The US is one of the very few places that some EPG providers include a unique ID for shows. So with something like schedules direct (I think) you can set the "don't record duplicates" flag in config. This won't only record "NEW" episodes, just "new to you" episodes.
-a and -A are 2 different options...at least for mc2xml...
try it with -a and see if you don't see new shows have added " * " at the end...
then just schedule only the ones with * at end to only get new shows..
usually only works in US and select others like he said..
Thank you both for your feedback. I'll investigate a little further. Because I don't want this on all shows.
So if this affects all recordings. I guess I'll just keep it the way it is.