Double episodes (eg Heroes on 7TWO)

[Mark]

I am wondering if I am the only one who would prefer that double episodes be included in the EPG as a single two-hour entry, rather than two separate one-hour entries?

The problem with double entries, on Vista MCE at least and possibly on other systems, is that you do not necessarily get the recordings that you want.  For example, I have two tuners, and if I have no other simultaneous recordings then I will get two separate recorndings that split at some random point in the program (since the TV channels do not run to time).  There is overlap between the two also, because of the padding that has to be set on the series recording to ensure that the end of the second episode is not cut off!  I would really much rather have one single continuous recording of the entire double episode.

Worse is if I have a simultaneous recording on another channel (eg last night City Homicide on 7 at the same time as the first episode of Heroes on 7TWO).  Using MCE soft padding is not an option, because its scheduler is a bit brain dead, and quite likely to decide to use the same tuner for City Homicide and the second episode of Heroes, cutting off the end of City Homicide (which is, of course, running late).

My current workaround is to set up the series recording for Heroes in MCE with 90 minutes of hard padding, and for City Homicide with 15 minutes of hard padding.  The first episode of Heroes schedules to record, and covers the second episode as well, while the second episode fails to schedule due to the clash with City Homicide.  Problem is that I can't set hard padding through Interactive (which is the main reason I don't use it -- soft padding in MCE is useless), and the whole method is based upon knowing when the programs are scheduled so that I can set the right paddings to ensure that everything I want gets recorded in full, which partly defeats the purpose of having an EPG since I might just as well be setting the timers manually.

Admittedly, this problem can arise any time two programs are scheduled to record consecutively on the same channel, but could be avoided in the case of double episodes by including them in a single EPG entry.  I imagine this is only viable if both episodes also have the same "repeat" status (ie both repeats, or both first-run).

[jillmess]

Sorry, but I prefer things just as they are.

I am using DVScheduler on my PC, which allows me to capture consecutive shows as individual recordings (with full padding on each).  MCE appears to me to be severely disabled as far as recording goes - have never actually used it so only basing this on various comments I have read.  With my 3 tuners and DVScheduler, I can record up to 6 simultaneous individual shows eg WIN & GO! with 1 tuner, Seven & 7Two with the 2nd, and ABC1 & ABC2 with the 3rd (or TEN/OneHD SBS1/SBS2 etc).  This flexibility means that these days I record most things on the PC for watching via the beyonwiz, rather than recording on the wiz itself.

[Matt-]

Please leave it the way it is.

Poor performance of one particular PVR solution doesn't mean everyone else should suffer.

It sounds to me that the OP should consider more tuner cards or another PVR solution.