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TV shows not recorded

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2019 5:11 pm
by Rickt1962
I have a lot of TV shows that are not recorded because of TUNER conflict. I have 6 tuners is there a way for WMC to send you alert so I can resolve tuner conflict ?

Re: TV shows not recorded

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2019 10:09 pm
by oakley516
A tuner conflict usually means that number of channels you are attempting to record at the same time is more than the number tuners you have available.

When you look in View Scheduled to see your upcoming recordings, you should see the yellow warning sign on the conflicting program.

Select that and it should take you through the conflict resolution process.

Re: TV shows not recorded

Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2019 12:27 am
by Space
A "tuner conflict" can mean that you have other devices using your tuners other than your one WMC machine. If this is the case, then you can stop using the tuners for other things other than WMC, or you can assign tuners for WMC-only use.

If you actually mean a recording conflict, I check WMC at least once a week to see if any upcoming shows will not record due to conflict with other recordings.

The main way I resolve these conflicts is to prioritize the Series that are on broadcast networks over those that are on cable, this is because usually cable networks repeat first-run episodes multiple times during the week, whereas broadcast networks do not usually repeat episodes.

By prioritizing Series for shows that do not offer repeat airings of the episode, WMC will record the one and only airing of that episode before it tries to schedule recordings of shows that may have multiple alternate airing times that can be recorded at a later date/time.

With three tuners, I rarely run in to a conflict situation that cannot be resolved, even though I record a lot of shows (all of them first-run, however). In the rare circumstance where I have 4 or more shows airing at the same tie, and there are no alternate airing times for any of them, I will usually choose to not record shows where I have the ability to get that episode in an alternate way, such as free streaming or on-demand (if it is a show that I am actively watching and not recording for binge watching later, since I can't be sure this option will be available when I decide to watch the series, potentially years in the future).

Re: TV shows not recorded

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2019 3:34 pm
by Rickt1962
Thank you for the response. Yes I already have prioritize setup but looking at MS Event viewer shows the show not recorded and I had plenty of tuners.
So yes I look at MC schedule when or if I remember to check for conflicts. I was just wondering is there a addon that is automatic for MC to alert my Desk Top so I know

Re: TV shows not recorded

Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2019 6:16 pm
by Space
So you are looking for a way to be notified of a tuner conflict, instead of a fix for why you are getting a tuner conflict when you have tuners available? You shouldn't be getting tuner conflict errors if you have tuners available.

As for a way to get notified when a tuner conflict happens, there is probably some way to do this through event viewer, but I am not that familiar with it.

Re: TV shows not recorded

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2019 11:33 am
by StinkyImp
Rickt1962 wrote: Fri Mar 22, 2019 5:11 pm I have a lot of TV shows that are not recorded because of TUNER conflict. I have 6 tuners is there a way for WMC to send you alert so I can resolve tuner conflict ?
This might be a long shot, but I've seen some weird things happen at times. I use four tuners and record anywhere from 60 - 80 hours a week and it's extremely rare that I have a conflict.

Have you checked your tuner assignments?

Settings -> TV -> Guide -> Edit Channels -> (Select an affected channel) -> Edit Sources

And then make sure all your tuners are assigned?

All your tuners should have a check mark like this. If they don't, make sure they're all checked and then save your assignments.

If it's not something simple like this... I hope you find a working solution!

Re: TV shows not recorded

Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 6:50 am
by lazlohollifeld
The problem I've seen with shows not recording is not a tuner conflict, but the guide marking new episodes as repeats so my recording rules skip recording a new episode that it should picked up.

Re: TV shows not recorded

Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 3:04 pm
by dmagerl
lazlohollifeld wrote: Sun Mar 31, 2019 6:50 am The problem I've seen with shows not recording is not a tuner conflict, but the guide marking new episodes as repeats so my recording rules skip recording a new episode that it should picked up.
The quality of the guide data has really gone downhill recently.

Re: TV shows not recorded

Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2019 10:36 pm
by Space
Rovi/TiVo has always had problems with getting the OAD (Original Air Date) correct. This is what WMC uses to determine if an episode is new (if the airing date is within 7 days of the OAD, it is considered new).

Because of this, I almost never use the "New" option for Series, I use the "New & Rerun" option and set it to record from a specific channel. The only time I use "New" instead is if I am recording a show that has a lot of repeats airing on the same channel as the first-run episodes I am trying to record.

