[MB Premium Twin+ Plus] Autotimer ITV HD quirk

[Valiant]

I have an Autotimer set for Doc Martin, for all services in my Favourites bouquet.
I noticed the other day that there was a showing on ITV HD, Sunday at 17:30 and the Autotimer was not setting a timer for it.
I could set Autotimers for other shows on ITV HD. I could also add a timer (green button in the EPG) for the ITV HD Doc Martin show but I could not get it to appear as a result of the Autotimer. Nor was there a disabled timer for the show, I do not have that option set.

I added ITV to the bouquet and the Autotimer immediately picked up the Sunday 17:30 show, so what could be wrong with the Doc Martin on ITV HD? Is this a case of a corrupt EPG?

 

[Joe_90]

It's usually down to a mismatch between the episode name and that which is set in the autotimer. It depends on how strict you are with matching - "exact match", "starts with", "containing" are all options. Sometimes a particular channel will change the title slightly - e.g.

"New:Doc Martin"

which will cause the autotimer to fail to match if you have exact match option set.

 

[Valiant]

It's usually down to a mismatch between the episode name and that which is set in the autotimer. It depends on how strict you are with matching - "exact match", "starts with", "containing" are all options. Sometimes a particular channel will change the title slightly - e.g.

"New:Doc Martin"

which will cause the autotimer to fail to match if you have exact match option set.

As I said, I picked the timer up after adding ITV without changing the autotimer. I use partial match on all autotimers anyway and have done since I first set the box up on the day it was delivered in May of this year. Anything to do with ITV being FTA and ITV HD being something else- is it sly? Anyway the program is on tonight, the EPG entries certainly look identical. If the same thing happend next week I might have time to do more investigation.

 

[abu baniaz]

I presume that you are using ABM, if so which region?

Can you upload your lamedb, autotimers.xml and timers.xml files as attachments. Located in /etc/enigma2.

 

[Valiant]

I am in the south west - Cornwall actually, attached is a zip of the three files requested thanks

 

[abu baniaz]

auto timers checks for a service with EPG matching your requirements in your favourites

<timer name="Doc Martin" match="Doc Martin" enabled="yes" overrideAlternatives="1">
 <bouquet>1:7:1:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:FROM BOUQUET "userbouquet.favourites.tv" ORDER BY bouquet</bouquet> <!-- Favourites (TV) -->
</timer>

If its not there, then there is no data to pass onto timers. As service references change, the EPG is no longer valid. You don't get any EPG data for them. There were a few ITV channel changes on the cards.

<timer begin="1477240080" end="1477244100" serviceref="1:0:1:2800:806:2:11A0000:0:0:0:" repeated="0" rename_repeat="1" name="Doc Martin" description="(Season 3 Episode 7/7). [Comedy]" afterevent="auto" eit="58760" tags="" disabled="0" justplay="0" always_zap="0" descramble="1" record_ecm="0" isAutoTimer="1">
<log code="500" time="1476729218">[AutoTimer] Try to add new timer based on AutoTimer Doc Martin.</log>
<log code="501" time="1477020378">[AutoTimer] Warning, AutoTimer Doc Martin messed with a timer which might not belong to it: Doc Martin .</log>
</timer>

<timer begin="1477335480" end="1477339500" serviceref="1:0:1:2814:806:2:11A0000:0:0:0:" repeated="0" rename_repeat="1" name="Doc Martin" description="(Season 2 Episode 6/9). [Comedy]" afterevent="auto" eit="23088" tags="" disabled="0" justplay="0" always_zap="0" descramble="1" record_ecm="0" isAutoTimer="1">
<log code="500" time="1476727916">[AutoTimer] Try to add new timer based on AutoTimer Doc Martin.</log>
<log code="501" time="1477020378">[AutoTimer] Warning, AutoTimer Doc Martin messed with a timer which might not belong to it: Doc Martin .</log>
</timer>

