[mythtv-users] schedule howto

[James Linder]

> On Dec 9, 2023, at 22:37, Peter Bennett <pb.mythtv at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> On 12/8/23 07:55, James Linder wrote:
>> G’day all
>> playing with the rules I can solve once, but everytime is a pain …
>> 
>> Aprogram (news on Australian ABC) scheduled to record from 1900 to 2000 (ish)
>> Bprogram scheduled 1930 to 2230
>> 
>> Aprogram (daily) can be on any combination of 2, 20, 21, 22, 23
>> My hardware causes some virtual channels to sometimes record broken recordings (badly pixelated) as a result I’ve set <no> virtual channels.
>> As suggested I put “prefer HD”
>> 
>> Now Aprogram records on tuner one, two, three, four
>> One recording of News is [red] conflict
>> One recording of Bprogram is [red] conflict
>> 
>> Wunce-upon-a-time I recall a rule “record 1 showing only”. That with “Prefer HD” would completely solve my problem. What is the solution? Better tuners, they are Haupauge USB dual tuners.
>> 
>> James
>> 
>> PS I can't give prority to any 2, 20-23, that channel may not carry Aprogram
>> 
>> 
>> 
> Getting back to your original question.
> 
> As I understand it,  ABC news is on 5 channels so MythTV records 4 copies of it, and then fails to record another program because it ran out of tuners (conflict).
> 
> If you use schedules direct for the guide, schedules direct assigns a unique id to every program so that this does not happen. MythTV recognizes the extra showings as duplicates and only records one of them.  I don't know about Schedules direct in Australia, whether it is available or whether it assigns unique ids to shows. Schedules direct does offer a 7 day free trial and a monthly option that you could use to try it out. It is a bit of a pain to set up.
I’ll look at details. When I first investigated opinion was ‘EPG data in Australia is regulated consequently very good’.

> I assume you are using EPG for the program schedule. Can you set a filter of "this channel" in your recording rule? You must know which channel carries a program. Surely they don't switch channels around on a daily basis?

No but every few days some channels are preset to something else. IE normally CH 21 is news but today it’s tennis.
ie today 20,21 news, 23, 24 other programs

> Another thing you could do is give a higher priority to the recording rule for program B. Then when 5 channels show program A and one shows program B, then program B will be recorded along with three copies of program A. At least you will not miss program B.
> 
> Record One showing only or only this showing are not helpful, that means one showing only, ever. You would have to set it up again every day.
> 
> Some of the filters may help. Perhaps "First Showing" may help. Even if 4 showings are at the same time, MythTV may decide one of them is a first showing. I have not used this so I may be wrong here.

First showing (today I tried) no definite result.

> Power search allows you to set your own SQL, so if  there is something unique about the subtitle or description that identifies which show you want, you could create a power rule that restricts it to the one you want.

No such luck! All copies say same words.

> A lot of options to try. You can set up different ways then look at Upcoming recordings to see what will be the result.
> 
> Note: If you are running a recent version of master (pre-34) you can use the web app to set up and modify recording rules. Preferably don't use mythweb, it is out of date and has not been maintained.

Minor irritation deleting 4 copies every day. I just wondered if I was being dumb about a common problem.

Thanks for lots of input everybody
James