[vdr] Re: Recording programes followin one another from the same channel

[Usenet-372112@zocki.toppoint.de (Rainer Zocholl)]

marcus@kuba4u.de(Marcus Kuba)  21.10.01 22:08

Once upon a time Marcus Kuba shaped the electrons to say...

>Am 21.10.2001 20:58:00, schrieb Usenet-372112@zocki.toppoint.de
>(Rainer Zocholl):

>>andreas@eudoxus.xcapenet.de(Andreas Gebel)  17.10.01 10:02
>>
>>>when trying to record programmes following one another there is a
>>>problem that vdr stops the recording at the end of the first timer
>>>and re-enters the recording mode just after that. This will always
>>>cause a few seconds lost between the two recordings.

>>Currently VDR seems to look only for the minutes.
>>"While timer time is equal "now" do record."
>>So the overlap/missing maybe upto 59sec.

>>timer 15:00 .. 15:30
>>will record from 15:00:00 to 15:30:59 (AFAIK)

>You haven't looked in your logs recently?

I have tested it with recordings in "real live" :-)
I found that when i program
timer 15:00 .. 15:29

the beginn is often missing, but the End is OK.


>Oct 17 03:45:04 vdr vdr[22742]: timer 4 stop
>Oct 17 17:15:01 vdr vdr[25978]: timer 1 stop
>Oct 18 01:50:00 vdr vdr[27591]: timer 4 stop
>Oct 18 17:15:00 vdr vdr[27591]: timer 1 stop

I don't have such entries in the log file. (var/log/*)


>VDR records from xx:xx:00 to yy:yy:00, at least it tries to :-)


>>Why is starting at 15:00:00 not sufficient?
>>  Because the PC-clock may not be so precise so the first, sometimes
>>  important seconds are not recorded.
>>  The next "step" would be a 60sec margin...giving a large
>>  unexceptable gap/overlap.

>Why is all this complete nonsense? Because except for the "Tagesschau"
>NO programme starts exactly at the time given from the EPG. 

I don't know what kind of "adds with inserted movie fragments" :-) 
you are recording, but i have set all margins meanwhile to only one minute. 
With the "problem", that the "fast forward" advances 60sec so it's 
usually over the actual begin and i have to move back a second or two.
So exact some TV prgrams starts their programs...some, at least.

That may not be true for Sat.1, RTL etc. (Adds TV) OK.
They don't have any interrest in people who are just recording,
because those don't count.

But I would assume/expect that other pay TVs are using exact times too
(because i already payed for) so this maybe only a problem on adds TVs?
(I don't like the name "Free TV" because just those Adds TV are actually
not really free).

>If you don't want to miss a part, you MUST use the MarginStart/Stop-Function
>and record several minutes before/after. Everything else and talking
>about seconds here is splitting hairs.

What do i did wrong?
I don't have that problem.
It works here.
If you are recording only Adds TV: OK, you are right, there
it will not work, i would really wonder if.
So what?

There are only a few channels with more than
audio channel. Is it really "complete non-sense" to make the audio track
selectable because you are not watching those?


>>Why not recording in one file?
>>  Because this do not help if it should record from
>>  different channels.

>In this case, channel-switching alone will cause a loss.

If the first records stops 5sec before the second starts?
The channels switching in VDR is meanwhile very fast.


>>  Because "auto naming" would not work.
>>  Because it is very unconvienent.
>>  Because both records may not have the same priority and hold time.

>Those are drawbacks which should be solved otherwise. Names, priority
>and hold time should be editable for existing recordings... 

With the remote control? :-)
A job for your most beloved mother in law :-)


>this should be not too hard to realize since 
>it's just renaming of some directories. 


>Especially on Pro 7 this will be the ONLY way (except
>using multiple cards with overlapping timers) to get useful
>recordings. This channel is often so far from the EPG- times that you
>can't do separate recordings without cutting at least one of the
>programmes. 

See, that's it!
i don't even watch Pro 7. I mostly records ARD/ZDF&WDR or so.
(Sorry for beeing so lame watching such channels :-))
So this explains why you state "timers will never fit"
and i state: "it will fit".

You would not have _any_ problems if the records do start
5sec earlier, but i have the problem, that i have gaps in the
range of 60sec due to the required overlapping, because
starting at :00 is usually (slightly) too late.

(I don't know when VDR starts to tune to. If it starts
to tune to when the timer starts, this would explain
why there is such a great gap at the begin of a record!)


 
>>(Problem: Some TV channels do not transmit exact time.
>>Had someone tested which time MTV (for example) uses to
>>start transmssions? If DCF or so, then it would be nice
>>to be able to block systimer setting for specific channels
>>(easier: allow it for only a few known "have to be by law"
>>precise like ZDF) in channels.conf or similar.)

>This is completely out of interest. Even if they transmit the correct
>time in their data- stream, they don't start their programmes at the
>exact times. 

The program YOU record.
Mine do. :-) 

(OK, if there were heavy changes, but this can only be compensated
with "VPS" or similar)
The other chance would be to record 24h in a ring buffer.







>Of course it would be useful if the
>SetSystemTime-function could be 'locked' to one specific channel.. 

Yep. (and sounds not very complicate)

>but the best way to set the time is via internet (ntp) anyway :-)

Yes, but the TV-box do not have internet access.

But of cause i could manipulate my clock so it is running 5sec in front...
Not a really good idea, no..