[mythtv-users] What is being worked on for 0.26?

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Fri Jun 8 15:00:10 UTC 2012


On 06/08/2012 10:17 AM, Tom Lichti wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 8, 2012 at 8:26 AM, Michael T. Dean wrote:
>> On 05/31/2012 10:27 AM, Tom Lichti wrote:
>>> No, you don't get it, I was not happy with that solution. We hate the
>>> interface to Videos,
>>
>> FWIW, I felt the exact same way--until I was taught how to properly
>> configure Video Library (which I had been doing wrong--primarily because the
>> proper configuration, today, is different from the default configuration of
>> the past).  Now, I have an appreciation for what Video Library brings
>>
>> Specifically, you want to go into each of the 3 "views" available in Video
>> Library (Gallery, Browse, and List) and "Show Directory Structure" (meaning
>> the MENU should offer, "Hide Directory Structure," to allow you to change
>> the setting) and enable "Browse Library (recommended)" (meaning the MENU
>> should say, "Browse Filesystem (slow)," to allow you to change the setting).
>>   Then, once you've configured all 3 views appropriately, choose the one
>> whose interface looks best to you/works best for you.
>>
>> (Note that in 0.24 and below, these settings were "Enable/Disable Flat view"
>> and "File Browse Mode"--where you wanted both disabled.)
>>
>> A friend of mine who uses MythTV had a similar change of heart when I helped
>> him reconfigure Video Library when he wanted to organize his kids' videos
>> (which he has to keep so the kids can watch them hundreds of times, each
>> :)--some of which were recorded, some from DVD rips, etc.  Once we set up
>> Video Library properly, the interface was /much/ easier for the kids than it
>> would have been if everything were in Watch Recordings.  And in Video
>> Library, he can set a default filter on each frontend, so the kids' frontend
>> opens right up to their videos.
>>
>>
>>>   so I have hacked a system that makes Videos show
>>> up in the Recordings screen, as it's more intuitive to use, and better
>>> organized for our usage, and works well enough, with the occasional
>>> manual tweaking required.
>>
>> And, now that I've configured Video Library properly, I feel it's /much/
>> more intuitive to use and better organized--especially for large collections
>> of video.
>>
>> The difference is that in Watch Recordings, I get a single recording group
>> for each recording, and I can show a list of titles, recording groups,
>> categories and/or filter by recording group or category--but changing view
>> requires MENU (once or twice, as required)|Change Group Filter, then
>> selecting a filter.  In Video Library, I can create folders to organize my
>> videos however I like, and can browse between folders as simply as hitting
>> left/right--but I /still/ have the ability to apply filters based on
>> everything from category to genre to year to user rating to watched status
>> to date the video was added to the library...  Also, in Video Library, all
>> my videos can be given useful file names--such that even if I lose the
>> MythTV database, I know what each video is (and Video Library can pull the
>> metadata automatically).  There are other benefits, too, but these are the
>> main ones.
>>
>> IMHO, anyone who archives any recordings--as opposed to simply watching and
>> deleting the recordings--should consider moving those recordings to Video
>> Library.  Watch Recordings is great for "ephemeral" recordings that
>> appear/disappear, but Video Library is great for "permanent" storage of
>> (even large numbers of) videos you actually want to keep.
>>
>> Anyway, the point of this post is that those who have written off Video
>> Library should take a new look at today's Video Library (when properly
>> configured).  It's not your grandfather's Video Library...  ;)
> Thanks Mike, I'll give that a go. I've never really gone back and
> played with the Video Library since setting it up originally, at least
> 6 years ago.

Thank you for keeping an open mind and for taking another look.  And, as 
I'm a pretty strong believer in this approach, I'd appreciate any 
feedback you (or others) have on it--and anything you find lacking--as 
you look at Video Library, again, with fresh eyes.

As we move toward a more unified recordings and video schema, some of 
the differences disappear, but I want to ensure that there's absolutely 
no reason that someone would need to hack together an approach to "fake" 
a recording to allow them to stick non-recording (or at least, 
not-recorded-by-*this*-MythTV-system--i.e. if you lose the database from 
an old system in some catastrophe or something) video into recording 
schema.  Any user-provided/user-managed/user-named video should go in 
Video Library.  (For the purposes of this thought exercise, just pretend 
that it's irrelevant whether you use Watch Recordings or Video Library.)

Mike


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