Channel Switching

You can press 'e' to bring up the EPG overlay during Live TV playback. This way you can scroll through the channels and view the EPG whilst not actually tuning into the channels.

Yes... but that requires too much keypresses in the end :-)

So can please someone confirm, that this feature is NOT available as of now... if so, i'll submit a feature request for that.

I can only speak for my own experiences (see my posting about missing features). The lack of a navigable OSD is one thing I've listed as being required for wife approval.

From what I can see the best that can be achieved without jumping out to the EPG or channel list, is now and next (if the skin supports it). Otherwise the OSD is merely a static representation of what's currently playing.

This might be an example where actually the channels list with mini display might actually be a viable alternative (maybe even better?) however its a change in user experience and so might take some getting used. I've yet to really check this against the official wife approval test suite! I.e. hide the Sky box and force her to use XBMC for TV viewing

Hi

i'm glad, that i'm not the only person on this planet with the same or similar "user experience" requirements.... wife wise :-)

smile... "official wife approval test suite"... i like that... makes me realize my own wife approval steps :-)

back to topic... have you already submitted your features requests ?

For me its simple, it must have the same features as existing standalone PVR box (which for me at the moment is Sky+). Or provide a workable alternative, I'm open to accepting that there are better ways of doing things

To summarise from my missing features thread:

1. Pause TV - this is TBD, but is a well discussed topic. Though I was confused by the fact that I could actually pause, but this is not a real feature its merely buffering the stream in memory, which will eventually run out and crash the machine.

2. Series Link - I've submitted this and I'm trying to discuss with devs as I'm willing to investigate this one.

3. Now/Next OSD (in other words your topic) - so far I've done nothing on this, waiting to see what happens and will investigate the existing alternatives in more detail first. Though I still think the option of a navigable OSD would be useful.

4. "Buffering" dialog, I think this is down to taste and isn't very important. I can hack it out of my skin if it annoys me.

5. Auto start - I think this is already in the feature requests on git hub, though I need to join the discussion to clarify a few things.

6. Recording - this was a backend issue that I've fixed.

7. EPG scraping - I'm talking to the XMLTV devs about this, but it doesn't actually stop anything working its just stupidly inefficient.

To summarise the only things really stopping it passing the test are: proper live pause and series link, though without now/next I think it would be a tentative pass (i.e. pass but with certain level of complaining/nagging involved). The others are more cosmetic and can be worked around.

Actually that's all a bit off topic To really answer your question I've not submitted about now/next, though I can't say for sure if anyone else has submitted something.

I think I might have been wrong about the OSD, it appears you can configure it to move to the next channel before it actually switches the picture. Using the channel switch delay option. However it will still change the channel after this period even without further input.

Also I'm still not sure this is really what is required, since the navigation of the OSD and the changing of the channel should arguably two separate controls.

I.e. channel up/down should perform immediate channel change, but with info/OSD on the screen, up/down or left/right cursor should navigate (even better if you could navigate the entire EPG, so you could not only scroll through channels but also time, as I can on my existing PVR).

PVR is not finished yet and currently all the work is spent on technical stuff. We are aware that there are UX issues. I'm myself a long time DBOX2 (Neutrino) user and know the feature you described - it's also from my side much appreciated, along with others. Feel free to collect your ideas for now, but don't expect a immediate implementation please.

Thanks for the reply da-anda. I'm well aware of the state of the development and I'm certainly not expecting anything anytime soon, hell I don't "expect" anything ever, I'm not paying

I, and I'd guess others, are merely trying to put together a collection of items (for discussion) that we think will hold back more widespread adoption of the PVR system. Or things that may just make it easier to use, even better than it is, etc

Personally, were this for me and me alone I'd go out and buy the kit tomorrow and throw my sky box and its bloody subscription in the bin! Even now I can do pretty much everything I need to, watch live tv, view an EPG (which is far superior to what I've currently got) and record shows. Series linking is one thing I'd really miss, but I know I can work around this within TVheadend.

However for many of us, that are fortunate enough to have wifes/gfs, there are usually a set of criteria that any new gadget must meet before it can be accepted without much complaining (usually this means it must behave as much like the existing solution as possible or better). Unfortunately for us, myself included, I cannot fully embrace XBMC PVR until such a time. Though I continue to play with some borrowed kit to investigate its shortcomings and provide feedback and if possible help.

I've already noted elsewhere I am actually interested in helping out with some of the features I think would be very useful (series linking mainly). However I've been struggling to get any feedback from the devs (presumably very busy with Eden release) to get views on what is likely required within XBMC (APIs etc...).

Regards
Adam

@da-anda:

Thank you for the feedback... and i'm glad that some of the devs know the "Neutrino" experience and that it will most likely be implemented in the pvr branch at some point in time.

@adamsutton:

You nailed it on the head ! :-) nothing more to say about what you wrote!