We Really Need Some Warning Messages For Recording Problems!

[cncb]

So, none of my recordings were successful today, however, I didn't notice until none of them showed up in my recordings list (they showed as "recording" during the appropriate time as if nothing was wrong). We had a quick power outage last night which apparently put my HDHRs into a funky state where they wouldn't tune anything.

In my opinion there should be a big warning icon on the Sage home screen letting me know that some recordings failed. This could have gone on for days if I hadn't looked to see if my recordings were there and there was absolutely no indication from Sage that something was wrong. For a PVR app this has got to be a critical error that the user needs to be notified of??

[GKusnick]

Agreed. Combing through debug logs for error messages is not the most user-friendly way to find out about stuff like this. There should be a way to access this info through the UI.

[wayner]

Sage should be smart enough to know that it isn't receiving a valid video signal. It would be great if you could have it email that fact to you so that you could take action ASAP.

[QueOnda]

I had the exact same thing happen with my HDPVR. I wish they would have some error warning system also.

[71_Cuda]

I agree that some sort of active notification would be great. But I'd settle for an easily accessible history log to see what happened. I'm a recent convert from Windows Media Center. MCE has a history log (it was in settings in MCE 2005, then moved to the recorded TV area in Vista). While it wouldn't give a whole lot of detail, it would show what was recorded and not recorded and give some explanation. "Not recorded" items would give some description as to why they would not record, including things like no signal, tuner error, pre-empted, user request, etc.

I'd like to have the history just so I know something didn't record. I don't memorize what is supposed to record each day. If the recording fails for some reason, I have no way to know that it was ever scheduled. Am I missing this somewhere?

[Brent]

Agreed.

A warning message for the home page for:

• missed recording (also a log for missed recordings and why if the data is there)
• upcoming conflicts - perhaps there already is a warning on the home page for this - but I haven't noticed it.

[Peter_h]

Agreed with everything above.

Nothing worse than the wife asking why her recording is just a still image and me not even knowing there was a problem.

This happened for every recording that the HDPVR made yesterday.

Talk about killing the WAF.

[voidpt]

+1

Should be a symbol like the conflict solution, that took you to some userfriendly 'log' page with notes on missed or partial (red areas) recordings.

[Peter_h]

Originally Posted by Brent

Agreed.

A warning message for the home page for:

• missed recording (also a log for missed recordings and why if the data is there)
• upcoming conflicts - perhaps there already is a warning on the home page for this - but I haven't noticed it.

In SageMC, conflicts are in the top right. Are you looking for something else?

[TallMomof2]

I have to physically check my HDHRs daily to be sure that something strange hasn't caused them to hang. As it is, SageTV gives no indication that there is no signal. Even a check to after the recording to see that it exists would be benficial. When the HDHR is hung I can see that Sage is recording no data to a correctly named file. Afterwards the file disappears because it doesn't contain any info.

I would love to see some indication in the UI showing that a program wasn't recorded.

(I have problems getting the HD-PVR to correctly change channels and will probably move to firewire.)

[lovingHDTV]

I personally would like an email if there is a conflict and/or problem.

I can go days, even a couple weeks without even looking at SageTV so see an icon.

[wayner]

I have been thinking about how to determine whether Sage does receive a valid signal. The reason that this would most likely happen in my instance is if one (or more likely all) of my STBs have powered down. Every couple of months or so all of my STBs will power themselves off - I believe this is after a software upgrade. If I knew that there was no valid signal then I could have my USB-UIRT send a power toggle to my boxes (unfortunately most SA boxes do not have a discrete power on).

The best method that I have thought of to do this is to set a short timed recording each day and then process this through comskip. Comskip gives data like maximum volume, average volume, average brightness etc in its log file. The idea is to parse through the comskip .log file and use these parameters to decide if the box was on or not. Ideally you might want to do this everyday on a channel which should have a uniform picture - the music channels on my digital cable system might fit this description.

