[mythtv] Proposed scheduler patch

[Steve Davies]

On Wed, 11 Feb 2004, David Engel wrote:
[snip]
>
> Perhaps, it's because I used a TiVo for so long, but I don't find it
> hard at all.  Here's how I do it.
>
> For shows that I really want recorded like primetime, network series
> that aren't typcially repeated, I use positive priorities.  I have 2
> tuners, so this almost always catches.
>
> For shows that I would like to have recorded but won't mind too much
> if they are missed because they are repeated frequently like History
> Channel shows, I use negative priorities.  This way they are usually
> get them recorded and they don't interfere with anything else.
>
> For one-off shows, I use the default priority of zero and watch for
> the color change to show that it's status is rsWillRecord.  On the
> rare occasion that it doesn't change to rsWillRecord, I look at the
> priorities and adjust them as needed.
>
> FYI, another reason I don't care for the conflictresolutin* tables is
> that they are effectively hidden from the user.  The only way to see
> what is there is to look directly in the database.  Even if Myth had a
> GUI for managing them, having two fundamentally different ways of
> resolving conflicts is what I call complicated.
>
Okay, I have been in both camps here - For a while I had only 1 tuner,
and I know from experience that fiddling with priorities to resolve a
conflict is hard with the current UI.

I now have 2 tuners, and all of those problems evaporate :-)

I would propose a compromise... Lose the conflictres* tables, and replace
with a new conflict resolution button/option. This button will create a
high-priority single-record entry for the show that is to be overridden.
As long as the priority is calculated to be higer than all conflicting
shows (which should be pretty trivial with the current codebase) then the
conflicting show becomes a "V" rsOverlap, and the singlerecord will
out-vote all conflicts. This is also easy to un-select, and will be purged
from the database periodically by mythfilldatabase.

PS. Most people seem to forget that cards ALREADY have a priority. The
priority is card-id number, lowest ID has highest priority for the
scheduler.

Cheers,
Steve