[mythtv-users] MythTV and the "average" user...

[Ronald Frazier]

>    Have you guys had a Tivo too. You might be giving the Tivo more credit
> than is it's due. While you don't have to "set up" a Tivo, you still have
> figure out how to work the thing to record what you want.

I've had a TiVo for 4.5 years, and other than maybe 3 times that I had
to unplug it to reboot it, it has worked flawlessly. On the other
hand, the mythbox needs regular intervention and behaves irratic on a
regular basis.

As for how to work the thing? Again...tivo is way ahead on that front
too. Mostly because it is a much simpler, less flexible device, it
doesn't have nearly the degree of complication in the scheduling.
Personally, I think myth's scheduling screen is a bit of a nightmare.
Even I can't always figure out where the option I'm looking for is. I
find the web interface much easier to use, and thats where I direct my
wife. TiVo, on the other hand, is quite elegant.

Same thing with the schedule priority. Tivo is quite simple and
sensible...If there is a conflict, stuff at the top of the SP list
gets priority. With myth, you've got individual show prioroty +
recording type priority + channel priority + hdtv priority +
individual schedules preference for 1 tuner vs another + probably some
other priorities I'm forgetting. Again, it's nice that myth has all
this flexibility, but it is incredibly confusing for a lot of people.

Don't get me wrong...I love the mythbox, but it's several orders of
magnitude higher on the maintenance scale, and the usability for the
features it does support is typically much better.

-- 
Ron