[mythtv-users] Recording profiles

[Michael T. Dean]

On 09/16/2015 12:54 PM, Christopher Sean Hilton wrote:
> For this question I only care about the
> HD-PVR.
...
> Does MythTV use any of the program guide
> data when it decides what profile with which to record?
...
> If Myth
> uses SD vs. HD to setup the Hauppage HD-PVR before recording then my
> HD recordings may suffer in quality.

If I understand your question correctly, the answer is that MythTV does 
not use any listings data to determine how to record shows.

As far as the HD-PVR goes, AFAIU, the HD-PVR provides MythTV a 
compressed video stream that contains whatever your cable STB is 
outputting.  If you set the STB to always output 720p, the HD-PVR 
records in 720p.  If you set it to output whatever format the content is 
broadcast using, the HD-PVR records in the appropriate format (480i, 
480p, 720p, 1080i, ...).  TTBOMK, you--as the creator of the recording 
rule--specify which recording profile to use (as part of the rule itself).

In other words, only your cable company/cable box determine the format 
of the video.  You may well have high-definition recordings without the 
HDTV (listing) label or standard-definition recordings that have the 
HDTV label.  The listings HDTV flag is (especially now, as more and more 
content is delivered in HDTV resolutions) relatively meaningless.  Some 
stations/networks choose not to indicate it on any of their shows 
(because they're "all" broadcast in HDTV).  Some specify it only for 
some category of shows (such as movies).  Some specify it for everything 
since the channel is broadcasting "only" HDTV resolution (even though 
some of the shows they broadcast are upscaled by the station/network 
from SDTV--often using worse scaling/deinterlacing/... than you could do 
yourself with your MythTV box if they gave you the original format, 
instead).  As a matter of fact, some even specify it on every single 
show because the broadcast is always in HDTV, even though the broadcast 
may be rebroadcast by a cable/satellite company in SDTV resolution (but 
the listings still indicate HDTV).  Because of the fact the flag is 
meaningless (or, at least, means a lot less than most people think), 
it's not used by MythTV for any critical decision making.

The only thing it can be used for is scheduling, and it is only used for 
scheduling if the user explicitly tells MythTV to use it.  You can 
specify an "HDTV only" filter on recording rules that will only consider 
shows that are marked with the HDTV flag for recording (and miss all the 
good HDTV episodes of that show on channels whose stations don't mark 
their shows HDTV) or you can specify an HDTV priority that's added to 
episodes marked as HDTV so that you can favor recording shows in HDTV.  
(IMHO, both are bad ideas--especially on MythTV, a system designed to 
let you record anything you might possibly want to watch.  The only 
thing I use the HDTV flag for is a couple of recording rules where I'll 
re-record any episode of Nova or any movie that exists in my current 
recordings if the current recording is not marked HDTV and the new 
program is marked HDTV.  That said, in the last 3 years or so, I haven't 
had a single HDTV upgrade due to it--I've only re-recorded 
episodes/movies that were already HDTV, though not marked as such, and 
then deleted the not-marked-as-HDTV-even-though-it-is recording so the 
"upgrade" rule wouldn't trigger on that show again.  Now that I think 
about it, I should really go in and delete those rules.)

Mike