[mythtv-users] [OT] Study proves skipping commercials make TV less enjoyable

Brad Templeton brad+myth at templetons.com
Wed Jan 28 04:03:58 UTC 2009


On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 10:11:25PM -0500, Michael T. Dean wrote:
> On 01/27/2009 08:35 PM, Brad Templeton wrote:
>> On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 02:32:00PM -0500, jarpublic wrote:
>>   
>>> I thought this study might be of interest to the MythTV community, since
>>> commercial skippings is a big part of the MythTV.
>>>
>>> http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20090114-dont-touch-the-dvr-commercials-help-us-enjoy-the-show-more.html
>>>
>>> Apparently even though we all hate commercials, having them regular
>>> interrupt our shows actually makes watching the shows a more enjoyable
>>> experience. They did show that it doesn't need to be commercials, even
>>> switching back and forth between two shows improves the enjoyment. Maybe it
>>> is time we create a MythTV channel surfing simulator, that would switch back
>>> and forth between a few different recordings. My wife would love that. ;-)
>>>     
>> I've been a big proponent not of a channel surfing simulator (which would let
>> you surf your recordings watching them from a seperate surf bookmark) but of
>> something far simpler and more useful, a "last program" button, similar to
>> the last channel buttons on most tv remotes.
>>
>> Why?  When two or more people are watching tv, often something comes up
>> for one of them.  A phone call, bathroom break, snack break, whatever.
>>
>> So the other person wants to instantly switch to something they alone are
>> watching, and then instantly switch back as soon as the other person
>> returns. 
>>
>> Right now I do this all the time, but it's a lot of keystrokes, especially
>> if the program I am watching alone is far away in the list.
>>
>> The other alternative is to swtich over to web surfing and email, but then
>> I use Myth with a keyboard, and I know many people don't.
>
> You mean like JUMPPREV (not mapped to any key by default) does?  Or, if  
> not in LiveTV, like PREVCHAN (mapped to 'H' by default) does?
>
> Sure doesn't seem like a lot of keystrokes to me.  ;)
>
> JUMPPREV has been there for a long time (3 years, so since 0.19), but  
> PREVCHAN being used to accomplish the same functionality was added a  
> year ago (which is still before 0.21 was released).

Ah, that explains it.  Until about 2 weeks ago, I was running a trunk
release from about 13 months ago, and I was not familiar with it.  I stalled
updating as my old backend still had MYSQL3 on it.   I knew about the one for livetv,
but I never use livetv.  (I am always amazed that people do.)

Thanks, and thanks to whoever added it.

Still trying to get myself around the UI changes in .22 -- right now
jumps seem to be broken, and I find it counterintuitive that right arrow,
instead of calling up menus or otherwise descending, will sometimes
take you 'left' (back to program group.)  Was that a conscious
decision?



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