Virtual Channel Guide Order

#1

Is there a way or are there plans to be able to drag and drop / sort the virtual channel order? For example, I started creating channels, then decided I wanted to group them in order based on theme to enhance the browsing experience. Moving up / down isn't an option. It appears I need to delete the virtual channels in between and rebuild them again afterwards, which isn't the end of the world, but certainly takes time.

Seems like an easy addition to get a "Move Up, Move Down" option in the guide. Hopefully I'm just missing it. In general the virtual channel feature is great otherwise!

#2

You can assign numbers to each virtual channel, and then tell the client to sort by number.

Or you can make a channel collection with those channels in the order you want them.

#3

Thank you for the quick reply. Unfortunately I don't think it works the way I was hoping. I am very new to Channels DVR... literally my 3rd day with it so trying to work through your guidance. I set the Server Side settings for General>Lineup Order>Channel Number, as well as Server Side Only>Channel Collections>My Channel Collection, which has the custom order I want (which is different than the order I created the channels under the Live TV>Virtual Channels menu option).

It appears the "Guide" with "All" channels as the view will only display the virtual channels in the order they were created. Only when going to the "Virtual Channels" guide option do I see the custom order. Is there a way to display the custom order in the "All" channels guide view? By experimenting it does appear the only way to make this happen is to delete / recreate the virtual channels in the order I want under Live TV>Virtual Channels menu option. Changing the channel numbers does nothing. They stay in the same slot on the guide with the new number I give it, but display out of order. This goes back to my original question about a "Move Up / Move Down" option within the Live TV menu.

Once again, very new to this all. Perhaps I'm missing another setting? I appreciate the feedback / patience.

#4

If All is not sorting by number even though you set that option, then that's probably a bug.

What client device are you using?

#5

Two currently... Nvidia Shield and a Fire TV. Both with same issue even when I set the channel lineup order on the client directly (on top of Server only / global section).

#6

On the android tv itself do you see the Lineup Order option in settings under Manage Sources

#7

Yes, it is set to Channel Number.

In troubleshooting more, an additional piece of info I should share is I am using a special character * before the virtual channel numbers (e.g. *1, *2, *3, etc) so they sit at the top of my guide above the Cable Card channels I get from my local provider (starting with 2, 3, 4, etc). This approach generally appears to work, but it appears to be my issue. If I go with default channel numbers the server wants to assign in the 10000 range, then change the channel numbers around, they do sort in order. When I toggle from 10000 back to a special character channel #, regardless of the number after the special character (*1 or *9999), if it was the 5th virtual channel I created, it will stay in the 5th slot on the guide and not reorder (hence the need to delete / recreate if I want to keep with my naming convention).

Assuming you follow me and understand what I'm trying to accomplish, is there a better way to get my virtual channels to display first followed by my locals when "All" channels is selected for the guide view?

#8

Channel numbers must be numbers. You cannot add special characters.

Maybe you can use the 1.1 1.2 etc to mimic OTA style guide numbers

#9

I don't know if it's been addressed/fixed, but Android, Apple, and the web clients all seem to sort channel numbers differently if "." or "-" are used.

#10

Thank you both. Using the OTA style convention beginning with 1.XX did the trick. Thank you very much for the guidance.

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