[mythtv-users] Watching TV the "MythTV way" and finding new programs

Fred Firestine ffluvssg1 at gmail.com
Sun Apr 1 01:46:03 UTC 2007


On 3/31/07, Chad <masterclc at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 3/31/07, Bruce Markey <bjm at lvcm.com> wrote:
> > I've been using DVR's for so long it's hard to get back to
> > that mind set. At this point I wonder how a channel surfer
> > really expects to find something new that they'd really
> > like to see (as opposed to killing time for now). Channel
> > surfing is a terrible way to to try to discover new series.
> > First, you could only find things that are on while flipping
> > channels but not the other majority of the time (unless you
> > surf more than 12hrs/day =). You catch bits from the middle
> > rather than the beginning of the shows. The chance of stumbling
> > across something that might turn out to be a favorite show are
> > slim at best. You might see a bit of a show that would be a
> > favorite but not recognize it as such or flip past during a
> > commercial. You might discover a show weeks after it started.
> >
> > That's for series. For specials or one time events, the chance
> > of stumbling across something you really would have enjoyed
> > are negligible. However, the assumption that you find new things
> > by channel surfing may not be as true as you think. You often
> > see promos, actors doing the talk show circuit, mentions on
> > entertainment shows, jokes in late night talk show monologues,
> > promo animation in the corner of the screen, etc. When you hear
> > about a show that might be interesting, you need to remember the
> > day and time, plan to be home and in front of the TV, remember
> > what channel to tune to, see that it sucks then go do something
> > else. With myth when I'm FF through a recording of Reality Remix
> > and see a preview of something that looks interesting, I exit
> > playback, look up the show and set a record rule then go back to
> > Remix. At this point, I don't need to know what channel it was,
> > what day or time it will be on or the title or even what it was
> > supposed to be about. Sometime next week a recording of this
> > unknown show will pop up on my Watch List. I can watch a few
> > minutes, FF, see that it sucks and delete it.
> >
> > The question seems to me to be one of familiarity as how do I
> > do things differently than I'm used to. So, the question strikes
> > me as akin to 'how do I dig a trench if I don't have a sharp
> > stick'. Well, a backhoe sounds scary but... ;-).
> >
> >
> > Chad wrote:
> > >> Once in a while I go to Manage Recordings>Schedule Recordings>Search
> > >> Lists>New Titles and scroll through to see if there's anything
> > >> interesting in there.
> >
> > I've never been impressed with suggestion systems. As nifty
> > as they sound in a demo, in practice they are generally
> > close to useless. When I used a commercial DVR, I'd look at
> > the lists suggested by the stations and the list from their
> > scoring system and it was mostly a waste of time because I
> > knew most of the titles and had already decided if they were
> > shows I did or didn't want to watch. However, I always looked
> > at these because sometimes there would be a new title that I
> > didn't know about yet. One day at lunch it hit me, 'why don't
> > I make a list of all the titles that I don't know about yet?'
> > So, mythfilldatabase deletes old data every day but before it
> > does so, I merge all the titles of shows that have already ended
> > into a table 'oldprogram'. Now, any show that hasn't ended yet
> > which has a title that isn't in that list is a new title.
> >
> > Titles are discarded if they haven't appeared again in 11 months.
> > This way holiday specials and annual events (Indy 500) are shown
> > as "new" and so the list of old titles doesn't grow forever.
> >
> > A couple big problems with a suggestion based system. Say I
> > watch Letterman every night. The suggestions should then be
> > that I might want to watch Leno, Kimmel, O'Brien, Ferguson or
> > Daly. The quality of the scoring system might be determined by
> > how accurately it produces this exact list. However, I know about
> > all these shows and I choose to watch Dave. These other suggestions
> > may be annoying when they appear the second day but not nearly
> > as annoying as after a week, two weeks, a month, two months, a
> > year, two years, etc. The other problem is that the assumption
> > is that I want to record more shows just like the ones that I'm
> > recording now. This is not true. I record Dave rather than Jay
> > or Conan. The fact that I record Letterman and Nova in no way
> > hints that I'd really like to see a Curling match if one is ever
> > shown. I already record the shows I want for their genre. What
> > I want to add to my schedule are things that are different.
> >
> > The What's New list addresses both of these. Because the New
