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vkosh · 2013-12-06, 23:32

To provide an easier access to recordings I suggest the followoing features:

1. User can scroll back on EPG timeline (EPG grid view or OSD EPG) to select programme in the past.

2. User can play a recording associated with EPG tag by clicking on EPG item and switching to it. If there is no recording associated, then nothing is played. For future programmes there should be no "Switch" button in EPG item info dialog. And for current programme the dialog should switch to current channel stream (the current behaviour).

I think that's would be more useful than navigating through recordings folders to find a specific programme. And of course some recordings can live without linking to EPG. They still may be accessed through current recordings interface.

The implementation looks quite simple and it doesn't break BC.

nickr · 2013-12-06, 23:47

The difficulty is that your recordings can go back weeks or years. The average epg is not kept around that long.

vkosh · 2013-12-07, 00:13

Good reason, but for the latest programmes the way would simplify access while the archive recordings are still available in "Recordings".
In my case I use CDN as PVR backend, which provides EPG, live streams and recordings. There are several channels with 10-20 programmes per day. I show only 1-14 days old recordings in client. So, even if I organize the recordings in channel folders there will be 10-280 items in each folder. That's hard to use and understand.
On the other hand the EPG access (even for a shorter range, say 1-3 days back) gives intuitive shortcuts to 10-60 programmes in the past.

**negge** · 2013-12-10, 13:44

xhaggi has a PR pending that enables browsing back in time in the EPG view. At least that's a start.

**xhaggi** · 2013-12-19, 13:08

there is no plan to integrate something like this to select recordings.

vkosh · 2013-12-19, 13:41

If I implement the feature with optional linking of recordings to epg items, would it be accepted or it doesn't fit into the current pvr concept?

scarecrow420 · 2013-12-20, 04:17

@xhaggi, what was the intention behind your change mentioned above, to enable browsing back in time in the EPG view?

Going back in time on the EPG seems strange to me, Im not understanding what benefit I get in knowing what was on an hour ago... I assumed it was as negge mentioned, "a first step" towards this thread's topic of access to past recordings (which again, personally I dont happen to agree with or need/want but if others do then so be it), but you are saying that's not the case. So Im wondering what the intention behind your change is? Would be nice to have the EPG window configurable... I would set it to only show from NOW onwards

ursli · (This post was last modified: 2013-12-20, 05:49 by ursli.)

I can see some benefits, like quickly searching for the rerun of a show you've missed via the past epg for example.

There's also some problems that come with this change though, the main one for me is that not even confluence seems to be ready for the changes brought by the past EPG support. You cant access the PVR blade menu without going all the way back in the EPG for example (unless you've got a mouse nearby). Not sure if thats easily solvable though. (Maybe something like pressing left quickly twice brings up blade menu, not sure if thats even possible)

Cut off EPG titles is another thing but that sounds like something that could be solved by skinners I guess?

I do agree that some more settings for EPG behaviour seem to be needed.

Edit: I do like the feature though and gotham is still under development after all.

**xhaggi** · 2013-12-20, 10:26

(2013-12-20, 05:47)ursli Wrote: I can see some benefits, like quickly searching for the rerun of a show you've missed via the past epg for example.

Yeah, one of the reasons why we integrated it and to show you what you've missed. That's the real benefit .. or how did you know what you've missed Wink

(2013-12-20, 05:47)ursli Wrote: There's also some problems that come with this change though, the main one for me is that not even confluence seems to be ready for the changes brought by the past EPG support. You cant access the PVR blade menu without going all the way back in the EPG for example (unless you've got a mouse nearby). Not sure if thats easily solvable though. (Maybe something like pressing left quickly twice brings up blade menu, not sure if thats even possible)

It's up to the skinner to solve this.

(2013-12-20, 05:47)ursli Wrote: Cut off EPG titles is another thing but that sounds like something that could be solved by skinners I guess?

That's not a problem at all, because the epg title of a future program is also cut off. Wink

.

macardi · 2013-12-20, 10:54

Will this feature be optional, I see no use for it, and it seems to break usability.

**xhaggi** · 2013-12-20, 10:59

(2013-12-20, 10:54)macardi Wrote: Will this feature be optional, I see no use for it, and it seems to break usability.

Let us know what's broken

macardi · 2013-12-20, 11:15

Well, you say it´s up to the skinner to solve the navigation, but what are the options really?

To reach the menu by going up or down is not a good option since when reaching the top (or bottom) and push up (or down) it should jump to the last item of the EPG (or to the first), at least in my opinion. Also, it involves a lot of scrolling. To reach the menu by going right is not an option since you might have several days of EPG data in that direction, forcing you to scroll forever. And now, with the implementation of this feature, it’s not really an option to reach the menu by going left since you have to scroll all way to the end before triggering the menu.

Perhaps there are other ways to do it, and if so, it´s fine of course. I just say that you should consider usability, before implementing a new feature with (in my opinion) limited advantages, or at least make it optional.

Anyhow, I think its great that someone puts effort in develop the EPG, so I really appreciate the work you doing.

**da-anda** · 2013-12-20, 11:44

There are much more usability issues with PVR, the sideblade and lots of other stuff in XBMC that I hope we can address in a "zero feature" release (while improved UX will ofc also lead to new small features).

**xhaggi** · (This post was last modified: 2013-12-20, 14:08 by xhaggi.)

You are right, there are limited options to solve this within in the skin, so I added a PULL to solve this https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/pull/3873

It's now possible to use the "menu" button of your remote or ESC on keyboard to access the sidebar in all PVR related windows.

**xhaggi** · 2013-12-23, 17:24

I closed and replaced the PR with a more general integration to quick access the menu.