TV Server Plugin: TvWishList (2 Viewers)

[huha]

New test version 1.2.1.6

Folks,
I have developed a new debug environment, which identified a lot of bugs. There has been a major update in the algorithm with
- improved episode management
- improved series, episode number filter
- detection of repeated schedules
- many bug fixes (e.g. for changed EPG data)
and many things more.
As the changes have been major i need help on testing from the community before releasing the new version.
Attached is the test version.
Please note that I put also many updates in the manual.
greetings, huha

Update: old test version removed

 

[foxbenw]

preferred group and duplicate rules per wish! excellent. haven't tried it yet, but i will try removing my HD only rules and using the preferred group instead.
also some of my wishes will use episode name and some will use episode number so i can try that too.
thanks

 

[foxbenw]

Hi
Earlier i deleted all schedules and all stored messages from the settings table in MySQL.
I then ran the new version with preferred group = "HD" for all my wishes.
I have two comments:
1 - it took a very long time! Well, about 10 minutes. Before, after I deleted the messages, it would take no more than 2 minutes.
2 - I now have many duplicates scheduled. It is scheduling recordings that I already have (not scheduling the same program twice from the epg). This seems to be something to do with the preferred group. The log file says "Warning: Program: The Big Bang Theory already recorded, but not in preferred group - will try again" for the duplicates. I can post a log file, but the one that it made using verbose debug is 14mb so it is quite long! If you would like a log I will empty everything and run just one wish later.
Ben

 

[huha]

foxbenw,
yes, i would like to see a log file.
If you have an old recording in a nonpreferred channel group, then TvWishList will schedule again the show if it is on a channel from your specified preferred group. I am not daring to delete any old recordings, so you will end up with two recordings (one new from your preferred group and the old one). So from what you describe it works as expected. I may include a new setting -do not repeat old recordings in the preferred channel group.
- the plugin takes a lot of time with verbose debug on if you have a lot of messages or schedules. But please do not turn it off for the first time of testing.
greetings, huha

 

[foxbenw]

Hi
Logs attached
View attachment 98735

I had to run it twice, because the first time I only enabled one wish and the error did not occur. The log for that one is TVWishList 2.log, and no programs were scheduled, which is correct.

Then I enabled all wishes, and the error occured again, starting with the second wish. It is the same program as in the wish I ran first, so no programs should have been recorded. That is the larger log file. I copied the log file before it had finished running so it is incomplete. If you need the whole file let me know.
Ben

Edit: I just ran it for a third time after moving the same wish to the top in the table. No errors occured in that wish. It seems like the first one is working and not the rest.

 

[huha]

foxbenw,
what i saw so far:
1) you have used ">8" for filterseriesnumber. Change it to only the number "8". The algorithm will automatically search for numbers larger or equal 8.

2) It tries to reschedule all your existing recordings again with hd quality specified in xyour preferred group. I will include a switch for ignoring existing recordings and only apply to new schedules

3) you found a bug with the preferred schedules. Can you run again with1.2.1.7 (attached) and post your logfile?

update: deleted file

 

[foxbenw]

Hello
1) ok, I have changed that. I originally had it in the SQL expression and had just switched it over.
2) I understand. However I imagine it would seem more intuitive if preferred group only applied to new schedules and the switch enabled 're-record existing programs in preferred group'. I guess most people using it will want to prefer HD over other channels in the epg. Eg what happens a lot these days is that we see the same program on three times within an hour. channel sd, channel sd +1, and channel hd. This will be my most common usage for preferred group, but I will also want to replace some older recordings with hd if they are aired.
3)this ran more like I expected. No duplicates and no repeated old programs. However I noticed 2 issues:
A) it did not schedule any recordings from the preferred group, even though there are some that it should have (episodes already recorded in non-preferred group).
B) my schedule called 'whitechapel' is not returning anything. The epg data has no episode name or number but it is a series. I have tried using 'default' and 'none' for the duplicate management, but both return nothing. When I took off the 'skip repeated episodes' flag, it scheduled everything, including repeats. Is this due to the blank episode name and number? I have 'skip repeated episodes' checked for all of my wishes currently. Perhaps this caused a) to happen as well. I did not have time to test it without.
I will post a log later from the first run I did.
Ben

edit: log from earlier
View attachment TvWishList - Copy.zip

 

