[mythtv-users] Season/Episode: guide listing grabber vs. metadata grabber

[John P Poet]

On Sun, Jan 4, 2026 at 9:58 AM Roland Ernst <rcrernst at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Sun, Jan 4, 2026 at 4:01 PM Hika van den Hoven <hikavdh at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hoi John,
>>
>> Saturday, January 3, 2026, 7:48:28 PM, you wrote:
>>
>> > The metadata grabbers have to guess a bit. One consequence of this
>> > is that the Episode information can in some cases be wrong, with an
>> > example being for multiple episodes broadcast on the same day.
>>
>>
>> > SchedulesDirect provides "syndicated episode" data which is far
>> > more likely to be accurate. Other listing providers may do the same.
>>
>>
> IMHO, you can not assume that one method is more accurate than the other.
> Think about a long lasting series which has been recorded
> and re-recorded since the year 2010.
> Do you know how accurate the data from SD are in different countries?
>

I do not, but when SD has bad data, they are usually good about fixing it.

Right now, the metadata grabber season/episode is ALWAYS used and is wrong
in some cases. Checking the SD syndicated episode data for my recorded
programs, I have not found any examples of it obviously being wrong. So, it
makes sense to start with the syndicated episode and fall back to the
metadata grabber season/episode.


  > In MythTV v35, if you choose to sort the tv shows by
>
>> > season/episode, it is using the metadata grabber information. In
>> > MythTV v36, it will prefer to use the listing grabber information if
>> > it exists, and fall back to the metadata grabber info otherwise. If
>> > neither is available, it falls back to the original airdate.
>>
>>
> The original airdate is often not present, or depends on the result
> of the metadata grabber.
> And using the airdate instead does not provide any accuracy if
> the series is re-aired a later time.
>

The originalairdate sorter falls back to broadcast date if the
originalairdate is not available. Would you have it do something else
instead?


>
>
>> > This leaves the issue of displaying the season/episode information
>> > in myth. Themers have the choice to display "s01e01" or "1x1" (both
>> > of those from the metadata grabber) or "syndicatedepisode" (which
>> > displays as S1E1). Right now, there is a mechanism for a theme to
>> > "depend" on some data to exist which can then determine how data is
>> > formatted. However, it is limited in its flexibility.
>>
>>
>> > My question is, should I extend the flexibility to give themers the
>> > option to format the data one way if syndicatedepisode exists, and
>> > another if it does not, and another if the subtitle does not exist, and
>> ....
>>
>>
>> > Or, do I take the choice away from the themer and just have
>> > "s01e01" and "1x1" automatically return the syndicated episode
>> > information in preference to the metadata grabber information?
>>
>>
>> > Thoughts?
>>
>>
>> > John
>>
>>
> I wold prefer a user select-able option that sorts either the one or the
> other way,
> by using the syndicate-episode or season/episode values.
>

There was a bit of a revolt over how complicated MythTV is to set up
several years ago. There was a big push to remove configuration options. It
mostly failed because everyone has a different opinion of what is best.
That being said, I will consider this.


> It would be good to be able to change this option instantly on the
> display.
>

That would be very nice. Not something I am going to tackle right before a
new release, though.

John.
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