# Strange behavior on recording last night



## terrylmc (Dec 22, 2005)

Ok, I have a series record for Leno and Letterman, they both start at 10:35. So here's what happened, I turned on the television at about 11:00 last night and its on Fox News with a message on the screen saying it needs to change the channel to record Leno.. Of course, I'm a little surprised since it should have changed already at 10:35. So I go ahead and tell it to change channel then go to the MyVOD screen and I see both programs listed. I decided to test them to see if at least one started recording (I figure one of them didn't since the tuner was on Fox News), and I find that neither of them started at 10:30, they started at about 11:00 when I clicked ok to change the tuner... Shouldn't this message have automatically defaulted to ok to change the channel? I've had this series record for a couple of weeks and haven't seen this happen before, has any one else seen this?


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## zortapa (Nov 16, 2005)

Yes, this has happened to me at least once. Unfortunately, I do not recall the exact details surrounding this and I have not been able to replicate it. However, I have the feeling that I had done something like the the following:

- watched a show live
- decided to record it because I had to go to dinner so I pressed the R button
- turned off the R15, tv, receiver, etc.
- came back later, turned on the system, and found the message asking if it could change the channel.

Does this sound at all familiar to you?

-Eric


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## terrylmc (Dec 22, 2005)

zortapa said:


> Yes, this has happened to me at least once. Unfortunately, I do not recall the exact details surrounding this and I have not been able to replicate it. However, I have the feeling that I had done something like the the following:
> 
> - watched a show live
> - decided to record it because I had to go to dinner so I pressed the R button
> ...


I have 3 receivers, so last night we were watching the HD Tivo, so the R15 (Usually just the gameroom/bedroom DVR) was just sitting there. Not turned off or anything, just sitting there playing whatever it had been left on the last time we watched it. I just turned the tv on and put it on the channel for the R15 and the message was there.


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## terrylmc (Dec 22, 2005)

Earl, since this has happened to 2 of us so far on to different occasions, should this be reported as a bug?


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## donnaml98 (Jan 10, 2006)

Same thing happened to me last night. Had 2 shows set to record starting a 9pm. At 902, I turned around to look at the tv, and the message was there asking if I want to change the channel (I finally pushed ok). It never changed the channel, so I missed the first two mintues of what I was recording. I didn't occur to me that the other may not have recored either, so now I have to check that when I get home.


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

terrylmc said:


> I have 3 receivers, so last night we were watching the HD Tivo, so the R15 (Usually just the gameroom/bedroom DVR) was just sitting there. Not turned off or anything, just sitting there playing whatever it had been left on the last time we watched it. I just turned the tv on and put it on the channel for the R15 and the message was there.


Then that probably answers what happen. In a previous post i has an issue with the r15 not switching channels like it should when it records. ie. if no buttons are pressed on the 'do you want to change the channel' question 5 mins before the show that it doesn't switch the channel at all. I try to keep mine in standby when not in use so that it will record things. It seems to help


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## zortapa (Nov 16, 2005)

That seems to be correct. If the R15 is ON, and no one presses the button to let it tune to another channel, then nothing will be recorded until the "change channel" message is removed from the screen, or, perhaps, until the R15 is put into standby.

And now I wonder what happens if the change channel message is on the screen when the R15 is put into standby.... 

-Eric


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## ISWIZ (Nov 18, 2005)

zortapa said:


> That seems to be correct. If the R15 is ON, and no one presses the button to let it tune to another channel, then nothing will be recorded until the "change channel" message is removed from the screen, or, perhaps, until the R15 is put into standby.
> 
> And now I wonder what happens if the change channel message is on the screen when the R15 is put into standby....
> 
> -Eric


That may be oversimplified. Prior to about 2 weeks ago I never used standby and my recordings were fine. There must be some other piece of data it uses. Maybe length of time since last key press or channel change?


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

ISWIZ said:


> That may be oversimplified. Prior to about 2 weeks ago I never used standby and my recordings were fine. There must be some other piece of data it uses. Maybe length of time since last key press or channel change?


Two weeks ago was about when the update happened. Maybe it caused more issues?


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

Maybe it's got something to do with the last thing you were doing when you left it. E.g. if you leave it watching live TV it "thinks" you're interested and doesn't change the channel, while if you leave it in a menu, it "thinks" you're not interested (despite the PIP) and does change the channel.


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## ISWIZ (Nov 18, 2005)

The other thing that I can't verify is that I don't think I have 2 shows recording at the same time overnight. I may try to see if it works with the box on or in standby. I'll try it tonite with shows I don't care if I miss.


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## donnaml98 (Jan 10, 2006)

Same here Dave. Think I'll conduct a few experiments tonight.


