Duplicate Recordings of Previously Recorded Shows

[Babbage]

Hi Guys,

I just recently switched my EPG data over to SchedulesDirect today, and I noticed that a lot of the programs I have previously recorded are wanting to be re-recorded again. I DO have the "Don't record duplicates option" checked, and I have Cleared the EPG and Updated the EPG numerous times.

After scouring around in the logs and through the forum for a little while, I decided to do some peaking in gbpvr.db3 file to see if I could noticed anything out of the ordinary... which I did.

Example: Smallville - Justice
While looking through the "PROGRAMME" table of the database, I sorted all my programs by subtitle. An episode of Smallville called Justice was one of the programs that wanted to be re-recorded, so I searched for that one first. When I found it, I discovered the problem right away: the unique_identifier of the previous recording was not the same as the unique_identifier that SD had given me. Here is what I found:

Previous Recording: EP4621440131
SD Recording: EP004621440131

You can see that the numbers are the same, but SD had perpended the numbers with a 00 where my previous recording did not have that. I used to have Zap2it, so that is where my EPG data came from.

So, to the question. Can anyone think of an easy way of fixing this, save from going through the database manually and updating each individual problem?

EDIT: I also forgot to mention that I when I changed the unique_identifier in the database, it got rid of the pending episode recording (after reloading my EPG data).

[runtmms]

Subscribing to the thread - I've noticed the same thing.

-Merlynn

[martint123]

You guys should count yourselves lucky that someone takes the trouble to create a unique programme/episode ID.

I suspect an SQL wizard could create a single-liner to add the missing digits to your existing database entries in a flash. One will no doubt be along shortly.

It might be worth a subscriber asking SD why they chnaged it and will it stay consistently the same in future.

[Babbage]

You guys should count yourselves lucky that someone takes the trouble to create a unique programme/episode ID.

Believe me, I know all about unique ID's. At my job, I am working with postgres/mysql databases all the time -- primary key's and unique id's make my job A LOT easier.

I suspect an SQL wizard could create a single-liner to add the missing digits to your existing database entries in a flash. One will no doubt be along shortly.

No wizard necessary . I was messing around, and came up with the following SQL command:

Code:

UPDATE PROGRAMME SET unique_identifier = substr(unique_identifier, 0, 2)||"00"||substr(unique_identifier, 3, 10) WHERE length(unique_identifier) == 12

I tried it out, and it seemed to have fixed my problem. To those of you who aren't very familiar with SQL, this basically is telling the database to take the first two characters (such as EP), then add "00" to it, then add the rest of the unique identifier (eg. 4621440131). So, EP4621440131 turns in to: EP + 00 + 4621440131, or EP004621440131.

Here is what I did:

• Make a backup of gbpvr.db3
  
• Open gbpvr.db3 in SQLiteSpy
  
• Open the PROGRAMME table
  
• Paste the above SQL command in the SQL area (top-right)
  
• Click on "Execute" -> "Execute SQL"
  
• Close SQLiteSpy
  
• Open GBPVR config
  
• Empty EPG Data
  
• Update EPG Data
  
• Check for conflicts / re-recordings
  

Like I said, this seemed to work for me. Hopefully, if anyone is having the same issue, this will work for them as well.

[matthrolf]

I too had to update my database with a similar sql statement and all is well.

Matt

[bienson]

My only comment on these instructions was that I couldn't find the gbpvr.db3 file after downloading SQLiteSpy.

I guess for my upgrade v.1.0.16, I was still using the gbpvr.mdb file format, so I found out that through searching the threads I had to run "changedatabase" from the GBPVR directory.

After switching over to the new database, I had the .db3 format.

[Smoker]

Is this solution necessary for a new install of gbpvr ?

[martint123]

Is this solution necessary for a new install of gbpvr ?

Nope - its just if you change from zap2it to SD - the "unique ID" format is slightly different, so duplicates were being recorded after the changeover. All this does is tweak the existing, old ID ine the databse to the same format as the new one so that no more dupes get recorded.