[mythtv-users] feedback for feature request: ability to define input connections as inactive

[Mike Perkins]

Joe Harvell wrote:
>> (snipped to save paper :)
 >
> So the question is whether or how to display channels in the program 
> guide whose video source is not associated with any active input.  Here 
> are some options:
> 
> 1. Allow Program Guide settings (per frontend config) to determine 
> whether or not to display such channels.  The default could be "don't 
> display", since that is how Myth currently behaves.
> 2. Display such channels, but in a format (color, font, etc.) indicating 
> they are not available on any active input connection.
> 3. Always display them.
> 
> I think a combination of 1 and 2 is probably the best.  I don't like the 
> idea of using a different color, because that is already being used for 
> program category.
> 
> Geoff:
> 
> I'm an experienced software developer, but I've never looked at the Myth 
> code.  So I don't yet have an idea of the amount of work for the feature 
> I'm proposing.  Once I get enough feedback and suggestions, I can make a 
> *detailed* functional description of the feature and some use cases.  At 
> that point, I could probably use some help determining the amount of 
> work required and what components of the software need to be changed.
> 
> 
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> 

Perhaps I might widen the proposition very slightly? Since one of the 
things I see is effectively the same thing from a different point of 
view - I am talking about inactive tuners now, not whether or not to 
display program listings.

When you fire up the frontend and select "Watch TV", the system 
arbitrarily chooses you a tuner and source to watch. If that isn't to 
your liking, you then have to "Y" through the available tuners and 
possibly "C" through sources till you find what you want, possibly 
followed by a channel change. Yes, I know there's a whole lot of code 
behind, figuring out what's free and what's not, but from the user's 
perspective they have no idea what's going to be chosen.

How about an intermediate menu, after "Watch TV". This would show you 
the current state of each tuner: Online/offline/Inactive, 
Recording/Free, Selected Source (if applicable), and Current Channel 
tuned, possibly even the program being shown on that channel. The user 
can then pick one that's closest to what they want to do. For example, 
to go directly to a Analogue/DVB tuner/source, or perhaps even to stream 
something that's currently being recorded. I know the information is 
available, it's what you get in Mythweb on the status screen.

Yes, it's an extra step, but better than just being dumped into some 
random tuner/source combo and having to navigate round to what you wanted.

Mike Perkins