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More => Old Versions => Media Center 17 => Topic started by: nwboater on February 01, 2012, 07:52:55 pm

Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: nwboater on February 01, 2012, 07:52:55 pm
[Edit by JimH]
To access this feature, go to Theater View, then visit any section (Movies, for example).  On the top line, choose More, then Toggle List Style.  Repeat to cycle through all views until you find this one.

More pictures (http://pix01.com/qv%40kpWD)

Still more (http://pix01.com/4x%40ndbG)

[End Edit]

I spent the day trying to merge 2d and 3d list drawing in Theater View.  The goal is to make it easier to make animated 3d lists that support all the features of a standard 2d list.  There are a couple days of plumbing before it'll make it to a build, but here's a preview:

(http://files.jriver.com/images/theater_view_flow_2.jpg)

(http://files.jriver.com/images/theater_view_flow_1.jpg)

I really like the feel of this - and it does add some sex appeal! But when I look at the movie listings under 'Name' it only shows the cover; not the name or any information as your sample does. I would find it helpful to have that at a minimum.

Rod
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: Matt on February 01, 2012, 08:01:27 pm
I really like the feel of this - and it does add some sex appeal! But when I look at the movie listings under 'Name' it only shows the cover; not the name or any information as your sample does. I would find it helpful to have that at a minimum.

We plan to add a name at the bottom of flow views soon.

We thought the description like in the screenshot was too much.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: MrC on February 01, 2012, 08:47:58 pm
It might be nice to have the long description fade-in/appear after a couple of seconds.  This would allow fast name-only browsing, and a quick read of the description upon browse-pause.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: raym on February 01, 2012, 09:10:51 pm
Nice. Will we get movie backdrops too though like for tv series? I look forward to that.

Out of curiosity, is the reason we don't have movie poster backdrops yet due to some copyright or similar constraint or is it still on the radar for a future release?

I really love this feature for TV series... would look amazing for movies.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: darichman on February 02, 2012, 04:36:42 am
Very very nice :)

My feedback:

Will these views find their way into standard view as well?

Rick, I'm not seeing any overwrite of coverart? Is it only when you access these views? Anything odd going on in the auto-import settings?
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: Sandy B Ridge on February 02, 2012, 07:48:04 am
We plan to add a name at the bottom of flow views soon.

We thought the description like in the screenshot was too much.
I'm with glynor on this! It is very nice eye candy, but maybe not something I will necessarily use in a practical sense. When I get my PC rebuilt (if a motherboard does eventually make it to my door) I'll ask Ivy and see if it is something she prefers over the existing views.

To be honest, the name at the bottom is the least useful bit of the metadata when scrolling through big images like this, because it is on 99% of the coverart. At this size it is easily readable. In the existing views it is helpful to have a name caption because the coverart are small and less readable from 10 feet, but not really at this size.

I like the idea of the description fading in and out when you stop scrolling, but doesn't clutter (or impede the scrolling) when going quickly through the covers.

SBR
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: nwboater on February 02, 2012, 08:42:36 am

.......To be honest, the name at the bottom is the least useful bit of the metadata when scrolling through big images like this, because it is on 99% of the coverart........

I like the idea of the description fading in and out when you stop scrolling, but doesn't clutter (or impede the scrolling) when going quickly through the covers.

SBR

We need the name to show for the movies we record from TV. .jtv files don't get coverart, only a screenshot.

I too like the description fading in and out. But then will you just show the description? My wife makes half her movie watching decisions based on the cast. If there is room it would be nice if you showed the rest of the info at this point and not have to click to get it.

Rod
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: glynor on February 02, 2012, 09:42:06 am
(if a motherboard does eventually make it to my door)

See, now... Perfect opportunity.  You can use this incident to convince Ivy that you need a second machine (for the man cave) of equal "oomph" that can be used as a backstop should anything else happen to the HTPC.

