[mythtv-users] reported runtimes are 4-5 minutes short for a single channel

[Michael T. Dean]

On 04/20/2007 07:03 PM, Mark Knecht wrote:
> On 4/20/07, Michael T. Dean <mtdean at thirdcontact.com> wrote:
>   
>> On 04/20/2007 05:09 PM, Seth Daniel wrote:
>>     
>>> Recently, reported runtimes for one channel (CBS received OTA here in the
>>> Los Angeles, CA area) have consistently been 4-6 minutes shorter than
>>> the time it was set to record for.  So, if I have a rule that recorded
>>> CBS for 1 hour the reported runtime would be 54-55 minutes.  The entire
>>> show will have been recorded.
>>>
>>> I have seen where some people have recommended running 'mythcommflag
>>> --rebuild' because they suspect the seek table is inaccurate.  I tried
>>> this but the reported runtime remained the same.
>>>
>>> This problem happens on all recordings on this one channel.  All other
>>> recordings on other channels have correct runtimes.
>>>
>>> I get CBS OTA using an HDHomerun.  Mythtv is compiled and is a very
>>> recent SVN version.  HDHomerun firmware is 20070320.
>>>
>>> As far as I can tell nothing out of the ordinary is in the mythtv logs.
>>>       
>> This is nothing to worry about.  You're getting the whole show.  The
>> commercials in the show are encoded slightly differently from the show,
>> so myth's "estimated" runtime is off a bit.  It will eventually be
>> fixed, but it's low priority because it doesn't really break anything
>> and requires some pretty substantial changes to fix properly.
>>     
> I've had some problems with this also. I found it does break things a
> bit. If I've gone past the reported runtime - say a 60 minute show
> where the runtime is being reported as 36 minutes - and say I'm at 45
> minutes and then save my position and exit the show intending to come
> back later, then I find I cannot get back into the show at all. At
> that point I've just had to delete the show completely and hope to
> rerecord.

That's a different issue.  With the issue the OP is experiencing, it's 
impossible to go beyond the reported runtime (since the reported runtime 
is exactly at the end of the show).  In other words, in his situation, 
Myth just thinks the show is 55 minutes long.  When Myth says he's at 53 
minutes into the show, he's actually just over 57 minutes into the show...

Yours is the case that requires a seektable rebuild, as suggested by the 
OP.  However, mythcommflag is unlikely to work properly in that case, 
and you'll likely have to use "mythtranscode --buildindex".

The consistently off by 4-5 minutes per 1 hour show doesn't hurt 
anything.  The runtime is double

Mike