Automatic soft padding running on the TiVo (new version) - Page 2

sanderton · 02-24-2006, 12:01 PM

Yes, exactly so.

tym · 02-25-2006, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhilG

It doesn't seem to matter HOW many time I read the readme, I still can't get my head around what the -auto switch does (and what would happen if you didn't specify it in sysinit.author)?

If you don't specify it, there is a chance that endpad will not start on boot (which would be a bad thing). The -auto switch removes any existing pid/lock file. If you don't use it and there is a lock file and a process with the same pid as endpad last used then endpad will think there is another copy running and quit.

Tim

PhilG · 02-25-2006, 04:09 PM

NOW it's clear!

Many thanks (and -auto added swfitly!)

scary_uk · 03-02-2006, 01:34 PM

Like many I've waited for this release of endpad, as it seems less complicated than the previous.

I've gone for quite a basic:
/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 2 -e 5 -auto

But can't get it to run after a re-boot.

My rc.sysinit.author is as follows:

/var/hack/tivoweb-wml-beta2/tivoweb
/var/hack/tivoweb-wml-beta2
/var/hack/tivoweb-wml-beta2/tivoweb
/var/hack/tivoweb-wml-beta2/endpad.tcl
/var/hack/iicsetw 0x8C 0x38 20 0x39 20 &
/var/hack/tivoweb-tcl/tivoweb
/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 2 -e 5 -auto

Fozzie · 03-02-2006, 01:43 PM

Trying to run tivoweb 3 times and endpad twice plus a folder (?) at startup doesn't look too good?!

Plus (from the readme) you've missed off ' >> /dev/null &' from the end of the endpad startup command (whichever one you decide to leave in).

And, I'd put a ' &' at the end of the tivoweb startup command (whichever one you decide to leave in).

Also, I don't think the '&' at the end of the iicsetw command is doing anything because it is not a script that is running.

scary_uk · 03-02-2006, 02:30 PM

I think it's an rc.sysinit.author that's passed thru several upgrades in hard discs.

what about.

/var/hack/tivoweb-tcl/tivoweb &
/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 2 -e 5 -auto >> /dev/null &
/var/hack/iicsetw 0x8C 0x38 20 0x39 20

I don't have joe on my tivo......can i pull the file across as binary via ftp and edit it on notepad?

Fozzie · 03-02-2006, 02:36 PM

Looks better

I'm not sure about notepad but do know that editpad lite (free download) is fine.

Edit: Or stick this on.

scary_uk · 03-02-2006, 03:12 PM

I'm downloading editpad as we speak.

I bought Tivo on day one in the UK and I kind of dip in and out of doing things to it, so anything i've previously learnt, i've forgotten when i come to work on it again.

Fired that over to the tivo, re-boot underway!

Padding.....nice!

Fozzie · 03-02-2006, 03:17 PM

Good stuff

Don't forget, you can use the endpad.config file to define the startup options as well as any combination of channel/programme/time specific options, plus negative padding

sanderton · 03-02-2006, 03:28 PM

Oh the irony of people waiting for this version, which is actually the most complicated ever with it's sophisticated config file, because the old one was too complicated!

PhilG · 03-09-2006, 04:14 PM

Something rather bizarre has happened to my endpad.msg file this week

It now looks like THIS (according to Tivoweb):

/var/log/endpad.msg/
Sunday 16:55:00 : Added 300 seconds end padding to {Stargate SG-1} on SKYONE
Sunday 18:55:00 : Added 300 seconds end padding to {The Simpsons} on SKYONE
Monday 12:25:00 : Added 300 seconds end padding to {Judge Judy} on ITV2
Monday 21:56:09 : Added 300 seconds end padding to {Extraordinary People} on FIVE
Wednesday 17:55:00 : Added 900 seconds end padding to {World Cup Biathlon} on EURGB
Thursday 09:25:00 : Added 900 seconds end padding to {World Cup Biathlon} on EURGB
dded 300 seconds end padding to {Judge Judy} on ITV2
Wednesday 15:25:00 : Added 300 seconds end padding to {The Mouse on the Moon} on C4
Thursday 12:25:00 : Added 300 seconds end padding to {Judge Judy} on ITV2

Notice the partial line that starts "dded 300 seconds ....."
Also, the entries are NOT in date/time sequence

Before I stop and restart endpad, could this be a symptom of something more sinister??

