# Pause Buffer only 30 mins?!



## rahlquist (Jul 13, 2004)

We noticed this week that for some reason suddenly our pause live tv only has a 30 min buffer when on an hour show. Has anyone else experienced this?


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## Turtleboy (Mar 24, 2001)

The pause buffer has always been 30 minutes.

Unless you are actually recording the show, that is.


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## rahlquist (Jul 13, 2004)

Ok let me rephrase that. I swear I seem to recall if you had it on a channel from the start of a 1 hour show, and 45 minutes into the show you decided you wanted to either record the show or backup to the first minute that you could? Maybe I am wrong but I was pretty sure it worked this way???


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## ebonovic (Jul 24, 2001)

The R15 (the DirecTV Plus DVR) has a 90 minute buffer.
The TiVo series recievers is only 30 minutes.

Rahlquist: As you described it... the TiVo's don't work that way, it only keeps the last 30 minutes of the buffer.


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## rahlquist (Jul 13, 2004)

ebonovic said:


> The R15 (the DirecTV Plus DVR) has a 90 minute buffer.
> The TiVo series recievers is only 30 minutes.
> 
> Rahlquist: As you described it... the TiVo's don't work that way, it only keeps the last 30 minutes of the buffer.


Hmm ok I will put down the crack pipe! So even the R15 cant do what I described? Be 45 mins into an hour show and decided to record it and manage to keep the whole first 45 mins? We have a Toshiba branded that we got a week before the announcement of the Directv/Tivo parting of the ways last year.

I wonder if it would be worth getting one of the new models for the bedroom.


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## gfb107 (Jul 16, 2001)

The live TV buffer isn't exactly 30 minutes. Sometimes you can press record after 30 minutes and it'll still have the entire program in the buffer. Sometimes it'll only have 30 minutes. I don't think there's any way to predict when there will be more than 30 minutes and when there won't.

I record everything I watch, even if I happen to see something live that might be interesting I usually go ahead and press record. If I decide later I don't really want it, I cancel the recording. Of course it helps that I've upgraded my DTiVo ~144 hours.


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## Dkerr24 (Oct 29, 2004)

Who with a DTivo watches live TV anyway?


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## rahlquist (Jul 13, 2004)

Dkerr24 said:


> Who with a DTivo watches live TV anyway?


Well sometimes you come in the hosue and turn on the TV and something good is on thats been playing for a while and you want to get all that you missed, that sort of thing.


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## Boston Fan (Feb 8, 2006)

rahlquist said:


> Ok let me rephrase that. I swear I seem to recall if you had it on a channel from the start of a 1 hour show, and 45 minutes into the show you decided you wanted to either record the show or backup to the first minute that you could? Maybe I am wrong but I was pretty sure it worked this way???


My DTivos do exactly what you have described here.


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## ebonovic (Jul 24, 2001)

rahlquist said:


> Hmm ok I will put down the crack pipe! So even the R15 cant do what I described? Be 45 mins into an hour show and decided to record it and manage to keep the whole first 45 mins? We have a Toshiba branded that we got a week before the announcement of the Directv/Tivo parting of the ways last year.
> 
> I wonder if it would be worth getting one of the new models for the bedroom.


Where did I say that?

The R15 most certain can do that... (If you have been watching a show for 45 minutes, you can hit the R button and it will record the entire show (including the 45 minutes in the buffer))

In fact, the R15 has an added "feature".. .If you pause a show... and leave and forget about it. It will convert that show you where watching into the buffer, into a recorded show.... and when you return, it asks if you want to keep it or delete it. Thinking that you paused it for a reason... so you "may" want it later on.


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

ebonovic said:


> The R15 (the DirecTV Plus DVR) has a 90 minute buffer.
> The TiVo series recievers is only 30 minutes.
> 
> Rahlquist: As you described it... the TiVo's don't work that way, it only keeps the last 30 minutes of the buffer.


Earl is right, the R15 has a SINGLE 90 minute buffer and the DirecTiVos have dual 30 minute buffers, but DirecTiVos have a real advantage because they have dual 30 minute buffers that are always buffering both tuners and don't disappear when you play a recording and OF COURSE the dual 30 minute buffers can be expanded to an hour or two hours each with a simple hack, which by the way, works perfect, I know, because all five of my DirecTiVos have dual HOUR BUFFERS, which only decreased the total recording time by about an hour. Very nice feature.

In my case, I will use the dual LIVE BUFFERS in the Fall to watch two live NFL Football games at the same time using both buffers and the Live TV button to switch tuners. But the rest of the family loves the larger buffer, because they can use REWIND to see a whole hour long show that they just happen to jump into. I think it would be great if TiVo would included configurable buffer lengths in the Series 3. 

But for the time being, the BUFFERHACK for the DirecTiVos works great!


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## ebonovic (Jul 24, 2001)

Boston Fan said:


> My DTivos do exactly what you have described here.


What model DTivo and what software version, and do you have any hacks?