For instance, if your local Fox affiliate airs a lot of old "The Simpsons" repeats as well as the first-run episodes, then you would probably want to use "New", otherwise you will get a lot of recordings of the old episodes.

But for most shows, using "New & Rerun" is not a problem, as most shows I record haven't been airing for that many seasons, and I most likely have already recorded any older episodes that they may repeat as part of the Series (when they were new), so WMC will not try to record them again (a WMC Series does not record the same episode twice even if you use the "New & Rerun" option).

Re: TV shows not recorded

Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 1:29 pm
by unclebun
If you are getting that error when you clearly have not set more than 6 tuners to be in use at once, the problem likely has to do with the strength of your cable signal and a weirdness of WMC. It seems that once WMC has encountered low signal on a tuner, it somehow decides never to use that tuner again. Then, when it's marked the last tuner off the list, it tells you there are no tuners available to record your show. At least that's my interpretation of what has happened with my Ceton InfiniTV 6 ETH. Everything seems to work fine, even on days where 3 or 4 programs may overlap. Then, typically on weekends, it would start having recordings fail partway through with an onscreen message of loss of signal. Then after a couple of those, the no tuner available, and no shows record after that. The only way to get it working again is to reboot the computer and unplug and replug the power to the tuner. Then everything works fine again. After I finally got the cable company out to look at it, they checked the signal strength and it was low. They ran a new drop from their post and rewired everything in the house, and lo and behold, the problem went away (and the signal is now strong).

Re: TV shows not recorded

Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2019 3:28 pm
by Rickt1962
Single strength is at the top since I have the box located at the source of the cable and checking HDhomerun diagnostics shows all good.
This is more of WMC being flaky at times. Guess I will have to check Event Viewer on a weekly basis to see what didnt get recorded.

Re: TV shows not recorded

Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 12:37 am
by Space
Does WMC see all 6 tuners? By default, WMC will only see 4 tuners per type, you need to make some changes for WMC to see all 6 tuners (EPG123 has a utility to do this, even if you are not using EPG123 for guide data).

Re: TV shows not recorded

Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2019 4:29 pm
by Rickt1962
Space wrote: Tue Apr 02, 2019 12:37 am Does WMC see all 6 tuners? By default, WMC will only see 4 tuners per type, you need to make some changes for WMC to see all 6 tuners (EPG123 has a utility to do this, even if you are not using EPG123 for guide data).
Yes it see all 6 most nights its recording 6 shows at a time every hour from 8pm to 10 pm prime time. Most times its only recording 1 show every hour during the day

Re: TV shows not recorded

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:09 pm
by Rickt1962
Well looks like for some reason my WMC went back to 4 tuners and not showing 6 tuners. I had it working with Tuner Salad and had rescan them in back long time ago. So after finding out its back to 4 tuners so I did a rescan again and now I get error Update PlayReady was unsuccessful try again I did 3 times not working

Re: TV shows not recorded

Posted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 2:19 pm
by Rickt1962
I did a Tuner Diagnostics in WMC it shows 6 tuners so I went back to scheduled recordings and the conflicts have gone away ! WEIRD !!!!! Still have the Update PlayReady error but playing live TV works

Re: TV shows not recorded

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 3:09 am
by garyan2
Just a PSA... the increase in allowed tuners by TunerSalad or EPG123 or Ceton or ?? is only temporary. It appears permanent for the most part because that "setting" is only queried during a TV Setup. Once you've set up all your tuners, they will stay there and are available until the time you may run TV Setup again. I found out that I could increase the tuner limit, run "mcupdate.exe -uf", and the increase would be removed taking the limit back to the original quantity of 4.

Re: TV shows not recorded

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:25 pm
by Rickt1962
garyan2 wrote: Thu Apr 11, 2019 3:09 am Just a PSA... the increase in allowed tuners by TunerSalad or EPG123 or Ceton or ?? is only temporary. It appears permanent for the most part because that "setting" is only queried during a TV Setup. Once you've set up all your tuners, they will stay there and are available until the time you may run TV Setup again. I found out that I could increase the tuner limit, run "mcupdate.exe -uf", and the increase would be removed taking the limit back to the original quantity of 4.
What is PSA ?

Re: TV shows not recorded

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:29 pm
by garyan2
Sorry, Public Service Announcement.