[mythtv-users] Re: mythtv-users Digest, Vol 12, Issue 128

[Peter Lee]

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004, David Rees wrote:
> 
> Michael Starks wrote, On 1/27/2004 8:37 PM:
>> 
>>> So, does MythTV pass the ever dreaded Spouse Test?
>> 
>> I currently have a GAF of 7 out of 10.  It was 8 but she deducted one
>> point because live TV freezes.  I hear it's fixed in the next release,
>> so maybe I'll get that point back. :)
> 
> My wife loves it too except for that we get the same occasional freezes
> while watching live TV.  The key was getting the remote working well
> with it, it's too hard to remember the keys with the keyboard.

For me, MythTV rates an 11 points out of 10.  :-)  But the WAF (Wife
Annoyance Factor) in my house is about 5/10.  Despite this, in an expression
of true love, my wife has anyway switched to using MythTV exclusively
(except when watching hdtv programming).  The TiVo is still hooked up, but
as far as I know it hasn't been used now for a couple of weeks at least.
(Or maybe my wife is secretly using it while I'm not around ;-)

Why 5/10?  For my wife, MythTV wins with:

 1) commercial skip (this is not perfect but still amazing effective -- a
really big feature!),
 2) fast EPG (at least 4 times faster than the TiVo's!),
 3) (semi)integrated dvd playing (the same simple remote controls both tv
and dvd!),
 4) huge disk capacity (we try, but we can't fill the disk!),
 5) overall polish of the themes/gui's (it just looks slicker/whizzier than
the TiVo!).

On the other hand, the WAF comes from:

 1) occasional front-end freezes that leave her helpless (I don't let her
hit the power button -- maybe I should),
 2) relentlessly hierarchical user interface (eg, you need to escape back up
to the top in order to switch from live tv to recordings, etc.) instead of
simple mode-changing keys/buttons.  The hierarchical structure makes sense
to a computer person like me, but not to a normal person like my wife.  My
explanations as to why it is the way it is don't manage to convince her),
 3) slightly diminished (but noticeable) picture quality for TV (though dvd
is great, and I am optimistic that upgrading to a pvr-350 some day will fix
this),
 4) "OK"/space/return key in EPG mode that specifies "record" instead of
"switch to that channel", especially for programs that have already started,
 5) tv program info database that lacks information about what actors are in
the program and whether or not the program is a re-run.

So, my wife gives it a score of 5/10.  I think she is being overly harsh, in
part because she probably doesn't understand the future potential of Myth
and possibly undervalues the extra features that go well beyond the TiVo.
But her feedback also tells me the value of simplicity in user interface and
reliability (or, at least, automatic recovery after a crash/freeze) for
"normal" users.  These are early days, and the fact that my wife can already
agree to use Myth is a testament to just how good it is.  And it's only
version 0.13!...

Peter