Topic: Theater view requests (Read 4860 times)

benn600 · « **on:** August 19, 2007, 02:03:02 pm »

I would really like the ability to hide the mouse or something. The mouse often appears for various reasons. If MC simply moved the mouse to 0x0 or some other extreme, in a corner of the screen, it wouldn't be as noticeable. The lower right corner would be another great choice.

The little playing window on the left that shows the currently playing content needs to be resized. It should be taller so there are no bars and so more video will show.

Any other enhancements to theater view are great! Theater view is so incredibly useful for a HTPC!

benn600 · « **Reply #1 on:** August 19, 2007, 02:41:19 pm »

I also have an issue where on my HTPC, I have MC set to open automatically and go to theater view. Unfortunately, it takes a few seconds to get network activity going so MC can't find the server's database (which is opened readonly) and it defaults to the local database.

Would you be able to add something to add a delay to MC if it can't find a network database? It should just wait an extra 5 seconds. Perhaps 3 second wait, try, 3 second wait, try, 3 second wait, TRY ... and then fail. It just needs a little extra time to get the server connection going.

benn600 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 19, 2007, 02:42:44 pm »

I have another idea. What if MC was able to turn off the monitor. I was thinking that if MC is not playing content back, then it should turn the monitor off after a certain amount of time. Or will the Windows setup work? I don't think it is active in theater view. I just don't want to have to turn the HTPC off and on all the time.

Also, it would be nice if it could reload the server's readonly database from time to time because it will be updated with new files.

prod · « **Reply #3 on:** August 19, 2007, 03:00:18 pm »

Quote from: benn600 on August 19, 2007, 02:03:02 pm

I would really like the ability to hide the mouse or something. The mouse often appears for various reasons. If MC simply moved the mouse to 0x0 or some other extreme, in a corner of the screen, it wouldn't be as noticeable. The lower right corner would be another great choice.

I'd like this as well.. the mouse pointer seems to appear quite often even when using the remote. Not sure if it's G-Force or MC but when visualising in Big Screen/Display View the mouse pointer doesn't disappear.

Quote from: benn600 on August 19, 2007, 02:42:44 pm

I don't think it is active in theater view. I just don't want to have to turn the HTPC off and on all the time.

Your Windows screen saver kicks in. I'm sure only Display View disables the screen saver.

benn600 · « **Reply #4 on:** August 19, 2007, 04:17:54 pm »

I guess I should just ask what other theater view users do? Do you turn the computer on and off? I only want to use my remote to control the HTPC and don't want to wait for it to boot up but the monitor I'm using is a standard PC monitor and I don't want to have to turn it on and off (no remote). If I could have the display power off (standby) after 5 minutes of inactivity (and not in display mode) -- ideally if it was paused in Display mode it would also enter standby then I wouldn't have to bother turning anything on or off. It would have to turn the display back on when I push a remote button (usb remote). I'll test this a bit.

Now that I will start using theater view a lot more I will have more suggestions.

raym · « **Reply #5 on:** August 19, 2007, 07:29:27 pm »

Quote from: benn600 on August 19, 2007, 04:17:54 pm

I guess I should just ask what other theater view users do? Do you turn the computer on and off? I only want to use my remote to control the HTPC and don't want to wait for it to boot up but the monitor I'm using is a standard PC monitor and I don't want to have to turn it on and off (no remote). If I could have the display power off (standby) after 5 minutes of inactivity (and not in display mode) -- ideally if it was paused in Display mode it would also enter standby then I wouldn't have to bother turning anything on or off. It would have to turn the display back on when I push a remote button (usb remote). I'll test this a bit.

Now that I will start using theater view a lot more I will have more suggestions.

MC only allows power management to kick in while in Theater View NOT Display View (ie, fullscreen). This has been discussed here many times before and is really a must IMO to prevent burn-in on plasma screens etc.

Regardless of whether you're in Theater View or Display View, MC should allow Windows power management to do it's thing if in a stopped OR paused state for longer than X number of minutes.

Thanks

ThoBar · « **Reply #6 on:** August 19, 2007, 09:43:08 pm »

Quote from: raym on August 19, 2007, 07:29:27 pm

MC should allow Windows power management to do it's thing if in a stopped OR paused state for longer than X number of minutes.

