Feature Wishlist

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Revision as of 10:29, 9 January 2006 by 84.172.16.89 (removed fixed requests)

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Information

Before making any feature requests to the MythTV developers one first needs to understand the most basic truth about MythTV: "MythTV is a project by developers, for developers." If you look at things in that light, comments that get made by developers to users who submit feature requests ("Sounds good I look forward to your patch") make a whole lot more sense..

The developers of MythTV work for free (obviously), in their spare time. Most/all of us write software for a living, where they work all day long on things that other people want us to work on. When they work on Myth they focus on what's important to them. Features get implemented because a developer wants it bad enough to spend his spare time writing it and testing it and believes strongly in it enough to defend it from the other developers (to avoid the feature creep common in some projects). Bugs, especially crash bugs, get worked on by all of the devs as they encounter them as they impact everyone.

That's not to say that the users don't matter, or that they developers never implement something that comes from a user. It's just that unless a developer says either "why didn't I think of that" or "I could knock that out in a couple hours" it will be a much lower priority.

If you've got an idea for a feature that you'd like to see implemented here's some guidelines for submitting it:

  • Clearly indicate that it's a request not a demand.
  • Indicate your understanding that code speaks louder than words. (i.e. "If I could I'd write up a patch that does this but I'm not a dev")
  • Be very clear with how you envision your idea working. The more details you have in your request the better chance you have hitting that magical "knock it out in a couple of hours" mark.
  • Make sure you're not repeating a previous request. (search the archives)
  • Make sure what you want isn't already a feature. (it happens)
  • Do NOT be offended if a developer responds with "sounds good I look forward to your patch".
  • Requests from people who have contributed back to the project in some way carry a LOT more weight.

That last one is pretty important. Developers by and large tend to be rather blunt. People often mistake being terse and too the point for being insulting. Then they start a flame war on the mailing list (which is pretty much certain death for a feature request) all because a developer either a) didn't take 3 paragraphs to tell them "I'm not going to work on this" or they think that the developer should drop whatever they're doing because *they* want it done. A lot of the devs are a bit defensive when it comes to requests.

There may be a new way to get your favourite feature in MythTV. The guys over at http://lxmsuite.com plan on supporting MythTV development by tossing money at it. Of course, you'd have to subscribe first and pay monthly fees. I haven't tried it yet and can't comment on it. Just check it out, you are probably going to like it.

In Development


Wishes/Suggestions

Backend Addons

  • Full Programm Save. If a program on a channel is recorded, and after that, the next programm is also recorded, and if there is set to start earlyer and stop later, these settings are ignored. How would it be to add support to save the data from the overlapp time to both files...
  • Add Support to view multiple Channels from one Transponer with DVB. SO That you can use more recordings, PIP as if you have two card's if you only have one. Handle multiple DVB channels simultaneously from a single multiplex
  • Add Support to use Internet TV from the backend, so that it could be use like a normal Channel (Record, Skip Back, ...)
  • SoftCAM Support ??? If it's leagal, this should be included (VDR has Support for this)

Frontend Addons

General

Menu Mode

  • A clock in the menu system (Maybe aviable with 0.19 when the new UI is used wich allow animations...)
  • X10 Home Automation, or you could read this as a request to add a basic menu editing GUI, to add program start buttons for example

TV/Recording Mode

New Plugins

Plugin Addon's (to existing Plugin's)

MythGame

  • Support for a Otion to search for a rom!

MythMusic

MythPhone

MythVideo

  • Series browserA small idea to make series browsing easy in MythVideo.

