[mythtv-users] RANT: MythTV has a *horrible* end user experience.

[Ben Firshman]

On 24 Feb 2008, at 10:21, endo verendo wrote:

> Okay, first of all, for all its faults, I love MythTV.  I use it  
> everyday.  I really want it to do well.  It's a totally open  
> platform in one of the most "closed up" worlds out there (media/TV/ 
> movies/Holywood/**AA industries).
>
> That said, the user interface is the worst thing I've ever used.   
> It's not user friendly, it's inconsistent, and it's downright  
> irritating.  As the owner of the device, I can make it work...but  
> good luck handing the remote to anyone else.  This makes mythtv a  
> non-starter in any household occuppied by both technically-oriented  
> and non-technically-oriented people.
>
> In my opinion, the biggest flaw is in playing back recorded TV  
> versus playing back videos (AVIs, etc).  The problem here of course  
> is that MythTV has two different movie players with two completely  
> different sets of controls.  This just isn't going to work for the  
> average user.  Having to tweak my remote settings manually to get  
> both sets of controls semi-similar is painful.  And even then the  
> controls/interfaces of mplayer vs. the internal player are different  
> to the point of being obnoxious.  Any media played with MythTV needs  
> to run under ONE player.

Tell MythVideo and MythDVD to use the "Internal" player. It annoys me  
how the internal player is so much slower than mplayer though - I'm  
forced to use mplayer to play x264 720p material even though I'm  
running quite a fast machine.

>
>
> Any controls that require pushing number keys on the remote for  
> operations should not be allowed.  There's no reason all menus  
> shouldn't be operable with, "up", "down", "left", "right", "ok", and  
> "cancel" buttons.  Everything needs to be onscreen and easily  
> learned.  Optional shortcut keys are fine, of course.

I agree. It seems to be going this way (the "menu" under the live TV  
seems to have recently gained options to switch tuner etc), but it's  
not quite there yet. There are still two menus for many things (the  
list of recordings for example) - the "menu" button and the "info"  
button. That is the only thing stopping me using the Apple remote.

> New video content needs to be automatically detected.  Having to go  
> to "video manager" to scan for new content is neither necessary from  
> a technical perspective nor user friendly.

There's an option for this buried somewhere in the setup screens. ;)

MythMusic needs a similar thing really. I like how Rhythmbox scans for  
new music whenever I open it.

> The setup screens need to be completely rewritten.  Basic common  
> options need to be up front, advanced, seldom used options need to  
> be buried but accessible.  The setup needs to be far more  
> hierarchal, rather the "linear" screens that currently mix  
> fundamental and advanced options.  The setup screens in mythtv are  
> far scarier than any text-based Linux config file I've ever seen.

I can't argue with you, the setup screens are dire. Maybe we need an  
expert on friendly UIs to go over mythtv and offer advice?

Ben