Changing Device Order

[scsailor]

Ok, I'm giving up. I've tried about 4 or 5 different methods to change the priority order for selecting devices for recording to no avail. I have 2 HD cards, 1 SD card and 1 HD/SD card. I would like the combined card to be selected last since obviously it blocks the other half.

This could be done in Sage5 by adding the devices "backwards" so the latest added would be first in order. But no matter what I try (including disabling the devices, rebooting between single changes, and attempting to grok the properties file to see if I could change it there), it still *always* selects the HD/SD card first.

Any suggestions except repeatedly going through the conflicts to say "record this instead of that" and then readding the "that" (and usually going through the process again?

Thanks!

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by scsailor

This could be done in Sage5 by adding the devices "backwards" so the latest added would be first in order. But no matter what I try (including disabling the devices, rebooting between single changes, and attempting to grok the properties file to see if I could change it there), it still *always* selects the HD/SD card first.

Not sure what you are trying when your are "grok"ing the properties files, but you can set the device order in the sage.properties file by adjusting the "mmc/encoders/xxx/encoder_merit=x" lines. It goes in order of highest to lowest merit number in order that the encoders are used, for recording and "live tv".

It may take some trial and error to figure out which encoder is which, but once you figure that out, then you can set the merit number to suit your needs.

you can do a search for encoder_merit for more info.

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by ke6guj

It may take some trial and error to figure out which encoder is which...

Actually they're fairly clearly labeled in the properties file. The trick is that the device numbers are off by one compared to what you see in the SageTV UI, so for instance if you see something like this in the properties:

mmc/encoders/561229451/video_capture_device_name=FusionHDTV, WDM Video Capture
mmc/encoders/561229451/video_capture_device_num=1

that would correspond to FusionHDTV, WDM Video Capture #2 in the UI.

And "grok" is 60s slang meaning to understand or get the drift of something. It comes from Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land.

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

Actually they're fairly clearly labeled in the properties file.

Sometimes. If you've got 2 PVR-500's, you've got 4 listings for "mmc/encoders/xxxxx/video_capture_device_name=Hauppauge WinTV PVR PCI II Capture", and trying to figure out what is what was a pain in the ....

The trick is that the device numbers are off by one compared to what you see in the SageTV UI, so for instance if you see something like this in the properties:

Yup, thats because the device numbers start at ZERO, not ONE.

[scsailor]

Originally Posted by ke6guj

Not sure what you are trying when your are "grok"ing the properties files, but you can set the device order in the sage.properties file by adjusting the "mmc/encoders/xxx/encoder_merit=x" lines. It goes in order of highest to lowest merit number in order that the encoders are used, for recording and "live tv".

It may take some trial and error to figure out which encoder is which, but once you figure that out, then you can set the merit number to suit your needs.

you can do a search for encoder_merit for more info.

Hmm, interesting. I didn't see that the first time "grok'ing" ;-) [The term became an early computer-speak for "parsable" input.] I guess since my properties file has all encoders at merit=0 that defeats the logic. [and thanks GKusnick for the clue about device #'s. It's been an age long dispute whether you start counting at 0 or 1. ;-) I often use # != 0 meaning that it's "set" but then index with #-1.]

Anyways, I've modified the prop file and so far it looks good. Thanks for the advice!!

Cheers.