[mythtv-users] Freevo, Tivo & MythTV

[Chad]

> I have recently joined the ranks of individuals with working MythTV
> boxes.

Excellent.

> After actually using it I realized that it takes 2-3 seconds of garbled
> presentation for a channel change.

What exactly is "garbled"?  Mine just stays black until the
programming is buffered to hard disk.

> I have since spent some time reading message boards, FAQ's and
> documentation on MythTV and apparently this is a common quirk which the
> majority of MythTV users don't even notice because they do scheduling &
> recording as opposed to watching LiveTV.

Quirk?  It's a common "quirk" with any device that buffers data.  It
needs something to buffer...  Unless of course you are talking about
the TiVO from the future where it sends data back to the current TiVOs
with 'future' programming...

> I know everyone has their own ideas regarding the definition of a PVR
> and a DVR and correct me if I am wrong but the use case for a PVR would
> be as follows:
>
> User happily watching TV.
> User is distracted by an event in his/her living space(phone ringing,
> soup boiling over etc.)
> User pauses TV
> User deals with distraction
> User un-pauses TV
> User subsequently fast-forwards through the commercials.

If you prefer.  The benefit of the DVR is that it has multiple
purposes, some of which you mention in your breakdown.

> Where I am going with this is that in imitating the functionality of a
> TIVO, Freevo will not do it at all and MythTV does it but the channel
> changing problem really showcases how MythTV is not there yet.

I'm not exactly what I'd consider a power user, I don't watch 47
channels at the same time.  But when I do watch LiveTV I do watch
about 3 shows at the same time flipping between them.  But, just like
TiVO, I choose the 3 shows, set them to record, and then flip between
them.  My (truly extremely vague) understanding of how TiVO works with
LiveTV viewing is that it buffers (using the second tuner) either
another channel, or the previous channel you were watching.  In either
case, if I randomly change to some distant channel, the TiVO takes
just as long as my Myth box does *if* I don't choose to record those
shows.  If I record those 3 shows that are "Live" then I have no
problem switching back and forth (and using bookmarks) nearly
'instantaneously' with a few button clicks.

> Now, I would love to help fix the problem as long as everyone can agree
> that it is a serious one.

Serious?  It's not even a problem, much less serious.  However, if you
can invent a machine that will beam data back to the present from the
future to allow my MythTV system to have data before it's broadcast, I
may just consider buying one.

> Best Regards, Hedgehog

I think a lot people compare their TiVO to their MythTV system without
even considering the differences.  MythTV is light years ahead and
imeasurably better than my TiVO.  Truth be told, my TiVO isn't really
mine, my in-laws keep it because they don't want to run a cable around
their house for myth boxes (and the rare HDTV recording would get
murdered using wireless).  So, yeah, MythTV *does* have a shortcoming,
it records my HDTV programming forcing me to keep my home wired rather
than go wireless.  If anything is seriously wrong, it's the need for
Gigabit Wireless, please work on that instead.

-Chad