[mythtv-users] A workaround for the "Daily Show" and other repeats problems

[Brad Templeton]

On Mon, Jan 03, 2005 at 12:23:59PM -0800, Bruce Markey wrote:
> ...which algorithms can't detect and only humans can assume based
> on observation. However, if you look at the current listings, this
> assumption is likely untrue. There is an 11:30 generic episode,
> and again at 1:30pm Tue that is almost surely not a repeat of
> the 11:00pm episode.

Actually, the 11:30 episodes are a new thing, starting tonight.  We will
see what they are but they appear to be a repeat from an earlier day
(ie. not a repeat of the 11 pm episode.     The 1:30 am is the same
as the earlier 11:30 pm.

So when we come to understand what these are we could code up something
for them.  For now it will largely stop them from being recorded as
they are repeats of something.

Where it will fail (until fixed) is that if you schedule something
else at 11 pm, it could record the 11:30 and that's not what you want.

So I'll fix that up when we get the scoop.
> 
> And a programid of SH2930530000. This is the generic episode.

Useful to know.   Question is, should the database rewrite change
the program ID.  Does it have to change it to make this work?
> 
> for an antiquated system. A daily manual would suck because it
> would always record with no regard for duplicate detection or
> even if there was something scheduled other than TDS. MythTV,
> however, has a Timeslot record type that will verify that it is
> the intended title and will check for previously recorded and
> even Repeat if you use the new episodes only option.

But doesn't that cause it to _not_ record the generic episodes?

What we want is to indeed record one of the generic episodes, but
not more than one.  It seems a database hack (or more work,
a change in algorithms) to do that.

Of course, what we truly want is to just name the show and not
worry about timeslots at all!

More fun as well is catching the specials they do at special times,
like the live election show etc.

> 
> Generally, generic episodes have an old OriginalAirDate so the
> new episodes option will consider them as repeats. For TDS this
> is generally true so I have this set. It will record each new
> episode once and skip old or generic episodes.

Why would you want it to skip the generics?  They are new live
episodes.
> 
> Any logic to do something fancy would be better served by
> putting the same logic in the scheduler so that an option
> could be chosen dynamically rather than have it hardcoded
> by altering listings data with non-authoritative information.

Indeed, but this is just a couple lines of sql, vs. a more
involved modification of the scheduler.

In some ways, there are also two thoughts on what is "right" here.
You can fancy up the scheduler but that gives it an even more
complex UI than it has now.  That UI is already far beyond most
TV users -- hell, most Tivo users never get into Tivo's vastly
simpler scheduling UI.

One argument says that instead it makes more sense to have a facility
to import information learned about listings errors from outside, so
that one trusted person, or a network of them, produce rules to fix
scheduling problems, and everybody else imports them without any
UI at all.


The goal is for the ordinary user to say, "I want the Daily Show" and
to get exactly one of each new episode.   With no UI needed at all,
except to select the show.

Of course hand-inserting sql code is also a complex UI.  This is a
first stab.

> 
> Or ever. You can't get blood from a stone. If the station
> does not provide unique episode information then you can
> only speculate what to do about it. A pattern that seemed
> to be true last week may not be true this week (see TDS at
> 11:30pm tonight).

Indeed, which is why the only long term solution is to make
a collaborative system, where once one trusted person figures
it out, we all figure it out.   This applies to early start/end
and other such matters.
> 
> For this particular title, it is generally a safe bet that a
> generic is a repeat with the Monday exception.

That doesn't match my recollection at all, I have often seen new
shows with generic description.  Has this changed?