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Recording multiple shows from 1 digital tuner
http://forum.linhes.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=19379		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  marc.aronson [ Tue Dec 30, 2008 2:33 am ]
Post subject:  Recording multiple shows from 1 digital tuner
r5.5 includes a feature that allows one to record multiple shows on the same digital tuner, as long as all of those shows are on the same transponder. I tried it out on my machine and it seems to work well. I ran 2 5-minute test cycles and successfully recorded 4 shows concurrently on the same tuner.

Has anyone else tried this feature out? I'm trying to determine if there are any known-issues with its stability / robustness. Thanks!

Marc
Author:  tophee [ Tue Dec 30, 2008 4:11 am ]
Post subject: 
I use it all the time. My two DVB-T cards are set to record 3 channels a piece - so theoretically that's 6 shows at once. One caveat: You need to set your Mythbox to order recordings to stop clashes with live tv and ... something else.
I can't remember at the moment, but it's just a tickbox to allow it to reorder / prioritise or something to get best functionality. I'm not in front of the mythbox at the moment and have work to do but you'll find it with a look around.
Author:  mattshaw [ Tue Dec 30, 2008 5:33 am ]
Post subject: 
So how do I set this feature up ??? Cant find it documented anywhere

Thanx
Author:  tophee [ Tue Dec 30, 2008 6:44 am ]
Post subject: 
Multi record feature is setup in Mythtv-setup where you first set your tuner card.
If you go back there and go into the individual tuner, there is a page off there that allows how many 'tuners' you can set.
Sorry not very detailed response, I'm haivng to go from memory as I am chained to my desktop pc atm. Oh, you need to be running 5.5.
Regards
Author:  jzigmyth [ Tue Dec 30, 2008 7:52 am ]
Post subject: 
Is this the same feature that would allow the last five minutes of one show to also be the first five minutes of another show?

In other words if you only have one tuner and there are two shows on the same channel, back to back, you could have the first show record an extra five minutes at the end just to make sure you get the entire end and the second show start recording 5 minutes early to make sure you get the beginning. So for five minutes the same stream is going into two files at once.

Is this something else or not possible at all?
Thanks.
Author:  marc.aronson [ Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:00 am ]
Post subject: 
tophee wrote:
One caveat: You need to set your Mythbox to order recordings to stop clashes with live tv and ... something else.
I can't remember at the moment, but it's just a tickbox to allow it to reorder / prioritise or something to get best functionality. I'm not in front of the mythbox at the moment and have work to do but you'll find it with a look around.


Tophee, I looked around a bit but was not able to recognize the settings you are referring to -- could you provide a bit more specifics?

***update after initial post - I did some more digging -- are you referring to the following two settings located under utils/setup->setup->TV settings->General(Basic)
Code:
Avoid conflicts between liveTV and scheduled shows
Allow LiveTV to move scheduled shows


If so I'm trying to understand why these settings are important if I enable the ability to record multiple programs from one tuner -- thanks!

mattshaw wrote:
So how do I set this feature up ??? Cant find it documented anywhere


Mattshaw, to setup this feature, do the following:

1. Exit the myth frontend.
2. Stop the myth backend (ALT-2)
3. Start mythtv-setup (ALT-s)
4. Select "2 Capture cards"
5. Select your capture card. Remember, it must be a digital tuner.
6. Hit the "Recording Options" button.
7. Increase "Max Recordings" from 1 to the number you want to allow.
8. Exit mythtv setup
9. Restart mythth backend (ALT-3)
10. Restart the front end (ALT-m)

You should be all set.

Marc
Author:  tophee [ Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:21 am ]
Post subject: 
Hi marc,
I'm afraid I'm a slave to the keyboard for the rest of the day. I'll have a look around later though.

Ah, I think remember something about what I was referring to...
I seem to recall allowing myth to move recordings to avoid clashes with live tv.
I think there is a setting to set priority on which physical tuner you use first (or something like that I think).

It may not be relevant to you if you don't use/have multiple physical digital tuners. Otherwise you might get booted off the mux you were using to watch. Or you suddenly get a limited selection of channels (only the ones available on whatever mux you are recording from).
You'd have to switch inputs manually which to my mind can be hassle or particularly use friendly.

HTH and YMMV.

