Re: electrical deaths

On 12/3/2024 7:04 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:

MythTV, OTOH, is a big mess.  Typical of FOSS offerings where no one sat down
to DESIGN the product but, rather, opted to have scores of "settings" (and
boasting that it maximizes flexibility!) so that the user -- EACH user -- ends
up having to make decisions that the developers avoided.  <frown>
>
Thankfully, the "box" we have has already baked ITS notions into its
design so, as long as we can live with those assumptions, its a great
solution!

 Yes, I agree that a ready made box is better; I just have not found a good enough box. I have one somewhere, but it is much worse than my old Gigaset. It appears that good makers have abandoned this market in Europe.

The "cable companies" offer such boxes.  But, they are intended to be used
with CABLE broadcasts.  Until recently, there were few turn-key boxes that
consumers could purchase for OTA broadcasts.
I now see a device (Tablo?) being peddled for just that purpose.
But, I think it requires external storage (?)
And, of course, as with any "smart box", the chances of it being supported
for the long run are pretty small.  There's always an excuse why last year's
model is no longer supported -- or, capable of accessing some particular
service (simply because of a lack of a software update).
We've taken the approach of using appliances as "dumb devices".  E.g.,
we treat the TVs as "large monitors" and drive them from external
electronics that *I* can maintain.  This has the added benefit of
letting any monitor be used as a "TV" (display device)
[Want to see what's happening in the back yard?  Or, who is at the
front door?  You can view that on your "TV"... or the monitor on your
computer... or a little LCD display tacked on the wall, etc.]