IceTV Forum

IceTV Guide for IceTV enabled PVRs => SKIPPA => Topic started by: ChrisW on May 06, 2016, 11:54:03 PM

Title: Undocumented Feature and Two Bugs
Post by: ChrisW on May 06, 2016, 11:54:03 PM
After some failed timers and confusing Skippa behaviour over the last week associated with an "undocumented feature", I have identified a couple of bugs. Obviously these can't be fixed, but this information may save others experiencing the same issues:

Undocumented Feature
I accidentally discovered that an active recording can be deleted from the My Recordings list without the need to stop the recording first, thereby saving several key presses.
In the My Recordings list press the red (Delete) button on the active recording, as you would to delete a previous recording. Once the deletion prompt is confirmed the recording stops, the "R" icon on that entry changes to the incomplete icon, and the recording is deleted as normal.
I found this quite useful to delete an unwanted active recording until I found.....

Bug 1
After using the above "feature" the next timer of the day always fails to trigger. The failed timer remains in the My Week list well after the event, and never appears in Failed Recordings. Sometimes I will get a failed timer email if I completely reboot the Skippa.

Example
I have a recurring timer for "Sunrise". When I get to the TV at 6:30 I watch the active recording from the start for about an hour, then stop and delete the remainder and "turn off" the Skippa when I head off to work. When stopping the Sunrise playback it was convenient to just press the red (Delete) button on the active recording in My Recordings, rather than having to close the list, stop the recording, go back into the list and delete the recording - an extra 4 key presses.
I also have a recurring timer for the Seven evening news. Since I started using the above process that timer would never trigger - it took a few days of failed timers, and removing and re-adding the timers, before I finally made the connection. If I use the "traditional" method to stop and delete the Sunrise recording then the news timer DOES trigger.

Bug 2 (unrelated to above)
Timers will not trigger while moving a recording to a USB stick. They will trigger once the move is complete, but obviously you'll be missing part of that recording. I assume an active recording may also be impacted when transferring to USB - I haven't had time to check.
It reminds me of my old Topfield 5000 file transfer application (Altair) which had a "turbo" mode - when that mode was engaged it doubled the transfer speed by disabling all playback and recording functionality on the Toppy for the duration.
Title: Re: Undocumented Feature and Two Bugs
Post by: Dave at IceTV on May 08, 2016, 09:09:03 PM
Thanks Chris.

Pity the undocumented feature causes bug 1 (maybe that's why it wasn't documented in the manual).

Bug 2 is possibly by design due to a middleware limitation but it would have been nice if a warning was mentioned in the manual. It does remind me of the old toppy 5000 too.
Title: Re: Undocumented Feature and Two Bugs
Post by: ChrisW on May 08, 2016, 09:35:33 PM
Quote from: Dave at IceTV on May 08, 2016, 09:09:03 PM
Pity the undocumented feature causes bug 1 (maybe that's why it wasn't documented in the manual).

I'm wondering if it was actually even intended?

I've never seen the ability to delete an active recording with the 3-4 PVRs I've worked with over the last 10 years.

Then again, the Skippa does a lot of things I haven't seen before.