recording second showing when first showing fails

PedjaR said:

I had a series recording fail due to no signal or something like that (probably SDV issue). Much to my surprise, Tivo did not pick up the next showing of the same episode (2 or 3 hours later), and the Recording History indicates that it was because the same episode was recorded/scheduled within 28 days. Is this a bug, or is it because Tivo needs more than a couple of hours to recalculate stuff and figure out that the episode was not actually recorded, and it needs to pick up the next showing? I can not check whether it figured it by now, as no other future showing exists. It seems quite lame not to do the recalc on the spot when a recording fails.

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Did it record absolutely nothing, so that there was no entry for the show in the Now Playing List? I'm OTA only, and when that happens to me (due to a channel being off the air) the TiVo will try to pick up the next showing on that channel or (if there are no more) the next showing on a lower priority season pass for a different channel. It takes a little while for it to notice, but 2 or 3 hours should be more than enough. It won't record from a different channel if there is another showing scheduled on the higher priority channel, even if that isn't for another day or two.

Being OTA only, I wish the TiVo would keep track of error counts and allow the next showing of the same episode to be recorded automatically if the uncorrected error count exceeds some threshold. Poor reception conditions (storms or whatever) can cause me to get a recording that is there, but too glitchy to be viewable.

L David Matheny said:

Did it record absolutely nothing, so that there was no entry for the show in the Now Playing List? I'm OTA only, and when that happens to me (due to a channel being off the air) the TiVo will try to pick up the next showing on that channel or (if there are no more) the next showing on a lower priority season pass for a different channel. It takes a little while for it to notice, but 2 or 3 hours should be more than enough. It won't record from a different channel if there is another showing scheduled on the higher priority channel, even if that isn't for another day or two.

Being OTA only, I wish the TiVo would keep track of error counts and allow the next showing of the same episode to be recorded automatically if the uncorrected error count exceeds some threshold. Poor reception conditions (storms or whatever) can cause me to get a recording that is there, but too glitchy to be viewable.

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No entry at all.

PedjaR said:

I had a series recording fail due to no signal or something like that (probably SDV issue). Much to my surprise, Tivo did not pick up the next showing of the same episode (2 or 3 hours later), and the Recording History indicates that it was because the same episode was recorded/scheduled within 28 days. Is this a bug, or is it because Tivo needs more than a couple of hours to recalculate stuff and figure out that the episode was not actually recorded, and it needs to pick up the next showing? I can not check whether it figured it by now, as no other future showing exists. It seems quite lame not to do the recalc on the spot when a recording fails.

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Because in the Tivo's mind, it did record the show. The red recording light is on during the show, but when it ends, there is no data which is why it doesn't show up in the NPL.

This happens to me all the time where it'll say "no signal" with the red recording light on. Yet if I stop the recording the signal instantly tunes in. I've even been watching the TV with a good signal then when Tivo starts to record the screen goes black and supposedly there is no signal. Same as above, stop the recording and the signal comes back so its something wonky the Tivo is doing. The only way I know of to avoid it is when you see the red light on make sure its actually recording something and keep a todo list of shows that are supposed to be recorded (print out from Tivo.com) and check the list against your "Now Playing" list frequently to see if you can catch a 2nd showing of missed recordings.

WhiskeyTango said:

Because in the Tivo's mind, it did record the show. The red recording light is on during the show, but when it ends, there is no data which is why it doesn't show up in the NPL.

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In my experience (OTA only), if TiVo leaves no entry in the NPL, then it knows it didn't record anything, and it will try again later (assuming that the episode is rebroadcast). But do see what it says in the Recording History.

L David Matheny said:

In my experience (OTA only), if TiVo leaves no entry in the NPL, then it knows it didn't record anything, and it will try again later (assuming that the episode is rebroadcast). But do see what it says in the Recording History.

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The Recording History for the first showing said that it was not recorded because signal was not available (or something along those lines), and for the second showing it said due to the same episode within the 28 days thing. No entry in My Shows. I don't know if the red light was on at the time, I was not looking for it.

Missed another show last night for the same reason - no video signal. I saw the red light on while the show was going on, but I did not tune in to see if it actualy was working.
I decided to force a reboot, as this was not normal, and it was becoming sluggish as well.
This time it picked up another showing 3 hours after the first one. Interesting. I hope the missed recordings do not become a norm.

As a tangent to this question, let me ask this: If TiVo asks you to change channels to record a show and you say NO, will it automatically record a future airing of that episode?

comma said:

As a tangent to this question, let me ask this: If TiVo asks you to change channels to record a show and you say NO, will it automatically record a future airing of that episode?

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Haven't tried that one. I also almost never watch anything live.

If you want to make sure to eventually record the show, regardless, choose the "All, with Duplicates" option. Petty sure with this, it will record the show again, even if it was recorded before, within the last 28 days, or even if it is already on the now playing list.

dwit said:

If you want to make sure to eventually record the show, regardless, choose the "All, with Duplicates" option.

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That would most likely take care of it if the show has rebroadcasts but then you would run the risk of something else not getting recorded if you had to do this with lots of season passes. You would have multiple recordings of some shows and no recordings of others. I believe the Tivo Premiere needs to try a little harder to tune in a channel when it claims it can't get it signal. But since it appears to be abandon ware that will probably never happen.

Since the updates I've encountered several programs that failed to tune and it will now leave a place holder in the now playing list. Yipee! Right? Well, not much. There is no special icon for the placeholders. So, now just because a show is in the NPL be mindful it may just be a place holder for a failed tuning. While I appreciate Tivo for putting a placeholder back in the menu I wish it had a distinctive icon of some sort. Perhaps a little icon of a grenade or something? Also, I regret they changed letting you stop recording the program by hitting the record button or channel up/down. It now ignores those buttons when you're on a channel that is not tuned but supposedly recording. I used to use those buttons to tune the channel in myself and either record what is left of a program or set up a future recording. Now you have to go back to the NPL, stop & delete the "recording" show, then set up a recording through normal means.

I'm a victim of this too. I wish the Premiere would automatically re-record partial recordings. If it's partial, then it doesn't include everything the user wants to see. My Premiere dropped its tuners for a few days, and I had a bunch of empty recordings. We didn't have any idea until weeks later when we tried to watch those shows.

chrispitude said:

I'm a victim of this too. I wish the Premiere would automatically re-record partial recordings. If it's partial, then it doesn't include everything the user wants to see. My Premiere dropped its tuners for a few days, and I had a bunch of empty recordings. We didn't have any idea until weeks later when we tried to watch those shows.

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The TiVo should automatically re-record both partial recordings and any that had an uncorrected error count which exceeded some threshold (preferably user-specified).

Adding to my previous posts it should also learn how to tune a missed tuning. Every time I see Tivo Premiere with a blank, untuned channel pretending to record with the red light on I'm able to tune the channel in myself just fine. It amazes me it can't or won't simply try again every minute or two. Sadly I had to keep printing out my Premiere's to do lists and verify daily that each and every show was recorded and that it was recorded beginning to end. Well, at least if the latest change sticks around I can stop printing the to do lists accepting the place holders as acceptable replacements all things considered.

rahnbo said:

Since the updates I've encountered several programs that failed to tune and it will now leave a place holder in the now playing list. Yipee! Right?

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Well, I just found this is only partially fixed and will not work with manual recordings. Tonight, one of my Premieres failed to record the Daily Show. Reason given was: "unable to tune." This is a manual recording which is why I suspect it did not leave a place holder. If I didn't bother to look I would never have known the show didn't get recorded. So, back to printing out to do lists from the Tivo website for me.