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

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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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.

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

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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.

Yeah, it's a normal word in my profession :stuck_out_tongue: and in dev work.

Good to know ... good to know. Maybe tomorrow we could die-hard hack the gold depository at fort knox!

I like not being in jail thanks :joy:

Did Bruce Willis ever end up in jail?

Possible Workaround (not hack)

This is a feature I'd like to see too especially now that TVE is a reality and has many channels that don't actually supply guide data. It would be handy to be able to specify a start time and a duration for a recording just based on channel.

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I would still like to see this implemented in Channels DVR.

Name the recording by whatever the guide says is on at the start time, or better yet, just name it
ManualRecording_CH# YYYY-MM-DD-Time.mpg (i.e. ManualRecording_750 2019-11-01-2030.mpg).

The ONLY reason I still keep my old TiVo Bolt (downgraded to TE3) running is in case my HDHR Prime bites the dust (and who knows if/when the PRIME 6 will be released). TheTiVo guide info is a joke as it always was with ROVI, but at least the TiVo allows you to set a manual recording.

Technically the DVR engine is capable of manual recordings. But we don't have a UI for it, because recordings and schedules without guide data and images are not well presented in the app.

If you really want to setup manual recordings, you can check the request made when you click a guide entry on the web UI and hit record and use that as a template with your own channel/time/duration and fake guide data. For the airing data, you can change Raw to null, and set Source to "manual" with whatever details you want for the Title/Image/Summary

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Can you explain this in more detail? For example, if one wanted to record channel 3.1 from 11:30pm until 12:00pm how would you manually do it?

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Not sure if I should post here or start a new topic.

I've searched this forum re: manual record(ings) & 'advanced passes' & I couldn't find a specific answer for what we are trying to do.

We have a # of different 'Series Passes' that we'd like to record just a fraction of the show (on a recurring basis).
Here's an example, there's a local/community-access channel that airs a news update Mon.-Fri. for 3-5min. but there program info lists it as a 30min. program.
Also we like to record our preferred local news @ 10pm but it airs for an hour & rarely is there anything worth seeing after the first 10min. but they do have a short (3-5min.) segment that airs weeknights toward the end of the broadcast that we'd like record.

So, is there a way to accomplish these use cases?
And what would be the best &/or easiest way to set these up?

Please forgive me if this has been answered already.
Would appreciate if U could post a link where I can find instructions or a step-by-step guide re: how to do this.

Thanx in advance :slightly_smiling_face:

I was about to tell you to just simply modify the recording buffers at the beginning and the end of the show, but unfortunately the buffers don't swing that way.

Yep, no 'negative' padding.

You could do like tmm1 said and fake out Channels DVR by capturing its network traffic, intercepting its request and saving the .json data to a file as a template and modifying it, then using curl to create a one off recording using that file as the json data to post to it, or not.

I'd rather not as I'm already jumping through other hoops to workaround other things...

P.S. You have to consider I'm not a 'normal' Channels user. I just pay monthly for Channels Plus and have purchased their Channel app for iOS, but mainly use Channels Plus for recording, sometimes use the web UI for viewing things I won't keep, rarely use the iOS app and mostly offload recordings after removing adverts to archive them.

17 posts were split to a new topic: Creating a Manual Time/Channel based recording job since it's a 'hack'

I moved from a Windows Media Centre to a Channels DVR via a Synology NAS for the server (Storage) and Nvidia Shield's as the front end. I have multiple HDMI to RF Modulator units in use to convert HDMI inputs to channels (channels 100 and 101), so it can be played on any device with Channels DVR installed. I have the same issue: TV stations without an EPG (like my RF Modulator Channels) can not be recorded. I would love to see an interface similar to the "pass" where you can specify a length of time to record, i.e. Record channel 100 for 2 hours. This needs to be able to be executed from the GUI via the remote or equivalent and not via the server with the long and convoluted process of "Creating a Manual Time/Channel based recording job "(How to create a Manual Time/Channel based recording job)

This was hinted to be on the radar in 2019 but its still not available?

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You can do this, but it is not easy. You have to issue calls to the server with the correct data packets. Search the forum. There are plenty of places where this is documented.

Another way is to map those channels to some EPG from another station/channel that has guide data.
Would be great if they could include a generic EPG source or stationID that just listed 30 or 60 minute blocks.

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