[mythtv-users] New Program Alerts? (more than one way to skin a cat)

[Bruce Markey]

James Smith wrote:
> Is there any way for MythTV to alert me when it sees a new program
> inserted into the database that matches certain criteria? For instance, if
> I (or my girlfriend, actually) wanted to watch programs about tigers, it
> would be good to be able to put the word "tiger" into a saved search, and
> then get an email or some kind of alert onscreen whenever new matches are
> found. Is there anything like this around already, or should I get my
> coding hat on?

- There is nothing to send email but if you record the shows, the
entry on the playlist that you have it and can watch it anytime
should be ample notification =).

- Go to Schedule Recordings->Search Words->Keywords and add "tigers"
("tiger" would also match The Masters golf champion). Each time you
go back to this page and choose "tigers" it will show you the matches
in your current listings. This would be your "onscreen" notification.
Hint: while viewing results for any keyword, you can used the PREVVIEW
and NEXTVIEW keys (Home and End by default) to cycle through all of
your keywords without going back to the popup.

- You can set a keyword record rule from Search Words->Keywords by
pressing "M"enu and click the "Record" button. This will give you
a recording options page with the title "tigers (Keyword Search)".

- If you've set a record rule, Go to the Manage Recordings->Set
Priorities. "tigers (Keyword Search)" will be in the list. If it
is white and says (Recording 0 of 0) below the box then there are
no upcoming matches. If it is green and says (Recording 1 of 1)
then there is a new match coming up. Press UPCOMING ("O") to see
the list of matches. This is also an on-screen notification.

- Looking at the Upcoming Recording page would also be an on-screen
notification.

- Go to Schedule Recordings->Search Lists->New Titles. This selects
everything that is in your current listings that doesn't match any
title that has been in your listings before. This includes movies
which haven't been shown before (or at least not in the past year
or since you started running myth), new series that are about to
start or any new specials. This will find many more interesting
things than just tigers and is worth checking every few days. Pressing
the view keys here cycles through Movies, Series, Specials and All.

- If you wanted to add email notification you would probably want
to add something at the end of the daily task to update the listings
to use the keywords from the keyword table and format the output of
the queries but I don't think this would turn out to be all that useful.

--  bjm