Duplicate entries for each TV recording

[MrMark]

I'm not sure exactly what happened, but ever since I installed the Commercial Detector and Comskip Playback plug-ins, SageTV has been displaying two entries for every recording.

At first I was having trouble getting the plug-ins to work. After searching this forum, it seemed that the problem was related to the fact that the Video Recording Directory was referencing the local path on the server instead of a UNC path. I tried to follow the "FAQ: How to move files, change recording dirs, etc." and I got the plug-ins working, but ever since that day, SageTV has been doing the double entries.

If it helps, the list entries look identical except that one has an "A" icon and the other one does not. If I compare the descriptions, the version without the "A" shows the Channel but the "A" version does not.

At this point I'm not sure if the problem has to do with the plug-ins or if something happened while moving/renaming with recording directory. I sure could use some help figuring out how to fix this.

-Mark

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by MrMark

I'm not sure exactly what happened, but ever since I installed the Commercial Detector and Comskip Playback plug-ins, SageTV has been displaying two entries for every recording.

At first I was having trouble getting the plug-ins to work. After searching this forum, it seemed that the problem was related to the fact that the Video Recording Directory was referencing the local path on the server instead of a UNC path. I tried to follow the "FAQ: How to move files, change recording dirs, etc." and I got the plug-ins working, but ever since that day, SageTV has been doing the double entries.

If it helps, the list entries look identical except that one has an "A" icon and the other one does not. If I compare the descriptions, the version without the "A" shows the Channel but the "A" version does not.

At this point I'm not sure if the problem has to do with the plug-ins or if something happened while moving/renaming with recording directory. I sure could use some help figuring out how to fix this.

-Mark

Mark,

This almost certainly has to do with moving your recordings. My guess is that it's displaying two entries since Sage can "see" both the local path and the UNC path.

When you move to UNC paths you need to put the recordings in a different local directory (or rename the existing one.) Let's assume your recordiings are on D:\recordings, here is what you need to do:

- Rename the local directory do D:\recordings2
- Create an empty directory D:\recordings
- Make a UNC path that points to recordings2

Sage can now "see" that D:\recordings is empty and the files have been moved.

My guess is that you did not rename the directory. The easy fix is to stop sage, rename the existing directory and change the UNC path to point to the renamed directory, then create an empty directory with the original name.

Tom

[MrMark]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

My guess is that you did not rename the directory. The easy fix is to stop sage, rename the existing directory and change the UNC path to point to the renamed directory, then create an empty directory with the original name.

Tom

Thanks for the reply Tom.

No problem on renaming the existing directory, but if the SageTV service has been stopped, how would I go about changing Sage's UNC path?

[MrMark]

I created a new directory using this FAQ:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...606#post265606

but I still get double list entries from the new UNC directory. Any ideas?

[GKusnick]

You didn't actually need to change the UNC path, i.e. the one registered in Sage as a recording directory. All you needed to do was make that path point to a different local directory. So for instance D:\MyNewFolder can still be shared as \\MyServer\MyShare (or whatever UNC name you were using before).

If you did in fact change both the local directory and the UNC name, then you've just created another instance of the same problem, since now Sage can see that the files are present in the new share, but it can't see the old share anymore to verify that the files it last saw there have disappeared.

Again, what you need to do is make both the new and the old path visible to Sage (at least temporarily) so that it can see that the files are in one place and not the other. This will probably mean creating an empty temporary folder that you share out with whichever share name you're trying to get rid of. Let Sage see that, wait for the duplicate entries to vanish, then stop sharing the temp folder and delete it from your disk.

[wrems]

So I had the bright idea of adding my recording directory as an import path... Now I have duplicates: the UNC path and the local path. I removed the recordings directory from my import path thinking that a rescan would clean them up. No go. What is the best way to handle this situation?

