[mythtv-users] Overlapping Recordings

[Michael T. Dean]

On 01/24/2006 02:14 AM, Reuben Perelman wrote:
> I usually have a recording start a minute early to make sure that I get 
> the beginning of a program. My system has 2 TV tuners. Say show A is 
> from 8:00 - 8:30, and show B is from 8:30 - 9:00. When setting the 
> recording to start a minute early, show A will be recorded from 
> 7:59-8:30, and show B will be recorded from 8:29-9:00. Both show A and B 
> are on channel 1. From 8:29-8:30 for a minute, mythtv will use both 
> tuners to record both shows on the same channel. So if I wanted to 
> record show C on channel 2 at 8:00-8:30, it won't be able to record 
> because both Show A and B are being recorded from 8:29-8:30 using all of 
> the TV Tuners, meaning that for that minute there will be nothing to 
> record Show C in that period. Is there a way that I could set Show A and 
> B to record from 8:29-8:30 from the same tuner because there on the same 
> channel and thus exactly the same content, freeing up a TV tuner?
No.  If you have to have the extra minute and you only have two tuners, 
you need a third tuner to get shows A, B, and C.

You could use the global pre-/post-roll (which is meant to give your 
cards time to start up/for STB OSD's to disappear/etc.) to say, "if you 
aren't already recording something in the previous timeslot, record an 
extra minute".  Assuming you set a 60-second pre-roll and a 60-second 
post-roll, with:

Show A: 8:00-8:30 on channel 1
Show B: 8:30-9:00 on channel 1
Show C: 8:00-8:30 on channel 2

you would get recordings that are something like

7:59-8:30 on channel 1 (show A)
7:59-8:31 on channel 2 (show C)
8:30-9:01 on channel 1 (show B)

or

7:59-8:31 on channel 1 (show A)
7:59-8:30 on channel 2 (show C)
8:30-9:01 on channel 1 (show B)

depending on priorities (and note that you may still have two tuners 
recording on channel 1 for a minute).

And, if you're not recording show C, you'd get:

7:59-8:30 on channel 1 (show A)
8:30-9:01 on channel 1 (show B)

in other words, it won't start up the second tuner just to give you the 
extra pre-/post-roll.

Mike