[ksooo]

... always use MythWeb to schedule recordings. Don't find the Kodi interface easy enough for that part.

How do you define "not easy enough"? What exactly in Kodi is it that makes you say this?

... Also, series recordings prior to Kodi 17 were not well implemented. This is much improved in Krypton and beyond, but still not up to where it should/could be.

Where exactly "should/could it be"? What exactly is missing/not working? To improve things we need precise descriptions/suggestions, not "global" statements.

[rpcameron]

How do you define "not easy enough"? What exactly in Kodi is it that makes you say this?

... Also, series recordings prior to Kodi 17 were not well implemented. This is much improved in Krypton and beyond, but still not up to where it should/could be.

Where exactly "should/could it be"? What exactly is missing/not working? To improve things we need precise descriptions/suggestions, not "global" statements.

You're right, blanket statements with no details are incredibly unhelpful. However, I don't think hijacking this thread to lay them out is the right way to go about it.

Let me think on it an write out my thoughts in a logical manner, and then I'll post them in a separate thread.

Just to be clear, I don't necessarily believe things are "not working". The Live TV subsystem has come a LONG way since I first starting using Kodi as a TV replacement interface with Isengard. Other than the recently fixed search bug, I don't think there is anything that doesn't work properly; only that there are some missing features and refinements.

[raptorjr]

How do you define "not easy enough"? What exactly in Kodi is it that makes you say this?

For example one thing that I miss in Kodi is the ability in the EPG to press the record button several times on a specific show to select what kind of recording to do.
First press, record only once, second press record multiple episodes(series), third press restores to no recording. Very easy and simple to do, and also get visual feedback on the EPG what kind of recording to do.

Also I think that the upcoming recordings view in Kodi is hard to get a good view on what is about to be recorded. F.ex. MythWeb groups by day and makes it easy to see what is recorded when. And easy to cancel recordings if necessary.

I have noticed other things also, but this is the first that come into my mind now.

But I still use Kodi every day, because it is superior to MythTV frontend in most of the things. There is just some few features I miss.

Also, noticed a few new replys while writing this. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining about the PVR in Kodi. I know there have to be compromises to work with many backends, and just because I am used to MythTV frontend doesn't mean that they have all the ultimate solutions to how a PVR should work. So I don't want to complain because I miss things in Kodi.

[ksooo]

How do you define "not easy enough"? What exactly in Kodi is it that makes you say this?

For example one thing that I miss in Kodi is the ability in the EPG to press the record button several times on a specific show to select what kind of recording to do.

Well, the Kodi user interface does not know the concept of multiple clicks. Just saying, not that I would dislike your idea in general, but multi clicks are simply not Kodi style of doing things.

Also I think that the upcoming recordings view in Kodi is hard to get a good view on what is about to be recorded. F.ex. MythWeb groups by day and makes it easy to see what is recorded when. And easy to cancel recordings if necessary.

While I agree with you regarding Jarvis, I see it different for Krypton. There, you open the "Timers" window, which is by default sorted by recording start time, next recording on top, last at the bottom. Straight forward-looking eel sorted sms easy to read, imo.

But yeah, putting an extra days marker between the timers definitely would improve readability.

Cancelling a timer is as easy as to open the context menu of a timer and select the respective item, or, if I'm not completely mistaken, just to select a timer and hit the "del" key.

I'm glad, that the pvr feature requests meanwhile have reached this "sugar on the cake" level, btw. :-)

[ksooo]

... Also, series recordings prior to Kodi 17 were not well implemented. This is much improved in Krypton and beyond, but still not up to where it should/could be.

Where exactly "should/could it be"? What exactly is missing/not working? To improve things we need precise descriptions/suggestions, not "global" statements.

You're right, blanket statements with no details are incredibly unhelpful. However, I don't think hijacking this thread to lay them out is the right way to go about it.

Let me think on it an write out my thoughts in a logical manner, and then I'll post them in a separate thread.

Just to be clear, I don't necessarily believe things are "not working". The Live TV subsystem has come a LONG way since I first starting using Kodi as a TV replacement interface with Isengard. Other than the recently fixed search bug, I don't think there is anything that doesn't work properly; only that there are some missing features and refinements.

All fine by me, let's continue the discussion in a new thread.

[MikeNovember]

It's a bit of a hassle, but you can change it if you are determined enough. While making changes to Estuary to increase the font sizes in the EPG, I made another change: removed the timer icons and genre colors, and instead color the program cell in the EPG to reflect its timer status.

https://rpcameron.net/kodi/guide-rec_colors.png

Original

I like what you've done there. Any chance you could share the mod you've made, or point me to the file you've modded so I can have a go myself please?

Thanks

MN


Update

I've found it linked from the fonts thread elsewhere and made the changes to the xml files (by hand! - how do I merge them into the existing xml files using Windows?)

But it looks a lot nicer without the colours (which weren't particularly representative) and at least it's now at-a-glance easy to see what is scheduled. Apart that is from what is recording now, if you set a programme recording that's already started - the colour doesn't change there.

I'm new to Kodi and it's quite nice, but it seems the TV interface is slightly counterintuitive in its implementation. I gather PVR functionality is quite new to Kodi so presumably it'll get better. It seems to me that some functionality is prioritised strangely. On the whole it's quite promising however.

[rpcameron]

It's a bit of a hassle, but you can change it if you are determined enough. While making changes to Estuary to increase the font sizes in the EPG, I made another change: removed the timer icons and genre colors, and instead color the program cell in the EPG to reflect its timer status.

https://rpcameron.net/kodi/guide-rec_colors.png

I like what you've done there. Any chance you could share the mod you've made, or point me to the file you've modded so I can have a go myself please?