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by wrems

So I had the bright idea of adding my recording directory as an import path... Now I have duplicates: the UNC path and the local path. I removed the recordings directory from my import path thinking that a rescan would clean them up. No go. What is the best way to handle this situation?

Did you try what I put in post #2?

[MrMark]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

You didn't actually need to change the UNC path, i.e. the one registered in Sage as a recording directory. All you needed to do was make that path point to a different local directory. So for instance D:\MyNewFolder can still be shared as \\MyServer\MyShare (or whatever UNC name you were using before).

If you did in fact change both the local directory and the UNC name, then you've just created another instance of the same problem, since now Sage can see that the files are present in the new share, but it can't see the old share anymore to verify that the files it last saw there have disappeared.

Again, what you need to do is make both the new and the old path visible to Sage (at least temporarily) so that it can see that the files are in one place and not the other. This will probably mean creating an empty temporary folder that you share out with whichever share name you're trying to get rid of. Let Sage see that, wait for the duplicate entries to vanish, then stop sharing the temp folder and delete it from your disk.

I have to admit that I don't understand why I would want to create a share. If I create a share, who (or what) would I grant permissions to? It seems that the SageTV clients, both hardware and software versions, lack any way to authenticate with any share that I might happen to create, so I just don't get it.

It is easy enough to type a UNC path within SageTV Setup, but any share that I create on the server upon which SageTV is installed will always be visible both as C:\whatever and \\HTPC2\whatever, so if SageTV is always going to look at both the relative and fully qualified locations (no matter what I specify in Setup), I don't see how I will ever be able to avoid the duplicate entry nonsense.

I'm sure I must be missing something, but I just can't seem to figure out exactly what it is.

[wrems]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

Did you try what I put in post #2?

No, I wasn't sure what to do and rather than further mess things up I thought i would ask. I'll try that and see how it goes.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by MrMark

It is easy enough to type a UNC path within SageTV Setup, but any share that I create on the server upon which SageTV is installed will always be visible both as C:\whatever and \\HTPC2\whatever, so if SageTV is always going to look at both the relative and fully qualified locations (no matter what I specify in Setup), I don't see how I will ever be able to avoid the duplicate entry nonsense.

I think I see your issue. Sage should only "see" the UNC path, not the C:\whatever. Make sure that you ONLY have the UNC paths listed in Sage as recording and import directories.

The main reason to use UNC paths is so that SageClients can access comskip info. If you are not using any SageClients you probably don't need to use UNC paths at all.

[MrMark]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

I think I see your issue. Sage should only "see" the UNC path, not the C:\whatever. Make sure that you ONLY have the UNC paths listed in Sage as recording and import directories.

The main reason to use UNC paths is so that SageClients can access comskip info. If you are not using any SageClients you probably don't need to use UNC paths at all.

Thanks for the reply.

The only reason that I messed with the recording directory in the first place was in an effort to get ComSkip to work from my (three) SageTV clients.

I only have one recording directory. If I change it within SageTV Setup to refer to C:\Users\mark\Videos\SageTV_2, then it correctly shows a single list entry for each recording, but then ComSkip does not function from my clients. If I change it within SageTV Setup to refer to \\HTPC2\Users\mark\Videos\SageTV_2, then ComSkip works fine, but there are two entries for each recording.

I have never seen ComSkip work unless SageTV was also seeing double.

At one point I removed all of the recording directories from within SageTV, but it still showed the complete list of recordings, so I'm not sure why it is looking in places other than the ones I specifically specify.

I guess I don't understand why SageTV can't just look in the directory that I specify via UNC, and in that directory alone. And I still don't understand why (or how) I would want to create shares.

I'm not sure how to ask you (or anyone else) to take the time to give me step-by-step instructions, but so far each partial solution seems to create a new problem. Is there a go-by other than the one that I originally linked?

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by MrMark

Thanks for the reply.

The only reason that I messed with the recording directory in the first place was in an effort to get ComSkip to work from my (three) SageTV clients.

