[mythtv-users] The final word in the Live TV yay-nay debate

[Yeechang Lee]

Braindead <Braindead at diablops.com> says:
> For us Myth is a super-duper recording device and we don't miss the
> few shows we enjoy.. Of course we're borderline dump-TV entirely
> anyway ;-)

Note the word "few." I think you and Andrew, the Scottish poster who
mentioned that non-North American MythTV users may use Live TV more
often than their North American counterparts, have hit on something
here. Let me share the following from my MythWeb Recorded Programs
page:

    325 programs, using 1.8 TB (20 days 13 hrs 3 mins) out of 1.8 TB (7.3
    GB free).

85% of the recordings (consuming 97% of the space) are in high
definition. My cable package has six high-definition movie channels[1]
and three high-definition non-movie channels. Through cable and over
the air I also get affiliates of seven[2] national broadcast networks,
all of which transmit almost all of their national programs in high
definition[3]. I'm not including here the more than 20 non-high
definition movie channels, or the hundreds of other non-HD channels on
every conceivable subject. With this much content at my instant
disposal,[4] why would I ever need to turn to Live TV?[5] And,
conversely, for those benighted non-North Americans who don't have
access to such a selection (I point to the Finnish poster who said
that if recording DVB multiplexes simultaneously came along that he'd
only need three cards to record all the TV available to him),
paradoxically, lack of choice may very well lead to more channel
surfing.

Now, can we *please* stop talking about Live TV? Pretty please?

[1] Including the divine HDNet Movies, which specializes in older and
classic movies of all genres, all transmitted using all or almost all
of the 19.4Mbps maximum-potential bandwidth. Since the start of
October alone I've recorded from it Support Your Local Sheriff, The
Magnificent Seven, Platoon, Superman: The Movie, WarGames, Raging
Bull, War and Peace, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Thomas
Crown Affair, Chariots of Fire, and A Star is Born. Forthcoming on my
recording schedule are, among others, The Great Escape and Silk
Stockings. HDNet Movies is often the first HD venue for these movies.

The other five high-definition movie channels are of the five national
premium-movie networks. As a general rule, movies will debut on these
channels about one year after first appearing in theaters. For
example, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire debuted last Satudray,
and last year's King Kong will debut this Saturday. The channels are
all constantly running other movies new and old at other times, of
course; for example, I made sure to grab all six Star Wars movies when
they first aired (four for the first time in HD) recently.

[2] ABC, CBS, The CW, FOX, My Network TV, NBC, PBS.

[3] See
<URL:http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/183751#183751>.

[4] It was the same with my old standard-definition Series 1 TiVo,
which I quickly expanded to 200GB. 246 hours in basic quality was state
of the art in 2001.

[5] And it's not like Live TV channel changing is that bad for me,
either. As I've written, once in Live TV mode it takes about three to
five seconds to switch from channel to channel (including HD channels)
from the push of the Enter key on my remote.

-- 
Yeechang Lee <ylee at pobox.com> | +1 650 776 7763 | San Francisco CA US