Hi there,

Does anyone know of any applications which will fix the disaster that is "Record Series"? Whilst our America friends probably get meta-data useful enough for that to happen, over here in the UK, setting up a Series Record on a TV show invariably ends up with W7MC recording every single instance of that show - ever.

To give you an example, setting up a series record for "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" can make you end up with 31 recordings by the end of the week, many of which are repeats.

I'm thinking of several possible solutions:

1. Something that looks for duplicated shows (by title and description) that are scheduled and deletes the duplicate schedules.

2. Something that looks at what you've already recorded (deleted or not) and deletes scheduled recordings that match.

3. Something that looks at the files on your hard-drive, detects duplicates and deletes them.

I know all of them have flaws, but anything would be better than what we have right now.

Otherwise, I'll have to break out the development tools and write something myself - in which case, I'd like to know peoples ideas on how best to "solve" this.

Thanks!

(I know option 4 could be "buy BigScreenEPG and subscribe to DigiGuide", but i'd like to avoid this if I can on the basis that it costs money and has other dependency issues)

There is a way and it is called Repeats.
Have you setup your series recordings so that they do not record repeats ?

If yes then you need to contact your EPG provider cause its a guide issue then. The provider needs to send the correct "Repeat" flag on the show so that 7MC can recognise them.

Aren't we talking about the Series Settings here? 

 If set to only record new shows you should only get new shows.  You can also set it to only record off a specific channel or any channel.  For me, when i want to record only new episodes I set it to record only NEW and set it to record on the network channel that produces the show.

Thanks for the suggestion.

My recordings are all set up to ignore repeats and yet sometimes it still records them. Not all the time, but enough to be annoying. Sometimes it'll record the show on, say ITV, and then the next one only an hour later on ITV+1 (which is the catchup channel!). Not only that but it also records episodes that are part of a completely different season.

To be clear, this doesn't happen on every single show but often enough to get mildly annoying. 

As you rightly pointed out, the EPG provider details are wrong. Complaining to the provider is one possible avenue but I'd spend my entire life doing that so I'm looking for a "solution" that at least makes setting up a series recording less likely to fill up my hard drive.

 i Feel your frustration. In Greece we just started with the DVB-T broadcasting and receiving EPG on the 7MC and its a complete mess. Everything is on the description, no metadata, no flags nothing.

Unfortunately your only solution here is to contact your EPG provider, i have and i tell my friends to send them an email as well and maybe this is the only way to have an impact on them on your case as well.

Growler

For me, when i want to record only new episodes I set it to record only NEW and set it to record on the network channel that produces the show.

Unfortunately this doesn't work too well in the UK for a couple of reasons:

1. We don't appear to be blessed with accurate EPG data

2. Programmes aren't as often repeated as they are in the USA.

3. When programmes are repeated, they are often repeated on a different channel to the main one (eg. BBC3 will show a repeat of a BBC1 show).

Forcing it to only one channel would mean that if it's unable to record the show, then it is highly likely you'll miss it entirely.

Sorry guys.  Did not understand the extent of your issues.  Sounds like MS is not in tune with TV out your way.

Recorded TV Manager will automatically delete duplicate recordings.

 you could try better EPG data? I am UK based and use BigScreenEPG using Digiguide data. They are both paid for products though. My main reason for using this is half the EPG data relating to UK channels is not available anywhere else.

great

There is a way and it is called Repeats.
Have you setup your series recordings so that they do not record repeats ?

If yes then you need to contact your EPG provider cause its a guide issue then. The provider needs to send the correct "Repeat" flag on the show so that 7MC can recognise them.

The UK EPG is less accurate than one might desire:

(1) Because CSI premieres on a satellite channel, when it is broadcast several months later on a terrestrial channel, the EPG often flags it as a repeat, even though it is the first time it is being broadcast on terrestrial TV.  This is particularly noticeable with the various "CSI" and "Law and Order" series.

(2) The repeat flag is also often set when the programme was postponed from the previous week.  Although the programme was not broadcast the previous week, it is marked as a repeat with the original broadcast date being the previous week.  This is particularly noticeable with current affairs programmes, which are often subject to last-minute schedule changes.  I have also noticed a couple of programmes marked as repeats, where the original broadcast date was one week in the future(!)

(3) Media Center's series recording is driven by the programme title, but that can vary.  For example, recently there was "CSI: Miami" one week, and "CSI Miami" the following week (colon missing).  Similarly "Law and Order" one week, "Law & Order" the following week.  The title check is also case sensitive, and that can also vary in the EPG: "Homes under the Hammer" one day, "Homes Under the Hammer" the following day.  To be sure of recording the complete series in all of these cases, one has to set up series recordings for all variations of the title.

Yes, one probably should complain to the EPG provider, but life is too short...  Having spent 25 years in software development, I long ago gave up banging my head against brick walls trying to get bugs fixed.

As for the original poster, using Vista I specify:  "this channel only", "first run and repeats", and "around 9.00pm" (or 10.00pm, as appropriate) which gives a two-hour window for recording.  Even so, when Channel 5 is broadcasting the new series on one day, and an earlier series on another day around the same time, I still need manually to mark those older episodes as "do not record".  So the answer is: each day you have to review that day's scheduled recordings, and make any corrections needed.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

CyberSimian

As for the original poster, using Vista I specify:  "this channel only", "first run and repeats", and "around 9.00pm" (or 10.00pm, as appropriate) which gives a two-hour window for recording.  Even so, when Channel 5 is broadcasting the new series on one day, and an earlier series on another day around the same time, I still need manually to mark those older episodes as "do not record".  So the answer is: each day you have to review that day's scheduled recordings, and make any corrections needed.

I tried that too but unfortunately I found out that in W7MC that Microsoft have changed the "around Xpm" functionality to be +/- 15 minutes rather than +/- 2 hours. This now makes it next to useless.

Recorded TV Manager looks to be one option and matches solution (3) in my original email, however the downside to this is that you need to have recorded the programme first before it is deleted. This means that you can sometimes find that clashes occur because TV shows you do want aren't recorded because of a re-occurring instance of a show that'll only get deleted after you've recorded it.

Having said that I may knock something up using Perl (and the Toub.MediaCenter.Dvrms DLL) and see how well it works.

mrsilver

Recorded TV Manager looks to be one option and matches solution (3) in my original email, however the downside to this is that you need to have recorded the programme first before it is deleted. This means that you can sometimes find that clashes occur because TV shows you do want aren't recorded because of a re-occurring instance of a show that'll only get deleted after you've recorded it.

Agreed.  The solution to that problem is to install more tuners in your system.  I have seven(!) DVB-T tuners in my Vista system.  I think that WIndows 7 limits you to four tuners of any one type (so a max of four DVB-T tuners in a system).

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

Just wanted to say thanks for those who posted in this thread.    I was able to fix my problem by reading it.  I also had a "Mass" recording spectacular going on.

You folks are awesome!

This is in fact a very neat community of bleeding-edge technology adopters. It's quite a leap to rely on your PC for TV, considering how dear TV is to all of us.

http://htpctechreview.blogspot.com/

CyberSimian

I have seven(!) DVB-T tuners in my Vista system.  I think that WIndows 7 limits you to four tuners of any one type (so a max of four DVB-T tuners in a system

Wow, seven is a bit extreme. 7MC does limit you to four, but can use DVBLogic software to make DVB-T tuners appear as DVB-S so you can keep all seven.