[mythtv-users] Re: EFF calls for developers for MythTV

[J. Donavan Stanley]

Francois Gouget wrote:

>On Tue, 6 Jul 2004, J. Donavan Stanley wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Would you say that a game needed to be made better because you had
>>problems installing the video card you bought to play it with?
>>    
>>
>
>If you only care about developing a great game then it's not your
>problem. But again if your goal is widespread use of your game it starts
>becoming relevant, and if acceptance of Linux as a gaming platform is
>your goal then the video card setup definitely becomes your problem.
>  
>

This is a systems integration issue outside the scope of MythTV.  Heck 
it's outside the scope of what the EFF wants since ivtv has nothing to 
do with HDTV...  Improving the ivtv drivers affects more than just 
Myth.  It *should* be done  and it is being done but really the 
manufacturer should be driving it not MythTV...



>>>* When I'm watching a show, the Vol- and Vol+ keys on my remote control
>>>don't change the volume as one would expect. Instead they cause the show
>>>to skip forward or backwards. It's certainly not intuitive and fixable.
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>It certainly *is* fixable.  You should either a) Fix the config for your
>>remote so it send the proper keys for val up and vol down
>>    
>>
>
>Well, initially I did checked my ~/.mythtv/lircrc configuration but I
>had a problem. As far a I understand this file simply remaps the remote
>keys to the regular keyboard keys. But on the Hauppage remote the
>Vol-/Vol+ keys also doubles as the left/right arrows. Visually the
>relevant keys look like this:
>
>
>
>So as I see things I have two options:
> * either I remap [<] and [>] to the left/right arrow keys and then I
>can use them to interact with the MythTV widgets and to skip
>backwards/forwards when watching a show. But then I have to use other
>keys to change the volume. Currently I'm using [Yellow]/[Blue].
>
> * or I don't remap them. Then I can use them to change the volume when
>watching a show, but I have to find other keys to interact with the
>MythTV widgets since they obviously ignore Vol-/Vol+.
>  
>

Or option #3 get a better remote.  ;)  Seriously, One For All makes some 
great remotes that work a lot better than the POS remote that comes with 
the PVRx50 cards.

>Neither option is really satisfying ans intuitive. Ideally the [<]/[>]
>keys would behave like Vol-/Vol+ when watching a show and like the
>left/right arrows everywhere else. But that would require a
>context-sensitive mapping.
>  
>
Which Myth has.  Though I don't think it'd help in this case. 

Incidently why are you chaing the colume in Myth?  Are you using powered 
speakers connected to your PC or something?  I always assumed folks used 
the line out on their card to hook to a tuner or their TV.




>>or b) Change the keybinding (using mythweb) so that they match what
>>your remote is sending.
>>    
>>
>
>I don't have MythWeb installed here. I thought it was only used for
>browsing the web using MythTV. Are you saying it can also be used to
>reconfigure MythTV?
>
>  
>
MythBrowser is for browsing the web using MyhTV.  MythWeb is for 
scheduling /watching recordings, configureing Myth and a bunch more stuff.



>>>* There are recipies around for preparing shows to put them on DVD. But
>>>this has to be done outside of MythTV and it not really obvious. Some
>>>PVR boxes in France include a DVD writer and can save shows to DVD, no
>>>fuss there. So it would be nice to have similar functionality in MythTV.
>>>
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>There's been at least one posting of a DVD burner app that automates all
>>of this and can be used by remote.
>>    
>>
>
>Is this the script that was mentioned in this email?
>
>Date: Sun, 27 Jun 2004 13:37:23 +0200
>From: Esben Skov Pedersen <spam at geek.linux.dk>
>To: mythtv-users at mythtv.org
>Subject: [mythtv-users] legend: new program for tranacoding recordings
>  
>

No I was referring to this one: 
http://gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/72500?search_string=DVD%20create;#72500

>>>  - If I switch the GUI from French to English and go to 'Watch
>>>Recordings' I get a 'No recordings available' because it's looking for a
>>>category called 'Tous programmes'. It's a bit unnerving and switching
>>>the GUI language should not cause such problems.
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>That shouldn't be the case... It should ALWAYS look for "All programs"
>>and only display the translated name.  Have you put this into bugzilla?
>>    
>>
>
>Apparently this might be fixed in the CVS version.
>  
>

When I looked at the code it looked like it was.  I had forgotten that 
it was a .15 bug...

>>>* Better integration between Myth modules: when using the TV part I can
>>>control the volume using [ ] and \, but that doesn't work in MythVideo.
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>Mythvideo uses other apps to play videos so how the keys are configured
>>is really up to the user.  I know I'd not be happy with myth if it
>>changed the configs of my apps out from under me.
>>    
>>
>
>There's a different point of vue that says that MythVideo is a part of
>MythTV and thus should behave the same and that which application
>MythVideo uses to do the task is an implementation detail the user
>should not have to worry about.
>  
>

If someone were buying this you'd be right.  As it is, it's an issue for 
package maintainers at best.  Unless I know what remote you're using I 
can't decide what keys should do what...  But if I control the hardware 
then I could and should make everything consistant...


>So while using MPlayer or Xine to play videos simplifies things from a
>development point of view, it can hurt ease of use. Corporate types
>would say it's a tradeoff between time-to-market and integration<g>.
>  
>
They'd be wrong.  Unix has always about doing one thing and doing it 
well.   It's a bad idea to reinvent the wheel unless you have a very 
good reason.