EPG123 Bug/Issue Contest

[luv2chill]

Not really a bug, but maybe a low-priority feature request:

Detect if the setup process is being run from an RDP session and pop up a warning/prevent it from proceeding.

My WMC is running in a VM and I'm used to doing almost all maintenance on it via RDP/Remote Desktop. But TV setup is one of the few things that can't be done from that mode. I of course forgot this, and tried setting up EPG123 while connected via RDP. It got the clean setup backup done but then popped up the WMC interface for step 2 with no way to proceed in setting up the TV signal. When I closed the WMC window, EPG123 tried to proceed with the remaining steps. I just X'ed out of everything, rebooted for good measure and re-ran the setup from the ESXi web client.

Like I said, not a big deal, but there are probably others like me (even people running WMC on bare metal) who attempt to do this process via RDP. Someone with less technical knowledge might even get confused that they couldn't complete Step 2 and then are presented with all the subsequent steps even though the TV signal step was never done.

Thank you garyan2 for keeping us all going. I long to replace WMC but there is just no viable replacement--especially for time-delayed live TV with commercial skipping via ComSkip. At least I can put off the decision to see if the DVR landscape improves in the next year or two.

Edit: Oh, one other (very minor) thing: maybe add a blurb to the "Clean Setup" confirmation dialog box that re-assures the user that a backup will be taken first. I know the instructions on the web site state as much, but I still had a pang of worry when clicking Clean Setup as it states only that everything is going to be erased.

[luv2chill]

Guess this one really is a bug, although maybe won't affect most folks.

A year or two ago my cable provider renumbered all of their channels. Amazingly, once I selected the new lineup all my series recordings seemed to switch automatically to the correct channel numbers (I guess because they use the channel's call sign rather than an absolute channel number?).

Fast forward to yesterday when I was switching to EPG123, some of my recordings transferred automatically, others I had to go through the matching step via thetvdb.org. Anyway, thought all was well until I got home last night and PBS Newshour hadn't recorded. Didn't have time to check it then but just remembered to do so today. When I look at series records, many of them are set to use the old channel numbers (which now either are different channels or don't exist at all). The newer series I had set up after the lineup change are fine, but the older ones I set up years ago are on the old channels.

No problem for me to cancel them and re-set them up, but wanted to mention it as it seems maybe the EPG123 transfer tool is assuming channel numbering is the same when transferring series recordings? Happy to submit logs (if they exist) or any other info you might need to verify this.

It was a good opportunity to prune out old series recordings (always a trip to find one for a show that was canceled five years ago!)

[Space]

This issue is known (just recently learned by me), see this post just a few posts above yours.

Are you able to edit the Series to change the channel number or do you have to delete and recreate the Series?

I'll be going through this soon, so just want to know what to prepare for. Many people may run in to this problem and I am surprised that was the first I've heard of it.

[luv2chill]

Sorry, yeah I should have reviewed the other posts in the thread first to see if it had already been mentioned. At least I know it's not just me.

I just tried and it looks like the series can be edited to correct the channel. Like for instance, my cable co originally had Comedy Central HD on channel 258. A couple years ago it changed to channel 740 (and my series recording for new South Park episodes updated to 740 automatically at that time).

When I changed to EPG123 yesterday and transferred my series recordings, the one for South Park shows up as recording on channel 258 (no callsign showing because that channel number isn't being used at present by the cable co). But when I edit the series settings the choices are:

Any channel
HD only
HD preferred
SD only
SD preferred
58 COMEDY only (the current channel number for Comedy Central in standard def)
258 only (old channel number for Comedy Central HD)
740 CCHD only (the current channel assignment for Comedy Central HD)

So the series recording re-created by EPG123 must still contain the callsign, because WMC is correctly suggesting 740 as an option to record from.

Maybe there are technical reasons it would not be possible/feasible for EPG123 to figure out the correct/current channel number for series recordings that were originally created for a specific channel. Not that big of a deal to fix as per above or just delete and re-create them.

[o2cats]

The ability may already exist already, but if not the following could be an enhancement request.

I think it would be helpful if you could specify the .mxf output file location, in epg123, and have it linked so the Full install would also use that location from which to download into WMC. I saw the -i option in epg123client.exe, but I did not see an output option listed for epg123.exe in the setup guide. If they option were available in the GUI, it would really make it easy.

That said, it works perfectly just the way it is now. If there are any bugs, I sure could not find them.

