[OzDrDj]

Im sure it's on here somewhere but how do I create a custom channel with the programs I want. I have over 600 tv series on my server, and would like to make a few different channels, with several series in each. I tried Channel configuration, selected blank channel 1, Named my channel, told it it was TV Programs, pointedit at my tv programs directory, then selected channel rules, and here it seems to hang.

[the_3]

Channel rules are not supported yet, so it's expected behavior to hang when you choose that menu option.

In the Channel Manager, you need to do the following:
1. Choose an unassigned channel number
2. Choose the "content path" menu option
3. Tell it what content to look at on the "select source type" screen
4. Name the channel (or keep the default name based on the path)
5. Hit OK
6. Hit Save

After you back out of PTVL settings, then you have to wait. It will take several minutes for your custom channel to be built and populated into the guide. You may even need to restart Kodi, just to force the build, if you don't want to wait for it to happen automatically.

Step #3 is the most important, though. You say that you want "a few different channels, with several series in each," but also that you just pointed a channel at your "TV programs directory." That's not going to work in the way you want. It's going to give you a channel of every bit of TV content you have, assuming that I understand your directory structure.

Instead, I would recommend creating a Smart Playlist for each channel you want. If you don't know how to do that, Smart Playlists are pretty well documented as a core capability of Kodi, so you can find good info. But use the Smart Playlist rules so that it only contains the TV shows you want for that channel. Then when you create the channel in the Channel Manager and choose "content path," on the "select source type" screen you will choose the Smart Playlist option, and finally choose the playlist you created that you want the channel built from.

[OzDrDj]

Hello there The 3,
Thanks for your reply, I tried your method, but it would not work for me, I am getting a few faults, but am persisting with it as I love the Idea of my Own Channels.
The best results I have so far is Creating a Playlist of Episodes, Loading in the TV shows I want, Sorting by Random and loading the playlist into Channel Creation and Bingo, All Working.
Same goes for Movies, Creating a playlist, Setting a Genre instead of Shows, again, Sort by Random and all Gold!
I am finding a few little problems, should I post them here as a problem to be solved or elsewhere.
One thing I was trying to do, but doesnt seem to work, is Creating a 70s and 80s channel. Created a Playlist called 70s, Contains Mixed, Add Year 1970, Add Year 1971, Add Year 1972, but that doesnt seem to work, I think as it is trying to match year 1971 and 1972 and 1973. Could you add in there Search by year 197* using the Wildcard to find anything 1970s. OR 1970-1979. and then being Mixed content hopefully it will give me all movies and tv from the 70s, or 80s.
Thanks for that.

[Lunatixz]

Hello there The 3,
Thanks for your reply, I tried your method, but it would not work for me, I am getting a few faults, but am persisting with it as I love the Idea of my Own Channels.
The best results I have so far is Creating a Playlist of Episodes, Loading in the TV shows I want, Sorting by Random and loading the playlist into Channel Creation and Bingo, All Working.
Same goes for Movies, Creating a playlist, Setting a Genre instead of Shows, again, Sort by Random and all Gold!
I am finding a few little problems, should I post them here as a problem to be solved or elsewhere.
One thing I was trying to do, but doesnt seem to work, is Creating a 70s and 80s channel. Created a Playlist called 70s, Contains Mixed, Add Year 1970, Add Year 1971, Add Year 1972, but that doesnt seem to work, I think as it is trying to match year 1971 and 1972 and 1973. Could you add in there Search by year 197* using the Wildcard to find anything 1970s. OR 1970-1979. and then being Mixed content hopefully it will give me all movies and tv from the 70s, or 80s.
Thanks for that.

This is an example from my 70's Sitcom channel.

xml:


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>

<smartplaylist type="episodes">

    <name>70&apos;s Sitcom&apos;s</name>

    <match>all</match>

    <rule field="year" operator="greaterthan">

        <value>1968</value>

    </rule>

    <rule field="year" operator="lessthan">

        <value>1980</value>

    </rule>

    <rule field="genre" operator="contains">

        <value>Comedy</value>

    </rule>

    <rule field="genre" operator="doesnotcontain">

        <value>Animation</value>

        <value>Documentary</value>

        <value>Game Show</value>

        <value>Horror</value>

        <value>Kids</value>

        <value>Mini-Series</value>

        <value>News</value>

        <value>Reality</value>

        <value>War & Politics</value>

    </rule>

    <order direction="ascending">episode</order>

</smartplaylist>

[OzDrDj]

