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

[Michael T. Dean]

On 03/24/2016 11:52 PM, Karl Newman wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 24, 2016 at 6:30 AM, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>
>
>     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,

I think you mean input here--because with "channel" there, it's not true.

> 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.

Yes, because you don't need the before/after time, you should not be 
using Start Early/End Late.  When you need it, you should.  That's the 
entire point I'm trying to make.  Don't count on "Time to record before 
start/past end of show (secs)" because it's not guaranteed, instead use 
Start Early/End Late when you need the time.  (So this isn't so much a 
counterpoint as a different situation--where the extra time isn't 
important.)

I don't generally use Start Early/End Late.  I have no need to because 
my shows start on time as listed--the only real exceptions being The 
Simpsons, which is often early, so it actually has a 1-min Start Early, 
and shows that air on CBS on Sundays during football season (which are 
adjusted as needed during the season--often having as much as a 
60-minute End Late) or the occasional show on some channel that's 
delayed due to some random sporting event (in which case I generally 
miss the show).

If every show was off by 10s, I would be using Start Early/End Late on 
all shows that I really want to see that actually start within those 
10s.  Because I generally record enough that most or all of my inputs 
are in use, I would leave the Start Early/End Late off of "schedule 
fillers"--the things I record that I don't expect to watch, but that I'm 
recording "just in case" they turn out to be worth watching.  Note, too, 
that I would even add negative Start Early/End Late to some of the 
recording rules--especially where they do enough of a "next time on" or 
"previously on" that it wouldn't matter, or where it's a schedule filler 
that I could short-change to allow me to get most of all of the shows I 
want recorded.  This means that the -1 Start Early (which becomes a 
start 1 minute late) for one show could make up for the 1 End Late for 
the previous show.

Mike