[mythtv-users] two active recording rules force a later recording?

[Bill Bogstad]

On Thu, Sep 29, 2011 at 1:01 AM, Michael T. Dean
<mtdean at thirdcontact.com> wrote:
> On 09/28/2011 03:46 AM, Bill Bogstad wrote:
>> On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 10:59 PM, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>>> On 09/25/2011 06:05 PM, Bill Bogstad wrote:
>>>...
>>> Reschedule higher priorities
>>> Move higher priority programs to other cards and showings when resolving
>>> conflicts. This can be used to record lower priority programs that would
>>> otherwise not be recorded, but risks missing a higher priority program
>>> if the schedule changes.
>> I don't think this should be relevant as all tuners were idle so there
>> were no conflicts to resolve.
>
> Then the only way that it would choose to record the later showing is if
> the later showing had a higher priority than the earlier showing.  For
> example, if you had a low-priority first-episodes custom rule (that
> matched the first showing) and a higher-priority series rule for Pan Am,
> it would record the later showing.

Ahh, from my very first message:

"My record all pilots rule has a lower priority then my explicit show
rule in case this might matter."

Apparently I fall into this case, but I still don't understand why it
works this way.   As I understand it, the first showing should have
matched both the "pilots" rule as well as my explicit series rule.
How does MythTV decide what priority to assign to a particular showing
if more then one rule matches it?  Is it random?
Based on the type of the rule?  The order in which the rules were created?

 >This is why I have my First Episodes
> rule set to inactive--so it marks the episodes, but it does not actually
> record them.  Then, around new-season/mid-season/summer-season start, I
> just look through Upcoming Recordings to find the first episodes and
> then create series rules for those I want to record (i.e. everything
> that's not a reality series).

I take it that making it inactive will avoid having the lower priority
applied to the earlier showing because only one of the two rules will
actually be allowed to assign a priority to it.

> Also, I should mention that if you use the evil input priorities or the
> often-evil channel priorities, they could cause different showings to
> have different priorities.  See section 12 of the HOWTO for details
> http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-12.html (the section anyone who
> has any channel or input priorities should read).

I've started testing channel priorities (SD vs. HD), but none of them
were for that channel.

> Yes.  Networks are airing a /lot/ of series out of order--therefore, the
> hack that's using the TMS programid to determine whether it's a new
> series first episode is incomplete.  You would need additional criteria
> for matching first episodes of out-of-order series.  That said, the hack
> is better than nothing.

I noticed lots of them had the word "pilot" in the descriptive text.
I might consider adding that as an alternative to an episode ending in
1.

> An alternative approach is to use a New Title search--which will work
> for anyone, even users who do not use Schedules Direct for their
> listings source (i.e. even XMLTV users in areas other than North
> America).  This will flag any show with a title that hasn't been seen in
> listings in the last 11 months, so you can decide whether to record it
> or not (and, because it's the last 11 months, it will allow you to see
> the holiday specials, again, each year).

Do you mean "Search Lists -> New Titles"?  Is there a way to turn that
into a rule rather then having to look manually?

BTW, thanks for your help with this.

Bill Bogstad