MP2.2.2, understanding movies/videos/tv and WTV recordings. (2 Viewers)

ajmo

Portal Member
December 13, 2019
18
0
78
Home Country
United Kingdom United Kingdom
From a beginner seeking further help. OK so my tv recordings go into default location and appear on the TV menu. Also if I copy wtv files and import into said folder they also appear under TV with their description meta data visible on scrolling.
So happy with that I set up a data source to connect to a NAS that had/is being used to store my collection of WTV recordings. I categorise that source as videos films and series. However none of the recordings appear under TV but rather under videos where they are simply a list with no metadata. I have tried to configure this source as Movies, Series (as is the default TV case) but the UI prevents this combination.

So what is this movies/videos/series thing all about?
How do I fix where my NAS data appears?
And what about series, how does MP know that a program is a series? Simply from the way the recording had been setup or from metadata or pure magic???

Finally, with lots of help from you guys, having got this all going my plan is to replicate the setup i use with MS media centre. Namely recordings will be made to a local drive and then at midnight they will be moved to the NAS using Robocopy. This will be done prior to the midnight MP sync that should pick up the relocation of any affected recordings. Why do i do this? Well the pc, aerial amp etc all run off a low power UPS thus avoiding power glitch problems.. The NAS is raided and is not on the UPS, but affords the level of resilience that I feel is adequate for tv programs. Can Anyone see a problem with this approach?

Thanks.
 

HTPCSourcer

Retired Team Member
  • Premium Supporter
  • May 16, 2008
    11,418
    2,335
    Home Country
    Germany Germany
    From a beginner seeking further help.
    Hi ajmo.I thought about replying in detail to your points, but then I wonder if you had the chance to take a look at out Wiki where the concept of media sources is explained in depth. The automatic importer is doing no magic but simply parses the file names that contain the information needed to read the respective data from online sources. See Series and Movies for naming conventions.

    Namely recordings will be made to a local drive and then at midnight they will be moved to the NAS using Robocopy.
    That is not enough as you need to have appropriate filenames. The TV Recording function will most likely not produce unambiguous file names and therefore manual intervention is probably needed if you want to enjoy the advertised capabilities of MP2's integrated movies and series management.

    By the way, have you considered to record directly to the NAS?
     

    CyberSimian

    Test Group
  • Team MediaPortal
  • June 10, 2013
    2,849
    1,771
    Southampton
    Home Country
    United Kingdom United Kingdom
    And what about series, how does MP know that a program is a series? Simply from the way the recording had been setup or from metadata or pure magic???
    Windows 7 Media Center offered true series recording, where each series had a unique id that WMC could use to record only those episodes that were in the selected series. In this way it was possible to distinguish series "n" of "The Big Bang Theory" from series "m" of "The Big Bang Theory".

    Sadly, neither MP1 nor MP2 offer true series recording. Instead, they offer various flavours of repeated recording, where the programmes to record are based on matching the programme title. Incidentally, this is the way that Vista Meda Center did series recording. (I used Vista WMC for five years.)

    "TV Server" supports 6-7 different flavours of repeated recording, and you need to select the one that will come closest to recording only the programmes that you want. I find that "weekly on this day" the most useful. This fixes the day of the week, but does not fix the time of day (so the programme can move around from one week to the next).

    In the UK, some broadcasters prefix the title with "New:", and this can be useful for recording only the current season, and avoiding earlier seasons. But this is not necessarily done consistently, so you need to check each week that the programmes that you expect to record are actually scheduled to record.

    The UK broadcast EPG includes binary series ids and binary episode ids, so it would be possible for "TV Server" to support true series recording, but sadly this enhancement is not "in plan", and not even on the horizon. (It is the one enhancement that might entice me to move from MP1 to MP2.)

    I cannot answer your other questions.

    -- from CyberSimian in the UK
     

    ajmo

    Portal Member
    December 13, 2019
    18
    0
    78
    Home Country
    United Kingdom United Kingdom
    Thank you both for your comprehensive replies. I feel guilty that i didn't find the relevant part of the wiki regarding media sources. My apologies in delayed reply.

    Firstly HTPSourcerer I ill follow up the wiki. On your comments, I was planning to use record date/time in the filename similar to the way MediaCentre that should at least address the unique filename issue. Regarding recording to NAS i rejected that option, because it is vulnerable to power transients that would affect the network, the MC PC and mast amp are on ups as previously noted.

