[schedchk] Check recording schedule and fix problems

I thought it was strange when ma's box was recording Mission Impossible. Doing a bit of housekeeping today I found this:
20/12/2020 10:51:50 - SchedChk: * Updated * 20/11/20 14:15 00:45 === slot 42 === Impossible === BBC ONE HD-->21/12/20 22:45 01:45 === Mission: Impossible === BBC ONE HD === 1-off recording
Not sure what the fault is, but I guess this was not exactly intended...
As designed eve if not as your mother intended.

I didn't use exact matching for on-off and scrid changes so that it could find variants like Impossible Celebrities or Christmas Impossible which she probably would want but of course it can lead to some strange mismatches when you have short titles with common words.

I could possibly try to ensure the genres also matched but they may cause some failures because I don't trust the genre to be used consistently.
I will also think about allowing for alerts without scheduling on individual processes
 
As designed eve if not as your mother intended.

I didn't use exact matching for on-off and scrid changes so that it could find variants like Impossible Celebrities or Christmas Impossible which she probably would want but of course it can lead to some strange mismatches when you have short titles with common words.

I could possibly try to ensure the genres also matched but they may cause some failures because I don't trust the genre to be used consistently.
I will also think about allowing for alerts without scheduling on individual processes
Ah.

That would be why my Series Link (Season Pass? Repeat Recording?) for the Mitchell and Webb sitcom "Back", which was waiting to be deleted having recorded the last episode, decided to schedule the film "The Way Way Back".

FYI Both were on Channel 4.
 
Could I possibly get a translation of this message?

Code:
07/03/2021 23:33:53 - SchedChk: *** Status recording but Not recording *** - 07/03/21 22:40 00:50 === slot 11 === Trauma === ITV HD
07/03/2021 23:33:56 - SchedChk: Unable to schedule alternate for non-recording programme -07/03/21 22:40 00:50 === slot 11 === Trauma === ITV HD

To me, it says that the first episode of Trauma was not recording.

It looks OK in My Media with the relevant Media Details fields being
Code:
Start Time   Sun Mar 7 22:39:23 2021 GMT (Scheduled: Sun Mar 7 22:40:00 2021 GMT)
End Time     Sun Mar 7 23:33:36 2021 GMT (Scheduled: Sun Mar 7 23:30:00 2021 GMT)
Duration     54 minute(s). (Scheduled: 50)
Status     Valid/OK
 
Those timestamps are after the recording ended. I presume, for some reason, schedchk believed it should still have been recording. Maybe there's a critical timing window near the end of a recording where the signals can be misinterpreted.
 
Those timestamps are after the recording ended. I presume, for some reason, schedchk believed it should still have been recording. Maybe there's a critical timing window near the end of a recording where the signals can be misinterpreted.
Correct.

SchedChk checks those recordings that should be active to ensure they are actually recording (file size growing) since, in the past, I have seen zero length recordings, if they are not recording it tries to schedule an alternative showing to record instead.

In his case we have hit a timing window where the recording was listed as active but has just stopped recording. I'll try to add a check to not report problems close to the scheduled end time
 
Thanks for that explanation, MymsMan.

Can I ask an unrelated question?

What would be the impact, if any, of increasing the threshold to 5 or 6 days?

My Pointless Celebrities series link was broken and I created a new one before I realised I could have left it to see if schedchk would have fixed it.
 
Thanks for that explanation, MymsMan.

Can I ask an unrelated question?

What would be the impact, if any, of increasing the threshold to 5 or 6 days?

My Pointless Celebrities series link was broken and I created a new one before I realised I could have left it to see if schedchk would have fixed it.
Only increased run time.

Often for conflict resolution a human can make better choices than the fairly simple minded algorithms used by schedchk so by limiting it to a couple of days it gives the human a chance to sort out problems first and schedchk only gets involved if they haven't done so.
 
Correct.

SchedChk checks those recordings that should be active to ensure they are actually recording (file size growing) since, in the past, I have seen zero length recordings, if they are not recording it tries to schedule an alternative showing to record instead.

In his case we have hit a timing window where the recording was listed as active but has just stopped recording. I'll try to add a check to not report problems close to the scheduled end time
Information FYI.

Error Message:-
Code:
17/03/2021 21:49:00 - SchedChk: *** Status recording but Not recording *** - 17/03/21 21:00 00:45 === slot 7 === The Terror === BBC TWO HD
17/03/2021 21:49:03 - SchedChk: Unable to schedule alternate for non-recording programme -17/03/21 21:00 00:45 === slot 7 === The Terror === BBC TWO HD

Both episodes appear to have recorded fine.

Video_TS_New.png
The Terror_20210317_2101.ts (1.08 GiB)
BBC TWO HD
Drama
172_1_00_HD.png
749_1_26_Video_Encryption.png
Guidance_purple.png


Video_TS_New.png
The Terror_20210317_2148.ts (1.12 GiB)
BBC TWO HD
Drama
172_1_00_HD.png
749_1_26_Video_Encryption.png
Guidance_purple.png
 
Feature request.

Would it be possible to tell it only to look at HD channels?
Or possibly only in a certain favourites group?
 
Feature request.

Would it be possible to tell it only to look at HD channels?
Or possibly only in a certain favourites group?
Why? What are you hoping to accomplish?
I would like to fully understand what the requirement is otherwise I might design something totally different,
Schedchk preforms a range of checks - should filtering apply to all checks?
What would it mean for conflict resolution if the conflict is caused by a mix of SD and HD recordings?
 
