[mythtv-users] MythTV vs. Windows Media Center

[Reynolds, Brian]

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Richard Morton
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2011 4:12 PM
To: Discussion about MythTV
Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] MythTV vs. Windows Media Center

ok, so you raise some interesting points and I think you maybe missing
the point of a DVR.
DVRs and MythTV in particular is designed for you to watch recorded
content, this is so that the scheduler knows it has exclusive access
to tuners for recording otherwise programmes may not get recorded
because a tuner is unexpectedly unavailable (someone is watching
livetv) and to optimise the schedule this was the last showing of that
particular show.

With MythTV you simply tell it everything you want to watch; Install
the data-mining plug-in that was recently announced on this list.

My MythTV has lots of rules some of them do the following:
 - record shows that have been announced but not aired yet.
 - record all new shows
 - record all shows with a specific actor or of a specific genre
 - record all Formula 1 but prefer an HD recording of it.

This is of course something that builds over time but what you end up
with in a few short weeks is an impressive library of shows that you
_want_ to watch and programmes that I timeshift by playing shortly
after broadcast start (i.e. I am often running a little late) but
before the programme has finished (chase-play).

What does this mean? You watch TV on your terms, not at the
broadcaster whim of scheduling. Very quickly we came to agree with the
developers that LiveTV is an rarely used function (I use it to test
the tuners are working and _nothing_ else).

Now, in the UK we are fairly fortunate of having high-quality
free-to-air tv on digital terrestrial and satellite, and we dont have
cable and therefore no video on demand, but Myth becomes your video on
demand system

And there is plenty to watch anyway and if I want to watch a new film
we rent it, buy it or go to the cinema.

R
_______________________________________________


Richard,

My kids are not with me 100% of the time.  When they come over,
especially late in the evening, they often go to their rooms and watch
TV, play video games, whatever.  At this point, I don't imagine that
they will want to watch pre-recorded stuff, but I could be wrong.  Once
I have a huge amount of storage space, I'll be more likely to allow them
to schedule whatever they want... as long as it doesn't interfere with
what I want to watch.  After all, I am the king of my castle. :)
However, when watching Live TV, it is really, really nice to be able to
pause/rewind.

Most of what I personally watch is pre-recorded... because I love
skipping the commercials and watching a 1 hour show in 45 minutes.
Sometimes though, I come home and the DVR is already recording a show
that I would like to watch right now... so if I start watching 15
minutes after the start of the show, I can fast forward through all the
commercials.  I love this feature.

So the DVR has two tuners and is setup to record what I and my
girlfriend like to watch.  However, usually due to setting the schedule
to record a few extra minutes at the beginning and/or end of the show,
there are conflicts.  This is especially true for shows that follow
"Live" programs like American Idol (which I hate and my girlfriend
loves) or sporting events.

I definitely need more than two tuners.  At least four.  So, I want to
go with four cable tuners that can get everything I can get on the cable
box, minus VOD.  The other tuners aren't expensive (Hauppauge makes an
internal dual-tuner that receives ATSC/NTSC/ClearQAM that I can get for
$100)... so why not put in at least one of those?  I'm planning to build
the machine so that it will have a couple of extra PCIe slots just in
case I want to add more.

Brian