Fozzie · 03-09-2006, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sanderton

Oh the irony of people waiting for this version, which is actually the most complicated ever with it's sophisticated config file, because the old one was too complicated!

Yeah, it made me chuckle too

Having said that, negative padding for the couple of programmes that I use it on seems to be working great.

Fozzie · 03-09-2006, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhilG

...Notice the partial line that starts "dded 300 seconds ....."
Also, the entries are NOT in date/time sequence

Before I stop and restart endpad, could this be a symptom of something more sinister??

It would be better if you posted (as an attachment) the actual log file...

maxwells_daemon · 03-09-2006, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhilG

Something rather bizarre has happened to my endpad.msg file this week...

That is odd. Can you log into the TiVo and list the file (cat /var/log/endpad.msg)? That would eliminate the possibility of some TiVoWeb problem.

Did your TiVo crash in the last couple of days? (TiVoWeb info can tell you.)

PhilG · 03-10-2006, 08:31 AM

I have FTP'd my log file back up to Windows, and it DOES look like this:

Sunday 16:55:00 : Added 300 seconds end padding to {Stargate SG-1} on SKYONE
Sunday 18:55:00 : Added 300 seconds end padding to {The Simpsons} on SKYONE
Monday 12:25:00 : Added 300 seconds end padding to {Judge Judy} on ITV2
Monday 21:56:09 : Added 300 seconds end padding to {Extraordinary People} on FIVE
Wednesday 17:55:00 : Added 900 seconds end padding to {World Cup Biathlon} on EURGB
Thursday 09:25:00 : Added 900 seconds end padding to {World Cup Biathlon} on EURGB
dded 300 seconds end padding to {Judge Judy} on ITV2
Wednesday 15:25:00 : Added 300 seconds end padding to {The Mouse on the Moon} on C4
Thursday 12:25:00 : Added 300 seconds end padding to {Judge Judy} on ITV2
Thursday 21:55:00 : Added 300 seconds end padding to ER on E4
Friday 12:25:00 : Added 300 seconds end padding to {Judge Judy} on ITV2

Lines not quite in date order, and one line starting "dded ....."

As it happens, I did have an unexpected reboot on Monday evening if that explains anything

Phil G

sanderton · 03-10-2006, 09:34 AM

TCL just got itstelf mixed up flushing the file write buffer. Wouldn't stress about it.

PhilG · 03-10-2006, 10:31 AM

That's what I hoped

Tivo_stress = low

zippy7272 · 03-13-2006, 03:47 PM

I'm still having a bit of trouble

I hoping to record
Coronation street from 19:28 to 20:01
Eastenders from 20:01 to 20:30
Coronation street from 20:30 to 21:05 (unless the a program on my to do list (not a tivo suggestion))

Currently I'm using this:

-s 2 -e 5 sugeq
-p "Coronation Street" -v Mon/12:00-20:00 -s 2 -n 1 -e 5 sugeq

and I don't get Eastenders at all (luckily!? it's on again at 10pm)

Anyone any suggestions

tym · 03-13-2006, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zippy7272

I'm still having a bit of trouble

and I don't get Eastenders at all (luckily!? it's on again at 10pm)

Anyone any suggestions

Are these tivo suggestions or real recordings? Suggestions are generally removed to make space for any real recording's padding.

Can you send the relevant part of the log?

Tim

redav · 03-14-2006, 05:52 AM

I seem to be doing somthing wrong, but for the life of me I can't work it out.

I copied over the endpad.tcl file and chmod it to 755

I then started it with /var/hack/endpad.tcl -e 10 -auto >> /dev/null & in my rc.sysinit.author file, but after a few secs I get this error message in my log!

I do have my recording setting to mode 0 is this whats causing the problem?

