Here's a brief description of some of the things relating to channel
management that I hope to work on. I'll likely start on some of them
soon. I'll get to the others when/if I get to them. Please provide
comments or other suggestions here.
Removal of DataDirect Support
=============================
This has been discussed many times before and already announced here.
The intent is to simplify mythfilldatabase and related functionality
by only supporting xmltv.
Remove Some Dependencies on the Channel Table
=============================================
When program entries are primarily read from the recorded table (Watch
Recordings screen) and the oldrecorded table (Previously Recorded
screen), they are augmented with data from the channel table. This is
the reason that channel and videosource entries must be kept in the
database even after they are no longer being used for new recordings.
The intent of the following options is to remove these dependencies on
the channel table so that channels and videosources can be deleted as
soon as they are no longer used.
Option 1. Add the relevant columns to the other tables. The recorded
table would add channum, callsign and channame(*). The oldrecorded
table would add channum and channame.
Option 1a. The same as option 1 but add the new columns to the
recordedprogram table instead of the recorded table. I prefer plain,
option 1 for simplicity and keeping the program and recordedprogram
tables with the same columns.
Option 2. Add some new indication in the channel table for "Deleted"
channels. This could work with the cost being more complexity to
ignore deleted channels in the appropriate places and deciding when to
actually delete an entry or mark it as deleted.
Right now, I prefer option 1 due to its simplicity. One downside is
that other potentially useful data about the channel would be lost
when it's deleted. For example, what if a themer wanted to show the
channel icon in Watch Recordings instead of or in addition to the
preview image?
(*)A couple of other columns from the channel table are pulled in here
but I believe they are only relevant immediately after the program was
recorded. Returning NULLs if the channel is deleted much later should
not cause a problem.
Enhance Channel Visibility with New Values
==========================================
Gary Buhrmaster has a nice script for managing the channel.visible
setting for HDHomeRun Prime users(*)(#). Unfortunately, the script
doesn't and can't know things that only the user knows. Things like
"even though I can receive the channel, I don't want it visible" or
"the channel isn't receivable right now but I know it will be when I
plan to use it".
To solve this problem, I intend to extend the meaning of
channel.visible from simply no and yes values to also include values
for "never" and "always". Gary's script could then be changed to know
not to override those values.
(*)I can envision other, similar scripts and even functionality built
into MythTV for periodically scanning and validating channel
reception. This change would be useful for them too.
(#)Gary also has other scripts that are very useful for MythTV users.
In fact, they are part of the inspiration for this series of changes.
Better Automated Handling of Channel Additions/Deletions
=======================================================
Handling of channels additions and deletions in mythfilldatabase has
always seemed way more complex to me than needed. Perhaps that
because of the DataDirect complication (see above) or I'm just to
naive to understand all of the subtleties. Either way, I hope to
improve on it.
Note that I'm primarily concerning myself with the
mythfilldatabase/xmltv part of this problem for the time being. I
know I can't totally ignore channel scanning for those tuner types
that require it but major changes in the is not something I'm prepared
to take on.
Anyway, I'm looking to add new settings for each videosource to
control channel additions and deletions. For additions, I'm thinking
of a setting with values like "ignore", "add as never visible", "add
as invisible", "add as visible" and "add as always visible". If it's
possible to actually check the reception then also have an option for
"add as detected". For deletions, I'm thinking of a setting with
values like "ignore", "delete", "mark as invisible" and "mark as
never visible".
Better Automated Handling of Channel Updates
============================================
Besides channels getting added and deleted, other channel information
like names, callsigns and icons get updated over time. I don't know
if mythfilldatabasse handles any of that or not. Gary Buhrmaster
(surprise), though, has a script for doing much of this, at least for
tv_grab_zz_sdjson_sqlite users. I'd like to see some of that
functionality get rolled into MythTV proper. I don't know if that
should be mythfilldatabase, mythutil or an entirely new utility at
this point.
One complicating factor is deciding how granularly to control the
updates -- at the videosource level and/or the individual channel
level. Also, which information to allow updates -- purely cosmetic
stuff like name vs. callsign (with scheduling implications) vs. tuning
stuff like frequency and multiplex. Gary's script allows very
granular control which is great for me because I need it. Others
probably don't and just makes things more complex for them.
David
--
David Engel
david@istwok.net
_______________________________________________
mythtv-dev mailing list
mythtv-dev@mythtv.org
http://lists.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-dev
http://wiki.mythtv.org/Mailing_List_etiquette
MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org
management that I hope to work on. I'll likely start on some of them
soon. I'll get to the others when/if I get to them. Please provide
comments or other suggestions here.
