Improved Weekly / Daily recording algorithm

[dvdfreak]

Originally Posted by Maschine

-search for the program name in a timeslot of +-30 minutes, calculate a weight from the program title and the difference to the original start time and select the program with the best matching
->found a program with at least x% matching: record
->else fall back to the original start time

I would drop this last "else". If nothing reasonable is found -> no recording.

[rtv]

Originally Posted by dvdfreak

I would drop this last "else". If nothing reasonable is found -> no recording.

No! Or at least make it switchable in recording options. Better record too much as have MP missing to record your wife's favorite series

Imagine there's "MySeries" and at some day there's "MySeries - the great special"
This will not be very similar but very likely worth to be recorded.

[The_Stig]

Originally Posted by rtv

No! Or at least make it switchable in recording options. Better record too much as have MP missing to record your wife's favorite series

I TOTALLY agree on that :-)

So Maschine's suggestions sounds good to me!

Regards,

Paloema

[dvdfreak]

You gave a reasonably good example, but when the title changes the original recording time-slot will be used. In most european countries this would mean only part of the show will be recorded, is that really so useful?

The algorithm could be modified to record the entire show that's on at the original starttime, perhaps that is the best fallback?

But what if a series ends, MP will just keep recording. I for one am not wild about this :-) So perhaps a setting after all...?

[Ralph]

Originally Posted by Machine

I wonder why you think about adding two different modes... If the series you want to record always starts at the same time every week, I think the "new" scheduler will do exactly what the "old" does now: record in exact that timeslot that the first episode was scheduled in. And if the start time varies, the new scheduler beats the old by caring about that change itself. So from my point I'd just go for one option!

That’s what I would prefer, too.
Just improve the entries we have right now, with this new method.

Originally Posted by dukus

Yes, if you consider things, without an EPG one would use a manual recording anyway. One would never use the current 'Daily' or 'Weekly', or are we overlooking something?

I can set a manual record with the option ”weekly/ daily at this time”.
This should still be possible. Means that a manual recording should always start daily/weekly at
the original time, even if there is no EPGdata.

Originally Posted by Machine

-search for the program name in a timeslot of +-30 minutes, calculate a weight from the program title and the difference to the original start time and select the program with the best matching
->found a program with at least x% matching: record
->else fall back to the original start time

I think that’s the way it should be.
Means MP will record the show found in timeslot, or will use the original start time.
In this case I will get a recording, even if I have no EPGinfo for that day.

Maybe the range of the timeslot could be increased by default to e.g. +-1 hour?

Originally Posted by dukus

But what if a series ends, MP will just keep recording. I for one am not wild about this :-) So perhaps a setting after all...?

But what should this option be called?
"Only record exact matches"?
As it seems this option would just enable something like:
->found a program with at least x% matching in EPG: record
->if not: don't record

Could be usefull in some cases, as an additional setting.

Right now I need to cancel the recording in Timer, if a series ends.
Would/should this option cancel this recording in Timer, too?


Regards
Ralph

[dvdfreak]

I hope to have some free time this evening, so I can take a look at the actual TV engine code and what modifications are really needed.

A first step would be to introduce the time-slot algorithm, simply matching on the exact title. Once that is in place the feature can be improved to accept similar titles, so it becomes the full "fuzzy" recording we want.

[The_Stig]

Makes sense, sounds good, to go step after step. So enhanced algorithm with exact match would be first step. Won't hurt i guess.

Everything else are additional features which can be implemented later. As we see on this (very good) discussion here, there imho must be a setting somewhere since there are different opinions how MP should react in the following cases:

- Title changes/enhances: Record Yes/No?
- Show not running: Record Yes/No?

Regards,

Paloema

[dvdfreak]

Well, I went through the code yesterday, and basically what will be the most work is simply adding the two new recording options all over the code. The "ScheduleRecordingType" enum is used in quite a few places and all those parts of the code must know how to handle the two additional options. Also, two new translations must be added.

Apart from that, actually putting the "fuzzy" algorithm in place will not be the big problem :-)

So I'm not sure on how to proceed since I would have to modify a LOT of files. Guess it's high time I had that chat on IRC, so this can be coordinated properly.

[Noelix]

Sounds like a great idea, go for it dvdfreak!

[Paranoid Delusion]

Sounds really good.

Possible option called

Flexi recording, or stick to the time honoured Fuzzy logic recording, whichever, its such a usefull tool.

Thanks for the work.