If I were to delete a series and all it's shows....
Then re-establish the series at a later date (including repeats)....
Will I record the shows previously recorded by the series I deleted?
Along the same lines, is there any way to edit the (assumed) database of already recorded shows?
I wouldn't mind being able to find an episode and delete it from the database so that it would record again.
Thanks,
Andy
Series Recordings - How does it work?
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aeblank
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pittsoccer33
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I'm not in front of my pc right now, but I think this is how WMC works. Someone please correct me if I'm mistaken:
Zap2It (the provider of the guide listings) marks a program as being NEW, a RERUN, a LIVE program (whatever that is - sporting events or SNL maybe?) and I think they can mark nothing at all.
Under the SHOW TYPE recording options is where you can pick what will record (only new, everything, etc). You aren't actually picking "new" episodes, you are picking episodes labeled "new" by Zap2It.
I know WMC logs a history of everything it records, but I don't think the Recording Settings use that info in any way.
If you tell WMC you only want new episodes, you have to rely on Zap2It to mark the program in question as being a new episode. If it does not for some reason you will miss it. Likewise, if for some reason I missed a recording (say I shut my PC off) and three months later the episode is being shown as a re-run, AND Zap2It has it labeled as a re-run, it will not record even though it is "new" to me and my pc.
Zap2It (the provider of the guide listings) marks a program as being NEW, a RERUN, a LIVE program (whatever that is - sporting events or SNL maybe?) and I think they can mark nothing at all.
Under the SHOW TYPE recording options is where you can pick what will record (only new, everything, etc). You aren't actually picking "new" episodes, you are picking episodes labeled "new" by Zap2It.
I know WMC logs a history of everything it records, but I don't think the Recording Settings use that info in any way.
If you tell WMC you only want new episodes, you have to rely on Zap2It to mark the program in question as being a new episode. If it does not for some reason you will miss it. Likewise, if for some reason I missed a recording (say I shut my PC off) and three months later the episode is being shown as a re-run, AND Zap2It has it labeled as a re-run, it will not record even though it is "new" to me and my pc.
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aeblank
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I would swear that it would only record a show once (even if set to record repeats).
That show could be on 10x a day all year long, and it'll only record it once, ever.
That show could be on 10x a day all year long, and it'll only record it once, ever.
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blueiedgod
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I am pretty sure if you delete the series, and then start again, it will again record the episodes that were previously recorded by earlier series recording setting. The only options you have is to whether to record new or repeats. If you chose repeats, it will record them all, even the ones you had recorded with the previous recording series.aeblank wrote:If I were to delete a series and all it's shows....
Then re-establish the series at a later date (including repeats)....
Will I record the shows previously recorded by the series I deleted?
Along the same lines, is there any way to edit the (assumed) database of already recorded shows?
I wouldn't mind being able to find an episode and delete it from the database so that it would record again.
Thanks,
Andy
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mike_ekim
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I think you need to delete the recording history so you can record them again, and that will clear your history of all recordings for all programs.
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Space
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It really is amazing to me that there is so little information out there on how WMC does things, I wish there was a single place you could go to find all this information.
Anyway, here is how I understand it works based on things I have read at various places on the Internet and my own experience... Sorry for the wall of text...
When the guide data has an episode of a show marked as NEW (from the data it gets from TMS/zap2it) it finds ALL airings of that episode in the guide for 7 days after that episode and also marks them as NEW.
Note that this is different then it is on the zap2it website. On the website the first airing of the episode is marked as NEW, and all re-airings are marked as repeats (actually, they are just NOT marked as NEW).
When you set up a new Series recording, you can specify for it to record "New", "New & rerun", or "Live". I have never used the "Live" option, but I assume it works the same as "New" except for shows that are marked as "Live". Note that the "New" setting actually means "New & Live", so I guess you would use "Live" if you really only wanted to record live episodes.
