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Recordings wont play back.

S

Slade2

Member
Hi,

My wife was watching Strickly tonight on BBC HD and a few shows were queued up to be recorded. Casualty on BBC 1 and X-factor then Johnathon Ross on ITV and then later Big Brother on Channel 4.

Now a few hours later my wife wants to watch Casualty and I can see the file on the drive but it says 21:55 22/10 0min. 3 ITV1 - I try to load the file and I get `unable to track progamme` This is the case for all the recordings that my wife has set for tonight expect for X-Factor thats recorded but its like 208mins and contains X-factor and Johnathon ross and the start of a film.

My wife is rather annoyed that the box isnt working could anyone shed any light on this for me or point me in the right direction?
 
If its any help I am using the current fireware having recently updated it. I really dont understand why this happened but it does seem like it was a one off since the last few nights it seems everything has recorded ok. I wondered if it was a situation with trying to record more than two items but then I am sure at least 2 of them would have recorded and I would have missed one? Perhaps it was also an issue with a messed up EPG? I cant for the life of me work out why this happened and would like to at least know why it happened and see if I can fix it for the future. Would installing the custom firmware help me out with this? I am keen on checking out the custom features of the custom firmware but and really new to this.
 
Custom firmware / MSP would have no effect.

"Failed to track" usually gets blamed on using AR and the broadcast markers being in error. To explain: if you do not set any padding on recordings (preferences menu), the recordings are made by what we call Accurate Recording (look up AR in the Glossary), where the recording starts and ends according to markers that are broadcast as EPG data which are supposed to track the actual transmission. If the markers don't occur within predefined windows of time, the recording is abandoned "failed to track". This is annoying and why many of us use padding instead - which records at the EPG times regardless of the start/stop flags, but won't take last-minute changes (due to live events for example) into account.

Assuming you are using AR (ie no padding), try switching to padding instead. I use 1 minute before and 5 minutes after.
 
Blackhole, thanks a lot for the reply I was actually set to use AR and am now using padding. Thanks a lot for the help I was fishing around trying this myself but now I know that is the issue I`m sorted. Thanks again.
 
You should also be informed that the box needs to power up regularly to keep the EPG up to date, which will otherwise cause series linked recordings to fail. Doing a scheduled recording from standby is not good enough.

There are two ways to do this: either use the menu options to set a 20-minute turn on in the early morning (6am is a good time), or go into the schedule and create a manual REMINDER for 6am daily. When you start the box the first time every day, it will be tuned to the channel you set for these events, with the volume setting you define (quite handy if you always want it to power up on a default channel). The difference between the two is that the scheduled reminder will survive a firmware update but not a retune, whereas the timer on/off will survive a retune but not a firmware update. The MSP allows you to back up and restore the schedule, and we do not expect any more firmware updates. Take your choice.
 
Thanks again for the reply Blackhole. I have to ask what effect the padding has on recordings? For example If am recording 2 items that end at 9pm but also recording some items that start at 9pm on a different channel will i miss the end/beginning of one show or the other? I think i understand the nature of `padding` but am unsure how it work in reality I am sure the wife wouldnt be to happy If I missed the start/end of her programs! ;p
 
Black Hole said:
"Failed to track" usually gets blamed on using AR and the broadcast markers being in error.
Click to expand...

My view is different. On the main channels the accurate recording signals are pretty accurate and reliable (but not totally infallible). Another possibility is that the box is not tuned to a consistent set of channels from a single transmitter. My advice to the OP would be to check whether the box is tuned correctly before abandoning accurate recording.
 
Slade2 said:
how do I know/check that my box is 100% tuned correctly?
Click to expand...
When the box is not recording press Menu>Settings>System>Signal detection then press right arrow on the centre button which should show the list of multiplex channels (typically 6). Either tell us what the numbers are and the first part of your post code or go to http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/postcodechecker/main/index/dummy/NA/yes (make sure the "I am in the aerial installation trade" box is ticked) and check for your self.
 
Ok I have 23,26,30,39,40,42,43,45,46 so more than 6 I am in the ST16 area. I did login to that site but i dont really know what I`m looking at. Ok It seems I should get most of my channels from Suttoncofield but am getting some from the Wrekin as well?
 
Slade2 said:
Ok I have 23,26,30,39,40,42,43,45,46 so more than 6 I am in the ST16 area. I did login to that site but i dont really know what I`m looking at. Ok It seems I should get most of my channels from Suttoncofield but am getting some from the Wrekin as well?
Click to expand...
Agreed, you are getting a mix of channels from two transmitters. I suggest you follow the instructions at http://hummy.tv/forum/threads/hdr-fox-t2-tuning-advice.472/page-2 (read further down the thread for some additional information). Either Wrekin or Sutton Coldfield should work so I suggest you try and figure which one the aerial is pointing at and tune for channels from that. Let us know how you get on.
 
Slade2 said:
Thanks again for the reply Blackhole. I have to ask what effect the padding has on recordings? For example If am recording 2 items that end at 9pm but also recording some items that start at 9pm on a different channel will i miss the end/beginning of one show or the other? I think i understand the nature of `padding` but am unsure how it work in reality I am sure the wife wouldnt be to happy If I missed the start/end of her programs! ;p
Click to expand...

I appreciate what you're saying and I don't know what exactly would happen. However, we have had a couple of posts recently where programmes were failing to record on AR and the situation was resolved by switching to padding. Also, even with AR, if the two programmes scheduled to end at 9 over-ran (or the AR flags said so even if they didn't) you would still run into the problem of losing something when a third programme tried to record at 9.

With so many repeats and +1 channels, I resolve these conflicts by recording a different screening of the programme.
 
This weekend I've been attempting to record the same programmes from the HD and its SD equivalent from standby using AR. They have been a mix of BBC ONE and Channel 4. In every case one of the recordings had the "Failed to Track" message on the mmedia list. Sometimes it is the HD and sometimes it is the SD. It happens with both version 26 and version 28.
I also tried to record programmes from Radio 3 & 4 that had the same start time, and they were fine.

I cannot find a thread on the topic. Is this a known issue?
 
Is what a known issue? Potential problems with AR - definitely. Specific problems with AR and 1.02.28 - new. There is an ongoing discussion about an interaction with the Red-Ring custom package - are you using that?
 
I am aware that AR is a known issue for some. What I am seeing is something very specific and reproducible. I.e. attempting to record the same programme on SD as HD.
No redring and no c/f yet. Although I will need c/f soon for editing out unwanted chunks of the interactive channels .

I can see the thread about a survey but could not see anything on it about when recordings are triggered to start so close together. Also as I've only just bought the HDR its a bit early for me to comment on whether its as good as the AR on the HD-FOX-T2.
 
I did not think that it was possible to record the SD and HD version of the same programme.
 
:oops: How very embarrassing. I've been tuned to the wrong HD mux. No wonder it did not work.
 
Oops!

I was about to say that I have had no trouble recording simultaneously on StDef & HiDef, scheduled by the EPG as usual, although that was with padding. As far as the box is concerned they are different channels.
 
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