Scheduling with Guide Plus and ATI Multimedia Center

[presto]

I only realized recently how powerful Guide Plus really is. I was just scheduling by creating entries in MMC up till now. This might be old news to others but here is the basic method I use. I'm interested in hints and tips others may have.

1) Go through the schedule in grid mode looking for shows I want to capture. Clicking on "favorite" causes ALL the instances of that show to be marked as favorite.

2) Go to "Searches" and select "Favorites". Now go down the line and check "record" on all the shows. A box pops up that let's me type in the name of the show and the name of the episode. The episode info is right there but unfortunately there is no way to automate this step. You have to type in the episode name by hand.

3) If a box pops up saying there is allready a show scheduled at that time I choose "watch" instead of "record". Another warning pops up which I ignore.

4) When finished I go to "Schedules" and choose "Watch". I print this list out and then uncheck all the programs so they are no longer scheduled to be watched. I then use this list to set up schedules on my other computer. That's the plan anyway. I hope that checking "watch" and then unchecking it later doesn't somehow cause the recording not to start. I'm concerned because I believer there IS a bug where checking record, then unchecking it and later checking it again will cause problems.




QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS
1) Is there any way to add some padding to schedules so that MMC will
start recording say 30 seconds early unless it causes a conflict? I'm missing the first few seconds of most of my shows.

3) Another feature request would be to merge recordings that butt up against each other. If I have two Star Trek episodes in a row it would be best to just record for two hours. I know this can be done by editing the schedule in MMC, I just wish a box popped up and asked me if I wanted to merge the two program or record each separately.

3) In MMC I set things up so that the name of the progam is "user defined". There is a drop box there that has all kinds of choices such as time-channel, or time-program name, etc. For some reason this list is sometimes shorter. Sometimes I don't get program name as a choice. Does anyone else experience that or understand it. It's a real shame that "episode name" isn't offered.

4) Slightly off this topic but did you guys know that you can change colors such as "tint" in MMC and it effects the capture? I though these settings were just for playback but just happened to try it the other day. Very useful for recording old VHS tapes where the colors have shifted to red or yellow.
5) Does anyone know how to convey this to Guide Plus? I don't know of a site and I don't think ATI has any info about Guide Plus.

That's all for now

[lordsmurf]

1. Have you tried altering the clock on your system? I believe your computer clock controls that feature. If it cutsoff early instead, record the show after it, and cut it off later in a MPEG/AVI cutter.

3. Sounds like a statement more than a question.

3. (again) :P . Sound like another statement, no question.

4. I actually use that feature all the time. When I get around to finishing my VIDEO RESTORATION guides, that's a major factor that exists in almost all capture cards. The best thing about ATI is the GAMMA setting, which is very important, yet not found in most non-pro cards.

[presto]

1. I like to have my clock automatically set so it is correct all the time. I'm looking for a clock synchronizing software that let's you set an offset time so your clock is always a minute fast or whatever you set.

3. "Sounds like a statement more than a question. " - I clearly labeled them questions AND comments.

3. "(again) . Sound like another statement, no question. " - OK I admit it. I edited my post above to include the word comments so I wouldn't look dumb. Actually I just felt like getting a discussion going on Guide Plus and was just typing off the top of my head.

4. I figured that feature was probably known by most but I had over looked it and thought others might too.

Nice Chatting
_________________

[lordsmurf]

GuidePlus was neat when I first got ATI in 2001, but I switched to DirecTV a few months later, and since then, GuidePlus is just another thing on my computer I never use (sort of like MS Paint and MS Backup).

I used it for all of 6 months at most.

It doesn't work for us satellite folks.

[jason]

Does anyone have any suggestions as to good media center software?

I have an ATI All-in-wonder 7500 video card with a good dell computer. I am looking into making it a media center for my home theater, rather than spend the money on a whole new PC.

Also I am looking for a PVR that works with Directv because this Guide Plus does not.

Thanks in advance,

Jason

[presto]

I have the same card. I like Beyond TV but the quality of the captures was not as good as I get with MMC. I wish I could use Beyond TV to schedule and MMC to capture.

[jason]

It works with Directv as well?