[mythtv-users] Disabling Recordings

[Michael T. Dean]

On 09/01/06 23:23, chris at cpr.homelinux.net wrote:

>On Fri, Sep 01, 2006 at 01:40:30PM -0700, Bruce Markey wrote:
>  
>
>>  ...add a "do not record this episode" override... (This
>>  solution will not work for episodes with empty subtitles
>>  or descriptions because they are exempt from duplicate
>>  checking...
>>
>>This is incorrect. A kDontRecord will always prevent that
>>showing from recording regardless of circumstance (it's like
>>a negative Single that wins over everything else).
>>    
>>
>Perhaps it depends on where you add the override.  When I try to do 
>it using MythWeb (running 0.19) the page refreshes and shows the 
>episode is still there.  If I click on the "Do not record" link 6 
>times and then go to the "Recording schedules" page I see six 
>override entries for the same show.  When I go back to the 
>"upcoming recordings" list it shows the episode as inactive.  It's 
>been my experience, though, that Myth *will* record that episode 
>even though there are six overrides saying not to.  If I want to 
>"fix" the schedule I have to click on "Activate" 6 times.  At that 
>point it's shown as a forced recording, and I have to click on 
>"Default" six or seven times to get it to go back to the normal 
>state.  This silliness only happens with shows that have no 
>subtitle or description.
>
I'm not seeing this on my system (SVN r11005).  I marked a movie (with 
no subtitle, but with a description) I had set to record as, "Don't 
Record," using MythWeb, and that episode then showed a status of, "This 
showing was manually set to not record."  Then I clicked, "Activate," 
and then, "Default," and everything went back to normal.

Note, though, that after I set the showing to not record, a later 
showing was marked to record.  This is the desired behavior (and is 
probably why you had to click, "Don't Record," six times--for six 
showings of the episode).  A recording override only affects a specific 
showing.

>  I mentioned on this list a month or two 
>ago that Myth was scheduling these shows even though I had enabled 
>dupe detection and Dean said that exempting these shows from dupe 
>detection was a "feature".
>  
>

Right.  Generic episodes do not match previously recorded episodes 
during duplicate detection.  However, when you set a recording override, 
you're not marking anything for duplicate detection.  A recording 
override has nothing to do with duplicate detection.  This is exactly 
what Bruce was saying.

The thread you're talking about is 
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/214709#214709 , and 
its subject ("Dup detection broken in some cases - how to fix?") talks 
about duplicate detection, and I answered the question in terms of 
duplicate detection.  Within the body, you say, "If I see one [generic 
episode] in the listing and select 'do not record' then Myth creates the 
'previously recorded' entry as expected and then *still* flags that 
episode for recording."  Since you mentioned a "previously recorded 
entry", I assumed you meant you selected "Never Record," which creates 
an rsNeverRecord entry (not an rsRecorded entry) (perhaps I should have 
explicitly mentioned this assumption).  Had you done that, the show 
would still have been recorded (because it won't match for duplicate 
detection).

However, in the case above, if I wanted to ensure the movie is never 
recorded, I could have selected, "Never Record" to create an 
rsNeverRecord entry for the show--but only because it's not a generic 
episode.  The rsNeverRecord will be used for duplicate detection, so if 
that episode is ever seen in the listings again, it will not be 
recorded.  But, for Myth to realize that it's the same episode, it must 
have a non-generic programid or have title, subtitle, and 
description--it cannot be a generic episode (assuming you're matching 
duplicates on subtitle and description).

In the case of the movie, although it has no subtitle, it has a valid 
(non-generic) programid, so Myth knows it's just a show without a 
subtitle.  An example of a generic episode is a show with title, "The 
Simpsons", no subtitle, description, "Homer and Marge Simpson raise 
Bart, Lisa and baby Maggie." and programid, "SH0186930000".  This data 
tells Myth that TMS didn't know which episode would air.  Because it 
doesn't know which episode is airing (and, therefore, if the episode has 
been previously recorded), it gets recorded so you can decide whether 
you've seen it or not after a few seconds of playback.

Unfortunately, I don't have any generic episodes on my current listings 
to test a, "Don't Record," with a generic episode, but I've used it 
before, and it worked fine.  Only the duplicate detection (i.e. 
rsNeverRecord) fails to work with generic episodes (and does so by design).

>Incidentally, I've always understood the meaning of "Don't record" 
>(which adds an override) and "Never Record" (which apparently marks 
>the show as previously recorded)
>
or, technically, as "never record" (rsNeverRecord)

>, but still don't know why I 
>occasionally see "Positively Never Record" in the frontend menu.  
>What does that option do?
>  
>
The text "Positively Never Record" (case insensitive) never appears 
anywhere in Myth.  If you can point out the specific place (and/or exact 
text) about which you have a question, I'm sure someone can help explain it.

>The proper long-term solution to "how can I block Myth from 
>recording for a short period of time" would be to allow us to 
>create a recording rule that takes up space in the schedule but 
>doesn't actually trigger a capture.  In order to do that properly, 
>though, Myth first needs to allow the user to assign a specific 
>input to a recording rule (with a lack of assignment meaning "use 
>any").  That would allow us to disable a single input while 
>allowing others to continue recording (for when the cable is off 
>but OTA or dish are still available).  It would also make a lot of 
>HDTV people happy as they can't currently force some shows to use 
>HD and others to use SD as Myth always prefers one tuner over the 
>other.
>  
>
Sure they can.  By assigning different callsigns to channels, you have 
complete control over which channel is used and, by extension, which 
input--an HDTV or SDTV input--is used.  So, call your SDTV channel WKMG 
and your HDTV channel WKMG-HD or WKMG-D and you can decide whether to 
record from an HDTV input or from an SDTV input.  If you don't care, 
create an any channel rule.  If, for some reason, you don't want an any 
channel rule, create two this channel rules--one for WKMG and one for 
WKMG-HD--and, you'll even be able to set priorities to specify whether 
you'd prefer HDTV or SDTV for that show.

>I'm also still waiting to see if the devs ever add any "fuzzy 
>logic" to the selection process so that equal priority decisions 
>aren't always decided the same way.  For example, it's common for 
>two shows to run opposite each other in the schedule so that you 
>can never record both without a second tuner card.  If I assign 
>them the same priority, Myth always pics the same show to record, 
>so the only way I can get any episodes of the other show is to 
>change their priorities or add overrides.
>
Hmmm.  So the only way to get Myth to record what you want is to tell 
Myth what you want to record... ;)

>  What I'd like to see 
>Myth do when shows have equal priorities is to try and balance the 
>schedule so that there are always a few episodes of each show 
>available.  After all, if I always wanted Myth to select the same 
>show then I would have assigned it a higher priority.
>
That wouldn't make people who record shows like Lost (where every 
episode builds on the last so they must all be watched--and watched in 
order) happy.

I hope the more-complete explanation in this post helps clear things up 
for you.  If not, let us know, and I'm sure someone will be able to 
explain things better than I.

Mike