Series recording scheduled on unspecified channel

[IT Troll]

I don't think this is an EPG123 issue, but I'll ask here as others may have also experienced this.

I have a series recording request configured to record new & rerun showings on a specified channel only (e.g. CH 101 - BBC1). Occasionally, Media Center will schedule a recording of an old rerun of the show on another channel (e.g. CH 19 - Dave). Checking the settings confirms that I only have one request for the series and the channel is set to Channel 101 only. However, Media Center thinks it is recording the Dave showing as part of this series request.

This happens for a handful of shows, but only occasionally. I think I have seen it happen for many years, even pre EPG123. Is this just a glitch in Media Center's logic?

The reason for specifying New & rerun is that this is an extended edition of the show. Sometimes it gets flagged as a repeat even when it is a genuine first showing.

[d00zah]

Any chance that particular episode is listed in your history as 'partial', or 'failed'. IIRC WMC will try to re-record such failures regardless of channel.

[IT Troll]

That could be possible. Is there a way to view the true recording history that Media Center is using? The history shown to the user in Media Center is just a basic event log. I clear this out periodically.

It would be useful to have a tool to view and potentially cancel any queued retries.

[d00zah]

Just the std 'view scheduled' > 'history', but it's a long, tedious slog to hunt something down.

I'm aware of no such tool.

They DO show up under scheduled recordings once the episode hits the guide. Sometimes I notice 'out of place' events & cancel. Sometimes they just show up as new recordings. Space isn't much of an issue & deleting them, if I have no interest is re-watching them, is no big deal.

Edit: & if it happens to create a recording conflict, WMC is kind enough to notify me so I can address it. THAT particular feature is lacking from most WMC alternatives I've auditioned.

[Space]

Any chance that particular episode is listed in your history as 'partial', or 'failed'. IIRC WMC will try to re-record such failures regardless of channel.

This is also my understanding. Also, if you have a one-off recording for a show that does not get recorded (maybe it is removed from the guide before air date) then it will also still be looking for that to record in the future (without regard to the channel number).

There is no way I know of to see these "invisible" record requests and I have no idea how long they remain in the WMC database, taking up space. I would hope that there is some mechanism to purge them, but I would guess not, because how should it do so? After a certain time has expired?

[dmagerl]

This happens to me too when a series program fails to record for what ever reason.

But there is a bug in this "feature" in that it never ever returns to recording from the specified channel. It always records from the unwanted channel from there on out.

The only way I've fixed it is to delete the series and re-add it. It then returns to recording from the desired channel.

I've never seen this problem for one-of recordings.

[d00zah]

I THINK the logic is 'as intended' (IMO). 'Get it when you can'. as you can't always depend on seeing the same episode rerun on the same channel (in the near term).

[IT Troll]

Assuming this is indeed the reason for the recording being scheduled, then I agree that the behaviour is desirable. At least I have a plausible explanation for the WAF.

It would be nice if it indicated this in some way though, especially for cases like the above where the show was originally broadcast 19 months ago. I don't keep my recording history that long. I guess these missed recordings are held somewhere inside the WMC database. It would be useful to be able to query and cancel these entries.

[StinkyImp]

Just the std 'view scheduled' > 'history', but it's a long, tedious slog to hunt something down.

I'm aware of no such tool.

I've wished time and again for an easy way to "slog" through the recording history so I built a "Proof of concept"...

I currently have 4,568 recordings in my history.

I wrote a little utility that retrieves a "copy" of those recordings and allows a "series" search.



