[mythtv-users] Fall premieres

[R. G. Newbury]

Bruce Markey wrote:
> With the premier season starting, I'd like to mention some
> of the tricks you can use to catch new shows and update
> your schedule for the fall.
> 
> First, one of the great things about a DVR, and even more so
> with a multi-tuner DVR, is that you can record more stuff than
> you intend to watch. It only takes a couple key strokes to
> set a recording rule then a couple more to delete and remove
> the rule once you've seen that the show sucks. So, record
> anything that seems like it might he interesting. You don't
> have to watch them the same day they premiere, you could watch
> five min, FF, decide that it sucks and delete it. However,
> you may find gems that you hadn't anticipated.
> 
> Without a DVR, if I saw a promo that looked interesting I'd
> need to remember the date, time and channel then plan my day
> to be home in front of the TV at that time. With myth, I'll see
> a promo while watching a recording, hit 'save and exit' go to a
> scheduling page and set a record rule then return to watching
> my show. At this point I don't need to remember the day, time
> or channel or even the title or even what it was supposed to be
> about. Some time later this thing will show up in my Watch List.
> I can then scan through it, see that it sucks and delete it.
> 
> Fall premieres or not you can always find new titles when they
> first show up in your listings by going to Search Lists->New
> Titles. This is all the titles upcoming in your listings that
> haven't appeared in the past 11 months. I regularly look at
> the "All" view for the next 24 to 48 hours to see if something
> is coming up some that I wouldn't want to miss. However, this
> is just one of the views and the HOME and END can switch to
> Premieres, Movies, Series and Specials. The "Premieres" view
> is a more select list of shows where it appears that these
> are showings of the series first episode on the date that is
> said to be the original air date. This list also includes new
> specials and even recent movies with at least some minimum
> star rating.
> 
> When you see something that you might want to record, you can
> press Enter or "I"nfo to set a recording rule. You could choose
> to Record only this showing if you want to sample it, Record
> one showing of this title if you expect there will be more
> than one showing and you want this to yield to your other shows,
> or 'any time' to set a recurring rule for a new fall series.
> I recommend 'any time' because it is easy to remove the rule
> if the show sucks but if it turns out to be good, you're already
> set to continue to record new episodes.
> 
> The New Titles "Premieres" list is a little SQL trickery that
> evolved from a Custom Record rule. In fact, it is included as
> one of the examples. Here is a trick that some of us use that
> I find very useful.
> 
> Go to Schedule Recordings->Custom Record. On the example selector
> widget, press left until you see "First Episodes (complete example
> for Data Direct)". Click "Add..." then click "Test". This should
> show you a list of series that are starting soon. Hit ESC to
> return to the custom page. Fill in a name like "First Episodes",
> "New Series", or whatever you like. Click "Record" and pick
> "Record at any time on any channel" then under "Scheduling
> Options", change the bottom line from "This recording rule
> is active" to "... inactive" then "Go Back" and "Save these
> settings".
> 
> http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-12.html#ss12.5
> 
> What this does is to create a rule that matches all of these
> series premieres but because you set this rule as "inactive"
> it doesn't actually try to record them. Instead, these are
> listed in white on your Upcoming Recordings list marked with
> an "x". These then serve as reminders of when new series are
> starting. If you see a show you'd like to sample, highlight
> it. press Enter and click "Record anyway". If you want to
> set a recurring rule for one of these titles, press "O" to
> see the list of episodes for that title, choose a showing that
> does not have the "x", then press Enter to set a new rule for
> this title.
> 
> --  bjm

Bruce,

I've been using Mythtv for 2 years now and I didn't know about half of 
the search capabilities which you have just described!

Please post this on the wiki (in the 'daily use' section?).

Geoff


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