Question About Recording Only "New" Shows (1 Viewer)

[SusieQT]

OK so I've finally got everything setup & am ready to migrate from Media Center. Channels and EPG are setup (mc2xml). (Phew!)

I'm trying to record my shows, and some of them should be set to record only new episodes. Good example: The Daily Show. This thing comes on 3-4 times per day, and will go on hiatus for a week or more at a time. I only want to record a new episode. I don't want to do it by time, since sometimes I'll record something else at 11pm. Additionally that'd be grabbing episodes from weeks when they aren't live. And forget it when a series I'm recording does a marathon (Top Model, I'm looking at you).

Anyway it appears there is a plugin that handled this (4th record - but their url isn't active anymore), but was a bear to install. Just curious what ways there are to do this. :-D

 

[gonzo90017]

You need to setup mc2xml to mark New Shows with an *

Once activated. New shows will have an * next to it's name:
The Big Bang Theory *

Reruns will not contain an asterisk:
The Big Bang Theory

 

[RonD]

Adding a bit more to gonzo's comment. If you use mc2xml/xmltv you can also use a command line option to add the " *" to the program name. With the command line you can use -a to mark new episodes with a " *" or use -b to mark all repeats with a " *". see http://mc2xml.hosterbox.net/

Once you get your EPG setup with this option your recordings will now use the " *" as part of the series Title. For example if you search Title for "Big Bang" you get 2 recording options

The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory *

You can use this to control if you record new episodes or repeats. In my case I had a number of Series set to record without the " *", I used the -b option to mark repeats and will only record new episodes. If you want to record all episodes, you need to setup 2 recordings, one with "The Big Bang Theory" (new) and a 2nd with "The Big Bang Theory *" (repeats). Not sure how TV Series will deal with the " *" for repeats. I had not noticed this option before, thanks gonzo.

 

[mr_poopyhead]

am i doing something wrong here?

since
Big Bang Theory
Big Bang Theory *

show up as two separate schedules, if i schedule the first set of episodes to record, then MP doesn't record the new episodes, only the reruns
now i have to tell MP to record the reruns, AND the new episodes as well... is there a way to record all episodes new and old?

"record every time on this channel" doesn't work because MP considers Big Band Theory and Big Bang Theory to be different shows... weird

 

[RonD]

Bottom line, with the mc2xml "-a/-b" option you need to setup 2 recordings "Title" and "Title *" if you want to record all new/repeat shows. With TV Series you see all shows as "Title", in TV > Recordings you see 2 folders "Title" and "Title *".

MePo and xmltv plugin don't really have integrated support for New/Repeat/All shows. The mc2xml "-a/-b" option is not part of MePo but adds an useful option to control how MePo records New/Repeat shows. Maybe not as clean as I'd like but gets the basic job done.

If you are a coder, maybe you could join the MePo developer team and look into improvements/enhancements. One thing to keep in mind is MePo is used in many countries around the world and few of the developers are in the USA/Canada. Options that work for USA/Canada may not work/apply to other countries and mc2xml is 1 of many ways the MePo gets EPG/tvguide info.