TWC Navigator Guide Tips and Tricks

[Jack 1000]

Navigator Tip: How to Keep Shows From Cutting off Beginning and End Times

I used to have that problem from time to time. Passport always seemed to start about a minute early without doing anything so that users would not miss programs as the default setting. However, sometimes the guide data from the head-end or the station management will run things by starting them early or ending them later. In that instance, it's not a Navigator issue but a station issue. The industry is seeing more and more shows with start times that are not on the direct time listed in many IPG's.

For example, if there is a good episode of Malcolm in the Middle, whether I record it off of my local Fox station syndicated, or FX, or Teen Nick the show always starts about 2-3 minutes BEFORE the actual time of the scheduled start. And to combat this, there's no way around it other than to add additional time by starting the show before it begins. In Navigator for "Malcolm" I will always do:

Record Show With Options

Change Start Time/Start two minutes early than usually
Change End Time/End two minutes later.

I pad the start and stop times for just about everything, not so much because of Navigator, but the tons of stations that no longer in this day and age start a show "Directly on the hour or half-hour as scheduled."

Any movie planned to record I give two extra minutes before start time and five minutes after the end time.

***TIP: NAVIGATOR USERS*******

If you have two shows that are back to back in the grid and you want to record both, DON'T just select record this show twice in the grid, sometimes that will cause cut-off. What you need to do is just extend the end time of the first program. Here is an example.

Suppose The Simpsons is on your local Fox syndicate from 6-6:30 and Family Guy is on from 6:30-7, but you want to record both of them. They are back to back on the same channel.

1.) Find The Simpson's in the IPG.

2.) Select "Record This Show" WITH OPTIONS.

3.) Select "Adjust Start Time" to "2 minutes early"

4.) Select "Adjust End Time" to "30 minutes later."

5.) Enter the Recording.

You have now selected BOTH shows to record. Navigator THINKS that it's just one show block, so when that 6:30 start time for Family Guy begins there will be no break in the recording. I do this all the time and it works great!

As long as both tuners are not busy you should have no problem recording two shows at once. Use the overlap method described above and remember to add a few minutes of early start time and early end time for shows that are important to you. This helped me a lot!

Jack

[oz]

Good tips, but what a pain!  I wonder if TWC will ever adjust their listings on the fly, so when football runs long it will automatically adjust the rest of the lineup?