[mythtv-users] Recordings start & end 10 seconds too soon, on all channels

[Karl Newman]

On Thu, Mar 24, 2016 at 6:30 AM, Michael T. Dean <mtdean at thirdcontact.com>
wrote:

> On 03/23/2016 06:39 PM, steve wrote:
>
>> On Mar 22, 2016, at 9:01 AM, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>>
>>> On 03/22/2016 08:45 AM, Tim Draper wrote:
>>>
>>>> ---- On Tue, 22 Mar 2016 11:59:07 +0000 Michael T. Dean wrote ----
>>>>
>>>>   >
>>>>   > FWIW, most of the time, the "Time to record before start/past end of
>>>>   > show (secs)" turns out to be a placebo that satisfies most
>>>> users--and
>>>>   > really has far less benefit than people believe.  If you can't
>>>> count on
>>>>   > it, it's not much offering much at all, but it's amazing how many
>>>> people
>>>>   > swear by it (without ever looking to see how infrequently it
>>>> actually
>>>>   > benefits them).  The only people for which it generally works are
>>>> people
>>>>   > who have twice as many inputs as they need--and those people would
>>>>   > actually be better served by just using the Start Early/End Late
>>>>   > settings on the recording rules (because they have plenty of
>>>> inputs) and
>>>>   > could even record more shows without problems. If you do want to
>>>>   > over-record by 1 minute at the start and end of each show, you
>>>> should
>>>>   > set Start Early/End Late to 1 in the default Recording Rule
>>>> Template to
>>>>   > make it easier to set up new recording rules.
>>>>   >
>>>>
>>>> good points. i tend not to have that many shows in concurrent recording
>>>> so back-to-back doesnt affect me. most of my shows have a limit of 3 to
>>>> avoid recording everything, and more channels seem to be +1/mid-week
>>>> repeats so it just gets recorded then.
>>>>
>>> Oh, and I should mention that if you do switch to using the
>>> per-Recording-Rule Start Early/End Late settings and you want to record
>>> with more than half your inputs, you'll end up seeing conflicts in Upcoming
>>> Recordings and will have to manually manage them.  You do so by doing
>>> one-time overrides that change the Start Early/End Late, thereby telling
>>> MythTV, "Although I really want to record both Supergirl and NCIS, end
>>> Supergirl early so I can start NCIS a minute early so I don't miss out on
>>> the dramatic explosion in the first couple seconds that sets the scene for
>>> the NCIS episode." In other words, with this approach, rather than MythTV
>>> just blindly starting and stopping everything at the scheduled time, you
>>> can actually tell MythTV what's important to you.  If you always want to
>>> follow the same approach, eventually, you'll just modify the rules to do
>>> what you want (in which case you're good until the network(s) move one of
>>> the shows or something).
>>>
>> OK, thanks for detail but I am being a little dense...
>>
>> Why do you consider "Time to record before start/past end of show (secs)"
>> a placebo but the Start Early/End not a placebo?
>>
>
> See my other reply, but basically because "Time to record before
> start/past end of show (secs)" is not guaranteed to be used (and,
> therefore, won't be for many situations), but Start Early/End Late are
> scheduled and, therefore, guaranteed to be used by the scheduler.  Start
> Early and End Late are the equivalent of modifying the start time or end
> time of a particular show in the listings themselves.
>
> Most people who set "Time to record before start/past end of show (secs)"
> don't actually get that extra time--but think they do--and because most
> people don't see issues (their shows are broadcast on time or close enough
> due to commercials and such) they think it's actually doing something
> useful for them.  Therefore, it's a placebo--they feel good even though
> it's not doing anything for them.
>
>       Along the same lines, can you explain why even the people with twice
>> the inputs they need would still be better served with the Start Early/Late
>> method?
>>
>
> Because Start Early/End Late are guaranteed to be used.  You will always
> get the extra time you request.
>

Just to give a counterpoint to this. Mike is technically correct and he
obviously prefers using the recording-schedule specific settings. However,
I don't like it because 1) I have only 2 inputs, and 2) if I'm not paying
attention to the conflicts, I'll miss recordings. I'd rather "miss" a few
seconds before or after than miss an entire recording due to a conflict. In
reality, I don't actually miss the before/after. My recording schedule is
not very full and conflicts are very rare even with only 2 inputs, so the
only time it doesn't record extra is in back-to-back recordings on the same
channel, in which case the few seconds just end up on the following
recording. So for me the global setting is a "best effort" approach, and if
it doesn't succeed, I don't worry about it.

Karl
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