[mythtvnz] Remote frontend and music

Steve Hodge mythtvnz@lists.linuxnut.co.nz
Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:15:41 +1200


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On 4/11/07, Craig Box <craig@dubculture.co.nz> wrote:
>
> MythMusic is a pig and needs to die.


Can't disagree with that.

Thor was once working on a
> frontend/backend setup for MythTV called mfe/mfd, but development didn't
> get
> very far.  (This would let you do video as well).


I'm not sure that mfe/mfd would have solved MythMusic's problems, which are
primarily that it has a terrible interface. The one often requested feature
that mfd/mfe would have enabled was playing music while watching video, but
Isaac thinks it's not that hard to do with the current architecture.

 A guy was paid to work on
> MythMusic for last years Google Summer of Code but never finished the work
> and seemed to just disappear, and I've not seen any evidence that what he
> did do, ever got included in the trunk.
>
> It's an unloved stepchild.  It seems cursed and unlikely to ever make it
> right unless someone puts a lot of love into it.


I suspect the problem is not as easy as it seems. A lot of people seem to
agree that MythMusic isn't great, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of
consensus on what needs to change. To be honest you kind of get used to it
as well which reduces the impetus to do something about it.

A new frontend to mpd (musicpd.org) looks like a good answer, if the right
> person gets bored.
>

Again though, it doesn't seem to be the architecture that's the problem -
it's the UI. Maybe throwing out the existing architecture if you're going to
write a frontend from scratch is worthwhile, but I'd be more inclined to
simply write a better frontend for the current system.

Cheers,
Steve

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On 4/11/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Craig Box</b> &lt;<a href="mailto:craig@dubculture.co.nz">craig@dubculture.co.nz</a>&gt; wrote:<div><span class="gmail_quote"></span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
MythMusic is a pig and needs to die.&nbsp;&nbsp;</blockquote><div><br>Can&#39;t disagree with that. <br></div><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Thor was once working on a<br>frontend/backend setup for MythTV called mfe/mfd, but development didn&#39;t get<br>very far.&nbsp;&nbsp;(This would let you do video as well).&nbsp;</blockquote><div><br>I&#39;m not sure that mfe/mfd would have solved MythMusic&#39;s problems, which are primarily that it has a terrible interface. The one often requested feature that mfd/mfe would have enabled was playing music while watching video, but Isaac thinks it&#39;s not that hard to do with the current architecture.
<br></div><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">&nbsp;A guy was paid to work on<br>MythMusic for last years Google Summer of Code but never finished the work
<br>and seemed to just disappear, and I&#39;ve not seen any evidence that what he<br>did do, ever got included in the trunk.<br><br>It&#39;s an unloved stepchild.&nbsp;&nbsp;It seems cursed and unlikely to ever make it<br>right unless someone puts a lot of love into it.
</blockquote><div><br>I suspect the problem is not as easy as it seems. A lot of people seem to agree that MythMusic isn&#39;t great, but there doesn&#39;t seem to be a lot of consensus on what needs to change. To be honest you kind of get used to it as well which reduces the impetus to do something about it.
<br></div><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">A new frontend to mpd (<a href="http://musicpd.org">musicpd.org</a>) looks like a good answer, if the right
<br>person gets bored.<br></blockquote></div><br>Again though, it doesn&#39;t seem to be the architecture that&#39;s the problem - it&#39;s the UI. Maybe throwing out the existing architecture if you&#39;re going to write a frontend from scratch is worthwhile, but I&#39;d be more inclined to simply write a better frontend for the current system.
<br><br>Cheers,<br>Steve<br>

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