[mythtv-users] Broadening Record Duplicates?

[Bruce Markey]

Joseph A. Caputo wrote:
...
> Wouldn't it be easier to make a configurable option in the Advanced 
> Recording screen to indicate which fields to check to determine 
> duplicates?

In past discussions it was assumed that there are lots of
combinations of which fields to match but there really are
only two other possibilities to consider. 

The three fields of interest are title, subtitle and description.
The title must match for it to be the same show. There are no
null titles in the program table and you can't set a record rule
for a null title so that leaves subtitle and description.

Matching both subtitle and description is the current default.
If subtitle and description are both null you can't determine
duplicates. That leaves only subtitle without considering
description and description without considering subtitle.
Both of these are treacherous and the user would really need
to look at a large number of listings for a show before she
decides if one of these is the correct method for a particular
show.

> ...I had started to work on this at one point, but I'm not 
> too sure of my SQL skills, and at the time I didn't have the time to 
> spend monkeying with the Advanced Recording GUI (the new options 
> wouldn't fit, and would force a 2nd screen, which I didn't feel like 
> doing just then).  Maybe I'll revisit the issue this week.

The GUI now has a spinbox for "Record duplicates:" so these two
new options could be added. However, these would also need some
documentation to explain how they work and how the user should
determine if they are the right choice for a certain show.

--  bjm


mysql> select subtitle,description from program where title="Whose Line Is It Anyway?" order by starttime\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
   subtitle:
description: Comics improvise sketches with suggestions from the audience.
*************************** 2. row ***************************
   subtitle:
description: Comics improvise sketches with suggestions from the audience.
*************************** 3. row ***************************
   subtitle:
description: Comics improvise sketches with suggestions from the audience.
*************************** 4. row ***************************
   subtitle:
description: Comics improvise sketches with suggestions from the audience.
*************************** 5. row ***************************
   subtitle:
description: Comics improvise sketches with suggestions from the audience.
*************************** 6. row ***************************
   subtitle:
description: Comics improvise sketches with suggestions from the audience.
*************************** 7. row ***************************
   subtitle:
description: Comics improvise sketches with suggestions from the audience.
*************************** 8. row ***************************
   subtitle:
description: Comics improvise sketches with suggestions from the audience.
*************************** 9. row ***************************
   subtitle:
description: Comics improvise sketches with suggestions from the audience.
*************************** 10. row ***************************
   subtitle:
description: Featuring Greg Proops, Roy Bremner, Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie.
*************************** 11. row ***************************
   subtitle:
description: Featuring Greg Proops, Karen Maruyama, Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie.
*************************** 12. row ***************************
   subtitle:
description: Mike McShane; Brad Sherwood; Colin Mochrie; Ryan Stiles.
*************************** 13. row ***************************
   subtitle:
description: Wayne Brady; Phil LaMarr; Colin Mochrie; Catherine O'Hara; Greg Proops; Brad Sherwood; Ryan Stiles.
*************************** 14. row ***************************
   subtitle:
description: Comics improvise sketches with suggestions from the audience.