UK Users: Freeview+ type features (1 Viewer)

[mkjustuk]

Apologies, I missed your original mention of 4TR. For the late notice changes, if the EPG is updated before or during a recording 4TR will catch it, but otherwise it won't. It doesn't currently use CRID as it's a UK Freeview only method I believe but it has been raised to the dev team (check on the 4TR forums). For accurate recording flags, I have padding set to -2 and +5 which has never yet missed the start of ending of a recording. Also, as 4TR/MP allow multiple channels to be recorded (rather than the usual PVR box limitations of 2 simultaneous) at once, if you have a couple of tuners the padding doesn't get in the way of overlapping programmes. As MP allows +15 sec, +30 sec skipping, I can quickly get to or back to the very start of the programme if the padding wasn't ideal. I also have it set to start a programme from 2 mins in, in theory dovetailing with the padding but if the programme started early, it allows me to skip back -1 min say if required as an exception.

For the series link, 4TR stores the details of all recordings and so it knows if something is new or not and this works flawlessly. The downside is that series across channels will can get recorded more than once where descriptions change or episode indicators are ignored by the channel (5 USA being a culprit!), but I don't think Freeview+ handles this either? As 4TR works by text searches it picks up new series or can 'catch' missed but unrecorded episodes out of sequence, which can be useful. I find the conditional setup of schedules in 4TR to be far more flexible than any Freeview+ box I've seen and reminds of my Toppy and MyStuff days a lot.

 

[noncom]

Thanks for that.

It sounds as if FTR is probably worth trying out for me then. Being able to cope with late notice changes of schedules is good: but in cases where you expect an overrun presumably you can easily and quickly change the default padding for particular recordings (for example a football Cup Final which may run to extra time and penalties could be given 60mins post-padding)?

I didn't realise you could set MP to start 2mins (or whatever the pre-padding is set to) into a recording, and this again, although not quite as neat as using an actual broadcast flag, wouldn't be a huge step backward.

I wonder how long it is since you used MyStuff? The change from v5 to v6 was considerable, introducing the new "PowerSearch" feature. That combines the best attributes of Text-based searching and Freeview+ Series Linking to produce something better than either on their own. In the case of a series being shown on multiple channels, what happens depends on the CRID given to them by the broadcaster. Almost always, it can tell that the episodes are the same even though the Series ID is different, and only record one. In the event that the CRID is so different that it tries to record the same series twice, you can exclude a series with a single command. Is it possible (or easy) to do this sort of thing in MP/FTR?

Thanks for your help again. I'll try some investigating with MP's TV recording and FTR. Unfortunately due to my job situation, plans to invest in the hardware for a dedicated HTPC are on hold at the moment, but it'd be good to be in a position to proceed with confidence if things change!

Cheers
noncom

 

[mkjustuk]

Hi noncom, yes it's well worth reading through the 4TR manual it's quite easy to see the features in there. On the padding side, you set a default of how new schedules should be handled including any auto-delete settings, but when you are creating a schedule you can then also alter the padding and keep settings along with priority for each one. I can't remember how to setup the 'skip padding' start as it's been so long - in fact it could even be that 4TR is managing that via the plugin on playback.

I had 6.2/6.3 on MyStuff if I remember rightly - PowerSearches were very good but I can honestly say that 4TR and MP have not left me wanting since switching off the Toppy just over a year ago and all the features of web control, virtually unlimited simultaneous recordings, HD, network access to burn to disc/watch on the laptop, integrated movie library and online video options for iPlayer etc are mouthwatering when you start.

CRID specifically is useful, but despite some issues with the plethora of CSI repeats on the Channel 5 channels, 4TR scheduling has always kept pace, picking up dropped episodes on the rare occasions, ignoring repeats etc. I think with the right tweaking of the schedule options, you don't really need CRID/Freeview+ for catching recordings, but I agree could be ideal for late changing or overrunning programmes - I don't record many (F1 as the exception) but the tennis final yesterday was a classic example of it being an issue.

 

[Paranoid Delusion]

I didn't realise you could set MP to start 2mins (or whatever the pre-padding is set to) into a recording, and this again, although not quite as neat as using an actual broadcast flag, wouldn't be a huge step backward.

