Hmmm I have also experienced this every time I record something. Cuts off at the end. :(

I will give my unit another few weeks and decide whether I can justify $699 plus taxes.

Does this happen with hourly, or 1/2 hour type programs, or just with movies and sporting events that may have odd lengths?

Does this happen with hourly, or 1/2 hour type programs, or just with movies and sporting events that may have odd lengths?


Hmm definitely my half hour shows. And I do believe with Desperate Housewives as well.

I will see what happens in the next few weeks.

Well, that would seem to indicate it's more than a problem with the program data the 530 is using then.

I think this is the networks' answer to the TIVO problem in the US of so many people recording shows and doing commercial skips. The advertisers complain to the networks so the networks make the shows go past the 1/2 hour blocks in the hope that a certain percentage of viewers will get fed up with missing the end of the shows and not bothering with recording them. The answer is stated above, just extend the parameters of the shows you record. The same shows tend to do this every week, so you will get to know which ones do it and adjust accordingly.

Windows Media centre has a neat workaround for this issue (aside from it seemingly having much more accurate, and frequently updated guide data). You can set the recordings to be automatically 'padded' by an amount before and after the show. In my case it is set to start recording a minute before and continue two minutes afterwards. Of course, it's smart enough to know if you have back to back timers and switches channels at the correct time.

Windows Media centre has a neat workaround

Forgive me for asking in this 530 thread...Cellarboy...Why doesn't the MCE epg show the Star Choice (East) from 281 to 289? They are included in the "Edit Channels" lineup and you can select them but they don't show up in the guide. TSN-HD is there along with the HD channels from 290 and up.
I found a Microsoft EPG problem report page and filled it out but it didn't seem to go when I initiated the send.

...And I do believe with Desperate Housewives as well....
That is a VERY well known problem with the ABC network doing that.
To avoid it, use the CTV feed instead. They tend to start and end on time and not do the 1 minute over thing to screw with you and your PVR.

Again, not a element that *C has much control over. They are just a repeater of the signals.

They COULD get down to 1 minute graularity with the guide data provider, but with a single tuner dedicated to background recording, back to back timers on another channel would conflict with the overlap. I avoid this problem by using my HD cable PVR with dual recording tuners and a guide that is aware of the start or end late tricks of some networks.

Okay, I misunderstood the problem, I assumed it was a random thing with varying amounts of time being cut off. The problem as described in recent posts is prevalent with almost any DVR I've ever used so as ARR has said, it's not really a 530 issue.

NBC does this as well on Thursday nights with ER. Lately, I've also noticed that CBS previews for next week's program actually are in the time period scheduled for the following program.

...I've also noticed that CBS previews for next week's program actually are in the time period scheduled for the following program.
I've noticed that as well, but it's less annoying, since I'm going to watch the show anyways and there are lots of previews throughout the week.

I heard of some new AD programming that is just a 30-60 second still slide that tries to get the message across in the few seconds you see it while Fast forwarding over it.
So *C user rejoice, it's the ONLY DVR with the multi-minute JUMP feature that users requested right here last year on the DHC threads.
Press "3 Jump Forward" and KAPOOW, back to regular programming and no annoying commercial interuptions of the story line.

Forgive me for asking in this 530 thread...Cellarboy...Why doesn't the MCE epg show the Star Choice (East) from 281 to 289? They are included in the "Edit Channels" lineup and you can select them but they don't show up in the guide. TSN-HD is there along with the HD channels from 290 and up.
I found a Microsoft EPG problem report page and filled it out but it didn't seem to go when I initiated the send.

I can't really answer that as they show in my MCE guide just fine. Then again, I use the Starchoice (west) IPG data, so maybe it's an issue just with their east lineup.

I've noticed that as well, but it's less annoying, since I'm going to watch the show anyways and there are lots of previews throughout the week.

I heard of some new AD programming that is just a 30-60 second still slide that tries to get the message across in the few seconds you see it while Fast forwarding over it.
So *C user rejoice, it's the ONLY DVR with the multi-minute JUMP feature that users requested right here last year on the DHC threads.
Press "3 Jump Forward" and KAPOOW, back to regular programming and no annoying commercial interuptions of the story line.

