[mythtv] Brainstorming a new idea for the program guide

[Robert Johnston]

On Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 16:30, Mythtv <mythtv at meric.id.au> wrote:
> Finally, you probably need to consider the legal ramifications of
> distributing this kind of content.  Arguably it is all copyrighted material,
> and is being distributed without permission.  Presumably the operators of
> TVDB have their own legal advice and that’s their choice, but I can’t really
> see the Mythtv project getting into the content distribution game.

The content on the TVDB is published under a Creative Commons license
(Specifically: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/)

This states that:
-----8<-----------------------------
You are free:
    *  to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work
    *  to Remix — to adapt the work

Under the following conditions:

    *  Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner
specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests
that they endorse you or your use of the work).

With the understanding that:

    * Waiver — Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get
permission from the copyright holder.
    * Other Rights — In no way are any of the following rights
affected by the license:
          o Your fair dealing or fair use rights;
          o Apart from the remix rights granted under this license,
the author's moral rights;
          o Rights other persons may have either in the work itself or
in how the work is used, such as publicity or privacy rights.
    * Notice — For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to
others the license terms of this work. The best way to do this is with
a link to this web page.
-----8<-----------------------------
Thus, provided we state where the content has come from, we are free
to do whatever we like with it, including (in that we are explicitly
allowed to, and even encouraged to) distributing the data.

I think a decentralised distribution system for this (Using DHT and
"Trackerless torrents") would be a great way to go. Have the TVDB
accept a long list of show titles and return the hash keys of the
necessary data, which can then be grabbed from the Torrent cloud
and/or the website (Using the site as a "Web Seed", thus ensuring
there are never no seeders for an item) would make for an excellent
system, which would make each client's initial grab for the whole
listing refresh a 1-time DB hit ("SELECT title, hashcode FROM showdata
WHERE title IN (<posted titles>)"), rather than 5,000+ separate
requests.
-- 
Robert "Anaerin" Johnston
Sent from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada