[mythtv] SoC 2006: Configuration Revamp Information

[Aidan Thornton]

> From:: "Michael T. Dean" <mtdean at thirdcontact.com>
> To: mythtv-dev at mythtv.org
> Subject: Re: [mythtv] SoC 2006: Configuration Revamp Information
> Date: Sat, 03 Jun 2006 11:14:24 -0400

> [This message has been reformatted to fit into your mail reader (with 
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> 
> On 06/02/2006 06:41 PM, f-myth-users wrote:
> >  From: "Michael T. Dean"
> > > On 06/02/2006 03:09 PM, Andy Poling wrote:
> > >> On Fri, 2 Jun 2006, Justin M. Hunt wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> Time offset for thumbnail preview images: most users probably
> > >>> don't change this since you cant get it perfectly right for all
> > >>> programs anyways
> > >>>
> > >> I use this to offset my global pre-roll setting so that I get a
> > >> preview of the target program instead of the pre-roll.  This
> > >> wouldn't be necessary if global pre-roll were taken into account
> > >> when calculating this time offset (or is it already, perhaps?).
> > >>
> > > Since Risto Treksler's patch
> > > <a
> href=http://svn.mythtv.org/trac/changeset/6308</a>>http://svn.mythtv.org/tra
> c/changeset/6308</a></a>), the commercial
> > > flagging and cutlist information is taken into account when
> > > generating previews.
> > >
> > > For those who use commflagging, it's a completely unnecessary
> > > setting.
> > >
> > > Those who don't use commflagging can either specify a cutlist or
> > > simply set a bookmark with the PreviewFromBookmark enabled...
> > >
> >  I use the thumbnails in Mythweb for shows that aren't commflagged
> >  (because they're commercial-free).  It's a fast way to see if the
> >  right thing was recorded.  If I had to manually set a bookmark first
> >  (e.g., by turning on the TV and watching it), or manually set a
> >  blind cutlist just so I could get a useful preview, it would lose all
> >  its utility to me, especially in cases where I'm nowhere near the TV.
> >
> 
> Oh, yeah.  I didn't even think about how often unchangeable default 
> settings would cause the image to be taken out of a commercial on 
> commercial free channels...  And, of course, setting a single number for 
> /all/ recordings on /all/ channels to use will make it so you never get 
> a bad preview.
> 
> I guess I really have to explicitly say what I thought was implied, 
> "Those who don't use commflagging can either specify a cutlist or simply 
> set a bookmark with the PreviewFromBookmark enabled [if they want/need a 
> specific preview for a specific show]."
> 
> It's all a matter of having a good default, and regardless of how many 
> say it is, providing a single time offset for all recordings is /not/ a 
> good default.  A good default--as many have requested--implies taking 
> into account RecordPreRoll (which, BTW, we /already/ do - 

I wonder; it's possible that what counts as a "good default" varies depending on country. Ads are timed differently in different countries (though certain UK channels *cough*E4*cough* have now taken to putting the first lot of ads immediately after (or even before) the opening credits on some programs, this doesn't normally seem to happen in this country, though I hear it's common in the US), program starts are offset from the listed time by different amounts (though I'm guessing this is too channel-dependent to matter), etc.

On the other hand, there could be some value that works (or, more likely, works well enough) for everyone. It would probably require a lot of careful tweaking though.

-- Aidan Thornton

Lycos iQ - show what you knoW: iq.lycos.co.uk