[mythtv-users] how to improve Myth (was "OT: I'm streaming Netflix on my Linux box")

[Yeechang Lee]

Brad DerManouelian <myth at dermanouelian.com> says:
> Since it's been 2 months, we could just relive this entire thread again:
> http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/344388
> 
> I was looking for the other thread that talks about searching across
> all media and exactly what you suggested, but I am too lazy to keep
> looking for it. Maybe we can just jump right to talking about multi-
> user support and parental controls.

That thread made me wince when I read it live and it made me wince
again.

Mithu Singh points to an article commenting on reasons why free
software has poor usability, and *immediately* people in dozens and
dozens of messages a) deny that any of the points made in the article
apply to MythTV and b) claim that commercial software--the word
"Microsoft" comes up a lot--is worse on every front, so
there. skd5aner's two messages pointing out in considerable detail how
the open source/MythTV emperor's clothes are threadbare, at best, are
completely and absoutely ignored. I think that's because the thread's
participants are too embarrassed to try to answer them, and it's much
more fun to continue to mock Microsoft Office.

I love MythTV. Windows Media Center has a nice interface, from what I
hear, but there's no support for the Hauppauge HD-PVR and no one
expects it anytime soon, if ever. We MythTV users of course wish
Hauppauge HD-PVR support was already part of 0.21-fixes, but we're
much, much, much better off than Media Center users. As I noted the
other day, every time I visit AVSForum's Windows based-HTPC forum I
have to hold back laughter at the rickety, haphazard, primitive setups
its non Media Center-using members use for the HD-PVR. Believe me, we
who merely have to move to trunk or manually patch 0.21-fixes don't
know how good we've got it.

That doesn't change the fact, though, that there are some
colossally-broken parts of MythTV. MythWeather, which has been broken
for the great majority of my three years using
MythTV. MythVideo. MythArchive. MythMusic. (There's a lot of truth to
mrand's observation in the aforementioned thread that "everything I
can think of [with usability issues] is plugin related." Maybe that's
why I am so happy with my MythTV setup; I never use any plugins other
than MythVideo, and only the Gallery.) I'm more favorably-inclined
toward the core MythTV user interface than sk5daner; I'd put it up a
against TiVo's any day of the week. That doesn't mean there aren't
areas calling for improvements, though!

In another message to the list today I made fun of someone who,
obviously without doing any research on his own whatsoever, asked us
to do his homework for him regarding "the best" gear. But I could do
that because his questions have, and have had for years, very
straightforward and settled answers ("Turtle Beach Riviera"|"Chaintech
AV-710" and "Any Nvidia card 5200 and up," respectively). MythTV
usability and functionlity and how to improve them are a very
different story. So let a thousand threads bloom.

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