Live TV while recording scheduled show logic

[julesjohn]

Just curious if anyone can explain the expected behavior with SageTV when a scheduled show is recording that is on a different channel than what is being watched live?

I am curious so I know if I wanted to add another tuner, and what would happen with channel surfing etc. Curious too what happens when viewing the channel where recording is scheduled due to LiveTV recording everything.

Thanks.

[Menehune]

Do you only have one tuner card? LiveTV will attempt to use an available tuner if the show is not currently being recorded to the drive.

I'm not certain what will happen if you are watching LiveTV when an automatic recording starts (I think a dialog box opens asking you what to do) but, if I have 2 recordings going on and I want to watch a live show that I am not recording (i.e. use a third tuner which I don't have installed) a dialog box pops up asking me if I want to stop a recording or stop watching live TV.

If you want to watch via LiveTV a show that is currently being recorded, Sage will continue to record the show in the background while playing the mpeg file to you. If you fast forward to the end of the recorded portion of the show, you will then be watching the show live and will have to sit thru the commercials. I just did that a few minutes ago and had to sit thru the commercials until the show was over.

[julesjohn]

Ok so if you are watching a show in LiveTV that is also being recording then you basicaly can't timeshift back but at least you can watch it. I will have to test this out to see the behaviors.

I have a PVR 350 card and another tuner card but the second one is a WinTV 401 which is old and not supported. I am wondering if anything less than a 350 would cause my machine's performance to degrade too much when the 350 is recording.

I guess we need some recommendations from those who have second, third, and fourth...tuners.

[nielm]

you *can* always timeshift the show that is being recorded, it is just when watching live/now you just cannot timeshift into the future to skip a break because it has not yet been recorded! You can of course rewind it back to the start.


Say if you are watchuing show A live, and show B is scheduled to record on a different channel.
With a single tuner, a popup will show shortly before show B is due to start asking if Sage can change the channel.
With multiple tuners, Sage will start recording show B using a different tuner (unless there are none free), and you can continue watching show A.

With multiple tuners, while channel surfing, if you surf to the channel where show B is being recorded, Sage will let you watch and timeshift everything that it has recorded so far -- it will not record the same show using 2 tuners...

[julesjohn]

Thanks Nielm. So Sage asking to switch channels is really asking just to switch what it is recording? So I would typically choose yes and then I guess I am able to continue surfing if I wanted to etc.

BTW - really like your weather module...just wish I could mix and match it with other plugins I have found to make my own STV. I guess I need to learn the SDK to do that. Thanks.

[nielm]

yes that is what it is asking, but you would only be able to continue surfing if you had spare tuners (otherwise you would get another popup asking if you wanted to cancel the recording)

The SDK is not publicly available at present. This is a hotly contested issue, just search the forums for 'Studio' to get a few thousand posts on the issue...