I only have one recording directory. If I change it within SageTV Setup to refer to C:\Users\mark\Videos\SageTV_2, then it correctly shows a single list entry for each recording, but then ComSkip does not function from my clients. If I change it within SageTV Setup to refer to \\HTPC2\Users\mark\Videos\SageTV_2, then ComSkip works fine, but there are two entries for each recording.

I have never seen ComSkip work unless SageTV was also seeing double.

At one point I removed all of the recording directories from within SageTV, but it still showed the complete list of recordings, so I'm not sure why it is looking in places other than the ones I specifically specify.

I guess I don't understand why SageTV can't just look in the directory that I specify via UNC, and in that directory alone. And I still don't understand why (or how) I would want to create shares.

I'm not sure how to ask you (or anyone else) to take the time to give me step-by-step instructions, but so far each partial solution seems to create a new problem. Is there a go-by other than the one that I originally linked?

Mark,

At this point I'm confused too I'd suggest you do a "reset" by doing the following:

First we must get Sage to forget about all of the recordings.

1. Stop Sage.
2. Remove all UNC shares you have defined.
3. Rename the directory with your recordings to C:\users\mark\videos\sagetv_3
4. Create a new directory C:\users\mark\videos\sagetv_2 and leave it empty
5. Restart Sage

At this point Sage will be able to see that sagetv_2 is empty and your recordings are gone, so it will remove them from its database.

Now we need to tell Sage where the recordings really are. To do that:

1. Create a share and point it to the SageTV_3 directory. (The share should be something like \\HTPC2\SageTV_3 and not \\HTPC2\users\mark\videos\SageTV_3)
2. Add \\HTPC2\SageTV_3 as a recording directory and force a manual scan. (Let me know if you don't know how to do that.) Note that you should NOT add C:\users\mark\videos\SageTV_3 as a recording or import directory.

When the scan is complete all of your recordings should reappear, and only appear once. All future recordings will go to \\HTPC2\SageTV_3 and your SageClients should happily see all of the comskip info.

[MrMark]

tmiranda,

Thanks for the write-up. It looks clear enough even for an ex-I.T. guy like me to follow.

The only thing that I am still not understanding is the share. Certainly, I know how to create shares...I've been creating them by one name or another since before Microsoft included networking support within their OS. But here's the thing...

In Windows 7, \\HTPC2\Users\mark\Videos\ is shared with "Homegroup", by default. When SageTV creates the SageTV folder during the installation routine, it too is automatically shared with "Homegroup" by virtue of the fact that it is a descendant of the already shared folder. Likewise, any new folders that I create at that location will also be shared in the same way.

So that leaves me wondering about the particulars of the share. Should I create a new folder right next to the default SageTV recordings folder? Should I then revoke the default "Homegroup" share for the new folder? And then what? Grant permissions to "Everyone" or ""HTPC2\mark", or what? And what permissions? Full Control, Change, Read?

I guess there would be no big security risk in granting access to "Everyone", but the IT guy in me doesn't like that idea very much. I would prefer to grant as little access as possible and still make the thing work.

For what its worth, at one point I stopped SageTV and moved the recordings back to the original SageTV folder, leaving the empty folders in place. When I restarted SageTV, it saw the recordings just fine even though the recording directory was still set to look at SageTV_2. In fact, even after I removed the recordings directory via setup, it still saw the recordings in the default directory even though no directories at all were specified! So it seems that SageTV ALWAYS looks in the SageTV directory, no matter what. I'm sure that is the source of at least part of the problems I have been having figuring this out. I foolishly assumed that if I reconfigured the software to look in a new location that it would only look in the location(s) that I specified, not just wherever it wants to look!

-Mark

[tmiranda]

Mark,

I have never used Windows 7 so I can't help in that area

Tom

[MrMark]

Wow, this keeps getting deeper.

