[derekboreman]

Ok,
Maybe I am confused but I have searched high and low for the answer to this issue. I am using Windows Media Center as my back-end live TV recording device. So naturally I am using Server WMC and XBMC pvr.wmc as the front end. The problem is that when I enter the EPG guide and attempt to add a timer it tells me, "PVR backend error. Check the log for details. An unexpected error occurred. Try again later or check the log for details." I can't get anything to record in the EPG menu, but if I goto the channel lineup and tell it to record it works. This does not help when it comes to recording anything in the future or recording a series. Not sure where to go from here. This is the first post I have posted so be easy. I would appreciate any help that I can get.

Thanks,

So I have copied the log files and pasted them below.

Server Log

Client Log



Server WMC version number: 1.0.0.29 build 1135


XBMC version: Gotham 13.0
I have also tested with: Gotham 13.1 beta


pvr.wmc version: 0.2.93
I have also tested with: 0.2.95

[krustyreturns]

Weird! I think what is going on here is that serverwmc is reading a unexpected default value from the registry. If you are comfortable using regedit, please look at this value:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Settings\VideoSettings\RecordingAllowedShowTypes

and tell me the string you see there.

Also, what version of windows are you using (you didn't include that part in the log)?

[derekboreman]

Thanks for the reply,

FirstRunRerun

Thats what is in that value

Ohh yeah sorry, Windows 7 with all of the updates.

[krustyreturns]

Getting there.

Can you start wmc and go to:
Tasks>Settings>TV>Recorder>Recording Defaults

then scroll down to 'series only recording defaults' and tell me what value you have for 'Show type'

[derekboreman]

New and Re-Run

[krustyreturns]

Ok, so that registry value you looked up before is tied to the value set in 'Show type'. When I set set show type to 'new & rerun', the registry value is "Any", in the only show types (registry values) are:
LiveOnly, FirstRunOnly, Any

Somehow though, your registry value is set to 'FirstRunRerun' and that is messing up serverwmc. I don't how this value got set like this, at least in my win7 setup its not possible. I will patch my code so that when this happens the error that is thrown doesn't stop the recording request. To get you going in the meantime, set the registry value to: Any

[derekboreman]

Works now.... Thanks

---

I did notice however that it will not delete the recording from the EPG page. You must navigate to the timers page.

[jp2code]

My reason for coming here today is most related to this.

Issue 1:

In WMC, if I move forward on the EPG and select a program in the future, I am shown the Recording Options window.

With pvr.wmc, I scroll to something coming up in the future, select it, and I am taken to what is currently playing on that channel (i.e Live TV).

Issue 2:

Most of my timers are set by closing XBMC, going into WMC, then setting the timer there.

About a week ago, I struggled with how to set a show to record in pvr.wmc. I also found that I could do this by manually navigating to the Timers page. I was given the option to record the series, so I selected that. Could the situation described in Issue 1 be modified so that instead of going to Live TV - I am taken to the Timers page?

Issue 3:

I have not found a way to set the maximum number of items to keep in pvr.wmc like WMC has. The series I set to record up in Issue 2, it turns out, comes on twice a day, so they are collecting fast.

I know how to exit out of XBMC, open Windows File Explorer, navigate to the Recorded TV folder on the network, and manually delete these, but is there a way to edit the series settings in pvr.wmc?

Issue 4:

There is a thread on release notifications for the pvr.wmc here:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=179960

I don't see any way to subscribe to a closed thread. Aside from going to it periodically and checking, is there any way to find out when updates are posted?

Thanks for doing this. I'd love to help, but you would likely wind up spending more time explaining the code to me than what I would save you with the routines I wrote.

[krustyreturns]

issue 1,
We don't control this behavior in our addon, this is xbmc pvr behavior, so you need to take up changes with the xbmc team. With that out of the say, when I scroll in the epg view of xbmc and select a show, I am given a dialog that asks me if I want to switch to the channel OR create a timer for this episode. Not sure why we are getting different behavior.

issue 2:
See issue 1. You can also bring up a context menu for a selected episode or channel ('c' on the keyboard, or right click) and choose record from this menu. Really the thing to get worked out is what is going wrong on issue 1.

issue 3:
The number of programs to keep is something we have not implemented, but is easy to do. It requires a new custom series dialog which we haven't had the energy so far to do. Since our series dialogs require the skin authors to redo them for their skin its kind of painful (it would be so great if xbmc proper supported series recordings). We have lots of ideas of what to implement when we do another spin of series recordings dialog and this is one more thing to add. When I need to do this (which is rare), I just edit the series settings in wmc, that I originally set in xbmc.

issue 4:
After you open a thread it should be down at the bottom left of the window.

If you change your mind I bet we can carve something out for you to do that would't require you lean everything (at least not right away).

[scarecrow420]

What version of XBMC are you running jp2code? What you descrie with clicking on future shows was the behaviour in XBMC 12 (Frodo) but I believe in Gotham it has been "fixed" to work more as you would want. Not sure it's perfect yet. There are also XBMC settings you can set as to whether to automatically tune to a program selected in the EPG vs whether to pop up the menu asking if you want to watch, info or record etc.

[jp2code]

We use a Media Center remote with XBMC 13.

Yes, there is a keyboard, but that requires getting up.

I gripe a lot about how Windows Media Center is and how Microsoft just seems to have abandoned it, but it certainly is a feature rich application. If there were a way to get it to automatically play everything without going to buggy codecs, it would be perfect.

[scarecrow420]

you dont have to use a keyboard, you can map any of your remote buttons to perform any XBMC action. "c" on the keyboard is the ContextMenu command, normally mapped to "menu" button on the remote. If you press this command on EPG entries you should get the context menu where you can record, info or watch