UPC recording overlapping programs

coylemj

Yesterday I manually (i.e. not using remote record) programmed the Digital+ box to record two programs, both were series (on BBC2 and BBC4) and I told it to record all episodes.

The first episodes of the two series overlapped, the first program (A) was not being repeated ever and the second program (B) was being repeated five times over the next four days by which I mean episode 1 of program B was being shown a total of six times in four days but episode 1 of program A was being screened once only.

So after programming it to record both series, to check what the machine proposed to do, I went into 'DVR', clicked on 'My TV Planner' where it said that it was going to record program A yesterday evening and the first repeat of program B in the early hours of Wednesday morning - perfect.

Off I went for a few pints to watch the footie but when I came home and checked the list of recorded programs, I found that it had recorded program B instead and now I have lost any chance to record program A even though the same (first episode) of program B could have been recorded up to four more times.

Is this a bug or have people come across it before? It did the complete opposite of what the 'My TV Planner' menu said it was going to do. The machine was in standby for the whole hour the program was broadcast.

Iospir

Bit similar to my problem with recordings being dropped while on standby(see other thread). Mine would show up in TV Planner too and then just not record. Maybe there's a problem with the system because I'd none of this until a few weeks ago.
No joy getting them on the phone.

GarryO

Same problem. Did anyone get a resolution

coylemj

I reported it to UPC, they kept assuring me that it would be dealt with in two working days but I had to keep sending them reminders. Eventually they gave me a date and time when a technician was going to call to me but I refused the appointment because I pointed out that it would be impossible for me to reproduce the problem on demand for a UPC technician because it related to overlapping series and that they should be able to reproduce it themselves in their workshops. That was last Feb. and haven't heard a dickie bird since.

GarryO

coylemj wrote: »

I reported it to UPC, they kept assuring me that it would be dealt with in two working days but I had to keep sending them reminders. Eventually they gave me a date and time when a technician was going to call to me but I refused the appointment because I pointed out that it would be impossible for me to reproduce the problem on demand for a UPC technician because it related to overlapping series and that they should be able to reproduce it themselves in their workshops. That was last Feb. and haven't heard a dickie bird since.[/Quote

To be fair to them there has been no issue in getting engineer to house. So you are still having the problem then?
I will let you know how I get on tomorrow morning.

coylemj

GarryO wrote: »

To be fair to them there has been no issue in getting engineer to house. So you are still having the problem then?
I will let you know how I get on tomorrow morning.

I can see your point, they offered to send out an engineer but my point is that that wouldn't achieve anything since I wouldn't be able to reproduce the problem in my house on an afternoon with a UPC engineer standing there.

I am only 'having the same problem' in the sense that I have received no explanation for why the box did the complete opposite of what it said it was going to do in 'My TV Planner' i.e. it recorded program B when it said it was going to record overlapping program A even though program A was never going to be repeated but program B was going to be repeated five times in the following few days. I haven't had the same issue again purely because the same situation (overlapping series) hasn't arisen in the meantime.

Please don't get me wrong, I have no other gripe about UPC support which I have found to be excellent. It just seems that there is nobody in UPC prepared to investigate this issue precisely because it's difficult for the customer (me) to reproduce it in front on a UPC technician and even if I could, what can someone do on the spot to fix it? It's clearly a s/w bug that cannot be fixed in the field.

GarryO

All They have ever said in relation to the issue is that they will replace the box which is not acceptable to me as I lose recordings and this may not resole the issue. My main gripe is that when you are explaining the problem the technician has never heard of it.
As I said I will update tomorrow after their visit.

coylemj

GarryO wrote: »

All They have ever said in relation to the issue is that they will replace the box which is not acceptable to me as I lose recordings and this may not resole the issue. My main gripe is that when you are explaining the problem the technician has never heard of it.
As I said I will update tomorrow after their visit.

I've PM'ed you the tracking number UPC assigned to my incident in case you feel it would be useful to show that you are not the only person having the problem.

