More > Media Center 12 (Development Ended)
First impressions - MC12
glynor:
--- Quote from: Mr ChriZ on June 28, 2006, 02:39:19 am ---I've got a C# Script plugin[...]
--- End quote ---
I've been meaning to ask you... I'm right now in the process of learning C# (so forgive me if I use incorrect terms and whatnot).
What exactly does your C# Script Plugin do? Does it just expose MC as a regular .NET Object so that it can be used in any C# application easily? (And wouldn't MC do that on it's own?) Or is it more specific to scripting needs rather than a "compiled" C# application? (I'm not 100% on what the difference between C# and C# Script / VB.NET and VB Scripting is other than maybe one is compiled to an EXE and the other isn't.)
If I were to develop a helper application using your C# Script Plugin, it would (I assume) require any users to have not only MC installed, but also the plugin. Is this correct?
As I said, I'm just beginning learning (I'm on Chapter 2 of my book). I have some very basic C and C++ knowledge, though I know VB6 and VB.NET fairly well. It was a hard choice picking C# to learn over Java and Python (though I'm going to try to pick up Python next). I just liked the look and feel of C# better than Java (and oddly enough, since Mono exists, Microsoft's C# is a bit more open than Java, which is important to me as an OSX/Linux user).
Mr ChriZ:
Have you come across Visual Basic for Applications in Word/Access etc?
Well it's a bit like that.
It gives immediate access to the Media Center interface
which can be compiled and run on the fly.
Currently the scripts require the plugin to be installed
in order to be any use to anyone, however this will not be the case in
the future. There will be an option to compile the script into .EXE
form which anyone who has the .NET framework installed will be able to use (At their peril).
glynor:
Okay... I'm gonna post my first impressions.
Skin:
[o]Love the clean look.
[o]Like the simplified RW/Play/FF buttons.
[o]Not a huge fan of the deep black bottom bar. Makes it very difficult to see the borders of the app on a dark desktop wallpaper. A simple "edge" would fix this though.
[o]I agree that the DSP Studio needs a re-name. The button icon is intuitive, the name is not (for Grandma).
[/list]
Tree and View:
[o]The horizontal Audio/Images/Video items in the tree... Not a huge fan. It just doesn't match what I expect from experience in previous applications.
[o]The "expand" arrows are too small. It makes it hard to hit them on a high-resolution monitor. This is especially a problem with the new Audio/Images/Video buttons since the arrows are on the right, not the left as they are with the child items.
[o]Navigation is pretty buggy as is. I'll post details elsewhere after I make sure it's not duplicating what others have posted. (Basically, if I click on Video -- and show Video's child View Schemes -- clicking on Audio does NOT replace them with Audio's View Schemes.)
[o]Building thumbnails of video files freaks FFDSHOW out quite a bit. It's Tray Icon appears and disappears rapidly on my system when building thumbs of videos that play using it (which on my system is pretty much everything).
[/list]
Playing Display and Playback:
[o]Generally regarding the Playing Display "Action Window", I LOVE IT. This is the main complaint I received from people I recommended MC to -- Too hard to find the Visualizations.
[o]Not sure how intuitive the "double click" to go fullscreen is. I tried it right away though...
[o]I need to be able to have fullscreen sent to a different monitor, while keeping the main UI on the existing monitor. I won't fully switch to 12 without this, as I use it everytime I DJ.
[o]I say the above with full respect for the goal of having the unified interface. Generally, I love what you've done, and I like the full-screen display controls much better. I think a good solution would be to add some way to open a second "child Playing Display" that you could move around independant of the "primary" one (and move/send to the other monitor and double click on to expand to full screen). It would actually be nice if these two displays were independant (so that one could show G-Force and the other Track Info for example).
[o]The above then could also be used to solve what marko asked for (the ability to view images independantly of the currently playing audio/video). Perhaps via a right-click Set Display --> Images setting.
[o]If something like this were done, it would probably be best to have it reset itself back to default when you close/relaunch MC. This would be a good "fail-safe" for novices that got in over their heads.
[o]Full screen view can send the video to a different monitor when you maximize the video (causing the main UI to disappear without explanation), which doesn't match what I expect from using other applications. This could be very confusing if the displays aren't side by side (such as in another room as my projectors sometimes are, or on a closed laptop when docked). Once the main UI is "gone" to the other display, there's no way to bring it back without direct access to the "other" display.
[o]Video playback doesn't feel as seamless. MC is inserting a white "screen" when loading the next video in a "playlist". This is vastly more intrusive than a black one would be (and happens quite a bit as many videos are split up into multiple files for burning to disc, and episodic TV shows).
[o]Video playback is very unstable. I've had MC12 crash on me quite a few times when playing XviD encoded video back using FFDSHOW, and while building video thumbnails. It also appears that it is trying to "preview" video files when you mouseover their "tiles". This doesn't work right for XviD videos though, and often crashes MC12.
[/list]
Tag Info:
[o]I'm not sure what to think yet. Overall I like the look and feel, but I do feel that it will drastically cut down on my productivity when tagging because of what I explained in the build thread. Each extra click adds up, and the fact that I can't scroll through a list of all available tags and quickly see them does hurt. I will see more as I use it for longer...
[o]Perhaps there should be an Advanced Tag Editor choice under the "drop down menu" (top left of dialog) that brings up an editor similar to the old one (or even better, a big, separate window similar to what iTunes uses. This could actually be very useful, as I could move that window over to my other monitor and work much more efficiently.
[/list]
More later I'm sure...
gpvillamil:
--- Quote from: glynor on June 28, 2006, 06:05:58 pm ---
I need to be able to have fullscreen sent to a different monitor, while keeping the main UI on the existing monitor. I won't fully switch to 12 without this, as I use it everytime I DJ.
--- End quote ---
ditto!
--- Quote from: glynor on June 28, 2006, 06:05:58 pm ---
Perhaps there should be an Advanced Tag Editor choice under the "drop down menu" (top left of dialog) that brings up an editor similar to the old one (or even better, a big, separate window similar to what iTunes uses. This could actually be very useful, as I could move that window over to my other monitor and work much more efficiently.
--- End quote ---
Thoroughly agree.
Actually agree with all the points, esp re fullscreen management.
glynor:
I thought I'd also mention.... I really, really like the new Mini View. I think I'd actually use it if there were an obvious button that would invoke it.... Perhaps up near the standard Min/Max/Close buttons (or under the search box).
As it is, I never use it because it's too clumsy to get to through the menus (and I don't remember the hotkey - I save my hotkey memory space for functions I need quickly, mainly Final Cut Pro and Photoshop).
EDIT: Or actually... If you put an "Up/Down Arrow Divider Control" (the control that is used in other places in the Application to show/hide panes -- what the heck are those called) at the BOTTOM of Display View (and in Mini View to get back to Display View quickly)!
That'd be intuitive and easy to use! And, that area of Display View is completely empty (and unused). If you want to get very fancy (cough * Apple * cough) you could even add an animated zoom in/zoom out effect when toggling. I wouldn't though, because it's cheesy. (Unless, of course, you happen to be "the Steve" since he can get away with any amount of cheese and his RDF will protect him.)
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version