[mythtv-users] Issues with Priorities?

[Bruce Markey]

Richie Crews wrote:
> I am having issues with .15 (never noticed it on .14) and recording 
> priorities…
> 
>  
> 
> I have Good Eats with a Record priority of 10 and I have Stargate SG-1 
> with a Record priority of 1. Good eats is getting pushed back while 
> Stargate SG-1 is getting higher priority.. Unless I am wrong don’t items 
> with higher Positive numbers come first?

Higher is better, yes. However, there are several reasons that
"Good Eats" isn't scheduled to record. Go to the fix conflicts
page and look at the status column on the right to see the
reason. There is also a short message just below the list for
the highlighted item. Also, if you press Enter, you will see
a full sentence explanation and some buttons for choices you
can make with that state. Here are some common ones.

P - Previous Recording. It's a duplicate of an episode you've seen.

R - Current Recording. You recorded it and it's still in your list.

X - Override. You've told it not to record (don't think this is it ;-).

E - Earlier. Another showing will be recorded by this time.

L - Later. The scheduler found that it can record more of your
shows if postpones this one. It has to record "Stargate SG-1"
now or miss it but there are are other showing of "Good Eats"
that it can grab later.

C - Conflict (in yellow). There are more shows than cards and
the lower priority loses. Good Eats at 10 will beat anything
at 1.

If Good Eats is "L", go to Stargate SG-1, press enter and click
"Don't record" so it can record Good Eats in this time slot.

If it's previously recorded, press Enter and "Add Override".
This not only tells the scheduler that you'd like to record
it again, but you can also use "Add Override" to add special
setting for just the one showing like change the priority,
add extra time at the end, change the recording quality and
so on.

Attached is some work in progress about the new scheduler
features.

Hope this helps,
-------------- next part --------------
	Scheduling Recordings

The MythTV master backend is responsible for managing the schedule for
all TV tuner cards on the master and any slave. It's job is to seacrh
the TV listing for the shows you have requested and assign recording
to the TV tuner cards. If none of the shows that you've chosen
overlap, it simply records all of the shows. However, if there are
shows where the beginning and end times overlap, the scheduler follows
rules that you've specified or makes logical decisions about what
would be best if you haven't express your preference. Further, the
"Fix Conflicts" page allows you make specific decisions about what you
really do and don't wan't to record.

Record Types
============

When you choose a show that you would like to record from the <link to
options page>Options Page<>, there are six different types of rules
to help the scheduler find which showings you would like to record.

Single -- record only this title at this specific time. This is the
best way to be sure that a certian showing is recorded. However, if
the TV listings change and the show is not broadcast at that time,
the show will not be recorded.

Find One -- this will record a title once from any of the times that
appear in the TV listings. This is useful for recording a movie or
special that has multipe showings because it allows the scheduler to
choose one that doesn't conflict. It is not a good choice for
recording a single episode of a series because it records the first
available showing of the title without regard to the duplicate
matching.

Week Slot -- this records a show whenever the title is listed on the
same channel, weekday and time. Note that if the TV station changes
the schedule for a special episode, it would not be recorded. However,
you can use a Single record for the special episode.

Time Slot -- this records a show whenever the title is listed for the
time and channel on any day of the week. Here again, a show will not
be recorded if the time was altered by the station.

Channel -- records a show anytime the title is listed on this channel.
This is perhaps the most common rule to use for most shows.

All -- record this title on any channel at any time. This can be
useful if a station has sister stations where shows are rebroadcast
allowing the scheduler to record rebroadcasts on the other station
when the original airing cannot be recorded.


Duplicates

Single and Find One will record without regard to duplicate matching.
However, the scheduler uses the <link ot dups>duplicate<> matching
information for all other types to determine which showings should and
should not record. Further, if an episode has multiple showings, the
scheduler may be able to use this information to find ways to record
episodes that might not otherwise be recorded.


