[mythtv] mythfrontend

[Robert Johnston]

On 16/09/05, Brandon Beattie <brandon+myth at linuxis.us> wrote:
> I'm about ready to embark on improvements to mythfrontend but I wanted
> to get some feedback on what I'm looking to do.  Either opinions on
> features, if it will take a major or minor change to mythfrontend or
> other code, and if anyone is interested in helping.  And last of all, is
> if people think mythfrontend shouldn't do any of these things.
> 
> 1) Bring content together.
>  a)
>   Personally I think it's annoying that media is segregated as much as it
>   is right now.  I'm looking to bring together in how it can be viewed,
>   accessed, and searched.  An example for improvement would be a generic
>   search for say, "Counting Crows", and it would look through all TV
>   shows recorded, what is in the program guide and could be recorded, what
>   music is stored and accessible, what video's or video clips include that
>   phrase, or other content that Myth can access.  Searching for
>   "blueberry cupcakes recipe" to look up shows, recipes, and web links.
>   There would be a advanced but easy to use way to search for things.

Great idea. I'm not sure how you'd implement it, but it is a great idea.

>  b)
>   Navigation is still somewhat first or second generation for PVR's.  It
>   would be nice to improve how someone can navigate.  I think being able
>   to be watching a TV show and bring up a window that shows mythweather,
>   the web, or even lets you listen to music while the TV is(or is not)
>   muted would be nice.  The ability to browse shows to record while
>   watching a show, or listening to music, and so on.

I believe this is something the new MythUI engine will allow... I'm
not certain. It is one advantage that XPMCE has over Myth right now

>  c)
>   Customizable profiles.  Having an admin user that can edit frontend
>   and/or backend settings I think would be nice to reduce menu's for a
>   generic user.  You could have Myth display profiles, such as John
>   (that can require a password) and Kids that doesn't.  Kids would be
>   limited to view content that as been hand selected or by groups of
>   content (Such as how recording groups are done, but you could group
>   any content such as web sites, music, video's, tv, etc.)

Might be getting a little complex there...

>  d)
>   Playlists.  At times I think it would be nice to be able to create
>   playlists for various functions.  Someone could select a "news
>   update" that would start to play a random favorite song, get the latest
>   news via CSS and if the person selects "next" it could show the
>   weather, next "frame" would start mythtv and start playing the 6:00am
>   news that was recorded, and so on.  Other things would be "secure
>   home" that would start a playlist that turns off all the lights in the
>   house, tells asterisk to send all calls to voicemail, and brings up
>   PIP with 2-4 feeds of the networked security cameras around the home
>   (Yeah, I'm dreaming but it's worth working towards).

That's a lot more automation than even Myth is really geared for, I
think. But that's my opinion.

> 2) .. Maybe 1) is enough for now... ;-)

The problem with ideas like this (Especially A above) is that it's
using data from multiple sources, that don't really have any way of
talking to each other. MythTV doesn't care what's stored under
MythVideo, as all it does (At the moment) is just pass control
wholesale to the plugin and wait for it to quit to pass control back.
The only parts of Myth that are "Interactive" are the PVR part. Until
this can be properly resolved, it's kinda a moot point.
-- 
Robert "Anaerin" Johnston