On my Win7 machine it takes less than 20 seconds to retrieve the recording history, perform the search, and produce this:

Code: Select all

Recording List for Young Sheldon
Created 2020:01:09:16:45:04
================================================================
    5/3/2018 8:01:00 PM - Information - "Young Sheldon: Summer Sausage
   5/10/2018 8:01:00 PM - Information - "Young Sheldon: Vanilla Ice Cream
   9/24/2018 8:00:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A High-Pitched Buzz and Training Wheels started recording on 9/24/2018 7:31:02 PM and stopped on 9/24/2018 8:00:00 PM as scheduled.
   9/27/2018 8:01:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Rival Prodigy and Sir Isaac Neutron started recording on 9/27/2018 7:31:02 PM and stopped on 9/27/2018 8:01:00 PM as scheduled.
   10/4/2018 8:01:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Crisis of Faith and Octopus Aliens started recording on 10/4/2018 7:31:02 PM and stopped on 10/4/2018 8:01:00 PM as scheduled.
  10/11/2018 8:01:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Financial Secret and Fish Sauce started recording on 10/11/2018 7:31:02 PM and stopped on 10/11/2018 8:01:00 PM as scheduled.
  10/18/2018 8:01:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Research Study and Czechoslovakian Wedding Pastries started recording on 10/18/2018 7:31:02 PM and stopped on 10/18/2018 8:01:00 PM as scheduled.
  10/25/2018 8:01:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: Seven Deadly Sins and a Small Carl Sagan started recording on 10/25/2018 7:31:02 PM and stopped on 10/25/2018 8:01:00 PM as scheduled.
   11/1/2018 8:01:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: Carbon Dating and a Stuffed Raccoon started recording on 11/1/2018 7:31:02 PM and stopped on 11/1/2018 8:01:00 PM as scheduled.
   11/8/2018 8:01:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: An 8-Bit Princess and a Flat Tire Genius started recording on 11/8/2018 7:31:02 PM and stopped on 11/8/2018 8:01:00 PM as scheduled.
  11/15/2018 8:01:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: Family Dynamics and a Red Fiero started recording on 11/15/2018 7:31:02 PM and stopped on 11/15/2018 8:01:00 PM as scheduled.
   12/6/2018 8:01:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Stunted Childhood and a Can of Fancy Mixed Nuts started recording on 12/6/2018 7:31:02 PM and stopped on 12/6/2018 8:01:00 PM as scheduled.
    1/3/2019 8:04:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Race of Superhumans and a Letter to Alf started recording on 1/3/2019 7:31:02 PM and stopped on 1/3/2019 8:04:00 PM as scheduled.
   1/10/2019 7:49:44 PM - Warning - Young Sheldon: A Tummy Ache and a Whale of a Metaphor was not recorded due to an unexpected failure.
   1/17/2019 8:01:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Nuclear Reactor and a Boy Called Lovey started recording on 1/17/2019 7:31:02 PM and stopped on 1/17/2019 8:01:00 PM as scheduled.
   1/26/2019 8:25:58 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Race of Superhumans and a Letter to Alf was manually deleted on 1/26/2019 8:25:58 PM by HTPC.
   1/31/2019 8:01:00 PM - Information - "Young Sheldon: David
    2/7/2019 8:03:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Math Emergency and Perky Palms started recording on 2/7/2019 7:31:03 PM and stopped on 2/7/2019 8:03:00 PM as scheduled.
   2/21/2019 8:01:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Loaf of Bread and a Grand Old Flag started recording on 2/21/2019 7:31:02 PM and stopped on 2/21/2019 8:01:00 PM as scheduled.
    3/7/2019 8:01:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: Albert Einstein and the Story of Another Mary started recording on 3/7/2019 7:31:03 PM and stopped on 3/7/2019 8:01:00 PM as scheduled.
    4/4/2019 8:01:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Perfect Score and a Bunsen Burner Marshmallow started recording on 4/4/2019 7:31:03 PM and stopped on 4/4/2019 8:01:00 PM as scheduled.
   4/25/2019 8:01:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Political Campaign and a Candy Land Cheater started recording on 4/25/2019 7:31:02 PM and stopped on 4/25/2019 8:01:00 PM as scheduled.
    5/2/2019 8:01:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Proposal and a Popsicle Stick Cross started recording on 5/2/2019 7:31:02 PM and stopped on 5/2/2019 8:01:00 PM as scheduled.
    5/9/2019 8:01:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Broken Heart and a Crock Monster started recording on 5/9/2019 7:31:02 PM and stopped on 5/9/2019 8:01:00 PM as scheduled.
   5/16/2019 8:41:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Swedish Science Thing and the Equation for Toast started recording on 5/16/2019 8:01:02 PM and stopped on 5/16/2019 8:41:00 PM as scheduled.
   9/26/2019 7:31:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: Quirky Eggheads and Texas Snow Globes started recording on 9/26/2019 6:57:02 PM and stopped on 9/26/2019 7:31:00 PM as scheduled.
   10/3/2019 7:31:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Broom Closet and Satan's Monopoly Board started recording on 10/3/2019 6:57:02 PM and stopped on 10/3/2019 7:31:00 PM as scheduled.
  10/10/2019 7:31:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: An Entrepreneurialist and a Swat on the Bottom started recording on 10/10/2019 6:57:02 PM and stopped on 10/10/2019 7:31:00 PM as scheduled.
  10/17/2019 7:31:00 PM - Information - "Young Sheldon: Hobbitses
  10/24/2019 7:31:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Pineapple and the Bosom of Male Friendship started recording on 10/24/2019 6:57:02 PM and stopped on 10/24/2019 7:31:00 PM as scheduled.
   11/7/2019 7:31:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: A Parasol and a Hell of an Arm started recording on 11/7/2019 6:57:02 PM and stopped on 11/7/2019 7:31:00 PM as scheduled.
  11/14/2019 7:31:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: Pongo Pygmaeus and a Culture That Encourages Spitting started recording on 11/14/2019 6:57:02 PM and stopped on 11/14/2019 7:31:00 PM as scheduled.
  11/21/2019 7:31:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: The Sin of Greed and a Chimichanga From Chi-Chi's started recording on 11/21/2019 6:57:02 PM and stopped on 11/21/2019 7:31:00 PM as scheduled.
   12/5/2019 7:31:00 PM - Information - "Young Sheldon: A Party Invitation
  12/12/2019 7:31:00 PM - Information - Young Sheldon: Teenager Soup and a Little Ball of Fib started recording on 12/12/2019 6:57:02 PM and stopped on 12/12/2019 7:31:00 PM as scheduled.

