[mythtv-users] [mythtv-commits] Ticket #2086: 1er show starttime equal 2nd endtime 2nd show don't start

[Joe Votour]

>
> Speaking of which, is it common for shows to always start like 3 minutes
> before myth wants to record?  Is this an anti-tivo technique or something?
>
> Michael T. Dean wrote:
>> On 07/22/06 15:56, MythTV wrote:
>>
>>
>>> #2086: 1er show starttime equal 2nd endtime 2nd show don't start
>>>

<snip>

>

Within the TV world, there are several different clocks that are in use:
1. The clock wthin the original satellite feed (a.k.a. the Network),
2. The clock within the cable office that takes the satellite feed and
rebroadcasts it,
3. The clock at the household of the user,
4. The clock on the PC/device recording the show

Naturally, with 3 and 4, these tend to be somewhat inaccurate, unless all
of your devices are using NTP.  Most people tend to set (4) by (3),
though, especially for non-Internet connected devices.

The satellite clock is usually pretty good (but known to drift), it's
usually the cable company's clock that is slightly off.  Additionally,
there is a bunch of equipment there to process the shows - IRDs to capture
from the satellite, streaming servers to buffer/stream what came from the
IRD, equipment to take the video stream from the streaming server,
re-multiplex it, convert it to QAM (or analog), and finally get it into
your household.

Because of all of these factors, it's not uncommon for shows to start
either early or late, depending on the channel in question.  Additionally,
some feeds are played late, because the network (or cable company) want
the ability to censor things - CBC's Hockey Night in Canada, last I heard
had the Coaches Corner segment played back with a seven second tape-delay
because Don Cherry has a habit of opening his big fat mouth and inserting
his foot - We love you anyway, Don.  :) .

Thus, as a precaution, I actually add two minutes before and two minutes
after every show that I record.  I have two analog and one digital tuner,
so this isn't much of a problem.

The anti-Tivo technique you're thinking of was when NBC would start their
shows at one minute before the hour to screw up single-tuner recorders
without intelligent scheduling.  Of course, then again, I remember when
TBS actually put their shows on at five minutes past the hour to
accomplish the same thing.

-- Joe


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