[mythtv-users] How does scraped listings data compare with DataDirect's?

[John Drescher]

On 6/20/07, Yeechang Lee <ylee at pobox.com> wrote:
>
> I hope, as we all do, that some kind of solution--likely one involving
> fees--will emerge between now and 1 September for the end of the free
> Zap2It service. However, we should also start planning as if
> DataDirect will go away and no comparable direct feed will appear to
> take its place.
>
> I built my MythTV setup after DataDirect's debut and so have never
> known anything else. Compared to DataDirect.com, scraped data from
> tvlistings.com would lack the following:
>
> * Original air dates for TV shows
> * Episode numbers
> * Category
> * The Credits list is less detailed. For example, the _Arrested
>   Development_ episode "The Sword of Destiny" lists nine actors under
>   "Cast" on Datadirect but only five under "Credits" on
>   tvlistings.com.
> * Miscellaneous data like "Guest Stars," "Executive Producer," ratings
>   stars, and "Directed by" is completely missing.
>
> While distressing, none of these to my untrained eye is a truly
> serious loss. Lack of proper air dates is a pity given that I sort by
> it in Recorded Programs, but sorting by Program ID (which, thankfully,
> *is* available, in the URL) would, I suspect, be a mostly-acceptable
> substitute (not always, because program ID doesn't necessarily
> coincide with air order). As I recently learned here, MythTV doesn't
> actually use episode numbers.Searches, including Power Searches, would
> suffer from the lack of ancillary program data, of course. Perhaps
> IMDb's user-contributed ratings can substitute for the ratings stars.
>
> I suggest that we all start testing scrapers now, and am happy to
> volunteer once one is available to try.
>
>
Well for me it will be a lot more work as I assume the skipping of recording
duplicates will no longer work so the few shows I have set to record at any
time and avoid duplicates I will have to either stop or figure out manually
if the show was already recorded. What a pain...

John
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