# Are these issues typical?



## SleepyBob (May 11, 2012)

I've only had my Hopper for a couple weeks now, but we are starting to get frustrated with the issues we've been having. Are these typical, or is there a problem with my box?

1. Twice in the last week, shows in Primetime have not recorded completely (we have PTA enabled, plus timers for the shows). The Biggest Loser said it was a 5 minute recording on the status bar, but it played okay for 30 minutes, and then the recording ended 30 minutes early. The next PTA show started at the beginning of the next show, so 30 minutes just vanished. Now, Private Practice also showed up as a 5 minute recording, but it was actually 5 minutes long, and ended before the show even started.

2. I set up a folder for my shows, but none of the PTA shows that I set timers for end up there - they show up in "No Folder" instead. Kind of defeats the purpose of having folders.

3. I turned on the TV last night, and none of PTA had been recorded. I unplugged the box to see if that would fix it, but it didn't. And it wouldn't let me press record, because it didn't have Guide Data (though I saw Guide Info when I pressed GUIDE). Over an hour later, it started recording the last 5 minutes of PTA. So I missed the Season Finale of 5 different shows.


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## Ray [email protected] Network (Dec 28, 2010)

Which software version do you have on the Hopper? Did this just begin occurring or has it happened for the last two weeks since your Hopper was installed? I will test my Hopper here to see if it replicates your issue. Thanks.



SleepyBob said:


> I've only had my Hopper for a couple weeks now, but we are starting to get frustrated with the issues we've been having. Are these typical, or is there a problem with my box?
> 
> 1. Twice in the last week, shows in Primetime have not recorded completely (we have PTA enabled, plus timers for the shows). The Biggest Loser said it was a 5 minute recording on the status bar, but it played okay for 30 minutes, and then the recording ended 30 minutes early. The next PTA show started at the beginning of the next show, so 30 minutes just vanished. Now, Private Practice also showed up as a 5 minute recording, but it was actually 5 minutes long, and ended before the show even started.
> 
> ...


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## SleepyBob (May 11, 2012)

#1 happened on 5/1 and on 5/8 (just on these two episodes). I was installed 4/24.
#2 happens for every Timer recording that falls in PTA.
#3 happened for the first time yesterday.
I'll look up the software version tonight.


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## tcatdbs (Jul 10, 2008)

Just chiming in for info here. If you have PTAT "active", why do you need "timers"? Doesn't PTAT record all shows on 4 channels? Do you have the option to set PTAT to overshoot all last shows by 15 minutes?


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## SleepyBob (May 11, 2012)

tcatdbs said:


> Just chiming in for info here. If you have PTAT "active", why do you need "timers"? Doesn't PTAT record all shows on 4 channels? Do you have the option to set PTAT to overshoot all last shows by 15 minutes?


So I don't have to sort through all of PTAT to find the shows I want.
So I can delete a show after I've watched it, and not keep checking old shows.
So that PTAT shows are in the same list as all my other shows when I go to pick something out to watch.


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## tcatdbs (Jul 10, 2008)

Thanks! Don't have the Hopper yet. Didn't you had options on the PTAT stuff, good to know.



SleepyBob said:


> So I don't have to sort through all of PTAT to find the shows I want.
> So I can delete a show after I've watched it, and not keep checking old shows.
> So that PTAT shows are in the same list as all my other shows when I go to pick something out to watch.


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## ZBoomer (Feb 21, 2008)

SleepyBob said:


> So I don't have to sort through all of PTAT to find the shows I want.
> So I can delete a show after I've watched it, and not keep checking old shows.
> So that PTAT shows are in the same list as all my other shows when I go to pick something out to watch.


So you basically aren't using PTAT; you should de-activate it. With it activated it won't let you set another timer for something already recorded in PTAT.

BTW, you do realize that a PTAT individual recording can be "Saved" to your personal area, right? Once you do that, it functions like any program manually recorded. And, it uses none of your space unless you leave it there > 8 days.

In fact, PTAT programs use NONE of your space, so there is no need to delete it. You just leave them there, and they disappear 8 days later.

You really are missing a lot of cool stuff trying to outsmart PTAT, IMO. Your thinking hasn't adapted to the new paradigm at all; you're still thinking in old DVR mode. If you can get past the OCD problem of having all the old PTAT programs sticking around even if you aren't watching them, you will be enlightened. They take up none of your space.


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## sregener (Apr 17, 2012)

ZBoomer said:


> So you basically aren't using PTAT; you should de-activate it. With it activated it won't let you set another timer for something already recorded in PTAT.


Actually, I think he was listing the reasons why he uses timers with PTAT, and it makes sense to me as well. And just because he uses timers (which the Hopper does allow, BTW) for PTAT programs he wants does not mean he is not using PTAT.

