[mythtv-users] Record on any channel except

[Bruce Markey]

Matt MacDonald wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I believe that I have a uniquely Canadian issue. Certain programs (Las

Not really...
  
> Vegas is one) have the same name in English and French. This means that
> when I set it to record on any station in any timeslot, it will also

This suggests the simplest solution...

> attempt to record it on the French channels. I would like to keep the
> French channels in my lineup, so is there a way to set up Mythtv to
> record on any station except or only record in English (I know that this
> one is unlikely).

There are several ways to address this in myth.

> This particular show looks the same in English and French (category
> etc), the only obvious difference is that the subtitle and description
> is in French and the channel is 10.

I'm not Canadian but I speak English and live in Las Vegas but
that's all beside the point.

First, and most obviously, if the English versions are on the
only NBC affiliate, WDIV, then you could just choose to record
at any time on this channel. This would work even if you had
two channels from two sources that carried that station provided
you used the same callsign "WDIV".

If episodes of Las Vegas that you want to record are from more
than one station, then it can be trickier but solvable.

As mentioned, you can use channel priorities to influence schedule
decisions although you really only need to offset the priority
by one point to 'break the tie'. If you set CHOT to -1 less than
any other channel, The scheduler would try any showing of an
episode at any time on any card before it would even consider
a showing on CHOT. This would be true for Las Vegas or any other
similar show where the programid is the same for the English and
French versions. However, this may not be the case...

When you say "it will also attempt to record it on the French
channels" do you mean it records both English and French versions
or some French and the others English? I suspect the former.

Episodes are identified in the TMS database by the "programid"
which identifies the row of info for each unique episode. It
is possible that they associate both the English and French
translation with the same programid, however, they may have
different seriesid and programid for French. Look at the Program
Details page and check to see if they are different for the two
languages. For example, Las Vegas in Las Vegas (hum) has series
ID EP00592616 and episodes EP00592616NNNN . These should be the
same for "WDIV". If CHOT has a different EP00NNNNNN then myth
will see these as being different episodes (because they are...
they are in French). This may seem bad but you can use this to
your advantage.

kPowerSearch is the Swiss army knife. If you can see the
distinction in the program info, you can make a rule to match
whatever you want.

http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-12.html#ss12.5

As Mike mentioned, you can simply find Las Vegas on any scheduling
page, press "E"dit, select "Exclude one station" then click "Add".
Change the callsign from GOLF to CHOT, click Record and set your
options for a CHOT free Las Vegas recording rule.

Rule Name: Las Vegas

program.title = 'Las Vegas'
AND channel.callsign != 'CHOT'

Now, if the French series ID is different, you could make a
rule to just match the English series regardless of the station
(or title for that matter):

Rule Name: Las Vegas

program.seriesid = 'EP00592616'

I see that this finds all the Las Vegas English Las Vegas' (wha?).

There are other tricks that you could use if necessary but
one of these should get you pointed in the right direction.

--  bjm