[mythtv-users] Channel zapping and the WAF

[Kyle Rose]

>> If you had a Tivo, you'd notice exactly the same behavior.  If you had
>> DIRECTV, it would be even worse.  I've actually got the worst of both
>> worlds: DIRECTV and MythTV. :)
>
> Can you explain this a little more? I assume you refer to the fact
> that an external perl script has to run to change channels, but it
> seems to me that the time it takes to run the script is (should be)
> quite small compared to the 2 seconds required to fill the buffer
> from the new channel.

TiVo (like MytTV) does buffering, plus the DIRECTV box itself takes
about 2 seconds for a channel change even with the remote, and the
serial connection has no "fat fingers" latency, either.  Add them
together, and you get 3-5 seconds for a channel change.  Not a big
deal IMO, but different people have different needs, I guess.

> Also, I would think that the decoder could keep busy with the old
> channel data during that time, so that there was no perceivable
> interruption.

Smoother transitions *would* be nice.  However, as I said, I'd rather
have stability *first*, and more features second.  If there's a slight
delay or some jerkiness in the first few seconds after a channel
change, so be it: I only change channels once every half hour at most,
so I don't really care all that much.

Cheers,
Kyle