INTERACT FORUM

More => Old Versions => Media Center 15 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: Matt on March 02, 2010, 03:41:35 pm

Title: Media Center 15
Post by: Matt on March 02, 2010, 03:41:35 pm
We're beginning the transition to Media Center 15.

Our internal efforts will slowly shift from v14 to v15.

There will be no more major features added to v14.

Early builds of v15 may begin to appear.  They will look like v14 at first.

Thanks for your continued help, testing, and support.
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: raym on March 02, 2010, 04:10:08 pm
Any clues as to what's planned for 15?
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: JimH on March 02, 2010, 04:26:03 pm
1.  Ability to restore user settings from a library backup

2.  Cover View (no controls visible unless the mouse is moved)

3.  Expanded Library Sync

4.  Cloud storage of media, with browser access

Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: Matt on March 02, 2010, 05:08:33 pm
We'd like:

To improve the ability to remote control the program with a web browser.

To improve support for movie collections on a harddrive.

To improve support for audio signal processing for powering a home theater.

To make things take fewer clicks and happen faster.

The volume knob to go to eleven.
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: gappie on March 02, 2010, 05:12:26 pm
sounds like spinal tap to me.
im curious where it will go.

 :)
gab

with this:
Quote
2. Changed: Purchases done through this version (and newer) will receive a Media Center 15 license.
i guess the word will be out soon though.  ;)
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: glynor on March 02, 2010, 06:09:16 pm
I'm back from my trip and I say "Yay!"
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: rpalmer68 on March 02, 2010, 06:30:41 pm
1.  Ability to restore user settings from a library backup

I certainly hope this means we can have a proper upgrade path from MC14 to MC15, the system is getting too complex with too many options to redo all the user settings on every upgrade.

3.  Expanded Library Sync
I'm hoping you mean improving Library Server here, it's still only 1/2 baked and needs some work to make it really usable/useful.  I've decided to start using it throughout my house and am trying to stick with it as it has a lot of potential... but it's hard at times when things just don't work as one would hope/expect and I have to calm the family.

Looking forward to V15 betas!

Richard
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: JimH on March 02, 2010, 07:35:00 pm
I certainly hope this means we can have a proper upgrade path from MC14 to MC15, the system is getting too complex with too many options to redo all the user settings on every upgrade.
I'm hoping you mean improving Library Server here, it's still only 1/2 baked
Please send a cake to:

JRiver, Inc.
125 N First St
Minneapolis, MN 55401

Upon receipt, we'll give your wishes careful consideration.
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: rpalmer68 on March 02, 2010, 07:47:21 pm
Please send a cake to:

JRiver, Inc.
125 N First St
Minneapolis, MN 55401

Upon receipt, we'll give your wishes careful consideration.

Promise ??   ;D
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: Matt on March 02, 2010, 07:54:19 pm
We almost made it three hours before somebody called us half-baked.

I think that's a new record.
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: rpalmer68 on March 02, 2010, 08:10:23 pm
We almost made it three hours before somebody called us half-baked.

I think that's a new record.

YAY!!  Do I win a prize??


Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: MrC on March 02, 2010, 08:13:44 pm
It's my birthday - send me the cake! :-)
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: rpalmer68 on March 02, 2010, 08:16:40 pm
It's my birthday - send me the cake! :-)

Only if you're brave enough to post your address on a public forum :)
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: JimH on March 02, 2010, 08:41:27 pm
It's my birthday - send me the cake! :-)
Happy Birthday!
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: Magic_Randy on March 02, 2010, 10:06:52 pm
Great news...
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: fitbrit on March 02, 2010, 10:33:19 pm
Great news. I was planning on buying a few of the remotes, but I think I'll hold off. Will the MC remotes be programmed for MC15 once it's released?
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: MrHaugen on March 03, 2010, 02:31:17 am
Cloud Storage of media. This sounds expensive... Would you be using the digital fingerprint to prevent multiple copies? If not you would look at A LOT of storage space.

