Scheduling Advice

[elsmandino]

Hello,

I am still getting used to NPVR and was wondering how the scheduler works.

At the moment, I have two DVB-T tuners and a single DVB-S2 tuner.

I have one of the DVB-T tuners as the first priority for recording, then the DVB-S2 tuner and then the other DVB-T tuner.

In my channel list, I have all the HD channels at the top, followed by the +1 channels and lastly the SD versions of the channels. For example, Channel4 HD is above Channel 4+1, which is above Channel 4.

Whenever I set a series recording, I go to the topmost channel available and click record every time on any channel. I also have avoid duplicates set.

This seems to work fine, but I do seem to get some clashes where I don't think they should occur.

How sophisticated is NPVR in terms of switching recordings if another showing is show on another channel?

By the way, the reason I have HD channels at the top is based upon my prior experience with Argus TV - to favour HD recordings where possible. No idea if this is applicable to NPVR.

Thanks

[sub]

People would usually merge channels that are available on multiple devices, so the app channel use either device for that channel. For example, if you have BBC1 on DVB-T and DVB-S, you'd merge them so you only have a single BBC1 channel listed, and the app can use either source. If you have them as separate channels, it'll impede the ability to look for alternative recording sources.

When it's looking for a device to record a show, it'll generally make it's way down the devices list, looking for the first available device. The recording is then provisionally allocated to that tuner. It may not end up using that device though - at recording time it'll sometimes move a recording to another device because a tuner was in use for live tv, or to accommodate a device being used for live tv.

The scheduler doesn't care if you have your HD channels at the top. If you have one device that receives more HD versions of channels, you'd be best to move that device to the top of the devices list.

How sophisticated is NPVR in terms of switching recordings if another showing is show on another channel?

Some of this varies depending on your EPG. If you using Schedules Direct, it has show identifiers that allow the application to tell one airing of a show from another. If these are available, then it'll use otehr channel to fulfil a recording request that would otherwise have caused a conflict.

[mvallevand]

I have SD and HD versions of the same channels on different tuners so I can't merge them. I did make a wishlist request to improve this http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php...e-priority

Martin

[HarryH3]

I don't know if your setup is similar, but our cable company delivers the same content in SD and HD, on different channels. Since I have zero interest in watching the content in SD, I have deleted those channels from the lineup in NextPVR so it ignores the SD channels and always looks only at the HD channels.

[elsmandino]

Thanks for that.

Sorry, I should clarify that all duplicate channels of the same definition, on more than tuner, are indeed merged as one. I am also using Schedules Direct for my EPG.

It does seem that NPVR is indeed pretty sophisticated when it comes to rescheduling so I wonder what is going on - I might try moving the DVB-S2 tuner from number 2 to number 1 priority, as suggested, to see how that helps things.

I note that you say that channel order is irrelevant for scheduling purposes, but that is what is slightly confusing me.

Just to explain what I mean by example:

Based upon my tuners, I have three sources for ITV1 in SD (one each from the DVB-T tuners and one from the DVB-S2 tuner), merged as a single channel. I also have ITV1 in HD from the DVB-S2 tuner. I have been scheduling "I'm a celebrity, get me out of here", to record every time it is on with no duplicates.

I have found that all my recordings for this show are in HD. Why is this? If channel order is not important, how is NPVR knowing to record the HD version in preference to SD? Does it do this by default?

[sub]

If channel order is not important, how is NPVR knowing to record the HD version in preference to SD? Does it do this by default?

It doesn't take SD/HD in account at all. It just does it based on the device order. Usually, users with multiple devices have a symetric setup, with all the tuners being the same type (like multiple DVB-T tuners etc), and each will receive the same quality for the same channel, so it doesn't matter which tuner is used - if you record on an HD channel, you'll get an HD recording no matter which of the tuners is used. If you've got an asymetric setup, with mixture of DVB-S and DVB-T, then you should put whatever device is likely to receive more HD channels first on the device list. Most asymetric setups have a clear difference between sources that provide more HD, so it's usually straight forward to have it prefer HD by setting that device higher in the list.

[elsmandino]

Ah right.

This is making much more sense now.

So, given my set up, am I correct in thinking that I should merge the SD version of ITV1 from my DVB-T tuners with the HD version of ITV1 from my DVB-S2 card and set the DVB-S2 card to the highest priority?

Whenever I record something on ITV1, therefore, it will try to record in HD if available and otherwise in SD if not?

[sub]

So, given my set up, am I correct in thinking that I should merge the SD version of ITV1 from my DVB-T tuners with the HD version of ITV1 from my DVB-S2 card and set the DVB-S2 card to the highest priority?

Whenever I record something on ITV1, therefore, it will try to record in HD if available and otherwise in SD if not?

Yes, correct.