Tvheadend

Comparing the DVR logs with the MKV metadata also shows that the 'description' field is not written to the .mkv.

root@soekris:~/.hts/tvheadend# cat dvr/log/144 
{
        "channel": "BBC 2",
        "start": 1356459900,
        "stop": 1356463800,
        "start_extra": 1,
        "stop_extra": 5,
        "config_name": "",
        "creator": "koen",
        "filename": "/media/nas/Recordings/BBC 2/50 Years of Bond Cars - A Top Gear Special.2012-12-25.19-25.mkv",
        "title": {
                "dut": "50 Years of Bond Cars - A Top Gear Special" 
        },
        "description": {
                "dut": "He also talks to Daniel Craig and Sir Roger Moore, gets exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the very latest 007 adventure, Skyfall, and pays special tribute to 007 by attempting to turn a Lotus in a fully working
        },
        "pri": "normal",
        "noresched": 0,
        "contenttype": 160,
        "broadcast": 65731,
        "container": 1
}

root@soekris:~/.hts/tvheadend# avprobe /media/nas/Recordings/BBC\ 2/50\ Years\ of\ Bond\ Cars\ -\ A\ Top\ Gear\ Special.2012-12-25.19-25.mkv 
avprobe version v0.8.4, Copyright (c) 2007-2012 the Libav developers
  built on Dec 22 2012 11:10:23 with gcc 4.7.2
[matroska,webm @ 0x8056a80] Unknown/unsupported CodecID S_DVBSUB.
[matroska,webm @ 0x8056a80] Unknown/unsupported CodecID S_DVBSUB.
[mpeg2video @ 0x805b6c0] warning: first frame is no keyframe
[matroska,webm @ 0x8056a80] max_analyze_duration reached
[matroska,webm @ 0x8056a80] Estimating duration from bitrate, this may be inaccurate
Input #0, matroska,webm, from '/media/nas/Recordings/BBC 2/50 Years of Bond Cars - A Top Gear Special.2012-12-25.19-25.mkv':
  Metadata:
    title           : 50 Years of Bond Cars - A Top Gear Special
    DATE_BROADCASTED: 2012-12-25 19:25:00
    ORIGINAL_MEDIA_TYPE: TV
    CONTENT_TYPE    : Leisure hobbies
    TVCHANNEL       : BBC 2
  Duration: 01:11:28.72, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 15224 kb/s
    Stream #0.0(dut): Subtitle: [0][0][0][0] / 0x0000 (default)
    Stream #0.1(dut): Video: mpeg2video (Main), yuv420p, 720x576 [PAR 64:45 DAR 16:9], 15000 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 1k tbn, 50 tbc (default)
    Stream #0.2(eng): Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 224 kb/s (default)
    Stream #0.3(eng): Subtitle: [0][0][0][0] / 0x0000 (default)
    Stream #0.4(eng): Subtitle: [0][0][0][0] / 0x0000 (default)
Unsupported codec with id 0 for input stream 0
Unsupported codec with id 0 for input stream 3
Unsupported codec with id 94210 for input stream 4

I've checked that the EPG had the description before the recording started (using the webui and dumping epgdb.v2 ) and updated to latest git (93fe784960b6635a00bc581948f6d614afbbcf08) and now I get even less info:

root@soekris:~/.hts/tvheadend/dvr/log# avprobe /media/nas/Recordings/Nederland\ 1\ HD/Wie\ is\ de\ Mol-\ \(AVRO\).2013-01-03.20-30-1.mkv
avprobe version v0.8.4, Copyright (c) 2007-2012 the Libav developers
  built on Dec 22 2012 11:10:23 with gcc 4.7.2
[matroska,webm @ 0x8056a80] Unknown/unsupported CodecID S_DVBSUB.
[matroska,webm @ 0x8056a80] Unknown/unsupported CodecID S_DVBSUB.
[matroska,webm @ 0x8056a80] max_analyze_duration reached
[matroska,webm @ 0x8056a80] Estimating duration from bitrate, this may be inaccurate
Input #0, matroska,webm, from '/media/nas/Recordings/Nederland 1 HD/Wie is de Mol- (AVRO).2013-01-03.20-30-1.mkv':
  Metadata:
    title           : Wie is de Mol? (AVRO)
  Duration: 01:05:18.52, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 960 kb/s
    Stream #0.0(eng): Video: h264 (Main), yuvj420p, 1920x1080 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 25 fps, 50 tbr, 1k tbn, 50 tbc (default)
    Stream #0.1(dut): Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 256 kb/s (default)
    Stream #0.2(dut): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1, s16, 448 kb/s (default)
    Stream #0.3: Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 256 kb/s (default)
    Stream #0.4: Subtitle: [0][0][0][0] / 0x0000 (default)
    Stream #0.5(dut): Subtitle: [0][0][0][0] / 0x0000 (default)
Unsupported codec with id 0 for input stream 4
Unsupported codec with id 0 for input stream 5
root@soekris:~/.hts/tvheadend/dvr/log# 

And for a recording in progress:

root@soekris:~/.hts/tvheadend/dvr/log# avprobe /media/nas/Recordings/Discovery\ Channel\ HD/Mythbusters.2013-01-04.13-10.mkv 
avprobe version v0.8.4, Copyright (c) 2007-2012 the Libav developers
  built on Dec 22 2012 11:10:23 with gcc 4.7.2
[h264 @ 0x8059160] mmco: unref short failure
[h264 @ 0x8059160] mmco: unref short failure
[matroska,webm @ 0x8056a80] Estimating duration from bitrate, this may be inaccurate
Input #0, matroska,webm, from '/media/nas/Recordings/Discovery Channel HD/Mythbusters.2013-01-04.13-10.mkv':
  Metadata:
    title           : Mythbusters
  Duration: 02:03:54.04, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 640 kb/s
    Stream #0.0(eng): Video: h264 (High), yuv420p, 1920x1080 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 25 fps, 50 tbr, 1k tbn, 50 tbc (default)
    Stream #0.1(dut): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1, s16, 384 kb/s (default)
    Stream #0.2(dut): Audio: mp2, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 256 kb/s (default)
root@soekris:~/.hts/tvheadend/dvr/log#