I have just set a few recordings on BBC1-HD today. All of them are flagged in the epg.

[attachment=84131,1631] [attachment=84131,1632]

I had the same issue with the F1 races on Channel 4. Each race obviously has a different name, and the qualifying session has a different name again.

All of these were included in the series link, were shown in the recording schedule and were correctly recorded, but the ‘R’ icon did not appear next to them in the EPG. I was on the current firmware.

grahamlthompson – 31 mins ago  » 

larkim – 10 mins ago  » 

But isn’t the programme name consistent throughout those series?

The series where for us my wife spent 20 minutes trying to record the ones which the EPG appeared to indicate weren’t being recorded were ones where the original episode had the normal name, but the final or subsequent episode had an amended title (e.g. “Grand Final” or “Christmas special” etc).

Had we not looked in the EPG they would have recorded fine anyway, but the absence of the R indicator and the incorrect info in the text page (when viewed from the EPG) left my wife assuming that they wouldn’t record, and it wasn’t until I delved into the scheduled recordings after trying to work out whether I’d used all three tuners etc that I could see that they were in fact set to record.

So it’s all functioning correctly. But the UI is displaying buggy and confusing information to a normal user.

With the latest firmware scheduled events are displayed in the epg with the r flag. At least I haven’t found any that are not despite dozens of recordings over the Xmas period.

The UI is correctly displaying what the broadcaster told it to.

The broadcaster has control of which programmes are part of a series. When the broadcaster transmits a programme with a different name to the original programme but has the same series crid then the series name changes to reflect the newest content stored in the series folder.

ITV transmitted a whole season of James Bond movies all sharing the same series crid. The series folder name initially was called the same as the original broadcast changing as new films were added.

BBC1-HD has a similar issue. The Main Saturday episode of Strictly Come Dancing and the Sunday Results show share the same series CRID so they all finish up in the one Folder. The Christmas special also used the same series crid so of course it finished up in the same folder.

A Foxsat-HDR produced identical results to the Aura Folder wise.

So you need to complain to the broadcasters. Good luck with that I tried it.

On satellite the BBC use the same series CRID for all the Nation – HD channels. A few times Scotland Wales finish up showing an episode that is different to England (usually a week later). This results in two or 3 recordings set at the same time. If you happen to have a spare tuner the two will work, the 3 never.

First you know is when the box is about to record it comes up with a clash message which you will only see if you happen to be watching.

In the end the only solution was to delete all the Nation – HD channels leaving only the one you want to view.

There is an unrelated issue with Channel 5 notably if you set the daytime edition of Neighbours which is shown around lunchtime and repeated later.

Depending on which one you set the first recording in the series from, then the following day the early transmission gets recorded twice with the same name and is recorded twice simultaneously.

The solution was of course simple. If the BBC gave each nation a different series CRID the problem goes away. I told the BBC this info and they ignored it.

Graham, my box is currently Not showing the “R” flag in the guide for a number of scheduled recordings including,

Bargain Hunt, Home and Away, Neighbours, Hollyoaks, Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Eastenders. These are all scheduled on the HD version of the channels.

Using Bargain Hunt (on BBC1 HD tomorrow) as an example, I can navigate to the programme in the EPG, select record and series link and it will set. If I look at the EPG the display is correct. If I skip forward a day the record icon is not displayed. If I go into the schedule it just shows tomorrow in the list with the correct rec/series icon. If I search for BH, in the broadcast list it shows tomorrow and Friday as set for recording.

From this I am deducing that the BBC are broadcasting episodes from numerous series (therefore having different crid’s).

Actually, click on the programme and it’s shows the series and episode and they are not running concurrently.

Ref Bargain Hunt.

larkim – 29 mins ago  » 

grahamlthompson – 1 hour ago  » 

larkim – 10 mins ago  » 

But isn’t the programme name consistent throughout those series?

The series where for us my wife spent 20 minutes trying to record the ones which the EPG appeared to indicate weren’t being recorded were ones where the original episode had the normal name, but the final or subsequent episode had an amended title (e.g. “Grand Final” or “Christmas special” etc).

Had we not looked in the EPG they would have recorded fine anyway, but the absence of the R indicator and the incorrect info in the text page (when viewed from the EPG) left my wife assuming that they wouldn’t record, and it wasn’t until I delved into the scheduled recordings after trying to work out whether I’d used all three tuners etc that I could see that they were in fact set to record.

So it’s all functioning correctly. But the UI is displaying buggy and confusing information to a normal user.

With the latest firmware scheduled events are displayed in the epg with the r flag. At least I haven’t found any that are not despite dozens of recordings over the Xmas period.

The UI is correctly displaying what the broadcaster told it to.

The broadcaster has control of which programmes are part of a series. When the broadcaster transmits a programme with a different name to the original programme but has the same series crid then the series name changes to reflect the newest content stored in the series folder.

.

I’m still a little perplexed why you think my issue is a broadcaster issue. Perhaps I’m not explaining the issue correctly.

I fully understand why a series link would change name throughout the year. e.g. F1 being the simplest example.

And therefore I’m fully on board with the “folders” in the Humax recording changing their name as they see fit. That’s not an issue at all.

What is an issue is that the EPG fails to show the R flag in some cases (it seems) where the programme name changes. And to add to that missing R flag (which I could live with), if the specific programme is selected then the Humax UI acts as if the programme will not be recorded, and offers the user the chance to click “record” (or “remind”), which is followed up by the choice to set this as a series link or an individual episode. And yet following the “click”, the EPG continues to show no R and the text page for the item continues to act as if no recording is set.

That is then contradicted by the “scheduled recordings” list which will show the (name changed) programme, and the specific episode will show the updated page to give the user the option to “cancel”, thus establishing that the programme will be recorded.

Irrespective of what the broadcaster is doing, I’ve not used a series linking Freeview PVR before that presents this inconsistency. Admittedly I’ve not used a Freeview Play box before (my last two were the excellent EE TV box and the ill-fated by excellent in principle 3view models). It’s not the broadcaster’s fault that the Humax box is not displaying it’s own information correctly – showing that a programme isn’t recording in one view, and is recording in another view.

Most scheduled events are working 100% properly for me – R flags, consistent text pages, reliable recording etc. It’s just that I noted the two over Christmas and it seemed to me that the common issue was the name changes. There may be some other nuance too, hence me posting it here to see what other experiences were.

I have never seen a programme name change within a series other than how I described. Thanks to Brian the software update to fix the issue clearly still has issues.

None are name changes just additional series events with the same name as when first scheduled.

In most cases when the scheduled event is a one off or the first event is close it gets flagged in the epg. When the epg adds a day sometimes the extra episode or episodes gets flagged in the epg and other times not. It’s not consistant when you check some days later some are picked up others not. As you can see if you read my reply to Brian.