Recording errors on the IceTV website

[vfwfw]

The last couple a times I checked my recordings on the IceTV website most of the programs I have scheduled for recording have yellow warning signs next to them which have a message saying that there was an error in the recording.

Does anyone khow what this is all about?

[farbar1]

I'd like to understand why this happens as well but there has not been a lot of response that I can see. Does nobody know?

[prl]

I'd like to understand why this happens as well but there has not been a lot of response that I can see. Does nobody know?

No. No-one knows, I think not even IceTV staff, because the PVRs don't send a reason why the error occurs. I also occasionally get the yellow warning when the timer has actually been sent successfully (on Beyonwiz, I don't know whether that happens on Topfield).

The usual reason is that the recording would have created a timer conflict.

When a PVR synchs with IceTV, the PVR sends its timers to IceTV, IceTV works out what timer changes need to be made on the PVR, and sends the changes to the PVR. If the PVR can't set a timer, it sends back an error indication for the timer (apparently without any explanation), and the yellow triangle is set on the Web page to indicate that. The usual reason is that the timer that caused the error conflicts with timers that have already been set.

There's a fairly detailed explanation of how IceTV is thought to work (the actual workings are held as a trade secret by IceTV) on the Topfirld forum. I'd provide you with a link, but Topfield has decided to close the forum to reading by non-members*, so I will not provide links to it. Even though I wrote much of the content of that particular post (it was adapted for Topfields by jpp from a post about IceTV and Beyonwizes that I wrote on the Beyonwiz forum).

* I don't know why, and I don't much care.

[tonymy01]

I'd like to understand why this happens as well but there has not been a lot of response that I can see. Does nobody know?

This time of year it is because of the dst transition.Thanks to most pvrs being too stupid to add the correct gmt offset to the ice utc data, what the pvr reports back to Ice won't match what its really meant to record, so ice throws up the exclamation as it can't find the timers it asked to set when the pvr reports back next.

[raymondjpg]

The last couple a times I checked my recordings on the IceTV website most of the programs I have scheduled for recording have yellow warning signs next to them which have a message saying that there was an error in the recording.

Does anyone khow what this is all about?

Is this something to do with the end of daylight saving?

Try:

1. Making sure that the time offset on the Topfield is set correctly for current period.
2. Delete scheduled recordings in the Topfield.
3. Resend scheduled recordings from the Ice web site.

Before step 3 I would delete the scheduled recordings on the Ice web site, and re-schedule them. This may not be necessary. Also, before step 3 I would switch off the Topfield, then after resending scheduled recordings from the Ice web site wait for at least an hour before turning the Topfield on again.

Anyone with better suggestions, welcome.

[prl]

I'd like to understand why this happens as well but there has not been a lot of response that I can see. Does nobody know?

This time of year it is because of the dst transition.Thanks to most pvrs being too stupid to add the correct gmt offset to the ice utc data, what the pvr reports back to Ice won't match what its really meant to record, so ice throws up the exclamation as it can't find the timers it asked to set when the pvr reports back next.

I'm not 100% convinced by this. After the DST changeover, I had two (out of 12 or so) timers on my DP-Lite where that appeared to happen, but all the others were picked up and re-assigned to the new (UTC) times.

I wonder whether there's sometimes a problem with the order that delete-timer and add-timer requests are sent, that lead to a conflict when there actually isn't one. Though I would have thought that the simplest way to get this correct would have been to send all delete-timers, then send all add-timers (or execute them in that order, anyway).

[markb]

I also occasionally get the yellow warning when the timer has actually been sent successfully (on Beyonwiz, I don't know whether that happens on Topfield).

Yep, occasionally happens on Topfield as well.

[farbar1]

I spoke to the support people today about this and they didn't have a clue. I have a promise that they will turn on additional logging and that a techo will contact me. I went in and rescheduled the recordings only to go back in a while later and see the error again. I don't think that this is good enough and I am getting very close to telling ICE what they can do with their service. I'm prepared to pay for quality but not for this junk. It causes me more problems than I need.

[Andy Blazer at IceTV]

A common cause of these types of issues is trying to record too many shows during the same timeslot.

Unfortunately some PVR's do not support or send us meaningful error reporting.  In these cases, the yellow triangle "Recording Failure" is all that is displayed.

[Vortical]

A common cause of these types of issues is trying to record too many shows during the same timeslot.

Unfortunately some PVR's do not support or send us meaningful error reporting.  In these cases, the yellow triangle "Recording Failure" is all that is displayed.

Andy

Can't you take the matters further with the manufacturer's directly and perhaps work with the firmware engineer's to resolve these issues?

