[mythtv-users] Live TV playback frustration

[John Pilkington]

On 25/08/12 14:08, Paul Gardiner wrote:
> On 24/08/2012 17:07, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>> On 08/24/2012 12:02 PM, Jim Oltman wrote:
>>> On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 10:47 AM, Paul Gardiner<lists at glidos.net>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 24/08/2012 11:50, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> In MythTV, Live TV has an implied contract that the Live TV viewer is
>>>>> the "owner" of the tuner.  If you were channel surfing and stumbled
>>>>> across a channel on which a scheduled recording is occurring and
>>>>> MythTV
>>>>> noticed and instead started playing back the scheduled recording, it
>>>>> would presumably "release" the tuner you were using for Live TV.  And,
>>>>> unlucky you, your wife just happened to start Live TV--and claim that
>>>>> just-released tuner--right before you hit channel up, again.  Now
>>>>> you've
>>>>> lost your tuner, so what to do?
>>>>>
>>>> That would be ok, wouldn't it (I'm thinking after reading several of
>>>> the
>>>> follow up posts). Finding yourself restricted to watching what is
>>>> currently recording or what your wife is watching on the other front
>>>> end when all virtual tuners are in use, wouldn't be any more surprising
>>>> than finding yourself restricted to certain multiplexes when all your
>>>> real tuners are in use, but a virtual one is free.
>>>
>>> I think it would be OK.  Especially if the FE you were using told you
>>> that
>>> "The "INSERTFRONTENDNAMEHERE and the INSERTSHOWNAMEHERE are currently
>>> consuming all tuners."
>>
>> Well, if someone wants to change Live TV, they'll need to write a
>> patch.  But I /still/ think the right approach is to notify the user
>> when they get to a show that's being/has been recorded and offer to take
>> them to that recording (and exit Live TV).  This way it doesn't change
>> the Live TV contract /and/ it tells the user exactly what's happening
>> and allows them to decide whether they want to keep channel surfing or
>> free up the tuner and watch the recording.
>
> Ok, I see what you are saying. On the other hand it might be nice to
> make Live TV less distinguished: attempting to watch a channel live
> would be just:
>
>      if that channel is not currently recording, start recording it, if
>      possible. If that succeeds, start playing the recording from as
>      near to its current end as possible. And when moving away from
>      watching that channel, stop recording immediately if there are no
>      other users.
>
> It would then still be useful to inform the user if the program was
> already recording, telling them they might be able to jump back to
> an earlier part of it. That might happen either because of a recording
> rule, or someone else watching live.

I find myself wondering just how many 'frustrated' users randomly 
pressing buttons each system is expected to support, and how much notice 
they would take of pop-up-queries.  The small boys I see just press 
another button instead.

I like my MythTV to record TV so that I can watch it later,  perhaps 
almost live.  If I want to press buttons I can do it as often as I like 
on the TV set and no-one else notices.

John P