Zgemma H7 (factory default) - better EPG-recording management

There are 5 replies in this Thread which was already clicked 788 times. The last Post () by ciuly.

  • Hello,


    I bought this Zgemma H7 almost a year ago. I seem to have misplaced the box so not really sure what model it is.

    I has OpenWebif on it, which Box Info shows me

    Brand & Model: Zgemma H7
    Chipset: Broadcom 7251s
    Main Memory: 235080 kB free / 1028052 kB total


    System OE: OE-Alliance 4.1
    Firmware version: OpenATV 6.1.0 (2018-04-10)
    Kernel / Drivers: 4.10.12 / 20171108

    It has 1 DVB-S2 tuner and 2 DVB-C (which are the ones I use).

    I also installed an internal HDD.

    Logging in via putty I get

    root@zgemmah7:~# uname -a

    Linux zgemmah7 4.10.12 #1 SMP Fri Nov 24 08:48:04 CET 2017 armv7l GNU/Linux


    Hopefully that is sufficient info, if not, please let me know what and where to get from.


    Onwards to my problem:

    The way I mostly use the box is to record stuff that I watch later. Like 7 o'clock news, occasional one-time movies and tv series.

    Up until recently, I would have setup a recurring timer, but every now and then they change the time when they air the tv series so then I miss some episodes.


    Recently I discovered the auto timer, however with some tv series what they do is they air 2 episodes per day Mon-Fri and then on Sat-Sun they re-air the same 10 (5 each day). So with auto-timer I then get duplicates (which eats my hdd space fast).


    Also, this brings me to another problem, I cannot manually add record of a one time show or movie during the time the auto-timers were created, even though they might be duplicates since I'd have to delete the timer and not sure if it was or not recorded.

    Now my wife on the other hand has some show that so happens to air 3 seasons in the same time at irregular times, so for now we are recording all of them although she only just wants 1.


    And this "might be duplicates" bring me to yet another issue caused by the fact that the auto timer is not conflict friendly, so if 3 stuff happen to fall in the same time, and since only 2 tuners, 1 of them will not be recorded.

    Finally, there are re-runs, and while I'm at say season 7 and they start re-airing season 1, I really don't want to re-record that since I've seen it. So some kind of "seen history" would be nice. (I guess this does match mostly with my wife's issue).



    So long story short, I'm looking to see if there is already some solution that will help me with these issues on my existing openwebif thing, or maybe other images. (As you can tell, I never dug into any details on the box, or any other similar box, I'm pretty much just a use-it guy with it, but I do have extensive technical background both SW and some HW)



    If nothing exists, what's the easiest way for me to get that done? (let's say I'm a senior developer so I should in theory manage whatever there is available, although from the couple hours I put into this I could only find plugins via python, but it doesn't seem to fit with what I would prefer coding)


    I would prefer some REST (or similar) API that I can access over network (mainly because I am planning to get a second zgemma and it makes more sense to manage both from a central place that knows all 'seen history")

    My second preference would be some option I can use via SSH (so from command line), that way again I can access that over network from a central place.

    And if none of that available, I guess I will have to do with whatever options there are (plugin being the only one I was able to find so far)


    Thank you all

    • Official Post

    Your recording issues can be solved by correctly using the autotimers options and creating some rules. there is an option to record with unique show description only.... A second box can be used as a slave tuner for the master box, recordings from the master can be shared over the network

    Your image software / firmware is really very very old, it is upgraded almost daily by the build teams, it may be an idea to flash it with something newer.

    Try some other firmware, e2 boxes are meant to messed about with, thats my biggest like of them, endless possibilities.

  • Thank you @jenseneverest

    I don't see how tweaking would resolve the issue of "already seen this", since obviously after seeing something, I delete it from my HDD, so the unique stuff of autotimer will not work.


    I'm willing to put something new on it, but since there are so many to chose from and so little time to test them all, I would like some pointers/directions on which image would better suit my needs.


    Thank you

    • Official Post

    I personally delete recordings as complete folders, but have ample space with a 4tb HDD....there is a plugin about that organises them into group folders.

    If you are space limited it that may well be an issue.


    If your used to ATV then a later version of that

    http://images.mynonpublic.com/…y/index.php?open=zgemmah7


    I personally favour pure2 lately as it has some unique features

    http://www.pur-e2.club/OU/images/index.php?dir=6.5/

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