On Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:01:19 +0100, Phil Cook wrote:

> And lo on Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:29:08 +0100, Jim Henderson
> <nos### [at] nospamcom> did spake, saying:
>> Yeah, I've seen that as well - end up having to adjust the recording
>> times to start 1 min early and end 1 min late.  Which means if I've got
>> three programmes set to record in a 2 hour period (one ending and two
>> starting, for example - we've a dual tuner DVR), something's going to
>> get clipped.
> 
> Should have been solved by now. We had PDC back in the VCR days, the
> broadcaster would send a signal at the end/start of a broadcast and the
> recorder would be looking for this signal at about the time it should be
> starting. Failed miserably as some broadcasters didn't use it and some
> misused it (you'd get the 60-second news blip instead of the programme).
> With EPG's it should all be a done deal, but for the last few weeks it's
> been showing Newsnight when Never Mind the Buzzcocks has been broadcast
> unless I reset the EPG and one programme I'm regularly recording starts
> 15 minutes before its scheduled.

I wish they'd do that - and a better job of everyone synchronizing their 
clocks, too.  Shows that say they start at, say, 9:00 on some channels 
start as much as 5 minutes later....My DVR used to have a bug (since 
fixed, but it was there for a LONG time) where if you adjusted the start/
end times, it would occasionally lock up between 2 and 4 AM.  Actual 
documented bug in the software.  Took almost 2 years for them to fix it.

>>>> All that money that goes into advertising could be much better spent
>>>> making a product that I want to buy, improving the service that goes
>>>> with the product, or making a good product better.
>>>
>>> Pfft everyone knows it's marketing that sells products, not having the
>>> best or even just a good product.
>>
>> Oh, right, I forgot - because they wouldn't do that if it wasn't
>> effective.  Stupid me - it's too bad I'm not willing to be a sheep....
> 
> Life is so much easier when you are :-P

So I've heard, but I'm just not willing. ;-)

Jim

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Jim Henderson wrote:
> I wish they'd do that - and a better job of everyone synchronizing their 
> clocks, too.

Nowadays, with feeds being synched between different providers (as in, 
local weather stuck into the 45-second slot allocated in the 
country-wide news feed) I find TV stations much more on-the-ball about 
being on time.  Of course, some shows still run over, and sometimes the 
schedule changes, but I've found usually not on the order of minutes. At 
least around here.

-- 
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)

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On Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:11:47 -0700, Darren New wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> I wish they'd do that - and a better job of everyone synchronizing
>> their clocks, too.
> 
> Nowadays, with feeds being synched between different providers (as in,
> local weather stuck into the 45-second slot allocated in the
> country-wide news feed) I find TV stations much more on-the-ball about
> being on time.  Of course, some shows still run over, and sometimes the
> schedule changes, but I've found usually not on the order of minutes. At
> least around here.

Yeah, out here, Comcast just doesn't seem to do a good job of having the 
stuff synchronized to the correct time; the cable-only channels are the 
worst, I've found.  Part of it is that "one-minute overlap" they've 
started doing, but part of it is just bad timekeeping.

The local PBS station is also quite bad in that regard.

Jim

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Darren New wrote:
> St. wrote:
>>   So what's a 'customer benefit' card other than what you've already 
>> explained?
> 
> Think of it as "automatic coupons". If you present the card, you get X% 
> off from various products.  Of course, the card is tied to your identity 
> or at least a pseudo-identity, so they can tell that people who buy Y 
> also buy Z a lot.
> 
> I like the coupons on the back of the receipts better, myself.
> 

Again, I don't mind them, since I like smart product placement :)

...Chambers

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And lo on Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:06:25 +0100, Jim Henderson  
<nos### [at] nospamcom> did spake, saying:

> On Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:01:19 +0100, Phil Cook wrote:
>
>> And lo on Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:29:08 +0100, Jim Henderson
>> <nos### [at] nospamcom> did spake, saying:
>>> Yeah, I've seen that as well - end up having to adjust the recording
>>> times to start 1 min early and end 1 min late.  Which means if I've got
>>> three programmes set to record in a 2 hour period (one ending and two
>>> starting, for example - we've a dual tuner DVR), something's going to
>>> get clipped.
>>
>> Should have been solved by now. We had PDC back in the VCR days, the
>> broadcaster would send a signal at the end/start of a broadcast and the
>> recorder would be looking for this signal at about the time it should be
>> starting. Failed miserably as some broadcasters didn't use it and some
>> misused it (you'd get the 60-second news blip instead of the programme).
>> With EPG's it should all be a done deal, but for the last few weeks it's
>> been showing Newsnight when Never Mind the Buzzcocks has been broadcast
>> unless I reset the EPG and one programme I'm regularly recording starts
>> 15 minutes before its scheduled.
>
> I wish they'd do that - and a better job of everyone synchronizing their
> clocks, too.

The default here is BBC time.

> Shows that say they start at, say, 9:00 on some channels
> start as much as 5 minutes later

Groan just had one programme on the EPG actually scheduled to start 10  
minutes early then normal. Just for this one week mind then it goes back  
to normal.

