Lineup changes - what will happen?

[Orddu]

Out of interest, what will happen with the new data when a lineup change happens?

Will we still see the email-type message, or will one channel just evaporate and be replaced by a new one? And either way, will it automatically change any scheduled recordings from the old channel number to reflect the new one?

Just wondering what to expect, really!

[Alek]

Lineup changes are being notified as usual on my alt set up


Alek

[Orddu]

Oh cool

Well that puts my mind at rest!

I think it's time for Mr Left-hand-side-TiVo to get his changes this weekend then. Cover me, I'm going in!

[krayzeekev]

Will we still see the email-type message, or will one channel just evaporate and be replaced by a new one? And either way, will it automatically change any scheduled recordings from the old channel number to reflect the new one?

Just wondering what to expect, really!

As Alek pointed out, lineup changes are normal (all that happens is a new station/channel mapping gets included in the lineup slice and everything else is done by the TiVo including the "There has been a lineup change" message. The server isn't sending that message.

On the subject of whether scheduled recordings need to change or not, the answer to that will be no purely because of the way TiVo's work. It's the difference between a station and a channel. A station is an entity containing showings of programs and is broadcast by somebody. In different regions, on different technologies, that station will appear on different channel numbers. So, if "Daily Roundup" is on "CNN", that's a program scheduled on a station. You might get it on Channel 123 and I might get it on Channel 456. But it's the same station in the db & the tivo with its own ID which says it's CNN. And even season passes are linked to that station. If the channel number changes, that's just a little link in the db which it will look up when it's time to record something and send the appropriate codes or change the tuner.

So, when a lineup change occurs that moves a station from one channel to another and you make the appropriate changes, very little data changes in the TiVo at all. Just the bit that says "CNN is on 123" changes to "CNN is on 456". Everything else is unchanged including season passes, scheduled recordings, thumbs, etc because they all point to CNN, not to 123 or 456.

[Orddu]

Thanks for that! I'd always wondered how it worked and how much internal processing went on. I would've hoped it would work the way you describe (that's how I'd've done it!) so pleased to hear that it is

Cheers!

[krayzeekev]

Thanks for that! I'd always wondered how it worked and how much internal processing went on. I would've hoped it would work the way you describe (that's how I'd've done it!) so pleased to hear that it is

The distinction between Channel & Station is VERY important to us here in Australia. Our "extra" digital channels, for instance, turn up differently all over the place. What's 99 in capital cities might be 88 in rural areas and 152 on PayTV. And we have 7 different "Channel Nine"s. One for each capital city and they're all on Channel 9. But a different one in each lineup. So we have different stations on the same channel and different channels for the same station.

And since a lot of the detail in our guide comes from our users logging in and making changes, we have to make sure we expose that difference quite clearly and simply. In general, our guide interface doesn't show channel numbers ANYWHERE. And the XML feed we supply doesn't include them. They only exist in the lineups in order to tell the TiVos what numbers to send to the STB and what numbers to display on the screen.

Add multiple timezones into the mix where a station on Cable PayTV will show things at one time and the same station with exactly the same programs may be out by a couple of hours if you have Satellite PayTV from the same provider. So we also have to shift stations depending on time zones, lineups and delivery technology. And then there's Daylight Saving. Which doesn't exist in all timezones! Go figure. Something about cows and curtains. The whole station/channel/time thing can do your head in! But it's good fun!