[mythtv-users] Disabling Recordings

[chris at cpr.homelinux.net]

On Fri, Sep 01, 2006 at 01:40:30PM -0700, Bruce Markey wrote:
>   ...add a "do not record this episode" override... (This
>   solution will not work for episodes with empty subtitles
>   or descriptions because they are exempt from duplicate
>   checking...
> 
> This is incorrect. A kDontRecord will always prevent that
> showing from recording regardless of circumstance (it's like
> a negative Single that wins over everything else).

Perhaps it depends on where you add the override.  When I try to do 
it using MythWeb (running 0.19) the page refreshes and shows the 
episode is still there.  If I click on the "Do not record" link 6 
times and then go to the "Recording schedules" page I see six 
override entries for the same show.  When I go back to the 
"upcoming recordings" list it shows the episode as inactive.  It's 
been my experience, though, that Myth *will* record that episode 
even though there are six overrides saying not to.  If I want to 
"fix" the schedule I have to click on "Activate" 6 times.  At that 
point it's shown as a forced recording, and I have to click on 
"Default" six or seven times to get it to go back to the normal 
state.  This silliness only happens with shows that have no 
subtitle or description.  I mentioned on this list a month or two 
ago that Myth was scheduling these shows even though I had enabled 
dupe detection and Dean said that exempting these shows from dupe 
detection was a "feature".

Incidentally, I've always understood the meaning of "Don't record" 
(which adds an override) and "Never Record" (which apparently marks 
the show as previously recorded), but still don't know why I 
occasionally see "Positively Never Record" in the frontend menu.  
What does that option do?

The proper long-term solution to "how can I block Myth from 
recording for a short period of time" would be to allow us to 
create a recording rule that takes up space in the schedule but 
doesn't actually trigger a capture.  In order to do that properly, 
though, Myth first needs to allow the user to assign a specific 
input to a recording rule (with a lack of assignment meaning "use 
any").  That would allow us to disable a single input while 
allowing others to continue recording (for when the cable is off 
but OTA or dish are still available).  It would also make a lot of 
HDTV people happy as they can't currently force some shows to use 
HD and others to use SD as Myth always prefers one tuner over the 
other.

I'm also still waiting to see if the devs ever add any "fuzzy 
logic" to the selection process so that equal priority decisions 
aren't always decided the same way.  For example, it's common for 
two shows to run opposite each other in the schedule so that you 
can never record both without a second tuner card.  If I assign 
them the same priority, Myth always pics the same show to record, 
so the only way I can get any episodes of the other show is to 
change their priorities or add overrides.  What I'd like to see 
Myth do when shows have equal priorities is to try and balance the 
schedule so that there are always a few episodes of each show 
available.  After all, if I always wanted Myth to select the same 
show then I would have assigned it a higher priority.