A reasonable and logical suggestion in my book, seconded.

benn600 · « **Reply #7 on:** August 19, 2007, 10:21:22 pm »

Well it sounds like that's how MC already is, isn't it? Or is the added feature just that Windows should take over when PAUSED? I'm going to experiment a little with this because the monitor management (on/off) is very important to my HTPC setup. The monitor I'm using is a good Samsung LCD that can turn off automatically and therefore we really don't need to turn it on or off ever. It should handle it automatically with short delays.

raym · « **Reply #8 on:** August 19, 2007, 10:47:25 pm »

Quote from: benn600 on August 19, 2007, 10:21:22 pm

Well it sounds like that's how MC already is, isn't it?

Umm, no it isn't. The point is MC doesn't allow Windows power management to kick in while in Display View - period. What I'm proposing is that it should if playback is in a paused or stopped state.

prod · « **Reply #9 on:** August 20, 2007, 02:16:08 am »

Quote from: benn600 on August 19, 2007, 04:17:54 pm

I guess I should just ask what other theater view users do? Do you turn the computer on and off? I only want to use my remote to control the HTPC and don't want to wait for it to boot up but the monitor I'm using is a standard PC monitor and I don't want to have to turn it on and off (no remote). If I could have the display power off (standby) after 5 minutes of inactivity (and not in display mode) -- ideally if it was paused in Display mode it would also enter standby then I wouldn't have to bother turning anything on or off. It would have to turn the display back on when I push a remote button (usb remote). I'll test this a bit.

Now that I will start using theater view a lot more I will have more suggestions.

Yeah I can turn the computer on and off with the remote. More accurately, I can put the computer into and out of sleep mode, so no waiting for "boot up".

Raym is right about Display View - no power management or screen saver settings are respected, which in theory is OK, but MC doesn't currently take into account when it's in a stopped or paused state.

MrHaugen · « **Reply #10 on:** August 20, 2007, 05:15:33 am »

I got some other Theater View suggestions:

1. Enable word and sentence search with number pads. Today it only works for the first number in a list search. Would be great to use the num pad exactly as SMS writing. Preferrably without dictionary...

2. Also make the search function (on the left menu) reflect the capabilities of number pad text writing.

3. As benn600 said: Make the Playing now size on the left menu higher.

4. Make the mouse pointer able scroll the playlists down or up depending on weather you hit upper or lower screen. Would be super smooth for any mouse users, and especialy people with gyro sensitive remotes etc (like me :-)

5. Post a public theater view theme with no left side menu. I don't like the look of it, and seldom use it. Maby there is one allready? Have not looked that hard (I know it's probably just a little xml tweaking, but most people don't want to do it I guess).

6. Make the flying scrolling text move closer to the screen when scrolling fast in lists. It's very hard to see what is being scrolled except a small portion of the screen.

7. Redesign the graphics for the scrolling arrows in lists, and possibly find something better for the "URL" of the position at the top.

8. My Gyration MS MC and WMP remote have shortcut buttons for TV, Images, Audio and playing now etc. Are there any hopes to follow the MS shortcut "standard" so this buttons work?

9. Smooth icons on the main menu similar to Windows MC. Instead of todays buttons (art in the bluetoo skin is pretty nice).

That's all I got for now.
- Carl

prod · « **Reply #11 on:** August 20, 2007, 06:04:29 am »

Quote from: MrHaugen on August 20, 2007, 05:15:33 am

1. Enable word and sentence search with number pads. Today it only works for the first number in a list search. Would be great to use the num pad exactly as SMS writing. Preferrably without dictionary...

That'd be great - regarding dictionary though, some kind of predictive text feature where MC tries to match up the sequence with what is available in the list would be quite impressive. That is, you press 1 three times, you could have ABB, CAB, etc and pressing * would iterate between those possible combinations. Like a mobile phone.

Quote from: MrHaugen on August 20, 2007, 05:15:33 am

8. My Gyration MS MC and WMP remote have shortcut buttons for TV, Images, Audio and playing now etc. Are there any hopes to follow the MS shortcut "standard" so this buttons work?

Using my MCE remote My Music, My Images, My Video all work fine with MC. Maybe it's not so standard after all?

Quote from: MrHaugen on August 20, 2007, 05:15:33 am

9. Smooth icons on the main menu similar to Windows MC. Instead of todays buttons (art in the bluetoo skin is pretty nice).