Just tried it on my two DTivos in the living room:

DSR704 (At 6.2 no hacks)
Was buffering disney channel and Hunchback. It was 11:46 (show started at 11)
He record, only got 33 minute partial record, and rewound and it was 15ish minutes into the show

HR10-250 
Was buffering ESPN-HD and the 2005 Home Run durby... started at 11:00
Same thing, only a 33 minute partial record, rewound and it was at the start of the event.


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## Boston Fan (Feb 8, 2006)

ebonovic said:


> What model DTivo and what software version, and do you have any hacks?
> 
> Just tried it on my two DTivos in the living room:
> 
> ...


Runing 6.2 with no hacks. It worked on my HDVR2 & DVR40, but haven't noticed if they still do this or not. Never checked my R10, but will check that today and see if it works. I'll also check the older ones to see if they still work that way.


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## ebonovic (Jul 24, 2001)

tbeckner said:


> DirecTiVos have a real advantage because they have dual 30 minute buffers that are always buffering


Advantage is dependent on the user..... 



tbeckner said:


> (.. re buffers) don't disappear when you play a recording


That is no longer the case with the latest release (10C8 and 1044)

And since that is no longer the case...
I can record one program in the back ground and watch the other. Going through MyVod, I can achieve dual buffering... to a degree.

Still not as easy to use as the TiVo's method to dual buffers, but If I "really" need to use it... it can be done now.

Right now, I hardly use dual buffering as don't watch much live TV..
Football season, yah... I will be watching a bit more... but by then I should have two HD DVRs hooked up anyway.. 

And if I happen to record both "games/events", I can toggle between them with the PREV channel button...

Again.. not as easy to use as the TiVo method, but those that want that "functionality" there is a way to achieve it.

(and for the record, I do think they should add the dual buffering to the R15)


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

ebonovic said:


> What model DTivo and what software version, and do you have any hacks?
> 
> Just tried it on my two DTivos in the living room:
> 
> ...


Earl,

It is likely that BostonFan has used the BUFFERHACK to expand his DirecTiVo buffers. I have used it on all five of my DirecTiVos and it works great. All five have HOUR LONG DUAL BUFFERS, which allows me to see or record an hour long show that is almost over.


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## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

I have seen times when I hit record (on a T60) for a show and will end up with ~5 minutes extra.


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## ebonovic (Jul 24, 2001)

JimSpence said:


> I have seen times when I hit record (on a T60) for a show and will end up with ~5 minutes extra.


Same here on the test I just did... I got ~3 extra


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## Boston Fan (Feb 8, 2006)

Just tested the R10 - got 40 minutes of Madagascar (it was 1hr into the movie).


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## Boston Fan (Feb 8, 2006)

Hmmm...Just tested the DVR40, which used to consistently give me an extra 15 minutes, and it only recorded an extra 1 min.


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## Redux (Oct 19, 2004)

Boston Fan said:


> Hmmm...Just tested the DVR40, which used to consistently give me an extra 15 minutes, and it only recorded an extra 1 min.


I never found any rhyme or reason to it, sometime got 31-45 minutes, sometimes only the 30 as spec'd.

A user who wants to get consistently more than the 30 minutes should install the hack.


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## Budget_HT (Jan 2, 2001)

My experience has been that my 4 DirecTiVo's (2 HD and 2 SD) give me a MINIMUM of 30 minutes back if I press record on a live show in progress. I recall seeing more than 45 minutes (to back up to the beginning of an hour program) and I have also seen just 30 minutes or a few minutes more.

I have assumed (but not tested nor confirmed) that the available buffer time for recording might vary based on what else has been going on recently on the TiVo. For example, if both tuners had been busy recording beforehand, the shorter buffer might be there. If no prior recordings, perhaps the buffer just keeps going for a while and is not cropped frequently unless there is new recording activity.


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## Billy Bob Boy (Jul 25, 2004)

I think we are all forgetting that depending on the compression of the channel perhaps on a different situation the buffer will record more actual time. Remember the variance between how many hours you record depends on whether the show is on a super compressed channel Mabye the buffers work the same way? Just my guess!!


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

The reason you are getting extra minutes, is because of the way that TiVo builds the recording, by assigning segments on the hard drive. The live buffers are really only continous recordings, which is why it was somewhat easy to create the BUFFERHACK. When you press record while you are in the live buffer, it just saves the recording back to the beginning of the earliest live buffer segment that fits the program. It doesn't do small/fine adjustments to make the live buffer recording fit perfectly.

It appears to me that it did small/fine adjustments prior to 6.2, but now it appears to do the closest segment match and stops there. If figured it was just one of those oddities that came with 6.2, but then again, I hardly ever press record while in a live buffer, because I hardly watch live TV. (EXCEPT TWO NFL FOOTBALL GAMES at the same time)

Works for me!

BTW, the live buffer recording segment match didn't change on any of my DirecTiVos after I increased the live buffers to an hour each, using the BUFFERHACK.


