[mythtv-users] manual scheduling -> "no upcoming recordings"

[R. Geoffrey Newbury]

On Fri, 4 Nov 2005 19:55:33 -0500, Isaac Richards wrote:

>On Friday 04 November 2005 06:43 pm, R. Geoffrey Newbury wrote:
>> On Fri, 4 Nov 2005 17:01:42 -0500, Isaac Richards wrote:
>> >On Friday 04 November 2005 04:33 pm, f-myth-users at media.mit.edu wrote:
>> >Have you ever used _anything_ with a remote control before?  I guarantee
>> > that there's not a "Press the 'Guide' button to bring up the program
>> > guide" message burned in to your TV from it being displayed all the time.
>> >
>> >Did you even bother to read the mythtv howto?  It lists all the commands:
>> >http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HOWTO-11.html
>>
>> Sorry Isaac but that page makes NO mention of the keys working in
>> mythtv-setup...
>> and it never occurred to me that the remote would work *during setup*.
>> Silly of me...Some reflection would have lead me to the realization that
>> the built-in lirc stuff would be available.  But...
>> I still haven't got my remote working properly (nothing to do with myth..
>> its a lirc_imon thing...) so I cannot use the remote at all. I am forced
>> to use the keyboard.
>
>'M'enu and 'I'nfo are pretty much global keybindings, just like the arrows and 
>number keys.  

Not in front of me at the moment, but doesn't 'I' do something else in
mythfrontend....ISTR noticing that 'I' *did not* give 'info'...

>The entire myth UI is meant to be useable with a remote, 
>including the setup app.  That's the entire point of the whole application.

Isaac, 
Absolutely. It should be usable with a remote....... but (you knew that
was coming!) that means certain restrictions in layout and structure are
needed...It's good but not where it should be. It does work. It could work
better.. (Sounds like government!)

I'm still fighting with my setup... so I have been running mythtv-setup a
*number* of times. There are things which are silly, obscure, misplaced
and illogical  (and the user becomes all of the above!  Especially
misplaced hunched over the computer, at which point the WAF temperature
becomes about -40  and that's F or C!).

Rather than hash those out in an unstructured manner, maybe we should
collectively turn our minds to how to structure a reasonable campaign to
deal with these things. We need, I think, a series of open threads each
dealing with a subject, and an instance of that subject, such as Menu Page
Structures: Main Page, Menu Page Structures: Setup Page. 

I suggest this in order that we can attempt to separate screen usability
(how the page works and what's on it) from program logic issues (what
affects what)  from 'upgrade ideas' (such as better help, different
switches/entries, some form of 'oops' protection...how about a script (or
button!) to backup/restore the program guide tables..) 

There is a real rat's nest involved in the trade-offs between the setup
program and the frontend. To my way of thinking, there are parts of each
which should be in the other. As a basic proposition, the setup program
should do stuff which only needs to be done once in a while. It should be
run, as root, and should take care of permissions and such from within
that program. 

It should NOT however, ever destroy data without asking 3 times.
It should not automatically do things which will destroy data either. (I'm
thinking of the unexpected calls to DirectData.)

(I'm at the office to re-run mythtv-setup and re-download my channel
information... Funny that, running channel scan messes up the program
data...(changed all the channel numbers ie. from 8 to 9, don't know why..)
which *also* had the effect of neutering the recording setting: the
program was still in the 'to-be-recorded' listing, but would never be
recorded because the data was now tainted...)

Another issue for work are the 'Help Items' which come up when you are on
the field. Another is actually the HOW-TO...it uses different words in
different places for the same thing:... client and server for frontend and
backend... and for that matter sometimes BE or MBE...
Another large area, which will require time but not deep effort is error
messages  or information messages from the program, which don't actually
help... I'm presently getting a 'select timeout' error from the
backend...'select' what? I have a pretty good idea what it means but no
idea as to why it is happening. But the program 'knows' lots of stuff and
could tell us if we make it. It always knows which piece of hardware it is
trying to deal with: we should too.

Since my hardware works (cat /dev/video0 > etc... I was watching Kevin
Costner last night....) I'm trying to figure out why the backend cannot
connect/select/tune the card, nor as it happens find the ringbuffer...no
live TV either...


Lots to do at both ends of this connection.

I will help with the 'help' items, if you will accept my assistance.

Which would you like me to start with? I think I need to re-read the
HOW-TO to catch up on any missing permission issues at my end...and I will
troll through the web how-to's too, two times...

Geoff









R. Geoffrey Newbury                          newbury at mandamus.org
Barrister and Solicitor                         Telephone: 905-271-9600                 
Mississauga,Ontario, Canada              Facsimile:   905-271-1638