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

Channels DVR Server Feature Requests
#1

If this feature exists, I don’t know how to access it.
Had an issue where Channels DVR did not record an episode of a series that only airs each episode twice.

Ultimate Ninja Challenge on Discovery Channel

ChannelsDVR SeriesID “15706884” ProgramID “EP030051350000”
zap2it.com programSeriesId=SH03005135 tmsId=SH030051350000

Appears either Gracenote or Discovery can’t figure out when the episodes air, Fridays or Sundays at 10PM, so setting a manual recording for both times would catch it if the EPG is wrong again.

recorded ep1-Dig Deep to Survive, Sunday 2018-08-05
recorded ep2-Over the Edge, Sunday 2018-08-12
recorded ep3-Hell in High Water, Sunday 2018-08-19
recorded ep4-Drop Zone, Friday 2018-08-24
MISSED ep5-Pull Your Weight, Friday 2018-08-31
upcoming ep6-The Darkest Hour, Friday 2018-09-07 or Sunday 2018-09-09
upcoming ep7-Eyes on the Prize, Friday 2018-09-14 or Sunday 2018-09-16
upcoming ep8-Back from the Brink, Friday 2018-09-21 or Sunday 2018-09-23

Right now this is how the (z)ap2it website looks vs. ©hannels DVR Guide

Fri 9/07 10:02PM Deadliest Catch - Bad Decisions(z&C)
Sat 9/08 12:03AM Deadliest Catch - Bad Decisions(z&C)

Sun 9/09 10:02PM To Be Announced(z), To Be Announced©
Mon 9/10 12:03AM To Be Announced(z), Queued ep6-The Darkest Hour© updated to To Be Announced

Fri 9/14 10:02PM To Be Announced(z), Queued ep7-Eyes on the Prize© updated to To Be Announced
Sat 9/15 12:03AM To Be Announced(z), Queued ep7-Eyes on the Prize© updated to To Be Announced

Sun 9/16 10:02PM NO LISTINGS FOR DAY(z), To Be Announced©
Mon 9/17 12:03AM NO LISTINGS FOR DAY(z), To Be Announced©

Fri 9/21 10:02PM NO LISTINGS FOR DAY(z), Queued ep8-Back from the Brink©
Sat 9/22 12:03AM NO LISTINGS FOR DAY(z), Queued ep8-Back from the Brink©

Sun 9/23 10:02PM NO LISTINGS FOR DAY(z), To Be Announced©
Mon 9/24 12:03AM NO LISTINGS FOR DAY(z), To Be Announced©

Can I record Series episodes listed as To Be Announced?
Dual Buffers
What shows are coming up this week on CH#?
Manual recordings
#2

I’m not really sure what’s going on with the guide data for this show. Every site I visited seemed to have different information. Some sites say that episode 5 is actually “The Darkest Hour”. On https://tvlistings.zap2it.com/overview.html?programSeriesId=SH03005135&tmsId=SH030051350000&from=sl&aid=gapzap two different episodes are both listed at episode number 5.

It could be that Discovery doesn’t like the ratings for this show, so they’re moving the episodes around and didn’t actually air “Pull Your Weight” on live tv. I’m not sure…

You might try using the Contact Us link at the bottom of zap2it.com to contact them about these issues, or contact Discovery directly. Gracenote data powers most of the DVRs on the market (including many cable company set top boxes), so it’s generally very accurate and updated directly by each network based on what they’re planning to air on TV.

2 Likes
#3

This was just one current example of why I was requesting Manual recordings, but you answered that for this case in my other thread about recording “To Be Announced” timeslots.

This is a one time, 8 episode series, so by the time Gracenote or Discovery fix the guide issues it will be over :cry: If it was a longer running series I would contact them both.

#4

I would hope that Channels would be able to set a recording based on time contains and channel= on “advanced pass” to cover this request.

If I’m mistaken, please advise.

Edit: Of course adjusted by “end padding” if necessary.