Thanks

Just a comment on scanning VHF channels request above. I have several Windows 7 systems, and one Windows 10 WMC active systems. The Windows 10 system scans and adds the VHF stations automatically. I have to add them manually in Windows 7 WMC setup. They are on the same HRHomerun tuners, same network, etc. I think the Windows 10 system somehow loads a different Guide Setup Data for your area? It seems like it would be the same information. If that comes from MS for both, is it possible that also be missing when trying to reset WMC going forward?

[Space]

...
Maybe there are technical reasons it would not be possible/feasible for EPG123 to figure out the correct/current channel number for series recordings that were originally created for a specific channel. Not that big of a deal to fix as per above or just delete and re-create them.

I don't believe the Series includes the callsign. The reason it presented those options to you is because that show is currently airing on those networks (it does a query for that show in the guide to get all the channels it is airing on). So the tool would be unable to automatically determine which channel to use without 1) An airing of that show being in the guide and 2) Asking the user which of the channels airing that show you want to use or verifying the one channel it found is the one you want to use.

I think the best practice would be (after using the transfer tool to import the schedules) to manually go to each Series and verify that the channel is correct, if not, change it to the correct channel, or if the correct one is not listed, change it to "Any Channel".

In many cases it might make sense to just change it to "Any channel", particularly if you use the "New" setting (which I would advise to use with EPG123/Gracenote/SchedulesDirect, as opposed to the "New & rerun" setting that I advised to use with the old Microsoft/Rovi data that often had incorrect OAD's).

[garyan2]

Maybe there are technical reasons it would not be possible/feasible for EPG123 to figure out the correct/current channel number for series recordings that were originally created for a specific channel. Not that big of a deal to fix as per above or just delete and re-create them.

The safest thing I could do would be to change all the series requests to be "Any channel".

[luv2chill]

Maybe there are technical reasons it would not be possible/feasible for EPG123 to figure out the correct/current channel number for series recordings that were originally created for a specific channel. Not that big of a deal to fix as per above or just delete and re-create them.

The safest thing I could do would be to change all the series requests to be "Any channel".

Yes, that's probably an acceptable solution.

Also, to correct what I said above, I mistakenly assumed the series recording must contain the callsign of the channel it was set to record on. I thought that's how it knew the current channel number. But It looks like what WMC does is just search the current guide database for all channels airing that particular show name and that is how it builds the channel list for series records. I just figured that out when I went to edit a series recording that is no longer actively airing--the only channel that was offered was the old, incorrect one (along with Any, HD only, preferred, etc.)

[LakeRat]

I'm new to EPG123, but I have been running WMC since Windows 7 came out. I also use TiVos in my house. EPG123's ability to add season and episode numbers is a huge improvement to my recordings. Thank you! I do have some requests, or questions, for you:

Is there any way you can add the ability to append the episode title with season and episode numbers? The TiVo boxes do that, and I really do prefer that method. I realize that you may be running out of space on the configuration page to add another checkbox. Perhaps it could replace "Append episode desc with season and episode numbers". A user poll could be used to decide if this is acceptable to other people.
TiVo also uses a different format for the seasons and episodes than you do. They use (S1 E1), with the parentheses and space. My old eyes can read that easier than your style of s01e01. The zeroes just seem unnecessary. Is that something that can be changed? Again, maybe it should be put up for a vote.

Having said that, I love your software. It has taken a few days to get truly comfortable with it, but it was worth the effort. Keep up the good work.

The check...err...PayPal will be sent out tomorrow!

[Space]

There is already an option to prefix the season and episode number to the title of the episode. Is this what you are asking for? Or are you just asking to move it to the end of the title instead of at the beginning?

[LakeRat]

There is already an option to prefix the season and episode number to the title of the episode. Is this what you are asking for? Or are you just asking to move it to the end of the title instead of at the beginning?

I am asking for the ability to move it to the end. If that is not possible, I still believe the (S1 E1) format is visually better than the s01e01 format. The use of parentheses also makes it stand apart from the rest of the episode title.

If I can figure out how to post a picture from my TiVo screen, I'll add one. (I haven't posted in a forum for years). Time for me to read the forum help

[LakeRat]

This is what episode titles look like on a TiVo. Even if the season/episode info has to be prefixed, I think it is easier to read in that format.

[Space]

I don't believe there is any restriction on where the season/episode number info can go in the title of the episode nor on the formatting.

One reason I can think of to keep it the way it is is that if you use the episode title in the filename (which is not done by default, but is an option) then the files would sort nicely by the season and episode number, using your way it would not.

