[mythtv-users] Strange program lengths recently

[Yeechang Lee]

Mark Knecht <markknecht at gmail.com> says:
> I've started to notice some strange lengths on my recordings after
> recent updates.

[...]

> However when watching these on a remote frontend Myth would report
> that the length was around 57 minutes, not 60 minutes. It does this
> consistently over all the recordings.

Change somewhere in the transmission chain. The differences between
true elapsed and the OSD displayed times are, fortunately, cosmetic
only, but can be caused by a wide range of reasons including variants
in source material (24fps film versus 30fps videotape), the
station/cable channel's encoder, and/or the cable company's encoder.

OTA and cable example:
<URL:http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/322787#322787>
(the desync in #5 doesn't happen any more in my case)

OTA examples:
<URL:http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/227272#227272>
<URL:http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/351871#351871>

Cable example:
Two years ago, my cable company began transmitting analog (<100)
channels in a way that gave my DCT-6200 fits
(<URL:http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/369263#369263>;
I was never able to swap my box out for a DCH-3200 because the company
does not carry it any more and, bizaarely, claims to have never done
so). Just a couple of weeks ago the company completely switched all
analog channels over to digital, resulting in excellent picture
quality and an end to the buggy-firmware issue the thread
mentions. Anyways, I bring this story up to illustrate how elapsed
times changed for me:

Pre-September 2007 analog: 60 minutes of recording on <100 channels =
60 minutes on the OSD

September 2007 to August 2009 "bad analog": 60 minutes = 45 minutes
(if the recording completed)

August 2009 to now: 60 minutes = ~57-59 minutes

> I also noticed that Letterman and Conan, both listed at 1:02 in the
> listing clocked in at about 1:02 so those seem fine.

Videotape sources. Any variance between elapsed and displayed times
are due to the commercials' source materials.

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