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[JimH]

We're going to do a little work on Theater View.  Please name one or two features you would like to see.

Try to keep the posts short and to the point.  We're looking for things that are common needs.

Thanks.

[skeeterfood]

A nicely integrated current song playing view that shows info about the current song as well as next/previous/play/pause/... transport controls and cover art.  Basically, translate the top section of the Full Screen View + coverart into Theater View somehow.

Once I've started a playlist going, all I really care about is info about the current playing song.  What's coming next, and maybe what just played.

It would also be nice if in Theater View's Playing Now view there was some way to re-order the tracks and show customizable info about each track, say Artist - Title, instead of just Title.

-John

[pipsqueak]

theres always a little box in the lower left of the screen.

1) with video it scales the screen and plays it there - which is great, but with the audio info pages it shows a very small section of the page. these need to get scaled (or removed) also

2) when im using theatre view and go into a genre id like to know how many albums are in the section before i scroll down for 10 mins and get nowhere - how about a scroll bar on the right of the screen

3) flicking in and out of theatre view seems to change the volume by a few dB each time (its a bit quieter in theatre view)

[Ingo]

- deleting files using menu buttons (and confirmations...)

and two things I that would make it way more usefull for me:
- auto-import of files in a list of folders
- auto-remove files no longer available

far down the list:
- moving files
- copying files to cd/dvd

Ingo

[bennyd]

- That you can select a seperate track info to display (different from the one you're using in Mega_me)

- When playing TV that the left menu shows the timeshifting & recording options without having to navigate to the display options.

[Jaguu]

Ability to define view schemes for standard view only, theather view only or both. Some view schemes in standard view simply do no make any sense in theater view.

[StarBand Guy]

Agree w/ the above re: view schemes.

[Monkeyboy]

1)Pressing up at top of list goes to bottom of list.


2)Playing now needs more info of playing track, i.e name - artist and time left etc.
A button to pop-up this bar in fullscreen-view would also be nice.


Rich

[BullishDad]

Theatre View needs to refresh when the last song on the page is finished in Playing Now.  The play icon disappears and the thumbnail of the current song is not displayed.  If you switch to Standard View, then come back to Theatre View, you will see the current song on the screen (clunky workaround).

My preference would be to see the current song in position 2 (of 12 thumbnails).  This way I can see what the previous track was.  Plus, there would be a better view of upcoming tracks.

When I switched to Standard and came back to Theatre to force a refresh, I noticed the playing track was in the bottom row, same column.  I realize you need to account for positioning when PageUp and PageDown are selected.  However, in the special situation where the last thumbnail is finished playing, I think the "2" slot solution would be the best way to handle a refresh to get to page 2.

[IlPadrino]

Here's my suggestion...  it'll be a revolutionary change to MC, but the benefits are quite significant:  Allow the user to customize the buttons that are presented.  For example, I want to add a simple button at the top of the tree that lets me open a URL...  say a weather page.  

If myHTPC can add media management to Meedio (the next version of myHTPC), I'd hope JRiver can add some of the myHTPC-like functionality to MC.

[Chris Shaw]

I'd like Theatre View to respect the sorting of Mega-Me. If I sort my albums by year, I'd like to be able to play them all by year from Theatre View.

I'd also like to be able to eliminate the implicit Name level at the bottom of the tree. The last level I want to see is my "[Track#] - [Name]" calculated field but MC always add an extra Name level.

Remembering view mode for each level of each view scheme. i.e. List for artists, thumbnails for albums

Alt-left and Alt-right doing the same things as the mouse back/forward buttons.

A way of showing your current location in the tree

An "Enqueue as next" button

Thanks for listening, guys.

[cascius]

Hmm, I would love to try to implement as many as possible of you guys' great suggestions in a mockup design/layout. I could play on this early next week since I'm currently still out of town.  Let me know if that would be of some interest to you guys.

Here are some more suggestions that are more cosmetic orriented:

• Animated transitions/backgrounds between screens. i.e. XP MCE style. This would make the whole interface feel less static than it currently is.
• Animated states for the arrow buttons (bottom left). i.e.: Hover, OnClick... states.
• Possibility to have visualizations as backgrounds. (Someone else suggested that in another thread.)

-Cascius

PS: Just looked at Meedio and that looks pretty nice. I'll trat that too. :P

[Cmagic]

Hi,

In TV mode I'd like to have a convenient access to recorded TV programs without having to manually go back to MC for an import
.
Also it would be nice if the "Time shift" and Record command were easily available from a currently playing TV show instead of being hidden in the "TV Options"  sections.

