New Feature - Failed timer notifications

[prl]

It's not quite clear exactly what will trigger a failed timer email. If the failure causes an orange warning triangle, the email appears to be sent when the PVR sends the failure message that causes the warning to be displayed.

The email appears to be sent if IceTV sends a timer to the PVR, and the PVR sends an error message back. That clearly can't happen is the network connection is down.

Like much of IceTV, how this all really works just isn't described in any detail anywhere.

[grahford]

Darn.  I rarely get those kind of issues.  My errors are almost always hollow circles not being correctly received.

[prl]

Darn.  I rarely get those kind of issues.  My errors are almost always hollow circles not being correctly received.

Some "hollow circle" problems are not actually errors. We keep our (Beyonwiz) PVRs in standby except when they're being used. If I have a timer for a recording already set by IceTV, and then IceTV updates the recording (eg adjusts the time) in their database, and the PVR is in standby, I'll see the hollow circle in My Week until the PVR next starts up and syncs with IceTV, when the hollow circle will usually go solid. Very occasionally this problem doesn't right itself.

Of course, if there's a network problem, then the hollow circles are indeed an indication of a problem, but then it will normally be hollow circles for all recordings after a certain time.

Because IceTV is a "pull" protocol (the client initiates the sync), there can only really be positive indications of errors when the PVR contacts IceTV. The warning emails could only really be sent for network failures if there was some sort of "warn if there's been no client contact for X days" rule.

[grahford]

The warning emails could only really be sent for network failures if there was some sort of "warn if there's been no client contact for X days" rule.

Sounds perfect

[mikeathome]

I had two failed timer emails the day the service started and none since. I took one of my PVRs with me on holidays for 10 days where there was no ICE communications with it, surely all the timers that were appropriate for this period should have generated emails as they could not be set? Is this facility still operating?

[lukem]

Hi Mike,

The current notification feature will alert you when your PVR tells the IceTV servers that there has been a scheduling problem. So, if there were no communications you would have not received any alerts.

[mikeathome]

That explains it, thanks. Can I suggest that an additional facility be added when convenient that emails me when interactive wants to set a timer but that timer is not set. My expectation is that if I ask for a show to be recorded it will be - but if it isn't going to be for whatever reason it would be useful to know that too.

[prl]

That explains it, thanks. Can I suggest that an additional facility be added when convenient that emails me when interactive wants to set a timer but that timer is not set. My expectation is that if I ask for a show to be recorded it will be - but if it isn't going to be for whatever reason it would be useful to know that too.

Such a mechanism would need to take into account that some people only run their PVRs when they are actively being used. I don't want a bunch of emails sent out to me between when IceTV does their main daily update (still at about 14:00, I think) and when my PVRs run and connect to IceTV (usually) in the evening.

Remember, in some sense IceTV never actively tries to set a timer. It waits for the PVR to contact it and ask if IceTV has any timer updates.

[mikeathome]

Yeah, i hadn't thought about that. I also leave my units on standby. I think I recall reading that timers are normally sent to the PVRs a week in advance of the recording (where they have been set). I would be happy to get an email warning say 6hr before a failed timer was due to start. Maybe the time period would need tweaking but something like that would suit.

[prl]

That sounds better. I agree that the time period would need some tweaking. Six hours might not suit people in full-time work, so a bit longer might be good. Perhaps user selectable?

Timers are sent five days before they are due to run, however, they can be updated after that.

[Fester]

Had a failed timer last night, yellow triangle indicated on website, Paked To The Rafters, no email notification.

[prl]

ACT Guide; Beyonwiz DP-Lite; firmware 01.07.350

I've had another email notification of a failed timer update where the update should not have failed. Until yesterday, I had scheduled recordings of Grimm on Prime at 21:30 and 22:30 tonight 31 Jan, each 60 minutes. IceTV tinkered with the times to move them to 21:35, 60min and 22:35, 55min. The update of the earlier timer failed, and so the timers on the Beyonwiz are for 21:30-22:30 (not updated, yellow warning triangle and timer failure email) and for 22:35-23:30.

I had a similar problem with update failure due to timer tweaking, but it only involved a single timer update, not a double update of back-to-back timers.

The other timers set for tonight were: Nigelissima ABC1 20:30-21:00 and The Hour ABC1 21:00-22:00.

Neither the old timers before the time tweak for Grimm nor the new timers with the Grimm time tweak should cause any timer failure on the Beyonwiz.

Fortunately, padding on the Beyonwiz will catch the time between 22:30 and 22:35 for the Grimm recordings, so I'll leave the timers as they are if anyone at IceTV wants to have a look at this.

If this sort of thing is going to keep happening, I'd rather that IceTV left the timers where they were for small tweaks like this and the padding that I have set anyway will catch over-runs of that sort of size.

[Fester]

This feature is working well for me now. Have had a couple of failed timers in the last five days, yellow icon on website, email each time, good work.

Topfield TRF-2460

[mikeathome]

I've had a couple of emails this week warning that timers have not been set, reason

Message from recorder:   TASK_MSG_INVALID_SERVICE

for the 22nd, ABC2 and ONE. What does this message mean?

[Dave at IceTV]

I've had a couple of emails this week warning that timers have not been set, reason

Message from recorder:   TASK_MSG_INVALID_SERVICE

for the 22nd, ABC2 and ONE. What does this message mean?

That message from the recorder is supposed to mean that IceTV tried to set a recording for a channel that is not on the recorder.  But PVRs often use it when the program could not be found in the guide. This could be because the guide is blank, or partially blank, or that program's entry has been updated on the IceTV server but the PVR still has the old entry in the guide. As long as the guide on the PVR matches the guide in your account on the website you can just reschedule that failed recording from My Week or TV Guide.