But then you use comskip to remove the adverts and padding, so hopefully only the show is then seen

 

[wjw]

You might also want to look at the TVWishListMP plugin https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/tv-server-plugins-294/tv-server-plugin-tvwishlist-76506/. This handles sheduling etc. really well and is completely integrated into MP. There remains an issue with repeat handling, largely down the the fact that that although in the UK the BBC Radio Times feed does actually contain the data field to show whether its a repeat (actually it's the "previously shown" field) the MP grabber does not include this because there's no field for it the SQL database. If this could be fixed.......! This would allow some very sophisticated scheduling to happen - for instance don't record if it's been on in the last 6 months but do if it hasn't been on for 2 years.

As far as over-runnning programmes are concerned I have my system set to add 15 mins to "standard" record time - on the very few occasions when this hasn't been enough I find that that the broadcaster will have canceled the programme anyway - in which case the WishList plugin will catch it next time it appears in the EPG.

 

[Culbin]

OK, I've been using MP/FTR for a while now and I'm getting to love its scheduling after all as I learn more and more. Slowly many of the extra features that Toppy/MyStuff provide are being ticked off the list, and it does provide some features MyStuff lacks.

I've only got one complaint so far and that is days of the week information is completely missing which I think is bizarre. I'm constantly looking at a separate calendar to see for example that the 1st March is a Wednesday. It would make a big difference to me if days of the week were displayed.

Oh and I've read people suggesting that late notice changes to programs would not be picked up by MP but that simply depends on your EPG data right? I know the MyStuff EPG updates automatically when changes occur (although how often it checks I don't know) but you can set the schedule in MP to be whatever you like. I've got it set to every 10 minutes which should catch any changes as long as the broadcaster updates their EPG data. Maybe I'm missing something here?

Here are all the benefits I've found so far:

I like the way FTR shows you matching EPG results as you edit the recording criteria which you can tweak live until you have what you want. Well I should say almost have what you want because there is no understanding of a series however I see FTR retains a history of all recorded programs using a unique 32 digit string so it would allow for previous program detection as long as you have recorded it previously at some point. I guess this 32 digit string must be supplied uniquely for each program in the freeview EPG it uses otherwise it would be useless. (Shame there is not a similar string for series that it could use.)
So I believe over time it would get more and more powerful as the history built up. You can then choose to only record new episodes. There's also a skip repeats option.

I thought the MyStuff schedule options were great but FTR gives many more options and I'm making great use of them. For example having program name and program description as separate fields in the search is great. MyStuff can search program or description or program+description but not separate search strings for program and description. I think this makes it much more powerful. For example this allows you to easily throw in 'NOT [SL OR NOT SL]' in the description to filter out signed for the deaf broadcasts that are sometimes picked up in the middle of the night to prevent clashes.

I looked at the TVWishListMP plugin but because adding a new schedule search in FTR is so easy I don't really see the benefit of it. For example I've got a search called 'Actors' containing all my favourite actor names separated with an OR statement. I periodically check to see what matches it's found and cancel individual programs if I don't want them. So easy with a keyboard and mouse.

I've just implemented ComSkip and WOW that's amazing! AB (Accurate Bookmarks) on the Toppy just takes you to where the program starts but ComSkip also adds chapters after each advert break which you can skip to with a key stoke. I'd never thought I'd see the day something like this would be possible (that's why open source is the future in my opinion).

Having the whole system networked is fantastic. It's great to have a server set up on an old desktop in a back room with multiple clients running on laptops plus running aMPdroid on my phone. It's the way everything will be one day I'm sure.

I have not implemented it yet but I'm excited about getting expanded EPG data. You could do that on the Toppy but you had to copy files over manually via USB cable so I never bothered. And now I can get them to update automatically - cool

I hope this helps other Toppy users considering making the switch.

 

[Caesium]

I've only got one complaint so far and that is days of the week information is completely missing which I think is bizarre. I'm constantly looking at a separate calendar to see for example that the 1st March is a Wednesday. It would make a big difference to me if days of the week were displayed.

Where are you referring to when you say days of week info is missing? When creating a new schedule? There is a calendar dropdown if you click the icon on the right of the date box.

 

[Culbin]

Sorry, I should clarify.
I mean when working with a schedule in FTR. It shows all matching entries at the bottom with date/time but not DOW.
Same with the list of recorded programs, again no DOW.
MP does display DOW.

Perhaps it's just what I'm used to but the DOW means a lot in my TV world

 

[Caesium]

Ah I see what you mean, yes. I suggest posting on the FTR forums in Improvement Suggestions, they're quite receptive

 

[Culbin]

Will do, thanks!