[mythtv-users] Tunning the System

papenfuss at juneau.me.vt.edu papenfuss at juneau.me.vt.edu
Thu Dec 4 12:09:19 EST 2003


On Thu, 4 Dec 2003, Michael Starks wrote:

> >As far as I know, there's no way to shorten that delay when changing
> >channels.
> 
> The windows software I got with the PVR-250 takes a different approach.  It
> sets up the buffer when you actually press pause.  So, when changing
> channels it's quick, but when pausing live TV there is a 2-4 second delay
> before the pause.  Personally, I prefer this approach.  I like to channel
> surf but when I'm pausing something I don't necessarily need instantaneous
> response.
> 
	This approach doesn't allow you to rewind without actively remembering 
to "record" the live TV.  Since LiveTV is always encoded currently in mythtv, 
it's always recorded and accessible via rewind/pause, etc.

	I understand both philosophies, but I'm not convinced you can't have 
both.  I think it's a bit silly to actually watch encoded video when you're 
watching "live" TV.  Why can't mythtv do either an overlay or *immediate* view 
of the captured video/audio and *then* pass it along to the encoder?  For 
instance, xawtv simply spews the data to the screen, without encoding, etc... 
why not do the same and then encode it as it's being watched as well?  Granted, 
with this approach you'll have to wait when you hit pause for the encoder to 
catch up to the real-time video, but that could be an acceptable tradeoff.  I 
would envision a setting to switch between the two, so if you've got a 
low-horsepower setup (bttv on celeron, for instance), you can still watch live 
TV without compromising video quality.  

	What am I missing?
	
	I, personally, find the delay annoying enough to prevent its use as the
primary tv surfing device.

-Cory
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