Hi,
I have to admit I'm being extremely lazy now but I've just moved house
and the Mrs expects me to do some DIY rather than Googling ... so please
forgive me for asking a question that must have been asked umpteen times
before. What is the way, if there is one, to make Tivo cope with the BBC's
fecking appalling timekeeping. I'm sick of programmes being cut short on
BBC1 especially. Is there a way to do this automatically ? Is there any way
to get Tivo to partial record programmes if I set the predecessor to record
a few minutes after the scheduled end. One example is the upcoming episode
of the Superstars final .. if I set Tivo to get the last bit of Eastenders
(cringes with embarrassment) .. Superstars will not be recorded. Have I
completely missed the boat or if I RTFM will it help :-) My Tivo has been
in it's box for 2 months now and when I finally came to switch it all back
on I've realised just how annoying it is especially if you can't be a couch
potato and pretty much watch everything anyway.

Thanks and apologies once again for being a lazy ar*e on this occasion,
Keith

On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 Keith D wrote:

BBC1 especially. Is there a way to do this automatically ? Is there any way
to get Tivo to partial record programmes if I set the predecessor to record
a few minutes after the scheduled end.

Unfortunately not.

One example is the upcoming episode
of the Superstars final .. if I set Tivo to get the last bit of Eastenders
(cringes with embarrassment) .. Superstars will not be recorded.

If the programmes in question are on the same channel then the easy
solution is to pad the first program by at least the length of the
second, although because of TiVo's default padding options you'll often
end up going well over the time required if you want to be sure of
catching all of the second one.

I used to do this for BBC2 on Sunday nights last year with (if memory
serves) 24, The X-Files and Room 101 which all ran sequentially.

If the programmes are on different channels and your source is external,
such as a Sky or cable box, you can use the same trick but program the
set top box to change channels five minutes into the start of the second
programme. It's one more box to program but it does work.

FWIW I agree about the BBC; their timekeeping is appalling. There's no
excuse these days when everything can be synchronised with very accurate
clocks.

Some of the satellite / cable channels can drift quite a bit in the
early hours of the morning, but the BBC entertainment channels are
consistently a couple of minutes out 24 hours a day. Ironically their 24
hour news channel (which carries little one might wish to TiVo) is
really accurate. So they can do it when they try.

--
Kev
__________________________________________________ ________________________
"The allegations were denied as the police continue to interview
the alligators." NBC News

"Kevin Reilly" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 Keith D wrote:

BBC1 especially. Is there a way to do this automatically ? Is there any
way
to get Tivo to partial record programmes if I set the predecessor to
record
a few minutes after the scheduled end.

Unfortunately not.

One example is the upcoming episode
of the Superstars final .. if I set Tivo to get the last bit of
Eastenders
(cringes with embarrassment) .. Superstars will not be recorded.

If the programmes in question are on the same channel then the easy
solution is to pad the first program by at least the length of the
second, although because of TiVo's default padding options you'll often
end up going well over the time required if you want to be sure of
catching all of the second one.

I used to do this for BBC2 on Sunday nights last year with (if memory
serves) 24, The X-Files and Room 101 which all ran sequentially.

If the programmes are on different channels and your source is external,
such as a Sky or cable box, you can use the same trick but program the
set top box to change channels five minutes into the start of the second
programme. It's one more box to program but it does work.

FWIW I agree about the BBC; their timekeeping is appalling. There's no
excuse these days when everything can be synchronised with very accurate
clocks.

Some of the satellite / cable channels can drift quite a bit in the
early hours of the morning, but the BBC entertainment channels are
consistently a couple of minutes out 24 hours a day. Ironically their 24
hour news channel (which carries little one might wish to TiVo) is
really accurate. So they can do it when they try.

--
Kev
__________________________________________________ ________________________
"The allegations were denied as the police continue to interview
the alligators." NBC News


Thanks for the info Kev. Shame it has to get so manual for something like a
season pass :-(

Keith

Kevin Reilly wrote:
On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 Keith D wrote:

BBC1 especially. Is there a way to do this automatically ? Is there
any way to get Tivo to partial record programmes if I set the
predecessor to record a few minutes after the scheduled end.

