A couple of timer setting oddities

[prl]

Thanks, Luke.

Let me know if there is anything I can do to assist.

"Alice soon came to the conclusion that it was a very difficult game indeed." :)

[rickym]

Hi everyone,

I have two issues with IceTV programming.  The second might be due to the problems IceTV are having, but I'm fairly sure the first isn't

1.   Last night, I wanted to copy two programs, Q&A on ABC1 and a show on Channel 7 at the same time.  However, when I program Q&A into the system, it picks it up from both ABC1 and ABC24.  So is it copying two shows and would not copy a third on a different channel.  The result is that I now have two copies of Q&A and have missed the Channel 7 program.  IT WOULD BE FAR BETTER IF I COULD NOMINATE THE CHANNEL FOR RECORDING SHOWS AND NOT JUST THE NETWORK as someone has already said elsewhere. 

2.  With some shows that I have set for copying, it all works fine initially, but I end up getting an exclamation mark beside the program which means it won't copy.  I think I can defeat this by deleting the offending timer immediately before the show is due to start and reprogramming it.  This problem seems to only occur with some shows.  Tomorrow night, for example, I have programmed Monster Bug Wars at 7:30, Dynamo at 8:35 and a movie at 11:05.  I have reprogrammed Dynamo three times now and, eventually, it still seems to get the exclamation mark.  I had the same problem with Dynamo last week.  I'd appreciate knowing if this is a problem at my end and I can do something about it, or a problem with IceTV.

Cheers,

Rick

[Dave at IceTV]

Hi Ricky,

No.1 is easy to fix. Set the Advanced option for Q&A to "Only standard def." which will force it to only record on ABC1.

If you prefer to record it on ABCNews 24 set it to "Only high def."

No.2 looks like you have the wrong region selected. If you actually do get the Sydney channels (7, 9 and 10 etc) then your selected region is ok. If instead you actually get the Wollongong channels (6, 8 and 5 etc) then you should change the region to "NSW Regional Southern" AND set your correct channel numbers, as outlined here:
http://support.icetv.com.au/entries/20105463-how-do-i-map-channels-on-the-icetv-website-for-my-recorder

[rickym]

Thanks very much Dave.  Most appreciated.  The problem arose because I moved from Picton to Bowral.  Associated with the move, I upgraded my whole stereo/TV system and, incorrectly, assumed that the installers made all necessary changes to my BW. 

I have done all as you suggested, but cannot find three stations on the IceTV website:

• Gold (84)
• 4ME (64)
• One Wollongong (50)

The stations do exist on my TV.  Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Rick

[Dave at IceTV]

Hi Rick,

For One Wollongong, we just call it One. You had it disabled. I have now set it to channel 50.

For 4ME and Gold, they are datacasting channels and we don't cover datacasting channels in our guide. A datacasting channel is extremely low quality and is not licensed to show real TV programs. Instead, the current crop of data casting channels repeatedly show the same series of 30 or 60 minute long infomercals (sometimes masquerading as real shows).

Some previous datacasting channels over the last 5 years in Sydney have been The Home Shopping Channel, Christian TV, National Indigenous TV, Federal Parliament, RTA Traffic Cam and we have never included them. The only difference now is that they have spread beyond Sydney and now the TV networks are trying to get people to watch them by pretending they are more than they really are.

[rickym]

Thanks Dave.  All seems fine now ;D. 

Cheers,

Rick

[rickym]

Sorry, but I thought it was all OK.  However, it's not.  I went into IceTV this morning just to check and there were exclamation marks everywhere.  So, I deleted all timers in BW and IceTV, good and bad, and reset them in IceTV.  I then went back into IceTV and the attached is what is there.  I have searched on "remove timers" in IceTV Forum and found nothing.  Help please.  I have a BW DP-P2. 

Cheers,

Rick

[rickym]

Hi Dave,

Further to my email above I should point out a couple of things that might help your analysis:

1.  After I had cleared the timers and deleted everything off IceTV, I re-entered everything into IceTV.

2.  Initially it all looked good, hence my post a couple above saying it was all OK.  By that, I mean the symbols before the entries on My Shows and My Week were correct.  I thought we'd won!  The attachment above still has one show with the correct symbols before it, but that has now changed to a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark inside.  So, it all looks good for a time after the entries had been made.

3.  Tonight, I thought I'd delete New Tricks from IceTV and re-enter it.  This was about 15 minutes before the show was due to start.  My rationale was that if the symbols were still correct in both My Shows and My Week (i.e. 15 minutes after I had entered it), it might start recording at 8:30.  This relied on the thought that it'd stay correct for more than 15 minutes -- time enough for the recording to start.  I didn't see this, but my wife informs me that we got the usual message to state that the recording had, in fact, started.  However, I looked at the PVR at 8:35 and it hadn't started at all.  What's more, I went straight into IceTV  and noted that the symbol for New Tricks had changed in My Week to the exclamation mark. 

