[mythtv-users] guide updates (zap2it)

[Michael T. Dean]

Ali Asad Lotia wrote:

>If you use a cron job, then you can have it run
>mythfilldatabase --refresh-today --refresh-second multiple times a day
>to get any last minute changes made to zap2it.
>I'm new to this group, so I don't know if the zap2it data service
>frowns upon people downloading scheduling data more than once a day,
>but that would be one way around getting incorrect programs recorded
>if zap2it has updated the schedule.
>  
>
It's definitely not ideal.  As TMS is providing a free service for us 
(and has no obligation to do so), we should do all we can to make things 
easy for them (= likely to continue to be free for us).

When we first started using DataDirect, TMS asked that we include a 
means of allowing people to download at different times.  Most people 
were downloading in the middle of the night, and since it's a North 
America only data source, that meant that their servers were getting 
hammered overnight.

The current recommendation is to use the MythTV internal DataDirect 
support to download no more than once per day and to choose a "random" 
time, for example by using the day of your birthday mod 24 as the hour 
for the start time of your download range--i.e. for a birthday on the 
16th of some month, use 16:00 (4:00pm) or for a birthday on the 31st, 
use 7:00am (31/24 = 1 with a remainder of 7)).  Then set the stop time 
to be a few hours later.  Myth will use a walking pattern to download 
sometime within that time range every day.

See http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/72785#72785 (read 
the full thread to get the current recommendation).

Mike