[mythtv-users] How to configure for HD channel to get priority (Freesat/Freeview UK)?

[Michael T. Dean]

On 04/16/2013 05:40 PM, Joseph Fry wrote:
>>> On Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 2:15 PM, nospam312 wrote:
>>>
>>>> What is the best method of setting up MythTV so it records BBC1/2/ITV/4
>>>> HD off the Freesat tuner before trying the Freeview tuner?
>>>>
>>>> Can MythTV do this automatically?  I can give priority to the Freesat
>>>> tuner but then all recordings even the none HD are recorded off Freesat
>>>> first?
>>> In mythweb>  settings>  tv>  channel info,  you can set a value in the
>>> "recpriority" field to give a channel, a higher priority.
>>>
>>> As long as your two tuners are in separate "sources" you should have the
>>> channel in there twice, even if the channel has the same number and XMLID,
>>> and Call sign for each source.  So just make sure to set the right one.
>>
>>
>>
>> I think the preferred method is to NOT use priorities but instead to set
>> the input ORDER instead (in mythtv-setup). Give the Freesat tuner input a
>> lower order number than the Freeview. Otherwise you may encounter
>> situations where a program doesn't record at all (or records later) because
>> it couldn't record it on the higher priority channel, even if it was on
>> another channel earlier. Note that this applies to ALL programs&  channels,
>> not just the channels you listed--the scheduler will try to record on that
>> input first and will switch to the Freeview in case of a conflict or a
>> program that's not available on the Freesat input.
>>
> You can use input ordering, but then you will have a situation where
> recordings will always fill the tuners in the order provided (assuming the
> show exists on both sources).  This may not be desirable in all
> circumstances.
>
> For example say he orders them so that freesat is used before freeview.
>   Freesat has more channels than freeview, thus it is more desirable that it
> remains free for watching live tv, or last minute recording of shows that
> only are only available on freesat.  However if he puts freeview first, it
> will record any shows available there first, and leave freesat available
> for use when you want to watch/record something thats only available there.
>

The issue is that in 0.26-fixes and below, channel priority doesn't do 
what people think it does--it doesn't say, "If this show is available on 
both channels, record it on this one."  It says, "Everything--including 
garbage--shown on this channel is that much better than stuff shown on 
the other channel."  That means MythTV could choose to record a show you 
don't like as much as a different, higher-priority show that only airs 
on the lower-priority channel, and the higher-priority show could lose 
out as a conflict, resulting in your missing the episode.

So, on 0.26-fixes, the best solution for saying, "I want to record on 
these channels on this card first," is the schedule order--because it 
doesn't mess with your specified recording priorities.  If schedule 
order doesn't work for you because you are trying to free up the better 
source for use with specific channels--meaning you actually want 
different channels on the same source/input to be used with different 
priorities--you /can/ use channel priorities, but you /must/ be careful 
to use sufficient priority separation such that recording priority + 
channel priority + input priority + (other priorities, such as HDTV 
priorities, etc.) comes out in the right order all the time--basically, 
the problem of assigning recording priorities quickly becomes 
intractable when you introduce too many modifiers (and you end up 
fudging it and just fixing conflicts manually).  If you're using channel 
priorities in 0.26-fixes or below, you may be best served using negative 
priorities on the less-preferred channels, though, to minimize the 
chances of something not good getting bumped way up by all the positive 
priorities such that it gets recorded in preference to something you 
like better.

In unstable/development/0.27-pre, the channel priority works the way 
most people always thought it works--it actually only affects individual 
shows that are available on both channels (not saying that "Honey Boo 
Boo" (which for illustrative purposes we'll say is only on Freesat) is 
+1 because it's on BBC1 HD (which could bump it up to win out over some 
better (any other?) show), but saying, "If Dr Who is airing on BBC1 HD 
and BBC1 non-HD, try to record it on BBC1 HD").  So in future MythTV, 
you'll just use channel priorities.

That said, the OP's question--if I'm reading it right--is completely 
different.  He's saying, "I want to record HDTV shows off the HDTV 
versions of the channels on Freesat and not waste those channels on SDTV 
shows that are available on other channels on other inputs"  For that, 
there are a couple of options.  The first one--which only works if you 
have "good" guide data--is to add a positive HDTV priority.  If you do, 
then any show marked as HDTV in the guide data will have that positive 
priority.  And, assuming your guide data on the non-HDTV channel does 
/not/ mark the show as HDTV, you'll get what you want.  (But remember 
that means even your unimportant shows that are marked as HDTV get a 
priority boost versus better shows that are not marked as HDTV.)

That said, since guide data may not be that precise in its 
identification of HDTV material, the alternative option is to 
specifically prefer an input for a given recording rule.  This way, if 
you know that Dr Who airs on BBC1 HD, you can prefer one of the Freesat 
inputs.  Unfortunately, the down side is that this requires you to 
specify a particular input--so if you have Freesat HDTV channels on 
multiple inputs (i.e. 2xFreesat inputs), you'll have to be careful with 
shows that air at the same time on Freesat and make sure that one 
prefers the first input and the other prefers the second.

So, basically, there are several options, but the specifics of what you 
want (and how often you want it) will determine which approach is best 
for you.  Note, also, that what the responses talked about (which I 
don't think is what you want) gets /much/ simpler in 
unstable/development/0.27pre and will actually work like they described 
without the downside I tried to describe.

I hope this is a good enough (and understandable) description.  I'm sure 
David Engel, our scheduler expert, could explain things better than I 
did and probably correct several things I said and maybe even add 
another method or 2 to use, but I hope this gives you enough information 
to play around and find something that works for you.  (And if you go 
with channel priorities, keep in mind that you may want to change them 
after 0.27, if you actually use them with a "0.26 and before" style 
definition--either that or just use them as if they worked like they 
will/like most people think they work, and manually fix the problems it 
creates since you'll be upgrading to 0.27 "soon" enough).

Mike