[mythtv-users] is mythtv smart enough to do this (overlap/back-to-back) with recordings?

Brad Templeton brad+myth at templetons.com
Fri Jul 28 23:35:30 UTC 2006


On Fri, Jul 28, 2006 at 11:54:03AM -0400, Michael T. Dean wrote:
> On 07/28/06 04:31, Brad Templeton wrote:
> 
> >I think in general that when most people add padding, they don't
> >mean "and don't record another show I asked for if it would interfere
> >with the padding."    They might mean that sometimes, but I suspect
> >they mean, "pad if you can" most of the time and only rarely
> >"pad, and damn the torpedoes."
> >
> 
> If only there were some way people could /tell/ Myth what they want.  
> (Cough. recording overrides)

I am sure everybody here understands that, in fact I referred to them
in the text below, so I am not sure why you need to cough.

However, while you may regularly check the upcoming recording
menus, it's clear that many users do not, and probably will not.

I check it myself from time to time.  That didn't stop my girlfriend,
not as trained in MythTV as you or I, from setting up a recording for
a short show she wanted to see 30 seconds of that stopped the recording
of the HDTV version of Pirates of the Carribean I wanted.

This sort of thing happens, and will continue to happen.  The goal of
a good UI is to stop that.      It would not have happened on the
Tivo, for example, the Tivo would have popped up a warning saying,
"This conflicts with the movie".

> If I don't get the whole recording, I delete it and allow re-record.  I 
> have enough to watch without watching "part of a story."  If it's 
> important to me (i.e. a series where I have to catch every episode), I 
> set it up with an appropriately high priority and enough start early/end 
> late (damn the torpedoes) to get it all.  If Myth cut off part of Lost 
> to allow me to record some other show, I wouldn't be surprised, I would 
> be rewriting my own personal copy of Myth.

This would not happen to somebody who checks the schedule and makes
use of priorities and overrides.   We're only talking about what
happens to people who think, "I just want to name the shows I want and
have it record them best it can."

That is, for better or worse, the UI that most users of PVRs want.

> Please, no!!!  If I have time to fix conflicts, I'll do it.  I don't 
> want to have to fix a conflict--right now--after scheduling a new 
> recording right before watching a show when people are over.

That's not what I wrote.  I wrote about a status indicator that
reminds you that you have conflicts to deal with.  Though I'm not so
bothered with an immediate fix screen.  To please you it could offer a
quick "I'll fix later."
> 
> OK, I like this idea.  We should get guide data from wherever TiVo gets 
> theirs.  On my Myth box, I can only tell if the show will record in the 
> next two weeks.  I wonder how big TiVo's database is...  Won't actually 
> ever record.  That would be useful to know up-front.

With both Tivo and MythTV, normal scheduling is done from the existing
listing data.   There you cannot request a show that will not be on in
the next 2 weeks.  You seem to be referring to query/wishlist scheduling,
which is used much more rarely.

Even query/wishlist scheduling however could ever well give you a warning,
"There are matches for your query within the next 2 weeks, however none
will be recorded due to higher priority shows."


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