Unfortunately not.

If you've taken the lid off your TiVo you could have a look at this thread
about automatic soft padding on TiVoCommunity: http://tinyurl.com/uyso

FWIW I agree about the BBC; their timekeeping is appalling. There's no
excuse these days when everything can be synchronised with very
accurate clocks.

I'm sure they work to a timetable - it's just not the one they publish to us
mere mortals! I guess they think we're less likely to change channels if
the programme on the other side has already started because they're running
'late'. ...that and that the great British public can't deal with start
times that don't end in '0' or '5'. ;P

Some of the Beeb radio channels have listings on TiVo that aren't rounded to
the nearest five minutes.

Laurence

Kevin Reilly wrote:
FWIW I agree about the BBC; their timekeeping is appalling. There's no
excuse these days when everything can be synchronised with very accurate
clocks.

Actually, their timekeeping is pretty much spot on, it's just that the
internal schedule is not the same as the externally published schedule,
which is rounded to nice boundaries. For example, ever noticed that the
Simpsons is from 1800 to 1820 when the episodes are all around 22
minutes long?

Tribune have repeatedly tried to get the internal schedule data from the
BBC but to no avail.

If you've got access to the bash prompt on your TiVo (via Turbonet or a
serial cable) then it might be worth trying the soft padding utility you
can find in one of the threads in the TiVo UK section on
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/ as it really does work. I've been
using it for a few weeks to add 30 seconds start and 1.5 minutes end
padding if possible and it's pretty darn spiffy.
--
Angus G Rae Computing Services
Science & Engineering Support Team University of Edinburgh
The above opinions are mine, and Edinburgh Uni can't have them.

Angus Rae wrote:
If you've got access to the bash prompt on your TiVo (via Turbonet or
a serial cable) then it might be worth trying the soft padding
utility you can find in one of the threads in the TiVo UK section on
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/ as it really does work. I've
been using it for a few weeks to add 30 seconds start and 1.5 minutes
end padding if possible and it's pretty darn spiffy.

I'd second that. Fantastic piece of hackery.

Geoff

"Laurence" wrote in message
...
Kevin Reilly wrote:
On Thu, 13 Nov 2003 Keith D wrote:

BBC1 especially. Is there a way to do this automatically ? Is there
any way to get Tivo to partial record programmes if I set the
predecessor to record a few minutes after the scheduled end.

Unfortunately not.

If you've taken the lid off your TiVo you could have a look at this thread
about automatic soft padding on TiVoCommunity: http://tinyurl.com/uyso

Just to endorse that, I've been using it for a few weeks now, and it is
superba

"Geoff Winkless" ] wrote in message
t...
Angus Rae wrote:
If you've got access to the bash prompt on your TiVo (via Turbonet or
a serial cable) then it might be worth trying the soft padding
utility you can find in one of the threads in the TiVo UK section on
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/ as it really does work. I've
been using it for a few weeks to add 30 seconds start and 1.5 minutes
end padding if possible and it's pretty darn spiffy.

I'd second that. Fantastic piece of hackery.

Geoff


Ace. I'm really glad I was lazy and asked. Now all I need to research is
how to apply the patch (serial, Turbonet etc) .. but I'll look up all that
on my own so I don't appear too lazy. Thanks for all your help.

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 Laurence wrote:

If you've taken the lid off your TiVo you could have a look at this thread
about automatic soft padding on TiVoCommunity: http://tinyurl.com/uyso

Thanks for that - it looks spot on. I'll install it this afternoon.

I used to read TiVo Community regularly but it went through a period
where every time I loaded it up it was 'down for maintenance' so I
pretty much stopped looking. I guess I should start regular visits again
so I don't miss out on gems like this.

--
Kev
__________________________________________________ ________________________
"Name an item of clothing worn by the Three Musketeers."
"A horse."
Contestant on Family Fortunes