[Pkg-freevo-maint] Bug#534415: Bug#534415: [BTS#534415] templates://freevo/{freevo.templates}

[Justin B Rye]

A Mennucc wrote:
> Justin B Rye ha scritto:
>> A Mennucc wrote:
>>> Description: home theater framework - binaries
>>>  Freevo is a complete home theater framework. It comprises a
>>>  Personal Video Recorder system for saving television
>>>  input to disk and playing it back. It can browse and play
[...]
>> I have to get rid of that "comprise", 
>
> why? the usage of "comprise" is "the whole comprises the parts".
> http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/comprise
> So that "comprise" is exact.

The definition you're quoting there says that "comprise" is followed
by either a collective term for a set of constituent elements, or
more usually by a list (in which case it is unhelpfully ambiguous
about whether that's an exhaustive list).  That isn't how you've
used it - you've got one thing (Freevo) comprising another single 
item (the PVR).

The more important reason for avoiding "comprise" is that there are
plenty of people out there who use it the other way round (see
wiktionary on "the members comprise the team"), so using the word is
always more or less guaranteed to confuse at least some readers.

>> Freevo is a complete home theater framework. It can operate as a
>> Personal Video Recorder system for saving television input to disk, but
>> can also browse and play pictures, music, games, and movies either from
>> the hard disk or from CDs and DVDs. Freevo can be used on a regular
>> desktop computer using the monitor, mouse, and keyboard,  or can turn it
>>    into a dedicated home theater with a TV (plus remote).
>
> The last phrase does not parse easily. At first read, there is ambiguity
> regarding  the subject of the last "can turn" and the  "it". I guess  
> that the intended meaning is "Freevo can turn your desktop computer",  
> but at a first read it also sounds as "Freevo can turn your keyboard"

Good point: at best it's saying that it can turn a regular desktop
computer into a dedicated home theatre.  No, you can start with
thoroughly irregular hardware! 

(One issue I haven't brought up is whether "theater" is appropriate.
In en_GB a "home theatre" would involve staging plays in your house.
I'm not sure if it's at all ambiguous in en_US - I notice the
wikipedia entry for "home theater" redirects to "home cinema", but
probably I should leave the issue to any native en_US-speakers on
the list.)

>  Freevo is a complete home theater framework. It can operate as a
>  Personal Video Recorder system for saving television input to disk, but
>  it can also browse and play pictures, music, games, and movies either
>  from the hard disk or from CDs and DVDs.  Freevo can be used on a
>  regular desktop computer using the monitor, the mouse and keyboard.
                                               mouse, and keyboard.
>  Freevo can also be the central software in a dedicated home theater
>  to be enjoyed with a TV (and a remote).

That does fix it, but "to be enjoyed with" sounds like a serving
suggestion (which I suppose is more or less what it is, but still.)
The change I'd have suggested to my own last attempt is:

 Freevo is a complete home theater framework. It can operate as a
 Personal Video Recorder system for saving television input to disk, but
 can also browse and play pictures, music, games, and movies either from
 the hard disk or from CDs and DVDs. Freevo can be used on a regular
 desktop computer using the monitor, mouse, and keyboard; or it can
 serve as the basis of a dedicated home theater system with a TV (plus
 remote).

I'm having trouble avoiding overuse of "use" as usual.  Hang on,
let's see if it's any easier the other way around:

 Freevo is a complete home theater framework. It can operate as a
 Personal Video Recorder system for saving television input to disk, but
 can also browse and play pictures, music, games, and movies either from
 the hard disk or from CDs and DVDs. Freevo can be used to build a
 dedicated home theater system with a TV (plus remote), or can simply be
 run on a regular desktop computer with a monitor, mouse, and keyboard.

How's that?
-- 
JBR	with qualifications in linguistics, experience as a Debian
	sysadmin, and probably no clue about this particular package