Discussion HBOMax Episode numbers for series not matching

[KidJoe]

For series that do not contain every episode, Anystream still lists the episode numbers in sequential order, starting at 1, even though particular episode numbers are missing from HBOMax.

For example: For Looney Tunes with the "red" background

https://play.hbomax.com/page/urn:hbo:page:GXozhGwOz77DCYwEAABBA:type:series

The Episode numbers displayed in Anystream, and how the downloads are named afterwards, start at 1 and are sequential in each season. This doesn't match what the HBOMax web site lists.

When you log into HBOMax on your browser or mobile device (or Roku, FireTV, etc), for Season 1 the episode numbers are 1, 4, 5, 10.... i.e. missing numbers/episodes in between. But when you download them using Anystream, the files you get are named/numbered E01 and up sequentially, no gaps in between. The Same is true with the other seasons which also have missing episodes.

To better see what I mean, visit the HBOMax.com web site, look at Season 1, it shows Hollywood Capers as Episode 4. But in the Anystream GUI its shows as Episode 2, and the Anystream download file is Looney Tunes_S01E02_Hollywood Capers.mp4 (See also the attached screen shots)

Another example is Real Time with Bill Maher

https://play.hbomax.com/page/urn:hbo:franchise:GWEH9WA5JXqzCwgEAAAAm

When logged into HBOMax via the web or app on your mobile device (or Roku/Firetv, etc), Season 20 starts with Episode 5. When you try to download with Anystream, being the first available, "Episode 5", is numbered Episode 1 in Anystream and the download file, and they count up sequentially from there.

 

[X3rx3s]

this is another reason I rename my files using filebot. i watch in plex and I have filebot use the same TVDB as they use. With some interaction I can have them renamed with the proper season/title/episode number to be displayed properly in plex.

 

[Jimc115]

The Looney Tunes episodes are not even close to being correct anyway. If you look at TVDB...the seasons are mixed from many different years.....I'm the same as X3rx3s...I used Filebot to correctly number them.

 

[KidJoe]

Real Time season 21 is coming down as S2...

Example:
Real Time with Bill Maher_S02E05_February 17, 2023- Christoph Waltz, Ari Melber, Sarah Isgur.mp4

when it should be S21E05

 

[zanetti]

lol i gave up on names of episodes or correct numbering for looney tunes. got like a few hundred of those and i just hit play. deal or no deal, whose line is it anyways, bugs, duck etc, all have fifteen versions of episode lists so i just dump them into a folder, as long as they followa number sequence its fine by me. hah.

 

[RedFox 1]

One right click and you can name them whatever you like, I would like them to sequential.

 

[KidJoe]

One right click and you can name them whatever you like, I would like them to sequential.

I would like them to match the downloaded source.

Not sure this seems to be such an out of bounds request.

 

[KidJoe]

lol i gave up on names of episodes or correct numbering for looney tunes. got like a few hundred of those and i just hit play. deal or no deal, whose line is it anyways, bugs, duck etc, all have fifteen versions of episode lists so i just dump them into a folder, as long as they followa number sequence its fine by me. hah.

Its not just about Looney Tunes. That was just an easy example. But I've also given examples of other series that are also impacted.

 

[RedFox 1]

The Looney Tunes episodes are not even close to being correct anyway. If you look at TVDB...the seasons are mixed from many different years.....I'm the same as X3rx3s...I used Filebot to correctly number them.

There you go Filebot will do it easily Jim. To me is not a real issue. But it's not me. I would even take a look at it to see why its sequential but I don't have a log file from anyone. I believe you so the .jpgs are useless if you want me to check it leave me a log file, please.

 

[KidJoe]

There you go Filebot will do it easily Jim. To me is not a real issue. But it's not me. I would even take a look at it to see why its sequential but I don't have a log file from anyone. I believe you so the .jpgs are useless if you want me to check it leave me a log file, please.

I don't know how to give a log that demonstrates how Anystream Season/Episode numbers are displayed compared to the HBOMax web site. That is why I did the screen shots, to illustrate what I'm seeing.

