Archived from groups: alt.video.ptv.tivo (
More info?)
In article <8b-dnWP8Rem2r9LfRVn-sA@rcn.net>,
"exjd" <exjd@yahoo.com> writes:
>
> I have a season pass (first run only) and TIVO insists on recording every
> single time the show is on (I think it is 3x a day). Is there something
> about this show that fools TIVO into thinking they are first runs, and/or is
> there any workaround you can suggest. TIA.
The problem is with the episode IDs and first-run air dates (not the
descriptions per se, as others have said, unless you consider this
information to be part of the description). Every episode of every TV show
has (or can have) a unique ID number, and the TiVo tracks these to know
when shows are duplicate airings. First-run air dates are used to
determine when a show is a first-run episode, if you opt to record new
episodes only. (Note that "first-run" has a specific meaning in TiVo-land
-- I believe it's "first-run" if a show's first-run air date is within a
week [or maybe two] of the show's actual air date. This lets the TiVo
record a show that's being re-run within a week or so of the actual
first-run date if that showing was in conflict with a higher-priority
show.) If the ID number and first-run air date are missing in the guide
data the TiVo receives, the TiVo doesn't know that some episodes are
repeats and/or not first-run, and so records the show, working on the
assumption that it's better to record old shows than to not record new
ones.
Historically, "The Daily Show" has been pretty awful about providing guide
data generally, so this problem has been pretty common. For the past few
months, they've been much better about it, but a couple of weeks ago, the
data seemed to disappear. Sometimes the episode IDs (and other guide data)
are missing for reruns, but not for new shows, but there were some new
ones that were missing data recently, too. With any luck, the episode IDs
and other guide data will return when they start showing new episodes, but
I can't promise that.
In the meantime, or if they don't resume delivering accurate guide data, I
know of no true fix, but there are some workarounds possible:
- Go into the To Do list and delete what you believe to be duplicate
episodes. Typically, that'll mean leaving the 11:00 EST showing in place
and deleting the others, but of course you could make changes if you've
got something else recording at that time on some day.
- Change your Wish List or Season Pass to keep one recording only. This
won't really fix the problem, but it will ensure that your Now Showing
list won't have several identical episodes; at most, you'll have one
complete episode and one that's being recorded. The downside is that
you'll need to watch the show before a new one appears, or the old one
will be wiped out by it.
- Delete your Wish List or Season Pass and create one or more repeating
recordings by time. This works best if conflicts with at least one
"Daily Show" time slot are rare. If you create a M-F repeating
recording, you'll also get whatever they happen to show on Fridays
during the time slot you've chosen. If you don't want this, you'll need
to create four daily repeating recordings, one for each day.
In the long term, you could try complaining to Comedy Central, and perhaps
also to TiVo (or DirecTV, if you've got a DirecTiVo). Ultimately, it's the
station that's responsible for delivering this data (via third parties),
so putting pressure on them (directly and via the companies they supply)
to get their act together could have a desirable effect. Then too, space
aliens could land atop the UN building and usher in a new era of world
peace. I'm not sure which is more likely.
--
Rod Smith, rodsmith@rodsbooks.com
http
/www.rodsbooks.com
Author of books on Linux, FreeBSD, and networking
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