Fast Fowarding / Rewind / Start from beginning?

[djseto]

I am still getting used to SageTV after using MythTV and my old school ReplayTV DVR for quite some time. Two features I havent found or figured out with SageTV are:

1. When I watch a show that is recording, is there a "start from beginning" option? I turned on an NFL game that was 2 hours in progress and when I went to watch the recording, i saw the option to watch now, but I wanted to start it from the beginning. I ended up having to press the rewind button a whole bunch.

2. Can you rewind or fast forward a specific number of minutes? On MythTV or ReplayTV, I can push the number 5 and then skip forward button for a 5 minute skip (or rewind). Is there a way to do this? Also, I noticed the fast forward and rewind buttons are for a preset amount of time vs a constant fast forward or rewind until I hit play (like with a DVD player / VCR)

[jphipps]

I don't see anything in the default stv that you can restart from the beginning. In the setup, you can change the time for the skip forward and skip backwards to customize them. If you have not already tried the SageMC stv, you should give it a try. When you hit stop on a playing program, it gives you the option to stop, resume, or restart from the beginning...

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by djseto

I am still getting used to SageTV after using MythTV and my old school ReplayTV DVR for quite some time. Two features I havent found or figured out with SageTV are:

1. When I watch a show that is recording, is there a "start from beginning" option? I turned on an NFL game that was 2 hours in progress and when I went to watch the recording, i saw the option to watch now, but I wanted to start it from the beginning. I ended up having to press the rewind button a whole bunch.

2. Can you rewind or fast forward a specific number of minutes? On MythTV or ReplayTV, I can push the number 5 and then skip forward button for a 5 minute skip (or rewind). Is there a way to do this? Also, I noticed the fast forward and rewind buttons are for a preset amount of time vs a constant fast forward or rewind until I hit play (like with a DVD player / VCR)

Have you tried playing it back from SageRecordings screen? I thought it would playback from the begining if you accessed the recording from the "Recordings" screen rather than from the guide where you would start playback live.

[djseto]

I assume an STV is a "theme" or "skin" for SageTV? I'll download and try something other than the default. Another VERY ANNOYING thing I found tonight was trying to cancel a show that was recording:

I added American Gladiators and American Dad as favorites to record only first runs. SageTV recorded two repeats from last week of each show. What annoyed me is that when I went to the recordings menu and clicked on the show, it said it was recording, but there was NO option to cancel the recording. If I selected recording options, it asked me if I wanted to record this show even though it was already doing it. If I tuned to the show and pressed stop, it would only stop the playback. For the life of me, I don't understand why an option as simple as stop recording isnt in the menu for a favorite show..nevermind the fact that it recorded two repeats (granted they were new episode LAST week).

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by djseto

1. When I watch a show that is recording, is there a "start from beginning" option? I turned on an NFL game that was 2 hours in progress and when I went to watch the recording, i saw the option to watch now, but I wanted to start it from the beginning. I ended up having to press the rewind button a whole bunch.

What STV are you using? In the default STV, playback starts at the beginning of the recording instead of at the current live time, unless you choose "Live TV" from the Main Menu or use the Live TV command. So, it should already start playback where you wanted it to... unless there is some issue with this for HD recordings.

2. Can you rewind or fast forward a specific number of minutes? On MythTV or ReplayTV, I can push the number 5 and then skip forward button for a 5 minute skip (or rewind). Is there a way to do this? Also, I noticed the fast forward and rewind buttons are for a preset amount of time vs a constant fast forward or rewind until I hit play (like with a DVD player / VCR)

You can change the command assignments for your remote buttons in Detailed Setup -> Commands. Choose from Skip Fwd/Bkwd, Skip Fwd 2/Bkwd 2, Smooth FF/REW, and Time Scroll. You can also configure the amount of time it jumps for the ff/rew commands. The PDF manual has details on all those.

And/or see the list of available customizations for the "Media Player Custom Skip Forward/Back" customization, if it still works in v6.3.

- Andy

[djseto]

Do I want to download SageMC STV or STVi? In the SageMC downloads there is an SageMC STV, but its dated back to 2006? I found a bunch of SageMC "plugins" in the STVi section, but no SageMC "theme".

thanks

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by djseto

I added American Gladiators and American Dad as favorites to record only first runs. SageTV recorded two repeats from last week of each show.... it recorded two repeats (granted they were new episode LAST week).

I don't think you understand what "First Run" means -- First Run is a marker that the EPG data provider puts on an airing that is considered to be a first run, not the very first airing of that show. First Run status is usually listed on an airing for the first week or so of its first run of airings. When it is repeated weeks later, that is when it is a rerun.

If you've watched it already, then mark it as Watched.

