[mythtv] [Draft] Duplicate docs

[Bruce Markey]

Chris Pinkham wrote:
...
> The case I've seen is for shows where they don't get the listings right
> all the time.  I think this is a case where it could be even
> more accurate than the normal "Sub & Desc."  This example isn't directly
> from the program table, but it's an example of ways I've seen the same exact
> episode referred to.  Title for all would be "Monster Garage", the
> rest is mostly made up.  Think of an example of a show that comes on quite
> a few times during the week and gets cycled often.  Keep in mind these
> are all (fictional) airings of the same episode.

Wow! Thank you for taking the time to create such a detailed
example.

I want to say something that maybe hasn't been spelled out so
I want to make sure we're on the same page as far as why users
need to be aware of pitfalls.

Previously with just Sub & Desc and recording all showings, users
would correctly complain that they would record duplicates and
have to delete them. There really was no way that the scheduler
could skip a unique episode unless the listing were just plain
wrong. Now, with these new methods, it is possible to skip a
unique episode and users should be more concerned about never
seeing an episode than having to delete extra recordings. So what
I'm hoping to do is to let people know what might not happen as
expected so that they don't have to learn 'the hard way'.

I understand what you are showing here and agree that Empty is
the best solution for this situation. What I haven't ever seen
in actual listings (despite looking for this many times) is:

1  Jet Boat/Car    A boat, a jet, & a car, all in one.  Mon 8:00pm
3  Jet Boat/Car    *Empty*                              Wed 1:00am
5  *Empty*         A boar, a jet, & a car, all in one.  Sat 9:00pm

I've never seen sub without desc and a desc without sub that
really are a match. What I have seen many times is this:


1  Episode 17      Description for 17.
2  Episode 17      *Empty*
3  *Empty*         One of our episodes from 1 to 22
4  *Empty*         One of our episodes from 1 to 22
5  Episode 17      Description for 17.
6  Episode 18      *Empty*
7  *Empty*         *Empty*
8  *Empty*         One of our episodes from 1 to 22
9  Episode 18      *Empty*
10 *Empty*         *Empty*
11 Episode 18      Description for 18.

With the Empty method, both 1 and 2 would record even though
they are the same as will 6 and 11. 3 would record and that's
good because it might be an episode she hasn't seen. The problem
is that 4 and 8 will not record. They may or may not be episodes
that she's seen but we'll never know. 7 and 10 will get recorded
so she can see if they are duplicates or unseen episodes.

Even though the mix of empty subtitles or empty descriptions
might lead a user to think that Empty is the obvious choice,
the best solution for this example is Subtitle.

So, I'm not saying that you haven't seen the situation that you
describe and I'm not saying the option shouldn't exist or that
you shouldn't use it. What I am saying is that if the user is
unsure (or very sure but wrong ;-) they should probably try to
avoid this method unless it is really necessary.

In light of that, is this incorrect, unhelpful or misleading?

"The scheduler will consider two showings to be duplicates if both
subtitles match and both descriptions are blank or if both
descriptions match and both subtitles are blank. This may work for
some titles, however, it is subject to the same problems as both the
"Subtitle" and "Description" methods. In most cases it may be more
accurate to choose the "Subtitle" or "Description" methods to avoid
missing episodes that you would have wanted to record."

I wonder about "accurate" which implies the fewest number of total
extra + skipped episodes. The idea is to avoid missing unique
episodes so maybe "safer" in place of "more accurate".

--  bjm