Theater View would benefit from some aesthetic touches I agree - Microsofts Media Center is rather pretty, though the more I used it the more I thought of it as just a polished turd. However, I agree it'd be nice for MC to take some UI tricks from it, I don't think MC now is that far from competing looks-wise.

Pete

benn600 · « **Reply #12 on:** August 20, 2007, 07:35:47 am »

I also would like the ability to add BLANK spaces between items in the menu. You know how you can add a web site? (Which I do for weather radar, 7-day forecast, security cams, etc.) There should also be an option called Spacer that simply adds a blank button space. I would like a blank space in 2 places.

Also, we need a scroll bar to show users where they are in the list.

MrHaugen · « **Reply #13 on:** August 20, 2007, 08:46:32 am »

Quote from: prod on August 20, 2007, 06:04:29 am

That'd be great - regarding dictionary though, some kind of predictive text feature where MC tries to match up the sequence with what is available in the list would be quite impressive. That is, you press 1 three times, you could have ABB, CAB, etc and pressing * would iterate between those possible combinations. Like a mobile phone.

Yea. It might work well with dictionary as well. But would it not get a bit more messy with all the different countrys special characters?

Quote from: prod on August 20, 2007, 06:04:29 am

Using my MCE remote My Music, My Images, My Video all work fine with MC. Maybe it's not so standard after all?

Hmmmm. Maby not. It's supposed to be designed for Windows MC and works perfectly there. A shame.

Quote from: prod on August 20, 2007, 06:04:29 am

Theater View would benefit from some aesthetic touches I agree - Microsofts Media Center is rather pretty, though the more I used it the more I thought of it as just a polished turd. However, I agree it'd be nice for MC to take some UI tricks from it, I don't think MC now is that far from competing looks-wise.

I agree. It might loose some of the functionality and effectiveness to add several images horizontaly (and verticaly), as you would have a problem to navigate to the right, into the menus. I do belive that there could be ways of adding smooth images to the list style of menus we got today though.
One idea could be to make images pop up at the left side of the buttons. Or you could have the images permanently there, just have them altering from left to right. Every second button.

I also like the idea of making the buttons and/or images go horizontaly. As more and more peope get wide screens, it would be a bit more space effective.

MajorTomKY · « **Reply #14 on:** August 20, 2007, 12:38:24 pm »

I'd be happy to have wide scroll bar. I can see everything fine in Theater view but my gyration air mouse is a bugger getting the tip on that little scroll bar 10 feet away !

raldo · « **Reply #15 on:** August 20, 2007, 01:22:43 pm »

I agree with this "keypad/mobile phone" idea.

I just pressed "Page Down" 71 times to get to my Tool albums. The next time, I'll have to resort to the mouse...

Matt · « **Reply #16 on:** August 21, 2007, 12:58:21 pm »

Quote from: raldo on August 20, 2007, 01:22:43 pm

I agree with this "keypad/mobile phone" idea.

I just pressed "Page Down" 71 times to get to my Tool albums. The next time, I'll have to resort to the mouse...

It's there. Press "8" to go to T albums.

raldo · « **Reply #17 on:** August 21, 2007, 03:10:04 pm »

Matt,

I have a view scheme where the bands are grouped alphabetically wrt. artist name. Thus, in the "T" group, I cannot press "T" to get to "Tool", but I have to "Page Down" past all the bands starting with "The" and so forth. That's 71 page downs in ThView (I have 4500 albums altogether -- That's why I use MC in the first place!)

MrHaugen · « **Reply #18 on:** August 22, 2007, 03:57:32 am »

Yea. More times than not, you would like to jump directly to the artist. As Raldo says, it take waaay to much time to scroll down to the right artist. Even if the first letter is correct.

prod · « **Reply #19 on:** September 03, 2007, 02:41:09 pm »

Thought I'd share a way to get around this problem.

I've set up the following items in my view scheme;

1. [Album Artist (auto)] grouped A-Z
2. FixCase(Mid(Clean([Album Artist (auto)], 1), 0, 2), 3)
3. FixCase(Mid(Clean([Album Artist (auto)], 1), 0, 3), 3)
4. [Album Artist (auto)]
5. [Album]

Works OK in Theatre View.