Hopefully I haven't muddied the waters too much!
Regards Chris

edit - Ah that's them. :D (see above)

edit again to correct dubious grammar
Author:  mattshaw [ Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:02 am ]
Post subject: 
Thanx for the tips. I have been reading about the multirec for a year or so, and never really understood it. I do understand that you can record shows from the same mux, but what would happen if you choose to record another show or watch live tv on a show from another mux ?? (on a 1 tuner system) Would you be kicked out to the menu ??
Author:  tophee [ Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:18 am ]
Post subject: 
I would imagine so. In previous versions when watching live tv (and a single tuner), and a recording wants to start several options would be presented. The option to record and exit, watch while it records or defer/ override recording.

I expect something similar would happen when only 1 physical tuner is present.
Author:  turpie [ Tue Dec 30, 2008 6:59 pm ]
Post subject: 
marc.aronson wrote:
7. Increase "Max Recordings" from 1 to the number you want to allow.

Does anyone know why you might want to limit this setting? I would have thought a simple on/off setting would be enough.
Author:  marc.aronson [ Tue Dec 30, 2008 7:20 pm ]
Post subject: 
turpie wrote:
marc.aronson wrote:
7. Increase "Max Recordings" from 1 to the number you want to allow.

Does anyone know why you might want to limit this setting? I would have thought a simple on/off setting would be enough.


I don't know the intent of the developers, but one issue is system limitations. Your machine can only move a finite amount of data per second -- limiting the maximum number of concurrent recordings could be necessary to ensure you don't exceed your system's bus capacity...

Marc
Author:  tophee [ Wed Dec 31, 2008 4:08 am ]
Post subject: 
I'm not sure about limits for virtual tuners for individual cards as such, (for some reason I'm thinking 8... no idea why). I have a feeling I read something about limits last year. However I think marc probably is right - any limitation is down to the bandwidth of your computer to shift data. After the 12th I'll have some time again. I'll be setting up a test box to see if I can crack the problem I was experiencing with a Nova-T500. I may play with the multi-rec options and see.

Jzigmyth,
I saw this on the mythtv page about multirec. It seems to say that it will make sure you don't miss the last / first five minutes of back to back recordings:

Quote:
Multiplex recording also allows overlapping of sequential recordings of the same program. That avoids the annoying problem with the end of a broadcast being in the next recording or the beginning of a broadcast being at the end of a previous recording, as is lately popular with syndicated reruns of programs like Scrubs and ER.

You can read the whole page here
Author:  jzigmyth [ Wed Dec 31, 2008 8:37 am ]
Post subject: 
tophee wrote:
Jzigmyth,
I saw this on the mythtv page about multirec. It seems to say that it will make sure you don't miss the last / first five minutes of back to back recordings:

You can read the whole page here
Thanks, Tophee.
That is exactly what I was looking for. Unfortunately, I have HDhomerun tuners and it looks like myth .21 doesn't support multirecord for the HDhomerun yet. Thanks again.
Author:  spalVl [ Wed Dec 31, 2008 4:57 pm ]
Post subject: 
jzigmyth wrote:
Unfortunately, I have HDhomerun tuners and it looks like myth .21 doesn't support multirecord for the HDhomerun yet. Thanks again.


Yeah HDhomerun is capable, but MythTV not there yet.

http://www.silicondust.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6021
Author:  mythman13 [ Sun Jan 04, 2009 11:11 am ]
Post subject:  multirec works fine for me but could work better on live tv
Hi,

I have multirec working on my dual-tuner NOVA-T500 card and I've got it set on a max of 5 recordings per tuner each = 10 recordings on 2 multiplexes. I too was unsure why there was this limitation, but I have to say that i've never had to record more than 4 shows at once on 2 multiplexes (i.e. only recording 2 shows on each tuner concurrently). Its definitely one the best features in Knoppmyth R5.5 8) .

Setting up was not intuative and tophee is right about having to change some setting, read my experience about setting up here:
http://knoppmyth.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.p ... highlight=
One thing that annoys me a bit still is that if both physical tuners are busy recording then when you go into live tv you can only view (by simply enetering the channel number) the channels on the multiplex which is currently being recorded by the second physical tuner. Although you can change input and then watch channels live on the other multiplex being recorded by the first physical tuner. As BigB says there is a fix for 'browsing across the tuners' and that along with an easier / more intuative setup would be my recommendations for this really useful setting, cheers!
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