How I Watch TV

I have many options to inform and entertain when I am at home. The Library, bookshops and charity shops can supply and endless stream of new and interesting reads. The radio can wander around with me as I work. I can watch TV, videos, tapes of stuff and DVDs. There's even and pack of cards somewhere. While our usage of these modes of amusement hasn't really changed that much, the options we have at our disposal have moved on a pace.

We use these different forms in different ways according to the situations in which we find ourselves. It is quite obvious as a statement, but does bear closer examination. If I'm in the kitchen fixing grub, I am unlikely to be reading a book as well. I simply don't have enough hands or eyes. If someone has come round to see me, I am unlikely to whip out a pack of cards and play patience. At these times, I might well have the radio on and put on a CD, respectively.

Watching TV occupies a very great deal of a large number of people's lives. It is almost like going out to a film or to see a band while not leaving the house. You have to be there by a certain time and take breaks when they do. You can of course set the video, but that has it's own issues. How many busy people, who are avid telly watchers have a pile of videos with stuff on that they haven't got the time to sort out to watch. You are away for a bit and the tape runs out. Your programs are all on between 8 and 10 on Tuesday nights; at the same time! You've paid for it, but the stuff you have actually paid them for leave to watch, is all on at once and is therefore inaccessible.

When you sit down on the settee, done for the day and look around for a bit of relaxation before bed, what do you do. If I put out a survey, I would hazard a guess that a good chunk would tick the "Put on the goggle box" line. If you land on a premium commercial channel, the chances are one in three that you will hit an advert. If you have a think through the other options available to you; a book, a game, a rented DVD etc; in what other medium is chance so high. Commercial radio is probably the closest, but is far more subtle about the way it is done.

I like reading a book to wind down. it has a number of advantages over the TV. You can stop when you want, put a marker in it and walk away. It will still be there when you come back. You can have a few different books on the go. Some are quite heavy going but "worthwhile". Others are easy but absorbing. Sometimes these days, I want to be wrenched away from mythering about work and made to think about something else for a while.

Why can't I use the TV in the same way? It would of course need to be temporarily recorded. I have a VCR. I have a pile of tapes. I want to pick up the "Taggart" I was part way through when a mate rang the other day. That'd do the trick. Where on earth is it. It is actually on the same tape as a "Wycliffe" I finished watching  yesterday. I'll need to spin through the tape to find where I was. If you use a VCR, particularly if you don't live alone, you will be telling the rest of this story for me. Videos do do what they say on the lid, but that is how we actually want to watch our TV programs. I want to be able to pick up a program where I left off. Watch a couple of episodes of a series end on end on a Saturday afternoon. Tape two or three programs at once during prime time. In short I want to be able to watch TV in the exact same way that I read books, play games and watch DVDs; and VCRs just don't cut the mustard.

In the last couple of decades the number of TV channels we have to choose from has shot up. Some would say the overall level of quality has remained constant, but that it is spread more thinly. The truth is probably somewhere in between as always. In the UK we are being furnished with another medium and another slew of TV channels. They are in the process of rolling out Terrestrial Digital Video Broadcast TV or DVB-T for short. It goes under the brand name "Freeview". At the bottom level it is just the same as normal Analogue TV, just with a more channel options. It does however present us with a golden opportunity to change the way we watch TV and to do so on our terms. It has a free, built in TV Guide. There is a channel that pumps out the upcoming program titles, times, dates and some comments, a week or more in advance. It is done according to a standard format and it is updated directly by the TV channel broadcasters themselves.

There is a similar system on the main UK satellite broadcaster's systems, but this can only be understood; seen even, by the equipment bought from the satellite company. They can sell you a basic version of the system I am about to describe, but it has severe limitations, not least of which is lack of alternative. You want satellite in the UK? You've got one of two options. You can have a simple satellite receiver, much like a conventional TV, but with a few bells and whistles like an automatic channel changer that helps with taping things while you are out. You can also buy a box that can record things for you on it's own built in storage. This machine, as I say, is closer to the mark, but not much closer.

We have been hearing for years in the techno punditry columns about this magical beast that can search the listings for your programs, record them and allow you to watch them at will by pressing a few buttons. As a technology watcher, I have been reading mouthwatering articles about what will be possible "Real Soon Now"® for literally decades. Now I have one of my very own!

A gentleman was sick of hearing about the Mythical "Personal Video Recorder" or "Solid State VCR" and got up on his hind legs and made one. I'm sure a great many other hobbyists, across the last two or three decades have spent a huge amount of time tinkering around making one of these. Many of them, I know have been quite successful, but what differentiates Isaac Richards from the vast majority is that he documented everything he did and gave it away for free. He started a software project called MythTV, named for the "mythical" software I mentioned above. Many other people then joined in and added to, tested and refined the package until it is now a formidable tool. It can do all of the things I have been talking about and many more besides. What's more, it is free software, which adds another dimension to the whole. The software runs on standard PC hardware and uses a free operating system. The TV channels are free and broadcast in a standard format, plus the built in program guide is free. The only things that need to be bought are the electronic bits; the PC, the DVB-T card (or cards) and the TV aerial.

I can now use the TV in the way that I described. MythTV has a number of different ways of searching through the upcoming listings and setting up quite clever hunt and record items. it isn't rocket science to use either. I have a screen that shows me the days TV listings as a grid, like in the TV listings magazines. I can search by name of program in an alphabetically ordered drop down list; first by first letter, then through the selection. I can even type in a Google style search entry and make it look for matches. I can type "tag" and it will find me my "Taggart" episodes. Once I find the program I am after, by whatever means, I can then set it to "Record at any time on any channel", or "Just this episode", or "In this time slot every week" or ".. every day". MythTV then waits until the entry fires, changes the channel on the next available TV card and runs the program off onto the hard drive. Digital TV comes over the air in a form that can very readily be sent straight to a hard drive and be stored very efficiently, but with excellent clarity. It has to. The same space restrictions apply when it is worming through the over-congested airwaves as when it is nestling on my hard drive. To watch what I have recorded, I go to another screen and am presented with an ordered list of the selection of the day, all broken up by program name and episode. If I go to one of these programs, I get a summary of the name, episode name, time date and comments as pulled from the free program guide. I even get a little thumbnail screen at the bottom right that runs a miniaturised, muted showing of the program. If I press stop, I get a choice of marking the current position and going back to the selection screen. I can also stop without marking it or just delete.

I am now watching what I want to watch, when I want to watch it, irrespective of the timetable set for me by the broadcaster. I can stop when I want and come back. I have three Freeview capable cards in the machine, so I can record three different programs at once and watch them at my leisure.

I can now watch my TV in exactly the same way as I might read a book.

Andrew Meredith  <andrew@anvil.org> Last modified: Thursday, 01-Jun-2006 11:36:18 BST