<timer begin="1477767480" end="1477771500" serviceref="1:0:1:2814:806:2:11A0000:0:0:0:" repeated="0" rename_repeat="1" name="Doc Martin" description="Rescue Me: Drama series about a curmudgeonly doctor. Martin returns to Portwenn without Louisa, who has gone to stay with her mother in Spain. A lifeboat exercise goes wrong. [S]" afterevent="auto" eit="23397" tags="" disabled="0" justplay="0" always_zap="0" descramble="1" record_ecm="0" isAutoTimer="1">
<log code="500" time="1477105242">[AutoTimer] Try to add new timer based on AutoTimer Doc Martin.</log>
</timer>

EDIT: I'm using a lamedb file which has just been added to without clearing, there are 6 ITV's with no EPG. 10 HD ones with no EPG.

 

[Valiant]

I'm not quite sure what you are saying Abu - are you saying that the ITV HD data for this one program is not there but it is on the ITV schedule? There was, funnily enough, another file in the etc/enigma2/ folder called alternatives.itv_hd which contained the following lines :-

#NAME ITV HD
#SERVICE 1:0:19:5226:812:2:11A0000:0:0:0:

 

[abu baniaz]

If you select ITV HD in your bouquet, does it have EPG data?

 

[Valiant]

If you select ITV HD in your bouquet, does it have EPG data?

Yes as I said in the opening post, "I could set Autotimers for other shows on ITV HD. I could also add a timer (green button in the EPG) for the ITV HD Doc Martin show but I could not get it to appear as a result of the Autotimer."

I could not get a timer created via the autotimer Dic Martin for the instance on ITV HD tonight but when I added the SD version, ITV, to the bouquet which I believe has an identical EPG, the timer appearred as expected. Attached is a a pic of what the EPG looks like and the autotimer, the rest of which just has service restriction enabled for Favoutites (TV) bouquet.

 

[abu baniaz]

Sorry, not sure. Please await others' response

 

[ccs]

Doc Martin doesn't appear to be on next week, so the chance may now have gone.

(Next Sunday's schedule is showing, say, Poldark starting and finishing at 21:00 - I guess it's because the clocks change next weekend.)

 

[Valiant]

Doc Martin doesn't appear to be on next week, so the chance may now have gone.

(Next Sunday's schedule is showing, say, Poldark starting and finishing at 21:00 - I guess it's because the clocks change next weekend.)

If you want to start highlighting people's typos then you are going to be in a world of pain, well maybe not because you missed others in my hasty response.

Next week's clock change is irrelevant.

Why do I have to add the ITV channel to my Favourites bouquet just because this one showing of Doc Martin on the ITV HD channel is being ignored by my autotimer?

Anyway I shall keep an eye out for any further examples.

Thanks all.

 

[ccs]

If you want to start highlighting people's typos then you are going to be in a world of pain, well maybe not because you missed others in my hasty response.

Wow! It was just a bit of fun - I'll certainly remember next time.

Next week's clock change is irrelevant.

I had worked that one out as well - I was just commenting on zero length programmes showing when I was checking to see if Doc Martin was on again next week. That's why I put in brackets.
So much for trying to help.

 

[birdman]

auto timers checks for a service with EPG matching your requirements in your favourites

<timer name="Doc Martin" match="Doc Martin" enabled="yes" overrideAlternatives="1">
 <bouquet>1:7:1:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:FROM BOUQUET "userbouquet.favourites.tv" ORDER BY bouquet</bouquet> <!-- Favourites (TV) -->
</timer>

As I read that you are not trying to record Doc Martin on ITV HD, but rather Doc Martin on any channel/service in your Favourites bouquet.
So if your Favourites has changed and no longer contains ITV (in any form) then you won't have a timer set-up.

EDIT: Mind you, your EPG picture indicates that both ITV and ITV HD are there...

 

[Valiant]

As I read that you are not trying to record Doc Martin on ITV HD, but rather Doc Martin on any channel/service in your Favourites bouquet.
So if your Favourites has changed and no longer contains ITV (in any form) then you won't have a timer set-up.

I think I am having problems making myself clear.

I only receive Freesat services.

My Favourites bouquet contains all the entertainment and movie channels and contained ITV HD in preference to ITV.

