[mythtv] MythTV: Isaac Tivo: > 100 tech guys

huffman at graze.net huffman at graze.net
Wed Dec 8 01:09:55 UTC 2004


I think you might do well to read the following URL:

http://www.mythtv.info/moin.cgi/UserWishList

It explains a little bit about the motivation behind MythTV and what users can
expect.



Development of mythtv <mythtv-dev at mythtv.org> wrote: 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Mythtv Mythtv" <almyth at sbcglobal.net>
> To: <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
> Cc: <mythtv-dev at mythtv.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2004 4:09 PM
> Subject: [mythtv] MythTV: Isaac Tivo: > 100 tech guys
> 
> 
> > Is it amamazing that MythTVs just Isaac, a few
> > part-time guys, while Tivo has more than 100 full time
> > tech guys?  (no offense to Tivo tech guys, I believe
> > they are also very bright).
> >
> > Sure, Tivo has GUI guys, application guys, system
> > engineering guys, QA... But MyMythTV's quality is
> > comparable to Tivo  It's ridiculous for Tivo tolose
> > money when they have 2 million customers.    Tivo was
> > a nice startup,  but now ends up with a company that
> > looks like very ininefficient, and clumsy,...
> >
> > Any thoughts on this?
> 
> I would have originally agreed, having had used MythTV for
> many years now, but MythTV has lost a lot of forward progress
> over the last 6+ months. If you review the CVS commit logs, you'll
> notice that much of the commits to the code base are really just translation
> patches to other
> languages.
> 
> IMHO, and Isaac and other will flip a lid when I say this
> (like they usually do), but I attribute much of the development
> "slowdown" to Isaac's personal direction and resistance to
> third party recommendations and design strategies. While I
> agree that keeping a fast codebase is important, Isaac tends to
> prefer execution speed over proper design. In the long run, it
> has made things such as "communication between modules"
> and "simultaneous activity in modules" non-existant in MythTV.
> The simple fact that MythTV can not properly play music while
> browsing photos or searching for things to record is proof of
> this stagnation. It was over 16+ months ago when people attempted
> to work with Isaac to solve these sorts of problems, and he rejected
> most ideas in favor of his own needs. Certainly this is OK, because
> it is his project. But Isaac has admitted on many occasions that his
> needs are met, and he has no interest in developing features that he
> is not interested in, and that others should. Excellent, that is how
> Open Source projects work, others will write functionality that
> others want. But Isaac (and a few others from his tight-nit group)
> have had no interest or time to assist with the conceptual direction
> in conversation. And those that have attempted to make design
> changes, were simply shunned away after submitting patches,
> deeming the patches unacceptable due to the wrong direction.
> 
> Even more so, developing modules in general are overly complicated
> than what they should be. Even some of the once deemed "bad" Windows
> PVRs are ages ahead in that sense, some having tens of plugins, most of
> which are quite solid.
> 
> Am I dumping on MythTV, Isaac, and others who have put hard work
> into writing this useful multi-platform Open Source project? Perhaps a
> little. It certainly does not negate the hard work everyone has put in.
> I don't entirely blame Isaac for wanting to have a specific direction
> either.
> 
> But in many ways, MythTV has not kept up with the TiVo flexibility,
> and feature sets. Addons to TiVo, GB-PVR, etc are very easy to write.
> And with TiVo having their HMO functionality, MythTV's seems a
> little prehistoric don't you think? The true ability to access all shows
> from any home computer, TiVo, or HTPC. TiVo certainly has its
> flaws though.
> 
> Until the structure of MythTV is redesigned, I don't think there will be
> much growth by contributing developers.
> 
> My sincerest apologies if I have insulted anyone personally,
> 
> Kevin Elliott
> kevin at phunc.com
> 
> >
> > Thanks
> > 
> 
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