[mythtv-users] limit daily tv time?

Brian Wood beww at beww.org
Sun Oct 31 21:54:34 UTC 2010


On Sunday, October 31, 2010 03:37:06 pm Nick Rout wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 4:40 AM, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
> > On Sunday, October 31, 2010 05:52:08 am George Nassas wrote:
> >> On 2010-10-30, at 3:03 PM, David L wrote:
> >> > Is there a mythtv setting to limit how much mythtv playback time for a
> >> > certain profile is allowed each day?
> >> 
> >> There's nothing built-in but with system events
> >> (http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/MythTV_System_Events) you could have a
> >> script monitor playback time and then take down the frontend and lirc
> >> when your threshold is reached.
> > 
> > How about instead of monitoring total time you figure out a way to
> > monitor "quality". Each network would be assigned a "quality value",
> > with perhaps PBS getting a "5", and MTV getting "-25".
> > 
> > You would then calculate a quality value ("Q") by multiplying the time by
> > the "Q" factor of the network being watched. As the number changes, the
> > allowable channels would change, so that initially anything could be
> > watched, and after say, an hour of MTV, only C-SPAN and PBS could be
> > tuned until the "Q" factor was once again in positive territory.
> > 
> > The problem with your system is it assumes an hour of watching MTV or the
> > Cartoon Network is the same as an hour of PBS or the BBC, which it is
> > not. There is some programming we don't mind having kids watch, and
> > there are others we would rather they not even be aware of. My system
> > would take into account the "quality" of the network. Obviously such Q
> > factors could be adjusted to fit the individual prejudices of the
> > parents involved.
> 
> How about a gps unit on their back so you can increase allowable tv
> time after an hour or so playing outside? (I can see the gps being
> attached to the dog LOL)

Or attached to an Estes rocket or R/C airplane?

> 
> How about keeping an eye on our kids instead of getting the computer
> to? Now theres a novel idea :) :)

It will never work

The OP said he has others looking after his kids at times, an unfortunately common situation these days when it takes 25 
hours a day to earn enough to feed them.

I had an idea for a cell phone for teens. It would have completely free unlimited texting, but it would not allow any 
message containing a grammatical or spelling error to pass through the device. At certain pre-set times only messages in 
Spanish (or whatever foreign language the user was supposed to be learning) to pass.

Of course the "Q" factor would greatly simplify things like lIRC configs and channel lineups. If only networks with a "Q" 
of more than -555 were allowed, viewable channels could be represented with single digits.











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