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

[Joe Harvell]

Mike Perkins wrote:
> 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
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>   
That sounds like a good idea.  But I think it would be better to handle 
that as a separate feature.