confidential} on BBC3 now
Saturday 19:12:01 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:29
Saturday 19:12:01 : Next recording is {Click Online} on BBC24 at 19:30
Saturday 19:12:01 : Not time to add end padding yet
Saturday 19:12:01 : Next end padding setting due 19:24
Saturday 19:12:01 : Not time to add start padding yet
Saturday 19:12:01 : Next start padding setting due 19:27
Saturday 19:12:01 : Next wake up will be 19:24
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal..............
Saturday 19:24:30 : Woken up
Saturday 19:24:30 : Recording {Doctor Who Confidential} on BBC3 now
Saturday 19:24:30 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:29
Saturday 19:24:30 : Next recording is {Click Online} on BBC24 at 19:30
Saturday 19:24:30 : Gap to next programme is 900 seconds
Saturday 19:24:30 : Added 900 seconds end padding to {Doctor Who Confidential}
Saturday 19:24:30 : Next end padding setting due 19:55
Saturday 19:24:30 : Not time to add start padding yet
Saturday 19:24:30 : Next start padding setting due 19:27
Saturday 19:24:30 : Next wake up will be 19:27
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal....
Saturday 19:27:00 : Woken up
Saturday 19:27:00 : Recording {Doctor Who Confidential} on BBC3 now
Saturday 19:27:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 19:30
Saturday 19:27:00 : Next recording is {Click Online} on BBC24 at 19:30
Saturday 19:27:00 : No end padding required:
Saturday 19:27:00 : End padding of 900 seconds already set
Saturday 19:27:00 : Next end padding setting due 19:55
Saturday 19:27:00 : Gap to previous recording is 0 seconds
Saturday 19:27:00 : Can't add start padding to {Click Online}
Saturday 19:27:00 : Next start padding setting due 19:55
Saturday 19:27:00 : Next wake up will be 19:55
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal.............................
Saturday 19:55:00 : Woken up
Saturday 19:55:00 : Recording {Click Online} on BBC24 now
Saturday 19:55:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 20:00
Saturday 19:55:00 : Next recording is {CSI: NY} on FIVE (Suggestion) at 20:25
Saturday 19:55:00 : Gap to next programme is 1500 seconds
Saturday 19:55:00 : Added 900 seconds end padding to {Click Online}
Saturday 19:55:00 : Next end padding setting due 21:20
Saturday 19:55:00 : Not time to add start padding yet
Saturday 19:55:00 : Next start padding setting due 20:22
Saturday 19:55:00 : Next wake up will be 20:22
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal............................

[sanderton]

Got it! Found the bug-ger. 1.4.2 is now in the top post.

For those who have forked the code, the issue in line 439:

if {[expr $cendtime - $cexistingendpadding + $endpadding] >= [expr $longstop - 30]} {

which should read:

if {[expr $cendtime - $cexistingendpadding + $endpadtoset] >= [expr $longstop - 30]} {

The bug would only manifest itself if a recording was followed by another the EXACT length of the padding AND another recording was due IMMEDIATELY after that.

Sorry Pmk! For the 1,355 folks who downloaded 1.4.1 - if your padding is only a few mins this is incredibly unlikley to happen, so you are pretty safe sticking with the old version if you want.

[pmk]

Originally Posted by sanderton

Sorry Pmk!

No problem, I love EndPad and could not live without it. I am just pleased I could help in some little way by providing feedback. Thats two odd bugs solved for people who use long end padding. Who counting though

[sanderton]

You may remember that I asked that if you use EndPad you consider making an appropriate donation to charity.

There is now a link through which you can make a donation to Cancer Reasearch if you use and enjoy EndPad:

http://www.justgiving.com/brigid

This link is for donations in memory of a friend of mine who died from breast cancer just before Christmas. She was 39 and had two young children.

Please put "EndPad" in the comment if you make a donation.

Thank you.

[Fozzie]

Done. (Thanks for the reminder Stuart). A worthy cause.

[6022tivo]

I lost my wife earlier this year after she contracted MRSA during a stay in hospital. We also have two children, one who is my avartar (with a wig on!!). Don't know the full family situation, but we are dealing with this, best we can, and I can understand in some small way what Brigid's family are going though. I have sent across a donation, only small, but every little helps I suppose.

Thanks again for the great module Stuart.

[staffie2001uk]

I had an unexpected reboot whilst fine tuning DailyMail and cron since when EndPad will not run. I am getting the following when I run it from the command line.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

> exec /tvbin/tivosh /var/hack/endpad/endpad.tcl -s 1 -e sugqual 75 -sugeq
EndPad v1.4.1 (c) 2004 Stuart Anderton
Strictly no commercial distribution
See file header for terms of use and distribution
Switching to background...
couldn't execute "/var/hack/endpad/endpad.tcl": no such file or directory
while executing
"exec $argv0 $argv -run >>& $errfile &"
(file "/var/hack/endpad/endpad.tcl" line 521)

[sanderton]

The clue is in the error: "couldn't execute "/var/hack/endpad/endpad.tcl": no such file or directory" - have you checked to see if you still have a /var /hack directiory?

