[mythtv-users] 6.6 Short Schedule

[Gary Buhrmaster]

On Tue, Apr 13, 2021 at 10:15 PM Mike Perkins
<mikep at randomtraveller.org.uk> wrote:

> I think that this kind of event represents one of the few limitations of mythtv

It is not just MythTV.  "Event TV" (which includes
both breaking news and live sports that run
beyond their scheduled times) throws all the
broadcasters off their carefully arranged schedules
which that have been provided to guide providers
and causes problems for all DVRs.

Since it is unlikely we can eliminate sports that
are not time limited (any more than you can
end a meeting on time if your CEO is the one
who just keeps on talking and talking), nor stop
breaking news, one can only mitigate the impact.

One challenge is that the guide data provider
may not get updated schedules quickly
depending on the adjustments taken (and
depending on the breaking news event those
adjustments may involve days worth of
previously scheduled content), and if an
episode is pushed back only a day it may
miss all the propagation to get out to all
customers before it has already been
shown.

And not all guide providers pass along a
(mostly) reliable New-Episode indication to
help determine if a show should be recorded
if one uses that criteria, although I have seen
some guide providers not be entirely reliable
about marking the episode as new when the
original episode is now broadcast at a later
time period (it is unclear where the fault lies).
Fortunately, some do seem to get it right
at least most of the time, and MythTV can
use that hint.

In the end, MythTV gets things right a lot of
the time (better than some commercial
offerings), but it cannot control external
events (if it could do *that* it would make it
the one ultimate solution).