When you're going to take another look at the Library server sync, I really hope you also think a bit more about access control. To let all clients update and view all data on the server might be less than ideal.

Good news of the Settings backup! Hope this includes things like schemes as well. This will be highly appreciated for us with more than one clients and who have a habit of reinstalling often.
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: park on March 03, 2010, 02:32:13 am
seems like your priorities are in the right place. I'd narrow it down to 2 major priorities in the near-mid term:

1. control from a web browser/ android/iphone interface (with plays and ratings data being logged on the server would be amazing)

2. Combining dlna/library server and beefing up the sync abilities of clients.

Those two things would finally open up MC so that the normal user could feasibly use it anywhere, anytime.
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: jmone on March 03, 2010, 03:53:28 am
I'm also happy with the broad path in the later MC14 builds of the idea of a ubiquitous MC environment in the home allowing us to control and stream content from one device to another regardless of the underlining protocol used.  In particular to complete this I'd love to see:
1) Control Point - There are some 3rd party tools but to me the ideal platform independent approach would be a Web Browser based IF that allows control of all instances and zones with coverart and the works.
2) Consolidation of the DLNA / Library Server so there is a common set of server features as client devices interact with MC regardless of the client device type (eg DLNA HW, other MC instances using Library Server etc).  In particular I'd still like to see the ability to customize the Video Transcoding settings when streaming)
3) Improve support for movie collections on the HDD.  Again, lots of 3rd party tools that sort of do neat stuff but an overall integrated approach for the collection, management and presentation of the associated meta data would be great.  I also see that the first Blu-ray specific feature has been added to MC14 - dare I ask if this is a part of moving into the player field or is it still on the back burner?

Thanks
Nathan
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: dcwebman on March 03, 2010, 07:28:08 am
I sure hope "Ability to restore user settings from a library backup" is the first item done. I hate to admit it but I'm still running MC12 at home and 14 at work. Part of the reason is not enough time to get things converted like settings, clean up a lot of bad ideas from the early days, but also needing to organize/tag a lot of new items including photos for the first time. I guess the pile of the large task just gets pushed to the back of things to do. At least the user settings will make it easier to put a dent in that pile.
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: rjm on March 03, 2010, 04:49:32 pm
I like the plan to address user settings. Just a friendly reminder that the key missing element today is save/restore of auto-import settings. All else can be accomplished with registry hacks.

Also wish you could save a tiny bit of love for e-books (pdf thumbnails and info display).

Looking forward to 15.
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: gappie on March 03, 2010, 06:04:18 pm
i guess a sdk for thv is not in the pipe. im cleaning my computer and i just deleted the half baked versions (the other half) for a german and a dutch news site, that were waiting to be finished since the sdk was announced.. in the 12 days, i think. im sad, should not have been to enthousiastic, should not have tried. :'(
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: JimH on March 03, 2010, 06:30:16 pm
3) Improve support for movie collections on the HDD.  Again, lots of 3rd party tools that sort of do neat stuff but an overall integrated approach for the collection, management and presentation of the associated meta data would be great.  I also see that the first Blu-ray specific feature has been added to MC14 - dare I ask if this is a part of moving into the player field or is it still on the back burner?
I answered here since it will probably lead to discussion:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=56413.0
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: ThoBar on March 03, 2010, 06:50:36 pm
I'd like to support the idea of improvements to the Theater View core - esp wrt to plugins and skinning. There are some really nice front-ends out there, and I still feel that this is one potentially major area that MC can improve on to keep up.

Admittedly, the DLNA improvements could potentially make this less important, but then MC could be seen to being relegated somewhat to a server-side role.

Another thing I'd like to see is improved multi-library capabilites. Preferably, the ability to have more than one library viewable at a time - allowing a 'master' library and personal/transient libraries.

