[mythtv-users] Enabling multirec borks usability a bit.

[Bill Bogstad]

On Mon, Apr 19, 2010 at 8:02 PM, Michael T. Dean
<mtdean at thirdcontact.com> wrote:

>>>>
>>>
>>> Of course you never know what's going to pop up on live TV. I still have
>>> some
>>> VHS tape from mid-September 2001 that I could not have anticipated.
>>>
>>> I think  many Myth users almost never use the live TV function (I use it
>>> rarely), but it seems to be the first thing complained about by new users
>>> when
>>> their systems are not set up properly. It takes new users a while to
>>> figure out
>>> that eliminating live viewing is a feature, not a problem.
>>>
>>> One large advantage to Myth, IMHO, is that I do not have to watch live
>>> TV,
>>> along with its commercials, and I can watch what I want when I want
>>
>> Live-TV is an essential tool for determining if the tuners are set up
>> properly and for identifying channels to determine if the channels are
>> mapped properly.
>> Yes newbes will complain about it not working, but imagine trying to debug
>> their systems without it.
>>
>
> Actually, Live TV as a test is not testing MythTV configuration.  It's only
> testing the tuner card/drivers itself--the same as could be done with
> dd/cat/azap/...  It's extremely easy to misconfigure mythbackend such that
> LiveTV works perfectly but recordings don't work at all.

It lets you verify your channel info is correct (call sign, etc.)
You can also match the scheduling information against what you are
seeing on your screen in real time.  No, it doesn't test everything
about recording, but it tests a lot more then dd or cat will.  Sure I
could go into the the scheduler and schedule something on the  60+
clear-QAM channels I'm currently getting in order to verify that my
mappings are correct.   Depending on the length of the shows,
multirec, and the number of physical tuners I have;  I'll be able to
review those recordings for errors in a day or two.  Or I can flip
channels in LiveTV and know it is all correct 10 or 15 minutes.

Bill Bogstad