[mythtv-users] Same channel in different sources, always record from lowest numbered channel?

Bruce Markey bjm at lvcm.com
Mon May 9 21:33:26 UTC 2005


Victor Perez wrote:
> I have ESPN on channel 33 (Cable) and channel 140 (Dish Network). If I
> set a recording from channel 140 It always activates another tuner
> card on channel 33 instead, even if I am watching channel 140 in live
> tv and hit record.
> 
> Any way to force Mythtv to record from channel 140 without removing
> channel 33 from the lineup?

Several. MythTV's scheduler does 'channel matching' where channels
with the same callsign can be treated as being interchangeable so
if the card(s) for one source are busy it can record the station from
the other source. By default, the lowest numbered cardinput is chosen
when the priorities are equal. So, here are some things you could do
in a likely order of preference.

- If you normally want the Dish channels to be used when available, run
mythtv-setup again. remove your card information and re-enter your
cards in order of preference so that the Dish inputs are first and
the analog cable inputs come later. 140 would then be the first
choice for ESPN unless all Dish inputs were busy then it would
choose 33.

- Keep your current card setup and in the Input Connections section
of mythtv-setup add "1" for the Dish "input preference". However, this
has a subtle intended difference. Say Dish is card 1 and analog is
card 2. Show "A" is on at 8pm and has a higher priority than show "B".
"B" is on at 8pm and 11pm. Normally A would record at 8 on card 1 and
B at 8 on card 2. With input preference you are saying that it is
better to record with the better card whenever possible. "A" would
record on card 1 at 8 and B on card 1 at 11 when it can be recorded
with the better card.

- Go to TV Settings->Recording Priorities->Set Channel Recording
Priorities. You could either lower 33 by 1 (this may be better) or
raise 140 by 1. This says that it is better to record on 140 than
33 when possible. If you raise 140 it says that shows on ESPN
are one better than shows on other channels and give them an
extra advantage when resolving conflicts.

- You could use the mythtv-setup Channel Editor to mis-match the
callsigns by changing 140 to ESPN-Sat or ESPNS or something. Single,
Timeslot, Weekslot or Channel rules would use just 140 for ESPNS
and just 33 for ESPN. However, you would loose the ability to fail
over if the Dish input is busy and an All record rule or a Find*
type for "Teammates" or "Baseball Tonight" or whatever might be on
ESPN and ESPN2 would still probably end up using 33 in favor of
140. 

See: http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-11.html#ss11.7 for
more info.

--  bjm


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