Padding problem

[csutak40]

I have a continual problem with padding.  I don't record that many shows on my Media Centre, as it is my "fallback" device, I normally use my trusty Toppy. I usually record  ones that I plan to burn, as opposed to watching straight away.  When I do, I set the padding for 30 minutes, just to be on the safe side.  This sometimes works, but most of the time (and usually, when the long padding would have been useful  >:() it doesn't and gives  5 minutes of padding.  I haven't been able to figure out why it works some of the time, but not others.  So, I wrote to Ice support, and got a reply:

Media Center does have its own internal padding feature, which IceTV overrides to allow for more padding.

To resolve your problem go to "Settings", then "TV", then "Recorder" and then "Recorder Defaults". You don't need to actually change anything here, as viewing the settings resets the padding to the default amount.

Next, open the IceTV application, set your desired padding in the configuration tab, and press save settings.

Note: If you go back to the "Recorder Defaults" page after you have set your IceTV padding overrides, you will have to re-apply your IceTV overrides again.

Although I didn't think I had been in the "Recorder Defaults" for ages, I did as directed.  Ice Interactive directed me to reboot, which I did.  The next thing to record, did indeed add 30 minutes.  However the next one after that (coincidentally, later that same day) did not.  Again, I missed the end of that show.  I haven't touched the settings since (about a week) since then, I have recorded about 4 shows, only one of them included the 30 minute padding, the rest added 5 minutes only.  It is not a question of two timers clashing.  The only time I have that problem is recording two concurrent Law & Order shows - funnily enough, now I think about it, I thought the second one wasn't going to record at all, but it did - with 30 minutes padding.

I hadn't even opened Media Centre since, let alone the "settings" section of it, so have no idea how to fix this problem.  I plan to burn, and I repeated miss the ending of the shows I record.

[OzRob]

You say that your Media Center is you fallback device. But do you use it often, or is it usually left in standby mode? I've only ever had the padding though the Ice Interactive fail when I've set a recording and then put the Media Center into standby shortly after. That's because the Ice Interactive program does a batch processing of the scheduled recordings about every 15 minutes, and if it hasn't had an opportunity to do this before the show is scheduled to record, the padding is not added to the timer.

So perhaps, if your Media Center isn't used that often, Ice Interactive is simply not having the time to process the padding for the scheduled recordings.

[csutak40]

You say that your Media Center is you fallback device. But do you use it often, or is it usually left in standby mode? I've only ever had the padding though the Ice Interactive fail when I've set a recording and then put the Media Center into standby shortly after. That's because the Ice Interactive program does a batch processing of the scheduled recordings about every 15 minutes, and if it hasn't had an opportunity to do this before the show is scheduled to record, the padding is not added to the timer.

So perhaps, if your Media Center isn't used that often, Ice Interactive is simply not having the time to process the padding for the scheduled recordings.

I'm not sure I am following this.  Are you saying that Ice Interactive could only do the batch processing if it was open? Media Centre is in standby mode all the time.  MC is my fallback device and use it for shows that I always burn, never watch soon after recording for various reasons. I record one show every weekday, in the afternoon.  That is the one that does occasionally add the 30 minute padding, although it happens to be one that never needs it.  Why it does on some days and not on others, makes no sense to me.  ???

The other shows that I regularly record are Law and Order & NCIS.  These the ones that I would like to add extra padding to, but that doesn't happen 90% of the time. 

I have now sort of solved the problem (unless I forget  :P )  I simply add the extra padding to each programme I have set to record in MC, or in the case of a double episode, I cancel the second one and add 90 minutes "padding" to the first.  Not exactly an automated system, but at least I end up with the entire show.  ::)