Dear list,
has anyone on this list any experience in setting up VDR for older people like grandparents? It would be nice, if she/he could share her/his experience or point me to information on the WWW.
Thanks,
Paul
Hello Paul,
has anyone on this list any experience in setting up VDR for older people like grandparents? It would be nice, if she/he could share her/his experience or point me to information on the WWW.
I have experience with second best thing after grandparents. A totally clueless user.
Since I have setup VDR as the backend sitting near the dish, and added a MediaMVP box next to the TV set, she can use it, record stuff, delete recording, everything.
We are using the Hauppauge MediaMVP together with the vdr-plugin-vompserver on the VDR system.
On Sunday 26 Oct 2008, Peer Oliver Schmidt wrote:
Hello Paul,
has anyone on this list any experience in setting up VDR for older people like grandparents? It would be nice, if she/he could share her/his experience or point me to information on the WWW.
I have experience with second best thing after grandparents. A totally clueless user.
Since I have setup VDR as the backend sitting near the dish, and added a MediaMVP box next to the TV set, she can use it, record stuff, delete recording, everything.
We are using the Hauppauge MediaMVP together with the vdr-plugin-vompserver on the VDR system.
Another vote for MediaMVP and vompserver. The user interface is IMO easier to operate than commercial PVRs such as the Humax, and the noisy recorder can be kept out of the living room.
Dave
has anyone on this list any experience in setting up VDR for older people like grandparents? It would be nice, if she/he could share her/his experience or point me to information on the WWW.
I have experience with second best thing after grandparents. A totally clueless user.
Since I have setup VDR as the backend sitting near the dish, and added a MediaMVP box next to the TV set, she can use it, record stuff, delete recording, everything.
We are using the Hauppauge MediaMVP together with the vdr-plugin-vompserver on the VDR system.
Another vote for MediaMVP and vompserver. The user interface is IMO easier to operate than commercial PVRs such as the Humax, and the noisy recorder can be kept out of the living room.
While I have not had experience with this myself, I do know a few users who've set up VDR for (grand)parents and wives. From the feedback I've heard, VDR works really well in those scenarios which I think says a lot! ;)
VDR User kirjoitti:
has anyone on this list any experience in setting up VDR for older people like grandparents? It would be nice, if she/he could share her/his experience or point me to information on the WWW.
I have experience with second best thing after grandparents. A totally clueless user.
Since I have setup VDR as the backend sitting near the dish, and added a MediaMVP box next to the TV set, she can use it, record stuff, delete recording, everything.
We are using the Hauppauge MediaMVP together with the vdr-plugin-vompserver on the VDR system.
Another vote for MediaMVP and vompserver. The user interface is IMO easier to operate than commercial PVRs such as the Humax, and the noisy recorder can be kept out of the living room.
While I have not had experience with this myself, I do know a few users who've set up VDR for (grand)parents and wives. From the feedback I've heard, VDR works really well in those scenarios which I think says a lot! ;)
I've put a couple of systems up for "clueless" users with no problem. And now that I think of it one of them is actually a grandmother :) Though I do not think that it is a handicap ;) The good thing is I can maintain them remotely if for some reason it's necessary and thus avoid making time to go there. I also have a MediaMVP at home but the problem with it is it does not support subtitles and we have a couple channels here using them.
\Kartsa
Dear everyone,
thank you for your fast replies.
Am Sonntag, den 26.10.2008, 21:30 +0200 schrieb Kartsa:
VDR User kirjoitti:
has anyone on this list any experience in setting up VDR for older people like grandparents? It would be nice, if she/he could share her/his experience or point me to information on the WWW.
I have experience with second best thing after grandparents. A totally clueless user.
Since I have setup VDR as the backend sitting near the dish, and added a MediaMVP box next to the TV set, she can use it, record stuff, delete recording, everything.
We are using the Hauppauge MediaMVP together with the vdr-plugin-vompserver on the VDR system.
Another vote for MediaMVP and vompserver. The user interface is IMO easier to operate than commercial PVRs such as the Humax, and the noisy recorder can be kept out of the living room.
While I have not had experience with this myself, I do know a few users who've set up VDR for (grand)parents and wives. From the feedback I've heard, VDR works really well in those scenarios which I think says a lot! ;)
I've put a couple of systems up for "clueless" users with no problem. And now that I think of it one of them is actually a grandmother :) Though I do not think that it is a handicap ;) The good thing is I can maintain them remotely if for some reason it's necessary and thus avoid making time to go there.
That is very appealing for me too.
I also have a MediaMVP at home but the problem with it is it does not support subtitles and we have a couple channels here using them.
Could you please post the hardware components you used. As Tony said in his reply the remote control seems to be one of the crucial parts.
