Automatic soft padding running on the TiVo - Page 38

Fozzie · 10-02-2005, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwaring

Which error log (there are quite a few!) should I be looking in?

Errr, the endpad.log. (And before you ask, you can view it from Tivoweb by clicking on the 'logs' menu item).

You haven't actually said whether the change I suggested earlier has got it running? Have you done a 'ps ax' from the BASH prompt to see if is running as a process? What does the endpad log say? Have you tried running it from the BASH prompt (this should be normal practise prior to putting it in a startup file, to make sure you get the command syntax correct and don't hang the TiVo)?

cwaring · 10-02-2005, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fozzie

Errr, the endpad.log. (And before you ask, you can view it from Tivoweb by clicking on the 'logs' menu item).

Can't see an 'endpag.log' in the logs. I assume that means that maybe it's installed as properly as I thought?

Quote:

You haven't actually said whether the change I suggested earlier has got it running?

No I didn't, sorry. However it didn't help.

Quote:

Have you done a 'ps ax' from the BASH prompt to see if is running as a process?

"command not found". Something I've not installed?

Quote:

Have you tried running it from the BASH prompt (this should be normal practise prior to putting it in a startup file, to make sure you get the command syntax correct and don't hang the TiVo)?

Again, something I never thought of. Suppose I should have!

Anyway, this is the result of running it as you suggest:

Code:

TiVo: {/var/hack} % ./endpad.tcl -s 2 -e 5
EndPad v1.4.2-md4 (c) 2004 Stuart Anderton
Strictly no commercial distribution
See file header for terms of use and distribution
Switching to background...
TiVo: {/var/hack} %

I'm guessing that that is normal so there is a problem with the .author file? Maybe it's not pointing to where it should. I'll check that now and report back.

Thank-you for your assistance.

A few minutes (and one reboot) later:

Well, I checked the .author file and there was a couple of extraneous characters in there. Corrected and re-booted but I still don't think it's loaded as the log file only goes up until 15:21 which is when I re-booted.

Fozzie · 10-02-2005, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwaring

"command not found". Something I've not installed?

'ls' & 'ps' available from >>here<<

(I'm assuming you've done everything >>here<< - particularly sections 4, 6, 7 & 8)

cwaring · 10-02-2005, 01:04 PM

Darn! Knew there was something I'd forgotten. I've downloaded his SP Backup but meant to go back for the other two

sanderton · 10-02-2005, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwaring

"command not found". Something I've not installed?

This doesn't seem to be a problem with EndPad as such; can I suggest that this discussion takes place in Carl's thread, where he can complete the set of re-iterating every hacking thread on the board.

cwaring · 10-02-2005, 01:14 PM

I never for one moment thought the hack was the problem. I'm not Captain Whatever-his-name-was

Oh, and I'm sorry for taking up your thread with my lack of knowledge

Fozzie · 10-02-2005, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sanderton

This doesn't seem to be a problem with EndPad as such; can I suggest that this discussion takes place in Carl's thread, where he can complete the set of re-iterating every hacking thread on the board.

Good point! You mean there's other threads that cover all this?

cwaring · 10-02-2005, 01:23 PM

I do so sincerly apologise for messing up your thread with my lack on Linux skills.

Of course, the fact that the more knowledgable on this board can write TCL and know everything about Linux and has a few years more experience of hacking Tivo than me is totally by-the-by

sanderton · 10-02-2005, 01:40 PM

I think we thought you might have picked up a few things having been reading the board every day for however many years it is now!

cwaring · 10-02-2005, 02:29 PM

I have indeed picked up a lot of things. However, as hacking and Linux have both been of no interest until now, I didn't bother reading those threads that relate to hacks.

Also, I knew there'd be problems like this. Hence my past hesitance. I was hoping for some support from my friends on this board, not chastising for asking what may be about simple stuff for those who know what to do when things go wrong; as I do with my PC but know nothing about Linux

For example, I was going to ask where I should put the afore-mentioned "PS" file so I don't put it somewhere that might break my Tivo but I daren't now for fear of ridicule

Anyway, I shall leave this thread for posts relating exclusively to errors with Endpad itself

sanderton · 10-02-2005, 05:03 PM

The last part is the important one. We're all very happy to help back in your own thread!

alpriest · 10-03-2005, 11:22 AM

Hi,
I've had a look over this thread and i'm going to install endpad tonight. Could someone confirm that the latest version is endpad-1.4.2-md4.zip as detailed here

Thanks
Al

Ian_m · 10-03-2005, 11:30 AM

I have been running md3 since release no problem. Padding works.

