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How to handle racing series?
posted by Mistah DarcySTAFFMOD on March 31, 2015 at 11:16 PM
I'm kind of confused on how to approach racing series in the TV section of the database.
Is it better to add the series based on the individual channels they're broadcast from? (Option A) For instance: "Formula 1: BBC Sport" https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/40007-formula-1-bbc-sport
Or is it better to add all of the broadcasts under one general (non-broadcast specific) entry? (Option B) For instance: "MotoGP" https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/25982-motogp
The problem with Option A is that there would have to be multiple Formula 1 pages for the same exact races broadcast on different networks. The problem with Option B is that there's no way to differentiate between the broadcasts coming from each network. Especially if someone were to use a scraper when they have multiple broadcasts from the same event. Going by network also creates a conflict with the season numbering as networks such as BBC whom have only been broadcasting Formula 1 for 7 seasons, when the actual Formula 1 series cover over 60 different seasons.
Most racing series have several 'episodes' before the main race. The practice sessions, qualifying, race, and sometimes extended coverage after the race.
Do we include these "practices", "qualifying", etc. within the main series page? Or do we create an additional page (IE: Formula 1 - Qualifying)?
Reply by Sean C
on April 1, 2015 at 2:32 PM
I'd follow the TVrage example for F1. Seems logical. Also, the current F1 2015 series here is broken. Australia is missing, I had sorted it out and it changed. I think just covering the basics of the events AND not worrying about broadcaster is best. Right now I commonly see SkyF1HD and BBC coverage. Also, likely extras like Ted's qualifying Notebook and so forth can be put elsewhere.
Typical SkyF1HD (arguably the best) event coverage is like this using Malaysian GP as an example
Yeah, that's a lot of episodes, for sure. It might be simpler for those really just collecting racing to include:
http://www.tvrage.com/Formula_1/episode_list/7
Reply by Mistah Darcy
on April 1, 2015 at 3:22 PM
I see. It was originally like the tvrage setup, and then someone erased all of the episodes and re-added them with the race only and with Australia missing. I tried to add Australia back and it wouldn't let me, so I then erased what was there and re-made it with Australia included.
I tried adding Sky Sports F1 to the broadcast list, and then I changed the title by removing the BBC part and just leaving "Formula 1" and gave a general description for the series, but then someone came along and removed Sky Sports, locked in BBC, and then locked the overview with BBC.
I personally think that sports series should go by the sport itself, and not the channel it's being broadcast from (I mean, regular TV shows don't have separate listings for shows that are put on Netflix or aired on a different channel in multiple countries. They use the same one).
If it were to go by this general setup for all broadcasts, then the season numbers would need to be modified as well. It currently lists 2015 as Season 7 (which it is in terms of BBC/Sky Sports broadcasts), but it's actually Season 66 of the racing series itself.
Reply by Sean C
on April 1, 2015 at 3:47 PM
Yeah, exactly. Frustrating. I don't care about the broadcaster. just the content.
Can we unlock it? Or report it to be fixed? I am super new here.
Reply by Mistah Darcy
on April 1, 2015 at 3:52 PM
In the upper right hand corner there's a "Report" link. I submitted a report request with a link to this thread in it. I think you need a special privilege that only the moderators have access to in order to unlock/lock things.
Reply by Sean C
on April 1, 2015 at 3:58 PM
Ahh, cool. Seems somebody editing is a moderator. Hopefully they're up to discussing. This is the problem with theTVdb, they only dictate and will not discuss any show.
Between SickRage and Plex my Formula one is a total mess.
Reply by Mistah Darcy
on April 1, 2015 at 4:03 PM
Yeah, TheTVDb is complete garbage (sorry to their users/staff) and I'm glad TMDb took notice and started their own TV category.
All of my racing series are a complete mess and I hope I can change that some day with TMDb. I mean, all of the tools are there. We just have to agree on some uniform type of model for 'sports' related series.
Reply by Sean C
on April 1, 2015 at 4:17 PM
Here are the first few events with dates. The current https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/40007-formula-1/season/7 is completely wrong.
01 Australian Grand Prix Australia Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit
02 Malaysian Grand Prix Malaysia Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur
03 Chinese Grand Prix China Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai
04 Bahrain Grand Prix Bahrain Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir
05 Spanish Grand Prix Spain Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona
Reply by Sean C
on April 1, 2015 at 4:30 PM
I added another report to add more comment:
Most of the dates and events are wrong. Many are missing as well. Qualifying is an important "episode" not just the race. There are 19 races in the calendar this year. If doubled up to include the Qualifying episode, that's 38.
Also worth noting that the content is the content, the broadcaster is irrelevant as the actual footage is all supplied by Formula 1. BBC and SkyF1HD only supply commentary to that broadcast coverage. If it is broken up by broadcasters, there are dozens.
Reply by Mistah Darcy
on April 1, 2015 at 4:32 PM
If this is a democracy, I vote yes to the above. ^
EDIT
I've been thinking about this a lot, and I think it would be best just to have each Grand Prix listed by itself without the Qualifying + Practices. So just one Grand Prix per episode. If you're organizing your races with a media center you could just add PART1 (CD1, etc.) to each version of the race. So for FP1-3 you could just name them S01E01File.Name.CD1.mkv, S01E01File.Name.CD2.mkv, etc. That way they'd all scrape under the same name and add in the order of the event timing.
See the Season 67 of MotoGP I created for reference https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/25982-motogp/season/67
Reply by Sean C
on April 7, 2015 at 10:58 AM
That actually sounds reasonable. But, with the disparity between TVrage (used by Plex) and whatever used by SIckrage it still stays messy.
Am curious if Plex for example would then string all of those together showing it as one episode? That would make watching a huge hassles as you'd potentially have to scrub through hours of a show to get to your show if you only wanted to see the race, for example.
Will test this.
Reply by Sean C
on April 7, 2015 at 11:04 AM
Yeah, it does stack them up, which makes watching a hassle.
I'd prefer holes in the season (no Free Practise 1, 2 and so on instead of that.) Thoughts?
Reply by Mistah Darcy
on April 7, 2015 at 2:35 PM
Tough call, really. I use XBMC/Kodi and I can sort them by file/series so they pop up fine for me.
The only other thing that would make sense is to create a new series for "Formula 1 Qualifying", "Formula 1 Practice" or "Formula 1 Highlights". That way the races all stay under the correct season/episode numbers.