[mythtv-users] scheduling not using all three tuners?

[Marco Nelissen]

>On 04/09/2006 07:42 PM, Steven Adeff wrote:
>> its not quite what I'd call strange behaviour, but its not quite what
>> I'd expect.
>>
>> I've got 3 hd tuners. I'm using the Upcoming Recordings screen to see
>> what tuners will be used to record what shows.
>>
>> I've got Myth setup to begin recording ~30 seconds before scheduled
>> start to account for the delay in tuning, which is usually ~5 seconds
>> plus the off chance that the channel starts the show early. But part
>> of this option is that it Myth will only to this when it can, so if
>> two shows are back to back it won't. Understandable. Except that If
>> I've got one show recording from 7:30-8:00 and then two from 8:00-9:00
>> I would expect tuner 1 to record starting at 7:29.30 and tuners 2 and
>> 3 to start at 7:59.30.
>>
>> This would get all three shows recording with the 30 second buffer.
>> But instead what I get is tuner 1 and 2 recording the 8:00 show,
>> meaning the show on tuner 1 will start at 8:00 after its previous show
>> is recorded, and tuner 3 is nowhere to be seen in the scheduler.
>>
>> Is the Upcoming Recordings screen accurate in what tuners will be
>> used?
>
>Yes.
>
>>  If so, why isn't it using the third tuner to be able to keep the
>> 30sec pre- time I set?
>
>By design.  You're thinking of your system where your "expected" 
>behavior would not have negative consequences, not of all possible Myth 
>systems where it may.
>
>Myth prefers the capture cards with the highest priority for recordings 
>under the assumption that if you're recording the show you want it to be 
>high quality.  Many users have capture cards of varying quality and 
>would find it quite upsetting to get the second show in a series of 
>recordings recorded on their BTTV cards just so that the pcHDTV HD-3000 
>could be used to record the 30-second post-roll after the first show in 
>the series.
>
>If you want "hard" over-record, you must set start early and end late on 
>the recording rule (so the scheduler can take it into account) instead 
>of using the RecordPreRoll/RecordOverTime (global pre-/post-roll 
>settings).  If you want to see the (way too many) posts on why it 
>doesn't do it "unless it would prevent another recording", search the 
>archives for "soft padding."

But in this case, he has 3 HD tuners. There was no mention of priority,
so I assume they have the same priority (I wouldn't be surprised if
they're 3 identical cards even). So in that case, shouldn't myth have
used all 3 tuners when scheduling, thereby allowing the start and end
padding to take place?