Better presentation of YouTube videos recorded with Playon

Channels DVR Server Feature Requests
#1

Hello. I was inspired a bit with your recent support for Playon Cloud. I like the idea of pulling in as much as possible into a single media hub like Channels DVR. Playon Cloud doesn't support YouTube but the desktop app does, which I have already. I have several YouTube shows I subscribe to but don't watch that often because the YouTube app is annoying because it seems designed to suck you in and keep you watching random stuff. So my solution is to record my shows with the Playon app (the subscribe feature is nice on the desktop version) and put the recordings inside the Playon folder in sub-folder named YouTube on the server. This works, but there is a catch. The server doesn't parse out the name from the file name or grab a picture for cover art. It just looks like this:

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I suspect there is enough info in the file to have a better presentation because it looks this way in Plex but I don't want to use Plex. I want Channels to be the goto hub:

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I realize this is a bit of a niche thing and may not be worth the time but I thought maybe it's a easy change or maybe there is more demand than I think. Anyway, for your consideration...

#2

Can you submit diagnostics from your DVR

#3

Hmmm. I didn’t think this was a bug. Go figure. I will reproduce the behavior and send the log ASAP.

#4

The reason is because the source content is not something that our data provider has metadata for. I assume the metadata is in the mp4 container and plex utilizes that. Channels does not.

Imports currently only work with mainstream media like movies and tv series. Importing YouTube content is akin to importing home videos, which is not supported either.

#5

Apologies. I never thought this was actually supported. I will submit the logs as requested just in case it’s useful.

1 Like
#6

On second thought, I doubt there is any need to send logs (feel free to tell me otherwise and I certainly will). It seems you know exactly what is going on. I'm just wondering if, while importing, it might be better to parse the file name and date if no other info is available from the standard sources, rather than defaulting to no title and that December of 1969 date. Seems that would be useful regardless of source -- YouTube, home videos, etc. I have nothing but huge respect for all you have done with Channels. This is only a suggestion for your consideration. No hard feelings either way.

1 Like
#7

What are the file names used by PlayOn for those shows?

#8

It's pretty straight forward; it uses the episode title. For instance, if I record this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgimCA9jlgQ PlayOn produces a file named "Lenovo Thinkpad C13 Yoga AMD Ryzen Chromebook Gen 1 Review.mp4".

#9

Are they organized into folders?

#10

No, it just puts all the files into a folder called "YouTube".

1 Like
#12

Hi. I'm just wondering if this is something you are working on?

#13

Content that can’t be indexed by our current scanners is not something prioritized right now.

This is something that we plan on making work though.

1 Like
#14

It's is good to hear it is part of the plan. I am really enjoying consuming my YouTube content in this way even without episode titles.