Talk:MythTV

Untitled
''MythTV has become a very mature project. As of September 2006, the project was in a very usable state at version 0.20. Is very POV, I would suggested it be removed or changed to Some/many/Is commonly regard(ed) MythTV as a mature and stable project'' with a reference to back it up. New299 10:44, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

= Separate section for distro bundles = I created a separate section for distro bundles so they were not combined in the set of miscellaneous links at the bottom. These are separate projects and their relation to Myth should be clearly explained to not confuse those unfamiliar with linux. -DS

= Criticism = Mature, perhaps, but it has also become less and less stable, IMO. The lead developers keep a tight reign on the project, often scaring away help from other developers and rejecting patches for issues they aren't experiencing on their own systems. Users on the developer's mailing list often have to really convince Isaac Richards to fix an issue that to a normal user is serious (case in point,, which has been open 1 year and was recently resolved).

There are also several modules/source files that are highly coupled and/or excessively hard to maintain due to length and complexity; for example, the NuppelVideoPlayer -- the integrated video player -- is implemented in one class that is 7000+ lines of code. Additionally, Richards has been stubborn to refactor such things, and has even held the opinion that breaking the head subversion copy is perfectly acceptable for up to a week (see this thread and this thread). There have been several threats of forking the project (see this post).

Essentially, I feel that this article should also include information about these tensions. I respect that Wikipedia runs on open source, and it wouldn't want to bash another project. But, in the interests of objectivity, it should reflect an accurate image of the project. 74.74.230.204 02:26, 23 October 2007 (UTC)


 * So some of your opinions or patches have been refused and because that damaged your ego you want to bad mouth the devs and the project in the wikipedia entry? -- 11:06, 06 May 2007 (BST) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 82.17.88.35 (talk) 10:07, 6 May 2007 (UTC).


 * No, the cited threads had nothing to do with me. But in other conversations with the devs, this seems to be how they operate, and I feel that Wikipedia shouldn't be biased towards only the positive side of Open Source projects.129.21.225.133 (talk) 16:42, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Why were relevant links, such as the link to "personal video recorder" among many others removed? --cprompt 18:08, Jan 28, 2005 (UTC)

I tried to clarify what the plugins do, but can someone define what a "video manager" is/does? Johnh 04:40, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

Links purge
I removed a bunch of links, but this was reverted by User:NightMonkey. Since the reasons to remove them may not be obvious to some people but are long to state, I am listing them here:
 * MythTV Wiki The Official Wiki
 * This link is simply superfluous. There is already a link to the official site, which directly links to the Wiki.


 * #mythtv MythTV developers IRC channel. Exclusively for developer discussions
 * Bug tracker. Not for feature requests
 * These are specific to development.


 * MythTV Gallery Pictures of MythTV boxes, installations and users.
 * This one is pretty superfluous per se, but is already linked indirectly from mythtvtalk.com anyway.


 * Gentoo-Portage Wiki Unofficial notes and documentation Wiki for MythTV on Gentoo Linux
 * Fedora Core MythTV setup guide - Popular guide to set up MythTV on Fedora Core linux distribution
 * SUSE Linux MythTV setup guide - Multimedia and MythTV on SUSE linux distribution
 * These are installation instructions.


 * How to Build a MythTV - Wikibook installation guide
 * This one is duplicated.


 * The Linux HTPC Howto - Hardware and software guide to building a Linux Media Center or HTPC
 * The content there is not specific to MythTV, but to HTPC. If it is pertinent, it should be linked from the HTPC article instead.


 * Developer Documentation - Main Doxygen documentation mirror.
 * Development-specific stuff again.


 * MythWiki - Install MythTv on Gentoo.
 * Installation instructions again.

