[mythtv-users] Who's going to be the first?

Craig Treleaven ctreleaven at cogeco.ca
Fri Sep 3 00:57:29 UTC 2010


At 4:46 PM -0500 9/2/10, jedi wrote:
>On Thu, Sep 02, 2010 at 03:58:15PM -0400, Craig Treleaven wrote:
>> At 2:11 PM -0500 9/2/10, jedi wrote:
>> >On Thu, Sep 02, 2010 at 04:31:56PM +0100, Simon Hobson wrote:
>> >> jedi wrote:
>> >>
>> >> >    Even something as simple as some home videos can be legacy content.
>> >> >
>> >> >    Apple's approach to content is infact user hostile when it comes to
>> >> >basic simple things that an end user might have lying around. You don't
>> >> >have to be a "geek" to have some video files that you might have created
>> >> >or saved or gotten from someone else.
>> >>
>> >> Ahh, but Apple have that sewn up too - you import it into iMovie,
>> >
>> >    No you don't. iMovie just barfs on it.
>> >
>> >    Most people aren't in a good position to see this for themselves.
>> >
>>
>> So your camcorder isn't one of the few hundred supported by iMovie?
>> https://support.apple.com/kb/HT3290
>
>    I was talking about FILES.
>
>    This is not the "we've already bought into only ever using Apple
>devices for anything we do" use case.

I'm sorry, you'll have to write in English.  iMovie supports the files created by a wide range of camcorders.  You may have one that it doesn't support but that doesn't make your experience universal.

> >
>> > > export it in the right format, and then stream it through your Apple
>> >> TV. I think that we can expect updates to all the relevant i<stuff>
>> >> to add the right support bits, if it's not already there, so once
>> >> you have it on your computer it's "one click" to make it available
>> >> to your Apple TV.
>> >
>> >    Any device that can read a NAS fileshare already does it. Just drop
>> >it in the right location and all of your work is done. You don't have to
>> >"import" anything or "transcode" anything. It kind of "just works".
>> >
>> >    That is the beauty of open systems and hardware and software that are
>> >designed to just play whatever you happen to have (VLC, popcorn hour, any
>> >Windows/Linux equivalent of iMovie).
>> >
>> What proportion of the population do you think is able to set up a NAS
>server, acquire (download, import, whatever) video to be stored there,
>
>...actually it's pretty darn trivial with Windows.
>
>You right click on a folder and you futz around with the menus.
>
>It's not exactly rocket surgery.
>
>Some people insist on making simple ideas and simple GUI interfaces into
>something much more scary then the really are. All this does is make end
>users afraid of their own shadow and unable to deal with ANY interface.
>
>[deletia]
>
>Robust software and hardware that takes a no-excuses approach to playing
>stuff makes this sort of thing inherently easy. There is nothing to futz
>around with because your player doesn't try to get in your way.

What dream world do you live in?  The real world is overrun with an alphabet soup of video and audio formats and technologies.  I bought a Zensonic Z500 6 years ago and struggled to get it to play a few things acceptably.  The situation is only marginally better today.  If you glance at the support boards, people are constantly struggling to get format X to play on hardware Y.  And we're the experienced, technically sophisticated folks that have invested significant time in deciphering all the secret codes.  We're like the hot rod builders that worry whether the differential ratio should be 7:6 or 1:1.  Nobody else has a clue and they really don't want to know. 

We live in a world where oh-so-few people know how to set a tab stop in their word processor.  They pound away on the space bar and complain that they have too much work.  You expect them to spend their leisure time connecting disparate bits of hardware and software and trouble-shooting arcane incompatibilities?

>The Apple approach is only easy if you are willing to fully adapt to how
>they want you to do things and to never deviate from that.

Bingo.  Because it will work without hassle.  Apple's betting they can make some money this way.  I'm not sure what they're offering is *easy enough* for the mass market but they are one of the few companies positioned to even take a shot at it. 

> > BTW, what is the "Window/Linux equivalent of iMovie"?  I've put together a few videos with iMovie and I've yet to see anything remotely as easy to use.
>
>    Just about any Win32 shareware/nagware/commercial video editor is more than
>the equal of iMovie. There is squat that is magical about it. If anything, it's
>insistence on bad workflow and poor format support is a big negative.
>
>    iMovie is more complete than Linux equivalents in areas other than format
>support, but that's not really saying much.

You're long on generalities and devoid of any specifics--I don't think you have any experience whatsoever.  Uninformed Apple-bashing is a hobby for you, is it? 

Craig


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