Removal of DataDirect Support
=============================
This has been discussed many times before and already announced here.
The intent is to simplify mythfilldatabase and related functionality
by only supporting xmltv.
Remove Some Dependencies on the Channel Table
=============================================
When program entries are primarily read from the recorded table (Watch
Recordings screen) and the oldrecorded table (Previously Recorded
screen), they are augmented with data from the channel table. This is
the reason that channel and videosource entries must be kept in the
database even after they are no longer being used for new recordings.
The intent of the following options is to remove these dependencies on
the channel table so that channels and videosources can be deleted as
soon as they are no longer used.
Option 1. Add the relevant columns to the other tables. The recorded
table would add channum, callsign and channame(*). The oldrecorded
table would add channum and channame.
Option 1a. The same as option 1 but add the new columns to the
recordedprogram table instead of the recorded table. I prefer plain,
option 1 for simplicity and keeping the program and recordedprogram
tables with the same columns.
Option 2. Add some new indication in the channel table for "Deleted"
channels. This could work with the cost being more complexity to
ignore deleted channels in the appropriate places and deciding when to
actually delete an entry or mark it as deleted.
Right now, I prefer option 1 due to its simplicity. One downside is
that other potentially useful data about the channel would be lost
when it's deleted. For example, what if a themer wanted to show the
channel icon in Watch Recordings instead of or in addition to the
preview image?
(*)A couple of other columns from the channel table are pulled in here
but I believe they are only relevant immediately after the program was
recorded. Returning NULLs if the channel is deleted much later should
not cause a problem.
Enhance Channel Visibility with New Values
==========================================
Gary Buhrmaster has a nice script for managing the channel.visible
setting for HDHomeRun Prime users(*)(#). Unfortunately, the script
doesn't and can't know things that only the user knows. Things like
"even though I can receive the channel, I don't want it visible" or
"the channel isn't receivable right now but I know it will be when I
plan to use it".
To solve this problem, I intend to extend the meaning of
channel.visible from simply no and yes values to also include values
for "never" and "always". Gary's script could then be changed to know
not to override those values.
(*)I can envision other, similar scripts and even functionality built
into MythTV for periodically scanning and validating channel
reception. This change would be useful for them too.
(#)Gary also has other scripts that are very useful for MythTV users.
In fact, they are part of the inspiration for this series of changes.
Better Automated Handling of Channel Additions/Deletions
=======================================================
Handling of channels additions and deletions in mythfilldatabase has
always seemed way more complex to me than needed. Perhaps that
because of the DataDirect complication (see above) or I'm just to
naive to understand all of the subtleties. Either way, I hope to
improve on it.
Note that I'm primarily concerning myself with the
mythfilldatabase/xmltv part of this problem for the time being. I
know I can't totally ignore channel scanning for those tuner types
that require it but major changes in the is not something I'm prepared
to take on.
Anyway, I'm looking to add new settings for each videosource to
control channel additions and deletions. For additions, I'm thinking
of a setting with values like "ignore", "add as never visible", "add
as invisible", "add as visible" and "add as always visible". If it's
possible to actually check the reception then also have an option for
"add as detected". For deletions, I'm thinking of a setting with
values like "ignore", "delete", "mark as invisible" and "mark as
never visible".
Better Automated Handling of Channel Updates
============================================
Besides channels getting added and deleted, other channel information
like names, callsigns and icons get updated over time. I don't know
if mythfilldatabasse handles any of that or not. Gary Buhrmaster
(surprise), though, has a script for doing much of this, at least for
tv_grab_zz_sdjson_sqlite users. I'd like to see some of that
functionality get rolled into MythTV proper. I don't know if that
should be mythfilldatabase, mythutil or an entirely new utility at
this point.
One complicating factor is deciding how granularly to control the
updates -- at the videosource level and/or the individual channel
level. Also, which information to allow updates -- purely cosmetic
stuff like name vs. callsign (with scheduling implications) vs. tuning
stuff like frequency and multiplex. Gary's script allows very
granular control which is great for me because I need it. Others
probably don't and just makes things more complex for them.
David
--
David Engel
david@istwok.net
_______________________________________________
mythtv-dev mailing list
mythtv-dev@mythtv.org
http://lists.mythtv.org/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-dev
http://wiki.mythtv.org/Mailing_List_etiquette
MythTV Forums: https://forum.mythtv.org
