Recordings are truncating the name and not recording all of the episodes

Channels DVR Server
#1

Recordings are truncating the name and not recording all of the episodes.

I'm using Matt Huisman's excellent Samsung TV Plus for Channels.

The channel is All Reality We TV under category Reality TV.

I am recording Season 5 of Mama June From Not to Hot.

These episodes have the following titles:

S05E02 Mamas Fighting Chance
S05E03 Mamas Last Resort
S05E08 Mamas Lying
S05E11 Mamas Scared Straight
S05E12 Mamas Verdict

Unfortunately, Channels DVR is truncating the name in the recording. For example:

Mama June From Not to Hot Road to Redemption Mamas 2025-05-27-1249.mpg

Is this episode Mamas Fighting Chance, Mamas Last Resort, Mamas Lying, etc?

This is causing a big problem.

The other episodes are not being recorded.

Channels DVR thinks it has already recorded the show but there are other episodes that start with the same letters.

Please fix. Thanks.

#2

No idea here, but in other applications over the years I've seen long filenames that became too long because the path was buried in several other folders, causing the entire filename to get truncated due to OS limitations (256 characters in Win10).

Could that be the problem there? Might want to give the complete path in your filenames in your post so someone can help you.

#3

This is likely unrelated to your file name issue. If Channels is not recording an episode and you have it set to record new and/or all episodes, then the guide data given to Channels is likely not identifying each different episode in a unique manner.

2 Likes
#4

With some IP TV sources, the guide data is for very short amounts of time, for example 1 day or even less. Try updating the guide data more frequently. You can also go into the guide and see how many hours or days the guide data is for. Cut that number in half and make it your update frequency.

Does Channels refresh the m3u playlist or must I do it manually each time
#5

This. :point_up:

#6

FWIW, I gave up on SamsungTV Plus as a source because it tended to be a bit unstable, and the guide data was very limited.

@CaptWacky , You made me curious to re-visit this source. So, I looked into your channel of interest: All Reality We TV. The Samsung guide data only went ahead for five hours. That same channel is available from Pluto with 12 hours of guide data. Pluto also has its shortcomings. But, I have had a bit better luck recording from it.

With a bit of scrounging around, I eventually managed to find most of the channels I was interested in from sources other than Samsung TV Plus.

1 Like
#7

Have to agree that a lot of the FAST sources guide data is lacking.
Even when you can get Gracenote guide data for some of the channels, it could be better or worse than the FAST source. And even on the same channel it varies by show.

#8

Yeah, I have even found that when the guide data is correct, the start times aren't always in sync with the program schedule.
I recently recorded a classic TV sitcom series from Pluto. I found that when several episodes aired back to back, each one progressively got farther off track by a few minutes. By the third or fourth show, it could be off by as much as half of the program.
That being said...at least the price was right! :smiley:

#9

A post was split to a new topic: Does Channels refresh the playlist or must I do it manually each time

#10

They made that change a while ago.
Most likely due to issues like this one I reported.

#11

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