Why are my Autotimers failing?

[robbo]

I am having trouble getting some Autotimers working so I thought I would ask questions to better understand the process.
1. What does Parse do?
2. What does this error message mean (see attached)?
3. What's the difference between test and simulate?
3. After adding my Autotimer for Royal Pains, when I do an auto timer preview, it includes Royal Pains (see attachment) on 14th Nov but when I look at timers for 14th, it's not there. What am I doing wrong

[Grumpy_Geoff]

2/1 -
I'm guessing you pressed 'Parse' on OWIF's AutoTimer web page and then closed the OWIF tab before the result could be returned.
Parse executes the definitions parsing against the EPG - the exact same thing as pressing GREEN/save on the AutoTimer list screen.

3 -
'Simulate' just runs the match between the definitions and the EPG as far as title/description matching is concerned.
I don't think 'Test' does much, or at least I thought of it as "big deal" but the real answer may be very different.

3 again (assuming this was meant to be 4 )
Simulate/preview screen doesn't apply the timer/recording restrictive filtering (such as 'Require description to be unique', 'Record a maximum of x times') that a normal (Parse) execution would.

In addition, it's pretty clear from your "preview" screenshot that you aren't applying any bouquet nor service filtering - that's given away by the duplicate matches for the same 'Scorpion' program on two different '10 Boss' services, plus the 'Good Doctor' being selected on all three of Seven's relevant services.

[robbo]

Thanks for the clarifications. Seems like my problem arose because I wasn't patient enough after pressing Parse - I wasn't sure that it was doing anything cause nothing shows whereas for test and simulate there's visible activity on the monitor.

You're right, as far as not placing boquet (I don't even know what a boquet is) or service restrictions is concerned. I don't care what channel it's on, I care about the show recording.

[MrQuade]

You're right, as far as not placing boquet (I don't even know what a boquet is) or service restrictions is concerned. I don't care what channel it's on, I care about the show recording.

Bouquet is the name for a "Favourites List". There are three bouquets present on a factory configured Wiz (after the setup wizard runs). "Last Scanned", "Terrestrial TV LCN", and "Favourites". The first two are populated by the tuner/scanning code and should *never* be edited by the user, whereas the "Favourites" bouquet is where you should *copy* your favourite services (channels) so that you can set the EPG to only show those favourite services.

[robbo]

Thanks for the clarification. I can understand why some people would stick with favourite channels but I run with favourite shows - channels don't matter

[Grumpy_Geoff]

Thanks for the clarification. I can understand why some people would stick with favourite channels but I run with favourite shows - channels don't matter

By not restricting to a particular service nor a bouquet without simulcasted duplicate services, you may get "duplicate" recordings whenever the broadcaster tickles the times.

Take the Seven Network as an example, and its main service which has the same programs shown on 3 simulcasted services (LCNs 7, 70, and 71 in the capitals, with the regions differing).

If you set an AutoTimer for The Good Doctor, it'll match on all three services (indeed it did if you look back at your screenshot). Only one of those will initially have a timer set, as the system will ignore the other two and consider them as being duplicate timers (same start time for same event name).
Time marches on, and the program schedulers at Seven move the start of The Good Doctor back a few minutes. The AutoTimer plugin will see that, perhaps first on a service that didn't originally have the timer and set up a new timer (with the new times obviously). It then matches to another of Seven's simulcasted services; if this one happens to have had the timer set then this'll be changed but the save won't stick as this generates a same timer for same event situation, thus leaving the old times in the timer; if it didn't initially have the timer set then a new one will be set but it too will get ignored due to the duplicate time/event restriction.

A similar issue can occur even if you do have good bouquet/service restriction; if the broadcaster changes the program event's EPG EIT value then the plugin will generate a new timer and leave the existing timer untouched if you run with the Beyonwiz default value of setting 'Guess existing timer based on begin/end'. If you have that setting enabled, then the plugin will update the existing timer.

If you are not fussed with high definition c.f. standard definition, nor about recording the same program two or three times, then just forget about what I posted.

[robbo]

Hi Geoff, thanks for the explanation. I wondered why I occasionally get two recordings (usually a partial and a full) of the same program and your comments explain that.

For most applications I can now see the advantage of defining bouquets. I tend to get slack on my maintenance. When a season ends I leave the existing autotimer in place to pick up the next season and I am always worried that the network will transmit the next series on another channel so I could miss out. Other times shows are picked up by a different network. Therefore I have tended to allow the Wiz to decide what channel. High Def or standard def transmissions don't matter all that much to me so that's not normally a consideration. If I want a High Def transmission it will be a movie that I manually set to record rather than a series for which I use autotimers. Now that I understand bouquets I will see if I can figure out a better way of handling my preferences to avoid the occasional duplication. It would be so much simpler if the networks were more consistent about their duplication approach.

[prl]

Unfortunately there isn't a specific "only on this network" setting for AutoTimers, as there is in IceTV. However, you can fake that up by creating per-network bouquets and restricting an AutoTimer to one of them. That duplicates what's available in the channel selection screen's YELLOW Provider, but those bouquets aren't available in AutoTimer.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

...When a season ends I leave the existing autotimer in place to pick up the next season and I am always worried that the network will transmit the next series on another channel so I could miss out. Other times shows are picked up by a different network. Therefore I have tended to allow the Wiz to decide what channel. ...

Here's my Favourites bouquet, it doesn't have any simulcast services (nor some that I usually don't view such as ABC NEWS, Your Money, RACING.COM).

I use that bouquet in my AutoTimers, and have it set as the default so it'll be auto-selected when I create definitions using the GUI. I have to manually add it (two mouse clicks) when creating definitions using OpenWebif.
I don't have to worry about duplicate timers most of the time, as the AutoTimer plugin will only be creating/updating the timers on, for the example of 'The Good Doctor' in my previous post, 7HD.
I also don't need to worry if the network decides to show the next series on a different service, as it'll still be picked up.
The same thing with a network swap.

Currently, Death In Paradise is being shown on both ABC/ABC HD (season 6 repeats) and 9Gem (season 1 repeats). That's an example of where I'd restrict to a particular service if I wanted to record season 6. I'd restrict it to ABC HD in my case, as I generally prefer to record the high definition broadcasts if available.
If I was to create an ABC-only bouquet and populate it with ABC HD, ABCComedy/Kids, ABC ME (i.e. without the ABC LCN 2/21 simulcasts) then that should work too.

Hawaii Five-O on Network 10 is another example of where I've needed to restrict to a specific service instead of using the Favourites bouquet, as it was shown on 10 HD (& SD) and ONE/10 Boss at the same time.

With the V8 Supercars on Ten, I let it record on both 10 HD and 10 Boss as usually the Saturday race is broadcast earliest in the evening on 10 Boss and I'd usually watch that, then shown later on 10 HD/SD, and the situation reverses for the Sunday race.

I think The Block was another program that you needed to service restrict as Nine Network was showing the lastest season on their main 9HD / Channel Nine HD/SD services and an older season on 9Gem at the same time.

Additionally, I don't get duplicate timers because I have enabled the setting 'Guess existing timer based on begin/end', so any EPG EIT change for the program will update the existing timer and not create a new one (in combination with a restricted definition).