I don't think you are going to get it to work the way you want. Either you are going to get too many recordings, or you are going to miss recordings.
The only way I can think of to get it to work with the current functionality is to do some external pre-processing on the EPG data, so the your games will always have a specific Series name and episode (game) name. That would be a lot of work.
Of course, the quality and consistency of the EPG data, as has been said many times, has a large influence on how well the recording rules will work.
I missed a whole lot of episodes of one series I watch every now and then, once recordings have built up. The broadcaster changed channel it was transmitted on, mid-season, and I didn't notice. I had the series recording on one channel, as that was how it was advertised.
Lesson: If possible select "All Channels". If that would result in far too many unwanted recordings because of matches to the one and only keyword field available, the recording rule name, then select just the channels from the same broadcaster.
I tried to limit recordings of repeats on Doctor Who. But while the first showing typically had a show description in the EPG data, repeats most often just had "Doctor Who" (broadcaster and EPG data problem/quality). So I specified just using Series and Name for identifying repeats. Then the EPG data only included "Doctor Who" in both fields, which was seen as a repeat from many earlier programs that had the same problem. So I missed episodes. So now I record all reruns, then sort them out later. I can't write "nested" rules of the form THIS or THIS, not THAT, but IF THIS is true then RECORD, which would be required for all combinations of EPG omissions.
Lesson: I can't win with Doctor Who. I have to just record every program with the name "Doctor Who" anywhere in it, then sort later.
Typically, I have to use the rule that "Less is more". That is, using a smaller keyword or phrase in a recording rule will result in successfully capturing the program I am trying to record more often. In one case for a while there I had to reduce a rule to "Kevin" and search All Fields (i.e. Description), as the program name changed so often in the EPG. Needless to say, I got a lot of extra, sometimes strange programs recorded, where an actor named Kevin was included in the description. A similar but lessor problem occurs with the series "Scorpion", where I get documentaries, CSI/Criminal Minds episodes, and other programs that simply mention "Scorpion". Scorpion King movie. Got it. Documentary on dangerous animals. Got it. All I need is to be able to say, "when a TV Show series name = Scorpion", record it. But MC searches Series and Name as a minimum. I can't use "exact Match", as sometimes the EPG data doesn't include the episode name, and so the EPG <title> field is put into the [name] field instead of the [series] field. Plus sometimes the EPG <title> field has additional information in it, like NEW SEASON, or something.
Lesson: MC Recording Rules functionality needs a massive overhaul.
Of course, if the EPG data was always correct and complete, then this would be less of an issue. But EPG data world wide is a significant challenge. Broadcasters don't want us to know exactly what is going to be shown, as then we would pick and choose. They want to give us the minimum information and then just watch what comes on anyway. Unless of course we go to their TV Guide web site, which gives them information and advertising revenue, and they know we can't automate recordings if we do that, so we are more likely to look up the guide and watch the best thing on, and therefore less likely to ad skip.
Also, EPG data can't be corrected simply by looking up theTVDB, although this helps, because often the programs you want to watch are new programs, and theTVDB either doesn't have the data, or it is incomplete or wrong. Of course any looking up of additional data from any source has to be done outside MC so that it is available in the MC Guide for the recording rules to find. Looking up program data after it is recorded is actually of limited value, and meets a different need to trying to capture the desired programs.
</rant>
Author
Topic: More flexibility for Recording subscriptions is an absolute must for me... (Read 4340 times)