does NextPVR have true series link?

[breedalot]

I use MP. the main reason is a plugin that allows me to use the sky EPG data and there series link feature. its rock solid for getting the shows and has the wife happy as well however every once in a while i have a look around for anything else good. MP is great but only after i install about 10 plugins on each system Next looks a bit more off the shelf but I do need the EPG to be right, I would also like VOD support, I use Iplayer, 4OD, and NOW tv do they have any support? persuade me to make the switch!!!

thanks

ben

[johnsonx42]

what does "series link" do?

[gEd]

Hi there

I am not 100% how "series link" actually works but NextPVR certainly enables you to schedule "every show daily/weekly (within X mins) of this start time."
TV recording is what NextPVR does best and I have been reliably recording entire series for many years.

There are no working plugins for iPlayer, 4OD etc but you could certainly use XBMC (which does support at least some of these VOD services) as an NextPVR client and use NextPVR as the backend PVR recording service. Or you can launch XMBC from within NextPVR to access these plugins.

[johnsonx42]

I googled a little and it looks like series link is just a fancy name for recurring recordings. Yes, NextPVR does that, extremely well.

[Deev8]

... it looks like series link is just a fancy name for recurring recordings. Yes, NextPVR does that, extremely well.

NextPVR does it very well provided that the broadcaster is consistant with the name of the series. In New Zealand I frequently have problems with inconsistant series naming by broadcasters. For example the series "Gardeners' World" occasionally appears in the EPG without the apostrophe in it's name, they are also fond of prefixing a series name with "All New", but not every week. If you spot these naming variations in the programme guide you can of course create recurring recordings for them but all too often I only spot the name variation when I investigate why I failed to record something that I wanted.

Series link, I believe, is based on a series identifier included in the broadcast EPG data. But of course even then you have to rely on the broadcaster getting that right!

[bgowland]

I googled a little and it looks like series link is just a fancy name for recurring recordings.

Not quite. Although "series link" can be used as a generic term, true series link technology (as Deev8 suggests) uses unique identifiers embedded in the transport stream. For example UK DVB follows the ETSI Service Information standards which allow for optional CRIDs (Content Resolution Identifiers). There are two main types of CRID - one for an individual "show" (episode, film etc) and another which is basically a group identifier. In the case of a particular programme (Friends, Scrubs, whatever) every episode regardless of which season will have a unique CRID but there will also be a group CRID indicating the episode is Season 1, 2, 3 etc. If you only want to record episodes from Season 2 of Friends then the DVR will store the group identifier for that show/season.

Use of group CRIDs can actually be very powerful (if implemented). When I was developing the DVB Radio plugin for GB-PVR years ago I did a lot of stream analysis and by pure coincidence there was a mini series about natural phenomena showing at the same time. The programme titles had no common part which could be matched using text searches / regex etc. They were simply named "Earthquakes", Volcanoes" etc etc but they were made by the same company and all part of the same "series" despite having unrelated titles. Obviously a text match wouldn't have worked but out of curiosity I checked their group CRIDs and, sure enough, they were all the same - a DVR with series link capability would have picked them all up.

Another use of CRIDs is the ability to record without reliance on show titles or time-slots - a DVR should wait until the inividual CRID appears in the stream and start recording - if the show start is delayed (sports over run for example) the DVR waits. Guidelines suggest if the CRID doesn't appear in the stream within 60-120 minutes the DVR should abandon the recording attempt (assuming the show was cancelled / replaced).

As Deev8 also says though it relies on the broadcasters staying on top of things - private TV providers such as satellite and cable companies are better at this stuff in my opinion as they run the whole system. The OTA Freeview data here in the UK can be quite variable and, in particular, EPG sources that can be used for npvr can only provide information they can get from the various broadcasters.

It's a really nice idea in theory. in practice?...a bit hit and miss for OTA broadcasting (at least here in the UK).

Cheers,
Brian

EDIT: Oops - that turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would be.

[johnsonx42]

I was thinking maybe "series link" had more to it, but the few bits I read while googling really didn't hint at much beyond the basic season recording function. Thanks for the detailed explanation Brian.

[HarryH3]

EDIT: Ooops - that turned out to be a lot longer than I thought it would be.

But quite interesting! The part about "knowing" when a previous show has run past its time slot and then adjusting recording accordingly sounds awesome.

[martint123]

The Sky series link I find very reliable and versatile. There seems to be identifiers in the EPG which are remembered when you want to record a series - when the EPG updates are received it looks for the next in line - this could be months in advance. It also seems to have an almost "live" EPG where updates are regularly broadcast and solves problems with shows or sporting events overrunning.
The EPG seems highly proprietary to the Sky STB's so I guess then chances of support in NPVR for this are infinitesimal sadly. Interesting that there is a MP facility for it though?

[Graham]

persuade me to make the switch!!!

The last time that I tried (a few years ago) ... it was okay to run MP and NextPVR simultaneously on the same machine. You should be okay as long as you don't try to record (or watch) on the same tuner at the same time with both MP and NextPVR.