[haerke]

Huha,

thanks for the immediate answer and sorry for not giving feedback earlier. I struggled with TvWishList not starting at all (configuration not possible because of some 'gentle' error in a framework). Since it has been solved by completely removing and installing it again, it isn't important anyway.

haerke,
1) TvWishList is a MediaPortal plugin and will only show up in the plugins.
Some skin designers may have modified their skins to place TvWishList into the TV menu, but this needs to be asked for from the skin designers.

I understand. I'm not sure, what happened, but "something" has renamed the original MediaPortal tv plugin dll (to backup or old) and placed something like a very small (about 4kb) "dummy" file. I would suspect 4tr.
I deleted the "dummy" file and renamed the original file back and everything is fine now.

2) For that I need to see your logfiles (TvWishListMP.log)

Thanks for the offer, but no need to. Problem is also solved - either by re-installing TvWishList or renaming the .dll mentioned above.

Whatever: thanks for the fast feedback!

 

[huha]

foxbenw,
a big thanks for the log, but (hopefully only) one more to go
2) i will change that
3A) this was a bug. please try again 1.2.1.8 (attached) and post your logfile
3B) i suspect you had description turned off in the general settings for detecing repeated episodes and only number and name checked.
A blank episode name or number will match to any episode schedule or recording. So you had two recordings for 'whitechapel' without numbers, one of them was HD. So if the algorithm did not check for description (suspect you turned it off) then it found always the recorded hd episode and did not schedule any new one.

haerke, I am glad it worked out for you.
Greetings, huha

 

[foxbenw]

Hi
Some things didn't work still (or maybe they did - you can decide!):

1 No programs scheduled where they have already been recorded in a non-preferred group and are in the epg in a preferred group. Same as 3A above. My first wish (The Big Bang Theory) has some examples but does not appear anywhere in the log file so I assume it is being filtered out during the initial query.
(Or maybe you changed the default behaviour already so that it doesn't do this? If so, it works!)

2 My Episode Name filters did not work correctly. If you search for "EpisodeName=Pilot" in the log file, the show that it finds has already been recorded (the first episode of American Dad). It also happens with other wishes I have that use episode name as the override. However, perhaps this is because i now have 'description' ticked in the default? I looked, and the description in the epg is different to the old xml file from the recording (but episode name and # are the same). So perhaps this is also working correctly!

Otherwise, a few general comments, which are possibly related to the above.

a I do not understand what 'none' is for in the epsiode criteria. Isn't this the same as unchecking 'skip repeated episodes'?

b I suspect that 'description' still comes from the default setting if one of the new episode criteria are used? I wonder if the drop down box called 'episode criteria' should be three check boxes and one text box instead? One check box for each of 'skip identical descriptions', 'skip identical episode numbers', skip identical episode names', and a text box for 'skip repeat identifier'. Perhaps they can also be filled automatically from the default settings (like pre record and post record) instead of having the extra check box called 'skip repeated episodes'? Having 'skip repeated episodes' unchecked would then become 3 unchecked boxes and a blank text field.
This way the default behaviour will not change but we could choose to ignore different episode names, or episode numbers, or descriptions as we please. In the UK we get some series that have no episode numbers but they do have titles. We also get some with no titles or epsiode numbers. We also get the same program using two different descriptions if they are on different channels! (like American Dad! 1.1 Pilot above) so several different combinations are relevant. The other solution is for all possible combinations to go into the dropdown box for episode criteria, but I think there are 16 different combinations using the 4 different checks...

c A small point, but before this happened I would have guessed that empty or blank episode number/name/description matched to none, not all.
This is because I would guess it is better to record too many programs rather than too few. There's nothing worse than missing a show you wanted to record. Well, ok, there is, but it's a bit annoying! Deleting files is easy.

Thanks, though. I really like both of these improvements. Sorry for another long reply
Ben

Log file attached.
View attachment TvWishList2.zip