Unsorted

With reference to website / mailing list

Without reference to website / mailing list

  • Mouse support. Would make it possible to use a touch screen to control MythTv. - option added
  • Ability to automaticly change Xine/MPlayer (etc.) keybindings file when you change MythTV hotkeys (seems difficult to me - HenkPoley). Or just a webpage with Xine/MPlayer configs that conform to MythTV default keybindings.
  • Channel icons when using Data``Direct for new users (See Official Docs - WikiMyth)
  • On screen help. Press F1 and it tells you what keys do what at that point in time. Also tells you more about each function. ?How does this work with Remotes? --I'm planning on tackling this as my first bit of mythdev :) --DavidGreaves Try pressing "1" on your remote
  • Implement libvisual into MythMusic for additional effects
  • Provide some way for users with multiple available tv cards to switch channels, while keeping the ringbuffer for the previous channel until system runs out of tv cards. This would allow flipping between two shows and keeping the ringbuffer for both
  • Implement a frontend gui that is based on xosd for text display and display on top of xscreensaver modules running on root window - this would allow for cool 3d backgrounds in the mythtv frontend - there is a new GUI based on OpenGL in CVS ...
  • Add photo album support to MythWeb (something like JAlbum or gallery)
  • Add EXIF display option for photos in myth's photo gallery. Also, create thumbnails of very large jpgs to speed up display.
  • make myth's photo display more flexible to allow display of variable number of photos per screen (like iPhoto or picasa)
  • take transition effects from xscreenaver and implement them for myth photo module
  • implement opengl photo transition effects as effects to be selected for channel change in LiveTV
  • Provide ability for MythMusic user to select music by Genre - this would be an easy way to deal with large music colletions and playlists
  • Provide an onscreen IM client (based on MythNotify ?) Ideally it should integrate with GAIM and allow an IM chat in transparent text while watching TV with variable font size - possibly using GAIMnOSD
  • Add skype support to MythPhone
  • add asterix integration and configuration details to MythPhone and docs
  • add "smooth scroll" option to OSD Program Guide for horizontal and vertical scroll
  • Add an ebay module to watch and update active bids
  • Add simple games that can be played via the remote control (i.e. arrow keys and enter) - like some type of simple minesweeper or sokoban
  • Add support to MythGame for epsxe (Can be used with the new MythGame!) - Also add support for mtd to detect Playstation 1 cds (This not!)
  • Implement support in mtd and MythDVD to support CD+G format using libcdg123
  • Include the free Vera fonts in MythTV
  • Integrate MythBurn into main MythTV packages
  • Provide a transcode to divx or xvid while recording option. Save a ringbuffer that is transcoded to divx and store in database as a TV Recording after processing to divx
  • After an initial transcode from mpeg2 to mpeg4, I woul d like to be able to do a mega-sqeeze using nuvexport for archival purposes but still keep the file in mythtv records -- not in videos. Can .nuv be used as a container for xvid? I.E. initial PVR250 recording for an hour takes up 2gb. Transcode to mpeg4 brings this down to 1gb. Nuvexport "transcode" to xvid brings it down to ~400mb and keeps the recording and program info in mythtv.
  • A way to process files and just remove cuts from cutlist without changing file format (to allow removing commercial from mpeg2 streams but keep mpeg2 format for easy transfer to dvd)
  • Provide an option under setup that will gather system/mythtv config and info and allow a user to send an email to mythtv-users mail lists after careful prompting to ensure that new users can file useful bug reports or ask for help while including as much required information to provide a solution (Something similar to bug-buddy )
  • Have mythbackend back up the mythconverg database on a flexible schedule.
  • alarm clock feature - start playing liveTV from a given channel for a set period of time on given days of the week (i.e. weekdays, weekends)
  • support for secondary storage via NFS - when primary storage is full on a backend, go to secondary storage
  • support for blog entries from inside of myth - provide hotkey that will open a quick form to add an entry to blogger or other common blog. Included in the posting would be the information about the show being watched at the moment - would be ideal to have a transparent overlay window for text entry so blog entry could be posted while still wathcing TV - useful to blog about a debate or talk show
  • Add ability for mythtv to log all shows watched (live or recorded) during a day and store in a unique log file per day to store tv watching history. Add ability to put parental controls on mythtv to only allow a given number of hours of tv watching during the day, only allow certain channels during certain times on certain days of the week.
  • update mythweb to graph TV usage/watching over time. Include time tv is on, most watched channels, most watched programs, most recorded programs, link to logs of mythtv usage per day
