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[JimH]

I have to say that it is sometimes truly amazing how this forum (at least) works.  Some well meaning person, like, er, jmone starts an innocent topic on whether a magic button for audiophiles would be a good idea.  Obviously it is.  He thinks.

Then a discussion ensues.  First it's just people talking out loud.  Then the volume goes up.  People take sides.  It becomes the Revolution, with each side ripping the pavement up and throwing it.

When it's good natured, and it almost always is here, it can be a graduate level program in how something works.

That happened tonight.  Thank you.  It was a little tough trying to separate the threads, but the outcome was spectacular.  I learned something new about several of the people throwing the rocks.  It was all good.

[PrometheanFire]

While you're on the topic of proper use of forums, I would like to know where I should post a thread on which features I would most like to see implemented in future versions of Media Center. It’d be nice if a list of all the suggestions are compiled and made available as an online survey where members could vote on the suggestions.

[JimH]

While you're on the topic of proper use of forums, I would like to know where I should post a thread on which features I would most like to see implemented in future versions of Media Center. It’d be nice if a list of all the suggestions are compiled and made available as an online survey where members could vote on the suggestions.

You could add a thread in the MC17 board.

The list of suggestions is very long. You will find a thread called "Feature requests" if you search.

This isn't quite a democracy.

Welcome to the forum.

[PrometheanFire]

Vote was perhaps not the best term, I did not wish to imply that a corporation is a democracy. I meant more along the lines of presenting selected suggestions as a survey or questionnaire so MC staff could better gauge what features are high-yield and which are low yield. MC users are exceedingly diverse and I’m sure there must be hundreds of requests and suggestions. Streamlining the process and having voluntary surveys might prove useful in making coherent sense of the hundreds of eager users wishing to make MC even more cutting edge.

Thanks for your help

[JimH]

I wasn't serious.  It's only that we get far more requests than we can handle.  So we do what we can and we do some things we like.

[kensn]

Jim,

I think the polls lately have given me some insight of the people who use MC. It is interesting to see what users are doing. I was surprised to see many like me run HTPCs. I would like to see more of them, not as a worklist, but what are the users interested in. It is real easy to vote on something, even if you do not have input on a thread, and be heard.

Ken

[jmone]

I have to say that it is sometimes truly amazing how this forum (at least) works.  Some well meaning person, like, er, jmone starts an innocent topic on whether a magic button for audiophiles would be a good idea.  Obviously it is.  He thinks.

Then a discussion ensues.  First it's just people talking out loud.  Then the volume goes up.  People take sides.  It becomes the Revolution, with each side ripping the pavement up and throwing it.

When it's good natured, and it almost always is here, it can be a graduate level program in how something works.

That happened tonight.  Thank you.  It was a little tough trying to separate the threads, but the outcome was spectacular.  I learned something new about several of the people throwing the rocks.  It was all good.

Your right about a couple of things, and in particular that the poll threads while have highlighted some strong opinion from the user base (which helps explain some of the posts/feature requests we see).  Both these threads generated alot of activity in a short space of time so you have hit a hot topic with both:

1) HTPC Users:  MC has lots and lots of them and I get a feeling that at 70% this is alot higher % than JR expected.  One common theme for this crowd (which I am a part of) is that Std View is more of an Admin Tool than a player which would explain the requests for separating Client(s) from Server and new clients for other OS (eg iOS client)

2) Audiophile Users:  An interesting spread of new and old users and while I did not see any compromising of positions to reach consensus between what is two clear groups it is worth noting that over 50% are really keen on something as simple as a "Pure Direct" button.  To address Jim's first line of his post, I do think "Pure Direct" is a good idea as your users seem very keen on it and the concept is valid (eg "Camp A" in Matt's terms).  However, I fall into Matt's "Camp B" so while I started the thread and think it is a good idea, I personally am unlikely to use such a feature often if at all (I'd prefer the option of two easily selectable DSP's).  I started the thread simply as I felt that the original discussion in the Beta team may not have been reflective / dismissive of a significant part of the wider MC Community (the "Camp A'ers")

Anyway, the intersting thing is now....."whats next", the threads have run their course and little new content is being added (more of a refining now), so
- what has JR learnt?
- what is JR's opinion on the relative merits of the ideas expressed? ..and most importantly
- how will this influence MC's development and what changes will appear in MC in the short and medium term.