[mythtv-users] xmltv error / mixing in data from canada?

[Michael T. Dean]

Michael Freeman wrote:

> i recently noticed something interesting in the xmltv (US) listings 
> for stargate atlantis.  they're saying that the new episodes on scifi 
> have already aired...which is true -- but they aired only in canada 
> (on some generic channel i'd have no hope in hell of picking up here), 
> not here. 
> is this an xmltv glitch, scifi feeding them bad data, or something 
> else? (and is there anywhere i can complain to?)

If it truly is XMLTV:

<!-- When and where the programme was last shown, if known.  Normally
in TV listings 'repeat' means 'previously shown on this channel', but
if you don't know what channel the old screening was on (but do know
that it happened) then you can omit the 'channel' attribute.
Similarly you can omit the 'start' attribute if you don't know when
the previous transmission was (though you can of course give just the
year, etc.).

The absence of this element does not say for certain that the
programme is brand new and has never been screened anywhere before.
-->
<!ELEMENT previously-shown EMPTY>
<!ATTLIST previously-shown start   CDATA #IMPLIED
                           channel CDATA #IMPLIED >

and

<!-- 'Premiere'.  Different channels have different meanings for this
word - sometimes it means a film has never before been seen on TV in
that country, but other channels use it to mean 'the first showing of
this film on our channel in the current run'.  It might have been
shown before, but now they have paid for another set of showings,
which makes the first in that set count as a premiere!

So this element doesn't have a clear meaning, just use it to represent
where 'premiere' would appear in a printed TV listing.  You can use
the content of the element to explain exactly what is meant, for
example:

<premiere lang="en">
  First showing on national terrestrial TV
</premiere>

The textual content is a 'paragraph' as for <desc>.  If you don't want
to give an explanation, just write empty content:

<premiere />
-->
<!ELEMENT premiere (#PCDATA)>
<!ATTLIST premiere lang CDATA #IMPLIED>

Which means that XMLTV doesn't guarantee any meaning for these elements 
because different networks/stations/listings providers have different 
meanings for them.  Therefore, Myth can't guarantee a meaning, either.

If you're using DataDirect (in the US, you should be), they probably 
have a similar disclaimer in their data definition, but you could ask on 
the fora at labs.zap2it.com...

Mike