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

[Michael T. Dean]

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.

Mike