Consider this: I sit down and turn on my Hopper. I want to know which programs I want to watch have a currently recorded episode. I press the DVR button and a list appears. If the program is in PTAT folder, I don't see it - and I don't know if there's a new episode or not. By setting up a timer, the programs I want show up in the regular user folder, and my way of marking them "watched" is to delete them after watching them. With no new episodes, the icon disappears from my DVR menu, and I don't forget later that I watched it, until opening up the folder and seeing that sure enough, it is watched. In other words, by setting timers for individual events (which still uses the PTAT feature), it is easier to find the content I want to watch because I don't have to page through a bunch of programs that I don't. In other words, using program timers is a better way to be organized, and costs nothing.


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## SleepyBob (May 11, 2012)

sregener said:


> Actually, I think he was listing the reasons why he uses timers with PTAT, and it makes sense to me as well. And just because he uses timers (which the Hopper does allow, BTW) for PTAT programs he wants does not mean he is not using PTAT.
> 
> Consider this: I sit down and turn on my Hopper. I want to know which programs I want to watch have a currently recorded episode. I press the DVR button and a list appears. If the program is in PTAT folder, I don't see it - and I don't know if there's a new episode or not. By setting up a timer, the programs I want show up in the regular user folder, and my way of marking them "watched" is to delete them after watching them. With no new episodes, the icon disappears from my DVR menu, and I don't forget later that I watched it, until opening up the folder and seeing that sure enough, it is watched. In other words, by setting timers for individual events (which still uses the PTAT feature), it is easier to find the content I want to watch because I don't have to page through a bunch of programs that I don't. In other words, using program timers is a better way to be organized, and costs nothing.


Exactly. And without timers, I would have to manually save every show I want to keep beyond 8 days. And without PTA, I can't record 4 things at once (not too hard with a household of 7), and I would have to set timers for random shows that I _might_ want to watch.


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## SleepyBob (May 11, 2012)

ZBoomer said:


> You really are missing a lot of cool stuff trying to outsmart PTAT, IMO. Your thinking hasn't adapted to the new paradigm at all; you're still thinking in old DVR mode. If you can get past the OCD problem of having all the old PTAT programs sticking around even if you aren't watching them, you will be enlightened. They take up none of your space.


So your new paradigm is that I should watch all my shows within 8 days, or manually go in and save them? DVRs are supposed to make things easier, not give me more work to do.


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## SleepyBob (May 11, 2012)

Back to the original topic - my software version is 211 NACB.

Last night, I got the first offer to skip commercials, so maybe it was related to a software update.

What should my signal strength be? They vary from 47-64, which seems low, but maybe it's just the scale is different (DirecTV always showed 80+).


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## Ray [email protected] Network (Dec 28, 2010)

For special events such as Super Bowl, Oscars, etc... the timers adjust to record the whole program if the program extends beyond the PTAT window. Thanks.



tcatdbs said:


> Just chiming in for info here. If you have PTAT "active", why do you need "timers"? Doesn't PTAT record all shows on 4 channels? Do you have the option to set PTAT to overshoot all last shows by 15 minutes?


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Ray [email protected] Network said:


> For special events such as Super Bowl, Oscars, etc... the timers adjust to record the whole program if the program extends beyond the PTAT window. Thanks.


The caveat being _if the scheduled time of the program extends beyond the normal PTA window_.

Tonight on Fox the NASCAR race at Darlington is scheduled to end at 11pm. PTA is starting early (at 6:28pm ET) to cover the beginning of the race but the end is NOT extended. So when there are late race cautions and green-white-checkered finishes pushing the end of the race closer if not past 11pm the PTA recording will shut off at 11pm.

My weekly recording of NASCAR on Fox has the usual hour sports padding. Of course that recording is showing up as skipped as the event is PTA. Yet the PTA timer will cut off at the end of the scheduled coverage tonight.

The "easy" solution, of course, is to waste a second tuner on my Hopper - restore the skipped timer and have two tuners recording the same programming from 6:30pm-11:00pm ET. Leaving me with one tuner for other live/recorded content. And another night of explaining to the wife why I'm using up all the tuners. (My actual solution is to set a manual one time recording for the show after the race on my local Fox channel --- recording the end of race coverage in a separate DVR recording.)

I'd like to see PTA extended for sports ... but apparently DISH makes that the customer's responsibility. Personally the value of timer events and PTA is that the customer does not have to spend time managing timers to get the programming they want --- but this is a common example of where if the customer isn't paying attention they will lose programming.


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## rgranberry (Mar 29, 2012)

J. Long is correct. We missed the last three laps of the Darlington Race.


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## White94Cobra (Jun 18, 2007)

Better yet, live sporting events should be monitored via a web service and automatically extend until the event is over. My "other" DVR has had this feature for a few years now.


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## sregener (Apr 17, 2012)

Yeah, I set up a manual record for the show after the NASCAR race. It seemed a little strange in my list of recordings, since it wasn't a show I cared to watch, but I got the last 2 laps. If it's any consolation, they were a pretty boring 2 laps and the finish wasn't close.


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