Conflicts

As you add more shows that you would like to record, the scheduler
will eventually encounter conflicts. If there are two shows at the
same time and you have two or more TV tuner cards, both shows will
record. However, if there are more shows than cards, the scheduler
will have to decide what it thinks it should not record based on the
information you have given. If you see an unexpected situation you
are not "stuck" with the scheduler's choice. You can still tell the
scheduler exactly which shows you do want to record and/or don't
want to record in any situation.


Priority

By default, all shows are equal in importance to the scheduler.  There
are a set of rules to to make good choices when two or more shows are
in conflict. However, priority values let the scheduler know what you
want so that it can set the schedule based on your preference.

By default, all priority values are set to zero. You may choose to
leave everything at "0" and let the scheduler follow rules to guess
what you might prefer when there are conflicts. However, if you have
one or two favorite shows, you may want to increase the priority value
so the scheduler will know that you would prefer recording these over
other shows. You might use certain values to rate shows so that all
favorites are 2. good shows are 1 and extra 'filler' shows are all -1
for example. You could sort each title to have a unique value so the
scheduler can always know which show you'd prefer verses any other
show. The chioce and style are entirely up to you. However, the more
information you give to the scheduler, the more likely it will make
the choices you would like in the first place.

The scheduler choices are based on the total priority for a showing
by adding up four different priority factors. By default, all of
these factors are "0" but you may use any combination to express your
likes and needs.

Per record rule -- this is the "priority" field on the advanced options
page and this values is included for any showings that match the rule.
You may choose to only use these values and not use the other factors
for the sake of simplicity and clarity.

Per record type -- Setup->TV Settings->Recording Priorities->General
allows you to add to the priority based on the type. It may make sense
to increase the value for "Single" so that by default they have an
extra advantage over other shows. You may want to decrease the value
for Find One so that they will be less likely to interfere with
regular shows and will be more likely to record in a non-conflicting
time instead.

Per channel - Setup->TV Settings->Recording Priorities->Channel
Priorities can be useful if you believe that you prefer any of the
shows on certain channels. This would give all shows on a channel an
advantage by default.

Input preference -- in the MythTV "setup" program, the "Input
Connections" section allows you to add additional priority in the
"Input preference". This is simply another priority factor but has an
interesting effect. If a card input has a higher value than the other
cards, the scheduler will see that you would rather record showings of
episodes on this card rather than a showing on another card. If you
have cards of different quality, you may want to set input preference
to encorage the scheduler to record shows on your best card(s)
whenever possible.

For any single showing of any show you've chosenn to record, these
factors are added together to find the "total priority". This is the
priority that the scheduler uses to decide which shows are given the
first choice when filling in the schedule.

Scheduling decisions

Here are the actual decisions made by the scheduler as it fills in the
schedule.

Currently recording beats not currently recording -- a recording in
progress can not be moved so it "wins" it's current timeslot.

Higher total priority beats lower total priority -- see above. This is
the core of the scheduling process. Episodes of the highest priority
show are placed on the first available card then the next highest
priority and so on.

Future start time beats passed start time -- if there is an episode in
progress and also a later showing of the same episode, it is better to
record the complete episode. If there isn't another showing, start
recording now to record the remaining portion. Note: this should only
happen if you add a new rule while the show is in progress.

More specific record type beats less specific record type -- If two
shows are on at the same time and have the same total priority but
different types they will be sorted by Single then Find One, Week
Slot, Time Slot, Channel and finally All. This only applies if the
priorities are the same.

If both start times have passed, later start time beats earlier
start time -- try to miss the least amount of time.

If neither start time has passed, earlier start time beats later
start time -- this rule help assure that the earliest showing of an
episode has the advantage.

Lower input id beats higher input id -- The scheduler fills in open
time slots on the first available card. The next cards is used when
there is another show already placed for the first card.