#5

Channels Advanced pass is nice (and unfortunately undocumented if you don’t search the forum), but Time and Channel only aren’t enough unless I’m missing something. Appers it only searches your guide data for a match and doesn’t take it explicitly as a CH/DATE/TIME. If you say 10PM and guide says it’s starts at 10:03PM it doesnt work. Also how would you specify a date or day of the week?

Problem is it would have to be a specific;

  1. Channel#
  2. Date
  3. Time of day
  4. Duration of recording

TiVo calls this a Manual recording that could be set for once, multiple times, repeating based on days of week, etc.
There is nothing in Channels I can find like that.

i.e. Record Channel 123 MON-FRI at 1PM for 1.5 hrs forever or just this week, or, etc.

Does anyone remember the VCR blinking clock?

1 Like
#6

Advanced passes can match on Time/Channel, which is close to manual recording but not exactly the same.

You should be able to enter Time CONTAINS Friday 10pm and it will match anything that has 10pm as the start time on friday, including airings like 10:03pm. If you want it to match an exact time only, then you would use Time CONTAINS Friday 10:00pm

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#7

That isn't what I need but tried it anyway.
Channel==Discovery (used my channel#, not Discovery)
Time CONTAINS Friday 10pm
and then tried
Time CONTAINS Sunday 10pm
and then tried
Time CONTAINS Wednesday 10pm
also tried Fridays 10pm, Sundays 10pm, etc.

Doesn't work.

Guide shows

#8

@chDVRuser On the DVR web settings page, what does it say for Timezone on the top left?

#9

Timezone PDT

#10

Just for grins I submitted the question to Discovery Channel from their web page Contact Us form.
No reply (gave my email addr).
Doing a web search I saw one of the contestants on the show post something on Twitter or Facebook to watch the episodes on Fridays as Discovery had switched from Sundays to Fridays, replies to her were Huh, didn’t air and no more replies about it. Just another mystery.

#11

Sounds like the show got cancelled =(

#12

Hm, that's strange. When I tried it here it seems to work like I expect:

#13

Does it only show the next airing (i.e. in your case the next Friday, tomorrow)?
Try using Wednesday.

#14

Appears like it may have been cancelled, I can find the first 4 episodes I recorded available for on-demand and streaming, but nothing after those. Strange, since Discovery already bought the 8 episode series and it’s not a repeating series.

Checked the Discovery Channel website and it does appear that episode 5 (the one Channels DVR missed) aired, but no info on upcoming episodes.

Twitter feeds, including contestants on the show are saying the same thing.

#15

I figured out why the Advanced Pass with Channel==CH# and Time CONTAINS Wednesday 10pm didn't appear to be working. Looks like when you set an Advanced Pass using Channel==CH#, it only retrieves the next 100 airings on that channel so in my case the 100th airing was Wednesday 7pm. A few hours later the 100th airing would have been Wednesday 10pm and it would have appeared in the Advanced Pass.

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Passes only showing 3 hrs
#16

Found out that Discovery decided to stop airing the series episodes after #4 and make the future episodes available exclusively on their Discovery GO website and APP’s according to one of the contestants.
https://twitter.com/herizondetails/status/1037532457812283393

One can only guess their reason for that :sunglasses:

#17

I’ve fixed the latest DVR pre-release so it returns up to 500 upcoming matches, which should allow you to schedule and see episodes for atleast the next week with custom Time and other matchers.

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#18

Thanks, hopefully that helps my other request here https://community.getchannels.com/t/what-shows-are-coming-up-this-week-on-ch/8887 for a channel specific view of what’s on this week for this channel#
i.e.
EPG grid view has horizontal time and vertical channels.
Click a channel on the far left column and then be able to drill down into vertical time columns for that selected channel.

#19

So.... Is there a way to schedule a manual recording? Channel and duration of 8 hours is what I’m looking for.

1 Like
#21

Manual recordings should be an option. There are numerous "hacks" (does anyone under 50 still use the word hack?) that could come in the future that would make this necessary, not to mention a few current situations.