Auto Download FAQs
This wiki contains Frequently Asked Questions about DuckieTV's 1.1.5 (and newer) Auto-Download feature.
What is Auto-Download?
Why is Auto-Download disabled?
How do I get started using Auto-Download?
I don't run DuckieTV 24/7, can I still use Auto-Download?
I have made changes to settings, why is the Auto-Download not using them?
How do I stop Auto-Download picking the wrong torrents?
How do I monitor What Auto-Download is doing?
Why is Auto-Download not downloading anything?
What about episodes older than 21 days?
The Auto-Download service automatically downloads TV series' episodes.
When the DuckieTV app is active, it launches the Auto-Download service every 15 minutes.
During an Auto-Download cycle, the service first builds a list of all the episodes in your favourites collection that have yet to be downloaded, and whose broadcast date and time falls within the period that you have specified in your DuckieTV settings.
Then the service uses the preferred search engine to look for torrents that conform to the search criteria you have previously specified, and if a match is found, the service then submits that torrent to your connected torrent Host for downloading.
DuckieTV then monitors the progress of the download, and once complete, the corresponding episode is marked as downloaded in DuckieTV's database.
When you install DuckieTV for the first time, the Auto-Download service is disabled because it is dependant on the following steps having been previously completed:
- Built your collection of Favourite series and episodes.
- Marked any episodes you have already seen, or already downloaded.
- Set up and connected to your preferred torrent Host.
- Specified Auto-Download settings, and torrent search criteria.
You would normally enable the Auto-Download service only after you have complete the above steps.
You will find the Enable Auto-Download switch in the Settings, Auto-Download Torrents side panel, as shown below
To get started using the Auto-Download Service on DuckieTV you should review and/or change the following settings:
The preferred Search Provider that the Auto-Download Service will use to search for torrents is found on the Settings, Torrent Search Engines side panel.
Use this setting to stop the Auto-Download service from fetching torrents which have less Seeders available than preferred. Well-seeded torrents generally download faster.
The Default is 50 seeders.
You can find the Min. Seeders setting on the Settings, Torrent Search Engines side panel, in the Min. Seeders Required section.
The service will only search for torrents whose episodes are broadcast during the window of time defined by the Auto-Download Period setting.
The default period is set to 1 day.
So for example, if the current date-time was 22-Jan-2016 4pm, the Auto-Download Service would examine all episodes whose broadcast date-time falls within the period of 21-Jan-2016 12am through to 22-Jan-2016 4pm.
If you do not keep the DuckieTV app running 24/7, then you should change the Period to cover the time that the app is usually left inactive, so that DuckieTV can Catch-Up and download episodes once you have started the app again.
The maximum Period you can set is 21 days.
You can find the Period setting on the Settings, Auto-Download Torrents side panel, in the Auto-Download Period section.
Generally, episode torrents do not normally become available until some time after the episodes has been broadcast. So this settings is used to stop the Auto-Download Service from looking for torrents until after the set delay time has expired.
Auto-Download adds the delay time to the episode's run time when determining when it should start looking for torrents.
The default delay is 15 minutes, and the template is Days Hours:Minutes.
So for example, if an episode usually starts at 9pm, and plays for 1 hour, then the service waits until 10.15pm before it goes looking for that episode's torrents.
The maximum delay you can set is 21 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes.
You can find the Delay setting on the Settings, Auto-Download Torrents side panel, in the Auto-Download Delay section.
You can control how the Auto-Download selects episode torrents by using the two sets of torrent search parameters, Preferred and Custom Series.
This set of Torrent Search parameters provide Default criteria that the Auto-Download Service uses when searching for episode torrents. These defaults also apply to manual torrent searches, when using the Torrent Search Dialogues.
You can find these Preferred Search parameters by visiting the Settings, Torrent Search Engines side panel, and scrolling to one or more of the following sections:
-
Preferred Quality
This allows you to limit your episode searches to a specific quality.
For example: If you select '720p' this will append '720p' to the default[seriesname] S[seasonnumber]E[episodenumber]search string.
This does not work as a 'minimum quality' search! -
Keyword Filters Match Mode
This settings changes the way the Require Keywords behaves.
When set to All then torrent searches will show only torrents that contain all of the Require Keywords.
When set to Any then torrent searches will show only torrents that contain one or more of the Require Keywords. -
Require Keywords
You can restrict your torrent search results to those titles that include any one (or all) of the keywords you add to this list (separate each word with a space). -
Ignore Keywords
You can restrict your torrent search results to those titles that do not include any one of the keywords you add to this list (separate each word with a space). -
Minimum Size
You can restrict your torrent search results to those titles which are larger that this minimum size in MegaBytes. -
Maximum Size
You can restrict your torrent search results to those titles which are smaller than this maximum size in MegaBytes.
