[mythtv-users] An option for watching tv

Jeff Wormsley daworm at comcast.net
Fri Dec 1 23:16:10 UTC 2006


Brad DerManouelian wrote:
> If you seriously thought I was suggesting you get  
> rid of your wife to solve your mythtv problem, then you REALLY need  
> to lighten up.

Not that, the implication that my wife is worthless.  Again, like I 
said, something that only hits when it is pointed at you, and no one 
else can understand why you'd be upset.  At first glance, the effect was 
you telling me my wife is worthless and I should get rid of her. 
Looking at it from the side, yes, it is a bit ridiculous.

> Complaining about it is fine. Complaining about it over and over  
> again is fine - as long as when you're asked to do so, you check back  
> at the other complaints, see that it led to suggestions that no one  
> acted upon and act upon one of them. Complaining over and over again  
> without acting on previous suggestions is wasting time.

So, searching those archives, do you find me complaining constantly.  I 
think once before, maybe as much as a year ago, I commented on this 
issue.  Does that constitute over and over again?

> You pay Microsoft a lot of money to listen to your complaints.  
> Commercial companies HAVE to cater to the needs of everyone who has  
> bought that support contract along with the software. They will not  
> ignore you or call you an idiot because you help provide them with a  
> paycheck.

Of course.  But don't act surprised when someone who asks for help gets 
out of sorts when treated like they're an idiot.  They're not used to 
that, and frankly, just because they're new doesn't mean they deserve 
that, either.

> Previous threads on this subject have been pointed out over and over  
> again. 10 seconds of my searching in the wiki reveals this:
> http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/ 
> Feature_Wishlist#Ideas_with_response
> No one is ignoring this issue. They've acknowledge it as a feature  
> request and will get to it "some day". 

First, why wasn't this your first reply to this thread, instead of:

"Are we really going to go through this again? There is already
software that does this. It is not MythTV since it violates the
vision for what MythTV is and should continue to be. There is the
option of launching external software to do this. It doesn't make
sense for developers to waste time on a feature that other easily-
integrated software does very well. If you can't get that other
software to work, you should ask on their mailing lists how to get it
to work."

Second, how is a new user a) going to know to look into the archives or 
Wiki before asking the question here, and b) know how to phrase the 
search so that he or she will get the relevant topics in the archives or 
on the Wiki?  Just because *you've* seen this topic a hundred times in 
the past, in a hundred different forms, doesn't mean the new user has 
any clue what this issue is.  All they know is that "My TV changes 
channels instantly, my cable box changes channels instantly, but my 
MythTV takes 5 to 10 seconds.  What's wrong?"  So when you say "10 
seconds of my searching..." that isn't relevant for a new user.  You 
know what to search for, they don't.  If you were having a problem where 
the OSD took 20 seconds to appear, would you go looking in the Feature 
Request section of the Wiki?  Why would you expect someone who has slow 
channel changes to do so?  They wouldn't classify speedy channel changes 
as a Feature Request, they'd classify slow channel changes as a bug, and 
go look in the troubleshooting section, and find what?

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Troubleshooting

Nothing there.

With luck, they might try the Frequently Asked Questions and get this:

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Frequently_Asked_Questions#Q:_When_using_live_TV.2C_why_is_there_a_delay_between_the_moment_I_change_the_channel_and_the_time_the_channel_actually_changes.3F

But that's only if they are more persistent than I would normally 
expect, because for anyone used to a TV or a normal cable box, it isn't 
the sort of behavior one would expect, and so one wouldn't expect it to 
be a frequently asked question, and thus wouldn't look in that section 
before hitting the mailing list.

 > I'm sorry it's not soon enough.

I'm not clamoring for a fix this instant, or even this year.  Or even 
next.  I'm just upset with the attitude that people who don't like this 
behavior are idiots.  If it bothers me too much, and if I decide I can't 
live without Myth on the TV's my wife uses, I'll go in and see if I can 
fix it myself (I don't know C++, but I know enough C to find my way 
around).  I am only commenting because of the dismissive attitude that I 
don't feel makes this the friendly community it ought to be.

Jeff.

--
I haven't smoked for 3 months, 2 weeks and 18 hours,
saving $480.67 and not smoking 3,204.53 cigarettes.


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