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## doc_j (Dec 25, 2005)

One of my R15s is set up to record two network newscasts every night since we don't get home in time to see them. Since I'm using this DVR with only one satellite feed, I know it has to change channels to record both shows. We leave the unit ON all the time and have not yet had a problem with it failing to change channels. So the STANDBY issue can't be the problem.


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

doc_j said:


> One of my R15s is set up to record two network newscasts every night since we don't get home in time to see them. Since I'm using this DVR with only one satellite feed, I know it has to change channels to record both shows. We leave the unit ON all the time and have not yet had a problem with it failing to change channels. So the STANDBY issue can't be the problem.


If this is true then it must have a "last input" sensor. Because I've tested it before about 10-15 mins before the R15 was going to record 2 shows at once and it didn't switch like I would assume it would. I can understand it waiting till the sec before it needs to switch the channel, but there is no good reason it shouldn't switch the channel if it doesn't get an input from the remote.


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## ISWIZ (Nov 18, 2005)

OK, per chance, last night my evening news (manual record by time) was due to record at 6PM, a movie (Auto record by Actor) was in TODO for 6. I turned the box on from standby right at 6 and went to list to begin running the news while we ate dinner. When I hit play the "gotta change channel" message popped up. It was already 5 after 6. I told it to go ahead, and then reviewed. My News MAY have begun a minute late, hard to tell as they run back to back and frequently run over. The movie had begun on time.

Then, at 1AM this morning I had 2 shows (one manual by time) the other a SL. My R15 was in Standby. I reviewed them this morning and both began right on time. No message at startup/ON.


From what I see, the problem occurs when you are Active/watching a channel when it needs to switch and it does not get a response, there is no "default" to "change the channel they aren't watching". But it knows in standby you're not watching.

Hope this info helps.


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## terrylmc (Dec 22, 2005)

ISWIZ said:


> From what I see, the problem occurs when you are Active/watching a channel when it needs to switch and it does not get a response, there is no "default" to "change the channel they aren't watching". .


Similar to what I saw the other night.. This is a major bug then, I never put a unit in standby, its always on watching something. That screen must have a default timeout answer. It should actually come on a few minutes before the recording. And default answer at least 30 seconds or a minute before the new scheduled time to record and switch both tuners if need be.


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## fancydancy (Nov 29, 2005)

I agree this is a bug, but why not put the unit in standby when you aren't using it? It saves some harddrive life as it will stop buffering live TV but still record ToDo items...


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## ISWIZ (Nov 18, 2005)

fancydancy said:


> I agree this is a bug, but why not put the unit in standby when you aren't using it? It saves some harddrive life as it will stop buffering live TV but still record ToDo items...


Agreed but if you happen to get "distracted" (use your imagination) in the day or evening and are not there when it asks to change channel than it may screw up your recording.

What should happen is, it asks to change, no response in 60 seconds, "OK, I can change the channel at the designated time"(not 5 minutes before).


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## mbrey (Jan 2, 2006)

ISWIZ said:


> Agreed but if you happen to get "distracted" (use your imagination) in the day or evening and are not there when it asks to change channel than it may screw up your recording.
> 
> What should happen is, it asks to change, no response in 60 seconds, "OK, I can change the channel at the designated time"(not 5 minutes before).


ISWIZ is right. It is really, really annoying to watch the last 5 minutes of a program staring at the "Change Channel" message when a recording is scheduled to begin on the hour. There should be (3) options:

1. Don't Change (Cancel Record)
2. OK Change Now (Stop watching this program and begin recording on the new channel)
3. Change at Start Time (Keep watching on this channel, until it is time to begin recording on the new channel).


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## mbrey (Jan 2, 2006)

I ran some tests last night. Here are the results:

1. Unit "OFF" aka Standby mode: There is no message. I turned off the unit watching channel 22. Turned it back on after 11:30 and it was on channel 9 showing Letterman (which is what it was scheduled to record). *RESULT = R15 switches automatically when "OFF"*

2. When watching a program the "Change Channel" message comes up 5 minutes before the scheduled record time. I can find no way to change this. *RESULT = There is NO option that lets you finish watching the current channel and delay the channel change until the actual recording begins. You either stop the record, or change the channel now, or keep looking at the message. *

3. When the "Change Channel" message comes up on screen and I just leave the message up and do nothing while continuing to watch channel "A", the unit switches to channel "B" automatically at the scheduled record time. *RESULT = R15 changes the channel if there is no input.* However, based on several postings there may be some sequence of events that interrupts this process, but no one seems to know what that is. Yet.


