[mythtv-users] scheduling problem: want first showing not later one

[Michael T. Dean]

On 01/18/2010 10:14 PM, Michael Rice wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 11:07 PM, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>   
>> If in fact "Reschedule Higher Priorities" is disabled, that means that
>> you had a conflict at the earlier time and the sports event lost.
>> Therefore, had it not aired again, the sports event would not even have
>> been recorded.  In other words, the existence of a second showing had
>> absolutely nothing to do with Myth's not recording the first if
>> "Reschedule Higher Priorities."  Myth just couldn't record the things
>> you said you wanted and the sports event.
>>
>> You can see this by going into Manage Recordings|Previously Recorded,
>> then finding the showing and looking at the status to see it didn't
>> record because of conflict.
>>
>> So, the solution is to "get your priorities straight."  :)
>>     
> There was certainly no conflict.  I did look in the Previously Recorded
> list before I started the thread... It only said that there was a later
> showing.  In any case I think I understand the issue now and it is a
> little more sinister.. :)
>
> The rule's priority is 12 and that is sufficiently high that no other show
> will lose... but this particular event was shown a number of times on
> different channels.  The channel that played the event later happened
> to have a higher channel priority so it won the race.
>   

Ah, yeah, when you change non-rule priorities, you're telling Myth to do
things you may not want it to do.

> This also happens when the first showing is in SD and it is later repeated
> in HD.  Since HD boosts the total priority it would be picked instead of the
> first.
>
> It looks like checking program.first > 0 will ensure that I get one of the first
> recordings.  So I am going to try that.  I am also considering restoring all
> the channel priorities to 0.    I think that was added to ensure I recorded from
> the HD channels since the listing data wasn't completely accurate at the time.
>
> So the moral of the story is be careful changing channel priorities since Myth
> will do exactly what it is told to do... not necessarily what you want.
>   

Exactly.  IMHO, you should /never/ change any priorities other than
recording rule priorities unless you've read and you understand all of
section 12 of the HOWTO.

http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-12.html

As a matter of fact, this exact idea is covered in detail in that section.

People generally change channel and input priorities thinking they're
affecting which channel or which input is preferred, but they're
actually affecting which shows are recorded.

Mike