[mythtv-users] Enabling multirec borks usability a bit.

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Fri Apr 23 00:19:20 UTC 2010


On 04/22/2010 07:57 PM, Glen Hawksworth wrote:
> Just to reiterate...
> The strategy of adding tuners in the following fashion:
>
> Tuner #1 = Card #1
> Tuner #2 = Card #1
> Tuner #3 = Card #2
> Tuner #4 = Card #2
> Tuner #5 = Card #3
> Tuner #6 = Card #3
> Tuner #7 = Card #4
> Tuner #8 = Card #4
> Tuner #9 = Card #1
> Tuner #10 = Card #2
> Tuner #11 = Card #3
> Tuner #12 = Card #4
>
> ...and then using  "Avoid conflicts between LiveTV and recordings" means that when Myth wants to make a recording it starts with tuner #1. If Tuner #1 is being used and the next recording is on the same mux, it uses tuner#2. If the next recording is on a different mux is uses tuner #3 which is on card #2.
> When you want to use live TV it starts at Tuner #12 and works backwards.
> So recording starts at card #1 and works up to card #4 and liveTV starts at card #4 and works back to card #1. This means that you have a better chance of not getting a card locked on a mux when you want to watch liveTV and hence you will be able to channel surf to your hearts content.
>
> The challenge comes in setting it up. If you already have your tuners set up with multiple virtual tuners the easiest way to achieve the above functionality is to go into the backend setup and increase the virtual tuner number for each card by one.
>
> If you wish to delete your tuner cards and set them up from scratch problems can arise...
>
> If you enter the backend setup, delete all tuners and then set them up again straight away without exiting first, you screw up the tuner numbers.
>    

There's no need to exit.  You /must/, however, use Delete all capture 
cards (and /not/ Delete all capture cards on <hostname>) to reset the 
numbers.  If you don't, numbers aren't reset--regardless of whether you 
exit or not.

Still, even if you have cards 45, 83, 192, and 221, with equally-well 
dispersed input ID's, everything works fine--as long as you use the 
right process to configure them (configure each with X>1 virtual tuners, 
then go back through in the same order as you originally configured them 
and add 1 more virtual tuner to each).

> EG. previous set up you had tuners #1 - #8; after deleting all and setting them up again you now have tuners starting from #9
>    

Which is really only a difference in display--and only for data that 
users should never see (i.e. we shouldn't be showing you MythTV internal 
state info, but only showing you the result/meaning of that info).  We 
still need to fix it so users never, ever, see IDs.

> What you need to do to properly start from scratch is delete all tuners and then exit from the backend setup. When you do this the database updates and removes all records of tuners.
>    

Again, the exit is irrelevant/unnecessary.

> Then you go back into the backend setup and set up all your cards with 2 virtual tuners; and then you exit again. Now if you open a frontend and look in the information centre you will see twice as many tuners as you have cards and they will start from #1.
>
> Then you go back into backend setup yet again and increase the virtual tuner numbers by one; and then, yes you guessed it, you exit again.
> Now when you go into the front end you will see three times as many tuners as you have cards.
>
> If you have followed the above you will now have tuners configured in a similar way to the outline I presented at the beginning of my message.
>
> To see if you have configured the channels correctly start watching liveTV and then go to the switch input menu. You should be able to see holes in the list where you expect them. For the example list above when you start watching liveTV you should be using tuner#12 on card #4 so in the switch input list you will see...
> Input #1 (Card #1)
> Input #2 (Card #1)
> Input #3 (Card #2)
> Input #4 (Card #2)
> Input #5 (Card #3)
> Input #6 (Card #3)
> Input #9 (Card #1)
> Input #10 (Card #2)
> Input #11 (Card #3)
> ...if you switch to input #1 and look at this list again you will now see...
> Input #3 (Card #2)
> Input #4 (Card #2)
> Input #5 (Card #3)
> Input #6 (Card #3)
> Input #7 (Card #4)
> Input #8 (Card #4)
> Input #10 (Card #2)
> Input #11 (Card #3)
> Input #12 (Card #4)
>
> Alternatively you could start recordings simultaneously on many different muxs and then all your cards will be locked to a mux. Then you can go to liveTV and switch through your inputs and see which inputs are set to each mux.
>
> If the input numbers match with how you believe you have set up your tuners then you have successfully configured the system to give you the best chance of finding a free card for liveTV.
>
> I hope this helps rather than creating more confusion,
>    

Yep, a pretty good description.

The only way the exiting could have any effect is if you're doing 
something you shouldn't be doing--configuring cards/inputs while the 
backend(s) is running.  Even then, the database will be set up 
properly--it's just that the backends will be all messed up/in an 
indeterminate state.

Note, also, that this approach is one of many different tools you can 
use to customize your Live TV usage.  Others include the many Live TV 
and scheduler-related settings (which, in various combinations have 
varying effects).  Also, if you enable/disable a setting and don't see 
the effect, it's likely that you have other settings that are making the 
effect differ from what you expect or you're not taking into account 
various constraints that are placed on the setting.  This--the settings 
bloat and the unmanageable maze of effects they have--is why most people 
don't have their systems configured properly for what they want.

Thanks for the write-up.

Mike


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