> ....My DVR used to have a bug (since
> fixed, but it was there for a LONG time) where if you adjusted the start/
> end times, it would occasionally lock up between 2 and 4 AM.  Actual
> documented bug in the software.  Took almost 2 years for them to fix it.

Apparently one bug on mine meant that using the PiP facilty didn't free  
the time shift memory used by it when switched back to one channel. Oh and  
if I use the padding on recording it disables the series link so you  
either have to remember to
set it manually each time or set up your own repeating slot and disengage  
it from the EPG (which is what happened above)

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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And lo on Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:04:16 +0100, Jim Henderson  
<nos### [at] nospamcom> did spake, saying:

> On Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:08:45 +0100, Phil Cook wrote:
>
>> And lo on Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:29:52 +0100, Jim Henderson
>> <nos### [at] nospamcom> did spake, saying:
>>
>>> Was "make it *better* than the competition" in there anywhere?
>>
>> I guess that's covered by the "don't let someone sell both coke *and*
>> pepsi". You don't need to make a better product if you don't present the
>> consumer with a choice.
>
> Heh, well, I know for many of the fast food chains, they don't have a
> choice, because they're actually owned by Pepsico or Coca-Cola.  I used
> to work for a company that did outsourced benefits management (for both
> companies, oddly enough), and seeing the brands that came in with those
> agreements was surprising.

Kind of the current joys with the privatised water companies here where  
you can choose to have your water supplied by Company A, Company A or  
Company A. But hey at least the fast-food companies are agreeing to this  
;-)

>> As an example my mother often complains she can't pick up a certain
>> brand of sauce at her main shop supermarket and has to go elsewhere; I'm
>> running an internal bet as to how long it'll be before she either starts
>> doing the main shop in this other store or ends up buying a different
>> brand.
>
> That'd be an interesting thing to look at....

Indeed something that should have been carried out by the Competition  
Commision in their last study if their brief wasn't so restricted. Oh yes  
there's plenty of competition between supermarkets provided you do one  
third of your shopping in Sainsbury's, one-third in Tesco, and the  
remainding third at Asda. Doesn't everyone shop this way?

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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On Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:27:45 +0100, Phil Cook wrote:

>> Heh, well, I know for many of the fast food chains, they don't have a
>> choice, because they're actually owned by Pepsico or Coca-Cola.  I used
>> to work for a company that did outsourced benefits management (for both
>> companies, oddly enough), and seeing the brands that came in with those
>> agreements was surprising.
> 
> Kind of the current joys with the privatised water companies here where
> you can choose to have your water supplied by Company A, Company A or
> Company A. But hey at least the fast-food companies are agreeing to this
> ;-)

Yeah, it's a nice "choice" isn't it?

>> That'd be an interesting thing to look at....
> 
> Indeed something that should have been carried out by the Competition
> Commision in their last study if their brief wasn't so restricted. Oh
> yes there's plenty of competition between supermarkets provided you do
> one third of your shopping in Sainsbury's, one-third in Tesco, and the
> remainding third at Asda. Doesn't everyone shop this way?

Well, I know we do most of our grocery shopping at CostCo, with specialty 
items from specialty shops, and fresh produce from the local supermarket 
(buying produce in bulk doesn't make sense, it just tends to go off).

Jim

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On Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:22:50 +0100, Phil Cook wrote:

>> I wish they'd do that - and a better job of everyone synchronizing
>> their clocks, too.
> 
> The default here is BBC time.

Would that that happened here....

>> Shows that say they start at, say, 9:00 on some channels start as much
>> as 5 minutes later
> 
> Groan just had one programme on the EPG actually scheduled to start 10
> minutes early then normal. Just for this one week mind then it goes back
> to normal.

That's nice....

>> ....My DVR used to have a bug (since
>> fixed, but it was there for a LONG time) where if you adjusted the
>> start/ end times, it would occasionally lock up between 2 and 4 AM. 
>> Actual documented bug in the software.  Took almost 2 years for them to
>> fix it.
> 
> Apparently one bug on mine meant that using the PiP facilty didn't free
> the time shift memory used by it when switched back to one channel. Oh
> and if I use the padding on recording it disables the series link so you
> either have to remember to
> set it manually each time or set up your own repeating slot and
> disengage it from the EPG (which is what happened above)

Ouch...

Jim

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And lo on Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:14:41 +0100, Jim Henderson  
<nos### [at] nospamcom> did spake, saying:

> On Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:22:50 +0100, Phil Cook wrote:
>
>> set up your own repeating slot and
>> disengage it from the EPG (which is what happened above)
>
> Ouch...

It gets better as the recording takes its name from the EPG and can't be  
edited, so disengaging it defaults to giving the recording the name of the  
channel. Imagine a few of those in a list.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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On Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:54:52 +0100, Phil Cook wrote:

> And lo on Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:14:41 +0100, Jim Henderson
> <nos### [at] nospamcom> did spake, saying:
> 
>> On Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:22:50 +0100, Phil Cook wrote:
>>
>>> set up your own repeating slot and
>>> disengage it from the EPG (which is what happened above)
>>
>> Ouch...
> 
> It gets better as the recording takes its name from the EPG and can't be
> edited, so disengaging it defaults to giving the recording the name of
> the channel. Imagine a few of those in a list.

That would make it difficult to distinguish between them, I imagine...

Jim

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