I think my “clueless” people would not need a separate server and client, since they just have one TV. So I guess, one could put everything in one machine, which then should just run if they want to record or play a recording. And the cable signal is loopthroughed from the machine to the TV, when they just want to watch TV. Time shifting would not be available during this time though. I think, the machine would not be able to boot fast enough to be a nice user experience.
Thanks,
Paul
Dear Kartsa,
Am Sonntag, den 26.10.2008, 21:30 +0200 schrieb Kartsa:
I've put a couple of systems up for "clueless" users with no problem. And now that I think of it one of them is actually a grandmother :) Though I do not think that it is a handicap ;) The good thing is I can maintain them remotely if for some reason it's necessary and thus avoid making time to go there.
If you find some time, could you please post the hardware configuration you used for these systems?
Thanks a lot,
Paul
vdr-bounces@linuxtv.org schrieb am 26.10.2008 16:57:51:
has anyone on this list any experience in setting up VDR for older people like grandparents? It would be nice, if she/he could share her/his experience or point me to information on the WWW.
I have experience with second best thing after grandparents. A totally clueless user.
Since I have setup VDR as the backend sitting near the dish, and added a MediaMVP box next to the TV set, she can use it, record stuff, delete recording, everything.
We are using the Hauppauge MediaMVP together with the vdr-plugin-vompserver on the VDR system.
Another vote for MediaMVP and vompserver. The user interface is IMO
easier
to operate than commercial PVRs such as the Humax, and the noisy
recorder
can be kept out of the living room.
While I have not had experience with this myself, I do know a few users who've set up VDR for (grand)parents and wives. From the feedback I've heard, VDR works really well in those scenarios which I think says a lot! ;)
I can second that. I set up a box for my brothers family almost 3 years ago and it still running with the ancient 1.3.24. The box is actually offline, 250km away and only needed some checks every few months at first. Now it's like a VW beatle: it runs, and runs, and runs ... He actually dont't care about the system setup, he doesn't even have the root password either ;-))
There seems to be some keys to success. 1.Chosing a stable(unfancy) plattform. I used an seemingly ancient PIII OEM(Siemens) plattform. These OEM systems are usually rock stable, quite quiet and relativly low power. With the stable TT-FF premium card there is also a stable plattform. Make sure that your system design is good (cooling, I/O attachment).
Invest some time in the optical design (doesn't need to be fancy eigher) for WAF. Low WAF creates problems even while everything runs nicely ;-)
2.Limit yourself Only add the minimum set of plugins for doing the daily routines. Keep things as simple as possible. Sort the GUI to have the daily routines on the initial menu. Move "special" features into submenus to not bother the user with it.
Use a stable distribution that is flexible enought for the task. I started with c't vdr distribution (Debian !) but hand tuned a lot of the distribution components for easy use and to fix some issues after some testing.
Don't bother about "latest" versions. Once the system runs nicely only change what is broken or adding a needed feature.
3.testing, testing, testing Problem is not VDR and it's functions. Problem is to make the components working together in everydays tasks. You should use the system for the NOB-user by yourself for some time before delivery. Test the features and test it again after some weeks/months time.
Crux is mostly the scripts and system setup beside VDR. Think about automated clean-up of log files and similar stuff. I had quite some fun with MySQL thrashing the HD and forgetting to delete the garbage.
Some scripting beside VDR is also a pain, like vdrconvert and burn creating directories. In a single HD configuration the temp directories for those may end up in the video directory tree. But VDR don't like empty directories. So make shure scripts creating them also leaves a dummy file in it. Otherwise VDR cleans up the directory that burn/vdrconvert need for temporary data causing spurious fails of those plugins.
regards Peter
On Sun, 26 Oct 2008 10:48:33 +0000 Dave P vdr@pickles.me.uk wrote:
On Sunday 26 Oct 2008, Peer Oliver Schmidt wrote:
Hello Paul,
has anyone on this list any experience in setting up VDR for older people like grandparents? It would be nice, if she/he could share her/his experience or point me to information on the WWW.
I have experience with second best thing after grandparents. A totally clueless user.
Since I have setup VDR as the backend sitting near the dish, and added a MediaMVP box next to the TV set, she can use it, record stuff, delete recording, everything.
We are using the Hauppauge MediaMVP together with the vdr-plugin-vompserver on the VDR system.
Another vote for MediaMVP and vompserver. The user interface is IMO easier to operate than commercial PVRs such as the Humax, and the noisy recorder can be kept out of the living room.
It looks like the MediaMVP is the crucial factor. I don't think "(grand)parents" would cope with remembering what key does what on a QWERTY keyboard or be able to cope with the appalling lag and randomised auto repeat in the DVB remote control drivers.
-
Dave P -
Kartsa -
Paul Menzel -
Peer Oliver Schmidt -
Peter Dittmann -
Tony Houghton -
VDR User