[mythtv-users] Bolstering a system for Watch TV

[Matt S.]

On Tue, Nov 12, 2013 at 8:30 AM, Michael T. Dean <mtdean at thirdcontact.com>wrote:

> On 11/11/2013 01:45 PM, Stefan Jones wrote:
>
>> To reduce my monthly cable TV bill, I'm thinking of turning in my STB and
>> DTC, and just using a HDHR Prime/Cablecard.
>>
>> This would mean using MythTV's Watch TV function if I ever want to watch
>> a live show.
>>
>> I have used Watch TV many times as a test tool, to check on reception and
>> channel identities and so on. But it has always seemed a little flaky to me.
>>
>> Besides increasing the size of the ring buffer (?), are there other
>> things I could do to make my system better able to handle the task?
>>
>> I may also make a couple of simple front ends to stick on my guest room
>> and office TVs.
>>
>
> I think any "Live-TV-specific" flakiness you may have noticed is actually
> just due to the (hasn't-gotten-much-TLC) Live TV implementation in MythTV.
>  Basically, as MythTV (and its use of the huge variety of supported capture
> devices for capturing TV with a huge variation in tuning/timing/...) has
> changed over the years since the current Live TV implementation was put in
> place, much about the Live TV implementation seems to be in need of
> updating.
>

I respectfully disagree with a couple of Mike's statements.  While yes,
Live TV isn't a 100% seamless experience, I'll say that it's starting to
approach a B+ or A- rating at this point.  Every release since really 0.23
has improved the Live TV experience.  With 0.27, it's even better and it's
been definitely "usable" for daily use since 0.25.  It has gotten attention
from several devs, and yes, it could use even more attention, but the major
kinks have (mostly) been worked out.  Mike is correct, however, that some
configurations and capture devices work very well, and others do not.  The
HD-PVR, for example, isn't the best device for Live TV, but I assure you,
it will work.  However, older analog devices like the PVR-500 work
extremely well, as an example.  My ATSC tuners do pretty well as well.

But the good news, to your original question, is that the HDHR + cablecard
worked VERY well for me in live tv when I had one.  That's assuming you
have a provider that broadcasts their channels as copy freely and you can
tune to them.


>
> So I don't think there's anything you (or anyone else) can do to your
> system to make it more stable with respect to Live TV usage.  The only
> solution to Live TV flakiness is for someone who cares about Live TV to
> actually "pay the fees" (i.e. put in the work to find bugs/issues in the
> Live TV code and patch them).
>

Mike is right here... basically, it's "best case scenario".  Either it
works well for you, or it doesn't.  There's really no "tuning" you can do
that will make much of an impact.

That said, if you encounter a bug, submit a bug report.  Many developers
have been picking up live tv bugs over the last several releases.  They may
not be quickly resolved (unless they're serious bugs), but if you don't
report, it's likely to not get fixed.  Also, patches are very welcome,
should you be technically inclined to provide them :)


>
> The alternative that's available to anyone (regardless of the amount of
> time they have to spend on MythTV), though, is to just not use Live TV.
>  There's really no need for Live TV if using a DVR as a DVR, where you
> record anything you might possibly ever watch.  Even for "time-specific"
> content, like news or sports, Live TV isn't necessary and has many
> disadvantages over non-Live-TV recordings ( http://www.gossamer-threads.
> com/lists/mythtv/users/387302#387302 ).  (Even in the
>

This is the part where Mike and I disagree entirely (which, to give Mike
credit - is something I do only on the most rare of occasions).

--- If you want to use Live TV, then use Live TV.

Contrary to some vocal people several years back, Live TV is a core feature
of mythtv and always will be. There are plenty of good reasons to use Live
TV, just like there are plenty of good reasons to use the scheduler and DVR
functions.  I think it's pretty silly to say that you should "record the
news" or always expect to set up recording rules simply to have something
on in the background while you get the kids ready for school.  Our family
watches Live TV nearly every day of the week for one reason or another.
Sometimes, you just want to turn on the TV... and that's ok! =D


Best of Luck!
skd5aner
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