Why is my MythTV guide data not current?

[rmeden]

(note: I don't use MythTV... this is my observation from many complaints from MythTV users)

By default, MythTV downloads Today+1 and Today+14. (or there abouts). I don't remember if it updates Today.

The networks themselves don't know what's on 14 days from now... so since anything past Today+1 is "14 days old" at the time of download, it's a safe bet that most of your guide is inaccurate.

If you want accurate data with MythTV, IMHO you should *always* do a ---dd-grab-all, at least until SD self-hosts the data and can offer update based listings.

Robert

[pvr4me]

Hi Robert:

Just wanted to be sure. Doing --refresh-all will hit the SchedulesDirect server(s) for 7 times as much data as using the default; all 14 days rather than just 2. Since Myth always reschedules just after loading the guide data, the only time there will be a problem is if true details of the episode become available after the (daily) mythfilldatabase run and before the recording begins.

Seems to be a high cost of bandwidth to SchedulesDirect compared to a small chance of avoiding a duplicate recording for the user. Is this really a good tradeoff?

Craig

[rmeden]

It's more than scheduling.. folks look forwarding in the guide for things to record and then complain when the info is not current. If you never look at the guide, you'll probably do fine with the default setting.

When we self-host the data we'll be looking into being able to send "diffs", so the problem will go away.

So if you use the guide, feel free to change your MythTV setting... maybe compromise.. download days 0-6, then 14. (days 7-14 probably aren't accurate anyway)

Robert

[rmiddle]

It's more than scheduling.. folks look forwarding in the guide for things to record and then complain when the info is not current. If you never look at the guide, you'll probably do fine with the default setting.

When we self-host the data we'll be looking into being able to send "diffs", so the problem will go away.

So if you use the guide, feel free to change your MythTV setting... maybe compromise.. download days 0-6, then 14. (days 7-14 probably aren't accurate anyway)

Robert

Pulling this out from older posts. I agree that reloading everything isn't the best but he is right there are many show without subtitles and lost of things that don't get resolved until the last min and sometimes things don't get recorded because the system didn't know the show was repeated in 3 days and recoded it over another show that doesn't because the info hadn't been updated yet. I was thinking +1, +6, +14. An increase of what 33% but that would greatly improve data. Would +7 or +5 be better you guys see the data better then we do?

Thanks
Robert

[LucasDebrock]

So where does myth get it's data from anyway. I.e if the networks don't know what's on in 14 days then how doe the program? I find that what it says on the schedule is quite inconsistent with what actually gets shown.

[rmeden]

The data comes from Tribune Media Services.

TMS collects data from various networks and stations and compiles them in a similar format. In addition, they collect (or compute in the case of broadcast) lineup information and cross reference it with the program info.

The whole process is quite complicated. Many stations even buy back their own information from TMS after they clean it up!

Accurate details 14 days out are very rare, because the networks change things. 3-5 days is much more accurate.

Robert

[TopQuark]

By default, MythTV downloads Today+1 and Today+14. (or there abouts). I don't remember if it updates Today.

The networks themselves don't know what's on 14 days from now... so since anything past Today+1 is "14 days old" at the time of download, it's a safe bet that most of your guide is inaccurate.

If you want accurate data with MythTV, IMHO you should *always* do a ---dd-grab-all, at least until SD self-hosts the data and can offer update based listings.

To elaborate:

By default, mythfilldatabase actually downloads Today, Today+13, and any days between Today+1 and Today+12 that have not already been downloaded. However, some users report that the current day's guide data in MythTV is inaccurate when using the default settings, so it seems that the mythfilldatabase download for Today may not reliably override the previously downloaded data.

Running "mythfilldatabase --dd-grab-all" causes all 14 days of guide data to be downloaded, and all previous guide data in the database to be overwritten, which should eliminate any drift between MythTV and zap2it.com.

To configure MythTV to use --dd-grab-all when running the daily mythfilldatabase job, run `mythtv-setup`, select "General", go to "Program Schedule Downloading Options" (the last page), then set "Guide data arguments" to "--dd-grab-all".

Some additional details can be found at http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/449426.