C.
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: KingSparta on March 03, 2010, 07:49:11 pm
"Ace Of Cakes" Is On Food Network 4-Mar-2010 10pm

They Delivered One To Minnesota Not To Long Ago.
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: hit_ny on March 04, 2010, 03:23:25 pm
Hi Remy.  You're on a two year cycle now.
Guess i misread that  ?
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: jmone on March 04, 2010, 03:37:32 pm
Please send a cake to:

JRiver, Inc.
125 N First St
Minneapolis, MN 55401

Upon receipt, we'll give your wishes careful consideration.

Done!  I'd would have thought that a bunch of blokes would have preferred beer but anyway....CupCakes (I thought more are better) are on their way!
Nathan

(coming via a local Minneapolis Co - www.cup-cake.com - should arrive Fri - but please let me know if they do not)
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: JimH on March 04, 2010, 03:46:08 pm
Awesome.  We stand ready.

Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: rick.ca on March 04, 2010, 04:08:30 pm
Now that we finally know how things work around here... Will cup-cake.com do feature requests in icing?  :D
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: MrHaugen on March 04, 2010, 04:13:43 pm
Now that we finally know how things work around here... Will cup-cake.com do feature requests in icing?  :D

Haha. Good one. They've started printing pictures on the cakes now, so I can't see why not. I'll order a huge marzipan cake with my most wanted list some time :D
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: jmone on March 04, 2010, 04:21:47 pm
I'm still struggling with the whole cake is preferred to beer/wine etc etc...
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: JimH on March 04, 2010, 04:25:23 pm
I'm still struggling with the whole cake is preferred to beer/wine etc etc...
Funny.  I like where this is going.
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: glynor on March 04, 2010, 04:36:26 pm
I'm still struggling with the whole cake is preferred to beer/wine etc etc...

Yeah, I mean... Seriously.

And Scotch.
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: jmone on March 04, 2010, 04:43:18 pm
Yeah, I mean... Seriously.

And Scotch.

See - we could have had a civilised discussion on individual preferencs for the level of peat....but no ... cupcakes it is.... ::)   I think this is how wars break out...
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: rick.ca on March 04, 2010, 04:43:41 pm
As beta testers, we might be better off with developers fuelled by sugar rather than alcohol. ;)
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: gappie on March 04, 2010, 05:19:09 pm
As beta testers, we might be better off with developers fuelled by sugar rather than alcohol. ;)
im not so sure of that.. :)
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: glynor on March 04, 2010, 06:16:33 pm
As beta testers, we might be better off with developers fuelled by sugar rather than alcohol. ;)

No, see...  As a developer you aren't fueled by alcohol.  You are fueled by caffeine and sugar.

Alcohol, on the other hand, is used to forget all those long, long caffeine-fueled hours and to dull the sounds of your family's complaints.
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: jmone on March 04, 2010, 06:21:25 pm
But it's already backfired - no build tonight just on the "promise" of sugar!
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: Magic_Randy on March 04, 2010, 06:53:52 pm
Just a reminder to strip the reference to MC15 from the change history before you do the next public release to the MC14 board. Otherwise the secret is out.

14.0.154 (03/02/2010)
2. Changed: Purchases done through this version (and newer) will receive a Media Center 15 license.
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: fitbrit on March 09, 2010, 03:45:46 pm
Just asking my question again:

Will the MC remotes be programmed for MC15 once it's released?

MY HT is almost done and I a planning on running MC in at least 3 rooms. Would be nice to have multiple MC15-capable remotes/
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: JimH on March 09, 2010, 03:46:55 pm
Our MC remote will work with MC15.
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: fitbrit on March 10, 2010, 11:30:15 am
Thanks, Jim. I have to figure out how many I want and how many IR "extenders", and will get back to you soon.
Title: Re: Media Center 15
Post by: bytestar on March 10, 2010, 04:50:40 pm
I hope version 15 will have a better translation system, so that the translation from beginning is more convenient and easier. (I would love to see an Translation Tool and XML Format.)
In MC14, some strings are repeated again and again.  :-[