[mythtv-users] Attention "24" watchers: check your upcoming recordings

[Michael T. Dean]

Brad Templeton wrote:

>On Mon, May 23, 2005 at 10:37:26AM -0400, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>  
>
>>Remember, also, that you can "train" MythTV to ignore the repeats that 
>>you don't want.  Basically, just set the episodes to "Never Record" if 
>>you've seen them or don't care to see them.  It's very easy to do 
>>through MythWeb, and I've found that--especially for those shows that 
>>show multiple showings per day (i.e. Simpsons)--it really only takes a 
>>few weeks to train the system (and, with almost 2 weeks of guide data, 
>>you can take care a huge chunk at a time).  So, using anytime on all 
>>channels is possible (all my recording schedules are set that way).
>>
>>The big benefit of this approach is that you get a very complete 
>>database of what TV you've seen, and you don't miss any episodes (but 
>>you might get a few you've seen).
>>    
>>
>Yeah, though it would be nice if the system tagged that the choice was
>put into oldrecordings because of a "don't record this" rather than a
>"I recorded this and deleted it".
>
>I've just built a "Suggestions" system for MythTV which trains on what
>you like based on the oldrecorded table, so heavy use for "I don't want this"
>will have a negative effect.
>  
>
Although, if you're telling MythTV not to record that episode of the 
show because you've already seen it and you have MythTV set to record 
all episodes on all channels because you like the show, it seems it 
would only help reinforce your liking of that show (i.e. capturing 
"pre-MythTV" history).  However, if the system assumes that a user will 
keep and never delete every show that he/she likes, 
WD/Seagate/Maxtor/etc will be very happy...

Assuming the user is allowed to delete recordings he/she liked, 
recording "anything I might possibly want to watch, just in case" 
(which, IMHO, is the whole point of a PVR) and deleting 
stupid/boring/not-worth-the-time recordings will have a negative impact 
on the suggestions--unless you say, "Yes, and allow re-record," to the 
delete confirmation (to keep the show out of your oldrecorded table).  
Unfortunately, though, taking this action is extremely 
counter-intuitive.  It seem the best way to find out if the user likes a 
show/episode/whatever is to ask him/her.

Assuming your suggestions "system" is a plug-in, you could create a 
plugin-specific table and allow direct user interaction with the 
system.  You could even scan the oldrecorded table to create a default 
set of values, but at least with the way I use my MythBox--record a lot 
and delete everything, whether I liked it or not--unless the suggestion 
system asked for my opinion, it wouldn't be useful to me.

Mike