Any workaround to record episodes with same series and episode number (but which are actually different!)?

#1

Hi all -- hoping someone may have insight into the following. (I did search the forums, but didn't find discussion of this issue -- sorry if I missed it).

I've run into a strange (to me) problem:

I've created a series recording in CDVR for "Center Court Live" from Tennis Channel TVE via DirecTV Stream. (I also have the series set to record in the DTV Stream DVR -- why not, it's included in the price :slight_smile: Also, the video quality seems noticeably better in the DTVS than via TVE -- which is of course not under CDVR's control).

The "Center Court Live" show has back-to-back episodes that are for day session and night session. Here's the guide from DTVS:

Screen Shot 2022-08-24 at 11.04.47 AM
Screen Shot 2022-08-24 at 11.04.47 AM1920×1623 153 KB

Just to clarify, the second one is definitely not a repeat of the first one -- it shows completely different tennis matches (for night session, as compared to day session for the first episode).

I discovered that both DTVS DVR and CDVR fail to record the second of these. This was true yesterday, which was how I discovered the problem. It is also seeming true for today, with only the first of these being marked as set to record. This was and is for both CDVR and DTVS DVR.

In CDVR (but not in DTVS DVR) I am able to get the second episode recorded by manually setting it to record -- but the point of a series pass is, of course to avoid having to do this manually for individual episodes. (An Advanced Series pass with "re-record deleted episodes" checked didn't solve this either).

Digging around, I found that both of yesterday's episodes had the exact same Series Number and Episode number (in DTVS). Not sure if that metadata comes from Tennis Channel or from DTVS. I am certain that I saw this on the iOS DTVS app yesterday, but unfortunately, today it's not showing me metadata at all for the second of today's back-to-back episodes, so I can't provide a screenshot showing the duplication.

Let's assume that I am correct about the duplicated Series # and Episode #, and didn't hallucinate yesterday.

My two questions then are:

  1. That would explain why CDVR (and for that matter, the DTVS DVR) would only record the first one, right?

  2. Is there any workaround that anyone knows of to get them both to record in CDVR via the series pass?

TIA for any insights or workarounds!

#2

The guide data must be tagging both airings with the same program identifier, which is why neither DVR will try to record it.

You could try to report this to the guide database on zap2it.com with the contact link at the bottom of the page.

There is not a good workaround at the moment, apart from manually clicking record. One thing we're considering is an option on passes to record duplicates even when the ID is the same.

#3

@tmm1 -- thanks very much for the information (and amazingly fast reply).

I had vaguely guessed it was something like what you explained.

Yes, if you could add the option to record duplicates even when the ID is the same, that would be great!

Thank you again.

UPDATE: I tried reporting this at zap2it, but couldn't figure out how to even get Tennis Channel to show up. (Tennis Channel seems to be dropping from more and more providers' channel lists).

FURTHER UPDATE: I reported it anyway at zap2it.