That being said, I actually like the look you are suggesting myself and wouldn't mind if that was a configurable option, perhaps making it a string that can be set similar to how WMC has a string to specify how filenames are constructed. Example:

%t = Title
%s = Season number
%e = Episode number

Also, you can use the construct such as %2s or %3e where the number represents how many zero padded digits should be used when the number is less than that number of digits (default without a number is 1).

Examples:

Code: Select all

"s%2se%2e %t"  -               "s08e02 The One with the Red Sweater"
"%t {Season %s, Episode %e}" - "The One with the Red Sweater {Season 8, Episode 2}"
"%t (S%s E%e)"  -              "The One with the Red Sweater (S8 E2)"
"%2sx%3e %t"  -                "08x002 The One with the Red Sweater"

I'm not sure how many people would actually use this or care what the format is.

[IT Troll]

I'm not sure how many people would actually use this or care what the format is.

I quite like that idea as an advanced option for those who want to customise the format and position to their exact preference. Media Center does place the repeat flag in brackets after so you could end up with:

"The One with the Red Sweater (Season 8, Episode 2)" (Repeat)

Which is starting to look a bit unwieldy.

[garyan2]

I'm not sure how many people would actually use this or care what the format is.

I quite like that idea as an advanced option for those who want to customise the format and position to their exact preference. Media Center does place the repeat flag in brackets after so you could end up with:

"The One with the Red Sweater (Season 8, Episode 2)" (Repeat)

Which is starting to look a bit unwieldy.

And EPG123 will automatically add the part number and number of parts, so if the above episode was part 1 or 2, you would have:

"The One with the Red Sweater (1/2) (Season 8, Episode 2)" (Repeat)

[Space]

Yeah, plus some series don't have season/episode info and just have a production ID, so that would have to be taken in to consideration. Probably not worth the effort unless there is a large number of users who want it.

[LakeRat]

One reason I can think of to keep it the way it is is that if you use the episode title in the filename (which is not done by default, but is an option) then the files would sort nicely by the season and episode number, using your way it would not.

I am not a programmer, and do not pretend to know how easy or hard these changes are to implement.

The possibility of users sorting their episodes by episode title had occurred to me. As a novice EPG123 user, I don't want to break what works for the veteran users. If changing the season/episode format might put newer episodes before older ones, that is not an acceptable change. I choose to sort my episodes by original air date, I may be in the minority there.

I still believe the season/episode display would be easier to read if it used a capital S and capital E for season and episode. If changing the s01e01 format to (S1 E1) would break sorting by episode title for some users, then that obviously won't work. If (S01E01) doesn't break sorting, then I am all for it. I have no idea how parentheses would affect sorting by episode title. For long episode titles, appending the episode/title would allow more of the title to be readable when viewing all of the episodes.

My intent here is not to make the configuration or programming more complicated. It is to make the season and episode information easier to read. Hopefully, we can do that without making any changes that veteran users don't like.

[Space]

Just to clarify. Within WMC, you can sort by the original air date, the date it was recorded, or alphabetically. I was not talking about the sorting within WMC, I was talking about the sorting of the .WTV files in the filesystem.

However, in thinking about it, I do think that being able to sort alphabetically within WMC with the current sXXeXX is useful (alphabetical sort without sXXeXX has limited functionality...only useful if you are searching for a specific episode title without knowing the season/episode number). I normally only record first-run shows, not older shows, so normally sorting by the date it was recorded is sufficient.

For older shows, sorting by OAD (original air date) will usually get the episodes in the correct order, however if you sort them alphabetically with the sXXeXX at the beginning of the episode title, it would get you the episode order (which may or may not be the same as the original airing order). So it does give you increased functionality even within WMC.

As for the change from lowercase to uppercase, I personally don't have feelings either way.

[LakeRat]

I hadn't looked at the files that WMC creates since I started using EPG123. I may have to test using "prefix episode title" to see if, or how, it changes the filenames in Explorer.

I am presently using the "prefix episode description" option. I like the feature. I just feel that the season/episode format could be tweaked to be easier to read, and set it apart from the text that follows.



Edit: I just saw that file names have not changed. I would have been surprised if they did. I do see that season/episode is shown in the file properties detail. I'm not terribly surprised by that.

[garyan2]

You can open the Tweak WMC form from the client and change how the recording filenames are generated. By default, the episode title is not included, but I do what Space described with a filename pattern of "%T_%Et_%Cs_%Dt" for "Series Title_Episode Title_Station_Date/Time" and the episodes are prefixed with sXXeYY. In the file folder, everything is sorted by series and then season/episode.