[mythtv-users] LiveTV channel switching time

[Andrew Wilson]

On 19/11/06, Ben Edwards (lists) <lists at videonetwork.org> wrote:
>
> One of the factors may be that set-top boxes are cheep as chips (at
> least in the UK) and offer more functionality so getting one and using
> MythTV for recording is a very viable solution.
>

Ben, you're right. I've got a freeview box for live TV, and we use the
myth box as a glorified VCR. This is something myth is excellent at,
especially with the web interface.

However, we are missing out on the whole pause/rewind live tv thing,
plus there's yet another box of tricks under the TV taking up space
and consuming power. And another remote control to lose or another set
of buttons to program into your uber-remote. Wouldn't it be much
simpler if myth could do live tv to everyone's satisfaction? It is
meant to be the mythical convergence box after all :-)

I just tried live tv (UK, DVB-T, separate low oomph front and back end
boxes running svn from some time after 0.19) and myth takes something
between 8 and 12 secs to change channels, which pretty much makes it
unusable. Browse mode is a kludge to make the best of a poor
situation.

I live in Scotland, but I've spent a lot of time in the US, and I
think I understand the difference in tv culture between our two
countries. I just CAN'T watch live tv in the US because
- the commercials are extremely intrusive.
- A 1.5 hour move takes 2.5 hours to show and that's AFTER they've
slashed it to bits in case we get corrupted by hearing a naughty word
or seeing a nipple
- there's way more channels than are manageable
- there's at least 10 dross programs for every one worth watching
- there's no point trying to find News because there isn't any
- when you do find something you want to watch, you end up flicking
about during the commercials and miss most of the show

I end up stressed out and swearing at the box. I read a book, listen
to music or surf the web instead. Maybe that's just me :-)

There is a life skill that people develop in the US that we don't have
on our side of the pond. I remember being extremely impressed that my
American brother in law had such mastery of the remote control that he
was able to watch 2 football games and a golf tournament at the same
time and pretty much not miss a thing in any of them!

In the UK we are spoilt by having several free channels showing decent
programs without commercials, so we've not been forced to learn those
skills. Have you noticed that US shows are edited differently with
more recaps than new stuff.. and that's starting to come in here too?
That's because people flick about so much that the average attention
span is exactly the same length as a play in football. It drives me
nuts.

So what I'm saying is for US mythers - probably most people on this
list - live tv is not important, because the whole point of myth is
that live tv is so bad you just don't want it.

The devs have got other priorities. If I had more time and skills
maybe I'd have a go myself, but it seems to be a hard problem to solve
or someone would have done so already.  Having said that, it's head in
the sand stuff to say that there's not a shortcoming in this area.

Andrew