[mythtv-users] Channel zapping and the WAF

[Kyle Rose]

> Point1) Zapping. I know that the whole point of the mythbox is to get
> rid of stupid zapping. However since we are used to cabletv the
> mythbox channel change speed decreases drastically with the
> mythbox. After the signal is send the channel switches and then the
> first picture of the new channel freezes for 2-5 seconds. Is this
> normal behavior or are there any tweaks i can perform ?

Probably not much.

Part of the problem is simply that the encoder and decoder are going
to delay things for a short period.  Further, MythTV almost certainly
does its own buffering (I personally wish it did more because I get
several pauses in the first 4-5 seconds of watching live TV) which is
going to add to the time.

It *would* be nice if these settings were user-configurable, but right
now I'd settle for stable functionality (e.g., the ivtv output driver
freezes in the EPG; when I try to watch the same "live" recording on
two mythfrontends, the backend appears to stop recording) over
additional features.  Those can come later.

> Because i know for fact that this will cause concern until the other
> advantages of the mythbox become more obvious.

If you had a Tivo, you'd notice exactly the same behavior.  If you had
DIRECTV, it would be even worse.  I've actually got the worst of both
worlds: DIRECTV and MythTV. :)

> Point2) Is there a way to get a TV to just display the SVHS input
> after turning on? Turning on the TV with one remote and navigating
> to the right video channel, then switching remotes is going to be
> old really fast.

Depends on your TV.  It doesn't remember the last input?  Every TV
I've ever had does, or at least those that *had* multiple inputs. :)

> P.S: is it possible to run X on both tv and monitor at the same time ? 
> any pointers ?

You want them to display the same image?  Probably not.  If you just
want a dual head setup, there are loads and loads of XF86Config-4's
all over the web demonstrating exactly how to do that.  If you get
stuck, I can mail you mine.  To some extent, it probably depends on
what your other video card is.  I have my PVR-350 set up on :0.0 and
an NVidia GF2 set up on :0.1.

Cheers,
Kyle