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[CountryBumkin]

I'm trying to troubleshoot some problems I am having recording the TV series "NOVA" and "NCIS". NCIS seems to be hardest one because there are a bunch of spin off series like "NCIS/Los Angeles, and NCIS/New Orleans, etc.

So I'm trying to figure out if "Series=NCIS" is better or "Series contains NCIS" is better, same for Name setup (Name=NCIS, or Name Contains NCIS. Or can I just leave "Name" out of the Rules). I think "Series=NCIS" would stop the spin off NCIS/Los Angels from being recorded. I don't know that the Name field is necessary.

Looking at the Recordings view I cant tell which rule is causing the problem (i.e. which rule I setup wrong: Series or Name) because all the fields are not shown in the Recording view. If you add "Series name" I believe i could look at what MC is using to determine what to record or not, and perhaps figure out the best subscription configuration. I don't think anyone would mind as they can choose not to display this field if it is redundant for them.

Also, I believe in the Recording view that "Program" is the same as "Name" in the subscription configuration. If yes, can we use the same term in both places? If it not the same, what is the difference?

[Yaobing]

"Program" column is a combination of Series and Episode names.  For example "Nova: Arctic Ghost Ship", or "NCIS: Beneath the Surface".  If a show has no series name, then the column just shows the episode name, like "Jeopardy!".

[CountryBumkin]

Okay- that helps me understand a little more.
I cant seem to figure out why some programs are not recording as expected - and I getting unwanted tv show recordings of programs not related to the subscription.

What "fields", if any (why not show "name" and "series name"), can be added to let one figure out the attributes MC uses to decide to record or not? or am I looking in the wrong place to figure this out?

I do recall a while back having problems with NOVA when I used "contains" and then it would record anything with those letters in the word, like the word "novacaine", so I know that doesn't work.

Thanks

[Yaobing]

For NOVA I use [Series] is "NOVA" OR [Name] is "NOVA".  Using "contains" is a bad idea because it would match words like "innovation".

[Yaobing]

You can create  a "TV Guide" Smartlist to help you identify series name and episode name of programs.

For TV Guide there is one simple rule:

MediaType is TV

and one modifier:

Limit database to "Television Guide".

With such a Smartlist, you can display fields ([Series] and [Name] for example) in individual columns.

[RoderickGI]

Many years ago I used to use a program called "TEDS Suite", which ran on a PC and drove recording selections on my Topfield PVR.

One of the great features this software had was in its reporting, where you could check for any recording why it was selected to be recorded. The software used multiple rules to select a recording or not, and if any rules matched, the TV program was recorded. Unless one of the "Do not record" rules matched, which overrode the other rules. The reporting showed which rules had matched, whether it was one or more rules, and the result of the analysis: Record or not.

I'm not sure MC's structure would allow such reporting, but it was a very nice feature, and allowed me to refine my recording rules and eliminate unwanted recordings many times.


For recording NCIS I use the rules:
[Series]=[NCIS] which means Series is NCIS
OR
[Name]=[NCIS" which means Name begins with NCIS

That is still a bit broad, but it has to be, because my EPG data is near useless. I have to catch more recordings, some of them unwanted, because the EPG data will often not have the [Series] tag, and will have either just "NCIS" in the Name, or "NCIS" with some form of the Episode name after that. It means that I record "NCIS: Los Angeles" more often that I want to, but I just delete those.


I also use a View I built to check recordings, in addition to the "TV Guide" View that you described Yaobing.

My recordings view is a Categories View like the default "Shows" View, and includes just the [Series] Category. The rules I use in "Set rules for display" are;
[Media Sub Type]=[TV Show] -[Recording Rule ID]=[]

Which means that the file is a "TV Show", and that the [Recording Rules ID] is not Blank. My understanding is that the second rule is the way MC identifies files as recordings. i.e. If it has a value in the [Recording Rules ID] tag, it is a recorded TV program.

With that View I can add any columns and see exactly what is going on, either at the Series level, or at the Episode level within a Series.

A variation I use sometimes is to remove the [Series] Category, making the View just a File List, which gives me a full list of every recording without grouping them into Series, and then I sort in reverse order by [Date Recorded], so that I can see a reverse chronological list of all recordings ever made.

Maybe Views like the above would help CountryBumkin?