Some initial questions - filenames and block recording...

[joesh]

Hello,

I just bought and registered sageTV. Working well so far.

I notice the filenames look like:

KingoftheHill-RichHankPoorHank-14043-0.mpg

a) where can I set the filemask so I can get the date and time into that filename ? I realized I could:

for f in `ls` ; do mv $f `ls -asl|grep "$f"|awk $7"-"$8"-"$9" "`$f ; done

in a cron job on my fileserver, but as that is a disgusting hack, I would like to just adjust the filemask.

I suppose I would also like to import "station" and perhaps even "channel" into the filename (I am pulling those variable names from the program details screen itself, not just making them up

Where can I do this ?

b) just to satisfy my curiousity, what does the 14043-0 in the filename represent ?


Moving on, how do I do block recording ? That is, what if I do not want to record a show, per se, but rather a block of 4 hours on channel 9 ? I know I can just record all shows in that 4 hours, but then it will be split up into multiple files and filenames, etc. - I want to block record for a certain amount of time into a single file. How can I do this ?


Finally, when I view "favorites manager", some shows say "reruns only" and some shows say "first runs only" - what does this mean ? I don't really get it, because some daily news shows that, of course, never have reruns, are labeled "reruns only" ... is this a different definition of rerun than I am accustomed to ?


thanks!

[fidget]

Originally posted by joesh
Hello,

I just bought and registered sageTV. Working well so far.

I notice the filenames look like:

KingoftheHill-RichHankPoorHank-14043-0.mpg

a) where can I set the filemask so I can get the date and time into that filename ? I realized I could:

for f in `ls` ; do mv $f `ls -asl|grep "$f"|awk $7"-"$8"-"$9" "`$f ; done

in a cron job on my fileserver, but as that is a disgusting hack, I would like to just adjust the filemask.

I suppose I would also like to import "station" and perhaps even "channel" into the filename (I am pulling those variable names from the program details screen itself, not just making them up

Where can I do this ?

b) just to satisfy my curiousity, what does the 14043-0 in the filename represent ?


Moving on, how do I do block recording ? That is, what if I do not want to record a show, per se, but rather a block of 4 hours on channel 9 ? I know I can just record all shows in that 4 hours, but then it will be split up into multiple files and filenames, etc. - I want to block record for a certain amount of time into a single file. How can I do this ?


Finally, when I view "favorites manager", some shows say "reruns only" and some shows say "first runs only" - what does this mean ? I don't really get it, because some daily news shows that, of course, never have reruns, are labeled "reruns only" ... is this a different definition of rerun than I am accustomed to ?


thanks!

You don't get any say in the names of the files. You also can't rename then once they have been generated because then SageTV would think the file had been deleted.

The number at the end of the file name is the program number (14034) and the file number (0). The program number comes from the Zap2It listings and the file number is used to deal with duplicates (i.e., you recorded the same show twice without deleting or you were flipping through the channels).

The beta for SageTV 2.0 has added manual recordings, which would work for your block recording. I had some problems with a previous beta and haven't tried it since.

The Rerun/First run flag tells SageTV the type of program that you want to record as a favorite. This allows you to have a different priority for reruns that first runs. The flag is provided as a part of the Zap2It program listings. If you use XMLTV, most programs have the flag set to First run (even if they are reruns).

[joesh]

Hmmm...is this in the feature list for 2.0, or should I request it ? I hate to request it though, as, presumably, everyone else already has. A standard filemask control would be the most logical and easy thing to implement.

I would, of course, just implement it myself, but this is not open source software

As an aside, why do I care whether sage thinks the show has been deleted or not ? Regardless of whether or not I can choose the filename, I _will_ be organizing saved shows into directory heirarchies ... why is this a problem ?

Does this have to do with people actually watching tv with sage ? My recorder just sits in the closet and does not even have a keyboard connected - I watch the shows stored on my fileserver with my xboxes in each room ... so presumably I don't care if sage thinks the file is deleted, right ? Or will it attempt to re-record them at future showings if it doesn't see them ?

[mlbdude]

I would request it. I don't think custom file names has been discussed or requested yet. Custom file locations has though.

[stanger89]

It will continue to re-record them in the future if they are not marked as "Watched" or "Don't Like".

Not to be rude or anything, but why do you want to use Sage if you don't want to use the interface?

[joesh]

I just heard it was a good, reliable PVR - and I do like the interface I use to set up recordings, etc.

It's just that I have no intention of putting a PC on every TV when I can more cheaply and more easily stick an xbox at each one.

Regardless - even if I did use the sage interface - I plan on saving a lot of this data for a _long time_ - and after sage is gone and wintel PCs as we know them are gone and the aliens land, blah blah - I would like to know more about the files on my hard drive than:

KingoftheHill-RichHankPoorHank-14043-0.mpg

I'm sure you understand

[stanger89]

Fair enough. Hope you've got a lot of storage, I can fill 100Gb in a day or two, and that's with one tuner.

[Alex0230]

How can I get the program number for one of my episodes?

I accidently renamed the show on my sage tv machine....it was lasnight's South Park "The Passion of the Jew"

http://tvlistings2.zap2it.com/progra...y=EP2298270129

Zap2it doesn't show the program ID, you would think that would be it in the url...but I also record the Beavis and Butthead from lastnight and didn't rename and here is the URL for that...

http://tvlistings2.zap2it.com/progra...y=SH0625280000

and the filename is: BeavisandButthead-91202-0.mpg

I guess I could always re-record the southpark episode sometime.....but is there an easy way to find out the program number?

[fidget]

Originally posted by Alex0230
How can I get the program number for one of my episodes?

I accidently renamed the show on my sage tv machine....it was lasnight's South Park "The Passion of the Jew"

http://tvlistings2.zap2it.com/progra...y=EP2298270129

Zap2it doesn't show the program ID, you would think that would be it in the url...but I also record the Beavis and Butthead from lastnight and didn't rename and here is the URL for that...

http://tvlistings2.zap2it.com/progra...y=SH0625280000

and the filename is: BeavisandButthead-91202-0.mpg

I guess I could always re-record the southpark episode sometime.....but is there an easy way to find out the program number?

Try looking backward in the program guide. I have noticed that it tends to retain all of that information even after I ahve deleted the program (or it use to). Once you find the program in history, display the program information.

[mikeswallow]

custom file names would be really nice. It would give us more control when setting up profiles using Showanalyzer.