TiVo Community Forums Archives - Telling Tivo to record an extra 2 minutes?

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Telling Tivo to record an extra 2 minutes?
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Posted by: jangolay

Is it possible to set up Tivo so it will record an extra minute or two on a show because of some of the shows that run past it's time by 1 or 2 minutes? So it wont get cut off?

Thanks.

Posted by: MacThor

Yep....it's called "padding" When you set to record a show, go to "change recording options"....you will see options for "start recording earlier" and "stop recording later"

It's a must for most sports.

Posted by: DLSith

Yeah, when setting the record options (whether SP or just one time recording) near the bottom of the options you can have it record for 1, 2, or 5 minutes longer. You can also have it start earlier if you wish too.

Posted by: jangolay

Thanks a lot!

Posted by: jangolay

Just for future reference, are the certain channels that do that a lot? I know HBO does, and I heard NBC does too. Any others that are almost guaranteed to play a little longer?

Thanks.

Posted by: DLSith

quote:
Originally posted by jangolay
Just for future reference, are the certain channels that do that a lot? I know HBO does, and I heard NBC does too. Any others that are almost guaranteed to play a little longer?

MTV is always a bit off too. It seems like shows that are big attractions can sometimes go long too, Sometimes you miss the previews on the Bachelor.

Posted by: rich

I always add two minutes to "That '70s Show".

Posted by: uncdrew

I don't mean to complain or open up a can of worms, but when I tell TiVo to tape a show for me, why can't it tape the whole show?

Football games running over, presidential speaches -- I understand that. But why do I miss the last scene of Sex and the City each week?

Posted by: David Platt

Because HBO tells Tribune (which provides TiVo with its guide data) that they will run the show from 8:00-8:30, but then HBO actually runs it from 8:02-8:32.

Posted by: uncdrew

Hmm...

I understand that Mr. Platt -- it makes sense. But now why then does HBO choose to start and end 2 minutes late? Is it a strategy, or a bit of laziness or indifference?

Or is it that they're evil and don't want me catching an entire show that starts at 8:30 on a different channel because I'm stuck with them until 8:32?

I remember as a kid that TBS started and ended shows 5 minutes later than other channels. I would always be a bit bothered by that. At some point they gave it up.

Posted by: hckylvr88

There are a bunch of reasons stuff like this may come up.

In many cases, particularly for TV stations, a show might run early or late by a minute or two because the commercials they are running don't start or end exactly when they are supposed to, or because the TV station master control operator is having to run the commercials manually rather than by computer controlled timer. This is especially true when they are running programming locally and not off the national feed.

Now most of this should have been addressed with the creation of digital recording, allowing a production company to speed up or slow down a commercial ever so slightly in order to hit 30 seconds exactly. The problem is, not all the stations produce their commercials digitally.

It also could just be the station's way of keeping their show on while the other stations are in commercial. Or perhaps a show later down the line is starting at a strange time. I remember when I worked for a CBS affiliate that the David Letterman show would start at 11:35. I am not sure if they still do that.

Posted by: smak

HBO shows seem to have a lot more Freedom, so if David Chase wants to make a 56 minute Sopranos episode, they're going to let him. HBO still wants their 8 minutes of previews and commercials afterwards, thus the next show starts late.

Sex & The City seems to run late a lot, but I can't seem to recall my recording starting with a bunch of HBO previews, so I just think they're allowing the creators to fit 30 minute episodes into a timeslot HBO would want to run 25 minutes + 5 minutes previews.

-smak-

Posted by: ccwf

IFC only releases guide data in quarter hour increments, so you can wind up with many minutes missing from the end of a movie unless you pad.