More intelligent clash control for recordings. (1 Viewer)

elsmandino

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It would be really great if Mediaportal Server could be implemented with a more intelligent clash control – that is, unless there is a way of doing this that I have not set up properly.

At the moment, I have two DVB-T tuners and a single DVB-S2 tuner – all duplicates of channels are combined.

To make sure that I always have the HD channels available from the DVB-S2 card, I have set the DVB-T tuners as priority 3 and 2 and then have the DVB-S2 card as priority 1.

I have always noticed that if I set recordings in the wrong order, I will often get a clash. For example:

If I set a recording at 8pm on a channel that is available on both DVB-T and DVB-S, it will choose to record using the first DVB-T tuner.

If I then choose to record a second channel also at 8pm (again available on both Freeview and Freesat), it will then choose the second DVB-T tuner.

The problem starts if I then choose to record a third channel at 8pm, but that channel is only on DVB-T. Mediaportal will tell me that I have a clash and that this is not possible.

I have to then actually cancel the recordings on one of the available DVB-T cards, record the third program on the DVB-T card and then switch the now cancelled program to the DVB-S2 card.

I was going to put this post in the Wish List section but was just checking that there is not already a way to achieve the above.

Ultimately, I want Mediaportal to use the pre-defined tuner card priorities but allow it to swap whenever there is a potential clash.

Another way that this might be further implemented is when there is a clash, Mediaportal could do a quick scan for later showings of the involved programs and work out which one it should reschedule to make sure that everything gets recorded.

Thanks

Alex
 
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kiwijunglist

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    Are you sure you can map the same channel to both DVB-S and DVB-T tuners???

    I would of thought the following -

    You will have Channel One from DVB-S mapped to DVB-S tuner, but you can't map the Channel one from DVB-S onto the DVB-T tuner, because DVB-T tuner can not tune DVB-S. You have to map Channel One from DVB-T to DVB-T tuners, so they are not the technically same channel. or am I wrong?

    for example for the channel that is the same on DVB-S and DVB-T are there 2 entries in the main unfiltered channel list?
     
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    elsmandino

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    Hi,

    What I have done is combine the channels wherever possible.

    For example, I have combined BBC One on the DVB-T tuners to BBC One on the DVB-S tuner.

    I therefore just have have a single BBC One channel that can be watched from any of the three tuners - i.e. in the main channel list, it appears once but has next to it, that it consists of DVB-T and DVB-S.
     

    kiwijunglist

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    Ahhh ok. If a developer took interest in it then it might be something that could be changed. I'm guessing that the recording schedule must be mapped to a specific card at the time the recording is scheduled, rather than scheduling a specific channel/time/program. Sounds like a big change. As far as I understand we are developing TVE3.5 (replacement for tv-server) so they might be reluctant to make any large changes to the code.

    If someone from @Testers who has a channel with both DVB-T & DVB-S can confirm this problem, then I can add this issue to JIRA then it can be scheduled to maybe fix or never fix etc...
     
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    elsmandino

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    Thank you - much appreciated.

    I did think that what I was after was a bit of a step-up from what currently was available.

    Having read the Wiki, I note that TV Server will keep going through the TV Tuners in order until it can do what it wants (i.e. a free multiplex to make a recording or stream live TV). It appears that it does this in isolation to other subsequent schedules so once it have linked a recording to a particular tuner, it is locked on unless you delete it.

    Do you think that potentially a plugin might be another way forward to allow the Server to work out what the best thing to do is?

    I do seem to remember that WMC used to scan the EPG and flag up repeats of a particular program on not only that channel but others as well (if you set a recording, it would show a little symbol next to every repeat showing in the EPG) - if there was a clash, it pointed out that one of the scheduled programs was available elsewhere and let you choose which of all the available repeats to record.

    For the time being, I guess my only way round the problem is to buy more tuner cards or make sure that I record all more recordings early in the morning and avoid the dreaded prime-time slot when all the good stuff seems to be on at the same time.
     
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    kiwijunglist

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    Do you think that potentially a plugin might be another way forward to allow the Server to work out what the best thing to do is?

    When you make the conflicted schedule, can you click ignore and create the schedule anyway? If so then I could imagine a 3rd party plugin could be made to easily shuffle conflicts.[DOUBLEPOST=1372251549][/DOUBLEPOST]PS. I also get Deja Vu from your post, I think someone else has brought this up before within the last year. Did you find another thread with the same problem as you?
     

    elsmandino

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    I have never actually tried ignoring a conflicted schedule before - I always panic that it will chop the end of something imporant.

    I shall try and set up a deliberate conflict and see what happens if i try to proceed anyway.

    I did try and search for this problem before posting but did not find anything. Perhaps I shall search for the keyword "conflict" rather than "clash" and see what I can find.

    Thanks for your help with this.

    Alex
     

    elsmandino

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    Kiwijunglist - you have a good memory. I think I have found the thread you may have been referring to:

    https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/threads/how-do-recordings-get-allocated-to-cards.80514/page-2

    It does seem that there was talk of advanced an advanced scheduling algorithm into TVE, as you said, or perhaps developing a Conflict Manager Plugin.

    Sadly, the trail appears to have gone cold - it is strange that not more people have the same issues as I have with conflicts. Perhaps i should be a bit more selective with what I record.
     

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