The first thing you have to understand is that for each Series, there is a list of "episodes already recorded". This list is used so as to not record the same episode twice. This is true no matter what setting (New, New & rerun, Live) you use. If you delete a Series and recreate it, you will effectively delete the list of "episodes already recorded" for that Series and the "new" Series will start recording episodes that you may have already recorded with the old Series that you deleted.
It is important to mention that the "History" that you are able to display within WMC has nothing to do with this list (as far as I can tell), so you should be able to "Clear History" without it affecting the "episodes already recorded" list associated with each Series (I have not tested this, so if you know this to be wrong please let me know). As far as I can tell, there is no way to view or delete individual entries from the "episodes already recorded" list. It is my understanding, however, that if your Series is set to record an episode, and you select "Do not record" for that episode, it WILL be added to the "episodes already recorded" list and therefore that Series should never record that episode in the future.
If you specify "New" for your Series, then if an episode matching your show is marked as "New" in the guide data, it will record it. Remember that it will not record the same episode twice, so even though you may have (for the next 7 days) all airings of that episode marked as "New" it will only record one of them. If there is some reason it can not record the first airing episode, it will instead record the next one, and so on until it is able to record the entire episode without any problem (a problem being a conflict or some other error while in the middle of or trying to start the recording). Note that if you manually stop a recording while it is in progress, WMC will NOT see that as an error and will add the episode to the "episodes already recorded" list and will not try to record a future airing of that episode.
I saw some information on the Internet that the first episode it tries to record may not be the earliest airing one and is instead the one that airs in the same day/timeslot as the episode you used when first setting up the Series recording, but I have not confirmed this (but knowing this, I always choose the earliest airing episode when setting up my Series so as to have the most chances to catch a repeat, if needed).
If you use the "New & rerun" setting, then it will behave the same as "New", only it will record ALL episodes matching the show specified. But you must remember that a Series will not record the same episode twice, so you should not get multiple recordings of the same episode (or more than one recording of any episode, for that matter). You can use this setting to not only record all New episode of a show, but to also record all episodes from previous seasons, it should only record one copy of each episode.
I also use this setting to record first-run episodes that may have had their original airing in another country, in which case sometimes the "New" flag is not set correctly (and the OAD is set to the original airing date in the origin country and not the premiere date in my own country).
If you are setting up a Series recording for a new show that has never aired before, using the "New & rerun" setting should result in the exact same recordings as the "New" setting (assuming that the "New" flag is set correctly by TMS, if it is not, then using "New & rerun" would be more prudent, since it will record all episodes that it has not already recorded in the past. In the last 10 months, of the Series I have set to record, I have only seen the "New" flag not set correctly once, causing me to miss a recording of a new episode because I used the "New" setting instead of "New & rerun").
Of course, not recording an episode more than once is heavily dependent on the guide data being correct, if it is not, then all bets are off. I have found it to be accurate for the most part, but sometimes it can record the same episode twice because either there is no episode specific data for a given airing (in which case it will be recorded just to be safe), or there is a slight change in the episode information from one airing to the next of that same episode (I am not sure what data it uses to determine that an episode is the same as another one, I have seen two episode that looked identical but still both were recorded). Note that this only happens when the airings are far apart, not for airings of the same episode that occur within the same week (but see the bug described next that DOES cause multiple airings within the same week to be recorded).
There is also a bug that causes the same episode to be recorded multiple times within the same week (all or just some of the airings of that same episode have red dots), this seems to occur when the original guide data did not have episode specific information and then later gets updated with episode specific data. Somehow the "links" between those episodes are not created correctly, and WMC sees them as separate episodes instead of instances of the same episode. I usually only see this on a few shows, and usually only for the first episode of a new season, although that is probably very network/show dependent.
Well, that's it, sorry once again for the wall of text, but hopefully it helps someone. If you know of any errors in this, please let me know, I am really just learning myself. Thanks!
Anyway, here is how I understand it works based on things I have read at various places on the Internet and my own experience... Sorry for the wall of text...
