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[slikvik]

Hello everybody.

Let me tell you about my HTPC and what I would think MC9 needs to do, to become the perfect 'Media Center'.

Please note that I am in no way knocking my favourite software, I am simply trying to explain in an everday manner that MC9 is still only an MP3 player (albiet the BEST there is by far,) that only needs the following features implemented to be a true Living room media center. All the requests like extra visualizations etc must surely take a back seat to what is essentially stoping MC9 from being used for it's other functions.

If anyone agrees with these features, please say so.


Anyway...

I have a PC connected to my Denon AV AMP and my Panasonic Plasma. I have a Svideo in card and an IRman & Pronto. I have my remote configured so that I can cursor up and down, close (left) and expand (right), and ENTER on a View Scheme. BUT...

I have no easy way of jumping to the list window and Playing or Add to Playing a slected file. We are happy to work with Brads GML but we need to be met halfway.

Next I decide to watch a DVD. BUT...

I put a DVD in and it does not autorun (ADD IT). Then PCFriendly pops-up! (AUTO KILL THEM PLEASE) Then I find its the wrong region to what I last set in WinDVD and will not run. I change the region, load up the disc in MC9 and then cannot use my pronto because all the DVD controls are on a right click (seperate control panels for Audio, Photo, DVD and TV/PVR should be added.) So I use WinDVD and WinDVD tweaker instead!

I then decide to use Hairstyle to make it easy to do things for the wife and friends. BUT...Hairstyle needs an easy way of jumping to the right hand thumbnails and selecting songs or albums. That's what people try to do when I show them, and I can understand there thinking. Also...Put a DVD in and Hairspray will play it in a little window (same for TV.)

Next I decide to record a TV program for burning to my DVD writer. BUT I cannot use my remote again (right click options) , I have no integrated EPG and I cannot burn to DVD easily. (This TV stuff is just me nit picking, but it's certainly needed at some point.)

Keep up the good work and I hope you look at these features as they have been requested for eons.

Regards

Vic

[Chris Shaw]

Some of your problems can be solved by putting Name as the last field in all your view schemes. That way, individual tracks show in the tree, and you never have to go to the right pane at all. This works in Mega-ma and Hairstyle. Unfortunately, they are always sorted by name, not Track#, but it works very well.

[DocLotus]

>> I put a DVD in and it does not autorun (ADD IT).  <<

Same thing here.  There seems to be no way to make MC9 the default DVD player.

This should be in the Options/File Associations but is not.

Also when playing a DVD there are no Basic hot key controls for things such as Color, Contrast, Hue, Brightness, Gamma like there is for the TV.

[Matt]

Hairstyle is in the process of getting a haircut.

Look for an updated version in a few days.  After that, let us know what still needs to be done.

Thanks!

[nila]

Hey Matt

Right now we have to use the tab to get from right to left.
What would be great (while ur giving it the hairstyle) is if there was a button at the top of the left list that we could go to and press enter and the button jumped us to the right hand side.
Then have one thats always visible on the right too that we can move to to jump to the left.

Keeping everything like that on screen so we can simply use up, down left and right along with enter really helps newbies.

What would also be nice while ur redoing it would be if there were a set of basic controls on the page at all times to 'play song' 'add songs' etc so we could scroll up to them and then just choose what we want to do with the songs - either that or introduce a new step so that when we click enter on something in the right - it then brings us to a step asking if we want to play or append etc.

Keeping ways to navigate around the screen all onscreen so we can navigate them with directional arrows really helps for newbies that I show or set it up for.

Also, if I click on say an album, I'd like to be able to choose to have info about the album next to it - track lists etc. Totally configurable

I'm sure ur already doing tons - just some things that'd matter alot to me.


Oh yeah - and the ability to hide certain items in the menu - I dont have a TV and dont want to see a node for it there - no point.

[slikvik]

I think the point is that cetain jobs need prioritizing.

The fact is that most people upgraded to MC9 over MJ8 because they wanted other media features over and beyond MP3's. I have tried to suggest relatively small feature changes that make MC9, A) a competative product with all media  types and B) easy to use as a living room all-in-one solution which is surely where MC9 will be headed.

It would just be sooo much better that if you jump from the Media Library to CD/DVD the transport controls change slightly to represent that. (Along with any additional shortcuts keys to automate.) The problem with this is that PCfriendly will still pop up, which means mouse intivention will be required at some point and you may have to change region as well.

I find it funny that I once had a discussion about adding basic DJ functions to MC9. What was I thinking. These things shouldn't even be considered until the main media types are sorted.  

I think the key is automation. I realize that not everyone uses a remote control, but a lot do, and more will everyday if M$ Mediacenter is anything to go by. More importantly you should not have to move away from your media application to do other things related to media (like closing PCfriendly or change regions.)

I understand that everyone has different want's for MC9 so I tried to make my list as universaly needed as possible. If anyone thinks these aren't important, let me know:

1) DVD controls bottom left (with shortcuts & Params)
1.2) Same for Photos
1.3) Same for PVR
2) Kill PCfriendly
3) Auto Region
4) Shortcuts for right click 'Play' and 'Add To Playing Now!'
4.1) Maybe the items that people add to 'Playing Now' could be listed in the Playing now tree on the left (just above Find CD and Artist Info.) That way people can see what they are adding, and also minimize it if they don't want to see it anymore.

Regards

Vic