This set of Torrent Search parameters only apply to a particular Series, and can override or supplement the Preferred parameters.
You can define custom torrent search parameters for each series by visiting a series' Detail side panel, and clicking on the Settings for <series name> button.
-
Display Specials on the Calendar
If you have Enabled the Global Hide Specials setting, you can use this custom override to display this Series' Special episodes on the Calendar. As you may know, only episodes shown on the calendar are eligible for auto-downloading. -
AutoDownload this Show
Use this option to Disable auto-downloading for this Series. -
Custom AutoDownload Delay
Use this option to set a custom Delay period for this Series.
The template isDays Hours:Minutes. -
Search Provider for this Show
In the event that your Preferred search provider does not supply torrents for this series, you can use this option to select an alternative Search Provider to be used for the torrent search. -
Custom Search String
Use this option to provide a custom string which will be appended to the[seriesname] S[seasonnumber]E[episodenumber]search string. -
Do not use the Preferred Quality for this Show
Ticking this box will allow torrent searches to ignore the Preferred Quality for this Series. For Example, you would use this when you have provided your own custom quality string in the Custom Search String field above. -
Disable the REQUIRE keywords for this Show
Ticking this box will allow torrent searches to ignore the Require Keywords list for this Series. -
Disable the IGNORE keywords for this Show
Ticking this box will allow torrent searches to ignore the Ignore Keywords list for this Series. -
Custom Search Minimum Size in Megabytes
You can set a minimum Megabytes size for torrent files of this Series using this option. -
Custom Search Maximum Size in Megabytes
You can set a maximum Megabytes size for torrent files of this Series using this option.
You can keep an eye on the Auto-Download Service activities, by viewing the Auto-Download Service Monitor side panel.
The monitor is accessed by clicking on the Auto-Download Service Monitor Icon near the bottom left of the main DuckieTV page.
The monitor has four panels of information, as shown below:
- Panel 1
The panel provides basic information about the status of the Auto Download service, when it is due for the next run, and any current torrent search settings that apply to this run. - Panel 2
This panel shows a list of all the episodes that the Auto Download has processed. Displayed is the search string used for an episode's torrent search.
By clicking on the Info icon on the left of an entry, you can jump to that episode's details side panel
By clicking on the Download icon on the right of an entry, you can open a manual torrent search dialog. Useful if you want to fine tune your search parameters for that series' episode.
- Panel 3
This panel show whether or not any custom series overrides for the episode search are active or not. By using your mouse to hover over each flag you are informed in a tooltip what the override is set to. - Panel 4
This panel shows the messages that the Auto Download service generated when searching for a torrent. A description of the messages is provided below.
, you can jump to that episode's details side panel
, you can open a manual torrent search dialog. Useful if you want to fine tune your search parameters for that series' episode.When you first open the monitor you may see a No Activity message.
-
No Activity,
<host>offline
This means that DuckieTV does not have a connection to your preferred torrent Host.
Check that your torrent host is running and review your DuckieTV Torrent Client settings. You may find this wiki useful: https://github.com/SchizoDuckie/DuckieTV/wiki/Setting-up-Torrent-Clients-for-DuckieTV
-
No Activity,
<host>connecting
This will briefly be displayed while DuckieTV is negotiating a connection with your Torrent Host.
-
No Activity,
<host>connected
This will display briefly while the monitor is waiting for the Auto-Download Service to post its progress updates.
If the ADS monitor is stuck in this mode, then it is likely that there is a problem someplace. The most common cause is that while DuckieTV may be connected with your torrent client, it may not be authorised. This would cause DuckieTV's torrent requests to be rejected by your torrent client. The second most common cause is that your default Search Engine is not working. For example, if your ISP is blocking your default SE, then the ADS would not receive results for it's torrent searches. In any case, check your console log for errors, refer to [this wiki] (https://github.com/SchizoDuckie/DuckieTV/wiki/How-to-raise-a-Bug-Report#console-log) for details.
-
Search Criteria table
This is the normal view when the monitor is receiving updates from the Auto-Download Service.
If the ADS monitor is stuck in this mode, then it is likely that there is a problem someplace. The most common cause is that while DuckieTV may be connected with your torrent client, it may not be authorised. This would cause DuckieTV's torrent requests to be rejected by your torrent client. The second most common cause is that your default Search Engine is not working. For example, if your ISP is blocking your default SE, then the ADS would not receive results for it's torrent searches. In any case, check your console log for errors, refer to [this wiki]
(
When the Auto-Download Service sends the monitor an update for every episode it is processing.
Below is a list of the Status text with a brief description:
-
autoDL disabled
This means that this series is not being auto-downloaded because you have previously visited that series' Details side panel, clicked on that series' Settings button, and cleared the tick on the Auto-Download this show check box.
