[mythtv-users] Starting new setup, about the recording scheduler.

[Bill Kirkpatrick]

I'm starting to build a AV system for the house.  I have TV's in various
bedrooms and the common room.  Now, each of these have resources that
differ.  In my case we have 2 Dish Network boxes, a UHF/VHF antenna
system on a rotor and various DVD/VCR players.

I read the scheduling info and I'm thinking it may need work to do what
I want/need it to.  Call it a "Advanced resource scheduler", I guess. I
can, perhaps, find time to code this stuff but I need to know if 1) it's
already done; or 2) if it's already in the works.

To schedule a recording requires access/lock on one or more resources
beyond the capture card itself.  I know MythTV will seek out a "free"
capture card.   But, that card may not have access to everything it
needs.  For example, only 2 of the, say, 4 cards in the system have
access to a Dish box.  All 4 have access to off air, but the selected
card also needs to secure and set the antenna rotor.  We may also end up
with a couple of HD cards, which would also have to share the off-air
antenna and rotor system. Of course, the rotor set to any given position
would be able to receive any select sub-set of the entire viewablelist
and could be shared to record any program available at that position.

The IR blaster on each unit would also have to be programmed differently
for access to each card on the network.  One room has a VCR and the Dish
box connects through that (and the roommate likes it that way), another
has a dual input TV and these feeds are distinct.  To set the VCR
enabled unit the IR blaster in that room would have to code the VCR to
channel "0", then set the dish box to its channel.  If the VCR enabled
room was needed to record off-air, it would  have to set the VCR to the
desired channel in that room, then use the IR blaster on the system in
the common to set the off-air antenna rotor. 

A friend of mine out west adds a multiple positioning "free" satellite
system to the whole mess.

So... Everybody wants to record "stuff".  Some stuff, particularly on
Dishes, have multiple viewing times.  Can MythTV 
schedule/acquire/set/lock all these various resource sets needed, or be
made to, to view/record possibly conflicted show times, in some sort of
"best fit" way?