PREVIEW: Library Collections and Virtual Channels (v2021.07.16.2141)

Channels DVR Server
#213

Using version: 2021.08.04.0548
In the webAdmin DVR, after searching for any movie and then selecting it I get the following error:

Cannot read property 'includes' of undefined
includes@components/CollectionInclusionDropdown.js:46
map@components/CollectionInclusionDropdown.js:44
c@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:153
oh@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:175
di@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:263
Rj@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:246
Qj@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:246
Kj@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:239
c@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:123

Logs have been submitted as 91d63312-fa14-4223-89c3-04972da77143

1 Like
#214

server version: 2021.08.04.0548
same here but for TV Shows only movies edit/open fine. Clicking on any SHOW in the LIBRARY\TV SHOWS gives a JavaScript error

A Javascript error has occurred!

Please refresh the browser after reporting this issue on Channels Community or to [email protected].

Cannot read property 'includes' of undefined

includes@components/CollectionInclusionDropdown.js:46
map@components/CollectionInclusionDropdown.js:44
c@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:153
oh@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:175
di@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:263
Rj@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:246
Qj@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:246
Kj@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:239
c@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:123

#215

Good catch guys. Fix is up in the latest pre-release.

1 Like
#216

Just wanted to update that the recent guide fix solved my issues! Despite only having 26.5 hours of unique content in the virtual channel, the guide data is now going out 48 hours as expected.

1 Like
#217

I've been playing around, and getting the hang of Virtual Channels. This is really fun. Awhile back I was inspired by this idea, shared on this forum and eventually amassed recordings of very many TV Pilots from my childhood (the 80's and 90's.) The recording criteria checks for year and only records S01E01. There are plenty of classics, some silly stinkers, all fun nostalgia. Now those recordings have a virtual channel of their own, playing 24/7. Great for passive background entertainment while I'm working.

What other great ideas for Virtual Channels have y'all come up with?

#218

I think I’m about to make one for Disney animated features.

1 Like
#219

side note - Is it safe to update the DVR while things are recording, or is it better to do it when the server is idle? I'm thinking the latter is better.

#220

You can update any time. It won't restart until it is idle.

2 Likes
#221

It won’t do the update immediately if it’s not idle, even if you tell it to check. It will download and wait to be idle to do the upgrade. However, you can force the update even if it’s not idle. If you do that, any recordings in progress will be interrupted. They will restart immediately after the DVR comes back up, however, so it’s often maybe 10-15 seconds of lost recording.

#223

That's a good one. I just created another Virtual Channel, called "Earth Docs:"
Planet Earth, Planet Earth II, The Blue Planet, Life, Attenborough: Life in Color, etc.

I'm thinking these would work well as ambient entertainment too.

3 Likes
#224

Thanks again for this and apologies for the basic question, but where? I'm not seeing how to select multiple things in the DVR > Manage section, and then set them all to Hidden. Under the "Actions," menu I see "Mark as Watched/Unwatched," "Refresh Metadata," and "Move to Trash." Nothing about Hiding.

Am I looking in the wrong place? I'm running pre-release 2021.08.05.0221. Thanks...

#225

You can only do it for Movies. Episodes do not have visibility settings.

#226

Here's an interesting UI behavior that may not necessarily be an issue but something I felt I should mention.

In the screenshot below, we see a virtual channel that contains episodes of children's TV shows. Highlighted by the arrow is an episode that is seven minutes in length which, as you can see, is illegible unless you tap on the ellipses.

image
image744×515 60.8 KB

Children's TV shows, especially the shows targeted to younger ages, often have episodes of 12 minutes or less. The problem isn't so bad when the shorter episodes are mixed in with other episodes of traditional length. However, if you create a virtual channel containing only shows with short episodes, below is what the Guide looks like.

image
image750×355 65.2 KB

Is it possible to adjust the guide view for a given client such that the channel list can be made legible?

1 Like
#227

While the results aren't ideal, there's not much that can be done here outside of improving the presentation.

There's no good efficient way to detect short airings and adjusting the grid on the fly, and honestly it wouldn't be a good solution. Having the grid width normalized is important and would just get confusing, it would also make the rest of the airings look ridiculous and unusable.

#228

With v2021.08.06.2347, Virtual Channels can now be sorted in three modes: Random, Date, or Season/Episode.

You can also now add individual episodes directly to a Virtual Channel.

7 Likes
#229

Awesome! Quick question… if one chooses season/episode and let’s say after a day or two the show is in season 2 ep14, if the server reboots, will it pick up where it stoped like a linear channel? Or will it restart again from the first episode?

#230

Server reboot has nothing to do with it. Whatever is shown on the guide data is what you tune into, and it always tunes in "live".

One known issue right now is every morning it will reset the guide data and start from episode one, so it might not get to the older episodes if you have a lot.

1 Like
#231

Seems like if I set it for one channel it sets the sort for all of them. I have a Doctor Who channel I want in Episode order but I also have an 80’s movie channel I want random.

1 Like
#232

This is great! Thanks for this. Hoping we'll eventually be able to do the same for Library Collections, too.

#233

This bug is fixed.

1 Like