[mythtv-users] MythTV as a DVD player

[Patrick Doyle]

> Yes that's how it works for me.  I got rid of my working, standalone
> DVD player and use mythtv as my only DVD player now.  Kids and wife
> use it OK.
>
> The only differences might be the way you change language tracks,
> subtitles camera angle etc, but really that's just a case of getting
> to grips with the configuration of your mythtv remote control, which
> may not have dedicated buttons for these functions.  The advantage is
> that you get to throw away another remote  :-)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Actually, a fond dream of mine is that, by setting up a MythTV box, I
hope to reduce our entertainment center to a single remote.  In
theory, having an IR blaster that can spit out arbitrary codes should
allow me to hit a single key on the remote which will power on the
television and switch it's input to line-in, thus eliminating the two
step process I currently have to go through with the TiVo and DVD/VCR
remotes.  In theory, having a button that selects "line in" (on my
video capture card), powers up the VCR player, and configures the Myth
box to route Play/Stop/FF/REW/etc... through the IR blaster to the VCR
should allow me to play the kids VHS tapes with that same remote.  In
practice, I anticipate some hacking on my end to make things look (to
family and friends) like it just works.

In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.  In
practice, there is.

Oh yeah, when I bought the DVD player, I took one step backwards,
feature wise, from the VCR player.  It used to be that I could put any
tape in the VCR player, watch 20 minutes of it, pop it out, put
another tape in watch 20 minutes of that tape, and go back to the
first one days or weeks later and pick up where I left off.  (Those of
you with small children, will probably recognize this scenario -- put
a video in, get 20 minutes in, realize you're both falling asleep, pop
it out, go to bed, the next day the children watch one or more videos
of their own, and finally a day or week later, you and your spouse get
to sit down and watch the next 20 minutes of that video you rented
before you both are falling asleep).  Anyway, when I bought the DVD
player, I lost this capability.  With MythTV, I anticipate regaining
it.  Again, some hacking may be required.

--wpd