Timed recordings

[Steve Thackery]

I'm just about to start building my own media PC, which will primarily serve
as a receiver and recorder for digital TV - both from satellite and
terrestrial.

I'm in the UK, but as the UK newsgroup for Media Center is rather quiet, I
thought I'd seek help from both groups. I hope you don't mind the
cross-posting.

I can't remember the correct terminology, but our broadcasters send some
sort of control signal along with the broadcast which indicates the precise
start and stop times of each programme (this is in addition to the usual
programme guide). It is very useful if the programmes are running late -
saves you chopping off the end of a recorded programme.

My current terrestrial and satellite recorders both respond to this control
signal. My question is, can Media Center do the same? Also, can it handle
"series link", whereby you can tell it to record an entire series? Finally,
what about the "alternate programme" feature, which spots a recording
conflict and offers an alternate transmission (if available) of that
programme?

I wouldn't really want to do without those features.

Many thanks for your help.

SteveT

[Fuzzy Logic]

"Steve Thackery" <nob...@nowhere.com> wrote in
news:2pudndj91czc2DzW...@bt.com:

> I'm just about to start building my own media PC, which will primarily
> serve as a receiver and recorder for digital TV - both from satellite
> and terrestrial.
>
> I'm in the UK, but as the UK newsgroup for Media Center is rather quiet,
> I thought I'd seek help from both groups. I hope you don't mind the
> cross-posting.
>
> I can't remember the correct terminology, but our broadcasters send some
> sort of control signal along with the broadcast which indicates the
> precise start and stop times of each programme (this is in addition to
> the usual programme guide). It is very useful if the programmes are
> running late - saves you chopping off the end of a recorded programme.

Windows Media Center comes with a TV Guide and in nomrally recordings are based on the information in this
guide (you can also do manual recordings specifying a start and end time as well as channel). In general this
works well but may have issues with shows that run longer than intended (sports, award shows). The
broadcaster has a time slot in the guide but the show may run longer and this will NOT be reflected in the guide.
Media Center can alleviate this problem by using default recording options such as start x minutes before
programmed time and end x minutes after programmed time.

> My current terrestrial and satellite recorders both respond to this
> control signal. My question is, can Media Center do the same? Also,
> can it handle "series link", whereby you can tell it to record an entire
> series? Finally, what about the "alternate programme" feature, which
> spots a recording conflict and offers an alternate transmission (if
> available) of that programme?

You can record individual shows, series, first run, first run & repeat and also priortize series so if there is a
conflict Media Center will attempt to resolve it based on the priorty. When you record a series you have an
option to speficy a particular channel or use any instance that it finds it the guide. Works very well.