Tuesday 10:38:28 :
Tuesday 10:38:28 : endpad.tcl 1.5.0 log file, starting up
Tuesday 10:38:28 : Start padding set to 0 seconds
Tuesday 10:38:28 : End padding set to 600 seconds
Tuesday 10:38:28 : Negative start padding set to 0 seconds
Tuesday 10:38:28 : Force Negative startpadding is 0
Tuesday 10:38:28 : Suggestions will be padded, even if that means cancelling a subsequent suggestion
Tuesday 10:38:28 : Detected TiVo software version 2.5.5-01-1-023
Tuesday 10:38:28 : Suggestion quality change disabled
Tuesday 10:38:28 : Timezone 00:00
Tuesday 10:38:28 : Sorted configuration options (last match used):-
Tuesday 10:38:28 : startpad 0 endpad 10 negpad 0 forceneg 0 maxneg -1 sugeq 1 sugqual -1
Tuesday 10:38:28 : Woken up
Tuesday 10:38:28 : Error detected
Tuesday 10:38:28 : can't read "rectype": no such variable
while executing
"if {$rectype == 3} {

# Recording active
set isrec 1

# Get details of currently recording programme
RetryTransaction ..."
Tuesday 10:38:28 : Attempting to recover
Tuesday 10:38:58 : Woken up
Tuesday 10:38:58 : Error detected
Tuesday 10:38:58 : can't read "rectype": no such variable
while executing
"if {$rectype == 3} {

# Recording active
set isrec 1

# Get details of currently recording programme
RetryTransaction ..."
Tuesday 10:38:58 : Attempting to recover
Tuesday 10:38:58 : Too many errors, stopping

redav · 03-14-2006, 08:22 AM

Hi

I've just read through the old endpad thread (well some of it anyway) and I've found the answer.

However is there no way around having to have at least 2 recordings in the TDL?

zippy7272 · 03-14-2006, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tym

Are these tivo suggestions or real recordings? Suggestions are generally removed to make space for any real recording's padding.

Can you send the relevant part of the log?

Tim

All 3 records are 'real' recordings rather than Tivo suggestions

maxwells_daemon · 03-14-2006, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fozzie

Is there a bug in the endpad.log creation:

I've started endpad with:

/var/hack/endpad.tcl -s 1 -e 4 -n 0 -f 0 -tz 0 -sugqual 75 -auto >> /dev/null &

but endpad.log has:

startpad 1 endpad 4 negpad 0 forceneg 0 maxneg -1 sugeq 1 sugqual 75

Shouldn't sugeq say '0'?

and

Quote:

Originally Posted by sanderton

Hey, a bug, and this time I don't have to fix it. Cool!

Yeah, this is a bug in the log file display. I have a fix, which I'll upload as version 1.5.1 at the head of this thread.

This behaviour was due to the fact that, internally, the sugeq flag has a default value of 1, and is set to 0 if you specify -sugeq. That's pretty ugly, but made it easier to interface the new configuration parsing with the reversed flag used elsewhere in the code, while maintaining compatibility with older versions. The new version just prints "sugeq" if the internal value is 0.

Version 1.5.1 just corrects this confusing log file message. There is no need to upgrade from version 1.5.0 unless such things bother you.

It is also rather inconsistent that you specify -sugeq as a simple option, but -f (forceneg) as 0 or 1 explicitly. It might be nice to tidy these up eventually (perhaps allowing both forms, for compatibility).

Tim.

Fozzie · 03-22-2006, 04:13 PM

Just had endpad stop on me, see attached log extract.

Anything to do with endpad or just one of those occassional database screw-ups?

Thanks.

Tim Browse · 04-03-2006, 05:54 AM

I'm just setting up my old Tivo with a new hard disk for someone in my family, and have installed endpad. I tested it by scheduling a few random programs to record.

As part of the test, two of the programs were adjacent - 'The Royal' was on from 8pm-9pm, and Poirot was on from 9pm-11pm.

