need help , new to ersatz tv

[toxic wren]

Hi all greetings,

1. i want to know why is it not starting from episode 1 it is directly starting from ep 14 is it possible to make it from start from episode 1 ? From a particular day like start with episode 1 on 2/11/2025 at 9am and than continue with the subsequent episodes.
2. i have 2 tv shows under 1 collection i want them to be played like from morning 9am to 5pm one tv show whatever episodes can be fit in that time and than after 5pm start with other tv show

I may sound silly 😁 but im just excited as what this amazing tool can do

Thanks

[visual pagoda]

Sounds like your are using Classic Schedules. Scheduling starts at 12.00 am so if you working later in the day the scheduled episode will be further in the season.

With regards to scheduling at a specific date and time you will need to make an alternate schedule to override your default schedule

[toxic wren]

I didn’t understand could you please elaborate how to achieve this ?

[visual pagoda]

Make another schedule. It has to be for a full day. All Classic schedules are applied for a full day. Go the playout page, select the little calendar icon for the channel in question, it will allow to add the new schedule, above the default, and select the days when it will be active

[toxic wren]

The new schedule to be exact same as the previous one ? It’s confusing… is there any yt tutorial for advanced configuration of ersatztv

[feral crow]

Have you read these? https://ersatztv.org/docs/

Also, everyone's configuration is different, so it's difficult at times to give anyone precise instructions. Experimentation works well as an educational tool. I realize that's not necessarily what you want to read, but it is what it is. You can set precise start times with a classic schedule, but depending on your playout mode, it may or may not work with or without some glitches.

For example, I have a couple of channels that I start at 5:00 am and they run for 17 hours (duration). These are classic schedule channels. I run them with manual collections that play in shuffle in order mode. I use no filler except for fallback and tail, meaning filler usually kicks in between 9:30 pm and 10:00 pm. If all that sounds like nonsense to you, the docs linked above can perhaps shed some light on it.

[toxic wren]

Thanks , Just went through the guide i understood basics now but
The behaviour i want is the shows should start playing from 8am to 2am after 2am just run the ads still next day 8am still not able to understand how to achieve this this sounds complicated but i don’t know if its possible or not

[feral crow]

I'd say, since you're new to ETV, create a channel, then create your collection that you want to play from 8-2. Then schedule them with a start time of 8 and a duration of 18 hours. Set playout mode to whatever you like...read more about them to understand the differences. I like shuffle in order, but you may prefer something else. Then create a collection of shorts/ads/snl skits...whatever you have to serve as tail filler to fill in the last several minutes before 2 am. Then create your collection of ads to run starting at 2 am with duration set at 6 hours. You could also set the start time to be flexible so it starts near 8 am. Lots of options. Then create your playout, which in classical mode is just pointing your schedule to your channel.

See how that works for you. If you like it, fine. If not, experiment with some other schedule types and playout modes. Make a couple of experimental channels so you can see how that goes. In the meantime, you'll become an expert and can teach the rest of us how to use this stuff, lol.

[toxic wren]

Thanks for the guidance i actually tinkered with those options i made a classic schedule which from 8am to 12am midnight plays the shows , than 12am to 3am ads and 3am to next day 8am music videos
Now the problem here is that there is alot of gap filled with ads between show episodes like example one episode is from 8am to 8:20am than there are many ads from 8:20am to 8:30am so now person watching the tv have to sit and watch ads for 10 mins sometimes this time even becomes more than 10mins
How to make such that the next episode is just 2-3 mins away and 2-3 mins ads is ok also i dont wnt epsiodes one after another 😅 , this tool triggered so many ideas in mind just want to explore it more and more, really amazing tool 😁

Gap between the episode and the next episode is too much

From 9:14am to 9:30am the person has to watch ads 😅

[feral crow]

If you don't want the shows to play back-to-back, but you don't want more than a couple of minutes of ads at the end, your best option is to choose some mid-roll ads. For this, your media needs chapter markers. If they don't have these markers, you can manually add them with several available tools. You can search ETV for "chapter markers" and "mid-roll" to see some helpful posts.

I don't really use ads, mid-roll or otherwise, so I don't have any specific tips.