[mythtv-users] External channel change not passing channel

[Michael T. Dean]

On 04/02/2007 12:29 AM, f-myth-users at media.mit.edu wrote:
>     > Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2007 19:36:25 -0400
>     > From: duck <tduckett at tdux.com>
>
>     > > This might seem a silly question but you do have the channel number filled
>     > > in for the channel?
>
>     > This was the problem!  I have tried everything and would not have 
>     > thought about adding the channel number on the second page!
>
> I've remarked before that having it on the second page is
> extraordinarily poor UI design.
>   

I disagree.

> (IIRC, in -my- case, I didn't even know there -was- a second page,
> since the various next/back buttons were clipped by my display
> geometry ... and I didn't even
> realize it until I couldn't even find a field someone was trying to
> tell me to change because I had no idea there was a second page.  And
> even if that hadn't happened, separating that one field from all the
> related fields on the first page suddenly jumps the cognitive
> complexity 'cause now you've got memory involved.  Far better, if it's
> deemed impossible to pack more on the page, to reorganize what's on
> each page to bring all these fields together.

I think the page is organized appropriately.  The first page is the 
information that can/should be set /by the user/ (i.e. fields for the 
user's use).  The second page is "advanced" (don't touch this unless you 
know what you're doing) stuff that's for MythTV's use.

Why shouldn't you change the "Channel or Frequency" value?  Well, if 
you're using a standard (where I'm using "standard" to mean "available 
within Myth") frequency table, you should specify channel number (not 
frequency).  If you're using a non-standard frequency table, you /can/ 
specify exact frequencies (in kHz) in the box.

So, what if my frequency table specifies a value, but due to 
cable-company incompetency/cheap equipment/whatever my capture card gets 
a cleaner picture 125kHz higher than the specified frequency?  Don't 
change "Channel or Frequency," change the "Finetune (kHz)" value...

There's /never/ a reason to change the value of "Channel or Frequency" 
if you're using a "standard" frequency table.  The only users who aren't 
are those in countries that have almost no MythTV users (at least in 
countries that do not have enough users that someone has contributed a 
patch to add their country's frequency tables to Myth).

True, the "Finetune (kHz)" value is on the second page, too, but, again, 
it's an advanced field that can do more harm than good in the hands of 
an "uninformed" user.  And, more importantly, the 
frequency-table-defined values are "close enough" due to the hardware 
finetune available in modern TV tuner modules (i.e. the big rectangular 
thing on your "tuner card").

>   I daresay if the OP had
> seen a blank field next to all the non-blank fields, he might have had
> a crucial insight and saved a lot of time.)

But, had the OP defined his channels correctly, it wouldn't have been 
blank in the first place.

Mike