MrHaugen · « **Reply #20 on:** September 03, 2007, 03:32:34 pm »

Quote from: prod on September 03, 2007, 02:41:09 pm

1. [Album Artist (auto)] grouped A-Z
2. FixCase(Mid(Clean([Album Artist (auto)], 1), 0, 2), 3)
3. FixCase(Mid(Clean([Album Artist (auto)], 1), 0, 3), 3)
4. [Album Artist (auto)]
5. [Album]

Oh my god. You really use that?
Ok, I'll admit that it works. But you still use more time to find a single artist, than it takes to make a noodle meal.

Thanks for introducing me to the expressions though. That might come in handy

prod · « **Reply #21 on:** September 03, 2007, 04:41:51 pm »

Quote from: MrHaugen on September 03, 2007, 03:32:34 pm

Oh my god. You really use that?

More imaginative than *bump* tho, huh.

benn600 · « **Reply #22 on:** September 03, 2007, 05:38:11 pm »

Quote

More imaginative than *bump* tho, huh.

lol. That'll do it.

MrHaugen · « **Reply #23 on:** September 08, 2007, 07:17:58 am »

*bump*

benn600 · « **Reply #24 on:** September 08, 2007, 08:42:10 am »

So what are we still going for here? What's the bump for? I'm not re-reading the entire thread.

MrHaugen · « **Reply #25 on:** September 08, 2007, 08:50:08 am »

I was just curious as to that the developers plans are really...
I've been looking forward to some changes in theater view for many builds now, but get rather dissapointed each time.
Not that the other improvements are'nt any good, but my personal opinion is that Theater View (and TV Tuner/PVR) are the part that lacks most.

benn600 · « **Reply #26 on:** September 08, 2007, 08:58:21 am »

Everything wanted for the TV portion of Theater View is simply huge. The kind of code required to get time-shifting and seamless switching between recording/pause with dual tuners, etc....it's just all very complex. Plus adding a guide and delete option, etc., just adds confusion and every little feature needs to be planned out, developed, approved, tested, confirmed...

I'm thinking they may not be adding little features like Delete yet because they may have a completely revamped theater view in store (lol, maybe not)....and if they are working on a new theater view then maybe they have these features added but don't want to release it until the entire thing is working well.

Maybe it will be 0 to 60?

I personally have some requests but nothing to do with TV. I am having the most difficult time getting an internal TV tuner that actually works with MC. I've already got about 5 of them and am going to return the ones I can.

One is a USB solution that works but it's expensive, no digital tuner, external (yuck)...not sure what to do there. We need TV on our HTPC! I've already spent a few hundred dollars trying to find a card that works. And I can't even find a place to buy most of the officially supported cards for MC.

MrHaugen · « **Reply #27 on:** September 08, 2007, 09:13:48 am »

Yea. There are alot of issues here. Let's hope they have improved most of them in a upcoming version.

prod · « **Reply #28 on:** September 08, 2007, 10:52:08 am »

Quote from: benn600 on September 08, 2007, 08:42:10 am

So what are we still going for here?

Personally, the must-have requests in this thread are the SMS-like writing for searching through items and screen saver (or just dim the screen) for paused/stopped video playback.

The TV stuff may be on other people's lists but I find the (PC) technology too immature to use seriously. My dedicated PVR does the job better now than Apple, MS or JRiver will in even a year's time and these PVR's come free or dirt cheap with many cable/satellite TV subscriptions.

I've found it's playing music, movies, downloaded TV and photos where the HTPC (and therefore Theatre View) impresses. The weather and news stuff is good too, though I have a Wii connected up and the news and weather channels on that have a lovely interface.

benn600 · « **Reply #29 on:** September 08, 2007, 12:06:30 pm »

Yea but you're missing the point. People want, at least I do, ONE system that will handle absolutely all of their content. Right now, I am close to having a system that will handle all of the following:

1) FLAC Music
2) JPG Images
3) DVDs from Hard Drive
4) CD/DVD drive in HTPC that handles unripped CDs & DVDs
5) Security Camera viewing from the customizable web links in theater view
6) Weather -- again, I made custom web pages to view radar, etc, at 100% width with no ads.

The only things missing are:
1) VHS Video Tapes
2) Cassettes
3) Television
4) HD Discs

Well, lets forget 1 & 2 because I have already converted all my home movies to DVD. Cassettes are pointless to the modern generation. HD Discs are still brand new and I'm not so worried yet. Besides, I'm sure MC will add support as soon as possible.

