[mythtv-users] everyday i have to make sure myth worked the day before

[f-myth-users at media.mit.edu]

    > Date: Sat, 02 Apr 2011 16:57:17 -0400
    > From: Tony Lill <ajlill at ajlc.waterloo.on.ca>

    > "Brian J. Murrell" <brian at interlinx.bc.ca> writes:

    > > On 11-04-01 12:39 PM, Devin Heitmueller wrote:
    > >> Ask yourselves:  how many times have you sat down with some popcorn,
    > >> turned on your MythTV box, hit play on a recording, and found out that
    > >> there is a zero length file there?  Wouldn't it have been nice if Myth
    > >> had proactively told you that much earlier?
    > >
    > > And even better, didn't consider it a successful recording so put it
    > > back into the schedule in case it was being shown again.

    > I have a ticket (4130) and patch that enhances mythcommflag to look for
    > breakage and schedule a re-record. It's been there about 3 years
    > now...

Yeah, and I have a contributed script at ticket 6899 that notices
not only damaged files, but files with EAS tonebursts in them, and
silences, and other things and gives you real-time notification.
(Doesn't do an autoreschedule; just lets you know.)  I really need to
move it to the wiki someday, now that it's got the contrib stuff.
Even better would be tying it into the event system, now that that
exists, although the existing version does have the advantage that it
can be used with any version of Myth because it only looks in the
filesystem.

But it's been absolutely invaluable to me, since Comcast schedules
one-minute interruptions across EVERY channel simultaneously better
than once a week, at random times, to do their EAS testing, and since
many times either they or a local broadcaster has some malfunction and
transmits frozen video for a few minutes....  it lets me know ASAP,
while the recording is happening, that I should schedule another copy.
Not ideal if I'm not around, but better than nothing.

(http://code.mythtv.org/trac/ticket/6899)