[mythtv-users] Settings scheduler to record HD shows on HD tuner before falling back to analog tuners

[kanetse@gmail.com]

Is there a way to set up the MythTV schedule to record different shows
on different tuners, depending on their transmission quality?  For
example, in my area, most stations are transmitted on two channels, a
digital one, and an analog one.  The digital channel will carry the
same shows as the analog channels, but in HD, if available.  My
current setup sends the analog channels to a PVR150 or PVR500, while
my digital/HD channels are captured via firewire from one of two
Motorola DCT boxes.

When a show is shown in SD-only (on both analog and digital channels),
I'd like the show to be captured on the analog PVRs.  This saves both
disk space and keeps the firewire boxes free for HD recordings and/or
live TV.  If the show is available in HD, then it should be recorded
from the firewire boxes.

The problem that I have noticed is that about once a week, MythTV will
opt to record a show on the PVR150, where an HD version was available
and a firewire box was free at the time.  I've been manually
inspecting the list of upcoming recordings, and had to "force" a few
recordings into a firewire box, about once or twice a week.  However,
I have missed a couple here and there, such as when The Simpsons went
to HD for the first time last night.


Here are some solutions I've tried, which don't seem to work:

1) Setting the channel priorities for the digital channels doesn't
work, because then SD shows (like the local news) are recorded on the
firewire boxes.

2) Settings the preferred tuner (in MythWeb) also doesn't work,
because if another higher priority show is already scheduled to use
the "preferred" firewire box, the MythTV will default to the next
available lowest numbered tuner, which is the PVR150 (SD).

3) Setting the HD show only to record from one specific digital
channel only doesn't work, because I have time-shifted channels
available, so MythTV  can recrd from a different channel if necessary.
 Furthermore, it's a nice fallback that if a show really can't be
recorded from a digital channel, it will fall back to the SD channels
as a last resort.

What I'm looking for is a way to tell the scheduler to record the HD
version where possible, before falling back to the SD version.
However, if no HD broadcast is available go right to the analog tuner.

Any ideas?