Older record rule beats newer record rule -- if after all of these other
checks two shows are still equal, the show whose record rule was added
first is preferred over a more recent addition.

Reschedule Higher Priorities

Setup->TV Settings->Recording Priorities->General has a checkbox for
"Reschedule Higher Priorities" which tells the scheduler to try to be
a little smarter in certain situations. If this is checked, the
scheduler will look for situations where a show cannot record because
all inputs for the channel are used for higher priority shows. It will
check to see if any of the other shows could be recorded at another
time so that the conflicting show can be recorded in it's place.

Generally, this is a good strategy but there are tradeoffs. If a
higher priority show is postponed, you will not get to watch it until
it is recorded in the later timeslot. There is also a risk that the TV
listings may change and the later showing may go away. In this rare
case the higher priority show may never record. On the other hand, if
you do not use this option you will miss recording some lower priority
shows unnecessarily unless you make these changes manually.

By using Reschedule Higher Priorities, the scheduler will do a better
job of recording as many of your shows as possible when left
unattended. It will also be easy to see that shows have been marked to
record at a later time. You can then decide for yourself when you
would prefer to record the first showing.

Fix Scheduling Conflicts

The TV->Schedule Recordings->Fix Scheduling Conflicts page is your
control center for the MythTV scheduler. Unlike other DVR systems,
this one page gives you all of the information and tools you need to
see all of your alternatives and make whatever adjustments you desire.

The upper half of the screen has a scrollable box listing items that
match your record rules sorted by time. The lower half shows the
details for the highlighted item. There are two 'views' available.
Press "1" to include all of the items that do not need to be recorded
and "2" to focus on just the things that will record and items that
may need your attention. The message in the upper right-hand corner
will remind you when there are conflicts that would prevent one or
more shows from being recorded.

The items in the list are colored white for things that will record,
gray for those that do not need to record and yellow when there is a
time conflict. Items at the top of the list may also be highlighted
when the recording is in progress.

Along with the channels, start times and titles, the right-hand column
has a status code. Numbers indicate which card number has been
assigned to record the show. Letters are used to indicate the reason
that something will not be recorded. Just below the box is a short
status message for the highlighted item that indicates the type of
record rule that was matched and a one or two word explaination of the
status code. If you press SELECT, you will see more information about
the status.

There are a few status codes that may require your attention. "C"
indicates that there are more overlapping shows to record than there
are TV tuners to record them. "L" indicates that the schelduer found
that it may be better to record a later showing of this episode. These
states happen as a result of your choices and should normally refect
your preferences. However, you may notice situations where you would
like to modify the scheduler's initial choices.

The first thing you can do is to highlight an item and press INFO
once or twice to see the <link>Advanced Options page<>. From this page
you can change the record rule type, the duplicate matching rules, or
raise or lower the priority to resolve whatever problem you noticed.

Additionally, you can treat any individual showing as an execption
that you do want to record or don't want to record. To use these
"override" features, highlight the item and press SELECT. You will
see a message explaining the current status and at least an "OK"
button to exit without making changes.

For items scheduled to record, there will be a button for "Don't
record" which will prevent recording this showing but will still
allow the same episode to record in the future. If there is episode
description information, you may also see a button for "Never record".
This prevents recording this showing and tells MythTV to remember that
this is an episode that you've seen or don't need to see if it is ever
in the TV listings again.

For items that are not scheduled to record, the message will describe
the reason and in the case of "C" or "L" it will include a list of the
shows that are scheduled to record instead. For any item that could
potentially be recorded there will be buttons for "Edit Options" and
"Add Override". "Edit Options" will allow you to change the options
for the existing record rule such as rasing the priority so that
the show will record. "Add Override" will allow you to set options
that apply to the specific showing without affecting the existing
record rule.

If you return to an override page after an override has already been
set, you will also see a "Clear override" to undo your changes. This
option makes it very easy to try out some "what if" attempts when
deciding on your best strategy in a difficult situation.