Thinking in the way a program such as ShowShifter manages TV.

Thanks and have a good day,

Christian

[Urrri]

Sorry for too large post, but I need MC, that works good (or excellent  ) with multimedia data CDs

Features and behaviors I need for Theater mode:
(may be some of them already implemented)
1. Of course DVD, CDDA, VCD(SVCD...) playing
2. TV with time shifting and capturing (also from video input like VCR, Camera, etc.). Nice to have Radio from TV card.
Support for famous TV cards. (see ShowShifter for reference)

3.When I insert disk, player should recognize it and attach to list. If player does nothing it should open appropriated section and, optionally, start to play content.
-In case of data disk it should show content (optionally by folders or all in one list) filtered by supported formats or by user defined filter(s) (if directory is empty after filtering it should not appear in list) and navigate
3.When I start playing, player should automatically switch to full screen mode (but not in case of error like 'nothing to play')
4.When playing (pause is also playing mode) should be possibility to switch between theater and full screen modes (only 2 modes. I NO need window mode on TV ). In general switching should be between window and theater modes. Inside this modes you can switch to full screen and back.
5.Nice to have: Remember (and restore) for disk/file last playing position and bookmarks(e.g. digits 0-9. shortcut + digit after it saves bookmark)
6.I want to see in some way (bar or/and time stamp) playing position, when I seek forward or backward.
7.When seeking, nice to see (for video) picture where we are now (see MPlayer for example).
8.Very nice to have: when I pressing seek shortcut for long time seeking should accelerate (for Remote control shortcut will be called multiple times in short time).
9. Very nice to have: possibility to jump to position by entering time (shortcut in full screen opens edit box for 4 digits. Entering last digit makes jump)
10.Nice to have: possibility to see position, remaining time, total remaining time on screen corner like 'display' mode in regular DVD players (can be switched by one shortcut in loop). In the best case this option can be customized by user (what to show, list of possible items, etc)
11.Should be shortcut to change (when playing) aspect rate in loop (show selected one on the screen corner for short time).
12.When playing finished (stopped, end of list, disk ejected) player should restore previous screen and mode.
13.When disk ejected, player should stop playing (only if it playing item(s) from disk) Without any dumb Messages and should clear information about disk (list of files, etc). If there are items from another media in playlist, player should skip to first available item in list instead of stopping.
14.Must be possibility to choose subtitles file for video file (remember for next time) and nice to have automatic subtitle choosing if exists file with the same name + "_***.ext". e.g for 'video.avi' can be files 'video_eng.crt' or 'video_fr.sub' or 'video.sub' etc. (See BSplayer for reference).
15.Please, don't show message boxes in theater and full screen modes. The best way - ignore problem and continue or make most logical actions to pass the problem.
e.g.
- Disk ejected - close player, clear disk info.
- Disk inserted - scan and show content.
- Cannot play - skip or do nothing (mark as wrong or hide).
- Error when playing - try to recover, if cannot skip (see MPlayer - it shows all possible even you have 5% of file alive and this data fragmented)
16.For video files nice to have some additional options like video filters, brightness, contrast, zoom in/out, etc.
17.In theater mode: screen items, that you cannot reach by keyboard (navigation arrows) should not appear on the screen - it confuses user. You have 4 arrows and Enter buttons under thumb preview, that are unachievable.

[lalittle]

My suggestions are:

1) Theater View skins that account for overscan.

2) A single button (available on the remote command list) that jumps directly to the "Playing Now" screen.

3) A single button (available in the remote command list) that toggles directly between Standard View and Theater View without going to "Full Screen" view first.

4) A "Position Bar" on the Playing Now screen that shows the relative position of the current song.

5) A "track playing" indicator (little green triangle) that shows up on the currently playing song on ALL screens and lists instead of just the on the "Playing Now" screen.

6) Album art should fill as much of the avialable height as possible in the lower left corner box.  Currently, album art only utilizes about 60% of the available height of this box, making it unnecessarily small.

(Sorry -- that was more than one or two.)

Thanks,

Larry

[Monkeyboy]

1)Pressing up at top of list goes to bottom of list.


2)Playing now needs more info of playing track, i.e name - artist and time left etc.
A button to pop-up this bar in fullscreen-view would also be nice.


Rich

almost forgot

3)screen saver that goes to full-screen visualisation after x minutes of inactivity.

