# TiVo won't record - claims "duplicate"?!



## tnhybrid (Apr 9, 2010)

Hey folks, sorry if this has been addressed somewhere else, no combination of keywords I tried seemed to locate any threads...

Long story short, I set up a WishList about a month ago for a program I desperately wanted to see (first video of a live giant squid, called "Monster Squid"). I set it to tape both first run and reruns, to be sure it would record. Just now I remembered it had aired sometime this week. So I just sat down to dial it up for viewing and - nothing...

When I checked my 'History' under 'Manage Recordings/Downloads', I see a gray X next to all four showings of the program (an HD and a regular def at 8 PM, again at 11 PM on the 28th), and a notation that none of them recorded - because allegedly 'the same program appeared in My Shows or the To Do list within 28 days of this broadcast.'

What the heck?! I set up this recording precisely because it would be shown on only one date - it is NOT airing again - and believe me when I tell you I have looked absolutely all over the My Shows list, sorted it by every means conceivable, and it is NOT in the My Shows list!

$%^&*@!! I am really getting tired of this being made so complicated (I have a laundry list of problems starting with how much I hate the arbitrary HD folder, why the Spotify app is so kludgy, why I can't stop 'suggestions' I don't want, etc. I also can't find a show I bought from Amazon which allegedly downloaded...) 

This may be the last straw. I really cannot live with a DVR that won't tape things I specifically tell it to because of some ghost in the machine. Anyone got thoughts here?!


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## tnhybrid (Apr 9, 2010)

Update: Upon review, one of the early showings says "Conflict" instead of "Duplicate." Only, when I click Info, the "conflict" is "this show was not recorded because it was no longer in the guide." 

WHAT?! So this means I'm going to have go through and manually check to see that everything I set up to tape is still "in the guide"? How would I even do that? Presumably the program guide sent to the TiVo by Comcast? And it's just going to casually not record further showings because it fouled up the first one?

Not. Acceptable.


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## PCurry57 (Feb 27, 2012)

Tape, wasn't aware there were any TiVo's with yape. I know being a smart [email protected]©h.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

tnhybrid said:


> Update: Upon review, one of the early showings says "Conflict" instead of "Duplicate." Only, when I click Info, the "conflict" is "this show was not recorded because it was no longer in the guide."
> 
> WHAT?! So this means I'm going to have go through and manually check to see that everything I set up to tape is still "in the guide"? How would I even do that? Presumably the program guide sent to the TiVo by Comcast? And it's just going to casually not record further showings because it fouled up the first one?
> 
> Not. Acceptable.


When a show doesn't record because it was removed from the guide, that means something changed and according to the most recent guide data the show wasn't broadcast.

Also just a general note, learning how to use any new tech takes some time you can get lots of help here if you clearly state what you want to do or clearly state what you did and what happened.

Regarding your season pass issue if you want your TiVo to record every episode no matter what select "everything" not New and Repeats. The New and Repeats option will not record duplicates and a duplicate is anything that has been shown in the last 28 days.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

atmuscarella said:


> When a show doesn't record because it was removed from the guide, that means something changed and according to the most recent guide data the show wasn't broadcast.
> [..]


I guess I'm a "trust but verify" person. The guide has an issue with some shows, like The Daily Show, Jimmy Fallon and others that are around midnight. I've learned to verify the To Do List with the guide. It's pretty good, but not perfect. As an experienced user, how does one lose the HD Recordings folder? I lost mine and I'm curious how I did it.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

JoeKustra said:


> I guess I'm a "trust but verify" person. The guide has an issue with some shows, like The Daily Show, Jimmy Fallon and others that are around midnight. I've learned to verify the To Do List with the guide. It's pretty good, but not perfect. As an experienced user, how does one lose the HD Recordings folder? I lost mine and I'm curious how I did it.


Sorry I have never paid any attention to the HD Recording folder. I thought some people were complaining they wanted to get rid of it but I honestly don't remember. I have been around awhile but I don't pay much attention to things that don't effect getting done what I want to do.

