Join reschedulings in EPG into one recording

[UKGuest44]

Hello,

I unfortunately have the problem where I end up with the same program appearing twice in the EPG when the times change, where the program overlaps by a few minutes in the EPG, illustrated below - this is the same episode, but in the EPG twice at two different overlapping times (by 5 minutes).




If this is a program set to season record, GB-PVR schedules the first one and dismisses the second one as conflicting with the first, meaning that I have to cancel both, and then schedule it as a manual recording. This happens quite often, especially on the BBC as they like changing their schedules.

My wishlist feature would be, an option which you could tick which would combine these duplicates into one recording. That is to say, if the scheduler detects two programs with exactly the same name, overlapping with each other, instead of blocking the second one, to join them into one long one (that way, you will get extra padding to compensate, but at least the entire thing will record - missing the last vital 10 minutes because of this and you hadn't noticed in advance or been away can be rather annoying)

If this could be possible, or indeed, if there were any way around this, I would be incredibly greatful, but obviously I understand that if this doesn't happen to you and you already have incredibly limited time, it's probably not going to be something you're going to be able to develop, which is fine, just thought it wouldn't hurt to suggest in case

Thanks as always

[HtV]

You probably should check the "complete epg reload" option in gbpvr-config-capture sources. That way the old entries are removed before loading the new ones. It says that it's not recommended for dvb-epg, I don't know why that is. But for xmltv-download it's certainly recommended.

[UKGuest44]

Unfortunately, I already have that checked, to no avail, since I first searched and read about this problem. I also tried the -onlyemptyepg and -onlyupdatepg suggestions too, again to no avail

Thanks for the reply though

[HtV]

When you do the -onlyemptyepg does it really remove all the programs from the guide? Are you using seperate/different epg-sources?

[martint123]

When I have the same problem I think I found that empty epg only removes things that aren't already marked as pending. I had to reduce the epg data from my source (xmltv & radio times) down to 6 days and this reduced the problem considerably. I think the beeb change times when it's a couple of weeks awy, but not much when it's within a week.
I'm currently doing the same as the OP - deleting them and manually adding back in.

[Dan_Allaker]

I`ve been having this problem for ages. Reloading epg does not delete reoccurring recordings, even with empty epg check marked.

I use XMLTVGUI to get my data from radio times, but can`t find any options to only grab 6 days listings as mentioned above.

Anyone know how to do this?

Ta.

[martint123]

"E:\Program Files\XMLTV GUI\XmltvGUI.exe" /grab /d7

The D7 is the nr of days to grab. The /grab makes it run in the background.

[sub]

I`ve been having this problem for ages. Reloading epg does not delete reoccurring recordings, even with empty epg check marked.

I use XMLTVGUI to get my data from radio times, but can`t find any options to only grab 6 days listings as mentioned above.

Anyone know how to do this?

This situation can happen if the scheduled start time changes for a one-off recording, or the first episode recording in a season. Unfortunately there is no reliable show identifiers GB-PVR can use for identifying the show if the time changes. Normally GB-PVR has to use the combination of showname + start time to identify episodes. It may look straight forward in the above example, but trust me, there are several scenarios that can make it very complex. At the moment GB-PVR doesnt try to address it.

[Dan_Allaker]

I don`t know why I get the problem then, because I get the problem with reoccurring programs that have been set in gbpvr for months

[martint123]

I don`t know why I get the problem then, because I get the problem with reoccurring programs that have been set in gbpvr for months

If you have a program called say "NEWSNIGHT" and set it for a season recording "Record Season (all in this daily timeslot, this channel)" it goes into the database as that name+start time.
Every so often the software scans the list of season recordings and sees if any appear in the EPG - if so it chucks it into the pending list for recording in due course. A week later, the BBC changes the start time by a couple of minutes or more. The software scan runs again and sees the program name + different start time (but within the default 90 minute window), not having any better info GBPVR has to assume this is a new program so puts it in the pending list.

When you do an empty EPG, it empties all but existing and pending recordings, so you still have both entries in the table with slightly different start times.

Going to a shorter EPG of a week you end up with less chance of this happening - in fact it's not happend to me for over a month. If it does, I empty the EPG in config, and delete the offending pending reording and re import the EPG.

You can get rid of the problem by reducing the 'window' of comparing start time (in config.xml somewhere) to zero, but you will then start missing recordings if they are programmed even slight outside the start time.