[staffie2001uk]

Stuart

Yes, /var/hack is still there. In fact, it is an error from a line in the file it is claiming is not there! It is the line that calls EndPad in the background.

I don't have a clue what the problem is, but I'm certain it's not a fault with EndPad, it's a linux issue. I could be wrong though.

When I first installed EndPad, I am pretty certain I could run in from the bash prompt in telnet without having to use exec and specify the shell. Again. my memory could be faulty.

Colin.

[maxwells_daemon]

Originally Posted by staffie2001uk

> exec /tvbin/tivosh /var/hack/endpad/endpad.tcl -s 1 -e sugqual 75 -sugeq
EndPad v1.4.1 (c) 2004 Stuart Anderton
Strictly no commercial distribution
See file header for terms of use and distribution
Switching to background...
couldn't execute "/var/hack/endpad/endpad.tcl": no such file or directory
    while executing
"exec $argv0 $argv -run >>& $errfile &"
    (file "/var/hack/endpad/endpad.tcl" line 521)

Perhaps your /var/hack/endpad/endpad.tcl doesn't have execute mode. Try

chmod 755 /var/hack/endpad/endpad.tcl

Also, I'm not sure about the way you are running the command. Why exec it? Why specify /tvbin/tivosh explicitly (except as a way of trying to get round the lack of execute mode)? And I think you are missing the number on the -e option. I would use something like

/var/hack/endpad/endpad.tcl -s 1 -e 5 -sugqual 75 -sugeq

By the way, in my modified endpad.tcl, I changed the background switch to use

exec [info nameofexecutable] [info script] $argv -run >>& $errfile &

to ensure that the background process was started in the same way as the main one. That works even if endpad.tcl doesn't have execute mode (assuming you got it to run in the first place with /tvbin/tivosh).

Tim.

[staffie2001uk]

endpad should have execute mode, I have chmodded it.

Originally Posted by maxwells_daemon

By the way, in my modified endpad.tcl, I changed the background switch to use

exec [info nameofexecutable] [info script] $argv -run >>& $errfile &

to ensure that the background process was started in the same way as the main one. That works even if endpad.tcl doesn't have execute mode (assuming you got it to run in the first place with /tvbin/tivosh).

Tim.

As shown below, the file error goes if substitute your code for the original, but the after "switching to background..." appears the prompt does not reappear until I hit [Return].

TiVo: {/var/hack/endpad} > ls
endpad.err endpad.tcl
TiVo: {/var/hack/endpad} > chmod 755 ./endpad.tcl
TiVo: {/var/hack/endpad} > ls -l
total 25
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 0 May 31 20:44 endpad.err
-rwxr-xr-x 1 0 0 23951 Jun 9 16:03 endpad.tcl
TiVo: {/var/hack/endpad} > exec /tvbin/tivosh /var/hack/endpad/endpad.tcl -s 1 -
e 10 -sugqual 75 -sugeq
EndPad v1.4.1 (c) 2004 Stuart Anderton
Strictly no commercial distribution
See file header for terms of use and distribution
Switching to background...
TiVo: {/var/hack} >

Originally Posted by maxwells_daemon

Also, I'm not sure about the way you are running the command. Why exec it? Why specify /tvbin/tivosh explicitly (except as a way of trying to get round the lack of execute mode)?

I agree, I don't think I should need to specify exec or the shell, I just get a "No such file or directory" error. When I can see the file is present, has execute set and can be run specifically by specifiying the shell.

TiVo: {/var/hack/endpad} > ls -l
total 25
-rw-r--r-- 1 0 0 0 May 31 20:44 endpad.err
-rwxr-xr-x 1 0 0 23951 Jun 9 16:03 endpad.tcl
TiVo: {/var/hack/endpad} > ./endpad.tcl -s 1 -e 10 -sugqual 75 -sugeq
bash: ./endpad.tcl: No such file or directory
TiVo: {/var/hack/endpad} > /var/hack/endpad/endpad.tcl -s 1 -e 10 -sugqual 75 -sugeq
bash: /var/hack/endpad/endpad.tcl: No such file or directory
TiVo: {/var/hack/endpad} >

Very, very puzzled, but I am sure it is a linux issue and I know to little to figure it out.

Colin.

[LJ]

Try deleting the file from the TiVo and then re-FTPing it across making sure you're in binary mode.

Something like this should run it ok:

/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 1 -e 3 -auto >> /dev/null &

[sanderton]

I think, Mr J, that you may have identified the problem.