Sure. For the most part (although a little out-of-date), here is a gist on Github that has unified diffs for my original changes (the most important ones for this are the MyPVRGuide.xml and Variables.xml): https://gist.github.com/rpcameron/eb8707...e9b59b5cc2

Specifically, here is what I did:
In the Variables.xml file I added a new Variable and placed it at the end of the file:

PHP Code:

<variable name="PVRTimerBackground">
    <value condition="ListItem.IsRecording | ListItem.HasRecording">windows/pvr/epg-genres/96.png</value>
    <value condition="ListItem.HasTimer | ListItem.HasTimerSchedule">windows/pvr/epg-genres/112.png</value>
</variable> 


Those PNGs from the "epg-genres" subdirectory are the colored overlays used to give genre colors to guide entries: the first is green, to denote an already recorded or in-progress recording; the second is red to denote a scheduled recording.

Next are the changes to MyPVRGuide.xml:

• For the <itemlayout> item which controls unfocused grid items, I changed it to remove genre-coloring and instead to show the green/red backgrounds for those items. Also, I removed the Timer icons and made the text bigger and moved it down on the grid:
  
  PHP Code:

  <itemlayout height="62" width="60">
  <control type="image" id="2">
    <width>58</width>
    <height>58</height>
    <texture border="3" fallback="windows/pvr/epg-genres/0.png">$VAR[PVRTimerBackground]</texture>
  </control>
  <control type="label" id="1">
    <left>6</left>
    <top>7</top>
    <width>48</width>
    <height>48</height>
    <font>font13</font>
    <label>$INFO[ListItem.Label]</label>
  </control>
</itemlayout> 

• Next, I made basically the same changes to the <focusedlayout> element, which does the same as above, but for the highlighted grid entry:
  
  PHP Code:

  <focusedlayout height="62" width="60">
  ...
  <control type="image" id="2">
    <width>58</width>
    <height>58</height>
    <top>0</top>
    <texture border="3" fallback="windows/pvr/epg-genres/0.png">$VAR[PVRTimerBackground]</texture>
    <visible>!Control.HasFocus(10)</visible>
  </control>
  <control type="label" id="1">
    <left>6</left>
    <top>7</top>
    <width>48</width>
    <height>48</height>
    <font>font13</font>
    <label>$INFO[ListItem.Label]</label>
  </control>
</focusedlayout> 


That should cover the changes to get the grid looking like that.[/php]

[rpcameron]

Update

I've found it linked from the fonts thread elsewhere and made the changes to the xml files (by hand! - how do I merge them into the existing xml files using Windows?)

But it looks a lot nicer without the colours (which weren't particularly representative) and at least it's now at-a-glance easy to see what is scheduled. Apart that is from what is recording now, if you set a programme recording that's already started - the colour doesn't change there.

I'm new to Kodi and it's quite nice, but it seems the TV interface is slightly counterintuitive in its implementation. I gather PVR functionality is quite new to Kodi so presumably it'll get better. It seems to me that some functionality is prioritised strangely. On the whole it's quite promising however.

I'm certain there are diff utils aplenty in Windows, but I don't use Windows, so I can't really help there.

As far as starting a recording from a current Live TV program, I've not noticed that. Of course, I can count on one hand the number of times I've done that, so who knows. Also, I usually set recordings from the EPG grid, and I notice they change there. It could be that my changes were just quick hacks for my own personal needs, so I really haven't debugged them much. Also, it could be related to the backend, as I use Tvheadend so I didn't test this with any other backend.

As far as PVR functionality: It is definitely tacked on, as Kodi was originally developed as a media player/library for the XBox, and only in the past 2 versions has PVR functionality really started improving. There were quite a few changes to the way it works in 17, and 18 is bringing even more. When considering the Live TV/PVR functionality of Kodi it is important to think of it in those terms and realize that it is still a work-in-progress. Luckily it is now approaching the point where new versions are bringing improvements rather than basic functionality.

[MikeNovember]

Update

I've found it linked from the fonts thread elsewhere and made the changes to the xml files (by hand! - how do I merge them into the existing xml files using Windows?)

But it looks a lot nicer without the colours (which weren't particularly representative) and at least it's now at-a-glance easy to see what is scheduled. Apart that is from what is recording now, if you set a programme recording that's already started - the colour doesn't change there.

I'm new to Kodi and it's quite nice, but it seems the TV interface is slightly counterintuitive in its implementation. I gather PVR functionality is quite new to Kodi so presumably it'll get better. It seems to me that some functionality is prioritised strangely. On the whole it's quite promising however.

I'm certain there are diff utils aplenty in Windows, but I don't use Windows, so I can't really help there.

As far as starting a recording from a current Live TV program, I've not noticed that. Of course, I can count on one hand the number of times I've done that, so who knows. Also, I usually set recordings from the EPG grid, and I notice they change there. It could be that my changes were just quick hacks for my own personal needs, so I really haven't debugged them much. Also, it could be related to the backend, as I use Tvheadend so I didn't test this with any other backend.

As far as PVR functionality: It is definitely tacked on, as Kodi was originally developed as a media player/library for the XBox, and only in the past 2 versions has PVR functionality really started improving. There were quite a few changes to the way it works in 17, and 18 is bringing even more. When considering the Live TV/PVR functionality of Kodi it is important to think of it in those terms and realize that it is still a work-in-progress. Luckily it is now approaching the point where new versions are bringing improvements rather than basic functionality.

Thanks for the replies, they're very useful.

There is clearly a very active and supportive user base for Kodi and I have no doubt that it will improve a lot, particularly on to the PVR side. Cheers!