Any way to sort search results, and record-series question

[Mike-G 16]

@@cayars My apologies if these are stupid questions, but I've only been using Emby for a few days, and I might just not be using the proper terms for my forum searches to find answers. But I will say I'm liking Emby very much so far (and as a more-than-likely convert from Plex, I'm feeling very optimistic). I'm not sure if these are Theater or Live-TV questions (or both), so I put this in the Theater forum (sorry if I should have split it into two different posts, but I'm not sure if my questions are related or not, so I left them together).

 

I wanted to find out when episodes of American Ninja Warrior were coming up (don't judge me ;-), so I typed "ninja warrior" into the search box in Emby Theater.  Emby found several episodes (image below), but I can't see any way to sort the results (by name, by date, by episode number, etc.). The search results ordering seems to be a bit random (not [entirely] by air date/time, not by episode number, etc.).  In fact, the ordering for this same search was different a different time I ran Emby Theater, so that makes me think there is no sorting being applied to the results.

 

(1) Is there any way to sort the list of search results (which I assume might be content-type dependent)? Or can someone help me understand what the sort order is, if any?

 

Also, I set up recording for the series, which I can see by the icons in the u/r corner of the posters. I have the series option to not record episodes already in the library unchecked, the option to record all episodes selected, and the series option to record on all channels set. But the second group for Denver City Finals show gray icons (which I assume means they won't be recorded, for some reason), presumably because they'd already be in the library?  I confirmed this in the "Recording" page that shows the episodes with the gray icons aren't in the recording schedule.

 

(2) I can't figure out why some of the episodes aren't scheduled to be recorded, since I have the don't-record-already-in-library option unchecked and record-on-all-channels checked. Can someone help me understand why?

 

(3) I'm also confused how Emby is determining which of the multiple instances of the same episode to record. As it turns out, Emby made the right choice because the ones chosen are in HD and the others aren't. I didn't see any option to prefer to record HD over SD, so shouldn't it attempt to record all instances of the episode (and let me know if there's a conflict)?  Of course, two of the episodes' schedules overlap, so maybe that has something to do with it?  But my HDHomeRun that is being used for OTA has 2 tuners, so wouldn't both overlapping episodes be able to get recorded?

 

If there are any articles/blogs/posts that could help me understand, pointers to them would be fine, rather than replicating information that's already written down somewhere (that I just wasn't able to find).

 

Thank you for your help.

 

Edited July 23, 2019 by Luke

[Carlo 4330]

Hey Mike, great to see you thinking of switching over.  Miss our chats in the forums.

 

Just wanted to let you know I got a ping today that you added me to the message so I'll take a read through and answer what I can in about an hour or two.

Just need to finish up what I'm working on first.

 

 

In the meantime if you want to answer this.  What server version are you running?  Release or Beta?

 

Carlo

[Mike-G 16]

Hey Mike, great to see you thinking of switching over.  Miss our chats in the forums.

 

Just wanted to let you know I got a ping today that you added me to the message so I'll take a read through and answer what I can in about an hour or two.

Just need to finish up what I'm working on first.

 

 

In the meantime if you want to answer this.  What server version are you running?  Release or Beta?

 

Carlo

Hi Carlo,

 

Actually, I don't believe I did anything that added you to the message, although I see from my original post that it was edited by Luke, so maybe that's how you got added?

 

To answer your question, I'm currently using server version 4.1.1.0, release.  I'm not sure if that's the version I was using when I made the original post, though.

 

I re-did my scenario with my current configuration, so to my previous items:

 

(1) I'm still seeing the list of episodes matching the search in the "Programs" section unsorted.  The episode for S11E9 8/2 is shown last in the horizontal listing, but two items before that shows S4E3 8/5 : earlier air date listed later.  There seems to be no order applied to the list at all -- either by season or by date (the first one in the list is S11E8 7/22 - earlier season listed later). Is there any way to set a sorting for the search results (or if there is one, could you explain the sorting method)?  Currently, I have to look through the entire result list to see if the search found a specific air date or episode. (This might just be me throwing back to when I was a sw developer -- all search results presented to users were sorted based on some specific key).

 

(2) I now have "Don't record episodes already in my library" checked, so I don't think this scenario is still valid.  Although, based on the red/gray record indicators, it seems Emby is assuming that a recording might take place (due to what it's scheduled) for a specific episode since later-occurring instances of that same episode show the gray icon.  But if for some reason the scheduled recording should fail, I hope Emby would record the later-occurring instance. [[ For this case I would suggest a "pending" record status; i.e., if recordings go as planned, this episode won't be recorded, but if there is a problem, it may be recorded. ]]

 

(3) I still have no thoughts on this one. However, I've set recording to use a specific channel, so this may also no longer be a valid scenario.

Edited July 23, 2019 by Mike-G

[Carlo 4330]

OK, yes I see it was Luke who edit the post to get my attention.  It worked.

 

Yes using search is one way to find episodes of shows, movies or sporting events.

You are correct a present you can't sort them but I believe there is a feature request open to add sorting.  They likely return based on the order in the database or the guide data.

 

When you setup recordings you have the ability to record and episode or series.  If you choose series you can always go to the series tab (web) under live TV click on the series and see all upcoming episodes this way as well.

 

If you have already added the TV Series to a TV Library then you can also view upcoming episodes directly from here as well (Upcoming tab in web).

 

Yes when you setup series recordings they will be color coded red or gray.  Gray circle means it a series you have set to record BUT this particular episode will not be recorded.  Red means this episode will be recorded.

 

This works pretty well for normal TVs shows, late night programs and news programming BUT not so well at times for SPORTS.  If the GUIDE DATA doesn't have season/episode numbering then it's more problematic.  You may see this problem with American Ninja Warrior as well as NFL Football, NBA Basketball and other similar "titles" when you can't easily tell what actual team is playing.  So for anything "sports like" programming I would check to make sure events you want to record are individually marked to record (check for gray dot).  I do this religiously during NFL season!

 

If you mean overlapping as on the same channel (pre/post padding) this is a no problem for Emby.  If you mean 8:00 to 9:00 on one channel while 8:30 to 9:30 on another channel that's just a matter of how many tuners you have but also shouldn't be a problem recording as long as no one is watching live tv sucking up one of your tuners.

 

If you are recording a channel and watching live tv on the same channel that should also only use one tuner.  For example I can have 3 or 4 TV watching Fox News while recording shows and that is ONE tuner used.

 

"are any articles/blogs/posts"

WIKI

https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Wiki/wiki 

 

BLOGS

https://emby.media/blog.html

 

These forums are probably the best source of information plus it's interactive!  WIKI is great for setup and configuration help of course.

 

From your second post I didn't answer or cover one thing.  Many stations will broadcast the same episode multiple times.  If Emby auto records it for you it will choose the first instance it's broadcast assuming you haven't restricted it.  So for example I'll use Fox News because I know they repeat and it's a good example (sorry for non Fox News fans)   Tucker Carlson is on at 8:00 pm and Hannity is on at 9:00 pm.  If my tuners are in use and it missed one of those recordings they are rebroadcast again at 12:00 am and 1:00 am respectfully so I could still get them recorded.

 

Let me know if I missed anything you were asking or curious about.  Of course feel free to ask new things as well.

 

Carlo

[Luke 37009]

Yea it was me, just calling for reinforcements

[Mike-G 16]

Thanks for the detailed reply. I think once I get my bearings a little more, I'll be able to ask better questions and make some meaningful requests for additional features.  For the time being, I'm still in sponge mode learning how things work.