[mythtv-users] Reliability of HDTV flag in Schedules Direct listings

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Thu Nov 24 16:54:38 UTC 2011


On 11/24/2011 11:04 AM, Eric Sharkey wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 10:04 AM, Scott&  Nicole Harris wrote:
>> I don't know for sure, but I can't help but think that is an issue with the
>> data GIVEN to SD by the broadcaster, not with the data they are providing.
>> By way of comparison, a quick check of the listing at TitanTV does not
>> indicate HD either.
> How can the listings be wrong for such a high profile event?
>
> If these flags are so unreliable, should mythtv really rely on them
> for scheduling?

MythTV does not rely on--nor even consider--HDTV flag when scheduling.  
It uses whatever rules you provide when scheduling.

That said, there is a setting which /you/ may have set:

HDTV recording priority
Additional priority when a showing is marked as an HDTV broadcast in the 
TV listings.

in which case it's not MythTV, but you, who is relying on the HDTV flag 
for scheduling.  :)  If you haven't set that priority (nor made any 
custom priority that would rely on HDTV flag), then your system is 
choosing based on "most-preferred input" (as defined by you when you 
connected inputs) and where other same-time recordings land.

> Should I go through an manually raise the channel priority for all
> channels which are HD channels rather than relying on the listing?

You should read all of http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-12.html 
before doing so, because channel priority doesn't determine where a show 
is recorded so much as which shows are recorded--meaning the effect 
isn't just that MythTV would use your higher-priority channels first.  
(And, that said, if you decided to use channel priorities, you're 
probably best off using negative priorities on SDTV channels--though 
that still has consequences that may mean you record the wrong thing 
sometimes.)


>    I
> don't really want to have to do that, since I would prefer to not
> record native SD content that has been upscaled for an "HD" channel.
> That just seems like a waste of disk space.
>
> What are the rest of you doing?

Not saying that this is what you should do, but just so you don't think 
I'm holding back on a solution, I'll give you my approach:  I'm just not 
worrying about it, and I get what I get.  Note, though, that since the 
vast majority of my channels broadcast HDTV content for everything I'm 
recording, I don't really get much SDTV--except for a couple of PBS 
shows.  I don't mind SDTV versions of Woodturning Workshop or 
Woodwright's Shop or Woodsmith Shop or New Yankee Workshop, but I do 
like HDTV versions of Nova.  For that, though, I just let it record 
whichever it records, but I have an additional recording rule that 
re-records HDTV versions of SDTV Nova episodes (see the custom rule 
editor in mythfrontend for an example clause)--and since I generally 
watch my TV shows long after they air, it usually has a re-recorded HDTV 
version of each episode before I get around to watching the episode 
recorded in SDTV.

Basically, though, if what you want is for MythTV to record the HDTV 
version of shows when available, you're limited by the quality of the 
information you have available.  So, whether the station/TMS is 
providing bad/incomplete data or you're using a not-completely-true 
assumption (i.e. that channels that can show HDTV will always show HDTV 
and not up-scaled SDTV or any other you can come up with), you're likely 
to have issues.

Mike


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