Yep, was responding while you were editing apparently. Some people like to have a different amount of padding I guess.
Recordings ending prematurely? Hopper 3
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Yep, was responding while you were editing apparently. Some people like to have a different amount of padding I guess.
Timer padding does not work using PTAT . It cuts all programs off at the end of the show and there is no padding so you miss the end of most shows. For example if the show ends at 7:30 pm on the guide it cuts off the show exactly at the half hour and you miss the ending and the credits. The networks do this to make you stay on their channel . By padding two minutes late and start one minute early I never miss the ending of any show or the beginning . Now the exception to this is Saturday Night Live. I have to set it for 2 minutes early and 2 minutes late to catch the opener and the ender of that show.
I have my Timer Defaults set for 10 minutes late. My PTAT is turned on full strength, all four Prime time channels and eight days. We only usually have the sports run over issue on Sunday CBS. So to get around that issue I have a manual weekly timer set for Sunday to fire off at 10 PM CST for two hours. This has worked great for me since I have been on Hoppers.
Are you saying you got the padding to work with PTAT?
No, I do not mess with the PTAT except turn it on. I have the manual Sunday weekly timer to catch anything that runs over for CBS only.
Looks like there really isn't a solution for me then. I can't turn off PTAT on any day of the week because I'd have to set the timers for each show manually and it wouldn't be long before I missed a show or two and I have people yelling at me.
Why turn it off unless you have hard drive space issue. I loved it since day one. I keep the setting at eight days. You don't ever have to worry about setting any timers for PTAT programs. For me I have issues with the timer limits. Right now I am up to 190. I am going to have to do a surge soon before I hit the 199 limit.
PTAT records a solid stream from the 4 big networks, not individual programs. If you start watching the first program recorded on PTAT and never stop it it will play the entire evenings recordings for that channel. Saving PTAT outside PTAT is a totally different animal, it uses marker in the recording to estimate the start and end of the programs - might not be precise.
Exactly, I don't want to turn it off and I won't. It's just the padding issue that doesn't really seem to have a solution.
I don't think we ever start watching the first recording of the night first but I'll see if we can give it a try.
It's pretty simple. If you understand how it works you can make a decision on how to deal with timers while PTAT is active. Programs recorded during PTAT are saved with no extra time (except as provided for sports). It can't be changed. If you set the timer by "saving" a PTAT show, it will have no extra time saved. If you set a regular timer for the show PTAT "save" has priority and the regular timer will be skipped. You can override this by unskipping the regular timer in the daily schedule. It's a nuisance to have to do that regularly.
It's your choice to live with it, or have PTAT inactive on days when you are relying on the feature to add time to a recording.
It's your choice to live with it, or have PTAT inactive on days when you are relying on the feature to add time to a recording.
Thanks Jim5506, I did not know that. I just tested it and you are correct. When did they start that one steady stream? It wasn't that way a while back. I had wondered why lately I haven't had to rely on my weekly CBS Sunday 10 PM manual timer. I guess I will keep the manual timer in case the last PTAT program of the evening runs out sometime. I hardly ever watch the last one but will be ready if I do sometime. The manual timer will come in handy then.
I think the solid stream is how it was designed, actually 4 solid streams.
I discovered it during football season. When games ran over, the start times of the individual shows were left as originally programmed but I could watch the programs straight through, usually missing the end of Madam Secretary, so I set the local CBS station news to record and was able to see the end of Madam Secretary.
I discovered it during football season. When games ran over, the start times of the individual shows were left as originally programmed but I could watch the programs straight through, usually missing the end of Madam Secretary, so I set the local CBS station news to record and was able to see the end of Madam Secretary.
Well when I had HWS I always had trouble with 60 Minutes. It would start late do to a sports overage program and then end too soon. I had to go to the next program to finish it up. Of course then the next program would end too soon and on and on till I had to watch the manual timer I had set. I am glad it now has a solid stream. Sure works good till the last PTAT program of the evening.
That is the way it works unless the show has AutoHop available, and you use that feature. Those shows usually stop at the end of the time slot, instead of playing the next show.
Note: what I am describing is how PTAT recordings worked on a Hopper 1 with the pre-Carbon UI. I have not had PTAT since then (I changed equipment to different receiver models several times) so things could have changed for all I know.
My problem with just watching the show from PTAT and letting it continue running is we often have shows where we're 8 episodes behind for various reasons. Thus if we don't have a separate timer set, and a "Record Series" set, we'd miss a lot.
Just by habit of using DVRs for a LONG time, we have all the series we watch set with a Record Series timer. For us, setting PTAT to only be on on Saturday night is the optimal solution: each series uses the timer settings we choose, and we still get Autohop. I did like having shows we don't watch in the PTAT folder just to check out, but the frustration of having a show cut off (particularly 30 minute comedies) before the epilogue after the last commercial was just too much. It's one reason we moved from the Genie to the bazillion tuner Hopper 3: we don't have to worry about a tuner switching before the padding at the end is done in order to start recording another show.
Just by habit of using DVRs for a LONG time, we have all the series we watch set with a Record Series timer. For us, setting PTAT to only be on on Saturday night is the optimal solution: each series uses the timer settings we choose, and we still get Autohop. I did like having shows we don't watch in the PTAT folder just to check out, but the frustration of having a show cut off (particularly 30 minute comedies) before the epilogue after the last commercial was just too much. It's one reason we moved from the Genie to the bazillion tuner Hopper 3: we don't have to worry about a tuner switching before the padding at the end is done in order to start recording another show.
I never used PTAT, sop I never had this problem. I know there's no changing people's minds or habits in most cases, but PTAT befuddles me. For one thing, most of the shows on network TV are junk - my opinion - so I don't see a need to record every show on all 4 channels every night. I mean, the sitcoms aren't funny and the cop shows are the same show over and over. Regardless, I set timers for the shows i do want and so far, other than a very rare blip here and there (Rosanne ep. 5), no real problems. I guess my question is this; What is the allure of PTAT, other than autohop, which has been hobbled a bit anyway?
If you hardly ever watch the prime time four main channels I can understand leaving it turned off. For us that watch a lot of prime time I think the PTAT is awesome. I don't ever have to be concerned setting up timers for the four prime time channels. I have more problems of hitting the 199 timer limits so PTAT is a blessing. I also don't have issues with the internal HD filling up. Some of us still get AutoHop for NBC and ABC which is awesome. Also it is nice to have all them PTAT recordings in case I missed a program or look for something to watch. So there are a few reasons that I like PTAT.
I can understand that. I actually need to clean out my old timers. Like, I'm Pretty sure Chris Angel - Mind Freak isn't coming back lol
I am needing to do a clean out timers too. Getting close to the 199 limit again. Who the hell is Chris Angel? I missed that program along the way!
