[BUGA] Multimedia (was: Sell me an Apple!)

[Greg 'groggy' Lehey]

On Tuesday, 28 March 2006 at 12:06:53 +1030, Mark Newton wrote:
> Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:
>> On Tuesday, 28 March 2006 at 11:35:08 +1030, Mark Newton wrote:
>>> I don't think any vendor can give you that outcome.
>>
>> It used to be standard in home electronics until computers came on to
>> the scene.
>
> Well, yes, but that's because "home electronics" was an established
> industry which had been around for, well, decades.  Meanwhile the
> computer industry can't even agree on whether digital TV ought
> to be encrypted, or what CODEC it should use;  and those who have
> bucked the trend by coming to agreements on those topics have found
> themselves to be obsolete.

That's part of the problem, yes.  Another is probably the recording
industry doing its damndest to make it difficult for people to find
out how the existing equipment works.

>> What I'm looking for is something that supplies the basics, but which
>> isn't as restrictive as a TiVo.
>
> What do you mean by "The Basics"?

Something that Yvonne can run when I'm not there: record TV
programmes, play them back, play DVDs (preferably the same thing).
I'm currently working around with mplayer and a DVD recorder, but it's
a mess.

> The fact that you've dismissed mythtv as too-hard tells a story
> about what you see as the basics, but the vendors of TV tuner
> devices have a different picture of what the basics look like
> (notably: Viewing TV in a window on your computer -- that's pretty
> basic, isn't it?)

Correct.  Currently I can't do it because I don't know the correct
settings for the tuner card.

> What functionality are you after?  Do you want a package which
> happens to be a turnkey mythtv device?  Or do you want a set-top-box
> DVD recorder?

Ultimately I need flexibility.  At the moment I need something which
Just Works.

> If it's the latter, get a set-top-box DVD recorder.

Maybe I should, and then throw it away later.  But I'd like something
that supplies the basics now and on which I can work.

> If it's the former, then perhaps I can make a cheeky suggestion:
> Every mum and dad happens to know a neighborhood kid that's pretty
> good with computers who can help them out with technical support.
> Give a computer to one of those kids, tell them to set up mythtv,
> and accept it back when it's working.  Pretty sure that'll give you
> what you're after :-)

Heh.  I actually did that a year ago.  Got the card back, but it was
indirect (looks at Ryan), and I never got the info I needed.

>> Somebody also mentioned the issue of ripping DVDs; possibly an
>> Apple *would* be too restrictive.
>
> <shrug>  My powerbook rips DVDs just fine.  Not sure what you mean by
> that.

I mean what I said: "Somebody also mentioned".  It was in this thread;
I forget who it was.  Good to hear he was wrong.

Greg
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