[mythtv] problem with delete button "Yes, but record..." missing

[Bruce Markey]

Dave Alden wrote:
> Hi,
>   Ok, what stupid thing did I do this time?  :-)
> ...dave
> 
> On Tue, Feb 10, 2004 at 07:24:11PM -0800, Bruce Markey wrote:
> 
>>Dave Alden wrote:
>>...
>>
>>>   all of my recordings are set with "Even if Empty" for the "Duplicate
>>
>>-----^^^^^
>>
>>Chris, I've changed my mind, this option should be removed =).

s/all/none/

While "Even if Empty" may seem like an easy way to get the best
of the other methods, it actually does all the worst of the other
methods. In cases where there is a mix of subs with no desc and
desc with no subs, the best choice is usually "Subtitle".

The discussion for duplicate detection has gone on for over a year
and this plus some even stranger variations have been suggested.
However, I've never seen actual listings that show that the "Even
if Empty" would be needed but many where it would do the wrong
thing.

Please take a minute to read the attached doc and see if it is
helpful.

[...]

With that in mind, here's what can happen:

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. The problem is that 4 and
8 will not record even though they may be different episodes.
"Subtitle" would do the right thing but "Empty" would make four
mistakes (both both extras and missing).

I don't think that "Even if Empty" is necessary and I'm concerned
that innocent users may unwittingly shoot themselves in the foot.
So, the first user to post on the subject says he set this for
every title! Thanks for being a good sport ;-).

Chris, I pulled some of my DB backups off tape and so far it
appears that Monster Garage should be "Subtitle". Could you take
a look at your:

select subtitle,description from oldrecorded where title ='Monster Garage';

--  bjm
-------------- next part --------------
	Duplicate Checking
	==================

The MythTV scheduler can check the descriptive information for a show
to try to determine if there are duplicates of a previously recorded or
previously scheduled episodes. How to best determine if there are
duplicate episodes depends largely on how the information is presented
in the program listings. Different titles may have different formats
for their information. Therefore, MythTV allows you to choose from
several different methods to determine if showings are duplicate
episodes. The "Duplicate Check" method can be set from the advanced
options page.

NOTE: These methods work by comparing subtitle and description
information. If the listings from your provider includes episode
number fields or notation for re-run shows, there are no current
duplicate matching methods that use this information.

None

This is the safest method. The scheduler will consider all showings to
be unique without checking for duplicate subtitles or descriptions.
For this and all other methods, a showing will only be recorded if it
matches the record type (timeslot, weekslot, channel or all) and if it
'wins' the time slot in conflict resolution when there are other shows
scheduled at the same time.

Sub & Desc

This is the default method. The scheduler will consider two showings
to be duplicate if the subtitles and descriptions are not empty and
they match. If this is true, only one of the matching episodes will be
recorded. It is unlikely that you will miss a unique episode if this
method is used.

Subtitle

The scheduler will consider two showings to be duplicates if both
subtitles match with no consideration of the description. This is
useful for shows that always have subtitles but don't always have
descriptions. This could cause you to miss an episode in a case where
a two part episode has the same subtitle but "Part 1" and "Part 2"
appear in the description.

This is not the best choice for sporting events either. Often games
will list the teams in the subtitle and have no description giving the
appearance that subtitle matching would make sense. However, if you
were to record "MLB Baseball" with the subtitle "Boston Red Sox vs
Chicago Cubs" and use the "Subtitle" method, you would never again see
these teams play in the World Series.

Description

The scheduler will consider two showings to be duplicates if both
descriptions match with no consideration of the subtitle. For many
shows, this is quite likely to cause you to miss episodes that you
would have wanted to record. The reason is that often "generic
episodes" are used as place holders when the station does not declare
which episode will be shown. For example, "Seinfeld" may have no
subtitle and a description like "Jerry and his friends face life in
New York". The episode shown may be "The Soup Nazi" or "The Contest"
but this cannot be determined from the information in the listings. If
you use the "Description" method, a generic episode will only be
recorded once.  After that, you would miss all of the unique episodes
that have this generic description.

Even if Empty

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 safer to
choose the "Subtitle" or "Description" methods to avoid missing
episodes that you would have wanted to record.

Duplicate Location
==================

The scheduler can check for duplicates against it's list of saved
recordings, it's list of all episodes that were previously recorded, or
both. "All Places" is the default and you would rarely need to change
this. "Previous Recs" will always give the same result as "All Places"
unless the list of previous recordings had been manipulated in some
way. "Current Recs" will only check to consider an episode to be a
duplicate if there is a matching episode in your list of saved
recordings. After that episode has been deleted then the scheduler is
free to re-record the same episode again.

Choosing a Method
=================

"None" is the surest way to not miss an episode but in most cases
would record duplicate episodes unnecessarily. "Sub & Desc" is the
most accurate method to skip showings that are truly duplicates. The
other methods make it <EM>more</EM> likely (not less likely) that you
will miss unique episodes.  You should use the default "Sub & Desc"
unless there is a clear pattern in the listings that makes it obvious
that one of the other methods would be a better choice.

Initially you should click the "See a list of all up-coming
episodes/playtimes" button on the advanced options page to see the
current listings for a show. The fact that the current listings match
a certain pattern does not guarantee that future episodes will also
match. Therefore, you should check periodically until you are sure
that the method you've chosen is correct.

On the "Fix Scheduling Conflicts" page, showings that are considered
to be duplicates are marked with a "P" for previously recorded or "O"
if another showing of the episode is scheduled to record. If you have
chosen a method other than the default, you should check these to be
sure that they are duplicate showings. If not, you have two choices;
if it is an anomaly that you don't expect to happen again, you can use
overrides to "record it anyway" or you can go to the advanced options
page to chose a safer "Duplicate Check" method.