[mythtv-users] Myth and E-Books ?

[Brian Wood]

On Monday, November 01, 2010 10:04:05 am Corne Beerse wrote:

> 
> Reading this I have the impression you don-not like the ipad as it is
> just not what you want... I guess you are not the prime target to buy an
> ipad.

It's an interesting device, my problem with it is it's over-priced, and suffers from the "We control what you can do" 
attitude of Apple, which I guess is what some Apple users like, but is antithetical to the Myth philosophy.

> 
> > While you could read an e-book on an iPad, you could also do so with a
> > Blackberry, or a Cray-2, that doesn't make either of those devices an
> > e-book reader.
> 
> True on this comparison. On the other hand, in an other reply you
> mention reading e-magazines on tv. That's something for the ipad too.

True, the iPad can be used as an e-Reader, but it's way too expensive to just do that with it.

I want to read things while at home far more than when away from it, hence my interest in being able to read more without 
having to leave the Myth environment. I may be a minority, but that's why I'm interested in an E-Reader being a part of 
Myth.



> 
> > The iPad tries to do so many things that it winds up doing all of them
> > poorly. I doubt that it would make a very good Myth frontend.
> 
> That was my reason it needs a dedicated front-end. Having said that, I
> think the myth group should not spend time on this one. On some systems
> I use xbmc as a myth frontend. That does not provide all functionality
> but it suits a need (and protection from damaging the backend). Hence,
> an xbmc port to the ipod is a verry nice myth frontend on the ipod too.

The UPnP server in Myth allows a lot of devices to play back content without having to run a full frontend.

As more and more content on my Myth system is no longer recorded TV programming, the commercial skip is becoming less 
important. The MythWeb interface allow you to do many frontend tasks with just a browser.

> 
> > There are several Android-based tablets with 7" to 8" screens that might
> > do better, and they cost a LOT less than the over-priced iPad. I've seen
> > them from $100 to $200.
> 
> A port to an android system is relative easy: that's linux so a check on
> the used/available libraries and a rebuild can suit the need here.
> Having said that, the same is true for the apple port for the imac and
> the ipad.

I think the problem would be the video hardware. Android is in fact Linux, to a point, and the high number of Android 
variants makes it hard to develop anything that will work with all versions.

I think we will see OS/X and iOS begin to merge enough that the same port might run on both, as it is they are very 
different animals.