How do I adjust for Daylight Savings Time in the ControlReady playlists?
A: This depends on the version of ControlReady (for DOS or for Windows) that you are using. Follow the suggestions below, as there are several ways to deal with the time change.
Daylight Savings Time
Spring—clocks move ahead one hour and the 2 am hour is lost.
You can save any changes you make by saving the adjusted playlist with a unique name for the following year.
If using Windows, the computer clock should be set to automatically adjust the time for Daylight Savings Time.
If you have a Clock playlist to set the computer clock with a closure from the satellite, you want it to skip setting the clock at 2 am. Delete the “Set Clock” line from the playlist, and then add it back in before the next week.
If using a DOS computer, you can use the Set Clock command. At the end of the 1 am hour or beginning of 2 am hour, enter a Set Clock command and have it set it to 03:00:00.
If you are using a Be Here At command, the playlist should respond to this and move to the Be Here At 03:00:00 when Windows adjusts the time. If you want to be sure it moves forward, after the Be Here At 02:00:00, enter a GoTo command and send the automation to the sequence line that the 3 am hour starts on. Remove that line before the next weekend.
If you are using a Wait Until command, enter a GoTo command and send the automation to the sequence line that the 3 am hour starts on. Remove that line before the next weekend.
If you are scheduling programs, just do not schedule any programs for the 2 am hour. The playlist will then go from the 1 am hour to the 3 am hour.
Fall—clocks move back one hour, and there is an extra hour at 2 am.
Be very careful with any commands that include a time in them (If Time, Be Here At, Wait For Channel, Wait Until, Set Clock). Our programs will not read the first 1 am hour (Daylight Savings Time), and any command with a time parameter in the 1 am hour will be seen as that time in the second 1 am hour (Standard Time).
Add any new programming between the Midnight and 1 am hour, as this is where the special programming should be. The times in the original 1 am hour will be recognized.
You can save any changes you make by saving the adjusted playlist with a unique name for the following year.
If using Windows, the computer clock should be set to automatically adjust the time for Daylight Savings Time.
If you have a Clock playlist to set the computer clock with a closure from the satellite, you should have it skip the command to set the clock in the 1 am hour. When the Windows clock is reset in the 1 am hour on that Sunday, it assumes that is the Daylight Savings Time 1 am hour. You can not set the computer clock to Standard Time in the 1 am hour. To skip the Set Clock command, either remove the lines to set the clock, or add a GoTo line above the command to have it jump down to the commands to set the clock in the 2 am hour.
If you are using a Be Here At command, be aware that it will only be looking at the Standard Time 1 am hour. The command will wait until the second 1 am hour (Standard Time), and will not be recognized in the Daylight Savings Time 1 am hour. Add the additional hour of programming above the current 1 am hour, without a Be Here At command. You should try to time the hour out to get as close to 60 minutes as you can. Remove the extra hour of programming before the next weekend.
If your are using Wait Until commands, you will want to remove these from the new hour of programming. The playlist will wait until the Standard Time 1 am hour.
If you are scheduling programs, schedule an extra hour of programming for the 1 am hour, without any commands containing time parameters. Remove the extra programming before the next weekend.
If you are using Wait For Channel commands, you can use those in the new hour of programming, but you must watch the time windows. You can set the “Not Active Before” parameter to be in the Midnight hour, so it will start to look at the channel in the Daylight Savings Time 1 am hour. As long as the relay closures come in, the command should work to get the relay closure and advance. If the relay closure does not come in, the command will wait until the Standard Time 1 am hour when looking at the “If After” time parameter.
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