Hello Lunatixz,
Thanks for your replies, Regarding this list, example, if I wanted to make this play anything 70s

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<smartplaylist type="mixed">
    <name>70sChannel</name>
    <match>all</match>
    <rule field="year" operator="greaterthan">
        <value>1969</value>
    </rule>
    <rule field="year" operator="lessthan">
        <value>1980</value>
        <order direction="ascending">random</order>
</smartplaylist>

Would that work? I would like it to play a movie, or an episode, I think mixed will only give me either a whole show or a movie or should i try this...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<smartplaylist type="episode">
<smartplaylist type="movies">
    <name>70sChannel</name>
    <match>all</match>
    <rule field="year" operator="greaterthan">
        <value>1969</value>
    </rule>
    <rule field="year" operator="lessthan">
        <value>1980</value>
        <order direction="ascending">random</order>
</smartplaylist>

Cheers
OzDrdj

[Lunatixz]

Yes, There was a indentation error for the order tab and rule tab, looks like a copy n' paste error. Fixed below.
FYI I used > 1968 as the start because (at least in my library) a lot of shows I remember from the '70's actually started in 1969.
If you were to restrict the years to > 1969 (ie 1970) you may end up filtering out shows you'd expect in the list. ex any show that first aired December 1969 would be excluded.

xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>

<smartplaylist type="mixed">

    <name>70sChannel</name>

    <match>all</match>

    <rule field="year" operator="greaterthan">

        <value>1969</value>

    </rule>

    <rule field="year" operator="lessthan">

        <value>1980</value>

    </rule>

    <order direction="ascending">random</order>

</smartplaylist>

[OzDrDj]

Hey there Lunatixz,
Tried this playlist. I get an error, No duration meda found.
If I change all to episode, i get all the tv shows as expected, and movies, all the movies as expected, but all doesnt seem to work.
Is there a way to just select movies and episodes instead of all?
Cheers
OzDrDj

[Lunatixz]

Hey there Lunatixz,
Tried this playlist. I get an error, No duration meda found.
If I change all to episode, i get all the tv shows as expected, and movies, all the movies as expected, but all doesnt seem to work.
Is there a way to just select movies and episodes instead of all?
Cheers
OzDrDj

Ahh, my bad it should be episode, I'm currently running a modified version of Kodi in an attempt to add video support to the "Mixed" smart playlist type. Currently "Mixed" is not a supported video type.

[OzDrDj]

Ahh, So I can't do, A TV Show, A Movie, TV, Movie, TV, MOVIE etc.
Thats Ok, I will just make seperate Movies and TV channels. Simple.
Also, I noticed today, that in my current Sitcoms TV station, I have about 12 different Shows, But I noticed today, for the 3rd day in a row it has played the same episode of 2 and a Half Men. Is the PVR updating and changing each day, Each Startup etc. Or is the Random function not working correctly, or am I just unlucky.

I did notice, many many many moons ago, when I used to write software in GWBasic, If I used the Random function to generate a random number, The PC would always pick the same random numbers in the same order everytime on startup and nothing you could do would get the PC to generate a truly random number.
Until.... I learned a trick, before anything chooses a random number, Tell the computer to convert the computers time clock into an integer and pick a random number between 1 and the time. This would then seed the computers random number generator with a totally random number and all subsequent numbers would be different.
I don't know if that helps any but a handy programming trick that alot of programmers should learn when programmin random jukeboxes that always seem to play the same songs (Private rant, lol)

Anyway, thanks for your continued help, I'll keep playing with this, I love it and Use IT everyday now, It's certainly better watching my favourite sitcoms and tv shows, than watching commercial crapovision.

Cheers
OzDrDj

[OzDrDj]

....and made myself some new channels today. Added them to my Lineup, then Two of my other channels stopped working, Just a Grey line in the PVR. No matter what I try, the same grey line. Tried every utilitiy in the utilities menu, restart pvr, re this re that, clean start. Still all my channels remain, with the same bloody grey line.
Am about to delete the Psudeo TV directory and start again.

[OzDrDj]

edit... Deleted the top 3 Channels where the errors were, Restarted, then added the 3 channels back in, Working again.
If I could request an extra feature in your utilities menu, Delete All Channels and Rebuild the Channel Line Up.
Cheers
OzDrDj