Recording DVB-T radio programs

[gloomyandy]

I'm sure this must have been asked before but I can't find it with a search...

Is it possible to use MP to record DVB-T radio programs. I can listen to them, the radio guide seems to be loaded fine, but as far as I can see it is not possible to schedule a recording... Have I missed something? Is this planned? Is there some reason why this can't be done (other than time/more important things to do - I understand that may be the case!).

All the best

Andy

PS I really like the new TVServer. Already seems way better than the old. Have been using it now as my main system and will not be going back...

[Nicachu]

If someone could come up with a way of recording DVB-T radio it would be really cool.

Ta.

[LabRatt]

The simple answer - yes. I was overjoyed when I figured it out, as to me it was the one thing really missing from MediaPortal. I'll make a disclaimer - what works for me might not work for you. I've just reinstalled from scratch and it still works, but that's no guarantee.

However part of urges not to reveal the secret, for two reasons: first, I kinda like being the only person who knows how, and second (most important) I get the feeling this is one of those "features" that's by accident rather than design and I worry that if it becomes common knowledge then one of the developers will decide to "fix" it.

Anyway, the not so simple answer. First, make sure that you've got the TVServer grabbing EPG data for the radio channels. This might be possible if you can load the radio EPG from a file, but don't count on it. If it is, then I don't see any reason this wouldn't work for analog channels too, but I don't have an analog card so again don't count on it.

So, you've got the radio EPG loaded and can browse through it in the "My Radio" screen? On to the next step in this needlessly complicated business - make a note of the programme you want to record and go to "My TV". Click Search, make sure you're listing by title rather than genre (to list everything) and scroll down the list (or hold shift and start typing) until you find the programme you're after. Select it and schedule a recording, even though it's on the radio. It'll be listed in scheduled recordings, and you'll get the recording light when it's in action, and thereafter it'll be treated as TV - you'll have to "watch" it from the "Recorded TV" screen, but it works for me. It's recorded as a TS with one stream (MP2), which is easily demuxed with ProjectX and trimmed with Audacity (that's what I do with my recordings).

Why does this work? If you look at the database you see the answer. All the channels, radio and TV, are stored in the "Channel" and "TuningDetail" tables, each with two binary fields: "isRadio" and "isTV". Each channel has an index number (BBC7 is number 26 for me) in both these tables. The EPG data is all stored in another table, Program, and has nothing to indicate whether the channel (referenced only by that number) is Radio or TV. Similarly for the schedules, the only link to the channels is that number. So we've really got two "bugs" (please devs, don't fix 'em) - the EPG search doesn't include "WHERE isRadio=False" (or something like), and neither does the recorder. They just store the channel ID and use the ID to lookup the tuning information, respectively.

[SciDoctor]

The method above is what I have used for some time, started using it by accident and it works well.

What is realy needed is a fix to the GUI so that recording options are present in the RADIO section

OR the option to have the RADIO stations listed in the TV section, under a GROUP sort with their respective EPG aswell.

OR whatever the DEVS had planned for the RADIO section.

Everything looks as though it is in place with the TVSERVICE side and only the GUI is lacking.

Forgot to mention that you will need to put your RADIO logos in the TV logos folder for them to appear in the GUI on most GUI pages.(probably a bug )