[mythtv-users] Timeslot scheduling bug?

[Cedric Tefft]

Kevin Kuphal wrote:

> Cedric Tefft wrote:
>
>> I just noticed that with a weekly timeslot recording, myth won't 
>> consider earlier or later showings of that same episide even when 
>> doing so would avoid a conflict. For example, let's say I've told 
>> Myth to record "Show A" on Channel 1 every Friday at 9 p.m. But this 
>> week, I've also scheduled a one-time recording for 9 pm Friday on 
>> Channel 2.  Now, here's the thing.  Even though Channel 1 re-airs the 
>> 9 pm episode of "Show A" at 11 pm, Myth won't resolve the conflict by 
>> bumping the recording of Show A to the 11 pm  timeslot.
>
>
>> P.S:   Oh, and I know somebody's bound to ask why I don't just use 
>> the "always record on this channel" option.  The answer is that if 
>> Channel 1 airs re-runs of "Show A" at other times of the week, you 
>> end up recording a bunch of re-runs that you never really wanted.  If 
>> the new episodes are always aired Fridays at 9, the weekly timeslot 
>> recording is really what you're after..
>
>
> You asked and answered your own question.

Not really, I've just stated it very poorly.

>
> "Record in this timeslot" is literal and only records at that time 
> (although I think it gives some leeway +/- to account for special 2 
> hour episodes of a 1 hour show, etc. but don't quote me on that).
>
> "Record at any time on this channel" doesn't take the timeslot into 
> account (which is what you are looking for).
>
> I can only assume that you must not have the duplicate detection 
> turned on because it is the situation in your P.S. that this feature 
> addresses.  Whether by title, subtitle or the new Repeat designator in 
> 0.16, this feature works great for me.

Actually, I do have duplicate detection turned on, and it works as 
designed.  The problem is that Myth only considers an episode a repeat 
if it's recorded it before (or if you "fake" a recording by telling Myth 
never to record that particular episode).  This doesn't sound like a 
problem until you consider situations like the one I have with the show 
I mentioned earlier:   Stargate SG-1 (according to TV Tome)  having 
aired 164 episodes is now in the middle of its eighth season.  Of 
course, since I've only been using Myth for a short time, it knows about 
only a handful of these.  Enter problem #2: Stargate SG-1's current 
owner (the SciFi channel) airs as many as four previously-aired episodes 
a *day* which means I have to go in and tell Myth NOT to record on the 
order of a  dozen episodes every week until SciFi has aired (and Myth 
has learned about) all 164 espsodes.  So, for a couple of months, I'm 
going to have to tell Myth NOT to record 12 episodes for every one I DO 
want it to record.

Is this too much to ask?  No, of course not..  It's certainly not going 
to do me any lasting harm to sit there and "teach" Myth about all the 
previous episodes.  My point is that given how powerful Myth's 
scheduling capabilities already are, it seems like there ought to be a 
more intelligent way to do this.  The method that occured to me was to 
use a timeslot recording, however I discovered this method was less than 
optimal because it forces the recording in the chosen timeslot even if 
the same epsode could be recorded later in order to avoid a conflict.

Is this option working as designed?  Yes, I think we all agree it is, 
but my question is, could it be made to work better?  Wouldn't it be 
useful to be able to tell Myth "I want to record the show that will air 
in this timeslot , even if, if your infinite wisdom, you need to 
schedule the actual recording for a different time".  Does anybody else 
agree that this would be a useful feature?

- Cedric