[mythtv-users] Events at the beginning of a recording

[Gary Buhrmaster]

On Thu, Feb 9, 2023 at 3:10 AM David Engel <david at istwok.net> wrote:

> But I still might!  Someday.  When I have a better solution to the
> misuse.  I've never bought the "my guide data is bad" argument and I
> still don't.  In the immortal words of Steve Jobs, "You're doing it
> wrong?" :)


I thought that was "Just avoid holding it in that way",
commonly reported as "You're holding it wrong".



However, more to the point, I am going to add something
that may be somewhat controversial, but I do believe
that you should over-provision the number of tuners so
that conflicts are minimal and the scheduler does not
need to make hard (or impossible) decisions.

To paraphrase Ms. Simpson: "You can never be too rich, or too thin, or
have too many tuners"

Yes, I do understand there are sometimes other
constraints (tuners cost money, slots may be
limited), but sooner or later you are going to find
that if you run too hot (using all tuners almost all
the time) something will not be able to be
recorded (the scheduler is very good, but it
cannot create time[0]).  Some networks and
stations intentionally shift the show time by a few
minutes to discourage channel surfing.  Some
seem to do it because they are unable to set their
clocks accurately (maybe they should hire
a few train conductors?).  But no matter the
cause, overlaps happen that can require more
tuners than one might otherwise wish to own,
but your wishes are not relevant to the stations.

In my location, at the beginning of the new
TV season, I often schedule recordings of
a lot of the new series that seem like they might
have promise.  And while I typically decide
most of those shows are not worth continuing
to watch, and cancel the recordings, during
those first few weeks I can easily find I need at
least five physical tuners (even with virtual and
sub-channel tuning capability), although I would
otherwise rarely be using more than three
(and usually just one or two).  For the record,
I have six tuners.

So, to Steve Jobs it, "Just buy more tuners!"





[0] I have no doubt creating (free) time is on
the wish list of many.