Rich

[Scarpad]

This may not be specific to theater view but it applies to it. The naming and tagging of Video files namely avi's are don the same way as the audio files. The titles placed on these files display funky and usually get cut off. Perhaps a different way of naming these video files aside from the audio tagging.

[cncb]

1) One-button access from remote to Now Playing screen as well as top-level "start" screen.
2) Add artist name to Now Playing list instead of just song title.
3) Indication of current shuffle mode on all screens.
4) Close button at top-level "start" screen.
5) Way to do quick search.  For example, list all artists that begin with 'S'.  I admit I don't really understand the current search very well.

[Chris Shaw]

2) Add artist name to Now Playing list instead of just song title.

If fact, allowing you to completely customise what is displayed in Playing Now would be great

[lalittle]

Keep in mind that adding too much information to the Theater View screen will start to limit it's use on TV's, which is generally what Theater View is designed for.  The information needs to be big enough to EASILY read on a TV (which has far lower resolution than a computer monitor) from a normal TV viewing distance.  This means that if you want to disply other information, you'll have to give up something (like one or two track titles) in order to make more room.  I agree that more info would be nice, and I'd personally like to see the album title in the playing now screen, but there is a practical limit to this issue.

User customizable options would of course allow people to get the most from their setups depending on their equipment and preferences, but I'm not sure how much of a can of worms this would be to implement.

Larry

[JustinChase]

almost forgot

3)screen saver that goes to full-screen visualisation after x minutes of inactivity.

Rich

Yes, a visualization (G-Force is my preference) that runs as a screensaver would be AWESOME for me.

[fatt_fill]

I think the full screen visualisation after timeout is an excellent idea - really handy when listing to music

Something else I'd find really useful is to be able to press a button (kb or remote), and have a bar appear with track information (maybe 2/3 of the bar) and a small progress bar indicating remaining time - particularly useful if watching a film.  This would be useful in theatre mode (maybe up the top of playing now in theatre mode), but also have it so I can pop it up in full screen mode.

Thanks guys
Phil

[gekkomna]

A nicely integrated current song playing view that shows info about the current song as well as next/previous/play/pause/... transport controls and cover art.  Basically, translate the top section of the Full Screen View + coverart into Theater View somehow.

YES!

Also, to throw another idea out:
How about an album centric view. almost like a jukebox where you can pick the albums (or playlists etc.) you want via cover art.

[IlPadrino]

3) A single button (available in the remote command list) that toggles directly between Standard View and Theater View without going to "Full Screen" view first.

Like the "menu" key (between the right Ctrl and Windows keys)?  Does it not work for you?

[lalittle]

3) A single button (available in the remote command list) that toggles directly between Standard View and Theater View without going to "Full Screen" view first.

Like the "menu" key (between the right Ctrl and Windows keys)?  Does it not work for you?

I don't know what key you're referring to -- there is no key between teh Rt Ctrl and the Windows keys on my keyboard, and the "menu" key in the remote command list does not do what I'm referring to.

Larry

[JimH]

Could be an older keyboard?  The menu key is usually to the right of the space bar.  Try Ctrl-W or F11 also.

[IlPadrino]

Could be an older keyboard?  The menu key is usually to the right of the space bar.  Try Ctrl-W or F11 also.

No, Jim...  Ctrl-W and F11 toggle through *all* the display modes.  We're talking about just toggling between Theater and Full Screen.

I don't believe there's a MCC command for this, so unless you get a new keyboard, you'll have to use something like Girder to simulate the keystroke.  In which case, I think you need to use the APPS key vice the MENU key.

[Livin]

"Remote View & Control"

... a browser based client (for WinCE & Windows)

Thus, we could have a WinCE device (mine is 800x600) or Windows PC display the Theater View screen on it while MC10 is actually running on a different PC.

I know there are 'hooks' into MC to build your own interface (like Netremote uses) but that is a pain to develop and maintain (update with new features).

The browser based view would eliminate any further dev on the 3rd party side.

[lalittle]

Could be an older keyboard?  The menu key is usually to the right of the space bar.  Try Ctrl-W or F11 also.

I see the key you're talking about on this keyboard now, but it still doesn't do what I'm asking -- it seems to cycle between Full and Theater Views, whereas I want to cycle between Standard and Theater Views.  Also, the "menu" key in the remote command list doesn't have the same effect.

I'm looking for a direct toggle between Theater View and Standard View that doesn't cycle through Full Screen View as well, and I'm requesting that this key (once it's available) be added to the remote command list.