Television is the problem! We can receive television via over the air, which is easy, but then you have Directv and other satellite boxes that can be problematic. In this case there are tricky IR blasters and they never work as good as an all in one system could. I'm personally kind of sick of TV in general. For television programming, I want to view it by SHOW and Episode. Not by channel and time. Even with TiVo, it isn't perfect because there is no easy way to implement it into your home of other computers. With MC, you can currently --kind of-- record to your central server and other computers will pick up the content as well! So that's really the ideal system.

I guess the next step would be to help keep TV shows in the TV section or their own category in Video...but that gets complicated.

If there was more focus on the server/client model as I wrote a long post about a few weeks ago, then it would be even better. We are moving to a more spread out media system, obviously, where people want their media in their home on their computer, on their televisions, in their portable devices, car, etc.

The BIG difference that really changes things is that once you make the switch to using a HTPC standalone with nothing else, then you've got major problems with other members of the family. Everything has to be simple and have some user abilities without lots of effort.

This is why I think MC needs more of a one-media-database with multiple USER accounts. Then, these users could be selected from theater view. When adding a library, you would select the checkbox: it would let you pick a USER by default. If no default user is selected, then the actual users would have to select a user. Reasoning is because on a computer with user accounts, the account can store what user you are. In a HTPC, you don't want to have to log off and on so MC need to ask for your user name and then timeout to asking for a username again.

Oh, and for security, just have a arrow password. Users would select user BEN. Then, it would say: enter password. The user would enter Arrow L R U U U D ...With each button push, MC would simply confirm that the button was pushed but not show what button. Then, there would be a minor security system in place for each user to protect their library, which could ideally be rated, number of plays, skip count (all updated), etc through theater view.

I'm going crazy with this system, honestly. It would be amazing but probably a complete revamp of MC.

Quote

I was just curious as to that the developers plans are really...

I'm always trying to figure this out. They are usually generally quiet about their larger plans. Yes, they confirm or deny some feature requests but I rarely get a yes or no to my endless feature requests.

prod · « **Reply #30 on:** September 08, 2007, 12:52:51 pm »

Quote from: benn600 on September 08, 2007, 12:06:30 pm

Yea but you're missing the point. People want, at least I do, ONE system that will handle absolutely all of their content.

I'm missing nothing. You want MC to do that and the content in your laundry basket as well. Good luck!

benn600 · « **Reply #31 on:** September 08, 2007, 03:06:30 pm »

I qualified my statement with the following:

Quote

at least I do

I'm referring to those who spend tens of thousands of dollars for complete home entertainment systems. I guarantee that what I stated is simply furthering what media programs out there already do. It's tough to go backwards in development. It's one path going forward. At some point media will probably take off. Features that other people are requesting are much more basic, fundamental features that will likely be added just to keep up with the competition. The media centric home will eventually turn more into a server setup. Why do you think Microsoft is releasing Home Server? I'm going to make a guess and say that they are probably creating some sort of system similar to what I described--basically house and world wide access to all your content with full abilities wherever you are.

Servers are supposed to centralize data. They are pretty common now. However, there is a desire for further centralization for the home media setup. Auto-import attempts to resolve this issue and does...but things can go a lot further!

RiderFan · « **Reply #32 on:** September 09, 2007, 02:45:42 pm »

Quote from: prod on August 19, 2007, 03:00:18 pm

I'd like this as well.. the mouse pointer seems to appear quite often even when using the remote. Not sure if it's G-Force or MC but when visualising in Big Screen/Display View the mouse pointer doesn't disappear.

Your Windows screen saver kicks in. I'm sure only Display View disables the screen saver.

I use a program that sets the mouse pointer to the top right corner (1279,1) when I open MC12. I have a little overscan so this position hides the mouse pointer. I use Gforce and for some reason MC won't hide the mouse pointer when Gforce is in use. The program is http://www.lmgestion.net/@en-us/4/22/60/article.asp This program is only usefull if you use snapstreams firefly remote.

benn600 · « **Reply #33 on:** September 09, 2007, 04:46:43 pm »

Yea, I could find a quick solution for hiding the mouse but at this point, our HTPC isn't in heavy use so I'm going to hope they just add a feature...but eventually, our HTPC will be in heavy use once we build our nice theater room.

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Author Topic: Theater view requests (Read 4860 times)

RiderFan