After noticing that SageTV was ignoring the lack of a recordings directory, I then stopped SageTV once again and renamed the original recordings folder to SageTV_UNC. I then created a new SageTV folder and restarted SageTV.

As SageTV was restarting, I happened to notice that a second instance of the SageTV folder appeared in Windows Explorer. When I examined the properties of each folder, I noticed that the location of one was "C:\Users\Public\Videos\SageTV" whereas the other was at "C:\Users\mark\Videos\SageTV". I have to admit that I don't know much about the way Windows 7 maps and displays folders, but it seems like SageTV actually created the folder during start-up.

Adding to the mystery, SageTV can still see the recordings even though The Video Recording Directory is currently set to C:\Users\mark\Videos\SageTV and there is nothing in either of the SageTV folders!

What is taking place here? How can SageTV know where the files are located?

[MrMark]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

Mark,

I have never used Windows 7 so I can't help in that area

Tom

It's getting hard to avoid Windows 7 these days Tom. I still have a few machines running XP, but the more Microsoft patches the OS, the slower and more problematic they seem to become. If it is not possible to get SageTV to run on Widows 7, I'm afraid that it will soon be obsolete.

[vividweb]

Did you install SageTV in the Program Files folder or in another folder. There are some issues with Sage (and other programs as well) and UAC. I found it best to install Sage in C:\SageTV\

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by MrMark

It's getting hard to avoid Windows 7 these days Tom. I still have a few machines running XP, but the more Microsoft patches the OS, the slower and more problematic they seem to become. If it is not possible to get SageTV to run on Widows 7, I'm afraid that it will soon be obsolete.

SageTV runs fine under Windows 7, I just don't have the experience using it to help you.

[MrMark]

Originally Posted by vividweb

Did you install SageTV in the Program Files folder or in another folder. There are some issues with Sage (and other programs as well) and UAC. I found it best to install Sage in C:\SageTV\

I took the defaults. Are you saying that it does not work well in the default installation location?

[MrMark]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

SageTV runs fine under Windows 7, I just don't have the experience using it to help you.

I understand, and I very much appreciate your help.

Using what you suggested and combining that with my own observations, I was finally able to make it work.

When I noticed that SageTV always found the recordings, no matter what folder I moved them to, I tried moving the files to a folder at the root of C:. For the first time, SageTV did not see the files. It finally occurred to me that the "Media Center Import Directories" were not working as expected.

First of all, SageTV appears to import content not only from the specified folder(s), but also from all of the folders that are descendants of the specified folder(s). That explains how SageTV kept finding the files no matter where I moved them within that part of the directory structure.

Add to that the fact that SageTV treats folders that are specified as UNCs in an unexpected way, and it all starts to make sense. I would change recording directory so that it was specified via UNC, and SageTV would then see the files in the specified folder, but at the same time it was also searching for new content in the directory specified in "Media Center Import Directories". SageTV was treating the locally specified directory as though it was a completely different resource than the UNC specified directory, so it would show the files from both resources in the list.

I changed the path in the "Media Center Import Directories" from C:\Users\mark\Video to \\HTPC2\Users\mark\Video and that appears to have caused SageTV to recognize that the files in the specified "Video Recording Directory" are part of the same resource as the files it finds via "Media Center Import Directories" (\\HTPC2\Users\mark\Video) and thus only lists each file one time, as it should.

For what it's worth, there was no need to explicitly create a new share - I just created a new folder and used Windows 7's default "Homegroup" share settings - I just changed the paths within SageTV setup from local paths to UNC paths. I haven't tried it yet, but there is probably no need to move the files out of the default recordings directory either.

The only issue remaining is that some (but not all) recordings that I try to play with my PC client don't have any spoken audio - just music and sound effects. If I play the same files using the client software on the server, or with a hardware client, they play back fine. But I can always start a new thread for this part...assuming that the Google acquisition doesn't harm the product in some way...check out the sagetv.com homepage if you haven't already heard about this.

-Mark