How to record same series show 2 in row

[lucrezia]

I want to record  2 same series episodes, one at 6.30, other one at 7pm. I have only 2 choices: to record one or all episodes - there is no option to record 2. I tried to record it as "record only this episode" at 6.30, then choose "record only this episode" for episode at 7 pm. It records only first episode. Can you help me?

[mdk]

@lucrezia -- how have you set your "preferences":

* to record only new episodes

* to record repeats and to record new episodes

?

Do you have the Shaw Gateway PVR, or the BlueCurve PVR?

[lucrezia]

We have the Gateway HDPVR.
The "record all episodes" preferences you mention are set to record only new episodes. The show in question only shows repeat episodes.

We like to keep the recordings list neat and tidy, and not have the machine record a bunch of extra episodes with the "all episodes" capability. Most of the time we watch it live, and don't need recordings.
In theory I guess we could change it to record new and repeat episodes, and to only keep 2 episodes of the show from this channel, but then if we don't watch them before the show re-airs on the same channel 24 hours later, they'll be erased in favour of the most recent 2, correct?

This is why we've been using the "record only this episode" function, twice, in order to manually target only the ones we know we are going to miss.

I wonder if the "Auto Pad Recordings" preference in the general settings being set to "On" might cause a conflict between these two recordings? Can the PVR start a new recording on the same channel while the first recording hasn't yet finished?

[rstra]

@lucrezia the Gateway has 6 tuners, so the auto pad shouldn’t affect the recordings (unless you are using all tuners for recording a watching at the time).

[lucrezia · Accepted solution]

I tried an experiment last night anyways, turned off auto-pad and tried single-recording two of the same show in a row on the same channel - again only the first one was recorded.

When the consecutive recordings are on the same channel, but 2 different shows, both get recorded just fine. The padding overlaps without a problem, so your point about the 6 tuners is true.

Seems to me as though the recordings are strictly "program-based" instead of "time-slot based", if that makes sense. If you say "record only this episode" for 6:30pm, it actually means "I will only record this episode and any other instances of recordings set for this program in the future will be ignored."

Kinda annoying, but I guess that makes the solution clear enough - we must use "record all" function, accept a messy list of recordings, and pick-through them to find the ones we missed. Bleh. I'm not a fan of un-intuitive software. 🙂

[Lightrain]

Record the first episode and extend the stop time by 30 minutes