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

[Simon Hobson]

Christopher Kerr wrote:

>Videos and Recordings have very similar data and I suspect and with a
>few differences here and there they have a very similar interface to
>the user.  This would allow Myth to be maintained and upgraded easier
>and make the overall experience to the user simpler.
>
>
>You see, that's the thing. They don't.
>
>TV is, for now, primarily chronological. People watch it and discuss 
>it for a few days after it airs. Most television is disposable 
>rubbish.
>
>My videos are different. Everything in my videos library is 
>something I like, and they exist in a timeless void. Where I like my 
>television in a simple chronological list, I want to browse my 
>videos as a gallery.

But that's a somewhat arbitrary division.

Essentially, what you are saying is that if it came from TV then it 
should be ditched after watching once, if it came on a DVD then it's 
kept. OK, so what about stuff that can come on either ? What about 
stuff you kept on TV, but then had to start getting on DVD ?

Earlier, someone asked "why would you want all your home videos mixed 
up with TV ?", to which the corollary is "why would you want your 
home video mixed up with TV series ?"

In other words, what's the primary difference between a series you 
recorded on TV and kept, and the same thing bought on DVD ?

What I'm getting at is that some of the distinctions are arbitrary 
and a matter of personal preference. I have a number of "subjects" 
where part of a selection came from TV and part came on DVD. 
Logically it makes sense to treat them as "one collection".

Yes there are differences in some of the details, but I see nothing 
wrong with bringing TV and video closer. An episode of (for example) 
"Morse" is an episode of Morse whether it was recorded off air or 
bought on DVD. So the core data is the same. There are differences, 
but I can't think of anything that should be insurmountable.

If tags gets implemented as it's been suggested, then those that want 
TV and video to be different can filter accordingly - nothing will 
appear to change and you'll be happy. Those that want to merge them 
will be able to do so - and they'll be happy.
That's a key thing. If you want to keep TV and Video separate, then 
merging and tagging should not prevent you doing that. If it's done 
well, then you might not even notice there's been a change.

Many people will want different things at different times. That 
should be easy too as long as the theme designers provide easy ways 
to switch views. I'd imagine that "TV" will still be "TV" on the menu 
but internally will be "media tagged as TV", and "Video" will still 
be "Video" on the menu but internally will be "media tagged as Video".

I think the future could be good. Instead of navigating to TV, Video, 
or Music and then to the track you want within that - you could 
navigate to "media" and select the artist/genre and then decide what 
track/album to watch. So I could listen to tracks I have on CD, DVD, 
or TV in one session - instead of having to pop in and out of 
different modes (model interfaces are so 1970's) to access them.

>Thanks to the stupidity of Australian TV networks, the first 20 
>minutes is likely to be overflow from some stupid reality show. Much 
>of the time, the ending has spilled onto the next show scheduled on 
>that channel.

That's not unique to your networks :( A few minutes setting up 
lossless transcode would allow you to cut the crap and just keep what 
you want.

-- 
Simon Hobson

Visit http://www.magpiesnestpublishing.co.uk/ for books by acclaimed
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