However, no end-padding was added to Poirot - in the log I get entries like:

Quote:

Sunday 20:27:00 : Woken up
Sunday 20:27:00 : Recording {Agatha Christie's Poirot} on ITV1LON now
Sunday 20:27:00 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 22:00
Sunday 20:27:00 : Next recording is {Agatha Christie's Poirot} on ITV1LON at
Sunday 20:27:00 : Gap to next programme is -7200 seconds
Sunday 20:27:00 : Can't add end padding to {Agatha Christie's Poirot}
Sunday 20:27:00 : Next end padding setting due 21:55
Sunday 20:27:00 : Gap to previous recording is -7200 seconds
Sunday 20:27:00 : Can't add start padding to {Agatha Christie's Poirot}
Sunday 20:27:00 : Next start padding setting due 21:55
Sunday 20:27:00 : Next wake up will be 20:57
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal...............................

So for some reason endpad thinks the gap to the next programme is negative 2 hours - some mistake, surely?

Anyone got any ideas as to why this would happen?

Start padding was added ok to 'The Royal', btw, as you would expect.

The version I'm using was downloaded from this thread last night (v.1.5.1).

It's a pretty clean Tivo - I have ls/ps/tar/joe installed, and the autospace hack, but that's it. No Tivoweb or anything.

Tim

Fozzie · 04-03-2006, 07:01 AM

What's in the log around the time that Poirot ended?

Tim Browse · 04-03-2006, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fozzie

What's in the log around the time that Poirot ended?

Now that's odd. Well, around the time Poirot ended it's all the same, but I just noticed that endpad thinks the Tivo is still recording Poirot even after it's finished - e.g. the very last log entry mentioning Poirot is:

Quote:

Monday 01:25:22 : Woken up
Monday 01:25:22 : Recording {Agatha Christie's Poirot} on ITV1LON now
Monday 01:25:22 : Recording Scheduled End Time: 22:00
Monday 01:25:22 : Next recording is {Agatha Christie's Poirot} on ITV1LON at
Monday 01:25:22 : Gap to next programme is -7200 seconds
Monday 01:25:22 : Can't add end padding to {Agatha Christie's Poirot}
Monday 01:25:22 : Next end padding setting due 21:55
Monday 01:25:22 : Gap to previous recording is -7200 seconds
Monday 01:25:22 : Can't add start padding to {Agatha Christie's Poirot}
Monday 01:25:22 : Next start padding setting due 21:55
Monday 01:25:22 : Next wake up will be 01:25
Sleeping, checking every minute for kill signal..

So that's at least an hour and a half after it's supposed to be finished (or possibly 2.5 hrs - the times in the log seem to use DST/don't use DST in different places).

How strange.

This bit is odd, too:

Quote:

Next recording is {Agatha Christie's Poirot} on ITV1LON

I think there was only one episode of Poirot on that evening - the Tivo certainly only recorded one, anyway.

Tim

Fozzie · 04-03-2006, 07:21 PM

That's a completely different showing; the part of the log showing the previous recording is the one I need to see to be able to make a comment (around 2200hrs). The log always uses GMT (1hr behind DST). Perhaps it would be easier if you just posted the whole log file as a .txt attachment?

sanderton · 04-04-2006, 04:44 AM

You can get some odd behaviour with EndPad on an "empty" TiVo as it looks a couple of recordings in advance in normal operation. I don't know how 1.5 handles this, but 1.4 just broke!

Tim Browse · 04-06-2006, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fozzie

That's a completely different showing; the part of the log showing the previous recording is the one I need to see to be able to make a comment (around 2200hrs). The log always uses GMT (1hr behind DST). Perhaps it would be easier if you just posted the whole log file as a .txt attachment?

The reason I showed that is because it kept saying the same thing for hours - so I picked one of the last ones to show that it thought the recording was still going on hours after it had finished.

Anyway, it seems to be ok now, so perhaps Sanderton's comment about empty Tivos is on the mark - I made sure I had at least 2 items in the To Do list, as recommended before checking to see if endpad was working, but maybe not having any recordings is an issue too.

I'm afraid the log's been cycled now, so it's gone - sorry.