Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="praxidice" data-source="post: 1216211" data-attributes="member: 161152"><p>From my perspective as a newbie to software HTPC, both MP and Kodi have glaring problems that it appears nobody is interested in addressing. First and foremost is documentation which omits more critical information than it includes.&nbsp; Secondly, whilst MP is in many respects considerably more user-friendly than Kodi, it has long had a real problem in Australia with scanning SBS FTA, and there isn't nearly sufficient information about completing a manual scan.&nbsp; That said, Kodi seems to have been designed to rely largely on the unspeakably obtuse tvheadend, one of the most user-hostile applications ever conceived. Thirdly, add-ons / plugins are a disaster case with both MP and Kodi. Some work and some are clearly the ill-conceived product of a disturbed mind in that they are complicated beyond imagination and testing / quality control have never been implemented. There is certainly a place for software HTPC applications, but it is imperative that the mindless complexity at all costs linux mentality be banished. Commercial hardware will always be designed to pander to FTA companies, for example ad-skipping disabled and limitations on access to IPTV.&nbsp; In my opinion, a genuinely user-friendly interface (ie MCE before Redmond decided to kill it off, MP, and to some extent Kodi), a wide range of thoroughly tested add-ons / plugins, and updating processes which don't break more than they fix, are all critical to the acceptance of software HTPC solutions.&nbsp; In addition, there is a strong case for applications to be available for a range of operating systems. This won't be straightforward. Microsoft is certain to throw curved balls without notice which makes it difficult to know when an update will do something unusual, and given the plethora of linux distributions, 'features' are common. Then there are the rats and mice IoS, android, unixes etc, all of which have a devoted following, but which all necessitate specific approaches.</p></blockquote><p></p>

[QUOTE="praxidice, post: 1216211, member: 161152"] From my perspective as a newbie to software HTPC, both MP and Kodi have glaring problems that it appears nobody is interested in addressing. First and foremost is documentation which omits more critical information than it includes. Secondly, whilst MP is in many respects considerably more user-friendly than Kodi, it has long had a real problem in Australia with scanning SBS FTA, and there isn't nearly sufficient information about completing a manual scan. That said, Kodi seems to have been designed to rely largely on the unspeakably obtuse tvheadend, one of the most user-hostile applications ever conceived. Thirdly, add-ons / plugins are a disaster case with both MP and Kodi. Some work and some are clearly the ill-conceived product of a disturbed mind in that they are complicated beyond imagination and testing / quality control have never been implemented. There is certainly a place for software HTPC applications, but it is imperative that the mindless complexity at all costs linux mentality be banished. Commercial hardware will always be designed to pander to FTA companies, for example ad-skipping disabled and limitations on access to IPTV. In my opinion, a genuinely user-friendly interface (ie MCE before Redmond decided to kill it off, MP, and to some extent Kodi), a wide range of thoroughly tested add-ons / plugins, and updating processes which don't break more than they fix, are all critical to the acceptance of software HTPC solutions. In addition, there is a strong case for applications to be available for a range of operating systems. This won't be straightforward. Microsoft is certain to throw curved balls without notice which makes it difficult to know when an update will do something unusual, and given the plethora of linux distributions, 'features' are common. Then there are the rats and mice IoS, android, unixes etc, all of which have a devoted following, but which all necessitate specific approaches. [/QUOTE]

Verification