Box schedules *two* instances of the same programme

ejstubbs

Member
I've just tried to schedule a recording of Thunderball at 19:20 this evening (Saturday) on ITV4, from the EPG. I was puzzled when the box prompted me to sort out a clash with two other programmes scheduled to be recorded, but on Thursday night. I went in to the recording schedule and cancelled the recordings of the two programmes on Thursday, thinking I could just reinstate them after successfully getting the recording of Thunderball scheduled. I was then able to schedule the recording of Thunderball tonight. Then I went to Thursday evening and lo and behold, Thunderball was showing as scheduled to record on Thursday as well. Cancelling that recording also cancelled the one for tonight.

I have worked around the problem for tonight by scheduling a manual recording for Thunderball but I would like to know what's going on to make the box behave in this bizarre way. Is this ITV4s fault in some way e.g. putting bad data in the EPG, or has the scheduled events database on my box got its knickers in a twist somehow?
 
Is this ITV4s fault in some way e.g. putting bad data in the EPG
Yes. Because there is an "intermission", the split recording system has kicked in. ITV4 have re-used the same P-CRID for both parts tonight and Thursday, so the box thinks they are all parts of the same thing. I'm not sure whether there should be a way around that, but it happens often with split recordings.

I have worked around the problem for tonight by scheduling a manual recording for Thunderball
The better way around it is to remember to delete the schedule entry after tonight's recording (before Thursday). That way the split recording is allowed to do its thing.
 
Ah, OK, thanks for the tip.

I hate those split schedules. I've heard that they're used to get round the rules about the number and lengths of ad breaks in long programmes by inserting a short "film news" programme part way through. If I were OFCOM I'd be telling the TV companies to stop taking the mick. (I sometimes find that the total duration of the split, including the ads and the "news", is shorter than some of the normal ad breaks.)
 
The CRID used (on all four segments) is ww.itv.com/1001281561#1]. Is the "#1" a clue? Who is our resident D-book expert?
 
The CRID used (on all four segments) is ww.itv.com/1001281561#1]. Is the "#1" a clue? Who is our resident D-book expert?
Not me but I know that one.
It is the fault of the Humax software that the schedule event is persistent.

The d-book does state that where the programme CRID and the IMI ("#1" in this example) are the same, then the parts should NOT be treated as the same programme where there has been a gap of 3 hours or more.
D-book 7 part A is available online courtesy of Wikileaks. See the last paragraph of 8.7.2.6, or 8.11.2.3, both are very clearly written. The 3 hour rule is also heavily implied earlier in section 8.7.2.6.
Although version 7 f the d-book is getting on a bit, it is probably more relevant to the HDR-FOX T2 as it was published closer to the launch of the HDR-FOX T2 than the current version.

Where the same split programme is also broadcast in HD, or a +1 channel, then those are usually the ones where the broadcaster will set the IMI to a different value e.g. "#2" or "#3", (or even "#02" or "#03").

Without trying it myself, would 'skip episodes' work ?
No
 
The d-book does state that where the programme CRID and the IMI ("#1" in this example) are the same, then the parts should NOT be treated as the same programme where there has been a gap of 3 hours or more.
Thanks; now I remember this coming up before as a HDR-FOX defect.
 
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