  • A convenient way to comment on movies in IMDB after watching them. I.E. At the end of watching a MOVIE, add an option to the delete menu to jump to IMDB "post a review" for this movie (or a link to tvtome to comment on an episode of a series?)
  • A solution to allow MythTV to watch and record encrypted digital cable broadcasts that the user has licensed. This is an EXTREME pipe dream as it would require 1) cooperation, or at least noninterference, from the cable companies; 2) digital receiver cards that can accept CAMs from the cable provider; 3) volunteers to code the drivers.
  • Note that this isn't *quite* as far fetched as it sounds. It *may* prove possible to receive unencrypted (non-pay) digital cable channels in the US with the pcHDTV3000 card. The encrypted ones would require a card compatible with a CableCard decryption card -- which cable companies *are* required to provide if you ask for one... but we're unlikely to see such a card ship *before* the July 1 2004 advent of the broadcast flag. So support EFF in getting it thrown out.  :-) -- BayLink DateTime(2004-11-01T20:10:47Z)
  • provide arbitrary encapsulation of ANY UNIX application started fullscreen inside of a VNC session and assign to a Channel - I.E - start a vnc session with xterm in fullscreen, assign to channel 100, start xchat logging into #mythtv-users and assign to channel 101, etc.
  • LiveTV multichannel preview mode - show a snapshot of each channel on a 3x3 or 4x4 matrix. Allow arrow keys and ff/rw to scroll through channels and enter to select channel
  • Add local movie showtimes module
  • playlist queue - ability to manage a queue of recorded programs or videos for sequential playback
  • change behavior going to livetv or attempting to change channels when all tuners are in use to provide a menu allowing the user to cancel a currently-running recording job and delete the recording.
  • Add default MythTV setup options for ALSA : default for alsa devices and mixer. Provide documentation on how to have all ALSA output go though mixer (so that two sounds can play at the same time)
  • Have MythTV emulate a standard uPnP "Media Server" to take advantage of "media center extender" hardware- See thread - one example: CyberMedia Gate
  • Add a Test Screen to help adjust TV colors correctly to view MythTV at the very best -- also add test sound effects for stereo, 5+1 sounds, etc sound debugging. This would be a nice addition to setup in myth. -- possibly lprof-1.09 tools
  • Provide a setting for maximum time on LiveTV or "Watch Recordings" screen with active mini preview video without any user event (i.e. no remote signal, no keypress, no channel change). When time reached, kick MythTV back out to main screen. This will prevent unnecesasry ringbuffer disk I/O after set time. A reasonable default time for this may be 6 hours.
  • Add option to MythWeb "backend status" to bump encoders out of LiveTV into "local" (i.e. - you left the TV in livetv mode, and nobody's watching)
  • Add option in MythWeb to send a line of text to MythNotify - like a one-way page (probably most useful to add under backend status - where you can see that TV is on, and someone is likely to be in front of TV)
  • Add search by title, actor, keyword, and new shows options to MythWeb. When searching for terms from mythweb, I would like to have them stored as search terms in myth GUI for future reference.
  • Add option to limit the time length or filesize of recordings. Long length MythTV recordings would automatically span multiple files similar to film rolls. Allows TV marathons, sporting events, etc to be broken up into manageable pieces.
  • Configurable "max_commercial_length", override recordedmarkup and skip max_commercial_length where appropriate. (sometimes I hit skip and jump 13 minutes, etc).
  • More precise time offset for guide listings (My clock is spot on using NTP, but my provider's clock seems fast by 30-60 seconds). Or, allow "End Late" to be a negative value, could be used in combination with "Start Early" to accomplish same goal. This could also be used to compensate for any scheduler "lag".
  • Add an "Export Recordings" mode under "Manage Recordings" that interfaces with mkmovie, nuvexport and nuv2avi in some integrated fashion so that TV recordings could easily be exported from MythTV without dropping to the commandline to do so.
  • Add an option to import playlists for and streaming URL's for internetradio to MythMusic
  • Add a capability to the encoder back-end to allow overlapping scheduled recordings to be recorded using the same encoder as long as they are on the same channel - would still produce 2 or more separate recordings, but would not produce a conflict if the recordings were on the same channel. Should be possible - the same video would appear in 2 or more different recordings.
  • Speculatively record shows that the user *might* want to watch, even though the user hasn't manually asked for them. (But, of course, never let these take priority over shows the user says he definitely *does* want to be recorded).
  • Use Bayesian prediction (just like SpamAssassin) to get better at predicting which shows the user *might* want to watch. See http://www.whynot.net/view_idea?id=1236