[advocate99]

Hi everyone,

On the "PrimeTime" tab, at the bottom, there is an option entitled "Use Zero Padding Between Consecutive Recordings."  If checked, then PTR timers will have no padding, which is expected.

However, if I uncheck this option, I would expect that recordings WILL HAVE padding, usually 2-3 minutes beforehand.  But, instead, the recordings starting 2-3 minute LATE.  I presume that when you coded this option, you should have included a minus (or not included a minus), but didn't.

You should be able to duplicate this yourself quite easily just by unchecking the option and then letting it run for a few days, but if you need anything else, please let me know.

[krustyreturns]

Hi advocate,

Good guess about the minus sign, but that's not the case, in this mode swmc is just letting wmc record the shows with its default padding.  This is the way wmc does consecutive recordings on the same channel: it absolutely refuses to use additional tuners in order to give the user the padding they request between the shows.  You can verify this yourself by scheduling the consecutive/same channel recordings with wmc - it will ignore the padding you set in wmc so that it only uses one tuner.  This annoyed me too, that's why I coded the zero padding option for PT figuring it was at least better then the default behavior.

[advocate99]

Hi advocate,

Good guess about the minus sign, but that's not the case, in this mode swmc is just letting wmc record the shows with its default padding.  This is the way wmc does consecutive recordings on the same channel: it absolutely refuses to use additional tuners in order to give the user the padding they request between the shows.  You can verify this yourself by scheduling the consecutive/same channel recordings with wmc - it will ignore the padding you set in wmc so that it only uses one tuner.  This annoyed me too, that's why I coded the zero padding option for PT figuring it was at least better then the default behavior.

I think you've misunderstood my concern.  The issue is NOT that WMC isn't using padding.  The issue is that, even when there are NO CONSECUTIVE SHOWS, the recording starts 2-3 minutes LATE (after the show has started) if I uncheck this option.

[krustyreturns]

I don't understand what's going on then.  I use PT to record niners games every week (it finds whatever time and channel the game is on and auto records it), so its not a consecutive episode, and they always have the padding they are supposed to have.  I'll take a look at the code this weekend to see if I can spot anything.  Also the serverwmc logs should show when the PT recordings will start so if you could check the log file, or post that part of the log file, that would be helpful too.

[advocate99]

I don't understand what's going on then.  I use PT to record niners games every week (it finds whatever time and channel the game is on and auto records it), so its not a consecutive episode, and they always have the padding they are supposed to have.  I'll take a look at the code this weekend to see if I can spot anything.  Also the serverwmc logs should show when the PT recordings will start so if you could check the log file, or post that part of the log file, that would be helpful too.

Okay, try this:

1.  Set a PT to record ABC, CBS, and NBC from 8pm to 11pm each night.
2.  Uncheck "Use Zero Padding Between Consecutive Recordings."
3.  Look at the guide and set as many blacklist entries are needed so that only one show records during that period of time on each channel.

What I'm finding is that programs start 2-3 minutes LATE.  In other words, instead of padding (starting 2-3 minutes EARLY), WMC does the opposite and starts 2-3 minutes LATE.