I think md4 added per programme name padding in the config file, which is nice and I will get round to installing one day.

alpriest · 10-04-2005, 04:50 AM

md4 worked perfectly straight out of the box (apart from the /dev/null bit in the readme).

Thanks.

maxwells_daemon · 10-06-2005, 09:03 PM

Here's a new version that I am testing. It has a number of improvements (including a couple that tym sent me):-

a) stop a suggestion's endpad encroaching on a recording's startpad, and cancel a suggestion that overlaps the following recording's startpad. [from tym]

b) remove case sensitivity from channel names comparison (a better way to fix this). [from tym]

c) allow selection by the day of week, eg. to select an end padding of 20 minutes from Saturday 7:30pm to Sunday 5am, you can specify in endpad.config:

Code:

validity Sat/19:30-05:00 endpad 20

d) We once more have a well-defined order of precedence of selection options. It is (highest to lowest, with higher overruling lower):-

1) channel-specific settings (in config file)
2) programme-specific settings (in config file)
3) weekday-specific settings (in config file)
4) time-dependent settings (in config file)
5) command-line settings (all global)
6) global settings in config file

If there happens to be more than one setting that applies at any one level, the last one specified (in the config file or on the command line) is used.

This might seem a bit arcane, but in most cases it does what you expect, eg.

Code:

programme {Doctor Who} validity Sat/19-20 endpad 30
programme {Doctor Who} endpad 20
validity Sat endpad 10

will use a 20-minute end padding for Doctor Who, even if it's on a Saturday, unless it starts between 7 and 8pm, when a 30 minute endpad is used. Other programmes on Saturday use 10 minutes.

e) Log file rotation happens at midnight local time (according to the -tz setting).

f) I fixed the /dev/null path in the docs

Tim.

sanderton · 10-07-2005, 04:41 AM

Re: a) - it did that anyway?

tym · 10-07-2005, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sanderton

Re: a) - it did that anyway?

Not in my experience... on my system startpadding seemed to be missing some of the time (which no adjacent recording) - there appeared to be nothing in the code to handle things differently if the current recording is a suggestion, so the addtional code cancels the suggestion and does the startpadding before the suggestion starts recording.

Tym

sanderton · 10-07-2005, 09:53 AM

Ah yes, thanks for the memory jog - there's a reason for that. If you try to cancel a currently recording show and then extend the start padding of the next show to overlap the current show the results are, ahem, unpredictable. I've seen the TiVo crash, but most often I've seen the user set show fail to record as it gets confused about the overlap. It's possible that there is a way of doing it without these issues, but I didn't find one easily and therefore the EndPad code plays it safe and never cancels a recording which is actually recording already,

tym · 10-07-2005, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sanderton

EndPad code plays it safe and never cancels a recording which is actually recording already,

The new code preserves this. A not yet recording suggestion is cancelled if it will overlap the startpad of the subsequent real recording. It will then immediately add the startpad to the real recording to avoid another overlapping suggestion being scheduled.

Tim

sanderton · 10-08-2005, 05:21 AM

The just-in-time setup of EndPad means that it only adds start padding a couple of minutes before the show+padding is due to start. Any suggestion before it will therefore be already recording.

tym · 10-08-2005, 08:57 AM

The suggestion that will overlap the startpadding of a real recording is cancelled before the suggestion starts recording. If a suggestion is already recording it will not be cancelled, but this is unlikely as a check is made at each wake up. This changes the just-in-time behaviour slightly to ensure start padding occurs, which is not a big problem in my opinion...

sanderton · 10-08-2005, 12:38 PM

sanderton · 10-17-2005, 10:48 AM

Hey, TiVo have added negative padding to v. 7.2.1:

Fozzie · 10-17-2005, 12:44 PM

So c'mon Stuart - what's your excuse now?!

petestrash · 10-18-2005, 03:25 PM

Hi,

I have been running endpad.tcl 1.4.2-md3 for about a month now without any problems on a few Series 1 TiVo's.

The last few days on just one TiVo some of the validity rules have been ignored and the global padding settings used instead.

