Manual Recording

[applesjgtl]

I am unable to record a time/date/channel manually. I cannot select a channel (that doesn't have programming info in the guide and "record").

So, I am unable to record a specific channel like Pac 12 HD which doesn't have specific programs in the guide even though I know what time I want to record. All other DVR's on earth allow you to record a specific channel, time, duration, and date. How hard can this be?

This is a much needed "feature," or a much overlooked "BUG" that the Channels DVR needs to fix ASAP.

Let us all start a campaign to alert SiliconDust to do the right thing.

[racameron]

This is a much needed "feature," or a much overlooked "BUG" that the Channels DVR needs to fix ASAP.

Let us all start a campaign to alert SiliconDust to do the right thing.

Two things:

1. This is a known limitation, and on the developers' to-do list. They've posted on how to actually create a manual recording yourself, but it requires intercepting the packets when you schedule a one-off recording from a client to get the format needed for the payload.
   So, while you technically can manually schedule a recording, realistically it's not an easy task. But, it is on the list for features to be added later.
2. Channels has nothing to do with SiliconDust, other than giving you a much better interface to using their hardware.
   (Also to note, SiliconDust's DVR does not support manual recordings, either.)

[applesjgtl]

Racameron,

Can you point me to the packet intercepting post? Or better yet, tell me what the format is and how to invoke this so that I can try it.

Yeah, it is confusing about what Silicon Dust does and what Channels does. I know I tried the Silicon Dust DVR but channels seems to pick the Channels DVR or the Silicon Dust DVR whichever is presented first. The Silicon Dust DVR also has a special Channels DVR app. It is all so confusing.

Thanks for the admonishment without much information.

[racameron]

Here's the post where Aman talks about crafting a payload to manually record something:

Set a manual recording of a channel for specific date, time and duration

Technically the DVR engine is capable of manual recordings. But we don't have a UI for it, because recordings and schedules without guide data and images are not well presented in the app. If you really want to setup manual recordings, you can check the request made when you click a guide entry on the web UI and hit record and use that as a template with your own channel/time/duration and fake guide data. For the airing data, you can change Raw to null, and set Source to "manual" with whatever …

Also further up in that thread is another post about how one user was able to use an Adcanced Pass to simulate a manual recording:

Manually schedule a recording?

There is sort of a way to do it with an Advanced Pass. I set it to the channel I want, then I pick a time I know will match something in the guide like 12:00 PM or 8:00 PM, then set the padding values to go up to 5 hours in either direction. I know it's a little clumsy and I don't know if this can help in your scenario, but I don't know a better way. [Screen%20Shot]

As far as differences between SiliconDust and Channels ... SiliconDust does not have an app called Channels. Their app is HDHomeRun View.

[chDVRuser]

Let's discuss.

Manual Recordings, use cases and how to Implement

Just wanted to get some feedback on use cases and how to implement (if possible). In my case, there have been maybe 5 cases where I wanted this functionality. In all but one case, it would have proved useless. Thinking the EPG Guide data was inaccurate, I wanted to override it and schedule manual recordings. The guide data was corrected before the recordings happened and I wouldn't have got what I wanted. There is a work-around for channels that have guide data where you pick whatever is sh…