[mythtv] SoC 2006: Configuration Revamp Information

[f-myth-users at media.mit.edu]

    Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 18:14:46 -0400
    From: "Michael T. Dean" <mtdean at thirdcontact.com>

    On 06/02/2006 03:09 PM, Andy Poling wrote:
    > On Fri, 2 Jun 2006, Justin M. Hunt wrote:
    >   
    >> Time offset for thumbnail preview images: most users probably don't change this since you cant get it perfectly right for all programs anyways
    >>     
    > I use this to offset my global pre-roll setting so that I get a preview of the
    > target program instead of the pre-roll.  This wouldn't be necessary if global
    > pre-roll were taken into account when calculating this time offset (or is it
    > already, perhaps?).

    Since Risto Treksler's patch ( http://svn.mythtv.org/trac/changeset/6308 
    ), the commercial flagging and cutlist information is taken into account 
    when generating previews.

    For those who use commflagging, it's a completely unnecessary setting.

    Those who don't use commflagging can either specify a cutlist or simply 
    set a bookmark with the PreviewFromBookmark enabled...

I use the thumbnails in Mythweb for shows that aren't commflagged
(because they're commercial-free).  It's a fast way to see if the
right thing was recorded.  If I had to manually set a bookmark first
(e.g., by turning on the TV and watching it), or manually set a blind
cutlist just so I could get a useful preview, it would lose all its
utility to me, especially in cases where I'm nowhere near the TV.

    Generate preview image from a bookmark if possible
    If enabled, MythTV will ignore the above time offset, and use the 
    bookmark inside the recording as the offset for creating a thumbnail 
    image. As with the above, MythTV will honour cutlists and increase this 
    offset if necessary.

    And, BTW, is PreviewFromBookmark really necessary, anymore?  Why not 
    just make it always true?

Because not all of us want the preview to reflect where the bookmark
happens to be pointing.  Frequently, mine is pointing just -after- any
useful program content if I've just watched a segment of something
with commercials, or if I've just watched the entire show.  In both
cases, any preview image would be exactly wrong.  (And besides, I'd
rather not have the overhead of generating those previews happen at
random times, since sometimes they can lead to problems of their own
if, e.g., the backend & frontend/SBE have managed to lose communication,
which does happen occasionally.  But that's a secondary issue.)