[mythtv-users] Setting manual HD flag for a channel

[Rod Smith]

On Wednesday 20 January 2010 11:06:49 am David Kubicek wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have a mix of HD and SD channels - some exist in both variations, but
> my provider doesn't broadcast the "HD flag" MythTV can recognize
> (visible as the yellow "HD" in MythWeb listings?). If I could label my
> HD channels as such manually, I could use the neatly built-in schedule
> option "prefer HD" for my recordings. Can I force this flag for a
> *channel* somewhere?

I don't know of an easy way to do this. The HD flag is actually part of the 
listings data, not the signal from the broadcaster, cable company, or 
satellite company (unless of course you're using EIT listings data, in which 
case the listings data comes with the broadcast). As I understand the way it 
works, you'd need to write a custom script to download the listings and then 
modify them for some channels. I don't know of a ready-made script that does 
this, but it's conceivable it exists.

A simpler but more brute-force solution is to modify the channel priorities. 
In the frontend, go to Setup->TV Settings->Recording Priorities->Set Channel 
Recording Priorities. (The exact location can vary depending on your chosen 
layout.) Page down in the list until you find one of the channels whose 
priority you want to adjust. Either increase the priority of the HD channel 
or decrease the priority of the SD channel by using the right or left arrow 
key, respectively. The scheduler will then give a priority boost or decrement 
to the respective programs.

Note that this will affect between-channel priorities, too. That is, if a 
program is being shown on two unrelated channels (a local broadcast channel 
and a cable channel, say), then the scheduler may switch from favoring them 
equally but recording from the lowest-numbered channel by default to going 
out of its way to record from whichever channel now has the higher priority 
value. Chances are this won't cause any real problems, but it's conceivable 
it could cause unexpected changes, perhaps even involving shows that you 
hadn't initially considered as being problems.

Another point is that this priority change will be applied whether or not the 
programs are correctly flagged as being HD. That is, if the HD flag is 
correctly applied to some programs but not others, then increasing the 
priority of the HD channel will result in even more of a priority boost for 
it when its HD programs are correctly flagged. This could make manual 
overrides fail, depending on the values you've got set for priorities 
elsewhere in MythTV. Reducing the priority of the SD channel could delay 
recordings in favor of a later showing on another channel even if both are in 
SD.

-- 
Rod Smith