[mythtv-users] Minimal overlap feature request

[Joseph A. Caputo]

On Monday 03 November 2003 18:05, Rob Comstock wrote:
> I have seen NBC increase the length of a show by 1 minute at the
> front to start at, say, 8:59 instead of 9:00. This being the case a
> show that I would want to record from 8:00 to 9:00 shows up as
> conflicting. I am wondering if this is a stunt by NBC to "increase
> viewership".
>
> I think it should be possible to add a recording option to allow
> overlap between shows of "n" minutes. Those minutes will be recorded
> at the end of a previous show and trimmed from the front of the
> subsequent show. If the overlap exceeds the limit Myth recording
> behaves as it does currently to prevent conflicts. Default allowable
> overlap shall be 0 minutes.  Comments?

Well, this thread is likely to generate quite a bite of discussion!  
Suggestion:  rather than put the burden on the user to figure out how 
many minutes of overlap to specify, why not add an option to the 
Conflict Resolution screen.  Allow me to explain:  let's say I want to 
record 'Friends' from 20:00 - 20:32 (damn NBC!) and 'Crank Yankers' on 
Comedy Central from 20:30 - 21:00.  Since they overlap be 2 minutes, 
I'd normally have to choose one or the other.  But, if we add an option 
for 'partial recording', we could do the following:

--------- Conflict Resolution Screen --------------
The following scheduled recordings conflict with each other.  Which 
would you like to record?


(checkbox) Remember this choice and use it automatically in the future
(checkbox) Record non-overlapping portions of conflicting program(s)

(item) Friends - Thur 20:00 on Channel 10
(item) Crank Yankers - Thur 20:30 on Channel 26

-----------------------------------------------------------

If you check the box marked "Record non-overlapping" and choose 
'Friends', it will record all of Friends (20:00 - 20:32) and the 
portion of 'Crank Yankers' from 20:32 - 21:00 (missing the first 2 
minutes).  OTOH, if we check the box and choose 'Crank Yankers', it 
will record Friends from 20:00 - 20:30 (missing the last 2 minutes) and 
all of 'Crank Yankers' from 20:30 - 21:00.

Now comes the fun part -- discussing how best to implement this!

-JAC