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Wish List: New MC User from XBMC & iTunes

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emejay:
Hi all,

I recently purchased MC and I'm hoping to make a full conversion to it after many years of using XBMC for Home Theatre and iTunes for mobile device syncing. I'm still learning MC but Here is my wishlist for MC18 based on my experience with MC17 so far:

1. Watched/Listened to indicator (in addition to play count)
- I know that play counts are available but a quick visual indicator to let users know where they left off in watching a TV series or listening/watching a podcast is a very important feature, particularly for theatreview

2. Podcasts
- ability to separate video and audio podcasts and access them separately from the 'Audio' and 'Video' heading in Theater view
- ability to only keep (and sync) unwatched/unlistened to podcasts - presently you can only tell MC to keep podcasts based on number, size, or date range - for those of us who listen to a lot of podcasts the ability to tell it to delete listened-to podcasts is very important

3. Initial Theaterview set-up tuned to typical use for media
- I know that part of the power of MC is how customizable everything is but I think it would be nice (and much more welcoming to new users) if the media sub-types in theaterview were set-up more intuitively; for example, tv shows should default into series view, then season, the way in which most people are likely to access it (I have figured out how to do this but it took some time and seeing every episodes from 14 seasons of the Simpsons in a single list put me off in my first experience)
- In a similar vein, it would be good to see labelling of video programs in theatre view more intuitive and similar to other HTPC applications by default; for example, tv shows labelled with episode number and episode name by default, even little things like having the season display as "Season 1" instead of "1" when you turn on season view - I think that little things like this will go a long way to giving a very positive first impression to HTPC users who are used to 7MC with Media Browser or XBMC

Thanks for hearing me out and I apologize in advance if anything is already in MC and I just haven't found it or learned how yet.

Bizarroterl:
I don't use podcasts so I'm ambivalent about #2.  That said, I enthusiastically agree about #1 & #3.  The watched status is something I use every day in XBMC.  The DIY nature of Theaterview helps make it powerful, but the initial setup is a big turnoff and many potential users won't spend the time to do the research to figure how how to configure it.

rick.ca:
All of these things can be done in a variety of different ways already.

Perhaps the default Theatre View configuration would be better (I don't know—I have no idea what it looks like) if everyone agreed these things are necessary, and on exactly how they should be provided. It would not be helpful to the extent it perpetuates the misconception the default is anything more than an example of something you should be configuring to your own needs. Or that a one-size-fits-all default configuration is essential because configuring it to individual preferences is too difficult.

The sad truth is a large portion of users can't even be bothered thinking about what they want, automatically making configuration an impossible task. What they don't seem to appreciate it's equally impossible a default configuration will meet all their needs. Furthermore, the idea the default configuration is flawed because its not identical to that of another program that doesn't offer anywhere near the same flexibility in its configuration seems rather absurd. Yes, some advanced features take some research and time to master. But for those who know what they want, the simple and consistent menu system is easy to learn and straightforward to configure.

This sort of thing is probably best considered when deciding which software best suits one's needs. There's nothing wrong with WMP and XBMC, especially for those who don't want or need the power and flexibility of MC.

MrHaugen:
Most of it can be done, yes. The only problem is that the way of getting there is sometimes very difficult for normal users.Take the example of creating a graphical representation of Seen/Not Seen instead of a Number Plays counter. This is pretty much a default in XBMC, Plex and other similar MC's. It can be done in MC17/18 as well, but messing with ridiculous long code samples to make it work is not something most people are gonna do. Even I have problems throwing my self at this task, even though I'm a computer nerd. How can we expect computer newbies to do this? Sure, they can ask here. But there will always be a small portion of users visiting forums for help. Unfortunately.

I most definitively think that such elements should be added as default, and improved. Such systems have been discussed numerous times before. I'm crossing my fingers for version 18 being the one to bring us more user friendly configuration.

sunfire7:
Agree with MrHaugen

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