Is there a way to weed out re-reruns?

[SCDave]

Is it possible to record reruns but once you've seen an episode it doesn't keep recording it, I know I can choose to only record new shows but I'm wondering if there are any setting in-between?

I hope my question makes sense, it sounded a lot better in my head than this

 

[sktrus]

Actually, it is an excellent question. I've always wondered about that, too.
I don't believe it is possible especially if you delete recordings you just watched.
I started recording The Andy Griffith Show from metv. I haven't watched them until 5 seasons were completed. 32 shows per season. Not one episode was recorded twice. So, I am assuming that as long as an episode exists in dvr, Hopper will not record the same show again. But, you delete it, it probably will.

 

[bookworm370]

The episode has to not exist before the hopper will record an old show. If the episode is there, then it will not record it. That's using New and Reruns option. The only way it knows not to record a rerun is that it has to exist somewhere, even on a connected EHD.

 

[DishSubLA]

The following applies to timers set to record some form of "Rerun" or repeat episode:

Yeah, agreed, my observation has been that if it exists in your DVR My Recordings, it seems NOT to record again. However, if an episode would be recorded again after you have already viewed and deleted it USED to depend upon IF that recording "record" still existed in the Schedule past recordings memory. This meant that if that record still existed in the list of previous recordings, it would NOT record that same episode, but if that record had been removed from the list of previous recordings, then that same episode would be recorded. Each record of past recordings is removed by the memory reaching its limit of a # of past recordings with the oldest being removed to make room for the latest recording to join the list of previous recordings. BUT even shows that are NOT recorded or are SKIPPED are still saved to the previous recording lists as SKIPPED along with recordings that were not skipped.

This means that if you are like me and have A LOT of timers (between 80-100), each instance of that show related to your timers and NOT recorded are saved to the previous recordings listed as "SKIPPED." and this can number in the hundreds of new records being added to the memory of the previous recorded list in a matter of days--less than a week, so I can get an episode of a recording I deleted from MY DVR a few days ago and it records the same episode once again in just a few days if the re-run occurs again after that time. On the other hand, if you have a few timers, then that list of "SKIPPED" recordings added to the previous recordings list will NOT populate nearly as quickly, so you have a good long time before an episode you just deleted from your My DVR will record again, maybe months.

If you want, go to your DVR screen, select the "SCHEDULE" tab showing the list of recordings to come, but scroll UP and you will see only completed recordings or non-completed recordings. NOW, select the OPTIONS button, and the Schedule Options screen appears. Now, select "3" to reveal SKIPPED recordings. Some of you--who have a lot of timers--will see an HOARD of skipped recordings, and they take up a majority of the entries on the list and collectively consume that vast majority of the memory or number of places on the list that (at least on the older DishPro and ViP's) were in the 300 or there abouts--according to my poor memory--that the DVR refers to if--providing it does not exist in your MY Recordings--it should record an episode as per your "record repeats" on such timers.

Bottom line is that there is no other way to prevent the recording of a "rerun" or repeat episode that you have already deleted from My Recording in any "manual" way. It is all down to if the record of that particular recording still exists in memory as listed on the Schedule list. At least that was how it seemed to work on the older DishPro and ViP's, and still seems to be the case with all the Hoppers, as well.

It seems the H3 uses pretty much the same method as the older DishPro DVR's (and later trhe ViP's) with, at least to my observation, without much or any increase in the number of records on the "Schedule" log of past recordings that includes SKIPPED recordings.

 

[SCDave]

The following applies to timers set to record some form of "Rerun" or repeat episode:

Yeah, agreed, my observation has been that if it exists in your DVR My Recordings, it seems NOT to record again. However, if an episode would be recorded again after you have already viewed and deleted it USED to depend upon IF that recording "record" still existed in the Schedule past recordings memory. This meant that if that record still existed in the list of previous recordings, it would NOT record that same episode, but if that record had been removed from the list of previous recordings, then that same episode would be recorded. Each record of past recordings is removed by the memory reaching its limit of a # of past recordings with the oldest being removed to make room for the latest recording to join the list of previous recordings. BUT even shows that are NOT recorded or are SKIPPED are still saved to the previous recording lists as SKIPPED along with recordings that were not skipped.

This means that if you are like me and have A LOT of timers (between 80-100), each instance of that show related to your timers and NOT recorded are saved to the previous recordings listed as "SKIPPED." and this can number in the hundreds of new records being added to the memory of the previous recorded list in a matter of days--less than a week, so I can get an episode of a recording I deleted from MY DVR a few days ago and it records the same episode once again in just a few days if the re-run occurs again after that time. On the other hand, if you have a few timers, then that list of "SKIPPED" recordings added to the previous recordings list will NOT populate nearly as quickly, so you have a good long time before an episode you just deleted from your My DVR will record again, maybe months.

If you want, go to your DVR screen, select the "SCHEDULE" tab showing the list of recordings to come, but scroll UP and you will see only completed recordings or non-completed recordings. NOW, select the OPTIONS button, and the Schedule Options screen appears. Now, select "3" to reveal SKIPPED recordings. Some of you--who have a lot of timers--will see an HOARD of skipped recordings, and they take up a majority of the entries on the list and collectively consume that vast majority of the memory or number of places on the list that (at least on the older DishPro and ViP's) were in the 300 or there abouts--according to my poor memory--that the DVR refers to if--providing it does not exist in your MY Recordings--it should record an episode as per your "record repeats" on such timers.

Bottom line is that there is no other way to prevent the recording of a "rerun" or repeat episode that you have already deleted from My Recording in any "manual" way. It is all down to if the record of that particular recording still exists in memory as listed on the Schedule list. At least that was how it seemed to work on the older DishPro and ViP's, and still seems to be the case with all the Hoppers, as well.