Best i can do for a log was to queue up and download the following:

• On HBOMax web -> Realtime S21 E05 Feb 17, 2023, however AnyStream downloads as Real Time with Bill Maher_S02E05_February 17, 2023- Christoph Waltz, Ari Melber, Sarah Isgur.mp4
• On HBOMax web -> Realtime S20 E07 March 11, 2022 however AnyStream downloads as Real Time with Bill Maher_S01E01_March 11, 2022- Kenneth Branagh, Frank Bruni, Batya Ungar-Sargon.mp4
• On HBOMax web -> Looney Tunes S01 E04 Hollywood Capers however Anystream downloads as Looney Tunes_S01E02_Hollywood Capers.mp4

The Log of doing so is attached

 

[RedFox 1]

I don't know how to give a log that demonstrates how Anystream Season/Episode numbers are displayed compared to the HBOMax web site. That is why I did the screen shots, to illustrate what I'm seeing.

Best i can do for a log was to queue up and download the following:

• On HBOMax web -> Realtime S21 E05 Feb 17, 2023, however AnyStream downloads as Real Time with Bill Maher_S02E05_February 17, 2023- Christoph Waltz, Ari Melber, Sarah Isgur.mp4
• On HBOMax web -> Realtime S20 E07 March 11, 2022 however AnyStream downloads as Real Time with Bill Maher_S01E01_March 11, 2022- Kenneth Branagh, Frank Bruni, Batya Ungar-Sargon.mp4
• On HBOMax web -> Looney Tunes S01 E04 Hollywood Capers however Anystream downloads as Looney Tunes_S01E02_Hollywood Capers.mp4

The Log of doing so is attached

Your .astlog is all I wanted to see, maybe the issue will show itself, maybe it wont, but it wont hurt me to take a good look.

 

[RedFox 1]

You were right, the logfile only shows everything numbered sequentially, but when I look at the manifest it also has the Looney Tunes episodes numbered the same way, that said, if we scan the episodes and they are numbered differently in the actual episodes then they are on the manifest, I am not sure, any logic would number them differently. On-screen what you see is not what the actual meta information is showing on the manifest. I will look closer at it when I have more time.

 

[KidJoe]

You were right, the logfile only shows everything numbered sequentially, but when I look at the manifest it also has the Looney Tunes episodes numbered the same way, that said, if we scan the episodes and they are numbered differently in the actual episodes then they are on the manifest, I am not sure, any logic would number them differently. On-screen what you see is not what the actual meta information is showing on the manifest. I will look closer at it when I have more time.

Cool.

WHen I look at the JSON in the hbomax folder ( epdetails_February 17, 2023_ Christoph Waltz, Ari Melber, Sarah Isgur.json ) that appears to be for the Real Time S21E05... I do see

"brand=hbo max,channel=hbo max subscription,lang=en-us,territory=hbo max domestic"},"body":{"details":{"actions":[{"a11y":"Play Real Time with Bill Maher, season 21, episode 5: February 17, 2023: Christoph Waltz, Ari Melber, Sarah Isgur.","assetId":"urn:hbo:episode:GY7g86gSqLJS

so the JSON does seem to include "season 21, episode 5" which is the right Season and Episode for that one which matches the HBOMax web site.

In the Looney tunes json ( epdetails_Hollywood Capers.json ) it does also seem to list the Season/Episode (Season 1 and Episode 4) that matches the HBOMax web

territory=hbo max domestic"},"body":{"background":{},"isKids":false,"metadata":{"hadron-legacy-telemetry":{"episodeNumber":4,"isSeasonal":true,"seasonTitle":"Season 1","seriesName":"Looney Tunes","title":"Hollywood Capers"}},"

Of course I don't know how those JSONS related to the way the GUI lists the episodes while we select what to download, but maybe it could be used to at least have the names of the file downloads reflect the web site's Season/Episode number listing? (like even if the Anystream GUI listing doesn't match the HBOMax web site, maybe at the downloaded file names still could?)

I guest this would probably not rate as a high priority issue, but I do appreciate your looking at it.

 

[RedFox 1]

Maybe, I will look at it when we are done with our work at hand, if it were an issue of a more serious nature, I would do it asap, but as was said, this is just cosmetic and a meta issue, easily fixed with a right click if you know what the episodes are, and obviously, you do. So maybe in the future.