Archived recordings get wrong info / reruns not recognised

[michaeldjcox]

Hi,

I am finding that Sage 6.1 with XMLTV using LM Gestion XMLTV importer is not recognising reruns and re-recording favourites when I have them set to first runs only.

Also, annoyingly, archived recordings after a while loose the correct program information and get the program information for another program - sometimes a different episode of the same program,sometimes a totally different program.

Anyone know whats going on and how I can fix it in the long term and fix broken archived recordings?

Michael

[StephaneM]

Hello Michael,

Originally Posted by michaeldjcox

I am finding that Sage 6.1 with XMLTV using LM Gestion XMLTV importer is not recognising reruns and re-recording favourites when I have them set to first runs only.

First run / re-run information is either:

* directly specified in the XMLTV file
* or deduced by using the lookup table of the Importer.

The first run / re run information is tied to an episode, so the Importer must first properly identify uniquely the episode. This job can be good or bad depending on the information in the XMLTV file and is also tied to the lookup table of the Importer.

The lookup table contains EPGID (unique identifier) for each show imported. It is basically a list of program hash on title / ep.title / description / ep.number (various combination) that are uniques. Each unique hash is associated with an EPGID (The EPGID is a simple incremental value).

The EPGID is guaranteed to be unique, if it is currently in the lookup table. However, the lookup table cannot grow without being cleaned. That's why shows that are no longer aired after one year get removed from the lookup table (and thus their EPGID are free to be used for another show).

So to really know what is wrong I need more information. For instance:

* does this re-run / first run problem is new
* does this problem applies to old episodes
* do you have episode title or episode numbers in your EPG
* does this applies to series that were not on air for more than one year

Also, annoyingly, archived recordings after a while loose the correct program information and get the program information for another program - sometimes a different episode of the same program,sometimes a totally different program.

This is because the EPGID of archived recordings have expired in the lookup table and are reused for new imported content.

EPGID are like this : AAXXXXXXYYYY, where:

* AA is either EP (for series), SH (for generic shows), MV (for movies)
* XXXXXX is a number that identify the series.
* YYYY is a number that identiy the episode within the series.

When you start using the Importer for the first time XXXXXX = 000001, and slowly begins to grow for each series imported (here series means : shows with the same title). When XXXXXX reach 999999, we have a problem, so the Importer will start a 000001 again but will only use unused or expired EPGID.

Unfortunately : recordings or archived recordings are not really archived in SageTV. The EPG information is still "live". So if the expired EPGID of a recording (archived or not) is reused by the Importer for a new show, the recording will pick up this information instead of the old one.

Recently one user has upgraded the Importer from version 1.9 to 2.7 (after one year). In version 1.9 expiration was not as effective as in 2.7, so when upgrading many EPGID were expired (when they should have not). You may be very well in a similar situation (and I have a workaround if you have a backup of your lookup table prior the upgrade).

So this is somehow by design. I never had real problems with this design (but I don't archive recordings). So I can try to improve the expiration system (ideally I should made a lookup in SageTV to see if recordings are using the EPGID I want to expire).

Regards,
Stéphane.

[michaeldjcox]

Many thanks for your detailed reply.

I'm at work at the moment but will try and investigate a bit further tonight.