> > Titles list are by definition titles that have never appeared
> > before (or at least not in the past year), as I look at it today,
> > the list is as fresh as it was when I first set it up several
> > years ago and several years from now I will be exploring the
> > unknown again every day. It also doesn't try to make assumptions
> > about my tastes. I often find things that tickle me even though
> > I've never recorded anything like it ever before.
> >
> > > Thanks for the response!  :)  What's funny is that is exactly what
> > > prompted me to ask this question.  I just found that place and thought
> > > it was quite useful for seeing what's new, but wondered if there was
> > > something...  better I guess.
> >
> > I'm biased but I don't think there is =). At the time I was
> > actually thinking about integrating the Futon Critic calendar
> > (wow, it's gone. Anyway http://www.thefutoncritic.com/ ). However
> > the what's new list was more to the point, more complete, geared
> > to the user's local listings and didn't create any dependencies
> > (on pages that are no longer there).
> >
> > >   But better as in grouping types of
> >
> > For most scheduling pages the view keys Home and End change
> > the lists on the page. This is especially true for the proglist
> > pages for the Search Words and Search Lists pages. "Time" shifts
> > by hours, "Movies" change the minimum stars rating, etc. For the
> > New Titles page they cycle through All, Premieres, Movies, Series,
> > and Specials. "Premieres" may be the best list as this also
> > looks at the original air date and only shows new titles that
> > are on the date that it is first shown plus movies with release
> > dates within the past year or two and some minimum star rating.
> >
> > I normally look at the All list for the next 24 to 48 hours
> > then switch to the Premieres list and look a week or more ahead.
> >
> >
> > > programs and describing the new series; though I guess I can always
> > > read the description and make my own judgements.
> >
> > You can press "U" to get the Program Details for the selected
> > show. I find the Category (and genre) plus the type and air
> > date help me decide.
> >
> > In addition to the what's new list, you should take advantage
> > of the Search Words pages. Once you've entered a search term
> > (for whatever reason) it is stored. These can be deleted but
> > once you have it, you may find the results interesting again
> > in the future. Here again the view keys are important. On these
> > pages they cycle through your search terms. If I go to Title
> > and press enter on "Baseball", I can hit End to see "Big Break"
> > results, End again for "Celebrity", and so on.
> >
> > For example, a couple years ago there was a show called "But Can
> > They Sing?" with a celebrity(?) named Bai Ling. I entered a
> > People search to see what movies she had been in. No matches.
> > In fact, never any matches until today while typing this I see
> > a match for "Edmond".
> >
> > I don't go through searches as often as the New Titles but I
> > do look at these at least once a week usually.
> >
> >
> > Also, there's a trick you can do with Custom Record that was
> > quite popular when this first came up but hasn't been mentioned
> > recently. Go to Custom Record and look for the example called
> > "First Episodes". Click Add then Record. On the options page
> > go to Scheduling Options and change the last item to "This
> > recording schedule is inactive".
> >
> > This creates a rule that matches every episode of any series
> > that is cataloged as "0001" when it is shown on it's original
> > air date. IOW the premiere of a new series. These are included
> > in your Upcoming Recordings list but because the rule is marked
> > as inactive, they are in white marked with an "x" and won't
> > record. These just appear as reminders that a new series is
> > starting. If something shows up that you want to see, press
> > enter on the item then click "Record anyway".
> >
> >
> > I've been working on this stuff for several years and I can
> > tell you for a fact that from my perspective, this is the
> > "MythTV way" :)
> >
> > --  bjm
> >
> > _______________________________________________
>
> Awesome reply, thank you!  I really appreciate the insight in how to
> use these parts of MythTV.
>
> -Chad
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>

IMHO, it's hard to miss the media blitz for some new shows (look at
the daily TV listings in the newspaper and the ads around them, for
instance). I have been using Custom Search to find actors I like from
certain series when they appear on other shows, mostly for interviews.
Occasional guest appearances on scripted shows will introduce me to
different programs. Based on your comments, though, I need to check
out some of the canned searches.

Thanks!

Fred


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