[mythtv-users] Reliability of HDTV flag in Schedules Direct listings

[Ronald Frazier]

On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 1:48 PM, Eric Sharkey <eric at lisaneric.org> wrote:
>> You can complain to SD, who will complain to TMS, who may
>> complain to the affiliate, but it all comes down to the fact that TMS
>> gave you the most accurate information it could, which was wrong because
>> the affiliate lied.  There's not much recourse against such a situation.
>
> I disagree.  Anyone with two brain cells would look at this and see
> immediately that this was wrong.  There's no way that CBS-HD or NBC-HD
> is going to be broadcasting the second highest rated annual event in
> SD.

You can disagree all you want, but the fact of the matter is, when it
comes to guide data, the broadcaster is considered the authority on
the content they broadcast. And rightly so. In most cases, nobody know
better than them what they will be broadcasting. However, occasionally
they screw up, but you just have to deal with it. You can't go subvert
the system and have people (at tribune or schedules direct) adjust the
data for a number of reasons. First, it would take a huge manpower
effort to do (remember, you don't just have to verify the content on
CBS, but for every individual CBS affiliate in the country). Second,
it would be a very error prone process. And third, modifying the data
might even be against the terms of the contracts that are in place.

And as far as your "Anyone with two brain cells would look at this and
see immediately that this was wrong" comment.....LOL. Yeah right. You
want to know a case that's pretty bad...much worse than your simple HD
marked as SD issue? How about Discover Channel and the show Curiosity.
For months now, the guide data for the series has been listing each
episode with the episode title in place of the series title, thus the
title "Curiosity" appears nowhere in the guide data (and thus scheduls
that are setup to record "Curiosity" will fail every time). Yet if you
go to the Discovery Channel website, you can see each of those shows
are part of the Curiosity series. And when each show airs, it
present's itself as an episode of Curiosity. So, it seems like a
pretty cut and dry case, right? Well, for months now, various users
have been complaining about this data, both through Schedules Direct
and through TiVo. Both of them get their data from Tribune, so they
complain to Tribune. Tribune checks with the folks at Discovery
Channel, and Discover replies back "nope, the episode guide is
correct". Every time, Discovery insists their guide data is correct,
despite the fact that it contradicts both the website and the
broadcast itself. But nope, it's correct.

-- 
Ron Frazier