I have rarely had guide data issues and really don't know how one would reasonable double check that info. Of course we all can have the problems caused by live events running over making the rest off the nights schedule off, other than padding not much one can do there either.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

atmuscarella said:


> Sorry I have never paid any attention to the HD Recording folder. I thought some people were complaining they wanted to get rid of it but I honestly don't remember. I have been around awhile but I don't pay much attention to things that don't effect getting done what I want to do.
> 
> I have rarely had guide data issues and really don't know how one would reasonable double check that info. Of course we all can have the problems caused by live events running over making the rest off the nights schedule off, other than padding not much one can do there either.


Ok, I remember the folder but forget when it left.

Just schedule The Daily Show for a Season Pass on Monday 11pm (new only). It might not show this week but next week you should have two reruns before 11pm on Monday on the To Do List and they will record also. It's consistent. Not a big issue.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

JoeKustra said:


> Ok, I remember the folder but forget when it left.
> 
> Just schedule The Daily Show for a Season Pass on Monday 11pm (new only). It might not show this week but next week you should have two reruns before 11pm on Monday on the To Do List and they will record also. It's consistent. Not a big issue.


It has been awhile since I have had pay TV (had dishnetwork) but there were times when some the data for some channels was unclear on if the show was new or a repeat. I believe TiVo's default solution was to record anything that that info was missing or incomplete for. If someone is having an issue with shows not being recorded I would suspect something else is going on. TiVo certainly has weaknesses but not recording shows when there are no conflicts has been a very rare occurrence and usually only happens when there are last minute programing changes by the channel.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

JoeKustra said:


> Ok, I remember the folder but forget when it left.


I just check out the HD folder it will go away if you turn groups off (Red or C button). If I turn groups back on the folder comes back.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

atmuscarella said:


> I just check out the HD folder it will go away if you turn groups off (Red or C button). If I turn groups back on the folder comes back.


Thanks so much.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

I don't have an exact explanation, but I think something like this probably happened (yes it's a bug).

It was originally in the guide for lets say 8pm and 11pm. Tivo thinks it will record the 8pm showing.. so the 11pm one won't record because it thinks it's recording at 8pm. Sometime relatively soon before the 8pm showing, it gets new guide data & figures out the 8pm one won't air (some sort of 'diff' between the old guide data & new guide data), so it cancels that one.. But it *doesn't* reschedule the 11pm recording because at least as people have explained in the past, the Tivo only reruns the SP manager (I'm not talking about the user UI SP manager) overnight sometime&#8230;

If it didn't air any other days, THEN you would be stuck.

I too am a "check the To Do list" person, though with my 4 tuners on my Premiere 4, I'm slightly less inclined to. If I had infinite tuners & infinite disk space, I would check even LESS frequently.

I *definitely* have run into situations on all Tivos I've ever had which I describe as the Tivo's left and right halves of its brain not connecting. It's sort of related to your issue too. E.g. something shows up in the To Do list as a regular recording.. but if you enter it and do View Upcoming, there will be no episodes shown or at least they won't match this one. As a To Do checker, this happens fairly frequently.

If Tivos were a zillion times faster, deleting an item from the SP list or deleting a KUID show would immediately rerun the SP manager to figure out a new show to record NOW.


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## trrish (Jul 10, 2016)

atmuscarella said:


> Regarding your season pass issue if you want your TiVo to record every episode no matter what select "everything" not New and Repeats. The New and Repeats option will not record duplicates and a duplicate is anything that has been shown in the last 28 days.


THANK YOU. I've been using Tivo for over 10 years and this is the first time I got snagged by this. Now I know why.


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

A duplicate is anything that has been *recorded* in the last 28 days. Or is still on your TiVo.


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## agredon (Jul 26, 2011)

atmuscarella said:


> I believe TiVo's default solution was to record anything that that info was missing or incomplete for.


That behavior used to drive me crazy with Disney and Nickelodeon in particular as both tended to show multiple reruns from their original series throughout the day, but would frequently not list episode information in the guide until a day or two before it aired.


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