4.  I remind you that all the symbols before the programs in My Shows always were and still are correct.  They are incorrect in My Week.

5.  Over the last few weeks, only some programs had screwed up, others recorded as they should (ignoring the issue of what to do if the same program is on two channels).  So, things seem to have gotten worse in the last few days.

Cheers,

Rick

[prl]

... Tonight, I thought I'd delete New Tricks from IceTV and re-enter it.  This was about 15 minutes before the show was due to start. ...

Probably not the best way to test something. It can take up to 15 minutes for a Beyonwiz to request an update from IceTV. If you have any pre-padding, that means there's a possibility that IceTV may try to update the timer after it's started running.

Still strange that you didn't get a recording, though.

[Dave at IceTV]

... Tonight, I thought I'd delete New Tricks from IceTV and re-enter it.  This was about 15 minutes before the show was due to start. ...

Probably not the best way to test something. It can take up to 15 minutes for a Beyonwiz to request an update from IceTV. If you have any pre-padding, that means there's a possibility that IceTV may try to update the timer after it's started running.

Still strange that you didn't get a recording, though.

The good thing about a Beyonwiz is that when it receives a timer from IceTV for a show that has already begun the Beyonwiz will immediately start recording the remainder of that show. Other recorders can reject the timer as the start time has already passed. Still, I would not recommend setting timers less than 15 minutes before the start time.

[prl]

Thanks, Dave. I didn't know that about IceTV on Beyonwiz.

[Dave at IceTV]

Hi Ricky,

1.  After I had cleared the timers and deleted everything off IceTV, I re-entered everything into IceTV.

Strangely, 2 SBS One shows have failed to be scheduled (with no reason returned from the Beyonwiz). All other shows are still queued, waiting to be downloaded by your Beyonwiz (which appears to have been turned off since 9:30pm last night).

Old timers stuck in the Beyonwiz's Timer List can cause failed timers with no reason returned. The first timer at the top of the list should NOT have a date in the past.

Check if there are any old timers in the timer list:
- While in the Guide or viewing a TV channel,
- Press Pop-Up.
- Press ok on Timer List.
- Use the green button to delete any 'old' timers at the top of the list.
- Exit the Timer List.

Note: Do NOT delete any timers for tonight onwards. Only delete OLD timers with dates in the past, or start times from earlier today.

4.  I remind you that all the symbols before the programs in My Shows always were and still are correct.  They are incorrect in My Week.

Series recordings listed in My Shows always show the solid series icon. This just indicates that they are a series. It does NOT indicate anything as far as troubleshooting if they been set on the recorder yet.

The only icons that change to indicate the show's status are those in My Week and TV Guide. My Week is where you need to be looking to check if your shows are set to record or not.

[rickym]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your attention.  It is most appreciated. 

Strangely, 2 SBS One shows have failed to be scheduled (with no reason returned from the Beyonwiz). All other shows are still queued, waiting to be downloaded by your Beyonwiz (which appears to have been turned off since 9:30pm last night).

Yes, it was off until 5:45 tonight -- but it's on now.  I note that all still looks good in IceTV.  I'm not sure what you mean by your comments on SBS One. 

Check if there are any old timers in the timer list:
- While in the Guide or viewing a TV channel,
- Press Pop-Up.
- Press ok on Timer List.
- Use the green button to delete any 'old' timers at the top of the list.
- Exit the Timer List.

Note: Do NOT delete any timers for tonight onward. Only delete OLD timers with dates in the past, or start times from earlier today.

OK, I did that and went into Pop-Up -- an hour and a half after I had switched BW on.  The field is blank -- nothing is there. 

Now, I'm waiting for 8:30 to see if Hunted is copied. 

Cheers,

Rick

[rickym]

G'day guys,

Further to my post above

Despite everything looking OK at Ice TV (please see the attachment), the show is not being recorded -- it's 9:15 and the timer list is still empty :(.  Help please. 

I have been away a fair bit over the last few months, so I have not really had a chance to test it out properly.  However, I did have my BW in for repairs back in May or June.  Could this be the same problem?  Sorry, but I'm an older fart and really don't remember the details.

I'll leave BW switched on for the time being.  From your comments above on SBS One, I assume you can access it. 

Cheers,

Rick

[grampus]

Have you gone into Setup>network>IceTV, and watched the information window?
You should see the timer fetch and the EPG fetch happening.
This will give you something to make you comfortable that you are sending requests off to the Ice server.