[VU+ Duo2] Autotimer

[Fuzzy]

I have noticed recently that if I delete a completed timer, it comes back again as 'done' when the autotimer polls. It will keep coming back until the timespan is passed. This didn't use to happen, once a timer was deleted (assuming the program had finished), it wouldn't come back. Has a setting changed?

Thanks in advance

 

[abu baniaz]

"Timer" and "autotimer" are two different things. "Autotimer" can create "timers".

If you delete autotimers, you get option to delete timers too.
If you delete timers, autotimers are not deleted.

 

[Fuzzy]

Thanks for the reply.

I know the autotimer creates timers, but timers are being created that are already done and have been deleted. They say 'done' underneath.

I have my completed timers at the top and use the blue button to delete them. Up until a couple of builds ago thay stayed deleted, now they come back when the autotimer runs. They keep coming back until the timespans in the autotimers have passed. I wondered if something had changed (and I had a setting wrong) or it was a bug.

 

[abu baniaz]

Is your issue:

Create an auto timer for episode 111 on Monday
On Tuesday you delete completed timer
Episode 111 is re-shown on Thursday, so autotimer creates the timer again. It will then record on Thursday again.

 

[Fuzzy]

No, I mean I delete the completed timer soon after the program finishes and while the autotimer that created it is still within its timespan. The autotimer will keep recreating the timer if i delete it until the timespan finishes. They aren't real timers because they say 'done'.

 

[birdman]

Why are you deleting completed timers anyway?
You can set them to be auto-delete dafter n-days, and can have them listed at the bottom of your timer list.

 

[Fuzzy]

Yeah I know I can Birdman . It's not a major problem, not even a problem at all really. Been doing it like this for the last few years though, and I was just enquiring why I couldn't any more.

 

[birdman]

No, I mean I delete the completed timer soon after the program finishes and while the autotimer that created it is still within its timespan.

By "timespan" do you mean the time within which the AT is set to search for a start time, or the time that the recording of an event would actually run?

The autotimer will keep recreating the timer if i delete it until the timespan finishes.

It shouldn't create one if the programme has already finished.

They aren't real timers because they say 'done'.

All timers are marked as "Done" once the recording has stopped (or would have stopped, in the case of a Disabled one).

Although I do have one idea....

If the event is still in the EPG even after it has finished (which it will be for a while, depending on how long you have set this to) then the AT code might find it and add a new timer which the rest of the code will mark as Done, as it has finished (which it would have to do if a recording were missed as a result of, say, a power cut).
So perhaps there's been a change in the AT code (there's been some recent activity) that used to skip old events but now checks everything in the EPG cache.

 

[birdman]

So perhaps there's been a change in the AT code (there's been some recent activity) that used to skip old events but now checks everything in the EPG cache.

Nothing that I can see in the AT code has ever checked the end time for a finished programme (I've just checked against the code from Jan 01, 2016).
It's possible that the conflict checking (the bit which "pretends" to get a tuner, to check you'll have a spare one when the real recording is made) has changed, but that seems unlikely, as all I think that could do is report a conflict - which would throw up a screen to ask you to resolve it.

It would be simple to code to ignore EPG entries that have already ended, but in practice most people leave them in place longer then the "keep old data" setting they have for the EPG.

 

[Fuzzy]

Thanks for the info birdman. As I say, it isn't a problem as such, I was just curious why deleted timers come back when they didn't used to.

Timespan, I thought, was the time the autotimer searches for a specific program. So it might start at 7pm and finish at 10pm for a program that normally starts at 8pm. If the program has finished by 9pm, my autotimer will keep creating 'done' timers until 10pm as long as I keep deleting them.

 

[birdman]

Timespan, I thought, was the time the autotimer searches for a specific program. So it might start at 7pm and finish at 10pm for a program that normally starts at 8pm. If the program has finished by 9pm, my autotimer will keep creating 'done' timers until 10pm as long as I keep deleting them.

But only if you have your EPG data configured to keep entries that are up to 60mins old.

 

[Fuzzy]

Nice one Birdman. You made me check my epg settings and I had 'Maintain old epg data' set to 60 mins. Turned that off and my 'problem' has gone I should have noticed that the 'done' timers happened at the same time I changed the epg settings, but I didn't

Many apologies for wasting your time.

 

[steevieboy4u]

I'm also experiencing issues with the timers, I keep getting pop ups stating timers are conflicting? Even though they aren't? My box is currently stating I've got 4 conflicts even though there is nothing else conflicting on any of these times/dates I've checked and double checked. Also when I try and pause the live TV I get a pop up saying it can't as there is a conflict on a timer that is due to happen in 5 days away? I get the feeling when I delete the autotimers (and all the generated timers by the autotimer) it’s not actually deleting the entries. i.e. when a TV series finishes I delete the autotimer and generated times I get the impression it’s not deleting these entries and if there are upcoming repeats of the series they are causing the conflicts? I’ve got no evidence to prove this it’s just that’s the only thing I can think of why these conflicts are happening

I was going to do fresh flash via USB as the last few updates I've done OTT and like the OP stated this has only started happening after the last couple of updates? Or could it be the timer.xml is corrupt somehow and I can delete this and then just re-add all my timers/autotimers?

Cheers

 

[ccs]

After deleting an autotimer, you need to press green when still in the autotimer menu for it to actually perform the delete.

ps This thread is over 2 months old, so "last couple of updates" is probably irrelevant.

 

[steevieboy4u]

Currently at work, so off the top of my head is the green button the 'save' option? If it is I have also been doing that each time but I am still getting these timer conflict issues?

 

[ccs]

Yes - green is save. Unexplained conflicts have been discussed before, @birdman may well be able to help on this one.

 

[birdman]

.....Also when I try and pause the live TV I get a pop up saying it can't as there is a conflict on a timer that is due to happen in 5 days away? I get the feeling when I delete the autotimers (and all the generated timers by the autotimer) it’s not actually deleting the entries. i.e. when a TV series finishes I delete the autotimer and generated times I get the impression it’s not deleting these entries and if there are upcoming repeats of the series they are causing the conflicts?

Conflicts happen to timers,. not autotimers (which just set timers).
If you have conflicts you need to look at your current list of timers.

 

[steevieboy4u]

I've looked at both timers and autotimers and I cannot see any conflicts. What also doesn't make sense is when I try and pause the live TV (timeshift) it states I cannot do it as the TV series Rellik is conflicting (this is due to record on Mondays at 9pm) but the this conflict is stated every time I try no matter what day or time it is?

If I delete the timer.xml file with this remove all the timers? I'm sure it must be corrupt and I don't really want to mess about reflashing my box if I can get away with trying this first?

Cheers

 

[ccs]

If you want to delete timers.xml, you must first stop enigma using the telnet command init 4, then delete the file and then init 3 to restart.

 

[birdman]

I've looked at both timers and autotimers and I cannot see any conflicts. What also doesn't make sense is when I try and pause the live TV (timeshift) it states I cannot do it as the TV series Rellik is conflicting (this is due to record on Mondays at 9pm) but the this conflict is stated every time I try no matter what day or time it is?

If you have a conflict it will be reported at ANY attempt to set a recording.
It's not telling you that there is a conflict with the one you are setting, it's telling you there is a conflict somewhere. If this weren't done you'd (quite likely) never know that your AutoTimers are producing a conflict.