It seems the H3 uses pretty much the same method as the older DishPro DVR's (and later trhe ViP's) with, at least to my observation, without much or any increase in the number of records on the "Schedule" log of past recordings that includes SKIPPED recordings.

Are you thinking that if I turn on the SKIPPED recordings this will increase the memory and I may have less re-recorded shows?

 

[pattykay]

Are you thinking that if I turn on the SKIPPED recordings this will increase the memory and I may have less re-recorded shows?

I think the Schedule list memory for past events is the same, regardless of the type of event being displayed. (Actually recorded, automatically skipped, manually skipped, or not recorded due to tuner conflict, signal loss, etc.) Toggling that Skipped setting simply makes the list of events appearing on screen less cluttered, or more cluttered depending on which way you set it. All of those skipped events are still taking up memory, whether they are displayed or not. Someone can correct me if I am wrong about any of that.

The best advice to avoid re-records is still to simply not delete the recordings of episodes that you have already watched. You can easily identify the ones you have already watched, thanks to the green progress bar next to each recording in the list of episodes. If the amount of space those recordings takes up is an issue, you could transfer them to an external hard drive. Someone posted earlier that the timer will also check the external hard drive to see if those episodes already exist on the DVR. This depends on the external hard drive being turned on and properly detected by the Hopper, obviously.

 

[SCDave]

Okay I plugged in my external drive it's detected, formatted and appears to be working.... I don't see any options for moving anything to the external drive do I simply wait for my normal drive to get full then it will automatically start recording to that drive?

Can anyone point me to a thread that shows how to best utilize this drive?

 

[olds403]

Okay I plugged in my external drive it's detected, formatted and appears to be working.... I don't see any options for moving anything to the external drive do I simply wait for my normal drive to get full then it will automatically start recording to that drive?

Can anyone point me to a thread that shows how to best utilize this drive?

Hit the options button on the remote and select "Manage Recordings" and you will have the option to move recordings to the external drive.

 

[Bobby]

Hit the options button on the remote and select "Manage Recordings" and you will have the option to move recordings to the external drive.

That is correct. But... you are not able to move PTAT recordings until they have been removed from PTAT. You will need to Save any PTAT recordings that you want to transfer to your EHD before they time out. After they are gone from PTAT you can transfer those recordings.

 

[olds403]

That is correct. But... you are not able to move PTAT recordings until they have been removed from PTAT. You will need to Save any PTAT recordings that you want to transfer to your EHD before they time out. After they are gone from PTAT you can transfer those recordings.

Thanks for clarifying, I don't use PTAT myself so didn't think about that.

 

[SCDave]

Thank you all, this is an awesome forum!

 

[SCDave]

What am I doing wrong? I see on multiple shows that the dvr is recording the same show more than once, I just looked at 2 shows and it recorded that same show/episode twice one right after the other and it's not like it was on the external dvr.

 

[Bobby]

What am I doing wrong? I see on multiple shows that the dvr is recording the same show more than once, I just looked at 2 shows and it recorded that same show/episode twice one right after the other and it's not like it was on the external dvr.

I think you have a Hopper 3. If that is so, you need to go into your timers and change New and Reruns to New Only. You will need to do that for each timer. When setting new timers make sure you are New Only.

 

[SCDave]

I think you have a Hopper 3. If that is so, you need to go into your timers and change New and Reruns to New Only. You will need to do that for each timer. When setting new timers make sure you are New Only.

New only? I don't mind seeing older episodes that I may have missed when they were new.

 

[Bobby]

New only? I don't mind seeing older episodes that I may have missed when they were new.

You can’t have it both ways. If you want to see older episodes simply weed out the repeats that you have seen by pressing delete. The Hopper doesn’t know exactly what episodes you might want to see so it leaves the selection up to you.

 

[SCDave]

You can’t have it both ways. If you want to see older episodes simply weed out the repeats that you have seen by pressing delete. The Hopper doesn’t know exactly what episodes you might want to see so it leaves the selection up to you.

It would appear you are correct but I wouldn't think it would be too difficult NOT to record the same exact episode over and over again.

 

[Bobby]

It would appear you are correct but I wouldn't think it would be too difficult NOT to record the same exact episode over and over again.

There is, by enabling New Only. There was a time, a very long time ago, when your DVR would remember what episodes you have watched. We had a different guide company in those days. There are few people who want to watch just selected reruns so it is not a high priority for a flag to be inserted on every program that goes through your DVR.

 

[TheKrell]

It would appear you are correct but I wouldn't think it would be too difficult NOT to record the same exact episode over and over again.

There is, by enabling New Only. There was a time, a very long time ago, when your DVR would remember what episodes you have watched.

What are we talking about? I think whether or not you've watched a program is irrelevant. When recording New and Reruns, my H3 in general does not record the same episode repeatedly, once it already has one copy. I have seen exceptions, though, so something in the guide makes the episode look different to the H3 and it records again. One example: the episode/season number being entered as a running total from the beginning of the series, and not split out by season.

 

[lgb0250]

Garbage in garbage out. I’ve seen this numerous times over the last year or so. When checking the guide data it will show as “new” even if it ran the day before as “new”. The guide data being provided is definitely not the best for sure.

 

[sktrus]

Perhaps a software bug. I record Rachel Maddow Show every night for the wifey. Occasionally, Hopper 3 records 2 of the same show. (Not the rerun starting later.) Last night I checked. 2 shows from Monday night starting at 9 pm. One has an episode number, the other says Rachel Maddox Show. I delete on of them, and the wife watches the other one and deletes it.
DVR Settings show 'new only'.