Now, if they weren't actually First Runs, then maybe you have IR enabled and it can pick up reruns of first run Favs.

- Andy

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by djseto

Do I want to download SageMC STV or STVi? In the SageMC downloads there is an SageMC STV, but its dated back to 2006? I found a bunch of SageMC "plugins" in the STVi section, but no SageMC "theme".

thanks

This is the latest version, SageMC 6.3.6b, http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/down...do=file&id=141 , less than one month old. Don't look at the "date added" date on the download page. I'd call that a bug, it actually lists the date that flachbar made that download page. Even though the file and description get updated, the date added stays the same.

[jphipps]

if you go to the downloads, there is a link on the left under most popular downloads for the full install package. That is all you should need to get SageMC installed.

Hello Andy,

When I try playing a recording, and stop it, it resumes from the last place it was when I stopped it. There does not seem to be anyway to restart the recording other than mousing or Rew to the begining...

-Jeff

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by jphipps

When I try playing a recording, and stop it, it resumes from the last place it was when I stopped it. There does not seem to be anyway to restart the recording other than mousing or Rew to the begining...

The easiest way I know of to do that is to mark the show as watched, then start watching it -- when you watch it again, it starts over at the beginning. (There is an option to disable that, in which case you could mark it watched & then use the Watch command again to clear the watched status.)

Time Scroll (p. 108 of the v6.3 PDF manual) can be used to jump all the way back to the beginning.

There is also a customization that uses the Stop command to pop up a dialog asking what you want to do... I think restarting is one choice.

- Andy

[OttoNP]

To cancel a future recording, just mark it as watched. There is a single button on your remote that came with hvr-1600. The default button for this is the one in the lower right, it is just a colored dot. When you are looking at your viewing schedule, just highlight the show you don't want it to record and push that button.

I also use this button if I want to start at the beginning of a show. In your view recordings menu, you can see the timeline of where it would start in the show. If you mark the show as watched, it moves to the end and when you go to watch it it will start at the beginning.

As mentioned earlier, if zap2it says it is a first run sage will use that data. I have found that if the show ID is the same, it will not record more than one of that episode provided I watched or marked as watched the earlier episode.

[djseto]

I like SageMC...much nicer interface. I recently dowloaded ComSkip, ComSkipMon, and the ComSkip STVi. Do I need to reinstall it again? I noticed that SageMC had the comskip options, but I wasnt sure if it had its own packaged version or if it uses the one i already installed.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by djseto

I like SageMC...much nicer interface. I recently dowloaded ComSkip, ComSkipMon, and the ComSkip STVi. Do I need to reinstall it again? I noticed that SageMC had the comskip options, but I wasnt sure if it had its own packaged version or if it uses the one i already installed.

You wan't ComSkip and ComSkip monitor but the STVi is built in.

[djseto]

I also noticed something weird tonight. I went to watch a recorded show in HD and when I select it from the Recordings menu, it shows that I have watched the first 5 or so minutes (indicated by the grey area on the status bar). When I chose restart, it start over for a split second and then jumps to about the 5 minute point. If I try to rewind or jump back, it gets stuck at the 5 minute point and wont go any earlier. I have auto comskip disabled and because the show is HD and still recording, I highly doubt its flagged a commercial. the other 3 recordings that recorded at the same time dont do this.

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by djseto

I also noticed something weird tonight. I went to watch a recorded show in HD and when I select it from the Recordings menu, it shows that I have watched the first 5 or so minutes (indicated by the grey area on the status bar). When I chose restart, it start over for a split second and then jumps to about the 5 minute point. If I try to rewind or jump back, it gets stuck at the 5 minute point and wont go any earlier. I have auto comskip disabled and because the show is HD and still recording, I highly doubt its flagged a commercial. the other 3 recordings that recorded at the same time dont do this.

Sounds like the common first 5 minutes is missing problem. From the FAQ:

Q: My recordings are missing the first 5 minutes. How do I fix that?

A: Try making one of the following changes:

Set the seeker/fast_mux_switch property on your SageTV server to false.


Try using a different recording quality -- one that is a higher recording quality than VCD or SVCD. (Note: If using a digital tuner, changing the default recording quality won't affect it, since digital tuners simply save the digital stream as it comes in.)


For digital tuners: check the signal strength. Perhaps it is borderline and there is a problem tuning the channel.
- Andy

[djseto]

Ah..i wasnt aware this was a common problem. My SD recording settings are set to BEST. Where do I find this setting for seeker/fast_mux? I didnt see it in any of the detailed setup menus.

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by djseto

Where do I find this setting for seeker/fast_mux? I didnt see it in any of the detailed setup menus.

Shut down Sage completely and then edit your sage.properties file (editable with notepad) on your server. Location default is at C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV

[djseto]

Cool. Thanks.