Record all games this season that I haven’t seen

Channels DVR Server
#1

Hey all, I need a tip for the best way to do this:

I would like to record every NFL game from the current week. Some of these games will play live (I already have this set up) and some will play on NFL Network as replays throughout the week (I want these because they’re games that weren’t broadcast live locally for me to record). Unfortunately, often those replays on NFL Network with the title “teams TBA” in the guide. When I select one of these “teams TBA” items in the guide, my only option is Record. There’s no option to create a season pass. This means I have to scroll through NFL Network’s programs and manually select each game I want to record.

Thoughts on how to do this with a pass?

#2

Search “NFL” choose nfl football and create pass

#3

I have a pass already set to “new episodes”. I guess I can try changing it to “all episodes” and see if that captures the “teams TBA” scenario.

#4

That doesn't work because the guide lists them all with the same tms ProgramID EP000031280870
So Channels DVR thinks they're all the same game and will only record the first one aired.

Channels DVR relies on accurate guide data from Gracenote to schedule recordings from a pass.

#5

usually the TBA get populated close to the day of the broadcast. So you should just check and see.

#6

I haven’t noticed it getting consistently updated.

On TiVo there’s an option to record rerun episodes. Is there a Channels analog?

#7

There is no record ALL airings on Channels DVR, like Everything on a TiVo One Pass.
Only options are New or not New.

#8

If you do not specify NEW it will record all New and re-run.

#9

Correct, but it only records an episode once.
TiVo does the same for New or Reruns within I think the last 28 days.
A TiVo One Pass has an Everything option which records every airing, including duplicates of episodes.
Nothing like that in Channels DVR.

#10

The Channels DVR guide updates daily between 9-11am.
You can force a new guide download manually from the DVR web UI.
It doesn't do periodic guide update refreshes during the day like a TiVo.

#11

Would be interesting to see how long after the NFL Network schedule
NFL Network Schedule - NFL Games Today | NFL.com updates that Gracenote, zap2it and Channels DVR pick up the changes.

I remember awhile back seeing zap2it update, but not Channels DVR.

#12

So I guess there are two feature requests that come out of this:

  1. Periodical guide refreshes throughout the day
  2. A more complete set of record options that would allow us to record all instances even it the guide data is the same
#13

WRT the first, you can manually update the guide from the server web UI: Settings > Guide Database > Maintenance > Fetch Guide Updates.

#14

Yes. But honestly, it’s impractical to refresh the guide multiple times a day in the hopes it might update what games are being replayed. It’s easier to just manually set up recordings every week. The right answer is a config to automatically refresh the guide at specific times of the day.

1 Like
#15

Channels DVR guide now shows the 8:15pm EST game tonight instead of Teams TBA. The NFL Network schedule website NFL Network Schedule - NFL Games Today | NFL.com still shows it as Teams TBA.
UPDATE: NFL website schedule is now updated.
That Channels DVR guide data was updated sometime between 4-5PM EST. All the rest of the Teams TBA for the week were also updated. The next Teams TBA showing in Channels DVR is now next Monday 8:15PM EST.

#16

What is the optimal one-time setup action I can take to ensure the guide refreshes regularly all season in time to record these as a series without missing one?

#17

Use a TiVo?
Not sure as I don't record the games.
I was just checking when Channels DVR guide data got updated for the TBA games.
Based on this one time I would say add a task to update the guide data on Monday at 5PM Eastern.
Someone who does record them would most likely have a better answer.

#18

Hehe yea that was my point. I’m very happy transitioning from TiVo to Channels overall, especially since I can leverage my cable subscription at a secondary home and standardize on Apple TVs instead of having to switch input for cable TV. But there are a few small things that TiVo does that I’d love Channels to support.

So onto the guide updating thing, is there an easy way to set up this process in the Channels DVR settings? If not, is there a way to script this on a Synologyv

#19

Using Channels DVR there is no way to change the guide update times, except for custom channels that use an XMLTV guide source.

You could create a user defined script in Synology Task Manager that runs Mondays at 5pm Eastern time to update the guide data using the command
curl -XPUT "http://127.0.0.1:8089/dvr/guide?force=true"
where 127.0.0.1:8089 is the ip address and port of your Channels DVR server

This does the same thing as
Settings > Guide Database > Maintenance :gear: Re-Download Entire Guide

Fair warning to anyone doing this. Excessive guide downloads could lead to your subscription being cancelled.

#20

:astonished: Why?
What is the definition of "excessive" in this context?