[mythtv-users] 0.25 SQL CPU Load issues after optimisation

Another Sillyname anothersname at googlemail.com
Mon Jul 23 19:04:12 UTC 2012


On 23 July 2012 18:54, Mike Perkins <mikep at randomtraveller.org.uk> wrote:
> On 23/07/12 16:35, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>>
>> On 07/23/2012 11:14 AM, Another Sillyname wrote:
>>>
>>> So mythweb can become incredibly cluttered with non recording versions
>>> of a program if you don't use the 'record on this channel only'
>>> option.
>>
>>
>> That's why there's an option to show or not show the Deactivated
>> recordings in
>> MythWeb's Upcoming Recording page.  Unchecking the option removes all
>> those
>> "Earlier"/"Later" showings.
>>
> Doesn't always work, at least in the UK. We /also/ have other channels like
> Dave, Yesterday, etc which show recycled programs from the main group of
> BBC/ITV/Cannel4/Channel5.
>
> When programs pop up on these other channels, they may not be marked as
> repeat (or as recently, "rerun") and may have different program ids as well.
>
> My rules list is cluttered with exceptions where I've had to remove
> extraneous showings of series from two seasons back.
>
> Sometimes, 'On this channel' (or perhaps, 'On this group of channels?') is
> what we need to filter out the repeats.
>
> --
>
> Mike Perkins
>
>
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Actually Mike you've given me an idea......

I spend a fair amount of time Stateside and a fundemental difference
with the way TV is shown exists between the US and the UK, possibly
other Countries as well, Aus and NZ spring to mind.

Overly simplistically in the US TV is easily definable into 3 parts....

Broadcast TV - Mostly ABC, CBS, NBS, Fox, CW and then local variations as well.
The Broadcast Nets are now also having 2 or 3 additional channels on
their Digital transmission although my experience is that more often
then not these additional channels are used as weather or local news
channels.

Can be received in the clear usually via DVB-T

Cable TV - The above + Hundreds of additional channels dependent on
your location.  In effect each cable area is a local monopoly and tie
you into their system by forcing you to use their Set Top Box. I
realise that some areas transmit in the clear or can be accessed via
something like a cablecard system.

Can be received via Set Top Box or Cablecard.  In my experience you
need one set top box per channel being recorded if encrypted or you
can use some DVB-C cards if your provider still transmits in the
clear.

Satellite TV - Very similar to Cable TV except it comes via Satellite,
two main players.

Can be received via DVB-S card or Set Top Box, some channels in the
clear but most encrypted in some form or another.

In simplistic terms in the US you can usually only receive maybe 10-15
channels 'in the clear' via one form or another with you then having a
limit determined by the number of Set Top Boxes you have to the other
channels you can receive.  I realise there are going to be regional
variations to these numbers but it's a reasonable rule of thumb.

In the UK it's a different landscape.

There are 4 major delivery mechanisms.

Freeview - This is delivered via DVB-T and for most households
consists of about 35 channels of Free TV, a further 25 channels of
Free Radio and some paid content if you desire it via a Set Top Box.

The Free TV channels consist of

BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4, BBC News 24, BBC Parliament, BBC 1 HD, BBC HD.
ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4  + 1 Hour Timeshifts of them and then ITV HD
Channel 4, More 4, E4, Film 4 + 1 Hour Timeshifts of them and then Channel 4 HD
Five, Five Star, Five USA +1 Hour Timeshifts of some of them
Dave, Quest, Yesterday etc.... secondary channels that usually run
repeats from the main channels above or bought in programming.
Pick, Challenge etc... secondary channels that run populist
programming or narrow range programming i.e. Quiz Shows.
4 Music, Viva etc....Music, Youth programming.

So in a nutshell you have about 15 main channels that show mostly
original programming.
a further 15 channels that show repeats from the main channels a year
or two later or bought in programming.

You can also buy some paid programming via Top Up TV but for the
purposes of this discussion let's exclude them as their user base is
very small.

All these channels are available in the clear via DVB-T and are
available to 97% of the population.

Freesat

Effectively a duplication of the above provided via DVB-S with a few
channel variations.

Sky-TV

Similar to satellite TV in the US, however no effective way to provide
the channels to MythTV that can be discussed on the list due to
Digital Rights issues.

Cable TV

In the UK there is currently only one substantive Cable TV provider in
Virgin TV with the same limitations as US Cable TV.  However British
Telecom are currently aggressively rolling out Fibre Optic with some
TV services already provided and a plan to expand substantially.

The majority of people in the UK take just Freeview or Freesat, with
Sky-TV providing services to 10m ish households and Virgin about 1m
ish households.

I have seen setups in the UK where people have installed a Toroidal
dish pointing at more then one satellite feed and Octo LNBs to allow
them to pull 8 Muxs per satellite simultaneously.

The reason to tell you all of this is whereas the US is predominantly
a Cable TV environment in the UK most people will take Freeview or
Freesat for their general entertainment.

To put it in perspective with viewing figures a hit show on US
Broadcast these days is anything with 8m up, with NCIS currently
pulling about 20m.  The UK with a population about 16% of the US
population has shows on BBC 1 and ITV 1 that pull 8m viewers 3-4 times
per week.  Indeed a program like Top Gear which would never even get
on broadcast TV in the US pulls about 6m viewers on BBC 2 when it's
airing.

The US TV market is incredibly fragmented by both channel and
geography.  In the UK the TV service is seen as a national service
without so much local fragmentation and as a result most of it is
provided in the clear.  This is obviously partly because the UK is a
single timezone without the "Ten Nine Central" issues you get
Stateside.

I hope this makes sense and helps you understand why choosing 'record
on any channel' is not the same viable option for UK recording that it
is in other areas, our TV structure is different from what you'd see
in the States and therefore our recording requirements are influenced
accordingly.


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