================================================================
Search String:		Young Sheldon
Total results found:	35

This is a little rough but it proves that with a little work someone could build a program to search the recording history without having to "slog" (I love that word) through the list inside WMC.

[d00zah]

Nice. Do you intend to share with the rest of the class, or is this just a tease?

This is a little rough but it proves that with a little work someone could build a program to search the recording history without having to "slog" (I love that word) through the list inside WMC.

'Simply put' is just plain boring.

[StinkyImp]

Do you intend to share with the rest of the class, or is this just a tease?

I spent a couple of hours building this to see if it was even possible. This "proof of concept" indicates that with more time and effort, it's definitely doable.

It works on my machine and spits out a "rough" listing of series recordings but isn't in any way, shape, or form, ready for prime time.

Who knows? I might decide to look at this in more detail sometime in the future.

[d00zah]

I will be indisposed for the next week, or so (?), but have a lengthy recording history I'd be glad to test against. If you ever get around to revisiting this, please let me know.

TIA

d-

[IT Troll]

That recording history is just an event log. This is not used by Media Center to track recordings. So if you click the Clear History button it just clears the log. Media Center still know which shows were recorded and which ones it will reschedule if the recording was not complete.

[StinkyImp]

That recording history is just an event log. This is not used by Media Center to track recordings. So if you click the Clear History button it just clears the log. Media Center still know which shows were recorded and which ones it will reschedule if the recording was not complete.

d00zah and I were trying to find out which episodes of a particular program were recorded without the tedium of scrolling (slogging) through the WMC recording history.

The "proof of concept" was that it is possible to get a quick and concise listing. Which begs the question... Why hasn't someone built something, and if they have, where can we find it?

[Space]

That recording history is just an event log. This is not used by Media Center to track recordings. So if you click the Clear History button it just clears the log. Media Center still know which shows were recorded and which ones it will reschedule if the recording was not complete.

The recording history is a subset of the "Applications and Services Logs" -> "Media Center" section in the Windows Event Viewer. When you display this history in WMC it gets it directly from the Event Viewer.

