Beyond TV Web Guide : Setup advanced recordings

With the web guide you can now create filters that will trigger recording of programs that will be added to your guide in the future.

For instance you can record all movies with your favorite actors. You can record all news programs within a specified hour range on a specified channel or all channels. You can record all programs containing some keywords in the decription. You can record all programs based by genre.

First open the web guide and go to the "Options" section.

Specify the following values:

• Email : this is the default e-mail used to send notification e-mails (you can be notified by e-mail for each program that matches a filter and was scheduled to record)
• Web guide url : this is the URL you usually use to access the web guide. This URL is already filled with the URL you used to acces the guide the first time. If you can access the guide on the Internet, you should type here the address you use on the Internet (this way you'll be able to click on the links included in the notification e-mail even when you are outside of your LAN)
• Notify me at most every (days) : The guide will search for matching programs each time your guide will be updated, if you guide is updated daily and do not want to be notified each day, this lets you decide how often you should be notified (this stops only the notification not the scheduling of recordings).

After this minor configuration stage, go to the "Recordings" section of the guide and click on the "Add advanced recording or alert" link. This will open a new window with the list of all your filters, like this :

Click the "Add a filter" link, and you'll end up with this new screen :

click to enlarge

On this page you'll have to specify :

• A name : this is the name of the filter, it will be used as the subject of the notification e-mail and it cannot be edited after the filter creation
• A description : the description is not used by the guide, it is only useful for you to remember what the filter is supposed to do
• Actions : this is what the filter will do
  • Record : the filter will record all programs that match. It will only record the programs that are not already scheduled and that do not conflict with anoter recordings
  • Notify me : the filter will send you a notification e-mail with the list of programs that match. If you also checked the "Record" action, then the notification e-mail will also tells you what programs were scheduled.
  • Force all recordings : this will force the guide to schedule programs that match as a manual recordings. This way Beyond TV will record all programs even if they are repeats and were recorded recently.
• An e-mail address : this is where you can specify where the notification e-mail should go to. If you leave this field blank the guide will use the default e-mail address specified in the "Options" section of the guide.

And now you can edit your filter. The filter is a collection of criterias that check if a program property fit within a specified value. The comparaison is made by using an operator; you have the choice between these operators :

• = : equality operator.
• != : inequality operator.
• > : superiority operator.
• >= : superior or equal operator.
• < : inferiority operator.
• >= : inferior or equal operator.
• |= : begin with operator.
• =| : end with operator.
• ~= : contains operator.

You can combine your criterias with boolean operator : AND / OR / AND NOT / OR NOT, and with parenthesis to form logical groups of criterias.

The property you can use in you criterias are :

• Title : the title of the program
• Episode title : the episode title of the program
• Description : the description of the program
• Actors : Actors featuring in the program
• Channel : the airing channel of the program (note : the channel is a four based number, be sure to type the padding zeros, ex: 0002 for channel 2)
• Hour : the start hour of the program (in the 24 hour form without separator, ex: 2330)

To add a criteria :

• Choose a boolean operator if required
• Open a parenthesis if required
• Choose a property
• Choose an operator
• Type your search keyword
• Close the parenthesis if required
• Click either the green arrow or the "Update" button

You'll see the you criteria is added to the filter and that you can add another one.

When you have added all your criterias, click on the test button, and the guide will open a new windows with the list of programs that match the filter.

After that each time your guide will be updated (either with XMLTV or Snapstream.net), each filter will be evaluated (5 minutes after guide update).