[mythtv-users] RANT: MythTV has a *horrible* end user experience.

[Matt MacDonald]

On Sun, Feb 24, 2008 at 5:21 AM, endo verendo <endoverendo at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> That said, the user interface is the worst thing I've ever used.  It's not
> user friendly, it's inconsistent, and it's downright irritating.  As the
> owner of the device, I can make it work...but good luck handing the remote
> to anyone else.  This makes mythtv a non-starter in any household occuppied
> by both technically-oriented and non-technically-oriented people.
>
I have to disagree with this statement.  My wife, who is somewhat
technical figured the UI out without any trouble and when my
grandmother (who's VCR is still flashing 12:00) came by to visit, she
picked up the remote and just started to use it.

> In my opinion, the biggest flaw is in playing back recorded TV versus
> playing back videos (AVIs, etc).  The problem here of course is that MythTV
> has two different movie players with two completely different sets of
> controls.  This just isn't going to work for the average user.  Having to
> tweak my remote settings manually to get both sets of controls semi-similar
> is painful.  And even then the controls/interfaces of mplayer vs. the
> internal player are different to the point of being obnoxious.  Any media
> played with MythTV needs to run under ONE player.
>
Ever since I switched to the Internal player for videos, I'm happy.
Same controls, same bookmarking capabilities.

> Any controls that require pushing number keys on the remote for operations
> should not be allowed.  There's no reason all menus shouldn't be operable
> with, "up", "down", "left", "right", "ok", and "cancel" buttons.  Everything
> needs to be onscreen and easily learned.  Optional shortcut keys are fine,
> of course.
>
I'm not quite sure which control that requires number keys.

> New video content needs to be automatically detected.  Having to go to
> "video manager" to scan for new content is neither necessary from a
> technical perspective nor user friendly.
>
This might be a nice option but I would disable it.  I don't want
another cron job checking the directory every X minutes in case I add
a movie when it only takes a few clicks to get them discovered.

> The setup screens need to be completely rewritten.  Basic common options
> need to be up front, advanced, seldom used options need to be buried but
> accessible.  The setup needs to be far more hierarchal, rather the "linear"
> screens that currently mix fundamental and advanced options.  The setup
> screens in mythtv are far scarier than any text-based Linux config file I've
> ever seen.
>
I personally hate hidden options in a setup, but then again I'm a
tweaker.  Maybe a setup with windows like "basic" and "advanced"
options.  I do think that there should be some indication in the setup
that leaving most settings to the default is good.

> I apologize for being blunt, but you guys have all the technology in this
> thing to achieve "world-domination", and the only thing holding it back is
> the painful UI.  If MythTV had one media player and a complete UI rewrite,
> it would have no competition.
>
As others have no doubted said, that's the great thing about open
source, if you don't like something, change it.