[mythtv-users] another scheduling strangeness/question

[Michael T. Dean]

  On 08/31/2010 04:30 PM, Patrick Ouellette wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 02:32:43PM -0400, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>> It all comes down to the question, "are you getting the shows you
>> want recorded," and if the answer is, "No," then it likely means you
>> need more capture devices--not better listings data***.
> Actually, during the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs round 1 I missed several
> recordings because the listings data was available from the carrier
> (Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic) and not updated on TMS/Schedules Direct.
> My capture device was idle at the time the recordings would have run.
>
> I opened tickets when I noticed the listing issues, but because of turnaround
> times and the short window to correct the listings it didn't matter.
>
> Unfortunately TMS/Schedules Direct seems to be the only game in town for us
> in the USA using cable with MythTV.
>
> So I would say, if you are missing recordings better listings data would
> help a lot.  Especially more responsive listings data that tracked short
> turnaround events like live sports playoff games where the data on if
> a game will be played is decided only 2 or 3 days out.

Well, since MythTV always download's tomorrow's data, that means that 
the data wasn't updated until sometime within about a day of the airing.

I'm not saying that TMS listings never have errors.  I'm simply saying 
that downloading more days of listings data every day won't help, as 
that /only/ fixes the issues where MythTV chooses to /not/ record a show 
because the user has "Reschedule higher priorities" enabled and the same 
show is aired later according to the listings MythTV has at the time of 
the first showing, but then that repeat showing is removed from the 
schedule later.  And, if you look at the help text for that setting, 
that's exactly what it says can happen:

Reschedule higher priorities
Move higher priority programs to other cards and showings when resolving 
conflicts. This can be used to record lower priority programs that would 
otherwise not be recorded, but risks missing a higher priority program 
if the schedule changes.

Note, also, that its only effect is "to record lower priority programs 
that would otherwise not be recorded", and a /better/ solution for that 
problem is to have more capture devices since that will allow getting 
all recordings on the first showing.  (Meaning all programs--even 
lower-priority programs--will be recorded on the first showing.)

Yes, data errors will happen.  And MythTV cannot do the right thing 
without the right data.  However, if the stations don't provide the 
right data to TMS, TMS can't do anything to fix it, either.  So, in the 
end, we're doing the best we can with the data we're given (where we 
includes TMS).  And, if you think about how extremely reliable the 
listings are in general, the few cases where you saw problems due to bad 
data actually turn out to be the exception, not the rule.

That said, if it's critical to you, /you/ are the final arbiter of what 
does and does not record on MythTV.  Therefore, schedule the recording 
yourself with a manual recording schedule or a start early/end late 
override on a normal schedule or ...

As to the "only game in town" comment, if you were an xmltv user before 
TMS gave us DataDirect and Schedules Direct made it available--back when 
we used xmltv's tv_grab_na script that scraped TMS's zap2it.com web 
site--you would recognize just how much better our current solution is.  
As a matter of fact, I think if you compare the quality of Schedules 
Direct listings to any other listings available to other 
non-North-American users, you'll find that we have a /very/ good source 
of listings data.  (I'd actually go so far as to say that based on what 
I've heard from users who don't have SD listings available, IMHO, we 
have the best listings source in the world.)

Mike