Individual Series Recording Settings

[element192]

Hello,

I'm new to the WMC world and I've got a question regarding the DVR (Recorded TV) function. To start, I'm using an HD Homerun Prime cablecard tuner with Comcast Xfinity.

I've gone through the WMC settings and I see that there is a setting for choosing between only new and new/reruns, but what I'm looking for is to make those choices per series. For example for TV Show A I want to stockpile them so I want both old shows and reruns. But for TV Show B I only want it recording new episodes. This was something I could do even with my lowly Comcast box, is there a setting for this? It's kind of maddening.

Thanks in advance.

[barnabas1969]

It sounds like you're talking about the default settings for series recordings. In the default settings (under the Tasks -> Settings menu), choose the one you want to use most often (probably New only). Then, when you create a new series recording schedule, you can change it to New/Rerun if you want to. You can even change the settings after you've created a series recording schedule by viewing your scheduled series and changing the settings for each.

[element192]

You can even change the settings after you've created a series recording schedule by viewing your scheduled series and changing the settings for each.

I think this is what I'm looking for. I dont want to have to change the default settings all the time, I'd like something along the lines of having the default be "New Only" and then choose a TV show and have just THAT show record "New/Reruns" while keeping all of my other recordings as "New Only".

It sounds like I can do this?

[barnabas1969]

Yes you can. There are multiple ways to get to the menu for changing the settings.

One is to go to Recorded TV, press the arrow-up button until you highlight "Add recording" (or something like that), and then push the "Series" button. From there, it's pretty self-explanatory.

Another way is when viewing a show that is already recorded. Press the Info button on the remote (CTRL+D on the keyboard), and then press enter/OK. Move right with the arrow key until you select the "Actions" tab. From there, you can push a button to change settings for the series.

Another is when looking at the list of recordings in the recorded TV menu. Highlight a recording, and press enter/OK. Then move right to select "Actions", and press the button to change the series settings.

I'm sure there are other ways, but can't remember right now.

[barnabas1969]

Oh, yeah... From the guide. In the guide, you can select a future recording. I can't remember if you can press enter/OK, or if you can only do it by pressing Info (CTRL+D), but you can change settings for only that episode, or for the entire series from here.

[barnabas1969]

Oh, and if you're using a mouse, right-click is the same as Info on the remote and CTRL+D on the keyboard. Just explore things. Try pressing the Info button in different places. Notice that in different menus there are "tabs" at the top, and if you press the left/right buttons that they will scroll left/right and will give you more options.

[element192]

Thank you so much, I feel so stupid. I'll check those out as soon as I get home, I don't know how I missed it in so many places! I really appreciate your help.

[barnabas1969]

No problem. Lots of people seem to miss things like that. Just experiment. There are lots of things you can do. For example, while you're watching live/recorded TV, you can press the left/right arrow buttons to change settings like Closed Captions, zoom, etc. Pressing the Info button will display the same menu, and right/left moves around in the different sections of the menu. Pressing OK after you display the menu strip will show more information, and more options.

Check out this site for keyboard shortcuts:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... =windows-7

There are also lots of hidden goodies on the remote control. Try doing things like pressing and holding the skip-forward, skip-backward, fast-forward, and rewind buttons to see what happens. Also, when paused, you can press the skip and ffwd/rewind buttons to do things like moving a frame at a time, or slow motion.

Then, there are nifty combinations with the numeric keys. For example, you can skip ahead 10 times by pressing 10 and then pressing the skip-forward button. The same thing works for the skip-backward button. Want to move forward/backward exactly 5 minutes? Press 500 and then ffwd or rewind. Want to skip directly to the 30 minute mark in your recording? Press 30 and then PLAY. Let's say it's 9 o'clock, and you're watching live TV (and you have been watching the same channel for at least the last 15 minutes) and you want to jump back to 8:45? Press 845 and then PLAY.

[element192]

Wow, that is so awesome. I've been trying to do a ton of research on this stuff and I don't even know where you would pick up on that kind of stuff! Thank you so much. Is there a list for these hidden commands??? That sounds so cool.

The hard part for me is that I'm using Flirc and a URC remote (with learning capabilities) and it's been tough to get it dialed in. I'm just about there in terms of getting the buttons doing what I want, but for some reason the Info (CTRL+D) will NOT take... That and Skip Back and Skip Forward. I have a Logitech K700 that I use in addition to the remote to fill the gaps. From time to time the Flirc kind of tweaks out too and I have to close WMC and restart for it to work again...

Are you using a standard WMC remote? I'm looking into a different option and getting a cheap WMC remote/IR receiver and trying to use the learn function on my remote is becoming more enticing... That or use the CIR built into my mother board with something from Inteset...

[barnabas1969]

I use a remote that is similar to a Harmony in what it can do. It's an AR-RX18G. I use a standard Media Center IR receiver dongle. I suggest you do the same. You can buy them for around 15 bucks. There's a thread here that was started recently looking for a decent IR receiver. There are some recommendations in that thread.

[barnabas1969]

Oh, and if you search for something like "Media Center Trick Play", you'll find info. Lots of things are configurable in the Windows Registry database too. So, if you don't like the default 29 second skip-forward interval (or the 7 second skip-back interval), you can change that. Personally, I like the default skip intervals, but I hated the FFWD/RWD rates, so I changed them. You can find lots of that by searching for "Media Center registry tweaks" or something like that.

[barnabas1969]

Here's the link to that IR receiver thread. Some of the ones that are recommended come with a remote too, so you could use the remote to program yours.

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... f=7&t=6927

[element192]

You're the best, thanks for all of the great info.