[mythtv] conflict resolution vs priorities

[Bruce Markey]

Ben Bucksch wrote:
> Jeff Nuckles wrote:
> 
>> the most important (highest priority) recording should be
>> recorded on the highest priorty card that has that
>> channel. period.
>>
> While I think that priority *may* be a good addition, I don't agree at 
> all to that "period". I see the following problems:
> 
>    * Today, there are Anaconda and Johnny Mnemonic running at the same
>      time. I had a hard time to choose, took me maybe a minute, and I
>      am still not sure about my choice. If I had to assign a priority
>      when I select a recording,
>          o I have to make such a choice (which takes time) not just for
>            those where there is actually a problem, but for every
>            single recording

This doesn't reflect the difference I see between declared
priority based and algorithm guess systems. It is myth's
conflict resolution pages where you need to make a choice
for every single recording. In a priority based system, you
would have an ordered list of the titles you've chosen. You
stack them in the order of your preference. This is fairly
simple because most things are a no brainer, You know which
shows you prefer. Once you've set the list, the default choices
are based on your preference rather than the scheduler's guess
and will continue to do so indefinitely. Therefore, it takes
less thought and intervention.

In either case you would have the occasionally tough choice you
describe and would manually choose. THat's like the next layer
in the stack. I think the question at hand is how effective are
the default selections before any manual intervention.

>          o I have to make the choice not between 2 concrete choices,
>            but against some abstract value system I made up in my mind

Visit a friend who has a Tivo ;-). It's much simpler than this.
A simple list of your choices. 1 always gets recorded, 2 is
recorded unless it overlaps 1. 3 is recorded unless 1 or 2 are
on. Crank Yankers isn't recorded unless nothing else you've
chosen is on. Very easy, very unambiguous, exactly what you
want once you've tried it.

>    * If I have the choice between Star Trek and the average action
>      movie, I choose ST, but if I have 2 cards with different quality,
>      and I can record both, I'd want the action movie to be recorded
>      with the better card, so the priority can't really say anything
>      about the choice of cards.

Gosh, exactly the opposite. Even currently, the show that
come out on top by algorithm goes to card 1 and the next to
card 2. With a priority list, you could move the show you
want on your best card above the other and know that it will
do what you want. Currently, for certain things I actually
spend time figuring out which show wins in the algorithm and
will change the recording type(s) to trick it into doing what
I want

--  bjm