On Jan 22, 2008 1:59 PM, Brian Butterworth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > A small question. > > There are a number of occasions where the schedule on channels is NEVER as > published! > > A good example the 10pm-10:30pm slot on BBC TWO. Programmes in this slot > actually start never earlier than 10:02pm and usually end at 10:32pm, with > Newsnight starting at 10:33pm. [...] > I can understand for humans using the EPG, 10pm-10:30pm is good enough, but > if you PVR anything (Sky+, Freeview Playback, WMC) in this slot you get an > overrun from the previous programme and miss the end. > > Can something be done with the source data to fix this?
To answer your question, something is already being done. - For major networks in the UK, the Present/Following information in the SI tables should roll over just before the actual programme start time. In some cases this is triggered directly from the playout system. Keep an eye on when Newsnight is on 'now' on a Freeview box to see this in action. - A "decent PVR" should pay attention to this, and record the entirety of the event - ie from when it becomes the 'present' event, to when it's no longer running. To get a 'digital tick', recievers should adhere to http://www.dtg.org.uk/testing/conformance.html , and the document "UK Digital TV Receiver Recommendations", which states this. (An event can actually be 'paused', for example, during a commercial break, but I think it's pretty obvious why none of the broadcasters would want to do this.) - However, on Sky, the accurate EIT P/F is not carried across multiplexes, so your Sky+ box may just record from the billed start time. It should record all the way to the end, though - so with the 10pm programme, you may get a few minutes of the preceding programme, but it should continue to record until 10.32pm, when the next event starts. The second-accurate schedules of programmes could be considered to be commercially sensitive, so the broadcasters aren't so keen on publishing them in advance (for example, a broadcaster wouldn't want a competitor knowing about stunts where one programme will start a little early, or follow directly on from the previous with no commercial break, in order to stop viewers switching over to the big new show on the other side). If your PVR hasn't quite caught up with these developments though, you could perhaps try what Jason's suggested and add a couple of minutes either side. Hope this helps, - martin - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/
