[mythtv] Proposed alternate behaviour for show delete

[Brad Templeton]

On Wed, Mar 09, 2005 at 09:52:51AM -0800, Ian Forde wrote:
> On Wed, 2005-03-09 at 06:48 -0500, J. Donavan Stanley wrote:
> > If your first plan is put in then the user will have to make more effort 
> > to do something they already said they wanted to do.  I NEVER visit the 
> > delete recordings screen myself.
> 
> (just a data point): The only time I ever visit the delete recordings
> screen is when I want to see the size of each show.

Indeed.  Remember, the goal is that the user will see no difference in
the behaviour of the system, other than "df" will show the disk to be
full.

The question is, do you say that you delete programs to restore disk space
for non-mythtv applications, or to make room for more myth recordings?

If you keep myth videos or audio or other plug-in files on the same
spool (which I do) it does create an issue, in that you would need to
manually run autoexpire (perhaps with an argument for how much to free)
or these plug-ins (like the rippers) would need to run autoexpire whenever
they need space.
> 
> > I really don't see any pressing need to change the meaning of delete 
> > myself...
> 
> I agree.  On a Tivo, things expire.  If you're going out of town for a
> few days, you train yourself to go to the upcoming recordings screen and
> clean things up.  If something you wanted to record autoexpires while
> you're gone, you learn from the experience, and adjust your recording
> settings.  Same for Myth.  I don't think this is a technological problem
> - it's more of a user behavior training issue.  PEBKAC?
> 

Actually, people have implemented undelete for the Tivo but it's more
of a short term thing.  After you let new shows record, the file is gone.
(more like windows undelete.)

Tivo's expire system does leave programs in "can't expire" for 2 days and
then they are as expirable as others, sorted by date, but suggestions always
expire first.

I have not found that all that useful per se, and have indeed always felt
that whether I watched a program made more sense as an indicator of whether
it could join that pool.

"Whether I have watched" is complex though.  How much of the program should
I have watched?  Does it just mean getting to the end or near the end?  (I
rarely get all the way to the end if it's just commercials.)   What if, as
I sometimes do with movies, I skipped to the end to make sure it recorded
the true end of the movie because it's REALLY FRUSTRATING when a listings
error gives you a movie but leaves off the last 5 minutes.  Did I mention
that's REALLY ANNOYING?