[mythtv-users] Live TV channel restrictions

[Michael T. Dean]

On 02/25/2010 08:08 AM, Ian Oliver wrote:
> Andrew Herron wrote:
>    
>> even if you enable "Browse all
>> channels". Yes "Browse all channels" allows you to browse but it will not
>> allow you to select and tune to any channels that are not on your currently
>> tuned MUX.
>>      
> Yes, that's exactly what I saw.
>    

IIRC, there were some bugs with it--potentially fixed after 0.22.  I'm 
pretty sure that's the setting you needed to enable, but I don't ever 
use LiveTV, so I may be misremembering.  (From another perspective, if 
MythTV does not allow you to actually change to those channels, what's 
the use in showing them?  You'd be better served just always using the 
EPG rather than scrolling through the browse channel list to find the 
show you want, noticing it's not available, then having to exit browse 
mode, then start the EPG, then find the channel, then change to that 
channel.)  There's no specific re-configuration of tuners required to 
use it.  See http://svn.mythtv.org/trac/ticket/4501 for the initial code.

IMHO, Andrew, you should talk to Shane to find out more about how things 
currently work.  He knows the Live TV code and how the related settings 
are supposed to work better than anyone else.  He would also be able to 
give you the best information on requirements for any new code related 
to multirec, Live TV, and tuner selection.  You may just find that 
current MythTV (trunk, at least) already does what you need.

Really, I think the only new feature your code adds (though I haven't 
had a chance to go through the code, yet--this just based on description 
I've heard here) is the ability to go from a "later" tuner (i.e. virtual 
tuner 2 on physical tuner 2) in use for Live TV back to an "earlier" 
tuner (i.e. virtual tuner 2 on physical tuner 1) when changing to a 
channel on an already-tuned-for-a-recording mux in LiveTV.  And this 
would further complicate things, as the show you want to watch in LiveTV 
may be a 1hr show ending in 45 minutes and the show that the scheduler 
has tuned for a recording may be a half-hour show ending in 15 
minutes--meaning that the scheduler may have already planned to change 
the channel/mux tuned by that physical tuner in 15 minutes.  That would 
mean that the user watching LiveTV would be interrupted in about 13 
minutes with a dialog saying that the tuner is needed for a recording 
and asking whether to cancel the recording, watch the same show as it 
records, or exit Live TV.

Then again, I don't use Live TV, so I will defer to others on the 
decision making.  But the point I'm trying to make is that Live TV, and 
its implementation in MythTV, is a complicated subject and a lot of the 
current implementation decisions have been hashed out in detail by those 
involved in the multirec implementation as well as others who have done 
work on Live TV.  They could provide more information on why things work 
the way they do, which may have an impact on the code you're working on.

Anyway, regardless, we do appreciate the work you're doing.  And, 
depending on the implementation you're using to "simplify tuner 
management," that part of the code may be useful for 
http://svn.mythtv.org/trac/ticket/5998 .

Mike