Recording priority & recording export

[JeffDwork]

I want to update the wiki documentation regarding recording priorities. Please confirm, correct or add to the following and I'll write it up.

1) Recurring recording priority is oldest first. New recordings are the lowest priority.
2) Where do one-off recordings fit relative to recurring recordings?
3) Recording priority cannot be changed inside npvr at this time. The recurring-backup.xml file can be reordered externally and imported (after deleting all recurring recordings) or the RECURRING_RECORDING table can be reordered in npvr.db3 while the recording service is stopped.
4) Recording conflict detection is not implemented at this time. The list of conflicts will always be empty.
5) Conflicts are detected when the user attempts to schedule a recording. Can someone provide details so I can document it?

Thanks,
Jeff

[johnsonx42]

1) Yes.
2) This one is tricky. Lowest priority when first scheduled against existing scheduled recordings, highest priority against later scheduled recordings, INCLUDING new recurring recordings and changes to the schedule of existing recordings. (basically what's important to understand is that a single recording is only scheduled if a tuner is free at the time the recording is scheduled, and it will be set for that specific tuner; once set, these single recording become immobile, and the nightly EPG update/recurring recording scheduling process will be done against the backdrop of already-existing single recordings)
3) Correct, except when messing with the database directly it's not the order of the recordings exactly, but rather the OID (lowest number first) that controls priority.
4) Correct for the current version.
5) I'm not sure what the current 3.1.1 behavior is here. I think it does tell you if it can't schedule a single recording, but IIRC doesn't offer any means to resolve it. If you ask for a recurring recording and it can't schedule the first episode I think it used to just not schedule it at all, but more recently I think it would still schedule the recurring recording but fail to schedule any episodes. You may have to play with it a bit to see what it does.

[Graham]

Padding is important with conflicts. NextPVR will try and eradicate conflicts by ignoring padding.

Plus, when scheduling single recordings, I have been able to get around conflicts by canceling all of the single recordings for the period and creating them again in a different order. For example, I might schedule A then B, C, D and get a conflict on E. If I delete all five and then do them again in the order E, B, C, D, E ... I might all five to record.

[johnsonx42]

Padding is important with conflicts. NextPVR will try and eradicate conflicts by ignoring padding.

really not true. padding is completely irrelevant. padding is attempted only at recording time, and is never considered during scheduling. it might be the same net effect, padding may not happen, but it's important to understand that it was never considered in the first place.

Plus, when scheduling single recordings, I have been able to get around conflicts by canceling all of the single recordings for the period and creating them again in a different order. For example, I might schedule A then B, C, D and get a conflict on E. If I delete all five and then do them again in the order E, B, C, D, E ... I might all five to record.

yes, the scheduler operates on a fairly simple set of logic that doesn't always use the tuners most efficiently.

[sub]

There is some changes on a few of these items for the next release, so probably best to revisit the questions after the release is out.

[jghanisco]

5) Conflicts are detected when the user attempts to schedule a recording. Can someone provide details so I can document it?

Although Sub mentioned some changes for the next release (conflict advisement I REALLY hope...!!! ), I will mention on this point:

5) When attempting to schedule a recording during a previously scheduled recording (either recurring or one off), a pop-up comes on screen asking if you want to cancel the recording you just tried to schedule or to cancel the previously scheduled recording(s) and keep this one. I've seen this on both the computer and my popcorn hour client.