Option to Extend Recording Time on Live Events

[etune]

A few DVRs, like TiVo, have a nice feature I wish could be added to WMC. When you click record on a sporting event, it asks you if you want to add extra time to the end of the recording (in case the event goes long, as they often do). It does this for all shows flagged as 'live'.

It's a nice feature. I use it all the time.

If a developer wanted to add this feature, would this even be possible? I don't really understand how extensible WMC is.

[barnabas1969]

Media Center won't ask you if you want to extend the recording, but you can do it. After you choose to record the show, click on it in the Guide. This will take you to the program details. Move right with your arrow keys to the "actions" tab. Then choose "record settings" and change the stop time.

[RyC]

You must do this before the show starts recording though. I don't believe you can set the recording to extend while in progress.

[barnabas1969]

You must do this before the show starts recording though. I don't believe you can set the recording to extend while in progress.

You can do it even while the recording is in progress. I just tested it. While a show is in progress, you can go to the show in the guide as I previously described, click the Info button on your remote (Control+D on the keyboard), and go through the same steps as I previously described.

You can also do it while you're watching a show that is currently recording. While watching the show, just press the Info button on the remote, then press OK to see a larger information display. Then, follow the previous instructions on the "actions" tab.

[etune]

I know you can do it manually. What I like about TiVo and DirecTV DVRs is it prompts you automatically. You hit the OK button one extra time on the remote and you are done. Wham-bam done. You don't have to navigate through a bunch of menus. If you watch a lot of sports, like me, it's a nice time-saver. Especially if you have to record every game because there aren't live buffers on every tuner.

[mark1234]

What you really want is in-band EPG data updates to tell Media Centre that the programme is overrunning. Then the recording will get extended automatically. I've seen this happen when recording F1 races off DVB-T.

[etune]

You're right. That's exactly what I want. I've never heard of anything like that in the US.

[RyC]

You must do this before the show starts recording though. I don't believe you can set the recording to extend while in progress.

You can do it even while the recording is in progress. I just tested it. While a show is in progress, you can go to the show in the guide as I previously described, click the Info button on your remote (Control+D on the keyboard), and go through the same steps as I previously described.

You can also do it while you're watching a show that is currently recording. While watching the show, just press the Info button on the remote, then press OK to see a larger information display. Then, follow the previous instructions on the "actions" tab.

Really? I wanted to do this several times and I looked and searched and couldn't find anything. I'll double check, thanks for the heads up.

[barnabas1969]

You're right. That's exactly what I want. I've never heard of anything like that in the US.

You can only get the in-band updates if you have an antenna and an ATSC tuner.

[etune]

So back to my question. If I were a developer and knew C#, could I write an add-in to do this? Is this even possible? Can third-party developers extend the application in this way?

[CyberSimian]

So back to my question. If I were a developer and knew C#, could I write an add-in to do this? Is this even possible? Can third-party developers extend the application in this way?

If it is possible to do what you want, it would be possible to add 5 or 10 minutes of programme extension to every recording, to force MC to use separate tuners for consecutive recordings (by causing overlap). I would be happy to pay a reasonable fee (e.g. comparable to Tuner Salad) for an MC add-in that did this. Anyone interested?

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

[fiteclub]

You must do this before the show starts recording though. I don't believe you can set the recording to extend while in progress.

You can do it even while the recording is in progress. I just tested it. While a show is in progress, you can go to the show in the guide as I previously described, click the Info button on your remote (Control+D on the keyboard), and go through the same steps as I previously described.

You can also do it while you're watching a show that is currently recording. While watching the show, just press the Info button on the remote, then press OK to see a larger information display. Then, follow the previous instructions on the "actions" tab.

This does NOT work for me. When I follow these steps, the only action that is available to me under "record settings" is "settings for thsi episode only" and "settings for the entire series". When I choose "settings for this episode only", the only choice I have is the "Keep" options. Nothing about extending record time. What am I missing?

[barnabas1969]

This does NOT work for me. When I follow these steps, the only action that is available to me under "record settings" is "settings for thsi episode only" and "settings for the entire series". When I choose "settings for this episode only", the only choice I have is the "Keep" options. Nothing about extending record time. What am I missing?

Are you doing this from the Guide, or while watching the show live?

[fiteclub]

This does NOT work for me. When I follow these steps, the only action that is available to me under "record settings" is "settings for thsi episode only" and "settings for the entire series". When I choose "settings for this episode only", the only choice I have is the "Keep" options. Nothing about extending record time. What am I missing?

Are you doing this from the Guide, or while watching the show live?

Well, the show was recording and I was watching the recording in progress. I wanted to extend the end time, and AFAICT, there is no way to do it.

[barnabas1969]

I just tried it while watching a recording in progress. Here's how...

Press the "Info" button on your remote (Control-D on the keyboard). You should see this:

Now, press OK on the remote (Enter on the keyboard), and press the right-arrow to move over to the "actions" tab. Move down to "Record Settings". It should look like this:

Click OK (Enter on the keyboard) on "Record Settings". You should see a screen that looks like the picture below. Move right and down to "Stop". Repeatedly press the + and - buttons on the screen by using your arrow keys to highlight the + or - buttons, and pressing OK (enter on the keyboard) repeatedly until you get to the stop time desired.

Finally, move left to select "Save" and press OK (enter on the keyboard).

[fiteclub]

@Barnabas1969: I did that. I don't get the same menu that you show. I get the menus as described in my post #12 above. This is a series scheduled recording; maybe that is the difference.

[barnabas1969]

@Barnabas1969: I did that. I don't get the same menu that you show. I get the menus as described in my post #12 above. This is a series scheduled recording; maybe that is the difference.

Yeah, probably. The original post was in regards to a sporting event that was recorded manually. I don't think most people schedule a series recording for sporting events. If you schedule a series recording (or a wish list recording) for a sporting event, you should probably set the series record options so that it adds some post-padding in case the event runs into overtime.

[cycletourist]

I was perplexed by this very problem tonight, so I came here. No luck, but I stumbled into a solution/work around that worked for me. I hope it's not so obvious that my post seems foolish, but, indeed, if it is a scheduled (or perhaps series) recording, there is nothing you can do to alter the end time of the recording after it has started. However, what I did tonight was; wait for a commercial, stop the scheduled recording in progress and then started a new recording of the same show from the guide. That new recording allowed me to change the end time.

I am posting (a year and a half later) in case my work around helps someone else stymied by this problem.
--

[kmp14]

....there is nothing you can do to alter the end time of the recording after it has started.--

Incorrect, read the rest of this thread. You can absolutely extend the recording time of a recording, the instructions (with screen prints) are in this thread, and I do it all the time.

[cycletourist]

I did read this entire thread. Perhaps you should read it a little closer, especially the entries from fiteclub - and myself. I know from experience. That's why I was looking for a solution. If it is a series recording ... there is nothing you can do to alter the end time of the recording after it has started. Try it yourself.