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[HTPC4ME]

The HTPC Is Now Setup, JRiver NOW Has Challenges To Face...

           THE QWEST TO MAKE THE ULTIMATE HTPC INTERFACE  (Theaterview)

The Ability to Place Our TheaterView home screen icons where we want... Example images, music, movies, pictures, connected, search, dvds television... similiar to the cinemar customizable htpc interface i made years ago when i use to use them (Before I Know JRiver Exsisted). by doing so we could have a total animated interface, we could use gifs, jpegs etc.. In my pics for example. You can see how i had the interface setup. on home screen it was just  apicture. but if moved your mouse to the robot holding the earth i made a .swf and it would spin and it auto show text saying goto internet, if you moved your mouse over the fancy speaker on the other robots arm it would play the swf of music notes coming out of speaker and it would say with auto popup text  Jam to music. if you clicked\hovered on the disc in the robots on left sides shoulder it would hover text movie, and would make sound. if you hovered over the purple looking orb it would auto show text of weather and making a sound. On the right robots sholder you see a exit button i made that when you hovered over it\selected it brought you to exit screen and gave you 2 choise yes\ no and those were animated with mp3's i made as well. On the other screens that arent the home screen you notice a door looking icon i made that would open and close when you hovered over it showing a door closed and when open a field... meaning that was your home screen and if you clicked it it would shortcut you back to the home screen. I know this can be implemented and there shouldnt be any legal issues ESPECIALLY being they are using your guys code for there music interface in there forums theres a jriver server plugin! Another cool feature they had was when you go somewhere from homescreen or from your custom icons\.swf files when you hovered over them or selected them you could chose a mp3 file to play... so for example when i hovered over weather it would show rain moving ndown and it would make whooosh sound. when i went over movies it show a movie reel spinning and make a sound of the 20 th century fox intro. when i would hover or  music it would play a music mp3. when i hovered over internet it would play a mp3 i made of bits of date screaming along liek the sounds of  a keyboard typing really fast. Anyway See Pics to get the drift of what i'm talking about... (More ultimates After Pics)

Main - Home Screen ---VVVV---

DVD Screen - all dvd's were ran daisy changed via sony 777es dvd changers and connected via rs232 and would show movie info in the dvd screen. notice how icons are the same in dvd as they are in home screen and all other screenshots im showing.---VVVV---


CD\MP3\Music Screen, all music was ran from cd chnagers via rs232. Again all icons available so i could go anywhere, And every screen\icon is customizable and or animated via .swf that i made. (this is the cd jriver plugin that i was using. it would auto grab all my music from jriver and put into the cinemar interface) ---VVVV---


my exit screen, when you would go here, a mp3 file i made, when you hovered over are you sure yes or no when you hovered to yes it would say austa la vista baby from the termintor then it would close theater. when you hovered over no it would play a mp3 i made saying rock on the party continues. ---VVVV---

THEATER VIEW ULTIMATES

 - ability to view stocks, rss feeds, podcasts in theaterview (if available pardon my ignorance)
 - ability to change our custom\ new library items from the ugly folder icon to anything want per folder if not then at least ability to show folder thumbnails!
 - HTPC theater view webcam ability, using a 3rd party software (cinemar allows something similiar for this as well) to be able to have house webcams secuirty cameras available within theaterview via a name we'd add live video lets say... and it would open black screen with our camerasall from within theaterview. it would have many features available.. view live video from anywhere, allow you to record from which ever camera you want. allow you to do video conferencing will get into that later.

 - Incorporate firefox, IE into theaterview.  so we have full Browser Support from within jriver theaterview...
make a bookmarks button plugin that we can autosync with xmarks... so that on home screen anytime you want to show a friend family something it is RIGHT THERE without having to open the internet browser thats built into jriver.

 - ebook .cbr reader or at least the ability to see our ebooks, .cbr files Thumbnails within jriver and then a plugin that when we clicked on one it would open the comic rack program for us or auto open adobe reader from WITHIN theaterview.
ability to install use and visualize we can find. winamp visualizations for example.

 - ability to save all theaterview views schemes and be able to transfer them to other htpcs around the house, office lake home etc..

 - ability when inserting a cd\dvd with your personal media on it to be able to rip it to the folder\server location you have set in options.

 -  ability to right click in display view and choose cycle ALL VISUALIZATIONS.. ALL MEANING all even the 3rd party ones!

 - mute button timer. a plugin that in theaterview we can press it and will auto mute our music after 30 minutes, 60 minutes, hour, 5 hours etc...

