[mythtv-users] Effect of auto-expire on recordings history

[Michael T. Dean]

On 06/26/2011 04:20 AM, John Pilkington wrote:
> On 26/06/11 00:32, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>> On 06/25/2011 06:57 PM, John Pilkington wrote:
>>> But many of my recordings are made using the
>>> 'Record only this showing' rule guided by external recommendations,
>>> using 'u' and/or 'e' queries from the schedule display to see if I
>>> should already have it, and it's that aspect of database access that I'd
>>> like to influence.
>> So, you're saying that the fact that you no longer have a rule that
>> matches the episode re-run means that the program detail available from
>> the Guide shows only "MythTV Status: Not Recording," and you'd like it
>> to also tell you that it was previously recorded and/or that it is
>> allowed to re-record?
> No, I don't think that's it.  If I no longer have a rule that matches,
> but the programme has been previously recorded, 'u' will tell me so, and
> I will usually choose not to record again.  If it has been auto-expired,
> the same.  I'd like to know that I can then no longer access a copy, so
> that I can choose to re-record if I wish.

If it was auto-expired but set to allow re-record, I /think/ it will 
just say "Not Recording."  So, once you've fixed your "allow re-record" 
(and make sure MythTV allows re-record of anything you haven't yet 
archived), it should be as simple as re-recording anything that says, 
"Not Recording."

> Of course, sometimes 'u' doesn't recognise that a programme is identical
> with one already recorded.

Right, that would be due to changes in the data that prevent duplicate 
identification:  http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Duplicate_matching

>    I think you said before that its memory is
> time-limited in some way,

Actually, in this thread, I said it /should/ have a complete history of 
everything it's ever recorded.

In some other threads, I've mentioned that information about any shows 
that match a rule, but are not recorded (i.e. because other showings of 
that episode are recorded before or after that showing or because your 
system was off when it aired or ...)

>   and anyway the EIT data match isn't always
> accurate.  So I may use 'e' and 'Show previously scheduled' to make more
> checks, but AFAIK those will also be invalid in the same way if the
> programme has auto-expired.

Correct.  If we can't tell it's a duplicate because listings data is 
different from the one you recorded, it won't matter whether it's 
expired or not.

> My first idea was just to be able to identify and remove auto-expired
> recordings from the DB, but a DB flag showing auto-expired, accessible
> from these screens, would be great.  I hope I haven't overlooked it :-)

For all practical purposes, the flag that indicates whether the program 
should be allowed to re-record is meant to provide the information you 
want--whether you should re-record the show or not.  So, I'm pretty sure 
it's just a case of making sure that allow re-record is set properly 
(either through your manually deleting shows and specifying to allow 
re-record or not or through auto-expire doing the right thing based on 
the watched flag).

Mike