[mythtv-users] What if...?

[Jay Foster]

On 9/20/2012 8:53 AM, mythtv-users-request at mythtv.org wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 9:02 AM, Stefan D <raptorjr08 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >  What if MythTV should be a backend only project?
>> >
>> >  Yes i know it is maybe a stupid question, but think about it. If you do
>> >  something shouldn't it be done better than everybody else? I think that on
>> >  the backend side MythTV still is one of the best solutions you could have,
>> >  but others is closing in fast and in some areas they have already passed
>> >  MythTV.(I tried tvheadend and scanning for channels. I never thought it
>> >  could be that easy to setup a backend pvr service, totally amazing. What if
>> >  the MythTV backend could be that easy?)
>> >
>> >  I know all about the comments when you "criticize" open source, all the
>> >  "if you want it do it yourself", "we do this on our free time", "we don't
>> >  get paid for doing this", and i understand all of those comments. But
>> >  please don't answer this if you have any of those comments. Think more of
>> >  how it would benefit MythTV if the few developer resources could be more
>> >  concentrated on making the backend the best and leave all other far behind?
>> >
>> >  I have used MythTV for almost 8 years now and it have been fun. I have
>> >  always used the master version since i want to try the latest and help to
>> >  find bugs if i can. Even though there have been progress in many areas, and
>> >  i don't want to put down any ones work, but the frontend software is pretty
>> >  far behind many other solutions, maybe even years behind. And finding
>> >  developers with the time and skill is always hard. Is it really worth their
>> >  precious time to try to make the frontend better? When it probably never
>> >  will be the best, only good enough? Wouldn't it be better to make the best
>> >  backend? Easy to setup, everything done through a browser, scheduling, epg,
>> >  and so on. And then have a killer interface that other clients could use to
>> >  controll the backend. Either for streaming or scheduling recordings or
>> >  whatever the backend can offer.
>> >
>> >  I recently got tired of the limited amount of features of the frontend,
>> >  and even though there is some really nice looking themes, the frontend
>> >  feels old. So i started looking around for other solutions, but since i
>> >  knew that MythTV backend does a fantastic job i wanted some other client to
>> >  integrate with the backend. I could probably be beaten up by saying this,
>> >  but i started to look at XBMC. It is very advanced, good looking, many
>> >  addons, skins and services you could install, it feels like what you always
>> >  wanted mythfrontend to be. And it seems to be a lot more developers so you
>> >  have many more things to choose from and can customize the client exactly
>> >  how you want it to be. In recent development version they are adding a PVR
>> >  interface, making it possible for developers to make plugins to backend
>> >  services, like MythTV.
>> >
>> >  That was when i thought about my original question. What if MythTV was
>> >  only a backend project? It could be the best combination ever, and the
>> >  developers time would really be used efficiently. Yes i know, XBMC is not
>> >  perfect in every way either, but it is close.
>> >
>> >  I know people do this because they think it is fun so it is not like a
>> >  commercial project where you just rearrange the resources and tell them to
>> >  concentrate on something else. But isn't it more fun to be the best, making
>> >  the best backend in the Linux world? I know all the hard work that has been
>> >  put down in MythTV, but maybe it is time to think a little different?
>> >
>> >  There is some great developers in this project, putting down a lot of
>> >  time, and i really appreciate all the work they do. So don't take this as
>> >  criticism against all those people.
>> >
>> >  If you have anything non constructive to say, please don't. Then just
>> >  forget this mail and move on.
>> >
>> >  /Stefan
>> >
>> >  I'm one of the biggest advocates of "opening up" Myth's content to other
> media players... I use Plex, XBMC, Orb, and who knows what else all in an
> effort to have my media available wherever I want, whenever I want. But
> when I'm at home, nothing beats the usability of the Myth FE. Sure it can
> be buggy, and maybe kludgy at times, but it's by far the best way to browse
> and play all of my recordings.
I've tried XBMC, but prefer the MythTV frontend.  Sure, XBMC has more 
eye candy, but it just doesn't work very well.  It will only play back 
about half of my HDHR recordings.  The rest, I just get a black screen 
or it dies part way through.  XBMC is also VERY buggy.  It hangs quite 
often requiring me to kill it from another terminal.  It does do 
commercial skipping, but always in the wrong place, which is worse than 
not doing it.  XBMC may have a place, but not as my PVR frontend.

Jay