[mythtv-users] Live TV playback frustration

[Joseph Fry]

>
> I can't believe all the anti-live-tv sentiment here.  There are plenty of
>> reasons to watch live tv where scheduled recordings don't make much sense:
>>
>> 1. background noise:  I tune in to CNN while I work and just leave it on
>> most of the day with the volume low.
>>
>
> I've never understood playing a TV show with talking and pictures as
> "background noise."  If I hear talking, I tend to listen to it.  I can't
> imagine much TV is actually worth "listening to" without the
> pictures--unless maybe you actually put on the "audio described" track so
> they tell you what's happening.  I find that music is much better
> background noise for me--since it's not distracting/doesn't pull me in
> trying to follow some discussion, but is something to listen to.
>

I say background 'noise' but typically the volume is barely above
the ambient noise level of my room... just loud enough to remind me its on
so I look to it periodically.  CNN, and the other news channels, are very
good about letting you know what's being discussed in a glance.


>  2. severe weather:  If I notice things are looking particularly bad, I
>> tune
>> in to one of the local networks to see if they are saying anything about
>> it... may need to scan a few channels to find one that didn't just finish
>> talking about it.
>>
>> 3. breaking news: If I hear about something major going on, I flip through
>> the major networks/news channels to see if anyone is reporting it.
>>
>
> For breaking news/weather alerts, I'll actually schedule recordings on a
> bunch of channels, then start watching one and if they're not talking about
> the thing I'm interesting in hearing about, I'll use MENU to go to Jump to
> Program and switch to one of the other programs.  I'll do this for each of
> the recordings I started, then use JUMPPREV (no default binding) or
> PREVCHAN (H) to flip through all of them--and I can jump backwards or
> forwards in them to find the spots where they /do/ talk about the important
> stuff...  It's basically channel surfing evolved--channel surfing but with
> the benefit that MythTV keeps recording the shows when I'm "surfed away" so
> I don't have to worry about missing the important stuff because I'm on some
> other channel when they talk about it...


I have 100+ channels and 3 tuners and a lot of recordings scheduled for
thing I know I want... I can't dedicate tuners to recording a channel
around the clock just in case I want to catch an unscheduled news/weather
event.


>  4. a change of pace:  I have a couple of dozen shows I record... but

 sometimes I want something different/new so I channel hop, watching a few
>> minutes of this or that until I find something that keeps my interest.
>>
>
> When I'm looking for a change of pace, I look at the guide and see if
> there's anything interesting.  Since browsing everything means I'm unlikely
> to find anything, I'll often browse a list of everything on a given channel
> ( Manage Recordings|Schedule Recordings|Search Lists|Channels ) that tends
> to air things I'd like (or one of the independents that typically pick up
> cable shows I haven't seen once they go into syndication).  Sometimes I'll
> use Manage Recordings|Schedule Recordings|Search Lists|New Titles to see
> what new shows (premieres, movies, series, specials) are coming up (this is
> how I found, "Solar Flares: Are You at Risk?").  Sometimes I'll look at
> Manage Recordings|Schedule Recordings|Search Lists|Movies to find movies
> that are airing that I never got a chance to see.


I have a bunch of seldom watched recordings that I fall on most of the
time... but sometimes nothing in that list suits my mood so I just burn an
hour switching between a few different channels.  Sometimes I find
something I like and set it to record, most of the time I just wish I had
that time back.  But either way, even with hundreds of hours of recordings
and movies, sometimes nothing strikes a fancy and I resort to good ole
channel surfing.


>  5. KIDS!!  I don't know about your family, but my kids will watch just
>> about anything that airs on Disney and Nick... if I told them that live tv
>> wasn't an option, they'd give me a list a mile long of shows they want
>> recorded... I'd have two tuners running around the clock recording stuff
>> for the couple of hours /week they actually watch tv.  Far better to just
>> let them watch what is on, they don't complain, and I don't burn disk
>> space
>> needlessly.  I just record a couple of their favorites so they always have
>> something... just in case.
>>
>
> A friend of mine with kids sets up recording schedules for the kids' shows
> with appropriate priority and sets a maximum number of episodes to keep and
> "Record new and delete old".  He'll then move the ones they want to keep
> watching over and over into Video Library.


I do exactly this with several shows... always keeping 3 or 4 episodes of
their favorites.  But they often prefer just to watch whatever is on their
favorite channels... and I like that they can as then I don't have a bunch
of recordings that will never get watched cluttering up my drives.

One other example of when live tv is appropriate... when you have a guest
who doesn't know anything about your system and you don't have time to
teach them.  For example a babysitter on date night.  I can show them how
to open "Watch TV" and how to change channels and they are good to go.
Far easier than asking them what shows I should schedule and how to watch
them.

Anyway... 95% of the time I am watching recordings (excluding leaving the
news on all day) but live TV does have a purpose.  Mythtv is not new to our
household... I've been running since 0.12 (I think)... but we have always
used live TV to some extent... not often, but enough that I feel it is a
critical feature.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.mythtv.org/pipermail/mythtv-users/attachments/20120822/cb37d66e/attachment.html>