[vdr] Slightly Offtopic: Why MHP? (was: softdevice-0.0.4 plugin with Xv output method)

["Jörg Knitter" <joerg.knitter@gmx.de>]

Klaus Schmidinger wrote:
> > > But then again, who needs MHP... ;-)
> > 
> > ;) I didn't asked for it - just grep your VDR-ML inbox to find out who's
> > asking again and again...
> 
> That's most likely because people tend to like "buzz-words".
> They hear that MHP is the big hype, and so they want it.
> What does MHP really give you? IMHO it is mainly wanted by
> providers who want to _sell_ stuff through it, or otherwise
> draw money out of viewers' pockets. Everything that now takes
> a (costly) phone call shall be possible through the remote control
> (that's also why everybody wants a "back channel", so that the
> viewer's box can connect to the provider and pump money to their
> accounts).

I see both sides: I see MHP as a more colorful and easier to navigate
solution to the well known telextext.
And I see the advantages of MHP advertisment: It´s better to be nerved in
every second sentence to go on MHP page XYZ (and watch advertisment, order
things etc.) than split screen advertisment, advertisment logos etc. while
watching - and recording - TV.
That´s why I want MHP as soon as possible before it isn´t worth anymore
recording series and movies because they are filled with advertisment banners.


> As for the EPGs: sure, every bouquet could have its own, fancy EPG
> display then - but what the viewer IMHO needs is an EPG display
> that covers _ALL_ channels - and I doubt that the various bouquets
> will agree on _one_ interface.

The "Hoerzu" channel already does this.

> And, last but not least, games: well, if you want to play games, get
> a game console...

Right, or install a C64, Amiga etc. emulator on the VDR machine :-)
But to be honest: I was surprised to be able to play "Wer wird Millionär" on
the RTL MHP, and it´s also a funny thing to take part on the quiz of
"Verstehen Sie Spaß" where you can win things, so I don´t see this too negative.
Just nice to have.

To make clear where I got MHP from: I tested out mhp4free from
www.mhp4free.de last week, and this was my first MHP experience. Thought it would work
worse but nearly everything works. There is still no back channel support,
settings can not be saved - and you need to register. But it´s free and fun to
play anyway :-)
 
Jörg



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