Recordings are cropped with dual tuners. Will another help?

[PepsiBlue]

I have a dual tuner that, at times, crops the first 30-60 secs since one show follows the previous recording. For example, if I have two shows recording from 8pm-9pm, the shows at 9pm-10pm may be cropped since the tuners are recording all the way to 9pm. I'm wondering if I add a second tuner that WMC will prioritize recordings so that a separate tuner is used to record the shows at 9pm-10pm. In case this isn't clear, if I get a second dual tuner will:
WMC use dual tuner1 to record shows airing from 8pm-9pm
use dual tuner2 to record shows airing from 9pm-10pm. This way, there would be no cropping for shows that are recorded immediately after each other. Can anyone speak to this?

[Mike88]

Adding 10 minutes to the end of a recording will force WMC to use another tuner, if it's available.
http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... ck+minutes

[sbaeder]

while it won't force it to go to a differnt tuner card, it will force it to use a different tuner...Some of the blame is on the networks, since shows don't always end/start on the hour...some go extra minute (i.e. 9:01), so you have to have enough tuners available.

The issue is that recordings always expand to the number of tuners available So next thing you know, you will be recording 4 things from 8:00-9:00(ish), and still mis something that really starts at 8:59

But short answer is yes - WMC always tries to find an availabvle tuner to start early (if available), and you can (as mentioned) set them to pad at the end.

[dmagerl]

Another thing to consider is the accuracy of your system clock. Window's time sync isnt very good. I think it only syncs with a time server once a week, giving plenty of time for the clock to drift and cause the front end of recorded programs to be missed, particularly with sequential recordings.

Many people here sync their clock once a day or when waking the PC from sleep. See this thread:
http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... ake#p27985

There are many threads on TGB about this issue, all with good solutions.

I sync mine upon waking and in all honesty, I havent had to use the "10 minutes after" trick in a long time. Sequential recordings just begin exactly at the start of the recording now.

[sbaeder]

good point...Even with better timie sync, there can be "jitter" from the cable system, etc...I notice it on the cable box when going from SD version to HD version to OTA...I synch at least once every 8 hours (just to be sure) since a simple nttp isn't that bad

[captain_video]

There used to be a bug in WMC where it would truncate recordings if they weren't padded by at least 10 minutes. You have to go into the record settings for each series and set the padding to "10 minutes" and not "10 minutes, if possible". I believe there was a patch that allows you to pad it by less than 10 minutes before and after without being truncated, but I haven't tested it to see if it works. I've always padded muine by 10 minutes before and after to be on the safe side.

There are a lot of free apps available that will keep your PC clock synched to keep accurate time. I use one called atomic.exe that synchs my PC with an atomic clock somewhere on the web. I run it manually about once every week or two and it seems to work pretty well.