recording programs broadcast in HD & SD (1 Viewer)

scstanton

New Member
May 29, 2014
3
0
Home Country
United States of America United States of America
I'm trying to figure out a way to record programs that are broadcast on multiple channels in both HD and SD formats. The closest option I seem to have is to record every showing on every channel. For example, "The Big Bang Theory" is broadcast on four channels - NBC, NBC HD, TBS, and TBS HD. Is there a way that MP can be smart enough to not record program with identical/repeat program guide info and to prefer HD over SD recordings when simulcast in both formats?
 

mm1352000

Retired Team Member
  • Premium Supporter
  • September 1, 2008
    21,577
    8,224
    Home Country
    New Zealand New Zealand
    Hello and welcome :)

    I'm struggling to understand exactly what you're trying to do.
    It sounds like you prefer HD recordings (as most people do). The part that isn't clear is if you would ever want to record SD, and if so why. An example would help.

    Otherwise if you're only interested in HD I would have thought "record every time on this channel" would be a better choice.

    mm
     

    scstanton

    New Member
    May 29, 2014
    3
    0
    Home Country
    United States of America United States of America
    Hi and thanks for the quick reply.

    You're right that "record every time on this channel" is what might work in most situations; specifically where there is a HD and SD version of the same channel and that is the only channel where your program is broadcast. However in my case the HD program is shown on multiple channels. Selecting one (HD) channel with the above setting would preclude the program from being recorded on the other HD channels. Is there a way I can get a single program to be recorded on multiple HD channels and not on the alternate SD channels?
     

    mm1352000

    Retired Team Member
  • Premium Supporter
  • September 1, 2008
    21,577
    8,224
    Home Country
    New Zealand New Zealand
    Can you not set a "record every time on this channel" for NBC HD and TBS HD?
    If trying to avoid duplicate HD recordings: this is not possible unless your guide data has episode numbers or titles (or at least some way to distinguish episodes that have been recorded before from those that have not), and I'm not sure whether that detection works across schedules. It might, just never tried it.
     

    scstanton

    New Member
    May 29, 2014
    3
    0
    Home Country
    United States of America United States of America
    What I did was this:
    1) TV Menu -> Scheduled Recordings
    2) New -> Search by title
    3) search for "Big Bang Theory", select one of the many results (fyi it would be really nice to see the channel number or name on this results screen)
    4) select "Advanced record"
    4a) if I select "Record every time on this channel", it won't record episodes on the other HD channel
    4b) if I select "Record every time on every channel", it will record duplicate HD and SD episodes

    There doesn't seem to be a way to add a second schedule for the same program on a different channel that I have found.

    Ok, I may have found a solution to my problem. Instead of searching by title, if I go into the program guide at the known air time, I can add a second schedule for the same program. In this case I have to add separate rules to record the program on each of the HD channels I want.

    It would be really nice if I could search for a program and have it record "new episodes", "all episodes" (new + rerun) and whether to prefer HD recordings or SD recordings. From what I've read this may be dependent on guide data - I'm coming from MythTV with SchedulesDirect so I'm not sure what the MP limitations are here.
     

    mm1352000

    Retired Team Member
  • Premium Supporter
  • September 1, 2008
    21,577
    8,224
    Home Country
    New Zealand New Zealand
    Ok, I may have found a solution to my problem. Instead of searching by title, if I go into the program guide at the known air time, I can add a second schedule for the same program. In this case I have to add separate rules to record the program on each of the HD channels I want.
    Exactly - separate rules. :)

    It would be really nice if I could search for a program and have it record "new episodes", "all episodes" (new + rerun) and whether to prefer HD recordings or SD recordings. From what I've read this may be dependent on guide data - I'm coming from MythTV with SchedulesDirect so I'm not sure what the MP limitations are here.
    TV Server can't distinguish between HD and SD. It assumes you will apply the schedule type (ie. by specifying the channel or time) that will give you what you want.
    Refer to my previous comment for new recordings. It may be possible, but it entirely depends on your guide data. TV Server checks whether it has previously recorded the program/episode when it is time to start the recording. If the program/episode is found in the recording database then the recording will be skipped.
     

    CyberSimian

    Test Group
  • Team MediaPortal
  • June 10, 2013
    2,849
    1,771
    Southampton
    Home Country
    United Kingdom United Kingdom
    TV Server checks whether it has previously recorded the program/episode when it is time to start the recording. If the program/episode is found in the recording database then the recording will be skipped.
    I hope that you don't mind me interjecting, but what does TV Server use to decide that a specific broadcast is a repeat of one recorded earlier?

    In the UK it is not uncommon to find that a repeat has an EPG description that is different from the original broadcast (usually not greatly different, just slightly re-worded). And there are some programmes that have identical EPG descriptions even though the programmes are all different (for example, the "Newsnight" programme is a daily current-affairs programme that always has the same EPG description, even though the content is always different). Would TV Server correctly not-record repeats of the former, and correctly record all occurrences of the latter?

    Aside: the UK broadcast EPG contains unique series ids and programme ids, so in principle it is possible to identify definitively whether a programme has already been recorded; does TV Server use this information?

    -- from CyberSimian in the UK
     

    wjw

    Portal Pro
    July 13, 2008
    380
    44
    Home Country
    United Kingdom United Kingdom
    TV Server checks whether it has previously recorded the program/episode when it is time to start the recording. If the program/episode is found in the recording database then the recording will be skipped.

    My experience is that this is only true if the program/episode has not yet been watched. If it has then it will be recorded again. There is also the snag that TVServer will see the tuner for that program as allocated right up until the time that the check that mm135200 describes is made. This means that you can't set up any recordings for other programs on that tuner.

    As far as I've found, only the TVWishlist plugin copes with this. I'm also in the UK and I use the Alan Birtles grabber to get the Radio Times data. This gives me series and episode numbers which TVWishlist uses in conjunction with data in the recordings database to sort things out. Works for me - very very few failures.
     

    mm1352000

    Retired Team Member
  • Premium Supporter
  • September 1, 2008
    21,577
    8,224
    Home Country
    New Zealand New Zealand
    I hope that you don't mind me interjecting, but what does TV Server use to decide that a specific broadcast is a repeat of one recorded earlier?
    Episode title or number:
    http://wiki.team-mediaportal.com/1_...V-Server/Configuration/07_Recording#Scheduler

    In the UK it is not uncommon to find that a repeat has an EPG description that is different from the original broadcast (usually not greatly different, just slightly re-worded). And there are some programmes that have identical EPG descriptions even though the programmes are all different (for example, the "Newsnight" programme is a daily current-affairs programme that always has the same EPG description, even though the content is always different). Would TV Server correctly not-record repeats of the former, and correctly record all occurrences of the latter?
    The description is not used.
    Aside: the UK broadcast EPG contains unique series ids and programme ids, so in principle it is possible to identify definitively whether a programme has already been recorded; does TV Server use this information?
    Not the series ID... but potentially the episode ID, depending on your guide data source and method of importing it into TV Server.
     

    Users who are viewing this thread

    Top Bottom