[mythtv-users] Episode limits on recording rules

[John Veness]

On 15/12/2014 11:58, Mike Perkins wrote:
> I've recently been through my long list of recording rules, using 
> mythweb, and ended up deleting a quarter of them because they relate 
> to items no longer relevant.
>
> Obviously all those unwanted rules make the scheduling run longer to 
> process.
>
> The problem is that I often record science or history series which may 
> have anything from two to six episodes and then forget I have to get 
> rid of the unwanted rule.
>
> The other problem with having such rules is that they can often pick 
> up repeats on some of the other channels, usually because the program 
> id is now different or the description has been edited or something.
>
> What I wondered was, is there a simple way I can record a 
> user-supplied number of episodes and then make the rule inactive? The 
> "keep so many episodes" won't do it because it will delete the oldest 
> and keep recording new, which may mean I lose episodes before I view 
> them if a repeat happens before I get round to viewing.
>
> What I want is something where I can say "I know there are supposed to 
> be six of these, just record the first six", and then make the rule 
> inactive. That means that I still have a re-record capability if one 
> or more of the recordings fails for whatever reason.
>
> Anybody have any suggestions?

There are two variants of the "keep so many episodes" option, including 
one where you can tell it to record, say, six episodes, and then not 
record any more even if further episodes are broadcast. However, even 
with that option, the recording rule still exists and increase the load 
on the scheduling process. And if you deleted episodes, it will record 
more until it hits the limit again, so not what you wish to achieve.

There is the "record one showing of this title" thing, which does record 
one episode and then deletes the recording rule (useful for films I 
guess). This is similar to what you want, except that you want a number 
that is greater than one. Personally I don't use this option, even for 
films, as until I watch the recording I'm not sure if it recorded all of 
it, and if it didn't, I want to tell it to delete and re-record. If the 
recording rule has been deleted because of the "record one showing of 
this title" process, delete and re-record won't recreate the rule, so I 
would have to create it again manually.

Personally I just do what you do, and try to remember to remove the 
recording rule when I know that it has recorded all the episodes that I 
think will ever exist.

Cheers,

John

-- 
John Veness, MythTV user, UK, DVB-T