[mythtv-users] scheduling not using all three tuners?

[Michael T. Dean]

On 04/09/2006 07:42 PM, Steven Adeff wrote:
> its not quite what I'd call strange behaviour, but its not quite what
> I'd expect.
>
> I've got 3 hd tuners. I'm using the Upcoming Recordings screen to see
> what tuners will be used to record what shows.
>
> I've got Myth setup to begin recording ~30 seconds before scheduled
> start to account for the delay in tuning, which is usually ~5 seconds
> plus the off chance that the channel starts the show early. But part
> of this option is that it Myth will only to this when it can, so if
> two shows are back to back it won't. Understandable. Except that If
> I've got one show recording from 7:30-8:00 and then two from 8:00-9:00
> I would expect tuner 1 to record starting at 7:29.30 and tuners 2 and
> 3 to start at 7:59.30.
>
> This would get all three shows recording with the 30 second buffer.
> But instead what I get is tuner 1 and 2 recording the 8:00 show,
> meaning the show on tuner 1 will start at 8:00 after its previous show
> is recorded, and tuner 3 is nowhere to be seen in the scheduler.
>
> Is the Upcoming Recordings screen accurate in what tuners will be
> used?

Yes.

>  If so, why isn't it using the third tuner to be able to keep the
> 30sec pre- time I set?

By design.  You're thinking of your system where your "expected" 
behavior would not have negative consequences, not of all possible Myth 
systems where it may.

Myth prefers the capture cards with the highest priority for recordings 
under the assumption that if you're recording the show you want it to be 
high quality.  Many users have capture cards of varying quality and 
would find it quite upsetting to get the second show in a series of 
recordings recorded on their BTTV cards just so that the pcHDTV HD-3000 
could be used to record the 30-second post-roll after the first show in 
the series.

If you want "hard" over-record, you must set start early and end late on 
the recording rule (so the scheduler can take it into account) instead 
of using the RecordPreRoll/RecordOverTime (global pre-/post-roll 
settings).  If you want to see the (way too many) posts on why it 
doesn't do it "unless it would prevent another recording", search the 
archives for "soft padding."

Mike