This TiVo has a current up time of 9 days (but this issue only started a couple of days ago). I have not touched the config file since it was setup.

I have attached the relevant parts of the log for one missed event (the only one today).

Code:

Tuesday 00:25:01 : endpad.tcl 1.4.2-md3 log file, log rotated
Tuesday 00:25:01 : Start padding set to 60 seconds
Tuesday 00:25:01 : End padding set to 300 seconds
Tuesday 00:25:01 : Suggestions will not be padded if another suggestion immediately follows them
Tuesday 00:25:01 : Detected TiVo software version 3.0-01-1-000
Tuesday 00:25:01 : Suggestion quality change disabled
Tuesday 00:25:01 : Timezone 00:00
Tuesday 00:25:01 : Configuration options:-
Tuesday 00:25:01 : default: endpad 5 sugeq 0 sugqual -1 startpad 1
Tuesday 00:25:01 : channel 7CEN validity 20:00-22:00 endpad 18 sugeq 0 sugqual -1 startpad 1
Tuesday 00:25:01 : channel 7CEN validity 22:01-06:00 endpad 20 sugeq 0 sugqual -1 startpad 1
Tuesday 00:25:01 : channel GWN-WA validity 20:00-22:00 endpad 18 sugeq 0 sugqual -1 startpad 1
Tuesday 00:25:01 : channel GWN-WA validity 22:01-06:00 endpad 20 sugeq 0 sugqual -1 startpad 1
Tuesday 00:25:01 : channel IMP validity 20:00-22:00 endpad 18 sugeq 0 sugqual -1 startpad 1
Tuesday 00:25:01 : channel IMP validity 22:01-06:00 endpad 20 sugeq 0 sugqual -1 startpad 1
Tuesday 00:25:01 : channel WIN-WA validity 20:00-22:00 endpad 18 sugeq 0 sugqual -1 startpad 1
Tuesday 00:25:01 : channel WIN-WA validity 22:01-06:00 endpad 20 sugeq 0 sugqual -1 startpad 1
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal............................... 
...SNIP...
Tuesday 22:55:00 : Woken up
Tuesday 22:55:00 : Recording {Last Man Standing} on GWN-WA now
Tuesday 22:55:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 23:00
Tuesday 22:55:00 : Next recording is Cunnamulla on ABC-WA at 00:30
Tuesday 22:55:00 : Gap to next programme is 5400 seconds
Tuesday 22:55:00 : Added 300 seconds end padding to {Last Man Standing} on GWN-WA 
Tuesday 22:55:00 : Next end padding setting due 01:55
Tuesday 22:55:00 : Not time to add start padding yet
Tuesday 22:55:00 : Next start padding setting due 00:28
Tuesday 22:55:00 : Next wake up will be 23:25

Even though I have channel GWN-WA set for 'validity 22:01-06:00 endpad 20', at 22:55 only the global 5 minutes endpading was added not 20.

As I have said this has been running fine for a month and still fine on another couple of machines. Just thought I'd point it out FYI.

I have stopped and restarted endpad and so far seems ok again.

Peter

cwaring · 10-18-2005, 04:51 PM

Can't help with your problem, but I just have to ask

You really have to set some channels to 20 minutes end padding? They over-run that much? Often?

petestrash · 10-18-2005, 09:39 PM

Those channels are every night! Usually about 15 minutes, but I set 20 to be safe.

one of the channels even has a 15 minute filler scheduled each day around 5:00am, needless to say it is rarely actually shown. They just drop the filler each day to fix the time before 6:00am.

It's a game the stations play, they run their primetime shows long hoping that you miss enough of the next show on a different station that you will be forced to stay on the current station. Thank heavens for multiple TiVo's

Peter.

cwaring · 10-19-2005, 04:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by petestrash

It's a game the stations play, they run their primetime shows long hoping that you miss enough of the next show on a different station that you will be forced to stay on the current station.

They do that over here too, but never by that long! 5 mins max.

mike0151 · 10-19-2005, 04:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwaring

They do that over here too, but never by that long! 5 mins max.

Apart from when they run 10 minutes late

cwaring · 10-19-2005, 07:46 AM

Of course

What I meant was that the "norm" is to over-run by a relatively small amount. To my knowledge (and barring LIVE events or extended news coverage) no UK channel has ever deliberately over-run by your stated ten minutes just because they felt like it.