When the guide data has an episode of a show marked as NEW (from the data it gets from TMS/zap2it) it finds ALL airings of that episode in the guide for 7 days after that episode and also marks them as NEW.
Note that this is different then it is on the zap2it website. On the website the first airing of the episode is marked as NEW, and all re-airings are marked as repeats (actually, they are just NOT marked as NEW).
When you set up a new Series recording, you can specify for it to record "New", "New & rerun", or "Live". I have never used the "Live" option, but I assume it works the same as "New" except for shows that are marked as "Live". Note that the "New" setting actually means "New & Live", so I guess you would use "Live" if you really only wanted to record live episodes.
The first thing you have to understand is that for each Series, there is a list of "episodes already recorded". This list is used so as to not record the same episode twice. This is true no matter what setting (New, New & rerun, Live) you use. If you delete a Series and recreate it, you will effectively delete the list of "episodes already recorded" for that Series and the "new" Series will start recording episodes that you may have already recorded with the old Series that you deleted.
It is important to mention that the "History" that you are able to display within WMC has nothing to do with this list (as far as I can tell), so you should be able to "Clear History" without it affecting the "episodes already recorded" list associated with each Series (I have not tested this, so if you know this to be wrong please let me know). As far as I can tell, there is no way to view or delete individual entries from the "episodes already recorded" list. It is my understanding, however, that if your Series is set to record an episode, and you select "Do not record" for that episode, it WILL be added to the "episodes already recorded" list and therefore that Series should never record that episode in the future.
If you specify "New" for your Series, then if an episode matching your show is marked as "New" in the guide data, it will record it. Remember that it will not record the same episode twice, so even though you may have (for the next 7 days) all airings of that episode marked as "New" it will only record one of them. If there is some reason it can not record the first airing episode, it will instead record the next one, and so on until it is able to record the entire episode without any problem (a problem being a conflict or some other error while in the middle of or trying to start the recording). Note that if you manually stop a recording while it is in progress, WMC will NOT see that as an error and will add the episode to the "episodes already recorded" list and will not try to record a future airing of that episode.
I saw some information on the Internet that the first episode it tries to record may not be the earliest airing one and is instead the one that airs in the same day/timeslot as the episode you used when first setting up the Series recording, but I have not confirmed this (but knowing this, I always choose the earliest airing episode when setting up my Series so as to have the most chances to catch a repeat, if needed).
If you use the "New & rerun" setting, then it will behave the same as "New", only it will record ALL episodes matching the show specified. But you must remember that a Series will not record the same episode twice, so you should not get multiple recordings of the same episode (or more than one recording of any episode, for that matter). You can use this setting to not only record all New episode of a show, but to also record all episodes from previous seasons, it should only record one copy of each episode.
I also use this setting to record first-run episodes that may have had their original airing in another country, in which case sometimes the "New" flag is not set correctly (and the OAD is set to the original airing date in the origin country and not the premiere date in my own country).
If you are setting up a Series recording for a new show that has never aired before, using the "New & rerun" setting should result in the exact same recordings as the "New" setting (assuming that the "New" flag is set correctly by TMS, if it is not, then using "New & rerun" would be more prudent, since it will record all episodes that it has not already recorded in the past. In the last 10 months, of the Series I have set to record, I have only seen the "New" flag not set correctly once, causing me to miss a recording of a new episode because I used the "New" setting instead of "New & rerun").
Of course, not recording an episode more than once is heavily dependent on the guide data being correct, if it is not, then all bets are off. I have found it to be accurate for the most part, but sometimes it can record the same episode twice because either there is no episode specific data for a given airing (in which case it will be recorded just to be safe), or there is a slight change in the episode information from one airing to the next of that same episode (I am not sure what data it uses to determine that an episode is the same as another one, I have seen two episode that looked identical but still both were recorded). Note that this only happens when the airings are far apart, not for airings of the same episode that occur within the same week (but see the bug described next that DOES cause multiple airings within the same week to be recorded).