My Doc Martin autotimer was creating timers for any screening of Doc Martin on any channel in my Favourites bouquet, currently showing on ITV3.

I did not realise a series was being broadcast on ITV HD until I saw it on the EPG for Sunday night at 1730. A timer had not been created for this broadcast by the autotimer.

I recreated the autotimer but could not get it to pick up the ITV HD broadcast, although I could create a one-shot timer for the broadcast.

I then added ITV to my Favourites bouquet. The autotimer created a timer for the broadcast in question.:thumbsup:


My support question was really why is this happening? Why is the autotimer not generating a timer for the ITV HD broadcast?
Have I broken something or is the EPG data corrupt?
Have I been clear?

 

[birdman]

My support question was really why is this happening? Why is the autotimer not generating a timer for the ITV HD broadcast?
Have I broken something or is the EPG data corrupt?
Have I been clear?

Well, you did add various bits of information which clouded this issue, which seems to be:

once you added ITV HD to the Favourites bouquet it should have set a recording, but didn't - even though it did set one for ITV and you haven't configured the AT to check for unique descriptions.
​

My suspicion would be that since you've set it to set a recording in the bouquet it only sets on at a given time - i.e. it considers the bouquet as a whole.

I've only ever set AutoTimers by service.

 

[Valiant]

Well, you did add various bits of information which clouded this issue, which seems to be:

once you added ITV HD to the Favourites bouquet it should have set a recording, but didn't - even though it did set one for ITV and you haven't configured the AT to check for unique descriptions.
​

No obviously not clear still.

ITV HD was already in the bouquet but the autotimer failed to pick up the programme scheduled for broadcast on ITV HD.

I added ITV (SD) to the bouquet and the autotimer picked up the programme from the ITV (SD) EPG straight away which is expected behaviour.

Why was the ITV HD timer not set originally?

All my autotimers are the same - restricted to Favourites (TV), partial match, no requirement for uniqueness, in fact all restrictions disabled except the bouquet which is set to Favourites(TV).

I do get duplicates which I disable but the theory is that I don't miss anything, or so I thought.

My suspicion would be that since you've set it to set a recording in the bouquet it only sets on at a given time - i.e. it considers the bouquet as a whole.

I don't understand this.

 

[EMJB]

I have seen one oddity which I didn't investigate at the time which seems vaguely similar to Valiant's, and that was an autotimer which when viewed with the Webif had the box indicating limiting to channels ticked, but no channel listed. It was not generating timers, surprise, surprise! I tend to use the Webif in preference to the on-screen auto-timer generation/monitoring, so have no idea how it would have shown up there.

EMJB

 

[Valiant]

I have seen one oddity which I didn't investigate at the time which seems vaguely similar to Valiant's, and that was an autotimer which when viewed with the Webif had the box indicating limiting to channels ticked, but no channel listed. It was not generating timers, surprise, surprise! I tend to use the Webif in preference to the on-screen auto-timer generation/monitoring, so have no idea how it would have shown up there.

EMJB

That sounds like it would do it, except for the fact that my autotimer was setting timers for Doc Martin series showing on ITV3, but not for ITV HD.

But good thinking anyway - I checked Webif and the autotimer information is correct. If I had thought about it at the time I would have run a simulate on the autotimers in Webif to see if the ITV HD timer was there - too late now.

I'm inclined to think that the EPG was corrupted for that one showing - I bet that there is something in the EPG for that show which invalidated it as far as the autotimer code was concerned, but that the Add Timer code is different, since it allowed me to create the one shot timer.

I think I should delete all the EPG data anyway and then just monitor the situation.

 

[birdman]

I think I should delete all the EPG data anyway and then just monitor the situation.

The EPG data was showing fine in the EPG.

Do you run debug logs? If so, there's a record there of what it's doing when it does a scan, which might provide some help.

It will start with an "[AutoTimer] Auto Poll" entry (if it's the occasioal timer) or just go straight into the "[eEPGCache] lookup events with..." if you've manually saved the AutoTimer list and end with "[Task] job Components.Task.Job name=AutoTimer..."