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

ebonovic said:


> Advantage is dependent on the user.....
> 
> That is no longer the case with the latest release (10C8 and 1044)
> 
> (and for the record, I do think they should add the dual buffering to the R15)


That is great that they finally got that fixed, by the way how long did it take them? Although, it sure took more time than what either of us guessed earlier this year.

It is now eight months since the R15 release, isn't it? I haven't been over to the other forum for many months.

It does look like they are NOT going to implement a dual buffer on the R15, but maybe the HR20 has a chance. I believed it earlier this years and I still believe that it would have been TOO BIG of a change to their base software to implement dual buffering on the R15.


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## rahlquist (Jul 13, 2004)

Ok so I've been reluctant to hack this Dtivo just for the only feature we missed at them time we got it(we lost the caller ID feature which we loved). I guess the time is coming to do it, does anyone know who has a good guide? Does anyone know of any problems hacking the SIR 4080R?


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

The easiest way to hack it is to use the Zipper. Look at this thread.

I have hacked my two Samsung SiR-S4040R's without issue, and they are the same exact unit as the 4080, except the stock hard drives are a different size.


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

rahlquist said:


> Ok so I've been reluctant to hack this Dtivo just for the only feature we missed at them time we got it(we lost the caller ID feature which we loved). I guess the time is coming to do it, does anyone know who has a good guide? Does anyone know of any problems hacking the SIR 4080R?


Understand that BUFFERHACK is not included in the ZIPPER or HACKMAN.

If you need more information, I would recommend the UNDERGROUND.

Best of luck.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

But you need to hack the unit before you can add the bufferhack. Once the unit is hacked, adding bufferhack is a matter of copying one file to the tivo and typing a single command.

If you want to find the bufferhack, type "tivo bufferhack" into google.


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## rahlquist (Jul 13, 2004)

Arcady said:


> The easiest way to hack it is to use the Zipper. Look at this thread.
> 
> I have hacked my two Samsung SiR-S4040R's without issue, and they are the same exact unit as the 4080, except the stock hard drives are a different size.


Thank you Arcady, looks like someone finally simplfied the hacking of these some. I'm gonna wait for payday so I can get my hands on the Instantcake images and such and will give it a shot. Hopefully I wont hose it up too badly, maybe I'll find another drive for the unit while I am at it.

Thanks for the zipper tip!


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## rahlquist (Jul 13, 2004)

I wonder, if a hacked Sir-4080 would work with HMO and a DSR704


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

Once a S2 Dtivo is hacked, you can do MRV between them, no matter what brand (Hughes, Philips, Samsung). I do this all the time between my units. The only unhackable one is the R10.


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## beanpoppa (Jan 7, 2004)

One negative to bufferhack- I have hacked 3 of my 4 Tivos to have 1 hr long buffers. If I hit record 45 minutes into a show, I converts the entire 60 min buffer into a recording- ie- I get the last 15 minutes of the previous show,. A minor negative, but annoying.

I still don't understand why Tivo still hasn't increased the buffer space. 30 min made sense on a 15 hour unit, but not with current drive sizes.



tbeckner said:


> Earl,
> 
> It is likely that BostonFan has used the BUFFERHACK to expand his DirecTiVo buffers. I have used it on all five of my DirecTiVos and it works great. All five have HOUR LONG DUAL BUFFERS, which allows me to see or record an hour long show that is almost over.


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## maleintheusa (Sep 28, 2005)

who would want an R-15? I took mine back because it was not Tivo. It was DirecTV's edition of a PVR. No wish List there like Tivo has and the R-15's menu is not nearly as user friendly as Tivo. I've noticed too that if i record something, on the R-10, after it's been playing for 45 minutes, that it records the whole thing and not just the last 30 minute buffer.


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## Nutter (Jan 20, 2004)

I noticed this recently, I hit record about 45mins into a show and got 45mins of it instantly ! I have only seen this on my Huges unit, its 6.2 btw.

John


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## rahlquist (Jul 13, 2004)

Arcady said:


> Once a S2 Dtivo is hacked, you can do MRV between them, no matter what brand (Hughes, Philips, Samsung). I do this all the time between my units. The only unhackable one is the R10.


If I got a regular Tivo unit that supported HMO could I transfer to/from it? Or only another Dtivo?


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## Boston Fan (Feb 8, 2006)

Nutter said:


> I noticed this recently, I hit record about 45mins into a show and got 45mins of it instantly ! I have only seen this on my Huges unit, its 6.2 btw.
> 
> John


I've tested mine again a few times on each of my DTivo units. I always get more than 30 minutes and no more than 45 minutes, but the exact amount is never consistent.


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## Boston Fan (Feb 8, 2006)

beanpoppa said:


> One negative to bufferhack- I have hacked 3 of my 4 Tivos to have 1 hr long buffers. If I hit record 45 minutes into a show, I converts the entire 60 min buffer into a recording- ie- I get the last 15 minutes of the previous show,. A minor negative, but annoying.


This same thing happens with a non-hacked DTivo with 30 minute shows. If I hit record partway into a 30 min show, I get the whole show plus up to 15 mins of the previous show.


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