[mythtv-users] mythfrontend "follow me" feature

[White Joe]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org 
> [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Joseph A. Caputo
> Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 5:29 PM
> To: Discussion about mythtv
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] mythfrontend "follow me" feature
> 
> On Monday 06 March 2006 17:15, Steve Daniels wrote:
> > I'm thinking of getting my hands dirty..
> >
> > I want to implement a "follow me" function into myth. 
> Manual to begin
> > with then eventually optionally automatic along the lines of what
> > they do with Pluto by the looks of things.
> >
> > I've done some searching on gossamer and can't see much in there. I
> > was wondering what's the best way to get a mythfrontend's status,
> > programmatically, or using the new network interface by chris with a
> > bit of parsing?
> >
> > The way I want it to work is, I'm watching something in the lounge,
> > but I'm going through to the kitchen to make a cuppa, I 
> don't want to
> > pause, so I go to the on screen menu, select "follow me" select a
> > Frontend (perhaps see current status here in case another family
> > member is currently watching something/doing something else on that
> > Frontend). This could maybe happen immediately or perhaps with say a
> > user configurable delay, so I can actually get to the other room and
> > not really miss a beat.
> >
> > I think a follow me feature would need to have A LOT of user
> > configurable options to make it appeal to everyone.
> >
> > I.e. when I tell it to follow me, does it pause at the current
> > location, or stop? And after say 15 seconds are up, does it continue
> > on the new Frontend and the old Frontend to keep them synced? If I'm
> > keeping them in sync, should I do a delay at all at the start? If
> > they are staying sync, when one Frontend is paused, should the other
> > one as well?
> >
> > And these are just the scenarios I can be bothered thinking of and
> > typing. So I think if I undertake this, it should have a setup page
> > at least dedicated to its config. The on screen menu ui 
> would have to
> > be carefully thought of too so not to be too over crowded, and not
> > present too many options.
> >
> > But that is all pipe talk until I start to actually write 
> some code..
> >
> > Has anyone got any ideas hey would like to share, or any thoughts at
> > all on features or implementation?
> >
> > Thanks for your time,
> >
> > Steve
> 
> Ever think of looking at Pluto's code?  I thought they were 
> open source.
> 
> Anyway, here's a thought for something similar, but (I think) 
> simpler to 
> implement:  add an option to play from an in-progress location of 
> another frontend.  Right now, if a file has a bookmark, you 
> can choose 
> to play from the beginning of the file or from the bookmark.  It 
> wouldn't be too difficult to add an option to play from the 
> same offset 
> as that of another frontend that is currently watching the 
> same file.  
> The backend knows what frontends are playing, so we could just query 
> the backend  -- might need an addition to the Myth protocol, but 
> nothing major.
> 
> One benefit of this approach (aside from being straightforward to 
> implement) is that you don't need to know *before* you leave the room 
> that you want playback to 'follow' you.  
> 
> Cheers,
> JAC
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> 

I agree.  The office phone system concept would probably be easier to
grasp and manage.  You could transfer, pickup, and conference shows,
instead of calls.  I could go sit in the hammock, drink a beer and watch
24 on my super Ipod 8m with 802.11N.  You could also spy on your kids
viewing habits...or vice versa. ;-)

jw