# PLEASE help me fix this Timer issue!



## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

OK

So far the last couple of days my wife's recordings have not been done because the Hopper chooses to record three identical basketball games at the same time.

So how do I fix this? I want to record all San Antonio Spurs games, but sometimes they are simulcast on local network TV, sometimes they are on an RSN, sometimes on ESPN or TNT, sometimes NBATV, and especially as they playoffs are about to begin, they will frequently be simulcast on more than one channel. For example, I can see that tomorrow it's planning to record the Spurs/Lakers game twice at once, both of which say they are on NBATV. But of course I know that they will also probably play this game on FSN-SW and/or a local network KBVO, so it's going to wind up skipping my wife's show tomorrow most likely.

The DirecTV HR24 did not have this problem. It could figure out that they were duplicate and only recorded one copy.

How do I set this thing up to record at most one copy at a time? 

And while I'm at it, can I create multiple timers that will favor some channels over others when there are multiples? I used to have the HR24 do this, it would record first on the local network, then on FSN, and then on all other channels, thus if there were duplicates it would pick the best one for me (often the nationals are blacked out when also simulcast on a local channel, which is far more annoying since it'll consume a tuner to record black screen or "this showing is not available in your area").


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## dennispap (Feb 1, 2007)

I would guess you would have to delete the ALL timer and do individual timers each day when you know what channel the game is really coming on.


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

dennispap said:


> I would guess you would have to delete the ALL timer and do individual timers each day when you know what channel the game is really coming on.


What is the point of a DVR then?!?

Is DirecTV really that much better at doing a basic thing?


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

You're going to want to delete all of those other timers...

Then use the search feature to search for "SAN ANTONIO SPURS" and then hit the green button to use the "Seek and Record" feature. That should (I believe) allow you to setup a timer that will scour the channels for anything with that in the subject. It should also prevent simultaneous and duplicate events I believe.


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

Stewart Vernon said:


> You're going to want to delete all of those other timers...
> 
> Then use the search feature to search for "SAN ANTONIO SPURS" and then hit the green button to use the "Seek and Record" feature. That should (I believe) allow you to setup a timer that will scour the channels for anything with that in the subject. It should also prevent simultaneous and duplicate events I believe.


I think that's how I set this up. There is only one timer. That one timer is recording multiple duplicates. My guess was that it doesn't identify them as duplicates since they are on different channels or perhaps they have some difference in description, etc.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Yeah, now the EPG data has its flaws and that sometimes fools the system. I can't look at the details (just the higher level stuff) so maybe someone with a Hopper who has used this feature more can chime in and help...

I thought the "Seek and Record" feature had been described as working similar to the way "Dish Pass" did on older Dish receivers... and that seems to have worked in the past for people trying to do what you are doing.


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

I'll give it a try. Unfortunately I am away from home this week so I cannot trhay to fix it and while I am away my wife's solution is to just skip ALL of my recordings, which kinda sucks for the last few games of the season.

Is there a way to do this over the web? Can I program timers over the web?


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## Mike.H_DISHNetwork (Feb 1, 2011)

How are you setting up the timers? When you go to Seek & Record and select the San Antonio Spurs, make sure you have it set for HD. You should see an Edit button on the left column. From there you can select the channel you want to have the games recorded on (RSN, ESPN, NBA TV, and TNT). It will record the games on that channel only.

Thanks


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

You should be able to access your timers and settings via Dish Online as long as your receiver is connected to the internet.


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

Mike.H_DISHNetwork said:


> How are you setting up the timers? When you go to Seek & Record and select the San Antonio Spurs, make sure you have it set for HD. You should see an Edit button on the left column. From there you can select the channel you want to have the games recorded on (RSN, ESPN, NBA TV, and TNT). It will record the games on that channel only.
> 
> Thanks


Yes, but I want it to record on whichever of these channels the game happens to be on, but ONLY ONE.

Let me re-explain the problem.

San Antonio Spurs games can appear on one of a number of channels, so a channel-specific timer won't work.

In some cases, they will play on multiple channels at a time. In this case, I need a timer that will just record one of them at a time.

And in some cases, two tuners are in use to record what appears to be the identical program on the identical channel, such as "NBATV".

How do I fix this?


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

Stewart Vernon said:


> You should be able to access your timers and settings via Dish Online as long as your receiver is connected to the internet.


I can change settings like how early/late to record and whether to record new or repeat, etc. but there is nothing I can change about which channels or HD priority or anything else that would affect this behavior of recording multiple copies of the same show.


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## TheGrove (Jan 10, 2007)

Mr.72 said:


> I can change settings like how early/late to record and whether to record new or repeat, etc. but there is nothing I can change about which channels or HD priority or anything else that would affect this behavior of recording multiple copies of the same show.


No there is probably nothing in the timer that you can change that will affect this. I've found my system doing the same thing with the Formula1 Pre-Race shows. The only solution I've found is to manually skip one of the recordings.

If you go to the Dish Online / Dish Anywhere site you should be able to view your "Daily Schedule". You can then click on something that is scheduled to be recorded and tell it to skip that recording.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Yeah... you wouldn't be able to do anything different online, but you should be able to do the same stuff online as you could from your receiver.


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## Mr.72 (Feb 2, 2007)

TheGrove said:


> No there is probably nothing in the timer that you can change that will affect this. I've found my system doing the same thing with the Formula1 Pre-Race shows. The only solution I've found is to manually skip one of the recordings.
> 
> If you go to the Dish Online / Dish Anywhere site you should be able to view your "Daily Schedule". You can then click on something that is scheduled to be recorded and tell it to skip that recording.


Problem is two-fold:

1. I have to know that it is going to record it that day.
2. There is no indication of which ones of these on the schedule that is blacked out, so I might potentially skip all but the blacked-out game

For example, last night it did the same thing. Recorded two copies of the Spurs/T-Wolves game. One of them was blacked out, it said "This game is not available in your area". So it consumed one of the three tuners to record absolutely nothing. And there was nothing in the Daily Schedule that would tell me which one of these was which. In fact, in the Daily Schedule, the both of them appeared exactly and absolutely identical. It appeared like it was just going to record the same channel and the same thing on two tuners.

The only solution is to wait until the game starts and in real time, go cancel the one that's blacked out. Unfortunately by that time my wife's show may already have been missed. And also it defeats the purpose of the DVR. If I am there to see it live, why do I need a DVR? Truth is I'm NEVER there when the game is on.

Given that well over half of what I watch on TV is Spurs basketball, I am beginning to seriously regret switching back to Dish from DirecTV. This hopper has some really cool features but the basic fundamental DVR functions are severely lacking, unless there is a way to avoid this.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

I guess I don't encounter this kind of problem since I watch all my sports live. I really haven't recorded a sporting event in a LONG time... I think actually the last time I recorded something was way way way back when Phoenix and Chicago were playing in the NBA finals and I was going to be out that evening... but that was simple (albeit on a VHS tape) as it was the finals and just on one channel.

I'm sure Dish could handle this kind of thing better... but I think sports is the only place where it breaks this consistently. Movies, for example, and TV shows don't typically air identical programming on multiple channels at the same time in a way that would cause the problem you are encountering with blacked-out broadcasts and stuff.


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

Mr.72 said:


> Problem is two-fold:
> 
> 1. I have to know that it is going to record it that day.
> 2. There is no indication of which ones of these on the schedule that is blacked out, so I might potentially skip all but the blacked-out game
> ...


Have you changed the Seek and Record timer to only record NEW instead of New and Rerun? If you already have an event that matches your timer on the HD, it will not record a duplicate event. Thanks.


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