[mythtv-users] Record only HD or prefer HD over SD

[Yeechang Lee]

Christian Szpilfogel <chrisznews4 at rogers.com> says:
> > Since I want the same thing Christian asked for--the scheduler
> > choosing the HD version of a program if available--I thus give
> > HBOHDP and other HD channels a higher priority than for others,
> > and also bump up Recording Priorities|HDTV Recording Priority two
> > notches. This has worked very nicely for my 4+ years using
> > MythTV. If there is a better way of achieving my goal, I'd love to
> > hear it.
> >   
> But this will only work if you can guarantee or manage it so that HD 
> variant will show up first or simultaneously.

No; the scheduler sees that an HD version of the program will be
available in the next two weeks and waits for that. That's exactly
what I want it to do. If there is no HD version, the scheduler will of
course record the first (SD) airing it can find.

Yes, as Mike Dean warns, this runs the risk that between the first
airing of the SD version of a program, and the HD airing, the schedule
will change, causing the HD version to not get recorded since it's no
longer there. I don't have an issue with that 99% of the time; unless
it's TCM, Cartoon Network, or some other channel for which I don't
have an alternative, I am not interested in SD programs. 

> The conclusion I come to is that it appears this can't be done without a 
> custom rule.

No. As I mentioned, the scheduler does the right thing for me (and has
done so for more than four years) as long as I tell it that a) HD
channels are more valuable to me than others and that b) HD programs
are more valuable to me than others, as per the aforementioned
priority adjustments.

> So now I wonder if it is worth submitting an NFR. I haven't seen
> much traffic on the issue so it is unclear to me if people are
> simply not using the "any time any channel" option or they have
> found reasonable work-arounds.

Any Time Any Channel is the right setting for almost anything other
than a movie, or a series of which you are only interested in a
specific airing (a sitcom you only want to catch one episode of, or a
particular college football game). Again, with the above-mentioned
priority adjustments, my Any Time Any Channel rule for Entourage
records an HD airing of a given episode instead of the many SD
airings. Not that the HD airing will necessarily be the first such,
mind you; if the scheduler decides it makes sense to record the third
such because it needs the tuners for other recordings during the times
for the first two airings it will go ahead and plan so.

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