[mythtv-users] Enabling multirec borks usability a bit.

[Michael T. Dean]

On 04/20/2010 08:28 AM, Simon Waldman wrote:
>> Those of us who are saying that the current approach is the best
>> approach for a DVR happen to see the reasons why MythTV can't just
>> switch inputs automatically.  If it does, it will break recordings.
>>      
> Having read this argument a number of times - whenever this topic
> appears on the list - I still don't understand how it is the case. If
> the user can access a channel by pressing NEXTCARD, then why can't
> Myth access it for them without the help of this button-press?
>    
>> If you don't believe me, write the code yourself--and you'll see.  (Or,
>> if you don't, when you submit it for review and people tell you all the
>> problems it causes, then you'll see.)
>>      
> I'm not a coder, sadly. If you would deign to stoop to the level of a
> mere mortal luser and explain *why* this would cause problems, I'd be
> interested :-)
>    

Individual examples don't give the full picture.  It's the final end 
result in all situations that becomes important.

The simplest way I can describe it is:

If you're not the sole owner/user of the physical tuner from the point 
you enter Live TV until you exit Live TV, you're not in control of 
when/if you can change channels and what channels are available.  If 
MythTV just switches the active tuner on you during Live TV, you're 
likely to have some very confusing situations arise.  If other people 
are watching Live TV at the same time, your actions and their actions 
may cause both Live TV users to get stuck on a mux neither cares to 
watch (or cause the other guy to steal control from you even though you 
started watching Live TV first).  Similarly, there will be issues around 
the time when recordings stop/start--remember that you'll see the end of 
the show before recordings stop and you'll likely want to start changing 
channels before the next timeslot's recordings have begun (and, 
therefore, before cards are assigned to the proper muxes).

That's not to say that someone's working on trying to find a better way 
isn't appreciated.  I am, however, saying that there should not be any 
new settings until all of the existing settings related to Live TV and 
multirec and tuning are explored and their interaction--in all 
permutations--is fully understood by the person/people implementing the 
changes.  And, if the person implementing a better solution determines 
that (a properly configured system using) "Browse all channels" isn't 
sufficient, chances are they should either fix that setting or remove it 
in favor of their better approach (and similar for other settings).  
Note that there are a lot of settings involved--probably around 10 or 
more--plus all the capture card/card input configuration stuff in 
"Solution C."

However, I think a much better stepping stone to improving Live TV for 
everyone would be to try to finish little usability enhancements first 
to try to provide users more visibility into what's possible/available.  
Small, but achievable goals, and all...  Make a bunch of little changes 
to get a huge improvement.  Then, eventually, maybe some of the bigger 
changes will be easier/more acceptable.

So, basically, my opinion is if you're sharing a physical tuner, it's 
not Live TV--you're just along for the ride.  I still stand by my 
earlier statement that the proper (and cheapest) solution is to have 
sufficient capture cards for the functionality you desire.  
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/428817#428817 and the 
rest of the thread (where people mentioned the cost of capture cards, 
electricity, hard drives, STB rentals and I responded with my point of 
view).  Feel free to use Live TV, but if you don't have enough capture 
devices to always have a physical device available solely for Live TV 
when you want to watch Live TV, you don't have enough capture devices.

Mike