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## DesignDawg (Jan 8, 2006)

Well, in my opinion, the way the UTV does this is perfect. Ideal. When you are watching, and something needs to record, 60 seconds before it's time to switch, the unit will bring up a scroll along the bottom. Unobtrusive. Not a big box. Just a scroll that says, "Your receiver will change channels in 60....50 (it counts down in realtime) seconds to record South Park on ch. 249 (COM). And there is one button. "Dont' record." If you say don't record, it won't. And the scroll goes away. If you want it to record, but you don't want to see the scroll anymore, you just hit exit (or cancel, or clear, or whatever the button on the remote happens to be called), and the scroll goes away, but it still changes the channel WHEN IT'S SUPPOSED TO. And when it does change, it's dead-ass accurate every time. You get to see credits roll on your current show, and you get to see the intro of the one it wants to record. It's far simpler and works far better than the R15 way.
DirecTV ripped off the UTV's way of doing so many other things...why not this? Definitely a must-fix.

Ricky


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## mbrey (Jan 2, 2006)

DesignDawg said:


> Well, in my opinion, the way the UTV does this is perfect. Ideal. When you are watching, and something needs to record, 60 seconds before it's time to switch, the unit will bring up a scroll along the bottom. Unobtrusive. Not a big box. Just a scroll that says, "Your receiver will change channels in 60....50 (it counts down in realtime) seconds to record South Park on ch. 249 (COM). And there is one button. "Dont' record." If you say don't record, it won't. And the scroll goes away. If you want it to record, but you don't want to see the scroll anymore, you just hit exit (or cancel, or clear, or whatever the button on the remote happens to be called), and the scroll goes away, but it still changes the channel WHEN IT'S SUPPOSED TO.
> Ricky


That solution is fine too. Just let me keep watching but record at the scheduled start time!


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

I have only had this happen to me once. I think (total guess) that if your using the remote at some point either right before the message or during the message thats what make it think you want to watch what you are and not change channel.


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

mbrey said:


> I ran some tests last night. Here are the results:
> 
> 1. Unit "OFF" aka Standby mode: There is no message. I turned off the unit watching channel 22. Turned it back on after 11:30 and it was on channel 9 showing Letterman (which is what it was scheduled to record). *RESULT = R15 switches automatically when "OFF"*
> 
> ...


Just curious, for #3. How long before the begining of the show B did you start watch/turn on the r15? I could be the last button pressed issue. I you didn't hit a button for over X number of mintues so it changed the channel. I know the two times i did this and it didn't change it was about 5-10 mins before show B came on. I just haven't had the time to test it again.

Last night when I turned on the R15 (two shows where recording) for about 10 secs the music station that we had listen to the night before came up (don't know if there was sound because the stereo was off) and I got the message asking if i want to keep recording or change the channel. So I told it to change the channel. Looked at MYVOD and the 2 programs where there all 22 mins of each it was 7:22 so I hadn't missed anything on either. It's just weird that it had the music station still there for 10 secs. I guess the unit always wants to take you back to what you where watching even if's it's recording two things. I liked what the UTV did, it just took you to one of the two programs in progress or to the MYVOD channel with a blank blue screen. I liked having the MYVOD's being it's own channel, when you where done play a show it didn't boom in with what was on the tuner. I miss that.


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## cabanaboy1977 (Nov 16, 2005)

DesignDawg said:


> Well, in my opinion, the way the UTV does this is perfect. Ideal. When you are watching, and something needs to record, 60 seconds before it's time to switch, the unit will bring up a scroll along the bottom. Unobtrusive. Not a big box. Just a scroll that says, "Your receiver will change channels in 60....50 (it counts down in realtime) seconds to record South Park on ch. 249 (COM). And there is one button. "Dont' record." If you say don't record, it won't. And the scroll goes away. If you want it to record, but you don't want to see the scroll anymore, you just hit exit (or cancel, or clear, or whatever the button on the remote happens to be called), and the scroll goes away, but it still changes the channel WHEN IT'S SUPPOSED TO. And when it does change, it's dead-ass accurate every time. You get to see credits roll on your current show, and you get to see the intro of the one it wants to record. It's far simpler and works far better than the R15 way.
> DirecTV ripped off the UTV's way of doing so many other things...why not this? Definitely a must-fix.
> 
> Ricky


Yeah, it was so nice just to hit clear and not have the message bugging you and then it would still change.


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## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

The stupid message woulndt be such a pain if it didn't cover up so much of the screen. That box is HUGE and is just in the way. WHY in the world would they thing that you need to change the channel 5 minutes before the show starts. Pop it up with 1-2 minutes, have a Setting that Says Change When Program Starts, you Select that the box goes away and then like 30 Seconds before the program starts the DVR changes the channel.


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