Same here, missing previews doesn't bother me, but missing the end of the actual program does. You just have to adjust your times, and be thankful you can, instead of the alternative of no recording at all, or no ability to skip commercials.

As far as wait times goes I'm surprised you weren't offered an automatic call back if you had to wait that long. Last time I called there was a 13 minute wait but I was offered the auto callback option and then it was only about 5 minutes later when they called back.

They have told me that when their call volume is very high (?), the call back option is disabled. Go figure.....

I had a receiver die tonite and when I called, I was told the wait time was in excess of 60 mins, no call back offer. Needless to say, I'll wait till tomorrow (early).

They have told me that when their call volume is very high (?), the call back option is disabled. Go figure.....

They are talking VERY high call volumes. Like 100+ calls in the queue and < 30 techs working. The average volume usually sits at around 10 - 20 calls in the queue.

I disabled the Live Record back in June, and the unit has been pretty stable since then. But the last few weeks it has been freezing up very frequently. When it "freezes", the channel I am watching is still good, but I can't change channel, use the guide, etc. Neither the remote nor the buttons on the front panel have any effect. Hey, shouldn't I be able to change channels with the "arrow-up" and "arrow down" buttons on the front panel of the DSR530 ?
"reboot"
Anybody else notice this? I know there was a widespread glitch last week that caused a similar problem. Is this related? Or is my 530 just dying a slow and painful death ?

Steve

...Hey, shouldn't I be able to change channels with the "arrow-up" and "arrow down" buttons on the front panel of the DSR530 ?
..
NO, they are for use once the Options menu is engaged.
RTFM and you'll see how to use it.
It's usefull to be familiar with it if you need to syncronise the receiver and remote address after a reset.

BTW, there are existing threads for this type of post.

I disabled the Live Record back in June, and the unit has been pretty stable since then. But the last few weeks it has been freezing up very frequently. When it "freezes", the channel I am watching is still good, but I can't change channel, use the guide, etc. Neither the remote nor the buttons on the front panel have any effect. Anybody else notice this?


I've been experiencing similar problems myself. The new code has been very stable up to now but over the last week or so I've had several lockups similar to the ones you described. I haven't disabled the Live Record though as I have had no problems up to now and use the Pause/Rewind etc. with live tv frequently. Hopefully things will clear up again and this is not a sign of more problems to come.

I disabled the Live Record back in June, and the unit has been pretty stable since then. But the last few weeks it has been freezing up very frequently. When it "freezes", the channel I am watching is still good, but I can't change channel, use the guide, etc. Neither the remote nor the buttons on the front panel have any effect. Hey, shouldn't I be able to change channels with the "arrow-up" and "arrow down" buttons on the front panel of the DSR530 ?
Steve

Last evening I experienced a freeze up for the second time since I have had CC about three weeks now. I was watching a recorded program and another program was to start recording. It didn't start. Clicked the options nothing happened. None of the buttons worked as you experienced. Had to do two reboots to get it to work. Fortunately "The Wire" was on at 4:00 a.m. so set it to record it then.

This occurred after the unit had successfully reocorded many hours of programming un assisted. Wait and see.

Bob

Same here, missing previews doesn't bother me, but missing the end of the actual program does. You just have to adjust your times, and be thankful you can, instead of the alternative of no recording at all, or no ability to skip commercials.

Grrrowl, missed the end of Desperate Housewives. :eek: :eek:

Anyone know how much time is being cut-off?

One my DSR530, Desperate Housewives got cut off as usual on the ABC HD feed.
I noticed on my cable HD PVR, it was correct at 61 minutes, but was still cutoff by maybe less than a minute I'm guessing, so even units with smart guides can get screwed up.

Just a question/statement, but back in the UK about 10 years ago, I had a vcr. Yeah really ;) , anyway, this vcr had a little button. When I pressed this button in conjunction with a timed recording, it read a signal that was embedded into the broadcast. If the show started early or finished late, the timer AUTOMATICALLY adjusted itself. I honestly forget what this feature was called but it was amazing. It came standard on my standard muti region vcr (Aiwa I think). So, here is my question....where did that go? Hasnt technology been able to keep up with changeable guides, emergency news alerts etc that throw off timers. We really should not be losing the tail end of shows...should we? :confused: