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[tzr916]

MC 25.0.71
Win10 1903

Tv schedule this morning:
5am 724 ESPNHD   "2019 Wimbledon Championships: Women's Quarterfinals"
5am 725 ESPNHD2 "2019 Wimbledon Championships: Women's Quarterfinals"

Last night set recording for 5am ch 724. While it was recording on tuner 1, I went to Shows>Series> started watching what was recording. Found out that these are actually two different programs/content: ch724 is Serena's match and ch725 is Halep's match. So I went to the guide started watching ch725 live, then I pressed record button. As soon as I pressed that record button, tuner 1 light went out and tuner 2 started recording ch725. Looking at the guide showed only ch725 was recording, but looking in Shows>Series> showed both programs were "currently recording" and when I tried to watch the ch724 instance I got a pop up saying "no tuner available". So I went back to the guide, started watching ch724 again live, pressed stop, pressed record. I honestly don't know what I did next, but at some point tuner 2 stopped recording and now I've got tuner 1 and 3 recording??? Currently there's 4 instances of these listed in Shows>Series, I can see using file explorer that two of the four programs finished recording because comskip kicked in but I still cannot play the very first recording ch724, it again says "no tuner available"?

Confusing! There seems to be some "safety" mechanism in MC that doesn't like recording the same program at the same time on two different channels.

[RoderickGI]

Confusing! There seems to be some "safety" mechanism in MC that doesn't like recording the same program at the same time on two different channels.

It's probably the "Do not record programs that have been recorded in the past" setting, if you are using that. Yaobing has given some detailed explanations for what that does in the past, and I think it would cover what you saw.
For example: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,119078.msg823638.html#msg823638

The EPG record for each show is identical, so MC can't distinguish between the two. You could turn off that setting for that rule. If the [Program ID] is identical for both programs, then the fields don't matter. MC will consider them the same program and not record the second instance.

For future instances, if you catch it, you could also try tricking MC by editing the EPG data and changing the [Program ID] and/or adding some more information to the name or other field that you use in the Recording Rule. Or if the [Description]s were different, include that in the comparison to decide if a program has been recorded before. You'll get more recordings, potentially duplicates, but you will miss less recordings as well.


A bit hard to cover that issue automatically though, with identical EPG data.

[tzr916]

Hmm, these were one time recordings, so there was no "Do not record programs that have been recorded in the past" dialog to set. The Server's "Subscription default" in Tools>Options is NOT checked, but these were not subscriptions.

Looking over the recording rules from this morning, I only see the one I setup from the night before, not the one I triggered manually from the guide this morning. So can't peak at those details.

And, one thing I don't like about MC's standard view Television>Recordings list is that it does NOT keep a history of ALL recordings (meaning the shows I've deleted are not shown in this list). If anyone knows how to list ALL recordings, including the deleted ones, that would be nice.

Just for fun, the same exact scenario is happening tomorrow 5am for Men's Quarterfinals. So I just setup to record both, each as one time recording rules. I am looking at those rules now, and the program ID's are completely different/unique. I suspect the same was true for the shows this morning.

Wonder what's gonna happen tomorrow at 5am ?

[RoderickGI]

Did you have a look at the EPG data for both? I assume you did, given you mention the program ID's are completely different/unique.

I suspect both will record.

BTW, you can use an EPG View to look at the metadata for the two recordings you had trouble with. MC keeps a few days of EPG history.

[tzr916]

Both the shows are recording this morning, but not on the first two tuners, they landed on the third and fourth tuners. It looks like MC played hopscotch trying to decide if it really wanted to go ahead. Tuners one/two are in fact idle, live tv chooses tuner one right now.

[Yaobing]

Well, I am not sure.  Considering the recordings are not part of a subscription, the only possible explanation would be that the real-time checking decided that one is already recording and thus did not allow the second recording to start.  That however was not what you described. Are you sure when you pressed the "Record" button, you actually selected the second program that had not been recording?  The button would stop a recording if the show is being recorded. (You said you started watching then pressed Record)

[Yaobing]

Both the shows are recording this morning, but not on the first two tuners, they landed on the third and fourth tuners. It looks like MC played hopscotch trying to decide if it really wanted to go ahead. Tuners one/two are in fact idle, live tv chooses tuner one right now.

MC chooses a tuner according to your tuner list order, and whether a tuner is designated "preferred tuner" in some channels, and whether a tuner is being in use.

[tzr916]

I've never ever seen MC choose tuner 3 and 4 first, when tuners 1 and 2 were idle... until today.
Exact same name + same time + different channels hardly ever happens, so I'm not too worried about it.
Thanks

[Yaobing]

I see a problem on my computer but I am not sure it is the same as what you saw.  Go to Standard TV View, and click "TV Logs".  Find the "Recording started" entry for the Wimbledon quarterfinal recording that you had problem with.  Do you see a "Recording finished" entry about 30 minutes after it started?  Then a "Critical error encountered" entry, then a "Recording started" entry - this one started on a different tuner, of the same program that was erroneously stopped.

[tzr916]

No errors on 7/10, but there were on 7/9. See attached.

[Yaobing]

That was the same as what I saw.  It has nothing to do with the fact that two channels have the same program name at the same time.  It was just a coincidence.

I am working out a fix.

[Yaobing]

The following fix will appear in an upcoming build.

Fixed: A TV recording could be prematurely stopped (in 30 minutes) and restarted if the recording had been started manually while the show was being watched.

[RoderickGI]

The following fix will appear in an upcoming build.

Fixed: A TV recording could be prematurely stopped (in 30 minutes) and restarted if the recording had been started manually while the show was being watched.

Oh wow. I've not seen that, although I probably haven't done precisely that for a while.

Did that only occur if the recording was in TS format? Because of course, I use JTV format recordings.
Did whether MC was Time Shifted make a difference? Because usually, I am Time Shifted before I decide to record that whole program I'm watching instead of watching at that time.

I guess not important if it is fixed. But I'm curious. 

[Yaobing]

It does not matter which format you use for recording, as long as you are watching, time-shifting or not, when you initiate a recording using context menu, or Record button, or OSD.  It does not occur if you schedule a recording from the guide (while not watching).

[RoderickGI]

Okay, I'll have to what for that until the fix is out.