So, I'm rolling back to my last version and backporting NightMonkey's other changes.--Chealer 21:18, 17 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Hi Chealer. I agree with some of your removals (espcially if there are just plain duplicate links), but I don't agree with removing the links to installation instrauctions that are not "Official", and "developer" links and IRC channels. What if a developer not involved in the project comes to this page looking to get involved, or a user wants to see outstanding bugs, or even report a bug? Wikipedia isn't bound to only include "Official" links - we're not an extension of the MythTV project, and are not bound to only include information that is "sanctioned". Since they are useful to readers (of many kinds), I think they belong here. I think that the #mythtv-users channel should be added to the list, however. What do you think? --NightMonkey 02:13, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Hi NightMonkey. IMO, BTS-s should be a secondary resource for "end-users". If the software is so buggy that linking to its BTS directly from Wikipedia is a good idea, then it should be reconsidered whether the software deserves an article on Wikipedia at all. As for users wanting to report bugs, I consider that falls into the "developers" category. Developers that are looking to get involved in MythTV should simply not come to Wikipedia, but go to its website, which is already linked from here. As for removing links that are not "Official", I'm not sure why you're talking about that. If you look at the list of reasons I wrote to remove the links, you shouldn't find anything about links being official or not. And indeed, most of the remaining links are "Community" (which is probably a bad description). Finally, I considered removing the link to #mythtv-users, but preferred not to. I won't do it, but if you believe it should be done, I won't disagree with you, as it falls in the "user support" category, which shouldn't be done by Wikipedia. However, one reason I could see to disagree is that in case a major problem happens with mythtv.org, freenode should stay up and be a good place to ask what's going on.--Chealer 08:29, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Hi Chealer. In regards to buggy software not deserving an article on Wikipedia, I couldn't help but notice these two articles: Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer.   --Klestes 20:05, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Hahaha Santahul (talk) 21:43, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

Problems and Shortcomings?
I'm wondering, should there be something in the article about the future closing of Zap2It, and of the limitations with HD cable? I see it as a fair warning, but given that this is all very current stuff, does it deserve to be an encyclopedic-style page? Zirka 05:40, 27 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Zap2It closed and the world didn't end, the service was replaced by SchedulesDirect and in fact the MythTV user base in North America has only grown since. I'm not sure what you mean about the limitations with HD cable? There are several ways to legally record HD cable using fireware connections on the set-top boxes, capture devices such as the HD-PVR and in the case of unencrypted services which are available in many places, DVB-C/QAM/ATSC tuner cards. So no, I don't think either merit a mention in the article. --82.17.95.154 (talk) 21:13, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Merge this article with others
I think merging this article with KnoppMyth, Mythbuntu, MythDora is a good idea. It should be a subtopic Linux distros with mythtv already preloaded and configured. The only advantage is the original Linux that Mythtv is incorporated with. One subtopic could cover all these three KnoppMyth, Mythbuntu, MythDora and then if one wants do know about Knoppix, Fedora Core, or Ubuntu they can go to those articles. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.197.243.41 (talk) 02:36, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Incompatibility with Cable/Satellite-provided HD signals
If I understand correctly, MythTV is not capable of recording most HD signals provided by cable and satellite operators. This prevents a MythTV box from functioning as a drop-in replacement for a operator-provided DVR or Tivo (with CableCARD). This should be made clear in the article. Clconway (talk) 18:55, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Find the sources, and WP:Be Bold! :) --NightMonkey (talk) 20:26, 26 December 2008 (UTC)
 * It's not true. MythTV can any services for which you have a legal subscription. In the case of operators who provide a CAM this means recording the signal directly, and where no CAM is made available it may mean Firewire capture from a Set-top box or use of a HD capture device such as the HD-PVR.--82.17.95.154 (talk) 21:03, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

In the UK its less of a problem as quite a few HD channels (i.e. BBC HD) are unencrypeted a la Freesat--Bergqvistjl (talk) 10:33, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

Hardware requirements
I think a section on hardware requirements (like XBMC would be useful. 99.245.230.104 (talk) 08:07, 25 May 2014 (UTC)