[mythtv-users] is mythtv smart enough to do this (overlap/back-to-back) with recordings?

[Michael T. Dean]

On 07/28/06 04:31, Brad Templeton wrote:

>I think in general that when most people add padding, they don't
>mean "and don't record another show I asked for if it would interfere
>with the padding."    They might mean that sometimes, but I suspect
>they mean, "pad if you can" most of the time and only rarely
>"pad, and damn the torpedoes."
>

If only there were some way people could /tell/ Myth what they want.  
(Cough. recording overrides)

>The goal is always don't surprise the user, especially a nasty negative
>surprise like not getting their show.   Missing the first few minutes
>is a bad surprise but not like losing the whole thing.
>  
>

If I don't get the whole recording, I delete it and allow re-record.  I 
have enough to watch without watching "part of a story."  If it's 
important to me (i.e. a series where I have to catch every episode), I 
set it up with an appropriately high priority and enough start early/end 
late (damn the torpedoes) to get it all.  If Myth cut off part of Lost 
to allow me to record some other show, I wouldn't be surprised, I would 
be rewriting my own personal copy of Myth.

>Now for the truly anal, the right interface might be to have a different
>recording priority for the padding, so that the system can decide
>between padding and a show that conflicts with the padding.  But
>that's way too complex.
>
>I have always found Myth to be a bit lacking in dealing with conflicts.
>Unlike the Tivo, which perhaps warns you too much about conflicts, Myth
>just lets them happen, though you can browse the upcoming scheduled
>recordings list to discover them if you go looking.   Mythweb has started
>to be more proactive about warnign about conflicts and it's a good step.
>
>One simple step might be a status indicator that says "You've got 3 conflicts"
>and takes you do the scheduling screen to see what they are.  
>(In a clever interface, you could go to a conflict and say, "don't tell
>me of this one any more.")
>  
>

Please, no!!!  If I have time to fix conflicts, I'll do it.  I don't 
want to have to fix a conflict--right now--after scheduling a new 
recording right before watching a show when people are over.

>One place Tivo is right is if you schedule a show and it won't actually
>ever record because of conflicts, that should cause an error.
>

OK, I like this idea.  We should get guide data from wherever TiVo gets 
theirs.  On my Myth box, I can only tell if the show will record in the 
next two weeks.  I wonder how big TiVo's database is...  Won't actually 
ever record.  That would be useful to know up-front.

Mike