 - Autopause timer button... So that our drives are not constantly spinning.. if people are here partyin or relaxing whatever if they know they are going to sleep in that room\Zone, a auto pause plugin that will pause the music, videos  when you press the button, 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 2, 5 hours. etc...
 - calculator plugin. ability to have fast access to a calculator

 - games plugin. plugin to show and open games on pc all with in jriver and ALWAYS allowing jriver to take control of quiting games switching to music vids internet, radio etc..

 - possiblity to use Dragon Naturally Speaking Dragon Professional with theaterview? allowing us never NEEDING a remote. play acdc. play movie pirates of the carribean. 5star this song. move this song to playlist top 500 best albums ever. all done with good quality ariel (large room - similiar to webcam mic but of better quality where it picks up EVERYTHING) type mic that is hooked up to htpc

 - ability to sync our cellphones with theaterview. i come home i press a button on my smartphone she syncs with theater view. my parents call me. NO MATTER where i am in theaterview a PIP picture in picture pops up in right corner showing there phone number there pic and under that basic options, answer call, reject, hangup. and auto accept video conference. (sound of call comes out through htpc speakers if we chose it to and the the high end mic transmits our voice to the recipient, also a button to allow for contacts. allowing you to select your phone contact and being your synched choose call parents, send parent s a text message, video conference parents. ability to sync our phones contacts, calender, events, notes, tasks, facebook twitter updates.. and when we get  a cellphone alert and if at home synch'd with jriver mobile sync it will popup a nice popup alerting us or allowing us to do whatever steps we want for that alert, call, etc..

 - theaterview when playing music instead of choosing visualizations. a plugin to autodownload artist info from net while its playing. no need for storage. it just auto downloads from internet source when song plays. it is scanning already for the next song in playlists info to show when that songs turn is to play. very similiar to music choice service for those of you that have cable.

 - theaterview notepad \ wordpad with grouping\sorting ability in theaterview... your sitting around thought of something you need to make  a note you click on notes and type in your note.

 - calender alerts synched with cellphone online outlook calenders plugin. allows for basi info of alerts to show up in theaterview at any given time you have told it it will popup a nice balloon on top of screen, middle or bottom where ever. and show you the alert you need to do. and offers a few simiple button. make new alert, dismiss, snooze

 - instant messenger theaterview addon\plugin.. auto pops up a little window when someone pm's us. allows to webcam with them. a button on home screen in contacts to bring up a messenger window in theaterview to get ahold of contact. or share a funny file with them via file transfer from within theaterview. PALTALK PLUGIN OR SKYPE? also allowing for when synch with cellphone contacts.

 - BIG ONE FOR ME... abilty for auto screensaver lockout in theaterview.. no one is using htpc. she goes to sleep next person that sists down has to enter password for THERE account or family account.. this way those of us with kids. can lock them out of our adult libraries. (i dont like my 9 year old being able to have access to my R-Rated movies. or My Adult funny pictures etc...)

 - rss feeds(tera drives are on sale today for 79.99 through newegg, gives you link to click it jrivers internet browser opens up to that page and ya buy em while the deal is on), stocks POPUP plugin.. stocks crashing? pops up warning with easy buttons dismiss, goto (Link you provide..says scottrade)

 - a huge one for me if customizable movable icons arent possible!  customizable toolbars inside theaterview. the option to have 2 of them. one on the top IDENTICAL to what is in display view, shows artist, rating, little eq, pause, play, stop, next, back, and the scroll bar. but nice and big and clear.. im using black and blue my favorite mega skin, but on htpc in theaterview on bigscreen mode i cant read anything in my toolbar. a bottom toolbar that allows us to put ANY short cut we wish in it for theaterview... meaning i could have 15 icons in bottom toolbar that are always available on whatever screen im on. they would be for example always see... music, pictures, movies, television, dvd, weather, sleep timer, mute auto timer, internet, notes, calender. The ability for these toolbars top and bottom to be auto hideable like the top one is now... goto top of screen it shows toolbar, goto bottom of screen it shows our customizable bottom toolbar.

 - the ability in displayview\big screen mode to see our right clicks LARGER. we get the rightclicks option which is great for us audiovideophile\geeks i want to be able to see it and use every option thats available.

 - Lighting control button sections similiar to weather or news plugin... ready to start movie?  click on lighting choose fish tank shut off, choose main turn off, turn on couch lighting, dim mood lighting.. i can do all this now with x10 products and my hometheater remote. but be great to have it interfaced within jriver with nice icons and views.
 - This Left Blank For Future Ultimates...
Thanks for Listening.. These are just some things i 'd love to see in Our theater interface... And I thought i'd start a new interesting topic for Dreaming, Working, Commenting, Suggesting. Or Maybe Even Showing Of Your HTPC's And Your Interfaces\Theaterviews.
 
