[mythtv-users] Playback Profiles? WTF?!

[Todd Ignasiak]

On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 4:48 AM, Glen Hawksworth
<glenhawk at optusnet.com.au> wrote:
> OK, a bit of an over-reaction but they are very confusing.

I agree.   This change seems to be representative of MythTV in
general.   On one hand, it's great.. you have the flexibility to do
whatever you want.   On the other hand,  why the hell should I have to
figure out the intricacies of the various settings, decipher the
acronyms, and determine which ones actually apply to my system, to get
the basic functionality working.      If there was some basic
documentation, it might be more reasonable.  But, as it is now, it's
very difficult to figure it out.

Some basic improvements:
- Anything this complex NEEDS to be well documented.
- Update menus depending on what options are valid.  On my Mac, XvMC,
XvMC VLD, and others are not possible and should be hidden.
- If the frontend is not compiled to include Mac Acceleration, XvMC,
etc.  those options should be removed from the menu selections.
- Auto-detection -  Is XvMC available?  If so, which variant, and what
subset of features?  What OS is it running on, etc.    A pretty good
first guess, or ranking of possible options could be done.

The On-Screen setup menu system seems, to me, to have grown beyond its
useful purpose.   Too many menu screens, with unintuitive
organization, too difficult to navigate via remote control.    Basic
config via OSD is good, but the mass of other options could be better
accomplished in something like mythweb.

>  I have a frontend PC that worked just well enough to view all media from
>  the backend/server (Live TV, recorded TV, downloaded video, music, etc.)
>  with only the occasional lag during HDTV.
>  Since the update to 0.21 I have had irregular performance which I have
>  found to be mainly due to the Playback Profile settings. Some HDTV plays
>  fine but with a greyscale OSD and other HDTV has colour OSD but lags
>  terribly. I have also noticed that the frontend seems to be running a
>  little hotter than usual.

Grayscale OSD usually points to XvMC being used.  Depending on your
profile, it may be used only for certain content or resolutions.

>  My Questions
>       * Is there a way to emulate the default settings from the previous
>         version of MythTV? What are the best settings for a slower PC?

You should be able to make a custom profile, with a single playback
configuration for any resolution.  This is basically what the previous
version had, one selection with no dependancy on content.  For that
one option, choose the settings closest to what you were using before.

>       * Does anyone have a strategy for finding the best settings using
>         the playback profiles? A methodical approach that is a little
>         more scientific than trial and error would be appreciated (I
>         don't mind doing some background reading if I only knew what to
>         look for)

Another variable in the mix is:  what options was your frontend
compiled to support.   Unfortunately, the menu selections still
display all the options, even if your frontend doesn't support them
(XvMC, OpenGL, etc.)

>       * How do you find out the resolution of different TV broadcasts?
>         How do you know which settings will be used for a given TV show?
>         (this is a source of great frustration becasue I try changing
>         some settings and then don't know which recordings to watch to
>         view the results)
>       * Do the playback profiles only affect Live and Recorded TV? Does
>         it affect the playback of other Video media?
>       * Can anyone help me? ;-)
>
>  As long as the Video playback is reliable I will be happy. I plan to
>  eventually build a new higher spec frontend for the main TV and retire
>  this one to the spare room.
>  Overall I think playback profiles will be a good thing because I will be
>  able to optimise the settings for different types of video but at the
>  moment I am in over my head!!
>  Thanks in advance,
>  Glen
>
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