nPVR Keeps Restoring Recurring Recordings

[andrewj]

Hi,

I have a number of shows set as "Record all new episodes on this channel" but because of the way that the station has encoded them nPVR picks up all the repeats as well, which I don't want.

I have tried going through the recurring recordings list, picking the instances I don't want and setting those instances to "Cancel" which removes them from the list. However next day the unwanted duplicates are back.

I don't want to miss any episodes, so I need these shows on a recurring basis, but once I have decided that I don't want a particular repeat I should be able to get rid of it off the list permanently.

Am I doing something wrong, or is this a bug?

Thanks
Andrew

[sub]

What country and EPG source are you using?

[Graham]

I have a number of shows set as "Record all new episodes on this channel" but because of the way that the station has encoded them nPVR picks up all the repeats as well, which I don't want.

I use "Record all episodes on this channel" (without the "new") and I have Settings --> Recording --> "Avoid duplicate recordings where possible" ticked on. My EPG data has series and episode numbers and NextPVR uses these to avoid duplicates. This might not work as you want for shows with multiple series being broadcast in the same time period. In this case, you will get one copy of each show from each series.

[andrewj]

Hi,
I'm in the UK. I haven't set anything special regarding EPG so I think I'm using the standard off-air one. I already have "Avoid duplicate recordings where possible", so that's not sufficient.

However, that's not the problem here. I'm happy to look at planned recordings a week ahead and cancel the known duplicates. The issue is that when I do so these changes are not saved, and the duplicates come back into the list a day or so later.

Any ideas?
Thanks
Andrew

[jcjefferies]

Cancelling individual recordings more than a day ahead wont work because when the overnight EPG update runs it will reschedule them all again.

Chris

[BrettB]

I use "Record all episodes on this channel" (without the "new") and I have Settings --> Recording --> "Avoid duplicate recordings where possible" ticked on. My EPG data has series and episode numbers and NextPVR uses these to avoid duplicates.

Actually, I'm pretty sure (unless something has changed) that NextPVR requires the guide data to have a unique program ID (different than season/episode info) in order for the "Avoid duplicate recordings where possible" as well as the ability to manually delete a specific scheduled instance of a recurring recording and not have it rescheduled to function properly. These functions pre-date where NextPVR even had season and episode guide information in its database.

[BrettB]

I'm in the UK. I haven't set anything special regarding EPG so I think I'm using the standard off-air one. I already have "Avoid duplicate recordings where possible", so that's not sufficient.

However, that's not the problem here. I'm happy to look at planned recordings a week ahead and cancel the known duplicates. The issue is that when I do so these changes are not saved, and the duplicates come back into the list a day or so later.

I'm pretty sure that your problem is going to be that the over-the-air (OTA) guide information isn't supplying NextPVR with a unique program ID which is required for these functions to work properly. (See my previous post for more info.)

Since you are in the UK, I would strongly recommend that you try out Schedules Direct for your guide data. (They used to be only for North America, but now support many countries including the UK.) They have a free trial, so you could sign up for that and even just change one of your channels with these recurring recordings to use Schedules Direct for the guide data for testing. I would almost guarantee that if you did that, both of your problems would go away (the duplicate broadcasts getting automatically scheduled plus the inability to "permanently" cancel specific scheduled episodes of recurring recordings). (Also note: the outside-North America Schedules Direct support is still somewhat new, so it is possible that there would initially be some sort of issue getting your full lineup etc. If that happened to be the case, their support is EXCELLENT at getting the problem resolved quickly.)

[Graham]

Actually, I'm pretty sure (unless something has changed) that NextPVR requires the guide data to have a unique program ID (different than season/episode info) in order for the "Avoid duplicate recordings where possible" as well as the ability to manually delete a specific scheduled instance of a recurring recording and not have it rescheduled to function properly. These functions pre-date where NextPVR even had season and episode guide information in its database.

My understanding is that NextPVR generates a unique-id when the EPG data does not provide one. The only EPG source that I know of that does provide a unique-id is Schedules Direct. The unique-id generated by NextPVR appears to be made from the show title + series + episode. When the EPG source does not provide series and episode data, the unique-id is blank. It is this unique-id that NextPVR uses to make decisions when "Avoid duplicates" is ticked.

Additionally, my understanding is that NextPVR determines whether a show is "new" based on the value of "first-run" (a field in the database). Again, the only EPG source that that I have heard of that provides reliable data for first-run is Schedules Direct.

In summary, record "new" episode is not likely to work in the UK using over-the-air EPG but might work with Schedules Direct or another source that provides valid first-run data.

I use Birtles to get xmltv data ... http://www.birtles.org.uk/xmltv/ ... and this provides valid series and episode data so I am able to get good results with "Avoid duplicates" ticked on. The problem with Birtles is that "The Man" stopped adding new channels a while ago so I have to get OTA data for the missing channels. I suspect that the UK OTA EPG data does not include series and episode data (in the fields where NextPVR expects it to be).

[sub]

My understanding is that NextPVR generates a unique-id when the EPG data does not provide one.

It only creates one if information is available which uniquely identifies the show, like season/episode info etc, so in reality you only get a unique-id with Schedule Direct and some xmltv sources.

If this unique-id is available, then the scheduler will use this info to ensure it's not recording repeats etc.

[andrewj]

Hi,
Thanks for the replies. I'll look at changing my EPG to Schedules Direct but I was hoping for a more direct fix.

Just to confirm - there is no way to cancel an instance of a recurring recording and not have that "come back" when the EPG updates. Is that correct? If so it might be a very good candidate for a fix/enhancement.

Thanks
Andrew

P.S. It's very refreshing to visit a forum where everyone knows how to spell and use punctuation!