Control grouping in PVR recordings

Control grouping in PVR recordings - Printable Version

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Control grouping in PVR recordings - lazygeek - 2016-10-07

Hello,

I'm a new user to kodi and Tvheadend after being a MythBackend/Frontend user for nearly 8 years (switching for the SAT>IP support)

The current "production" setup is Kodi and MythBackend to soften the transition and using their PVR client it automatically groups in the following way:

Recording Group > TV Programme > list of episodes

This is great as we all watch separate TV so we can see "our" programmes by going into the relevant Recording Group. I have quickly grown to love the grouping of TV programmes so I can see very easily the list of episodes that are waiting to be watched (Myth frontend just split out the TV using the Recording Group)

Using Tvheadend and it's PVR client it appears to group only by "recording directory". This means my TV will be mixed in with all the kids TV, leaving a long list I need to scroll through.

I have tried a using the directory function of Recording Profiles (was imagining this being similar to "Recording Groups"), and then applying a directory in the DVR AutoRec Entry. I can create the correct structure on disk this way, but this top level doesn't seem to be passed to the PVR client.

The best way I got was to group our recordings per person using the directory function in the DVR AutoRec.

Am I missing something here, or maybe it doesn't work this way?

Software is:
Kodi v16 (tried 17)
Tvheadedend (tried both the 4.0.x and 4.1.x versions)

Freesat in the UK (DVBS-2)

Many thanks!

Rob

PS initial impression on Tvheadend is very good, lovely setup and channel scanning, sits happily in a VM!

RE: Control grouping in PVR recordings - negge - 2016-10-08

If you specify a recording directory then that directory will be used in the list of recordings in Kodi. It will only apply to new recordings though, not existing ones.

RE: Control grouping in PVR recordings - rpcameron - 2016-10-08

In my recording profile I have it set to create subdirectories based on Title, so in Kodi each so is in its own folder.

RE: Control grouping in PVR recordings - lazygeek - 2016-10-09

Many thanks for the suggestions!

I've tried double checking, removing all the recordings and I have set up the following:

Under Configuration -> Recording -> Digital Video Recorder Profiles
Profile Name: Fins TV -> Recording System Path: /home/hts/Fins TV
Profile Name: Joshs TV -> Recording System Path: /home/hts/Joshs TV
Make Subdirectories Per Title: Ticked (for both profiles).

I then setup two recording rules, assigning one to each Profile. The "Directory" field was left blank.

Once recorded, I had the following directory structure:

Code:
rob@tvheadend:/home/hts$ ls */*

Fins TV/Littlest Pet Shop:

Littlest Pet Shop.2016-10-09.13-02.ts

Joshs TV/Franklin And Friends:

Franklin And Friends.2016-10-09.13-32.ts

This is all good, and as I expect to see.

Now switching to Kodi I get the following at the parent level of Recordings (using the default Confluence skin)
* Franklin And Friends (then select this folder to see the recordings for this title)
* Littlest Pet Shop (then select this folder to see the recordings for this title)

What I was expecting/hoping to see on the top level is the "Profile" directory:
* Fins TV
* Joshs TV

However these are not there, it is as if the PVR Kodi client is ignoring the Profile directory and merging all the profiles into one.

Screenshots:
Tvheaded PVR Main Recordings Screen (This shows all the "titles" directories, not the Profile directory)

Tvheaded PVR Episodes Screen

What I was hoping to emulate is the Myth PVR configuration. The main recordings home screen showing the MythTV Recording Groups, which I was hoping is replaceable with the Recording Profile:

Then we have as TVH the Titles in that Recording Group (all the kids TV!)

and then clicking on a title we have the episodes (like TVH)

Or maybe the TVH PVR client doesn't work like the MythTV one (which is fine!) Smile

Thanks once again

Rob

RE: Control grouping in PVR recordings - lazygeek - 2016-10-12

To follow up on my post I've been do some more digging around and I believe it is Tvheadend that is at "fault" (only in my eyes!).

Tvheadend sends the path without the Recording Profile directory in the payload for each recording. So I can't see how the client would be able to add this top level grouping.

Code:
'path': '/Littlest Pet Shop/Littlest Pet Shop.2016-10-12.00-00.ts',

I have tried accessing the folders using the Kodi Video menu and whilst it does work, the artwork doesn't work for the recordings and the filenames are shown, as in the UK the series information isn't available so the scripts will fail, so it's not as pretty as the MythTV client.... I'm aiming for a clean switch over where I have like for like in the eyes of the family!

RE: Control grouping in PVR recordings - negge - 2016-10-12

That is by design, the profile path is not exposed to clients.

RE: Control grouping in PVR recordings - lazygeek - 2016-10-12

That's what I thought, and from a design perspective it is the nicest way as you can consolidate all the different folders into one view. I'm hoping now I can somehow change the behaviour of Tvheadend, or create two layers of directories for the programmes in the configuration.

I'm trying to see if I can get the API function /api/dvr/entry/filemoved to move the files as a post processing script so I can place the recordings in a <RecordingGroup>/<Title>/<filename> structure but at the moment it is crashing the server! If I can achieve this then I am expecting the Kodi client to "just work"....

Many thanks for the information, at least I know now where to concentrate the efforts Smile

RE: Control grouping in PVR recordings - lazygeek - 2016-10-12

One last post from me.....

It seems I should have moved to Tvheadend unstable branch sooner! The latest version has a section in the recorder profile called "Full pathname specification" where you can provide the Format string. If I add a static string to this Tvheadend recreates that structure, and more importantly passes that to Kodi so I can get my folder structure that matches the MythTV recording groups...

Code:
KidsTV/$t/$t%F%R$-e$n.$x

Took me a while to get there, learnt a bit about TVH, but the solution was just install the latest version Smile