# Better conflict resolution



## Airhead315 (Jun 11, 2009)

Ok, so if 3 shows are set to record new episodes at the same time the Tivo takes the lowest priority recording and doesnt record it. If that show reruns again sometime in the next 28 days it will record it then. Thats how it currently works.

Here is the problem and the proposed solution.

The problem:

The lowest priority show is a 2 hour special and doesn't repeat.

The solution:

The Tivo should determine if ANY of the conflicting shows rerun that episode again within the next 2 days. If it does (and that timeslot does not have conflicts) then it should delay the recording of that show. This way the Tivo would still eventually record everything the user wanted. Obviously if all of the shows rerun then delay the lowest priority one. 



Example:

We had recordings setup for 2 shows we watch regularly and we added Hells Kitchen. Hells Kitchen was a 2 hour premier event. The Tivo cancelled the recording of Hells Kitchen. Unfortunately as far as I can tell this episode is not going to be re-aired. Both of the other 2 shows had re-runs later that same night.


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## Grey Griffin (May 24, 2007)

Solution.

Any shows that air only once put at the top of the Season Pass manager. All shows that show multiple times a week put below the once a week shows. This way the third show will usually be one with a encore later. 

Doesn't help if you have three shows that only air once, but that's more of a number of tuners issue.


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## Airhead315 (Jun 11, 2009)

The issue here is that Hells Kitchen is a season pass. However, I do enjoy the other 2 shows more, so they are rated higher. Unfortunately with the current tivo software that means I wont see the first episode because the network wont re-air it and the Tivo doesn't weigh reruns into its decision to cancel.


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## Grey Griffin (May 24, 2007)

Just because you like the other shows more doesn't mean they should be higher on your season pass list. My favorite shows on Television are Burn Notice and Doctor Who. But both of them are in the 30s of my season pass manager because I know they will show multiple times in a week. I literally have my season pass manager divided in two. The top half are shows I know show once weekly and the bottom half show multiple times. I then order the shows according the their importance within that division. By doing this I've avoided the precise scenario you encountered on several occasions.


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## daveak (Mar 23, 2009)

Grey Griffin said:


> Just because you like the other shows more doesn't mean they should be higher on your season pass list. My favorite shows on Television are Burn Notice and Doctor Who. But both of them are in the 30s of my season pass manager because I know they will show multiple times in a week. I literally have my season pass manager divided in two. The top half are shows I know show once weekly and the bottom half show multiple times. I then order the shows according the their importance within that division. By doing this I've avoided the precise scenario you encountered on several occasions.


:up::up:

What (s)he said. Generally if they are on the major broadcast networks (nbc, fox, etc...) and only air once, keep those SPs a near the top. If a show is on a cable network that typically airs shows more than once, you can put it lower on your list without any real fear of missing it. Unless it is 'Chuck' - that just has to stay at the top no matter what...

It is more than just a list of favorites, it is guidance for the TiVo to place a recording priority for the shows at the top of your list. And TiVo will record the show at the top of the list first - even if it runs 7 times a week. Help your TiVo serve you better.

Though you have a nice suggestion


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

This to me is the main reason Tivo needs smarter conflict resolution. Tivo should be handling this automatically or at least asking the user and assigning priority for you based off multiple choice answers. 

I still don't get why Tivo doesn't have this yet.


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## Airhead315 (Jun 11, 2009)

innocentfreak said:


> This to me is the main reason Tivo needs smarter conflict resolution. Tivo should be handling this automatically or at least asking the user and assigning priority for you based off multiple choice answers.
> 
> I still don't get why Tivo doesn't have this yet.


Thank you. It doesnt make sense for us to have to figure out which shows might or might not rerun...the tivo has all of this information, just add the logic.


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## NJ_HB (Mar 21, 2007)

Bump!
TiVo knows whats coming up in the future, just schedule it for us.


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## doni49 (Nov 6, 2004)

daveak said:


> :up::up:
> 
> What (s)he said. Generally if they are on the major broadcast networks (nbc, fox, etc...) and only air once, keep those SPs a near the top. If a show is on a cable network that typically airs shows more than once, you can put it lower on your list without any real fear of missing it. Unless it is 'Chuck' - that just has to stay at the top no matter what...
> 
> ...


Add me to the list of users wanting this addition. While this is a an "acceptable work-around" until there's a real solution, it's not a good FINAL SOLUTION.

The Tivo has the guide data and knows when these conflicts exist and the alternate airings--the coding shouldn't be that difficult.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

doni49 said:


> Add me to the list of users wanting this addition. While this is a an "acceptable work-around" until there's a real solution, it's not a good FINAL SOLUTION.
> 
> The Tivo has the guide data and knows when these conflicts exist and the alternate airings--the coding shouldn't be that difficult.


Just don't accidently remove the ability to force a real priority. Sometimes I've got better information that TiVo does.

> Many SciFi 11pm shows run 5 minutes late due to wrestling; but the guide still doesn't reflect this
> Back in the day Sunday repeats of Star Trek:Enterprise had about a 50/50 chance of getting preempted by live sports coverage

Don't remove my ability to pick the original timeslots for those shows that I have reason to believe will have issues for their supposed repeat airings. (Without forcing me to use a repeat manual recording. I want to keep the ability to say "This SP trumps that SP; despite what you might think about future airing")


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

While an attractive idea in principle, I don't like delayed scheduling of your high priority show in practice. Too much chance of catastrophe and too much uncertainty for the user.

What happens if your highest priority show is only shown once, but a station initially puts out bad guide data (later corrected) and says it will be shown next week, also? You may miss it completely.

What happens if your important show is rescheduled for later, but a couple of higher priority shows/movies then get scheduled after it? Again, the problem is that guide data for 12 days out is much less reliable than guide data for today. 

What do you want the TiVo to do in the above case if it detects those two higher priority shows 12 days out right before the initial broadcast of your important show? You want it to record it now, don't you? That means that you can look at this evening's shows to be recorded, be happy with it, and then find that entirely different shows are being recorded simply because of a change in schedule 12 days out.

Right now, a user can look at what's showing around a given time slot and be certain what's going to be recorded. It doesn't depend at all on what's happening down the road, which is good since it is often wrong. The predictability of Tivo recording is one of the major advantages of TiVo over some of the cable company DVRs - especially the older ones. And since you understand TiVo's algorithm, you can take action like Grey Griffin and others have suggested to get what you really want.

I wouldn't mind having the option of getting more information about the shows involved in a 3 (or more) time period conflict. I could then record things manually to get what I want. But anything more automatic than that will lead to loss of trust that TiVo is doing the right thing (when a show gets not recorded due to fleeting bad guide data that you might not ever have the chance to see).


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## sushikitten (Jan 28, 2005)

Grey Griffin said:


> Just because you like the other shows more doesn't mean they should be higher on your season pass list. My favorite shows on Television are Burn Notice and Doctor Who. But both of them are in the 30s of my season pass manager because I know they will show multiple times in a week. I literally have my season pass manager divided in two. The top half are shows I know show once weekly and the bottom half show multiple times. I then order the shows according the their importance within that division. By doing this I've avoided the precise scenario you encountered on several occasions.


You know, in all my years of owning Tivos, I never once thought of it like that. I am changing a few of my SP right now.


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## lew (Mar 12, 2002)

It's pretty obvious shows on networks like HBO get replayed a lot. Shows on TNT and Sc-FI generally get replayed at least once. Shows on networks probably not.

Tivo assumes the customer took this into account when prioritizing SPs. Makes sense to me.


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