To only watch HD recordings.
To limit the search area to HD channels.

I only watch HD telly (excepting certain recordings off Talking Pictures TV).
 
I only watch HD telly (excepting certain recordings off Talking Pictures TV).
So you don't "only watch HD telly" then. Like MymsMan was saying, how do you want to handle the exceptions? Software can't cope with fuzzy logic.

It would be easy for you to make schedchk only deal with HiDef services: delete the non-HiDef services from your tuning.
 
SchedChk is driven by your recording schedule, If there are no SD recordings in the schedule it wont be lookig at SD channels - the exception is for conflicts, it llooks first for an alternative with the same definition but if it can't find a suitable match it then looks for a match with any definition because there aren't many HD +1 channels,
Would you prefer to miss a programme than watch it in SD?
 
SchedChk is driven by your recording schedule, If there are no SD recordings in the schedule it wont be lookig at SD channels - the exception is for conflicts, it llooks first for an alternative with the same definition but if it can't find a suitable match it then looks for a match with any definition because there aren't many HD +1 channels,
Would you prefer to miss a programme than watch it in SD?
Football Focus was moved from BBC1 to BBC2 this and last week.

SchedChk moved my BBC1 HD recording to BBC2 (SD).

Hence my question.
 
I wonder if there is a more generic problem here. I have noticed that sometimes if I schedule a recording via WebIF EPG for (say) BBC1 West, it actually ends up recording from BBC1 Wales.
 
Football Focus was moved from BBC1 to BBC2 this and last week.

SchedChk moved my BBC1 HD recording to BBC2 (SD).

Hence my question.
Ah, that makes more sense
When programmes move channels the epg changes don't always happen simultaneously so there can be a lag between a programme disappearing from BBC1 HD and it reappearing on BBC2 HD, in this case it appears to have appeared on BBC1 SD first. I have seen Pointless moved to BBC 2 HD instead of SD when there is a COVID broadcast scheduled

So what I think would work best would be some sort of time limit, Only consider a different definition within N hours of recording start so that we give the epgs a chance to get in sync but switch if there really is no alternative with the same definition
 
The 5 episode drama "Viewpoint" is being broadcast at 9pm Monday to Friday on ITV HD.

It is being repeated 2 hours later each night.

I set a series link for the repeat.

Here is the notification.

Code:
27/04/2021 17:46:35 - SchedChk: *** Updated *** 28/04/21 23:40  01:00 === slot 28 === Viewpoint === ITV HD--->28/04/21 21:00  01:00 === New: Viewpoint === ITV HD === Event Changed
28/04/2021 00:38:26 - SchedChk: *** Updated *** 28/04/21 00:40 00:50 === slot 28 === Viewpoint === ITV HD-->29/04/21 03:15  00:50 === Viewpoint === ITV HD === 1-off recording (27 instances)
28/04/2021 00:50:35 - SchedChk: *** Updated *** 28/04/21 21:00 01:00 === slot 28 === New: Viewpoint === ITV HD-->28/04/21 00:40  00:50 === Viewpoint === ITV HD === Unscheduled episode
28/04/2021 00:50:38 - SchedChk: +++ Error while updating: Event already in progress. ++++ 28/04/21 21:00 01:00 === slot 28 === New: Viewpoint === ITV HD-->29/04/21 03:15  00:50 === Viewpoint === ITV HD === 1-off recording
28/04/2021 01:14:20 - SchedChk: *** Status recording but Not recording *** - 28/04/21 00:40 01:00 === slot 28 === New: Viewpoint === ITV HD (2 instances)
28/04/2021 01:14:23 - SchedChk: Unable to schedule alternate for non-recording programme -28/04/21 00:40 01:00 === slot 28 === New: Viewpoint === ITV HD  (2 instances)
28/04/2021 18:08:31 - SchedChk: +++ Error while scheduling: Duplicate reservation. ++++ 29/04/21 21:00  01:00 === New: Viewpoint === ITV HD === sCRID changed (11 instances)

The 2nd episode appears to have started 10 minutes late and is 10 minutes short of the advertised length.

Code:
    My Video
    Viewpoint_20210426_2345.ts (1.57 GiB)
    New_ Viewpoint_20210428_0050.ts (981.46 MiB)

I hope this info is useful.
 
Battlestar Galactica is broadcast late Friday/early Saturday, two episodes at a time.

Code:
30/04/2021 23:59:17 - SchedChk: *** Updated *** 01/05/21 00:10  00:45 === slot 3 === Battlestar Galactica === BBC TWO HD === Start Mismatch: 1619824200 != 1619821200
30/04/2021 23:59:17 - SchedChk: +++ Error while updating: Event already in progress. ++++ 01/05/21 00:55  00:40 === slot 3 === Battlestar Galactica === BBC TWO HD === Start Mismatch: 1619826900 != 1619823900
01/05/2021 00:21:11 - SchedChk: *** Recording not started *** - 01/05/21 00:05 00:40 === slot 3 === Battlestar Galactica === BBC TWO HD (2 instances)
01/05/2021 00:21:13 - SchedChk: Unable to schedule alternate for non-recording programme -01/05/21 00:05 00:40 === slot 3 === Battlestar Galactica === BBC TWO HD  (2 instances)

It looks like neither episode recorded correctly.

Code:
My Video
Battlestar Galactica_20210501_0005.hmt (2.02 KiB)
Battlestar Galactica_20210430_2354.ts (377.05 MiB)

I have now switched back to test mode.
 
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