There is also a bug that causes the same episode to be recorded multiple times within the same week (all or just some of the airings of that same episode have red dots), this seems to occur when the original guide data did not have episode specific information and then later gets updated with episode specific data. Somehow the "links" between those episodes are not created correctly, and WMC sees them as separate episodes instead of instances of the same episode. I usually only see this on a few shows, and usually only for the first episode of a new season, although that is probably very network/show dependent.
Well, that's it, sorry once again for the wall of text, but hopefully it helps someone. If you know of any errors in this, please let me know, I am really just learning myself. Thanks!
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aeblank
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Very helpful. Thanks.
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sbaeder
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I also concur with "Space" (and aeblank that you did a good job)...
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Space
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You're welcome.
One other thing about this... The "episodes already recorded" list seems to override all other settings. For instance this Friday there is a new episode of "Shark Tank" at 9pm (also a new "special" at 8pm, which has a different "series" name, just an FYI). The 9pm episode was originally scheduled to air 4/4/2014, but they switched episodes at the last minute and the guide data was not updated in time, so my WMC thinks that it has already recorded the episode that is airing this upcoming Friday.
So even though this upcoming episode is marked as "New" in the guide, WMC has not set it to record because it thinks it has already recorded it back on 4/4/2014.
To fix this I had to set up a one-off recording for this episode. In this type of situation, it makes no difference if you use "New" or "New & rerun", WMC will not record it as part of the Series.
There are other "features" of WMC that I have a very hard time finding any information about, for instance, have you ever heard of "enhanced conflict resolution"? There is only one place on the entire Internet that I can find any information at all about this feature; Here. This feature can sometimes cause recordings to start up to 5 minute late. I would much rather turn off this feature, and have shows that overlap by 1 to 5 minutes to cause a conflict so that the second show is rescheduled to record at another time. You can override this behavior by adding 10 minutes of hard padding to the earlier airing show, but this is a waste of disk space and also can cause unnecessary conflicts.
Oh, and another feature I discovered (and can not find any other info on) is that when you search for a show you can precede it by a "=" and it will only find shows that match that name exactly. For instance "=friends" will ONLY find the show "Friends" . It will not find other shows that contain the word "friends" (like "Barney and friends", etc.). Unfortunately this does not work when setting up a keyword-type recording (why?, Microsoft, why?) so for the most part it is not very useful.
One other thing about this... The "episodes already recorded" list seems to override all other settings. For instance this Friday there is a new episode of "Shark Tank" at 9pm (also a new "special" at 8pm, which has a different "series" name, just an FYI). The 9pm episode was originally scheduled to air 4/4/2014, but they switched episodes at the last minute and the guide data was not updated in time, so my WMC thinks that it has already recorded the episode that is airing this upcoming Friday.
So even though this upcoming episode is marked as "New" in the guide, WMC has not set it to record because it thinks it has already recorded it back on 4/4/2014.
To fix this I had to set up a one-off recording for this episode. In this type of situation, it makes no difference if you use "New" or "New & rerun", WMC will not record it as part of the Series.
There are other "features" of WMC that I have a very hard time finding any information about, for instance, have you ever heard of "enhanced conflict resolution"? There is only one place on the entire Internet that I can find any information at all about this feature; Here. This feature can sometimes cause recordings to start up to 5 minute late. I would much rather turn off this feature, and have shows that overlap by 1 to 5 minutes to cause a conflict so that the second show is rescheduled to record at another time. You can override this behavior by adding 10 minutes of hard padding to the earlier airing show, but this is a waste of disk space and also can cause unnecessary conflicts.
Oh, and another feature I discovered (and can not find any other info on) is that when you search for a show you can precede it by a "=" and it will only find shows that match that name exactly. For instance "=friends" will ONLY find the show "Friends" . It will not find other shows that contain the word "friends" (like "Barney and friends", etc.). Unfortunately this does not work when setting up a keyword-type recording (why?, Microsoft, why?) so for the most part it is not very useful.