Shows being clipped for no apparent reason

Posted on Saturday, February 11, 2006 by MegaZone

A few days ago I started seeing reports of shows being clipped for no apparent reason – recordings ending 5 minutes early, etc. Over the past couple of days I have seen these reports with increasing frequency in various TiVo forums, blogs, journals, etc, around the net. It is starting to seem like this may be a bug in the new Overlap Protection feature. Some users who have experienced the truncated recordings have reported that turning off Overlap Protection on their systems has caused the behavior to vanish. I thought I’d pass that along, just in case.

About MegaZone

MegaZone is the Editor of Gizmo Lovers and the chief contributor. He's been online since 1989 and active in several generations of 'social media' - mailing lists, USENet groups, web forums, and since 2003, blogging.    MegaZone has a presence on several social platforms: Google+ / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / LiveJournal / Web.    You can also follow Gizmo Lovers on other sites: Blog / Google+ / Facebook / Twitter.
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  • kirylyn

    um, Overlap Protection?

  • megazone

    One of the features added by a recent update, either 7.2 or 7.2.1.

    Messages & Settings -> Settings -> Recording -> Overlap Protection

    (Might vary on different units.)

  • anonymous

    I am a heavy TiVo user of several years, and can count the problems I have had on one or two fingers. Coincidentally, I noticed a couple of shows over the last 2-3 weeks that ended about 5 minutes early. In both cases, it was not a problem, but I found it odd, and wondered if perhaps I had set something wrong.

    Now that I see this posting (I RSS feed your blog), it makes me think it could be what you are reporting. It has never happened until a couple weeks ago, and I do have Overlap turned on.

    I will keep an eye on it, and see if it happens again

  • kirylyn

    ah, that might explain it, I’m still on 6.12 or 6.2. NOT 7.anything

    man, and I was waiting so anxiously to get the 6.x upgrade so I could sort my list either by date or by name.

    how do I find out if I qualify for the “new” upgrade? or is it done in order one first got DirecTV?

  • anonymous

    i’m experiencing the same problem. it stops recording 5-6 mins early for no apparent reason. Did you ever figure out what happened? Mine just started 6 or 7 days ago.

  • anonymous

    What does Overlap Protection do when it’s working correctly? And how do we get software upgrades? I love TiVo but have never really pushed the technology so I know very little about personalizing the experience. Thanks for your help.

  • megazone

    Ah, the 7.x software is on standalone boxes. DirecTV is still on 6.2 ad their latest, and it is unclear if they will get another update since DirecTV is severing their ties with TiVo.

  • megazone

    Software upgrades happen automatically when the TiVo calls home. But 7.x is only for standalone units, DirecTV has their own software for the DirecTiVos and it is limited to 6.2 at this time, with many features disabled when compared to the standalones.

    Overlap Protection, when enabled, allows the TiVo to record fragments of a show. So if two programs overlap, it will record all of the higher priority program, and the rest of the lower priority program that doesn’t overlap. For a maximum total overlapping time of up to 5 minutes.