[mythtv-users] limit daily tv time?

[Greg Oliver]

On Sun, Oct 31, 2010 at 4:54 PM, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
> 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.

At my day job, if you send an MMS or SMS message that goes through
AT&Ts network in the US, the hooks are already in place to make this
possible  :)

Adding a new phone to the capabilities database is all that would be
needed..  Oh, and remember - BigBrother is watching  :)