[mythtv-users] Thoroughly confused about scheduling

[Bruce Markey]

f-myth-users at media.mit.edu wrote:
> In 18.1:
> 
> I've just been trying to use Custom Record to create some very simple
> rules, e.g., record only new episodes of a particular series, on any
> channel.
> 
> I started out by saying (in the Power Search Recording Rule Editor):
>     program.title = "American Experience"
>     program.previouslyshown = 0

s/pro/AND pro/

The syntax checker should not have let you save it like this. If so
it was improved a long time ago and will catch this in 0.19.

There was an American Experience about my home town but I was late
in watching it only to find that it was part 1 and I'd missed the
second half. This rule will catch it again when it is rebroadcast
without matching any other episodes:

program.title = 'American Experience' 
AND program.subtitle LIKE '%Las Vegas%' 

> and then clicking Record and filling in "Record only this showing",

Look again. No such option. By the nature of Power Search rules, the
types are All and the three Find*. "Record one showing of this title"
is the choice for a single recording but it sounds like you want "Record
at any time on any channel" to record all episodes that are new on an
on going basis.

> then clicking on "Save these settings".

Correct. You can go to the Set Priorities to see that the rule exists
and if it matches any current listings at this point.

> Unfortunately, then I realized that I might be saying, "Really record
> only this very showing at this very time that for the program I happen
> to be editing" as opposed to "record any new episode of this on any

Let's be clear, Custom Record in mythfrontend? There is now something
called custom in mythweb that is not the same thing.

If you are using mf Custom Record, you are not 'editing a showing' but
working in the abstract from a blank slate. If you start a rule and
press "Test" you will see a list of matching showings. If you press
"I"nfo or Enter, for one of these, you will be editing a rule for
that title(!) and not the Power Search rule. If you had, the title
would be "American Experience" [sic] and kSingleRecord would have been
a type choice.

Instead, from the Test list, if you see the correct results, click ESC
to go back to the Custom page and click the "Record" button on the page
(you must fill in a rule name first). Now you would see a recording
options page with the title "American Experience (Power Search)" or
whatever you entered in "Rule Name:".

> channel."  I thought this because I tried it with a different series
> and found the schedule only claiming it would be recording ONE of TWO
> new episodes, claiming that the later-airing, completely different
> episode was "E" for "earlier recorded."  Wrongo.

Righty. If you said to FindOne, it's done as soon as it records one
showing so all other showings after that are dups and the rule
disappears sometime after it successfully records one showing.

> So I found an AmExp episode in the Upcoming listing, went to Edit Options,
> and changed it to "Record at any time on any channel", whereupon the

At this point, it is ambitious what rule that is. Look at the title
and determine if it is a ".* (Power Search)" or a rule you created
previously.

> scheduler promptly claimed it was going to record EVERY showing of
> American Experience, including multiple copies of 3-year-old repeats,
> so now I have to go turn off every single one of them -and- it'll no
> doubt keep doing this forever until I figure out how to fix it.

If the rule is set to not match dups, or the listings are all
generic episodes with no episode specific info, or if there are no
originalairdates to determine if the previouslyshown should be set,
then this might happen but this is off the beaten path at this point.

> I think the problem here is that it's really unclear to me exactly
> how I'm supposed to be specifying this, and what's overriding what.
> Should I be specifying "any time, any channel" in edit options if I'm

Yes.

> writing a custom rule like this?  If not, what -should- I be doing?
> If I edit options on some random episode already in the Scheduled
> Recordings list, am I bashing what the custom rule is trying to do?

Um, I'll say 'yes' to get your attention. However, one and only one
rule applies to a specific showing. If there is a show that could
be matched by two or more rules, one of the rules will win in a
deterministic way. See "Scheduling decisions" in:

http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-12.html

If you press "I" or click Edit options for a showing on one of the
scheduling pages, you will see the recording options for the matching
rule that controls the recording of this showing. Changes will change
that rule and if it is a recurring type, it will affect all future
showings. You could instead press Enter to see the page 'o buttons
and click "Add Override" which adds a rule to modify the attributes
of this one showing without affecting the recurring rule and any other
future showings.

> It doesn't help that, once I create one of the Custom Record rules,
> I can't figure out where to -find- it again---not in the UI, nor even

Set Priorities is a list of everything in your 'record' table.

> in the database (what is the name of the table that holds these rules?
> I've tried all the likely ones and many of the unlikely ones and can't
> find them; I'm about to resort to dumping out the DB as ASCII and
> grepping it to see where these rules are).  So if I screw it up, I'm
> not sure how to fix the situation.
> 
> So how -exactly- do I:
> (a) Specify "record any new episode of this series at any time on any
>     channel", and

Go to Set Priorities and change everything that is "American Experience"
to "Do not record this program". From Custom Record in mythfrontend:

Rule Name: American Experience 

program.title = "American Experience"
AND program.previouslyshown = 0

Press test to see that it just matches the new episodes. If so, press
ESC back to the custom page and click "Record". Verify that the title
on the options page is "American Experience (Power Search)". Choose
"Record at any time on any channel" then Save.

> (b) How do I go back through the rules I've already created and fix
>     them such that (a) is true, -without- having them spuriously try
>     to pick up redundant copies of repeats?

Moot. Remove any existing rules for this title first rather than
worrying about what went wrong. Done correctly, the rule will only
match the new episodes then, like all other rules with the default
duplicate options, it will choose one showing of each episode to
record.

> Yes, I've looked at mythtv-HOWTO-12.html, and no, it doesn't seem to
> be describing the behavior I'm seeing at all.

Everything mentioned here is in section 12 somewhere. Your description
of choosing kSingleRecord from a PowerSearch recording options page is
bogus so there no lead on how exactly you got off track.

--  bjm