Kodi/TVH Series Record

Jonathan Thomson

Is series recording actually available via the Kodi interface at all?

I'm running Kodi Jarvis (16.1) and TVHeadend 4.1 nightly and I recently upgraded my TVH PVR client to the latest version from GIT.

When I select a programme to record via the EPG, it simply sets a simple (one-time) event and there is no option to set a series link.

Ulrich Buck

TV -> Timer -> Add timer... -> Type -> Repeating (guide-based)

Should do what you are looking for. Never tried it myself though.

Jonathan Thomson

Not quite but it did point me to the right location - as it turns out it's just terminology that's different in the Kodi TVH addon - "Record" means "Record this single programme" whilst "Timer" should be used to set up recurring events. So in EPG view, I can go to a programme, select "Timer" and create a recurring event from there which kind of does what I wanted to do. The only thing I'm not sure of is does this GUI make use of series links. I think TVH is a bit more intelligent than your average series linking as it can inspect episode names, numbers and even descriptions (which is what I use) which works really well at preventing duplicate recordings (they still get scheduled but then get deleted once the event passes).

Jonathan Thomson

Sorry forgot to say thank you :)

Ulrich Buck

Hi, glad I could help to point you in the right location.

The GUI is just a frontend to TVH. I just tried it myself. When I create a repeating (guide-based) timer in Kodi the result is an autorec entry in TVH plus the associated upcomming/current recordings. I would think that you will get all the intelligence TVH has.

John Moore

kodi isengard had an easier method to record a series.

If you were in the program guide and clicked on a program, you simply added a timer and then selected the type of time (one time, series, etc).

Jarvis is a big disappointment in this regard.

Yes, you can create a series recording apparently, but it takes a lot more work on your part entering the information manually. Unlike, isengard, you can't start the process of a series recording using the program guide.

The above comments are based on my actual experience.
If someone knows a different procedure that is as quick as the one in isengard, please post how you are doing it.

John Moore

I have found a way to access the series record menu since my last post.
It turns out to be a right click menu item.
When you are in the epg guide, right click on the program you're interested in to get the new menu.

In the right click menu, select "add timer".

For those of us using our TV remote control (CEC or IR), there is an additional problem we must overcome - there is no right click mechanism on the remote. However, I have found a workaround for that problem.

If you have not done so already, download and install the "Keymap Editor" add-on which will allow you to assign kodi functions to keys on your remote. To resolve the issue, goto "Global->Navigation->Context Menu", click select and then click the key you want to assign to "Context Menu". With this done, you can now click your "magic context menu button" to bring up the right click menu so that you can access the add timer menu item.

I still believe having "add timer" in the record menu like it was in Isengard was a better way to setup a series recording. However, this workaround will get the job done although it's not as convenient.

Jonathan Thomson

You can actually achieve that without installing any addons or customising the keymap...

Navigate to System > Settings > TV > Guide > Default select action and change it to "Show context menu" - I used to find this option an annoyance (versus jumping straight to the channel) but it gives you instant access to the record and timer context menus which is actually more useful if like us you watch little linear TV and watch more recorded content.

So to set up a series link (or repeating timer as it seems to be called in TVH/Kodi) you have select the programme from the PVR, press select/OK (or right click), select "Add timer" and OK.

To be fair, that's a pretty slick process once you know the difference between "Record" (which caters for recording either the current programme or a single event in the future) and "Timer" which allows you to record a single event or repeating event in the future.

I still think that could all be merged into a click of the Record button by presenting a context menu asking what you want to do (one time recording or repeating event) or even toggle between one time > repeating and off - I believe this is how Windows Media Center used to behave (ahh the good old days :) )