ubuntu-tv team mailing list archive

[Will Cooke <will.cooke@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

-- 
Ubuntu - Linux for human beings | www.ubuntu.com | www.canonical.com 

On Mon, 2011-11-21 at 16:34 -0800, Thomas Mashos wrote:


> * Content. I'm seeing a large push toward Internet content (both
> streaming and downloaded). That said, recorded content is still king
> (for quality). MythTV is going to fall a bit here, as it is first and
> foremost a DVR and expects to have recorded content. XBMC has many
> plugins available to stream Internet content (plugins are python
> based http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW-TO:Write_plugins_for_XBMC). What isn't discussed much is gaming. MythTV and XBMC have the option to launch games and combined with a gamepad make a really interesting offer.
> 

Games isn't something I'd really thought about.  That's an interesting
angle.

In my experience add-ons for Internet based video fall in to two camps:

    *    Those which take the FLV video (for example) and display on
that video full screen with out all the extra stuff on the web page
    *    Those which open a browser to the full page where the video
lives

The first option will most likely annoy the content owners/publishers
and lead to blocks being put in place (a la Boxee & Hulu), and the
second option looks ugly and clunky.

Then of course there's the problem of the user actually discovering the
content.  How do I find a specific episode of a specific programme which
is available /somewhere/ on the Internet?

Tricky problems, to which I have no answers.


> * TV or set top box, Atom or ARM. I think if there is going to be a
> hardware offering, it needs to be in the form of both a TV and also a
> set top box (as well as something that could be installed on existing
> hardware). The ARM systems that Linaro showed off were pretty nice and
> would do great I think (especially since they are so small), but being
> that these would always be plugged in wouldn't need especially low
> power usage so an Atom processor with an ION GPU would do fine.

I saw some pretty amazing things running on ARM at UDS.  ION is also a
good platform for playing with, I've got two at home as Myth Frontends
and they work brilliantly.  We should consider the generic VA API which
I think is rendering-backend agnostic and so would allow a solution to
move seamlessly between hardware (in theory anyway!).


> 
> * Scheduling recordings does require schedule data. In the US and
> Canada this is done via http://www.schedulesdirect.org/ for $25/year.
> In other areas of the world this is done via EIT. Microsoft provides
> this service for free for Windows MCE users. These services usually
> provide about 14 days of listings. Ideally I would like to see this
> rolled into Ubuntu One for a small fee but $25/year isn't too extreme.
> 


Does ATSC provide any scheduling info at all?  (This is based on my
understanding that ATSC is the US equivalent of DVB-T)


> As it seems with most new Canonical products, there needs to be a tie
> in with Ubuntu One. Let me lay out the following scenario of what I
> would like to see in an ideal world.
> 
> 
> I purchase a Ubuntu TV (or possibly a small set top box). At boot up,
> it asks for your Ubuntu One credentials. I now have access to my
> music, pictures, and videos that I have stored in Ubuntu One. I also
> have the option to buy new music and/or TV shows (new service) through
> the Ubuntu One media store. I want to have recorded content as well,
> so I install a MythTV (Mythbuntu) backend (DVR) in my environment and
> sign into it with my Ubuntu One credentials. It now pulls down my
> MythTV configuration from Ubuntu One and provides me with listing
> data. I now don't need to configure the backend separately (in case I
> want to have multiple backends). I want to be able to play some new
> games, so I purchase them through the media store as well (these would
> need to be tested to work with joystick only). I just finished
> watching a show and want to share it with a friend, I click on share
> and it shares the show info with them (possibly need some
> facebook/google+/diaspora tie in). On my friends machine, it now
> attempts to schedule a recording for them (providing they have a
> backend and don't have other recordings they have scheduled) or find
> it either online or in Ubuntu One media store.
> 


Love it!  This would be awesome.  Although, I would suggest that our own
DVR functionality built in would also be required, we shouldn't expect
everyone to have a Myth backend.


> 
> I think that about sums it up. I'm probably leaving something out that
> I have forgotten, but I think that would be a pretty great setup.
> 
> Full Disclosure: I am a Mythbuntu developer. I do not contribute to
> the MythTV project nor the XBMC project. I would like to ship XBMC as
> an alternative frontend to MythTV.
> 


Thanks for taking the time to put your thoughts down and sharing with
us, much appreciated.

Cheers, Will