[mythtv-users] adding files from elsewhere to myth

[Michael T. Dean]

On 10/09/2012 10:08 AM, R. G. Newbury wrote:
> On 10/08/2012 05:17 PM, Evuraan wrote:
>> I've mythtv 0.25.2, OTA wit hdhr dual.
>>
>> I generate (flv,mpg) files from publicly available, commercial laden,
>> tv streams. I'd like to add these files to mythtv recording list, and
>> need them processed by mythcommflag above all.
>>
>> I've couple of local channels that I never watch stuff on – so either
>> I can pin these hourly dumps to those, or float a new channel. If i
>> have the know-how, that is, and hence this email. :)
>>
>> I've seen recommendations to name the file as 1091_20121008070000.mpg,
>> and have myth.rebuilddatabase.pl run against those files etc -  i am
>> afraid these instructions are old, and does not apply to 0.25 that I
>> am on.
>>
>> So in summary, how do I add files from elsewhere to mythtv?
>
> Although myth.rebuilddatabase.pl has been deprecated it does work at 
> least partially.
>
> I suspect that part of the reason it has been deprecated is because it 
> does not insert the file size into the database. As a result, myth 
> reports it cannot find the file although the script has run properly 
> and entered everything else.

It's primarily been deprecated because MythTV now has a very-capable 
place for including user-provided/user-managed content:  the Video 
Library.  Now that Video Library has full support for metadata and 
metadata grabbing (including fan art, banners, covers, ...), there's not 
a lot of reason to allow users to poke some fake recording information 
(having to make up fake channel and start time and (tons of other)... 
information) into the database to fool MythTV into thinking it had 
recorded the show.

If you have other related content in Watch Recordings that you want 
grouped with your non-recording content, just move the real recordings 
to Video Library, too.

And, since Video Library allows the user to organize the content however 
he desires, you actually have /much/ more capability in Video Library 
than in Watch Recordings.  Watch Recordings was really designed as 
"temporary" storage for recordings made by this MythTV system, and any 
other content (whether temporary or meant for long-term archival) 
belongs in Video Library (and due to its ability to allow user 
organization, it's easy enough to separate out the temporary and 
long-term content in Video Library).

Mike