Recordings cut short on UPC (HD)

who_me

I've tried recording Burn-E off Cinemagic HD on 3 occasions, and each time the recording was cut short (at different points on each attempt, a couple of minutes in, halfway through, near the end).

On two attempts, when the recording was cut off the capacity free was 40%. That made me wonder - is any of the capacity on the UPC HD DVRs "reserved"? Has anyone managed to fill their DVR more than 60%?

mikedragon32

Not just HD, OP.

I find it happens quite a bit on standard def too. Cut short The Apprentice last night, right after the winner was announced (yes, I know it's all filler after that).

dunworth1

you can add extra time onto the end of the recording


by dvr

then settings

you can add extra time onto the start and end

mikedragon32

Cheers Dunworth. These are series linked programmes for me though.

Alun

mikedragon32 wrote: »

Cheers Dunworth. These are series linked programmes for me though.

Doesn't matter, you can still add a fixed amount to the start and end of all recordings, whether manually recorded or via series-link. You can also add extra to a currently recording program if you know that it'll over run.

dunworth1

mikedragon32 wrote: »

Cheers Dunworth. These are series linked programmes for me though.

you will only have a problem when your recording another program straight after

who is this

dunworth1 wrote: »

you will only have a problem when your recording another program straight after

So annoying. It would be best if it was set "Add x minutes, unless this creates a conflict".

An Tarbh

If you put the box on standby you can record 2 programmes at once, so you won't miss anything if you're recording something back to back.

who is this

The fact that it has to be on standby is also ridiculous. Why can't you watch one of them as its recording if you want to?

Though, don't get me wrong. Compared to the way NTL and Chorus ran the show, UPC are doing amazingly well, but those two things about the boxes seem so obvious, that I can't help but wonder why they didnt occur to the s/w designers.

Infoanon

And theres also the problem of losing recordings everytime a channel changes its name - which happens a lot these days!

donal.hunt

I'm having similar issues with DVR recordings on UPC.

Issues I've encountered:

• Doctor Who on BBC (saturday evenings) constantly cut short by 3-5mins
• CSI Miami recording this week off by 15mins
• Ending of films off by 5-10mins (I wasn't recording but the EPG was showing the next program 10mins from the end of the film)

Just gave UPC a call and they checked some settings on the box but weren't able to fix it over the phone so will be sending an engineer.

I suspect the problem is that their EPG is not being updated to reflect small changes in schedule. I will be cancelling the DVR service if they can't fix it as missing the last 5mins of many programs is infuriating.

If you're experiencing this problem, please report it to UPC so they can see the trend. If enough people report it (and/or indicate they aren't willing to pay for a half-working service), they will have to take action to resolve it.

Ranicand

donal.hunt wrote: »

I'm having similar issues with DVR recordings on UPC.

Issues I've encountered:

• Doctor Who on BBC (saturday evenings) constantly cut short by 3-5mins
• CSI Miami recording this week off by 15mins
• Ending of films off by 5-10mins (I wasn't recording but the EPG was showing the next program 10mins from the end of the film)

Just gave UPC a call and they checked some settings on the box but weren't able to fix it over the phone so will be sending an engineer.

I suspect the problem is that their EPG is not being updated to reflect small changes in schedule. I will be cancelling the DVR service if they can't fix it as missing the last 5mins of many programs is infuriating.

If you're experiencing this problem, please report it to UPC so they can see the trend. If enough people report it (and/or indicate they aren't willing to pay for a half-working service), they will have to take action to resolve it.

If you go into settings you can add a few mins to the start and ending of all recordings problems solved.

Ranicand

donal.hunt wrote: »

I suspect the problem is that their EPG is not being updated to reflect small changes in schedule. I will be cancelling the DVR service if they can't fix it as missing the last 5mins of many programs is infuriating.

I had the same problem on Sky Plus too with RTE starting stuff early or late.



The EPG does reflect the schedule it is not a UPC fault if channels can not run on time according to their own schedule.

However UPC do have a fix for this if you are willing to read on.:)

Press menu on your box.
On the Main Menu select Digital Video Recorder.

On this screen select settings.

You can then add extra time before ALL recordings and after them too.

I have 5 mins before and after all recordings and I have never missed anything off any of my recordings.

donal.hunt

Not a valid solution... Adding the additional minutes results in subsequent programs not being recorded (as another poster pointed out) - something I do quite a lot...

From the UPC website:

"Always missing your favourites? Digital+ lets you record up to 80 hours of programmes at the touch of a button. So you won’t miss a single minute of the action this summer. Brazil playing while you’re at work? No problem, Digital+ lets you record your favourite TV moments."

I am missing the action so I'm not happy... I could complain to the broadcaster but my contract is with UPC and it's up to them to raise it with the broadcaster on behalf of their customers. It is in UPC's interest to ensure broadcasters are keeping their schedules in line with what's in the EPG if they want to offer this service to customers at a charge.

Ranicand

donal.hunt wrote: »

Not a valid solution... Adding the additional minutes results in subsequent programs not being recorded (as another poster pointed out) - something I do quite a lot...

From the UPC website:

"Always missing your favourites? Digital+ lets you record up to 80 hours of programmes at the touch of a button. So you won’t miss a single minute of the action this summer. Brazil playing while you’re at work? No problem, Digital+ lets you record your favourite TV moments."

I am missing the action so I'm not happy... I could complain to the broadcaster but my contract is with UPC and it's up to them to raise it with the broadcaster on behalf of their customers. It is in UPC's interest to ensure broadcasters are keeping their schedules in line with what's in the EPG if they want to offer this service to customers at a charge.

If you want to record two channels at once just leave the box in standby.

donal.hunt

followup after UPC visit.

So the engineer came out and reset the box (wiping all the programmes that were set to record but not previous recordings). Have only recorded a few show since so it's unclear if the problem is resolved or not.

The "engineer" indicated that sometimes the time on the boxes goes out of sync but based on what I've seen this is not the case. I've also noticed that the series link for some shows is seriously broken (recording 2 seasons of a show when you have only selected a show from one series; some episodes not being marked as part of the series, etc).

I'll monitor the recordings for another week and followup here and with UPC if I see more oddities.

dunworth1

donal.hunt wrote: »

followup after UPC visit.



. I've also noticed that the series link for some shows is seriously broken (recording 2 seasons of a show when you have only selected a show from one series; some episodes not being marked as part of the series, etc).

i get this on e4 with smallville

celticbest

donal.hunt wrote: »

followup after UPC visit.

So the engineer came out and reset the box (wiping all the programmes that were set to record but not previous recordings). Have only recorded a few show since so it's unclear if the problem is resolved or not.

The "engineer" indicated that sometimes the time on the boxes goes out of sync but based on what I've seen this is not the case. I've also noticed that the series link for some shows is seriously broken (recording 2 seasons of a show when you have only selected a show from one series; some episodes not being marked as part of the series, etc).

I'll monitor the recordings for another week and followup here and with UPC if I see more oddities.

You can usually tell when you go into a recording what season it is from as they all usually have a series number, ie. when 24 was on it would have 6 for season 6 & 01 for ep. 1 (601), so if I only wanted something from season 6 I would just look at this number and delete anything that hadn't got a six at the start ie. 512 for season 5 ep. 12.