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Kyle Johnson edited this page May 26, 2020 · 10 revisions

TVMaze Integration

This script manages some DVR management tasks with help from data from TVMaze. On supported DVRs, it will currently:

  • take list of TVMaze Show IDs and schedule recurring recordings (i.e. Tivo OnePass)
  • check your TVMaze followed shows and schedule recurring recordings (requires TVMaze subscription)
  • take a list of shows for a given tag (or tags) and schedule recurring recordings (required TVMaze subscription)

PREREQUISITES:

Python 3.x (tested with Python 3.7). This almost certainly won't work with Python 2.7 (or earlier). Please see https://legacy.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0373/ for information on the sunset date for Python 2.7.

Other Modules

There in one other module that is required for the script to work properly.

pip3 install requests

INSTALLATION:

To install download and unzip in any directory.

CONFIGURATION

The script might run with no configuration if you are running it from the same machine as your DVR, but if you are using NextPVR as your DVR you probably need set set dvr_auth to your NextPVR PIN dvr_user is not needed). If you want to add any configuration options, create a file called settings.py and place it in the data directory of the script. Here are the available options:

  • dvr_type = '<string>' (default 'nextpvr')
    Tells the script what APIs to load. Currently only supports NextPVR.

  • dvr_host = '<string>' (default 'localhost')
    The URL uses to communicate with the DVR server.

  • dvr_port = '<string>' (default '8866')
    The port on which the DVR server is communicating.

  • dvr_user = '<string>' (default '')
    The username the DVR server requires (if the DVR server requires authentication for API access).

  • dvr_auth = '<string>' (default '')
    The apikey or password the DVR server requires (if the DVR server requires authentication for API access).

  • dvr_params = '<dict>' (default { 'recurring_type':1 })
    List of params used to change some of the API call to the DVR server (see below for more information).

  • tvmaze_user = '<string>' (default '')
    For functions requiring a TVMaze subscription, the TVMaze user name.

  • tvmaze_apikey = '<string>' (default '')
    For functions requiring a TVMaze subscription, the TVMaze api key.

  • tvmaze_wait = '<string>' (default '0.12')
    Amount of time (in secs) to wait between calls to TVMaze (to stay under API limiting).

  • tvmaze_untag = '<boolean>' (default True)
    If you are scheduling recordings using tags, by default the script will untag the show after it schedules the recording.

  • lookforward = '<int>' (default 10)
    The number of days in the future that a TVMaze next episode can be scheduled and be considered valid for trying to schedule a recording (most DVRs only have 14 days of guide data).

  • dateformat = '<string>' (default '%Y-%m-%d')
    The date format for the season date used by the command line and the settings file.

  • aborttime = <int> (default 30)
    If another instance of script is running, amount of time (in seconds) to wait before giving up.

  • logbackups = <int> (default 7) The number of days of logs to keep.

  • debug = <boolean> (default False) For debugging you can get a more verbose log by setting this to True.

USAGE

usage: execute.py [-h] [-t TVMAZEIDS] [-l LOOKFORWARD] [-u TVMAZE_USER]
                  [-a TVMAZE_APIKEY] [-d DVR_USER] [-p DVR_AUTH]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -t TVMAZEIDS, --tvmazeids TVMAZEIDS
                        TV Maze IDs (comma sep), 'followed', or 'tags:tagids (comma sep)
  -l LOOKFORWARD, --lookforward LOOKFORWARD
                        number of days forwards in time to look for episode match
  -u TVMAZE_USER, --tvmaze_user TVMAZE_USER
                        the TV Maze user id (only needed for certain functions)
  -a TVMAZE_APIKEY, --tvmaze_apikey TVMAZE_APIKEY
                        the TV Maze api key (only needed for certain functions)
  -d DVR_USER, --dvr_user DVR_USER
                        the DVR user id (if needed)
  -p DVR_AUTH, --dvr_auth DVR_AUTH
                        the DVR auth (if needed)

Creating Recurring Recordings

from a List of TV Maze IDs

The good news is, this is free. The bad news is that you have to maintain the list of ids manually. You can find TV Maze IDs for shows by searching for them at https://tvmaze.com and looking at the show's URL.

    python3 execute.py -t 42342,23030

from your Followed Recordings

If you have a TV Maze subscription (any level), you can use your followed shows as the list of shows to try and record. You can either put your TV Maze credentials in settings.py or in the command line.

    python3 execute.py -t followed

from Tags

If you have a TV Maze subscription (any level), you can use your tags to try and schedule only some shows. You can include more than one tag by separating the tagids with commas. To find a tag id, go to your tag list and hover over one of them. The URL will show the tag id. For instance, I label any new shows I add to a tag called NEW SHOWS. By default, the script will untag the show (but not unfollow it) when a recurring recording is successfully scheduled. You can either put your TV Maze credentials in settings.py or in the command line.

    python3 execute.py -t tags:9001

Changing How Recurring Recordings Are Saved

NextPVR

You can change what kind of recurring recordings are saved by creating a dvr_params Python dict in settings. Here's the structure and options:

dvr_params = { 'recurring_type':1,
               'keep':0,
               'pre_padding':'default',
               'post_padding':'default',
               'directory_id':'Default'
             }

The valid recurring type integers are:

  • 1: Record Series (NEW episodes)
  • 2: Record Series (All Episodes) <- This is the NextPVR default, the script defaults to 1
  • 3: Record Series (Daily, this timeslot)
  • 4: Record Series (Weekly, this timeslot)
  • 5: Record Series (Monday-Friday, this timeslot)
  • 6: Record Series (Weekends, this timeslot)
  • 7: Record Series (All Episodes, All Channels)

The valid keep integers are:

  • 0: All
  • 1-20: Number of recordings

The valid pre and post padding values are:

  • default
  • 1-120: minutes of pre-padding

The valid directory id is either 'Default' (the primary directory) or the name of any other directory you've added.

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