Missed Recordings

[mythtv1user1]

I've used Mythbuntu 8.04 since summer, 2008 and I really like it - a lot!
It does, have one major issue - it misses 10 to 25% of the recordings I set it up to record.
I've looked on several forums over the years and the problem seems to be present in many versions of Mythbuntu and MythTv.
It's referred to as "zero byte recordings", "missed recordings", and other names.
Missed recordings appear to be recording on the Upcoming Recordings screen, the backend log file says they are recording. But, there is no file in my recordings folder.

I'm wondering if this problem has ever been definitively recognized and addressed.

Is there a version of MythTv in which this problem has been solved and which reliably records all your programmed shows?

[stuartm]

In almost every case the cause of failed recordings are hardware/driver failures and outside the control of MythTV. We might be able to suggest ways to eliminate the problem if you can tell us what tuner hardware you are using.

As an example, a lot of 'dual' tuner devices tend to fail much more often if stressed by active EIT scanning on both tuners. A simple remedy is to disable active EIT scanning on one of the tuners.

[wesnewell]

You might also want to extend the allowable signal lock time in the backend setup. Look in tuner options.

[mythtv1user1]

I use HD Homerun dual tuners.

I have several tuners and record a bunch of shows each day (we're in the Golden Age of Classic reruns in Dallas!).

I'll try disabling active EIT scanning on all but one of the tuners. I'm assuming this needs to be the one least used to record shows.

I use the EIT to record shows and also I record them manually (like a VCR - record this channel at this date/time). The shows randomly appear and disappear on my EIT throughout the day often causing recordings to start late or be missed.

The manual recordings are also missed about as often as EIT shows.

I've already tried the lengthening option referred to in the other previous reply.

One thing that seems to improve reliability is having one window open on "Upcoming Recordings" and another window on "Delete Recordings" when recordings are supposed to start. I wish I knew why this seems to significantly improve reliability.

My solution currently is to set up each show to record 2 times starting a few minutes apart (usually one EIT and one manual). It rarely misses a show set to record twice. However, I spend way too much time cleaning up the duplicate and late starting recordings.

If you have any other suggestions, I'll try them.

Thanks.

[PhilB]

Is there anything significant in the backend log at the time the recording was scheduled to finish? I have known backend to not recognise that a tuner had dropped off until that point.
Phil

[mythtv1user1]

I've looked at the log and have never been able to see any pattern.

I tried setting all but 1 tuner to not grab listings for the EIT. To do this, I turned off grabbing for the antenna all tuners have been using. Then, I created a new source (antennaEIT) and turned on EIT grabbing for it, and set the single tuner I want to get EIT listings to this input source.

This produced duplicate listings for some channels in the EIT and one channel seems to not be getting listings, anymore.

How can I set EIT grabbing off for all but one tuner, yet still be able to set up recordings from the EIT for all tuners in order to save the metadata?
Thanks

[fphillips]

Thinking of other possibilities: are you running 0.27.1 or newer? There was a bug in 0.26/0.27 that caused some recordings to end up in the livetv recording group.

[mythtv1user1]

Does anyone know how can I set EIT grabbing off for all but one tuner, yet still be able to set up recordings from the EIT for all tuners in order to save the metadata?
Thanks