Thanks,

Larry

[IlPadrino]

I see the key you're talking about on this keyboard now, but it still doesn't do what I'm asking -- it seems to cycle between Full and Theater Views, whereas I want to cycle between Standard and Theater Views.  Also, the "menu" key in the remote command list doesn't have the same effect.

I'm looking for a direct toggle between Theater View and Standard View that doesn't cycle through Full Screen View as well, and I'm requesting that this key (once it's available) be added to the remote command list.

Thanks,

Larry

Sorry...  my misunderstanding.  What's wrong with F11 to go to Theater View and Esc to go back to Mega View (which I think is the technical name for "standard view")?  I know...  you're looking for a toggle, but that could be done with Girder.

[lalittle]

Sorry...  my misunderstanding.  What's wrong with F11 to go to Theater View and Esc to go back to Mega View (which I think is the technical name for "standard view")?  I know...  you're looking for a toggle, but that could be done with Girder.

You need to hit F11 twice to get to Full View from Standard View, and for some reason a double hit of the appropriate key on the X10 MP3 remote behaves differently than a double hit of the F11 key (it just goes back to Standard View unless you pause between hits.)

It's not a "deal breaker," but in it's current state it's not particularly elegant either, and for the less technical people in the family, an extra button press and an extra screen to go past actually makes a bigger difference than you might think.  MC comes with native support of my remote, so using Girder would just be overkill since MC is the only app I need to control with the remote.

A single button toggle between Theater View and Standard View would simply be a more elegant procedure.

Larry

[IlPadrino]

You need to hit F11 twice to get to Full View from Standard View, and for some reason a double hit of the appropriate key on the X10 MP3 remote behaves differently than a double hit of the F11 key (it just goes back to Standard View unless you pause between hits.)

It's not a "deal breaker," but in it's current state it's not particularly elegant either, and for the less technical people in the family, an extra button press and an extra screen to go past actually makes a bigger difference than you might think.  MC comes with native support of my remote, so using Girder would just be overkill since MC is the only app I need to control with the remote.

A single button toggle between Theater View and Standard View would simply be a more elegant procedure.

Larry

OK...  I'm being really dense tonight.  And so, to satisfy my curiosity, I checked to make sure that there is still no MCC command to go to Theater View.  Imagine my surprise when I found that the \Media Center\Data\Default Resources\Resources.xml file has the following entry:

Code: [Select]

<Entry Command="22009" Text="Theater View" Param="3" />
So if you want a key to do that, just add an Accelerator (to the same Resources.xml) such as:

Code: [Select]

<Entry Key="F12"    Command="22009" Param="3" />
Don't get me wrong...  I understand your desire for a simple solution.  But what about someone who wants to go from Mini to Theater in one step?  Is a toggle really necessary?  If so, I'd suggest that a more generic solution is to include a toggle between any two states.

I hope I've been of some help.

[lalittle]

Don't get me wrong...  I understand your desire for a simple solution.  But what about someone who wants to go from Mini to Theater in one step?  Is a toggle really necessary?  If so, I'd suggest that a more generic solution is to include a toggle between any two states.

How about a hot-key for each view mode, each one of which is in the remote command list. This way, anybody can directly jump to any view mode they want from any other view mode, and remote users can simply program as many or as few buttons as they need depending on which view modes they use.  I, for example, would only need two buttons assigned to view modes -- one for Standard and one for Theater View.

Thanks for the information on editing the xml file -- I may look into this depending on what happens in the near future with new builds.

Larry

[IlPadrino]

Larry,

You're welcome...  and the Resources.xml file is really quite simple to modify.  Doing so lets you create any hot key for which there's an MCC command - all the view modes are there.

But there's a feature request here somewhere, right?

[jleerigby]

I'd like to have more control over whether thumbnails or a list is displayed in Theatre View.  My idea and discussion with Matt is here.

Some time ago I summarised everyone's ideas for Theatre View from this thread and the summary is in this thread.

[Bryan]

Here's a radical idea...  This is a conceptual change of how Theater View would work..

Rename Full Screen view in the view menu to Theater View.  Eliminate the current Theater View 'view' as a separate view altogether but then place the functionality of the current Theater View onto a popup panel that can be called up from within the former Full Screen view (now renamed to Theater View).   Whatever Display Plugin thats selected will run behind the popup panel.  You could make the popup panel transparent, optionally maybe. This would also eliminate that 3-way toggle (standard - full screen - theater view) when switching views.

Remember the last view when toggling the control panel on/off..

The speed, mostly menu response time, and stability could use some improvement as well.

