Recording Same Title on Two Different Channels

I'm recording football bowl games as I am traveling during this holiday season, but I've noticed that some games have different broadcasts of the game (general broadcast, and broadcasts with a team specific viewpoint), but it seems that Channels isn't able to differentiate the two. They both show to be set to record; although they each have different start, end, duration times.

I've tried to specify the channel number for the recording, but it still shows the record icon for both channels and both indicate the show is queued to record when you click on the program - but only one is listed in the 'DVR Schedule'.

I'm assuming this is an issue because the EPG data provider has them titled and described identically (confirmed with https://tvlistings.zap2it.com/). But is there a way to tell Channels that these two are separate programs that I do want to both record?

Unfortunately I don’t think so. However, I think you might be able to work around this with the “manual recording” workaround. If you search the forums you’ll find a thread on it. That might work, not 100% sure.

I tried setting up a manual recording through an advanced pass, but I'm still not 100% sure what's going to happen. It looks like there is a second recording scheduled on the DVR -> passes tab, but on the DVR -> schedule tab, it only shows one (not the manual) recording scheduled. I guess I'll cross my fingers and see what happens...

Trust the DVR>Schedule tab

Clicking the # in advanced passes will show all upcoming episodes that match, that doesn't mean they'll all be recorded.

To record the same thing (Same Title/Episode) at two different times and/or two different channels you need to create a 'manual recording' for one of them. The other showing can be recorded by picking it from the guide or with a pass.

The problem is that Channels DVR wont record the same thing twice, so a 'manual recording' is the workaround for now.

Correct. For the Passes tab, it will show a possible recording for every rule it matches. Then under the Scheduled tab it will show you the program as it will record, including the program title and description that will be added into the library.

Ahhh...I was misunderstanding what was meant by "manual recording"...I now see that I need to educate myself quite a bit more and learn how to employ cURL commands onto my Synology NAS.

I have been learning as I go...hopefully the learning curve on this isn't too steep.

That's what I was thinking. Well, until I understand how to make a proper manual recording, I will just record an adjacent program and add maximum padding.

Doesn't have to be curl on your NAS (if that's where you installed Channels DVR Server).
I also have Channels DVR Server on two Synology NAS's, but use my Windows PC to run the curl command.
I actually created a simple Windows CMD script that takes a json file dropped on it and runs the curl command, using the contents of the json file.
I like having the json file on my Windows PC so I can edit it and drop it on the CMD script.
My DVR1 is at IP address 192.168.1.4

Create_a_manual_recording.cmd

@ECHO OFF
REM check if a json file was dropped here and that it exists
IF %1.==. GOTO USAGE
IF NOT %~x1.==.json. GOTO USAGE
IF NOT EXIST %1 GOTO USAGE
ECHO Scheduling job on DVR1 using %1
curl -v "http://192.168.1.4:8089/dvr/jobs/new" --data-binary @%1
GOTO FINISHED

:USAGE
REM Need a fully qualified json filename to schedule
ECHO Drop a json file to be scheduled on this command file

:FINISHED
PAUSE
EXIT
REM
REM %~  removes any surrounding double quotes
REM %~f fully qualified path name
REM %~d drive letter only
REM %~p path only
REM %~n file name only
REM %~x file extension only

This issue is fixed on the latest DVR prerelease and client betas. You can now reliably click the same title on each channel and hit record, and it will record two copies (one from each channel).

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On the web ui, it still shows up as Queued, with no Record options.

I was able to use the (Android TV) app to record from the guide, but after starting the recording on the app, the web UI still shows Queued, but eventually switches on its own to Recording after I click the dropdown button and some additional fetching happens:


I don't know why, but if you switch away from the web UI browser page (to another browser tab even) and back again, it's wonky sometimes. I notice it especially when clicking the link under a pass that says how many recordings scheduled.


switch to another browser tab and back

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