[mythtv-users] Can a script be set to run before each scheduled recording

[Michael T. Dean]

On 04/04/2007 01:44 PM, Nick Morrott wrote:
> On 04/04/07, Donald Webster <fryfrog at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> You can sort of use the "external channel change" script to achieve
>> it.  That is how I deal with my crappy firewire STBs.
>>     
> Exactly - this is how I dealt with the tinny audio issue present in
> older versions of the ivtv driver. The channel change script was
> always called as I was using the Composite input - so I just called
> another script to manipulate ivtv-ctl (and send to background) and
> reset the audio input.
>
> If you do use this method, you *must* ensure that the channel change
> script returns quickly, otherwise MythTV will think tuning has failed
> and abort the recording.

Which is why this is probably not appropriate for turning on an STB.  As 
discussed in the top comments in the script on the page to which I 
linked, the STB will fail to respond to commands (including channel 
change commands) immediately upon boot up (powering on).  Depending on 
your STB, you may find that it takes more than 30 seconds to accept input.

 From the script:

# The discrete power functions (power_on and power_off) can be used to ensure
# the power state of the receiver.  However, they probably shouldn't be used in
# a channel change script as the receiver will require a significant delay
# after a power_on before it is capable of receiving/responding to additional
# commands (such as channel numbers).  Instead, assuming most of your recording
# is during prime-time, you may want to set a cron job to run a "power_on"
# command for each of your receivers about 5 or 10 minutes before primtetime.


This approach (which does require one or both of a discrete power on and 
power off command) is the best approach to avoid those recordings of 
blackness and silence.

Therefore, if Gary /is/ using DISH, he should use the script provided on 
the wiki.  If not, there may be other approaches, but more specific 
information is necessary.

Mike