[Daniel Drysdale at IceTV]

Can't you take the matters further with the manufacturer's directly and perhaps work with the firmware engineer's to resolve these issues?

This is a subject near and dear to my heart and a constant source of frustration.

During the implementation phase I work closely with the engineers involved, often literally sitting beside them as they write their firmware.

As a direct response to the, shall we say lax efforts, on the part of some of our partners we have mandated that accurate error reporting is required in order to gain certification from us.
Unfortunately many models were developed prior to this requirement and are exempt from it.

Rest assured that we are taking a far harder line on this these days and in time we hope to have all supported devices behaving well.

[GSpot]

Can't you take the matters further with the manufacturer's directly and perhaps work with the firmware engineer's to resolve these issues?

This is a subject near and dear to my heart and a constant source of frustration.

During the implementation phase I work closely with the engineers involved, often literally sitting beside them as they write their firmware.

As a direct response to the, shall we say lax efforts, on the part of some of our partners we have mandated that accurate error reporting is required in order to gain certification from us.
Unfortunately many models were developed prior to this requirement and are exempt from it.

Rest assured that we are taking a far harder line on this these days and in time we hope to have all supported devices behaving well.

Does this mean that I shouldn't bother purchasing a new PVR until this issue is sorted? I purchased a Topfield 7100 to replace the disgrace that is the 7000. I was considering one of the newer ones to replace the rubbish that is the 7100, but now think it will be a waste of time. Also...why does this window hide my text as I type? Bloody IT industry Grrr

[GSpot]

So is that a no? Seriously, I'm in the market for a new PVR, but I'm not going to waste my time if I keep having the same problems. The 7100 is listed as a suported device, yet no support is forthcoming. Should I assume that the 7100 is not suited to IceTV (although supported) and get a newer model that is, or can I expect to have the same problems and expect all concerned to play the blame game?

[raymondjpg]

So is that a no? Seriously, I'm in the market for a new PVR, but I'm not going to waste my time if I keep having the same problems. The 7100 is listed as a supported device, yet no support is forthcoming. Should I assume that the 7100 is not suited to IceTV (although supported) and get a newer model that is, or can I expect to have the same problems and expect all concerned to play the blame game?

From what I have seen, if it is yellow triangles that bother you, it happens with PVRs other than the 7100.

I have a 7100, and apart from the occasional hitch it works perfectly once the timers are all rolling OK. I have always found Ice support to be helpful with this model when I have encountered what looks like an intractable problem, and have seen nothing to suggest that is no longer the case. This forum is for an exchange of ideas, not the place to seek Ice support. The 7100 community may be shrinking slowly as newer models become available, and the reason why you are not finding answers here.

The 7100 is getting a bit long in the tooth but, and more recent PVRs may suit you better. It may come down to what you have to pay for them.

[grahford]

I get these a few times a week on the 2400 and it is frustrating.  Sometimes it is a fairly obvious clash that is easy to fix and reschedule.  But other times there seems to be no reason at all.  The show will be sitting all on its own with nothing around it and you will still get a yellow exclamation mark.

The following is then what I normally encounter.
Sometimes, make that rarely, hitting reschedule will work.  For this I just assume there was some kind of communication error when icetv first tried to set.

More often then not, when I hit reschedule it will turn into a hollow circle.  And stay that way.  As in the show will come and go and not be recorded.

On my old 7100 I used to fix most errors by doing the 'resend all timers'.  On my 2400 this causes major annoyances because then all existing timers turn into exclamation marks.  I'm guessing because icetv resends the timer and the 2400 responds that a problem happened due to it already being there.  So it's better to clear all timers on the 2400 before sending them again.

The only reliable way I've found to deal with them is to click on the dud show and select cancel.  Wait an hour till you are sure your machine has synced and then re-add it.  This seems to work.  It made me think that perhaps the show was actually on the 2400.  But every time I've checked prior to doing this it hasn't been.  I've put it down to some kind of glitch somewhere.  Maybe the show really, is there, but not showing up in the timer list?

There are three frustrating things here for me.  The first is having to wait an hour for the machine to sync before you can then rescheduling the show (and then wait another hour for that to go through).  I understand that icetv doesn't want their server swamped, but it's still annoying when you are trying to fix something.

The second is having to manually check the site every few days to fix any unexplained errors.  Every time one comes up I curse the lack of email alerts for failed timers.

The final one is that I'm never sure if the problem is icetv or my 2400, (or me).  I've followed icetv's tech advice to the letter and it keeps happening.

Craig.