Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[raym]

Ok, we're up to version 14 now but I still think there's some inadequacies with using MC as a dedicated DVD player when compared to the competition.

For example (and in no particular order) here's a list of what I'm talking about in the context of watching a DVD disc from within Theater View. Some of these points may also apply to ripped DVD's and other video formats too:

- Pop a DVD in the drive (auto-play enabled). There's a long delay before anything happens. The problem with this is that there's no feedback for the user during this time; Is the disc loading? Has MC hung? Is it waiting for me to press a button? etc etc...

- Once the movie has finally started, there's no indication in the OSD "Language" sub-menu of what the other available audio tracks are. Say I want to choose the DTS stream, I have to scroll through ALL available streams, ALL of which have the same name and just guess! Most other players list the *name* of the available streams.

- Ok, let's jump out to Playing Now to get some info. Oh oh... there's not much here! Refer attachment. I have all the "online meta retrieval" options enabled but have NEVER seen MC automatically grab the DVD cover art for even the most mainstream of DVD titles. The name of the DVD which appears in the list is usually a very cryptic thing that tells me little about what I'm watching.

- Next, I stop and eject the disc. MC still shows the last disc "info" in Playing Now. This is true for other areas  of Theater View too. The views do not auto-refresh when content is added or removed.

I think these are actually pretty minor points but something I've been wanting to mention for ages. Especially now given that MC is such a mature product. Something as basic as playing a DVD should be perfect by now.

Cheers.

[Marty3d]

The one thing that's stopping us using MC as a DVD player at home: Menu stretching!

What happens:
The click areas for buttons stretches with the view, but the image is not, so in order to click on a menu item, you actually have to move your mouse around in the blank area to the left side until you find the click area. I've searched for answers, but no-one seemed to have an answer. Am I the only one with this problem?

[rpalmer68]

The one thing that's stopping us using MC as a DVD player at home: Menu stretching!

What happens:
The click areas for buttons stretches with the view, but the image is not, so in order to click on a menu item, you actually have to move your mouse around in the blank area to the left side until you find the click area. I've searched for answers, but no-one seemed to have an answer. Am I the only one with this problem?

I use a remote control so haven't actually noticed this... have you tried different renderers?  I know I got quite different results using VMR7, VZMR9 and enhanced a while back when trying to navigate DVD menus.  

In fact there was one renderer where I thought mouse navigation didn't work, maybe I just hadn't tried clicking to the left of the menus

In terms of Ralf's comments, I agree DVD playback isn't quite there, although it's close ...some of his issues don't really worry me as I tend to select the audio track form the DVD mnu and then not try changing it and I don't tend to jump to playing now.... but the lack of any indication a DVD is loading annoys me, as it can be quite a long delay.

R

[Mr ChriZ]

I would like to see the cover art retrieval work for DVD's too.
New TB drive arrived today :-)

[JohnT]

I would like to see the cover art retrieval work for DVD's too.
New TB drive arrived today :-)

Try the next build, it should be quite a bit better.

[raym]

Try the next build, it should be quite a bit better.

Do the improvements carry over into Theater View too? If so, I'll be keen to test this out when it's ready.

I tend to select the audio track form the DVD mnu and then not try changing it

Sure, but it's not always that simple. For example, I have numerous concert DVDs where I'd like to take advantage of the alternate audio streams during playback.

The main point I guess I'm trying to make is if my $16 standalone LG DVD player can do it, surely MC should be able to?

Cheers.

[JohnT]

Do the improvements carry over into Theater View too? If so, I'll be keen to test this out when it's ready.

For cover art retrieval, yes.