-
autoDL disabled HC
This means that this series is not being auto-downloaded because you have previously chosen to Hide the series from the calendar by visiting that series' Details side panel, and clicking on the Hide Series on Calendar! button.
-
autoDL disabled HS
This means that this series' Special Episodes are not being auto-downloaded because you have previously chosen to Hide Special Episodes from the calendar by visiting the Settings, Calendar side panel and clicking on the Hide Specials on Calendar button.
-
downloaded
This episode has already been downloaded. -
filtered out IK
The Ignore Keywords list is filtering out this episode's torrents.
You can set the Ignore Keywords list by vising the Settings, Torrent Search Engines side panel, and scrolling down to the Ignore Keywords section.
You can choose to ignore the Ignore Keywords list for this series, by going to this series' Detail side panel, and clicking on that series' Settings button, and ticking the Disable the IGNORE keywords for this Show check box.
-
filtered out RK
The Require Keywords list is filtering out this episode's torrents.
You can set the Require Keywords list by vising the Settings, Torrent Search Engines side panel, and scrolling down to the Require Keywords section.
You can also set a custom Require (ALL) Keywords for this series, by going to this series' Detail side panel, and clicking on that series' Settings button, and setting the Custom Search String.
You can choose to ignore the Require Keywords list for this series, by going to this series' Detail side panel, and clicking on that series' Settings button, and ticking the Disable REQUIRE keywords for this Show check box.
-
filtered out MS
The Minimum or Maximum Size is filtering out this episode's torrents.
You can set the Minimum/Maximum Size by vising the Settings, Torrent Search Engines side panel, and scrolling down to the Minimum/Maximum Size section.
You can also set a custom Min/Max size for this series, by going to this series' Detail side panel, and clicking on that series' Settings button, and setting the Custom Search Minimum/Maximum Size values.
-
has torrent
This episode's torrent is currently loaded on your connected torrent host. -
torrent launched
The Auto-Download Service has found a suitable torrent for this episode and submitted it to your connected torrent host. -
nothing found
The auto-Download Service was unable to find a suitable torrent for this episode using the default Search provider.
If a manual search using other Search engines yields torrents, then you can make the Auto Download Service use one of the other Search Providers by setting the Search Provider for this Show setting on the Series Custom Settings Dialogue. See the Custom Series Torrent Search parameters for details. -
onair +
delay (Days, hours:minutes)
The Auto-Download is currently waiting for the delay that you have set to expire before looking for torrents for this episode.
You can find the Delay setting on the Settings, Auto-Download Torrents side panel, in the Auto-Download Delay section.
You can also set a custom delay for this series, by going to this series' Detail side panel, and clicking on that series' Settings button, and setting the Custom Auto-Download Delay value.
-
seeders
x<y
This episode's most suitable torrent has currently less Seeders than the preferred limit that you have previously set.
You can find the Min. Seeders setting on the Settings, Torrent Search Engines side panel, in the Min. Seeders Required section.
So you have made some changes to the torrent search parameters, and/or a series custom settings, but the auto-download is not using them... why not?
Remember that the auto-download service runs once every 15 minutes.
Your changes will be picked up on the next scheduled run.
If you do not want to wait, you can visit the Settings, Auto-Download Torrents side panel, and switch the service off by clicking on the Disable Auto-Downloading Torrents button, and then click on the Enable Auto-Downloading Torrents button to start the service back up.
Generally, the auto-download works best for episodes that are just released and/or popular.
The further back in time the release date, the greater the chances are that the episodes you are looking for will have fewer torrents still active, with fewer seeds and slower download speeds.
If you are looking to download a seasons worth of episodes, then you have two methods you can use:
- look for torrents that contain the complete season (preferred option)
- Visit the season you are interested by navigating to the series' season side panel and selecting the relevant season.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the episode list, and click on the Search for a season button. This will open a torrent search dialogue where you can select an appropriate torrent
Note that if you download a complete season, you will need to manually set the relevant episodes as downloaded, since DuckieTV cannot track the individual episodes' download progress. Use the Mark All Downloaded button for this.
- Visit the season you are interested by navigating to the series' season side panel and selecting the relevant season.
- look for individual torrents for each episode in a season (if the complete season torrents are not available)
- Visit the season you are interested by navigating to the series' season side panel and selecting the relevant season.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the episode list, and click on the Auto Download All button. This will submit a request to the auto-download service to look for each individual episodes for torrents.
Note that the search criteria defaults for auto-downloading apply, both the general and series custom search settings. - Use the Auto Download Service Monitor to view the results. For any episodes that are not found, select the Search for torrent button, and conduct a manual search for that episodes torrent by tweaking the torrent search dialogue parameters.
Note that auto-downloads submitted in this way only run once. When the Auto Download service schedules it's next run, the episodes you submitted via method 2 will not be displayed.
- Visit the season you are interested by navigating to the series' season side panel and selecting the relevant season.