Not sure If Its Possible but I Think It Would Be Neat To Have a Poll On Items In Topics on the forum.. is this possible? would really help for future upgrades on what people like. It would be like a forum 5 star rating system.
[/list]

[HTPC4ME]

I USED UP MY 12000 CHARACHTERS. LOL

ALL OF THESE IDEAS COULD ALL BE MADE AS PLUGINS... allowing for additional charges like other media players do... say 5,10, 20, 50  bucks a piece depending on developer. or even free just part of the updating\ new version process.

by making alot of these plugins those who are leary or dont like a feature. Simply, they dont have to complain or worry about it. they just disable that plugin.. just an idea!?

[tcman41]

I am missing something?, MC14 is a great piece of software, I use it exclusively for my huge music collection, also I have imported my image library and my dvd collection. MC14 is the hand downs winner for organizing, tagging, converting and searching for all kinds of media, also works great for syncing to my ipod but it is not in my opinion the ultimate in htpc interfaces.

There is other software out there, that is free and is great at the HTPC inteface role, it does most things anyone would want and more, it is however not a great tool for doing what MC14 does, so...

I use MC14 on my upstairs computer for importing, organizing and tagging all my media, this computer is also my media server. My two big screen tv's in my house get feed the media from my upstairs computer and the software on the two htpcs by each of the tv's is the free htpc interface software that I use instead of MC14.

I see nothing wrong with using both pieces of software, both are great at what they do, I guess everyone is trying to get everything in one software package which I understand but the two tier approach works awesome and the two compliment each other.

[HTPC4ME]

no actually i think im missing something...

I am missing something?, MC14 is a great piece of software, I use it exclusively for my huge music collection, also I have imported my image library and my dvd collection. MC14 is the hand downs winner for organizing, tagging, converting and searching for all kinds of media, also works great for syncing to my ipod but it is not in my opinion the ultimate in htpc interfaces.

A HTPC Is A HTPC meaning like your cellphones now a days it should be one stop shopping. it should be easy to use for every one. one should not have to have 5 cellphones to do 5 diffrent things (iphone best touch screen today STILL on the market, LG only cell with projector, HTC ability to use windows OS and sync to computer and have total windows structure for copying moving files from pc to cellphone, HTC TOUCH HD PRO one of the best hd picture taking video camera phones out today(as of month ago... havent researched latelly still waiting for my perfect cell... the one stop shop!) the less running on htpc the better. As in my other post about theaterview and suggestions about killing process etc in windows to get the best stable\ crash free, auto restart theaterview in case of crash experience.

now my question. am i missing something? where anywhere in my post have i put down jriver? in fact! if you check out other HTPC software out there. and not the freebie stuff as you suggest. you will see just for the cinemar package i mention in my above posts. I had spent over 3-400 bucks for all there software at the time that I CHOSE to buy and install..  Good software is good software(Free Or Expensive). microsoft can name there prices, people complain, adobe can name there Over a G prices. it is what it is... I am merely starting a topic about theaterview (being i just started using it). and ideas of what could come from it.

Thanks for Listening.. These are just some things i 'd love to see in Our theater interface... And I thought i'd start a new interesting topic for Dreaming, Working, Commenting, Suggesting. Or Maybe Even Showing Of Your HTPC's And Your Interfaces\Theaterviews.

 and my title i think sums up my whole topic the ultimate htpc. You will also see  

ALL OF THESE IDEAS COULD ALL BE MADE AS PLUGINS... allowing for additional charges like other media players do... say 5,10, 20, 50  bucks a piece depending on developer. or even free just part of the updating\ new version process.

Made as more plugins means.. jriver themselves. or us here who are knowledgable to write code have an opportunity. to watch posts, reviews ideas.. and decide to make the plunge and add diffrent plugins or themes or views. by doing so it only gets the jriver name out there even more.by doing that that brings more $$ into there pockets. which in turn increase the stability\features of an already AWESOME program.

If it werent the best.. i guess I'd go back into Forum over at cinemar and talk to dave or mcascio. and ask them if i can get a discount on my already 3-400 Dollars worth of software Ive already spent and get myself into the new updated versions. Well Thats obviosuly not the case, cause Im here\and have been since i found the company back in version 9 religiously.