Bryan

[NoCodeUK]

Only ones for me have been mentioned already...

View Schemes to be either standard or theatre or both...
And some kind of permanent transport/playing now display like in Win Media Center

Adam

[NoCodeUK]

Just thought of another one.  Jump to full screen settings should be media configurable.  I want to jump to full screen for images but not always for audio.

Also is there no longer any way to control the size of the font??  I seem to be able to control the actual size of things in the window but not the font meaning labels always run over in buttons giving things like Display Opt...  If not changing the font maybe some kind of auto fit or scroll functionality???

Adam

[godavego]

I use TheaterTek for DVD playback.  I do not rip my DVDs to the harddrive.  I would like TheaterView to be able to launch TheaterTek for DVD playback.  At this point, I much prefer the TheaterTek interface and the ability to use FFDshow.

[adamsp70]

I use TheaterTek for DVD playback.  I do not rip my DVDs to the harddrive.  I would like TheaterView to be able to launch TheaterTek for DVD playback.  At this point, I much prefer the TheaterTek interface and the ability to use FFDshow.

Seconded - TT is a fantastic DVD player and it would be great if it could be used alongside MC...

[sixdoubleo]

My Theater View Suggestions would make TheaterView an absolute DREAM for me......and would take like an hour to program!  

These don't need to be actual on-screen buttons or anything, but available functions that I can assign to my remote.

DELETE - Delete highlighted song from Playing Now
MOVEUP - Move highlighted song up in Playing Now
MOVEDOWN - Move highlighted song down in Playing Now
FREEMOVE - You select a song in Playing Now, and then can move it to a specific position and Insert it to a different position in Playing Now.
INFO - Pop-up a dialog showing extended info about the highlighted track.  (Whether in Playing Now or Album List) With an "OK" to clear (or ESC to clear)

CUSTOMIZE BUTTONS - Ability to enable/disable the buttons on the left.  I'd like to turn Volume buttons off as all my volume is doen at the receiver.

[jleerigby]

and would take like an hour to program!  

If you can code all that in an hour I think Matt's job may be at risk.  They'll want to sign you up.

[Scarpad]

I'd like to see better management of playing my music library within THeaterview. Adding files to the playing now list is a bit convoluted

[lalittle]

OK...  I'm being really dense tonight.  And so, to satisfy my curiosity, I checked to make sure that there is still no MCC command to go to Theater View.  Imagine my surprise when I found that the \Media Center\Data\Default Resources\Resources.xml file has the following entry:
Code:
<Entry Command="22009" Text="Theater View" Param="3" />
 


So if you want a key to do that, just add an Accelerator (to the same Resources.xml) such as:
Code:
<Entry Key="F12"    Command="22009" Param="3" />
 

This worked perfectly!  Rather than assigning it to F12, I used the numeric code in Girder to assign this to a remote control button.  I now have a button on the remote that switches directly to Theater View, and another that switches back to normal view -- EXACTLY what I was looking for.

Thanks,

Larry

[Soundman]

Need more than just "Play" and "Enqueue"....

Also need "Remove", and "Enqueue as Next".

[Scarpad]

just my problem I really need more flexibility for music. But I like to view on the television. Both Media Centr 10 and Itunes I like better but they do not translate well to TV Resolution..

[slikvik]

I had to remove ALL the view schemes in the panes window so that Theatre View looked tidy. I don't like the way it shows my two trees (Albums and Singles) and the a complete list of Genres (from Panes.)

Can we do something about that? The old hairstyle worked nicer. Can't remember exactly when it changed.

Thanks
 

[bennyd]

any progress on this one or is this scheduled to be in 11 ?

[nadroj81]

i posted this in another thread also. But the top 3 things ( i will limit myself) are

1. Bigger bars when in list mode, or user can set the size (and rembering if album is thumnails, and songs are list ect)

2.  Bigger forward back buttons and a page down button ect.

3. Full screen spectrum analyzer when monitor goes to screen saver or idle timer built into MC which will make a full screen Spectrum Analyzer.

My reasoning for #1 is I am using a touchscreen LCD monitor. It is not the easiest to select things, such as a song name when its in list or to go back a menu. I don't know if it would be harder to use if i was at a higher resolution also, going from 1080? to 1200. Just my input. (I do not use the mouse or keyboard at all really)

[cncb]

It would be nice if Theater View matched the sorting of the view scheme in Standard View.  I sort my images by newest date first and when I browse in Theater View it seems to sort by name which isn't very useful for me.