Pause LiveTV for 90 minutes?

Channels DVR Server
#1

While watching the NBA Playoffs on ABC I paused the game and went to make lunch. I am used to this pause buffer being capable of being 90 minutes, or more. When I came back I was surprised to find the game was playing. The Pause buffer was only capable of being 20 minutes long.

Is this normal behavior? Is this perhaps because the game was being broadcast at a higher definition than HD? If so, as more and more channels begin broadcasting in higher definition our ability to pause LiveTV will be greatly affected.

Finally, is there a way to set this buffer to the length we prefer?

#2

The way Channels DVR does the buffer at the Client is susceptible to failure a simple hiccup in the connection to either the tuner or server (using tuner sharing) and you are dead in the water you will lose the whole buffer. I would not recommend it to VIEW long running Shows such as sports ... The best way is to record it and watch as it is recording.

#3

The buffer is dependent on available storage. It sounds like your device has less available storage than it used to. 90 minutes is the upper limit.

Even if you had an option to set the limit, you wouldn’t reach 90 minutes if your device can’t store it.

I’d check your storage and delete some apps or games.

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#4

I appreciate your perspective, and I agree with it. However, it doesn't really answer my question.

#5

I don't really think that is true because I switched to a different channel and paused it for 90 minutes.

#6

This can be explained as well with storage, and your assumption in your original post.

Some channels are broadcast with lower data rates. That means one channel might be 8gb per hour while another is 4gb per hour. Again, storage is the limitation here, we can’t just force it to store a certain amount of time.

So, you’ll find that SD OTA channels can easily hit the 90 min mark, so will TV Everywhere channels. But it’s harder for some regular OTA channels. And your suspicion is probably correct in the case of sports, that broadcast is possibly being sent out with a higher data rate so that it looks nicer with fast motion.

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#7

I've been bitten by the Pause too many times. I've re-trained myself to click the down arrow to bring up the quick menu, and then navigating to and selecting the record button. This will much more reliably record the remainder of whatever you're watching.

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#8

This is the only way I watch Sports with Channels DVR simply do not trust the buffering too many points of failure. for ex Cat hits the back button on remote. here she is debating whether to hit the back button.

Disk
18.5% used
11.04 TB available
Activity
Recording ch754 for NBA Basketball until 8:00PM.
Watching NBA Basketball from Edwin's Fire TV

20210301_110815
20210301_1108151361Ă—1815 217 KB

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#9

Thanks for the responses.

I do wish it was a user-definable parameter, but it is what it is. I will stop using the pause button, and just record from now on.

#10

I’m having trouble understanding what you think a “user-definable parameter” might do. Could you go into more detail?

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#11

A setting that defines how much of your storage you want to use for the pause buffer? As we transition to UHD it seems like 20 minutes is not very long.

#12

It already uses as much storage as it can without starving the system of available disk space. The system needs some available, or the device will go haywire.

The only reason to have a setting like that would be to make the buffer smaller.

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#13

Thanks for that explanation

#14

This is just an observational idea. I don’t personally have an issue with pause in my use behavior. But it looks like some people, either through stability or usage habits or client storage space, have begun to start recording when they want to pause. Maybe for these types of users, a client side setting could be available that would on pause automatically start a server side recording in addition to pause (as a supplement to the client side pause buffer). Since it would be a playback setting it would only apply to users who expressly want it. Just an idea.

#15

The problem seems to be that it is not a cylindrical buffer .. If you have enough to pause 90 minutes... as soon as it hits those 90 minutes the entire buffer is deleted and it resumes livetv.... and if you hit record it will also lose the full buffer.... If someone can tell me what is good about this please do I could be wrong.

#16

This is completely untrue and if you’re seeing this, please submit logs and open a ticket with [email protected].

The buffer is cylindrical. The expected behavior when the buffer gets full is that playback is forced, but you can still go back.

If your buffer is being cleared without leaving the video player or changing channels, this is some kind of bug.

But it’s not one anyone has reported or that we’ve seen.

#17

OK maybe I am mistaken ... this is what I am seeing on my FireTV 4K I paused the today show with 5 minutes remaining I walked away and after 5 minutes it started resumed playback all on it's own. when the next show started it resumed playback of the pause show. Tuner sharing on.

It appears that tuning the next show on the same channel is triggering playback.

#18

The Fire Stick has a tiny buffer because it’s entire storage is 8GB. Get an OTG cable and a thumb drive, format it in the Fire Stick Settings and you’ll get a nice buffer. It’s ridiculous this thing has such a small amount of storage. I’d pay 2x for a 64GB option if they have one coming up. OTG cable works well though.

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#20

Just a thought here, but if I have a DVR server set up - why isn't "LiveTV" just a recording until I change channels? At least have it as an option to record until the channel is changed. And, while I'm wishing, how about the server keeping the current channel recording for maybe 3-5 minutes in case I accidentally popped out, and then reattaching the client? The server knows which client and which channel it was watching, and could also handle multiple clients tuning into the same channel since it is now a recording.... (unattached LiveTV recordings are available for early reaping if no other tuners are available, but there's no reason to cut them immediately) Just seems like a couple of features that would serious help performance and the user experience. And yes, I realize that is at least 4 feature requests.

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#21

LiveTV is purely a connection between the HDHR and the client. No server involved unless you turn on Tuner Sharing.