[mythtv] Any way to make Watch List work by title rather than recordid for certain rules?

[Bruce Markey]

Kevin Kuphal wrote:
> I was looking through the code and didn't see a simple way to do it, but 
> I have the situation where I have a "Premiers" recording rule that 
> catches new series.  Because the Watch List works by recording rule, it 
> only shows me one new series at a time when I would like to see them all 
> listed.  I'm guessing there is probably no good way to do this but I 
> thought I would ask. 

If you have Watch List, then you also have another set of new
hacks that cpinkham and I added around the same time. Press
"M"enu from the Watch Recordings screen and click the new
"Change Group View". Check the "Show Searches" box and Save.
This will list groupings for search rules (where the show
titles are different than the rule title). So, the left hand
column will now include search rule titles in parens like
"(Premiers)". This will show all the recordings from that
rule in the right hand column.

Also, as you know, the Watch List blocks out episodes of a
rule for a couple days after you delete or watch an episode.
you can force over-writing the last_delete time stamp. Press
"I"nfo then "Storage Options". Clicking "Preserve this episode"
then "Do not preserve this episode" will clear the time stamp
and the next episode will again be eligible. If you click
"Disable Auto Expire" then "Enable Auto Expire" the the time
stamp will be updated and the show will be blocked out for a
couple more days (or a few more hours for daily shows).

> Alternatively, is there a reason that Myth prefers recording from my 
> Premiers rule before recording from my Specific Title rule for new 

Yes.

> programs?  I have both set up but the Premier rule matches first.  Is 
> this solely done by the recordid order in the database?  I wasn't sure 
> what in the scheduler causes it to pick up first because it also won 
> over the specific rule even with vastly different priorities that I 
> would have thought would make it lose.

We can add overrides for the purpose of lowering the priority
for a showing, therefore, we can't use priority to decide which
rule takes control (also there could be sticky situations where
an input or channel priority causes one rule to control one
showing and another to control a different showing of the same
episode).

A more specific recording type beat less specific so if you
have a WeekSlot rule and an All rule, the WeekSlot will win for
it's time slot (Single beats WeekSlot, Channel beats All and so
on).

If the type and all else are the same, the final tie breaker is
that the lower recordid (older rule) wins. This is so the rule
you've always counted on beats the mistake you just made.

That said, the best way to force control is with the record type.
If "Premiers" (you can use the custom editor to change it to
"Premieres" if you'd like =) is an All rule then make your new
recurring rules "Record at any time on this channel" so that this
more specific type wins control of the pilot. If it's an NBC
show that has repeats on BRAVO or whatever, you can change it
back to All after the premiere passes.

Also, there is a hack where a rule that is ineligible to record
a showing loses to a rule that may be eligible to record. So, if
your premiere rule is set to Inactive and you add a recurring
rule of any type on the second episode, your new recurring rule
'beats' the inactive rule for the pilot.

--  bjm