[mythtv-users] the best mythfilldatabase strategy

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Thu Oct 26 00:39:50 UTC 2006


On 10/25/06 17:52, Jerome Yuzyk wrote:

>Is it better to run mythfilldatabase
>
>1. Daily in a cron job? 
>  
>
Definitely not for North American users because

>2. Using the mythfrontend setting that asks the data-provider?
>  
>
using the provider's suggested download time helps TMS spread out usage 
of DataDirect so that they can continue to provide data rather than 
dropping the free-of-charge service because of expense/resource issues.

>3. Some other way
>  
>
Not necessary.  Myth takes care of it for you.  :)

>I am in North America and have about 50 channels of analog cable (Shaw). 
>
And, in North America, you have the privilege of having access to the 
exact-same high-quality data sold to TiVo users.

Just set these settings:
Automatically run mythfilldatabase: checked
mythfilldatabase Run Frequency (Days): 1
mythfilldatabase Execution Start: 0
mythfilldatabase Execution End: 24
(the start and end time will be changed every time you grab data based 
on the provider's suggested time)
Run mythfilldatabase at time suggested by the grabber.: checked
mythfilldatabase Path: (leave it at the default)
mythfilldatabase Arguments: (I like "--no-delete --remove-new-channels" 
(no quotes) for the reasons described below)
mythfilldatabase Log Path: (fill in with the path (including filename) 
of a mythfilldatabase-only log file to which the user running 
mythbackend has write access)

The arguments I use for mfdb allow me to
    a) keep old listings for 7 days (rather than deleting information 
within 24 hours of the program's airing) with "--no-delete".  This is 
very useful when something doesn't record.  You can go back and look to 
see if it was a conflict or--more likely--if the schedule changed.
    b) remove new channels from my listings.  TMS often adds new 
channels to those available for my service (DISH network locals) and by 
default puts them in my lineup even though I can't get them because I 
didn't pay DISH to receive them.  The "--remove-new-channels" argument 
tells Myth to remove any channels from my DataDirect lineup that are not 
in the MythTV database.  If I wanted to add a new channel, I would just 
add it to my DataDirect lineup (through http://labs.zap2it.com/ ) and 
run "mythfilldatabase --no-delete" from the command line once (and it 
would work properly from then on).

Mike


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