I also thought this comment

by making alot of these plugins those who are leary or dont like a feature. Simply, they dont have to complain or worry about it. they just disable that plugin.. just an idea!?

would sent  a point that i didnt waste hours starting a topic and writing in depth about money\feature ideas to start a Bashing on jriver but to start a debate about things that could be added on to others ideas and to help jriver\us customers in the long run. Adding plugins is up to the user to buy or enable. so there for those who dont want them dont have to use them, and you would still have your nice little streamlined jrvier or free htpc software. but for those who want an all in one or want an impressive interface would then have that choice, and could spent (or get it free) 5,10, 20, 50, 150 bucks per plugin depending on jriver or developer! (and if you think those prices are redicculous.. check out some adobe photoshop plugins. or how bout graphics design cliparts discs. There just discs with clipart on them(Not Software) - $400 - $2000 dollars depending who ya buy them from or what they are.

there have been a few posts since ive been in jriver that ive asked people to make something or if they did asked if i could donate them money. And outside of jriver ive donated alot of money to good program developers. in fact i just donated 20 bucks to a gentlemen who made a windows 7 gadget. its a gadget that does calculator, to do, and notes. i donated to him and asked if he could remove the todo and add a calender alert to it.. and he emailed me back and said he's been contimplating it and will email if and when its done.  And this gentlemen gives his gadget away for free but has a donate button by his products. So people do, have, and will pay for things that they like or want customized, and developers will listen and maybe take your considerations, and if not maybe someone else who can code will see a $$$ opportunity for themselves.Another Example... I Cant personally stand Apple (hope the GF doesnt stroll through this forum) they have the most apps available out there 90,000 some.. these people are making these apps\plugins. some are free, a buck 5 bucks etc...

Maybe that explains my intensions a little better for starting this topic?
 One Last Thing on why i started this thread... I bet you over 1\2 of these suggestions ive mentined were actually from friends,family, customers that come to our place (for logo\imprinting work needing to be done, and see the server\computer stuff laying around) that i show off this software too. These items ive listed they have said ohh it would be cool if it did this\that, think anyone has this\that yet? so there def. is some demand for enhancing an already AWESOME Program.

[raym]

Well, everyone's entitled to their opinion... and here's mine 

If JRiver was willing to provide 3rd parties with the tools needed to write plugins for Theater View, we'd have a much better HTPC interface (and a lot less threads like this one). That's just a fact. Look at any leading HTPC front-end. All are what they are today because of public contributions. Consider all the great plugins available for MC's standard interface. MC would be no where near as good without these. An example of this is in all the video metadata plugins made available in the last 6 months or so. Just brilliant! Surely this takes the load off the JRiver devs in addition to rapidly expanding MC's power? That's got to be a plus.  I'm not saying I don't like Theater View, quite the contrary. I just think if Theater View is to ever compete with these other interfaces in terms of features, opening it up this way is what's needed. Matt verbally offered a sneak peak some 2 years ago but for some reason, it never came to fruition. I'd hope Theater View is mature enough by now to put this back on the radar for 2010...

[HTPC4ME]

thanks for the reply. well put and makes sense

[HTPC4ME]

hmmm... looks like others around the world may think that the htpc will be the all in one solution as well. basically one of my suggestions, incorporate video and voice calling\messengers into theaterview. friend pm's me it brings up a dialog saying lost soul is calling accept\deny(deny would record message) accept would bring up a pip where ya could video message with him in the theaterview interface witha PIP Window.

[JimH]

JRiver Notes are part of the foundation for a phone interface in MC.

[HTPC4ME]

Ohhhhhhhh SWWEEET

[flac.rules]

I am missing something?, MC14 is a great piece of software, I use it exclusively for my huge music collection, also I have imported my image library and my dvd collection. MC14 is the hand downs winner for organizing, tagging, converting and searching for all kinds of media, also works great for syncing to my ipod but it is not in my opinion the ultimate in htpc interfaces.

There is other software out there, that is free and is great at the HTPC inteface role, it does most things anyone would want and more, it is however not a great tool for doing what MC14 does, so...

I use MC14 on my upstairs computer for importing, organizing and tagging all my media, this computer is also my media server. My two big screen tv's in my house get feed the media from my upstairs computer and the software on the two htpcs by each of the tv's is the free htpc interface software that I use instead of MC14.

I see nothing wrong with using both pieces of software, both are great at what they do, I guess everyone is trying to get everything in one software package which I understand but the two tier approach works awesome and the two compliment each other.

Well, MC has a theatre-view, so it seems like they want to provide the front-end-functionality, but as of today, they lack quite a bit visually. I use meedios as a front-end.