When you select the option to "Clear History" in WMC, you don't actually clear anything, it just sets the "clear date" to the current date and time. When you go to History in WMC it will only show events from the "Event Viewer" that were logged after that date. So the log in WMC will appear empty but it is just not displaying anything because the query to the Event Viewer excludes any entry before that "clear date".

It looks like "Event Viewer" may not provide the ability to filter by an arbitrary text search (although you can search, it just goes to the first found entry and then you need to search again), but one option may be to find alternative tools that allow you to filter the "Event Viewer" (a quick search turned up this, although I don't know if any of those have the ability to filter on a text search). Also, the Windows Powershell has a way to extract entries from the "Event Viewer".

[IT Troll]

When you select the option to "Clear History" in WMC, you don't actually clear anything, it just sets the "clear date" to the current date and time. When you go to History in WMC it will only show events from the "Event Viewer" that were logged after that date. So the log in WMC will appear empty but it is just not displaying anything because the query to the Event Viewer excludes any entry before that "clear date".

Ah yes, thanks, I had forgotten that detail. I'll check later as this should allow me to confirm the previous recording status of the episode in the OP.

[StinkyImp]

*Sigh...* I didn't mean for this to escalate into anything. I just wanted to see if there was a potential solution to d00zah's quandary.

The utilities I write are designed for a single purpose, to make mundane tasks simple, efficient, and FAST for normal every day users and have been doing so since the mid 1990s.

This "proof of concept" utility takes the drudgery of slogging through the WMC history and makes it a simple three step process.

1. Double-click on the executable
2. Type in the series name
3. Click on the "Search" button (or hit Enter)

On my old Win7 machine it takes less than 20 seconds to get the desired list of recordings (from the Event Logs). Any other solutions I've seen are much more complex and "might" be intimidating to a normal user. Mine are simple point and click.

Example 1: My "Movie-TV Show-Music" Library tool can analyze additions and deletions in those libraries over time in just a few minutes. The largest divergence of time that I've tested it on was October 2013 versus current.

Example 2: My log parser for EPG123 can plow through three years worth of logs and find every error (or warning, or whatever) and also provide system information for support purposes in less than a minute.

Everything I do is for fun and to see if I can create something really, really simple that even my SO can use, because if she can use it, anyone can!

[IT Troll]

*Sigh...* I didn't mean for this to escalate into anything. I just wanted to see if there was a potential solution to d00zah's quandary.

I don't think it has escalated into anything.

If your tool is querying the underlying Windows Event Viewer then it would still be useful for getting to the bottom of my original query. But as it is not in the public domain I will use one of the other methods Space has suggested.

No drama here.

[StinkyImp]

But as it is not in the public domain...

I have written hundreds of custom "special purpose" utilities (under contract, or for companies I worked for) over the years and then distributed them directly to end users. I don't have a website or anything like that. As far as public domain? Every single utility I write is available for free to anyone that asks.

The ones I've written (like the ones mentioned above) are what I like to call my "TGB inspired" utilities. I write them when I'm inspired by a post on these forums. They're free to anyone that believes they serve their needs and think they might be useful. Not a single string attached!

It took me a few hours yesterday to write this WMC recording history utility. Granted it's rough, but with some further tweaking could be a pretty useful cool tool for me and d00zah. If there were sufficient interest, I'd probably put in the time and effort to turn it into a more robust solution. With WMC dying off, it's probably not worth it. If I do work on it further it'll be because my OCD won't let it rest...

How does one announce something this new unless they post to a relevant thread?

[IT Troll]

So I went to the relevant Event Log and simply filtered it to the original air date. This gave me:

Code: Select all

Have I Got a Bit More News for You: Have I Got a Bit More News for You started recording on 07/05/2018 22:58:02 and stopped on 07/05/2018 23:50:00 as scheduled.

So it would seem the original recording was successful and I am back to not having an explanation of why this recording has been scheduled. Interestingly, if I change the series setting to New only, then this repeat showing disappears from the scheduled list. If this was a missed recording scenario then that wouldn't be the case.