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[Matt]

We're thinking of adding burning to Theater View.

We thought we could  add a new roller item called "Burn this list".

It might ask if you want an audio CD or data CD.  Then it would start burning using options from Standard View.  There would be no real progress shown in Theater View.  The disk would eject when finished.

Any suggestions or feedback?

[rpalmer68]

I like the idea of burning but for me I wouldn't burn an audio CD from Theater View but would like to be able to burn a DVD of recorded TV shows somehow ...any chance of that?

Also not sure about auto eject, I guess it tells you it's finished, but for those that have their HTPC inside a cabinet (like me) it can be a risk to the drawer

Richard

[Mr ChriZ]

I'm a little confused why would you ever want to burn a disk from Theater View?

[raym]

I'm pretty sure JRiver know how I feel about this. I've been baffled by the lack of BURN and RIP functionality in Theater View for years. In my experience with "Media Centers", people looking for a complete and stand-alone HTPC front-end will continue to ignore Theater View until these very basic requirements are fulfilled. I'm the first to argue it's not something everyone needs but it can be extremely crippling if you're reliant on these features AND you're limited by a remote control ONLY interface. In this scenario (which is quite popular) how else do you get stuff on or off the device?! I've found myself trying to defend MC on many occasions simply because Theater View doesn't rip and burn discs. Believe it or not.

My suggestion would be to provide a "Rip Disc" function from the main menu and a "Burn Disc" roller menu option on all file list views. Both should adopt whatever standard view settings you have set. Other options such as disc type etc could be controlled by the Theater View dialogs. Burn would also need to accommodate spanning.

I wouldn't eject the disc when complete. My HTPC's all have enclosed compartments for the drive bays ;-) Perhaps a brief (self closing) Theater View alert would do the trick? Just a subtle one in the bottom left of the screen would do. Or maybe utilse the OSD for this? You'd need something to communicate things like "insert next disc" for disc-spanning situations too. Or maybe a progress indicator on the Theater View title bar? A burning cd icon for example.

I'm really pleased you're finally considering this!!

[raym]

13.0.164 (05/04/2009)

7. NEW: Added CD burning to Theater View. (use "Burn" item in roller of any file view)
8. NEW: Added CD ripping to Theater View. (pick "DVD" with an audio CD in the drive and then select "Rip disc")

OMG! I don't believe it!!! Thankyou!

It's working but naturaly there's a few issues. I conducted a handful of tests. Here's some results:

BURN

1. First thing I did was go into Playing now. I had a bunch of songs in the list already so I hit "Burn". I got a standard view popup for a few seconds saying "analyzing files". I kicked the burn off and at the end of it, MC showed me the standard view dialog for "Confirm Action - Burn, Print, Quit".

2. Next, I went to an Audio "album" view and burned a single album. Nice Theater View dialog here showing the options etc but it took a long time before MC started the burn. The dialog remained on screen for over 10 seconds. I thought MC had hung. It eventually started.  The standard view "Confirm Action" dialog reappeared at the end of the burn.

3. I added 2 albums to the burn queue next. Again, a standard view "Burn Overflow Options" dialog appeared.

4. I then tried burning a dvr-ms file onto DVD. MC finished the burn but the drive kept spinning. I switched to standard view and the action window showed a 100% complete progress bar for the burn with a cancel button. The burn would not complete. I had to hit cancel to stop it. The DVD was ok though.

RIP

1. I really don't like how you have to go into "DVD" to rip a CD. Huh? Seriously, rename this option back to "CD & DVD" please. Most people wouldn't even think to look there to rip a CD! Otherwise, perhaps just create a seperate "Rip Disc" main menu option.

2. Anyway, I inserted a popular CD to test. Again, standard view message boxes all over the place for "working..." and "multiple matches" appeared. I can disable the YADB lookups in the options but the whole thing is pretty useless without this. The rip worked rather well though. I like how you get the option to Play, or Rip a disc.

____________________

I hope this helps. I'll keep playing with it.

Question: Does MC auto detect the disc type? I didn't see any messages about this along the way.

The way MC stalls at the end of my DVD burns is worrying. Do you need a log?

MC will try to burn anything. Even TV channels (albeit unsuccessfully). I guess this is fine but it might be a good idea to build some logic around what file types are supported for a burn.

A visual progress indication throughout might still be a good idea. There were times during both Ripping and Burning that it looked to me like MC had hung. In standard view it's fine coz you do get this visual. All it needs is perhaps an animated CD icon in the title bar. Something like this.

All standard view messages should probably be supressed in Theater View where possible or trapped and presented in a Theater View friendly dialog. I know the message box thing is on your list of things to do so I won't harp on this too much.

Otherwise, nice job indeed and thanks once again!

[Griff]

Hey Matt

Thanks for implementing this.

Cool

Now, when guest are watching Theater View/Slideshow on the Big Screen

and say "Can I have that image and so forth"

I can just cut them a cd, without the hassle of going to the main mach.

Thanks