Gotham Knight

When I chased upc on this issue a couple of months ago an engineer called to my house and said he suspected it was due to a software change and nothing to do with my box. I subsequently received a voice mail from upc telling me that it is not possible to record two programmes that overlap.

It's a bit annoying that there is still misleading information on this on their website. I sent them the particular urls but they haven't cleaned it up.

Hopefully this facility will return in the future as I found it useful before it stopped working.

And their engineers and support people really should be briefed on something as straightforward as this.

kitten_k

I agree Gotham Knight - it was so handy being able to record 2 shows at the same time. I have missed this since it stopped working.

GarryO

coylemj wrote: »

I've PM'ed you the tracking number UPC assigned to my incident in case you feel it would be useful to show that you are not the only person having the problem.

Have had all my sets (3) reset to factory settings. No recordings lost but have to re-program settings.
Hopefully this will resole the issue.
I also had a follow up call from a UPC supervisor checking on the performance of the Engineer. He said they would often do spot checks if customer is having repeat calls to ensure all in order. He is to contact me next week to confirm that fault was resolved.
Fingers crossed.

coylemj

Gotham Knight wrote: »

I subsequently received a voice mail from upc telling me that it is not possible to record two programmes that overlap.

I'm not looking to record two programs simultaneously. I programmed the box to record two series where the two first episodes overlapped. I was aware that the first episode of one of the two series (series A) was being broadcast once only and the other first episode (series was being repeated several times so I checked to see what the box proposed to do.

According to the listing in 'My TV Planner', it was going to record the non-repeating episode (A) first and in the early hours of the following morning it was going to record the first repeat of the first episode of the other series (B). So it seemed to me that the box had checked the EPG and had made the correct decision. There was no warning markers beside the programs in My TV Planner so it appeared that everything was kosher.

When I checked the box the next day, I discovered that it had gone and done the complete opposite - it had recorded the first episode of series B during the one and only broadcast of the first episode of series A.

I thought the box was capable of handling the recording of multiple series where it would made an intelligent decision to favour non-repeating episodes over repeating episodes where there was an overlap but apparently not.

Gotham Knight

I spotted comments elsewhere that the facility to record two programmes simultaneously has been restored, so I thought I'd give it a try tonight. Sure enough the box asked me to put it into standby if I wanted to record both programmes - so I did that.

When they were finished I thought I'd check if it worked. First signs were ominous when the box refused to turn on. It was obviously miffed that I made it work harder than usual by recording two things at once . Once I deprived it of power by unplugging it for a minute it came around, powered up and handed over the two programmes correctly recorded!!

Congrats upc at restoring this. (I assume the difficulty turning the box back on was a once-off.)

I also quite like the way it now splits different series of each programme under separate headings.

Patrickof

So, just to be clear, if you want to record 2 programs at the same time, then the box must be in standby?

That differs from Sky, which allows you to watch other recorded programs (but not live TV) when recording 2 channels. Although you can watch either of the programs being recorded as they are recorded.

Gotham Knight

Patrickof wrote: »

So, just to be clear, if you want to record 2 programs at the same time, then the box must be in standby?

That's correct, on upc the box must be in standby to record two programmes, and you cannot watch anything on it at that time.

RangeR

UPC recording has ALWAYS been buggy, in respect to it not behaving in the advertised or consistent manner. UPC telling you it would be "fixed in two days" are just fobbing you off. Recording issues have been going on since they released DVR's.

My opinion is that they don't have the resources to fix it. Maybe the development is done in another country where Ireland doesn't get priority on those resources.

coylemj

RangeR wrote: »

My opinion is that they don't have the resources to fix it. Maybe the development is done in another country where Ireland doesn't get priority on those resources.

Wherever the development is done, the same issues will arise with overlapping series, there is nothing uniquely 'Irish' in what we're looking for.

Maybe it's been fixed but my original problem wasn't to do with recording two programs at the same time, it was simply to make the machine do what it said it was going to do in 'My TV Planner'.