Much of this could likely be done through batch files run on a scheduler - setup the recording from 3:00-3:05 every day, run Comskip at 3:10 and then any other processes at 3:15. Ideally you wouldn't need a scheduler, it would be great to be able to do all of this through Sage.

The only problem is that I am not talented enough to figure out how to do all of this and then have Sage send the IR command. There is a plugin called STB KeepAlive but it just sends the IR command without being able to determine whether you are getting a valid video signal.

[QueOnda]

Originally Posted by lovingHDTV

I personally would like an email if there is a conflict and/or problem.

I can go days, even a couple weeks without even looking at SageTV so see an icon.

k10ck3r wrote a system tray app which has an email function and email's if there is a conflict or issue. But of course SageTV need to add a missed recording message/error.
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/down...do=file&id=168

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by wayner

The best method that I have thought of to do this is to set a short timed recording each day and then process this through comskip. Comskip gives data like maximum volume, average volume, average brightness etc in its log file. The idea is to parse through the comskip .log file and use these parameters to decide if the box was on or not. Ideally you might want to do this everyday on a channel which should have a uniform picture - the music channels on my digital cable system might fit this description.

I think I saw you mention this in a different thread and, for the record, I think it's a great idea. I wish Sage had built-in Comskip support, in part because I think it would make this type of functionality relatively trivial to implement.

[dstanley]

Originally Posted by wayner

The reason that this would most likely happen in my instance is if one (or more likely all) of my STBs have powered down. Every couple of months or so all of my STBs will power themselves off - I believe this is after a software upgrade. If I knew that there was no valid signal then I could have my USB-UIRT send a power toggle to my boxes (unfortunately most SA boxes do not have a discrete power on).

Wayner - In the setup of the SA boxes you can choose to have numeric keys additionally power on the box. So when an update is taken and the box is left with the power off the signal from the usb-uirt to change the channel for a recording should turn the box on!? I have my SA3200SD and SA940 boxes on a USB-UIRT and two SA3250HD boxes on firewire channel changing set that way - it works for me ...

I would like to see some sort of check done as well - I am having issues with my HD-PVR's and my SA3250HD STB's where sometimes a whole show will be recorded as a black screen. I need to power off the stb and hd-pvr to recover from this one. I am now thinking that it is my stb's overheating and locking up but I am trying to confirm that.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by dstanley

Wayner - In the setup of the SA boxes you can choose to have numeric keys additionally power on the box. So when an update is taken and the box is left with the power off the signal from the usb-uirt to change the channel for a recording should turn the box on!? I have my SA3200SD and SA940 boxes on a USB-UIRT and two SA3250HD boxes on firewire channel changing set that way - it works for me ...

I could swear that I looked for this and I couldn't find it but I will look again. I know that I have this option with my SA8300HD, but I thought that the other boxes could not do this. Perhaps different cable cos have different software - my cable co is Rogers Cable (in Canada) and connected to my Sage server I have two SA3250HDs and one SA3200.

Note - there is some discussion of this in the STBKeepalive thread - see http://forums.sage.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=35228

[dstanley]

Originally Posted by wayner

I could swear that I looked for this and I couldn't find it but I will look again. I know that I have this option with my SA8300HD, but I thought that the other boxes could not do this. Perhaps different cable cos have different software - my cable co is Rogers Cable (in Canada) and connected to my Sage server I have two SA3250HDs and one SA3200.

This is my setup too - Rogers Cable (in Canada - Paris!) same boxes - I will look for the exact settings if you need it.

[wayner]

Thanks - that would be great!

[dstanley]

Wayner: Here is the spot to change:
Settings - Settings - SET: Power-On Keys - Power and Numeric

This lets firewire or USB-UIRT turn on the box when it sets the channel.
Just FYI I also have set the "Always Tune Channel" in the Sage properties so that a channel command is always sent before an attempted recording happens. this works for me - hope it does for you!

Sorry for the thread interuption ...

[davidjade]

Can I add a 'me too' I recently had my HDHR stop connecting and SageTV silently failed to record shows for a few days. Missed recording everything last week because we didn't notice even though we have been watching other recorded shows.

david