Shows not deleting from DVR. Javascript errors on the Manage DVR page, and s

markpaterson · May 6, 2021, 6:39pm

I have the DVR version 2021.03.30.0356, and the latest client version on my Apple TV. We usually just delete shows using the Apple TV interface, or let them delete automatically by selecting "Only keep 3" or whatever.

I was doing some spring cleaning on the DVR and was trying to delete some shows using the web interface's "Manage DVR" page. Select All then Actions > Delete.

I get Javascript errors (in both Chrome and Safari) such as this below, and the show doesn’t actually get removed from the drive…

undefined is not an object (evaluating 'n.find((function(e){return e.ID==F})).Name')
N@components/recordings/Content.js:165
b@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:153
stateNode@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:176
X@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:247
effectTag@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:247
W@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:240
$s@[native code]
a@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:123
callback@scheduler/cjs/scheduler.production.min.js:20
ig@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:123
Va@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:123
d@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:231
readContext@react-dom/cjs/react-dom.production.min.js:165
hi@[native code]
e@zustand/index.js:126
forEach@[native code]
subscribe@zustand/index.js:56
hooks/liveData.js:11
obj@regenerator-runtime/runtime.js:63
innerFn@regenerator-runtime/runtime.js:293
r@http://dvr-ubuntu-server.local:8089/bundle.js:18
r@http://dvr-ubuntu-server.local:8089/bundle.js:18
promiseReactionJob@[native code]

After a little digging around my DVR drive, I’ve noticed that shows from months ago have never actually been deleted, even though they no longer show up in a Library search. We don't keep our shows forever, so I was wondering why my 2TB DVR drive is almost full! Now I know why!!

This pic is a side by side shot of my DVR webpage searching for 'Saturday Night Live' in my Library, and a screen share of my Ubuntu machine DVR disk showing the Saturday Night Live folder.

tmm1 · May 6, 2021, 6:52pm

Please try upgrading to the pre-release, by clicking the dropdown next to Check for Update and selecting the second option.

markpaterson · May 6, 2021, 7:09pm

Ok. I just did upgraded to the pre-release. I tried deleting another series, "BBC World News America". No Javascript error this time. The show no longer shows up in the web view. However, it's still on the drive and there's no mention of it being deleted in the logs yet, and it's been about 10 mins.

To clean up my drive, I guess I will have to manually go through every physical folder on the DVR server and determine if I need to manually delete it, because many of these recordings no longer exist on Channels. This will be very tedious!

Can you add a feature that makes Channels "sync" the folder to what is in its database and delete anything that shouldn't be there? This could be an option on the webpage that I click to run, or it could be a checkbox that I tick (assuming it will run periodically) with a warning message that anything inside will be deleted it it's not in the database.

chDVRuser · May 6, 2021, 7:16pm

Did you look in the Trash?
When you delete shows/movies from Channels, they're put in the Trash, not deleted from the physical drive until after the wait period for emptying the trash.

markpaterson · May 6, 2021, 8:27pm

Sure, but how long is this “wait period”? I have files that were trashed months ago but not deleted. Look at the file dates on the screen shots for the Saturday Night Live folder.

tmm1 · May 6, 2021, 8:30pm

Please try going into Trash at the top and delete items from there. See if it is mentioned in the Log and if the file is removed or not.

With the new prerelease version you're using, any errors during the delete will be printed to the log.

chDVRuser · May 6, 2021, 9:04pm

You define it in the DVR web UI as 1, 3 or 10 days

Or if you're in a hurry, go to the Trash tab in the web UI and click the Empty Trash button

markpaterson · May 6, 2021, 11:01pm

It was already set to remove after 1 day. I just emptied the trash manually and saw that all of those BBC World News recordings I deleted earlier today have now gone from the drive. That's good.

Also, a few of those Saturday Night Live recordings got deleted after emptying the trash, HOWEVER there's still 4 remaining on the disk that are not in the library OR the trash…

Also, look at how old these recordings are (check the date beside the name). These were "deleted" from my DVR library between 2019 and end of 2020, yet they still reside in my DVR folder. Why?

tmm1 · May 6, 2021, 11:10pm

Great!

It sounds like there was a bug in the past where the files were not deleted for some reason. Usually this happens when the linux permissions are wrong due to mount options or other configuration issue.

This is a reasonable request. We have something similar that goes in the other direction (clean up database given what files are on disk), so adding the opposite makes sense (clean up files on disk based on what's in the database).

markpaterson · May 6, 2021, 11:32pm

Thanks for considering my request. I guess I was just unlucky enough to experience this bug (or a permission problem) for a while.

Short of just starting fresh with an empty DVR folder (which would lose the shows I want to keep), I think the easiest solution will be for me to just wait for this feature to be added and then let that tidy up the DVR folder for me.

I guess I'll keep an eye on the version history of your DVR page https://getchannels.com/releases/#dvr

Thanks for helping me out, everyone.