    Regarding CyberSimian's comments, i tend not to keep whole series and if I do it is in a manually administrated area. Your comments about the word "New" in a title are well made. Also some channels (BBC) note the episode in the meta data others (ITV) do not. Regarding your comments about multiple series in general adding the recorded date to the title would in most cases address the issue. Not fool proof i agree but something.

    Thanks again, I'll take a look at that wiki over the weekend.

    Merry Christmas!
     

    HTPCSourcer

    Retired Team Member
  • Premium Supporter
  • May 16, 2008
    11,418
    2,335
    Home Country
    Germany Germany
    HTPSourcerer
    Maybe I should change my forum name from "HTPCSourcer" to "MP2Sorcerer"

    I was planning to use record date/time in the filename similar to the way MediaCentre that should at least address the unique filename issue.
    Not necessarily. For example I was adding a new season to a series called "Trapped". If you search for it you will find several entries, the correct one being "Trapped (2015)". The recording date would be rather misleading.
     

    ajmo

    Portal Member
    December 13, 2019
    18
    0
    78
    Home Country
    United Kingdom United Kingdom
    I had skimmed the wiki article and have now read it thoroughly. So begging your patience, my problem is that my archive of WTV recordings on a NAS for which I have created a media source do not appear in the recordings section of the UI but in the Videos section where they lack any visible meta data.
    The TV setup wiki in the section "Hint to Former WMC users" implies the possibility of multiple recordings folders. I cant seem to find a way of doing this unless it just refers to the configurable sub-folders of the main configured recordings folder. Why is it not possible to create a media source with the characteristics and behaviour of the recordings source?
    I have tried creating a symlink from the recordings folder to the NAS to no avail and a junction point is not possible on a unc share or mapped drive, so kind of giving up ......
    .......unless there is a wizard available to conjure up a magic spell.....Seriously, apologies.
     

    HTPCSourcer

    Retired Team Member
  • Premium Supporter
  • May 16, 2008
    11,418
    2,335
    Home Country
    Germany Germany
    Thank you, I now better understand what you want to achieve.

    Why is it not possible to create a media source with the characteristics and behaviour of the recordings source?
    The recording functionality for TV shows is linked to the TV plugin, which stores its data in an own database. In essence MP2 adopted the existing MP1 TV service and integrated it into MP2 as a standard plugin without going through the (immense) task to also integrate the data management into the standard MP2 database.

    The TV setup wiki in the section "Hint to Former WMC users" implies the possibility of multiple recordings folders.
    Correct. The key to the secret is to understand that each tuner in MediaPortal can have its own dedicated recording folder - they don't need to be the same for all. If your system info is correct you als have two analogue DVB-T tuners, and hopefully you don't need them both.
    • Open the TV Configuration
      • Remove all channel mappings that you may have set for this particular tuner
      • In Recordings go to the Folder tab and select the same tuner from the dropdown menu and enter the NAS path in the Recording folder field. Make sure that you don't click "SAme recording folder for all cards"!
      • Close the TV Configuration with OK
    • Restart the MP2 Server Service
    If you now take a look at your shares in the settings, you'll notice that a second recording folder Recordings(2) has been automatically created. Verify that the share watcher is active. You can also trigger a manual import if you don't yet see your wtv files in your client.
     

    ajmo

    Portal Member
    December 13, 2019
    18
    0
    78
    Home Country
    United Kingdom United Kingdom
    Thanks, have followed your suggestions and created a separate recording folder for one of the analogue tuners. It appears in the client screen under media sources and I did a manual import which (encouragingly) took a while to complete, but the recordings on the NAS still didn't appear in the TV part of the UI.
    So I then edited the source to be Movie and Series media types as shown on the first recording folder. Re imported same result.
    Any further thoughts?
     

    ajmo

    Portal Member
    December 13, 2019
    18
    0
    78
    Home Country
    United Kingdom United Kingdom
    PS the NAS source is visible in 'folder view'
     

    HTPCSourcer

    Retired Team Member
  • Premium Supporter
  • May 16, 2008
    11,418
    2,335
    Home Country
    Germany Germany
    So I then edited the source to be Movie and Series media types as shown on the first recording folder.
    My recordings folder shows the setting "Videos".

    Do you now see two recordings folders?
     

    Users who are viewing this thread

    Top Bottom