1. NEW: Theater View "Views" menu is fully configurable in Options > Theater View > Audio, Image, etc. > Configure.
2. Changed: Theater View "Views" menu is not related to main database view schemes.
I decided that since I
am ranting on about this a bit, and since it might evolve into a multi-build discussion anyway, it is best to just split it off into a separate topic right from the get-go.
I think when I click Audio in Theater View
Just remember that some of us hardly ever do click (or choose with a remote) Audio in Theater View. I use Theater View almost entirely for Video playback, and I'm not alone. I'd certainly love to see improvements, and if this is the start of that road, then I'll shut up and try to be happy in the interim.
That said... On a conceptual level I don't understand why the instinct seems to be to segregate Theater View's navigation off into its own sandbox. It is exactly the opposite of how I look at it, and it makes my brain hurt. Why would you want to have to learn how to use something twice? If you know how your media is organized (and where to look and what data "tree" to expect) in Standard View, why would you ever want to have to learn a whole new way to look at it and think about it for Theater View? If I wanted this, wouldn't I just want a completely separate application to handle the 10-foot UI?
The way I look at it is that I want Theater View to be identical to Standard View, but with a simpler UI that has different control widgets and font sizes that works from the couch. Period. A "10-foot window" on MC. As near as I can tell... The current goal seems to be to avoid ever having another "tier" below Audio, Video, or Images in the Theater View "tree". So that when you click on Audio, it should take you directly to your "Panes".
This is a terrible idea as far as I am concerned, and it'll be very difficult to get it to work for me. Now, if I used Theater View primarily for Audio, I suppose it could work. Give me a [Genre]/[Artist]/[Album] view scheme under Audio in Theater View and I'd be fairly happy with it for most things. But I don't use Theater View for Audio. I use it for Video. Like an organized TiVO. And it works very, very well.
The "direct to panes" motif doesn't work because I do not browse my TV Shows with the same "Panes" as I browse my Movies. I don't browse my Home Videos with the same "Panes" as I use for TV Shows, and sometimes I don't browse my Home Movies in the same way every time... but they're all "Video". Going into some menu and reconfiguring the view each time I decide "no, I can't really find a movie I feel like watching, maybe I'll watch an episode of The Wire instead" is absurd, even if it is easy to do. In Standard View (and Theater View currently) I have pre-defined views, in a nice tree.
When I click Video in the tree, I get a choice of: TV Shows, Movies, Home Videos, and a few other types...
Then when I choose Movies, it shows [Genre] and does NOT show any non-Movie video files. Likewise, when I choose TV Shows, it shows [Series], and when I choose Home Videos it shows a calendar-like view starting with [Year]. But maybe sometimes I want to browse home movies by [Keyword] or by [Album]), so I have View Schemes for browsing like that too. And so on and so forth for my other video types.
So... I've said my piece. And so you know, I'm really not upset or anything. I just don't really understand the motivation. And, again, perhaps you've thought of all this and you have some really slick solution. Certainly wouldn't be the first time you surprised me!