[mythtv-users] subtitle matching rule not working

[Michael T. Dean]

On 08/16/2009 01:20 AM, Bill Williamson wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 16, 2009 at 3:12 PM, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>   
>> But you now seem to be trying to "fix" duplicate detection for episodes
>> where there's no subtitle (as you've now realized that if you don't break
>> your data, Myth will do the right thing for shows with subtitles).  However,
>> an episode without a subtitle is a special episode--a generic episode--so
>> it's treated completely differently, anyway.  If what you're trying to do is
>> tell Myth to not record "generic" episodes, what you /actually/ want to do
>> is to specify the "Exclude generic episodes" filter on the recording rule.
>>
>> So, a) don't mess with any programid's (whether the episode has a subtitle
>> or not) and b) use an "Exclude generic episodes" filter if you don't want
>> generics.  The idea behind the cron-job script someone recommended you run
>> is completely broken.
>>     
> The big problem I have is that we have simulcast channels (ABC1 vs
> ABCHD for example) and a LOT of our shows (especially kids shows) do
> not have subtitle information due to bad info from the providers.
> This means that it records two copies each show (due to a record on
> any channel rule).  This especially misses with daily kids shows that
> I ahve set to "keep last 4", because we only now get the last TWO.  I
> don't like "restrict to this channel" rules as often shows will be
> shown on ABC2 if you miss them on ABC1.
>
> Any suggestions?  I hope you can see how the situation led to the
> person who gave me the script's way of thinking at least, even though
> we now know it to be wrong.
>
> The obvious solution (to me?) is that shows that are daily
> (playschool/etc) and news shows should automatically have a program id
> set by the grabber with the date/morning of the show?
>
> How would this be handled in the US with SchedulesDirect and a 3
> channel lineup with an SD channel, a 95% clone HD channel, and a
> second SD channel showing new stuff and reruns of the first SD
> channel?

Basically, it comes down to the fact that if it's a generic episode, 
there's no possible way Myth can know which actual episode is showing 
(by definition).  Therefore, Myth is designed to record all generics so 
you never miss an episode (as a "false positive" recording is better 
than missing an episode due to a "false positive" duplicate match 
preventing the recording).

So, really, the best solution is to structure your recording rules (yes, 
you're likely to need more than one for each show--as there is no such 
thing as "record only the right generic episodes") appropriately based 
on how the show is actually aired (and not to edit programid).  There 
are a ton of good ideas that you can probably use to design your rules 
appropriately at 
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/153872#153872 .

Major ideas in that post include a) you can have multiple recording 
rules for a single show title (define the most specific rules first, 
then select episodes that don't match the specific rule to add more), b) 
you can use different duplicate matching and filters (such as exclude 
generics or only new episodes) on each rule, and c) you can use daily or 
weekly rules to specify that Myth should only record one episode in a 
particular time period.

Mike