Cannot Delete a TV Program (1 Viewer)

[David Abineri]

Sorry to trouble you again but my single seat MP with a Colossus that refuses to record. I am attaching an error file (I shortened it from a 5MB file since it seems to repeat the same message) that mentions a long file name but I do not provide these names. Also attached is a log from the system.

I hope this tells something about the issue. Many thanks, Dave

 

[Vasilich]

i guess some of those

D:\TimeShift\15 WBRADT\The This Old House Hour\The This Old House Hour - 2014-07-05 - SEP00767410 - E1209 - This Old House_ A New Project in Arlington, MA; Ask This Old House_ Demonstrating Uses for a Router; Replacing an Air Conditioning Unit.ts

D:\TimeShift\15 WBRADT\The This Old House Hour\The This Old House Hour - 2013-10-18 - SEP00767410 - E1203 - Getting to Work; Ask This Old House -- Replacing a Kitchen Faucet With a Hands-Free Model; Installing
a Channel Drain to Divert Rainwater.ts

D:\TimeShift\15 WBRADT\The This Old House Hour\The This Old House Hour - 2014-08-09 - SEP00767410 - E1216 - This Old House Italianate Inspiration; Ask This Old House_ Installing a Clawfoot Tub With Shower; Installing a Permanent Fire Escape Ladder.ts


Look in TvServer_tvservice.log - there you see what filenames are too long:

[2014-10-26 19:01:42,305] [Log    ] [TVService] [DEBUG] -  - deleting 'C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal TV Server\thumbs\The This Old House Hour - 2013-11-02 - SEP00767410 - E1205 - Lines in the Sand; Ask This Old House -- Installing a Shade Sail Over a Deck in Santa Fe; Installing a Hybrid Water Heater to Save Energy.jpg'
[2014-10-26 19:01:42,305] [Log    ] [TVService] [ERROR] - RecordingFileHandler: Error while deleting a recording from disk: The specified path, file name, or both are too long. The fully qualified file name must be less than 260 characters, and the directory name must be less than 248 characters.

 

[David Abineri]

Great, now how do I get past this issue and prevent it from happening again?

Should I just delete this files or does the data base need to be used?

Many thanks, Dave

 

[Vasilich]

i would suggest to think about other naming schema for your files
btw the errors are coming mostly from attempts to delete thumbnails for the recordings.

And AFAIK it is enough to delete thumbnails manually.

 

[David Abineri]

As I said, I DO NOT name these files, the system does.

Is it OK to delete them directly from the HD or does the data base need to be involved so as not to cause further problems?

Please spell it out if you would.

Many thanks, Dave[DOUBLEPOST=1414432345][/DOUBLEPOST]Why would the system suddenly start using very long file names? Might it have anything to do with the changes taking place at Schedules Direct, my program listing supplier?

How do I safely correct this situation?

Thanks, Dave

 

[mm1352000]

As I said, I DO NOT name these files, the system does.

Well actually "the system" sets the names of the files based on the recording name pattern/format that YOU choose here:
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...ation/07_Recording#Custom_paths_and_filenames

So in a roundabout way you DO name the files.

Please spell it out if you would.

Use TV Server configuration to modify the recording name pattern/format mentioned above.
Since the %name% (episode name) part seems to be the longest part, try to select a format that doesn't include that part.
That may require you to specify a custom format.

Why would the system suddenly start using very long file names?

As far as I'm concerned "the system" is not to blame, and this could have happened any time. All it takes for this problem to occur is for your EPG data for a program that is scheduled to record to have an unusually long title, season number, episode number or episode name. "The system" doesn't control these things.

Might it have anything to do with the changes taking place at Schedules Direct, my program listing supplier?

Maybe yes... if they're getting longer episode name data; maybe not... if "The This Old House Hour" just happens to have long episode names sometimes.

How do I safely correct this situation?

As above: don't include the episode name in the recording file name pattern/format.

 

[dabineri]

mm, I only blame the system because I have made no changes that affect file names and I have been recording This Old House for a couple of years weekly without incident.

So changing the file name preference is all I need do?

The existing long names will not cause any problems for me?

Also, out of curiosity is it going to cause problems if I delete programs already recorded in terms perhaps of creating an inconsistency with the database if something suddenly disappears?

Thanks again.

Dave

 

[mm1352000]

mm, I only blame the system because I have made no changes that affect file names and I have been recording This Old House for a couple of years weekly without incident.

Well, you may not have had problems but I'm aware of other people that have with that exact same show:
https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/a-very-strange-repeatable-occurance.102107/

Like I said: I don't blame the system.

So changing the file name preference is all I need do?

Yes.

The existing long names will not cause any problems for me?

In relation to recordings...???
It doesn't matter if there are long episode names in the EPG data. You won't have problems as long as you don't attempt to use them in recording file names, which is why I suggested to fix the file name pattern/format.

If you're referring to something else then please be more specific.

Also, out of curiosity is it going to cause problems if I delete programs already recorded in terms perhaps of creating an inconsistency with the database if something suddenly disappears?

No, not if you delete the recordings from within MediaPortal, because both the database entry and the recording file are deleted.
Yes, if you delete recording files on the file system then MP/TV Server won't notice that. In other words: recordings that you've deleted would still be listed in the "recorded TV" section, and MP would understandably fail to play one of them if you happened to try to do that. If you do that by mistake then you can use the "clean up" function to delete database entries for recordings that no longer exist in the file system (ie. you deleted the TS file).

Regards,
mm

 

[dabineri]

Thank you for your answers.

I went to the TV server file name specification and it is set at TITLE - CHANNEL - DATE. As I look at the long names in question it seems to be the EPISODE name that is causing this issue as I have older programs recorded as "This Old House -15 WRADT - 2013 03 11" which I presume is the title,channel and date.

So sometime about last March it started using long file names (episode description) for only this program. This was well before any issues of changes at Schedules Direct.

Is there any explanation for how this could have happened for just one program title and not all the others I was recording?

On deleting or changing file names using win explorer will this still enable the data base to find these programs when I want to replay them?

Thanks yet again, Dave

 

[mm1352000]

I went to the TV server file name specification and it is set at TITLE - CHANNEL - DATE.

You're looking at the "movie" format when the problem is with the "series" format.

So sometime about last March it started using long file names (episode description) for only this program. This was well before any issues of changes at Schedules Direct.

Is there any explanation for how this could have happened for just one program title and not all the others I was recording?

You're really asking the wrong person.

For a start, you can see from the link I posted that people have experienced the problem with this program since as far back as 2011.

I'm sure changes happen behind the scenes at SchedulesDirect and their upstream provider (Gracenote, formerly Tribune Media Services) all the time. There are surely other people and organisations further up the chain that input/control the EPG data too. I do not know if or when something was changed, what was changed or who was responsible. All I know is that MP/TV Server is the last link in the chain. We do not change the EPG data format or content.

On deleting or changing file names using win explorer will this still enable the data base to find these programs when I want to replay them?

No. You will have to reimport the recordings if you change the names or move the files.
http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...er_Configuration/07_Recording#Database_import