Just like how I used my new daughter as an excuse to get my wife to let me get a nice Lian Li PC-C34F case (http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=299&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=64) for my HTPC (we need to be able to put it in a rack with a front door or she'll attack the pretty lights).   ;)
Title: Re: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: JimH on February 02, 2012, 10:08:41 am
I agree that there is plenty of room for info here. If info is going to be shown, maybe consider moving the covers up or down to accommodate it?
We're trying to avoid having to move or shrink the art when text is added.  Text that fades in after a couple of seconds might work.  But you can hit enter to get the full information.

Maybe a scrolling "ticker tape" on one line at the bottom would work.  It would be clean looking but could provide more info.

Having the title at the bottom may seem to duplicate the title on the cover, but it gives you a quick way to see where you are in the alphabet without having to search around the screen for the title.
Title: Re: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: JimH on February 02, 2012, 10:36:19 am
Here's a screenshot from build 80.  The covers will be higher resolution and the name of the movie will appear under the cover.

Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: fitbrit on February 02, 2012, 11:41:42 am
See, now... Perfect opportunity.  You can use this incident to convince Ivy that you need a second machine (for the man cave) of equal "oomph" that can be used as a backstop should anything else happen to the HTPC.

Just like how I used my new daughter as an excuse to get my wife to let me get a nice Lian Li PC-C34F case (http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=299&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=64) for my HTPC (we need to be able to put it in a rack with a front door or she'll attack the pretty lights).   ;)

Nice. I've got the PC-C33 (http://www.lian-li.com/v2/tw/flashpage/c33/) for one of my HTPCs. Love it.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: rick.ca on February 02, 2012, 12:34:53 pm
Rick, I'm not seeing any overwrite of coverart? Is it only when you access these views?

No, although it's easiest to spot using the cover-flow style.

Quote
Anything odd going on in the auto-import settings?

I didn't expect it to make any difference—and it didn't—but I deselected 'Get cover art'.

It's not all, just some. And it's not just the new views, but all. The original poster is displayed for a second, then replaced. That behaviour continues, even after the original image is replaced on the HDD. I'm not sure what that means—the thumbnails are not being updated even after the original image is replaced?

Is no one else seeing this? ?
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: glynor on February 02, 2012, 12:55:35 pm
Is no one else seeing this? ?

I haven't installed 80.  I'm afeared.

We have company this week and I'm not going to mess up Theater View right yet.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: fitbrit on February 02, 2012, 02:40:31 pm
I haven't installed 80.  I'm afeared.

We have company this week and I'm not going to mess up Theater View right yet.

Pawk pawk pawk pawk-pawk  ;D
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: fitbrit on February 02, 2012, 02:42:53 pm
Not much to add, except the caption thing and some of these suggestions (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=69713.0). Not just for the [names], but any view, e.g. in a [genre] view, label each genre as its representative cover art enters the middle slot in Flow, same for [series] etc.
Title: Re: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: JimH on February 02, 2012, 03:03:58 pm
I haven't installed 80.  I'm afeared.

Pawk pawk pawk pawk-pawk  ;D

(http://sassywire.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/chicken_close_up.jpg)
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: Sandy B Ridge on February 02, 2012, 03:09:03 pm
See, now... Perfect opportunity.  You can use this incident to convince Ivy that you need a second machine (for the man cave) of equal "oomph" that can be used as a backstop should anything else happen to the HTPC.

Just like how I used my new daughter as an excuse to get my wife to let me get a nice Lian Li PC-C34F case (http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=299&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=64) for my HTPC (we need to be able to put it in a rack with a front door or she'll attack the pretty lights).   ;)

Ha!
Absolutely no chance at the moment. Ivy B has put the foot down! I do like the Lian Li cases though. I quite fancy the PC C60B. Really good design I think.

I think the best bet will be when the little one (what shall I call him? Haswell I guess!), when Haswell has grown up a little and we need a TV for the bedroom for a bit of peace!
I'll probably get one of those Antec VESA cases for that though and be minimalistic.

But do you know what? This new flow view is growing on me.....maybe I will use it!

SBR
Title: Re: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: raym on February 02, 2012, 03:10:30 pm

Having the title at the bottom may seem to duplicate the title on the cover, but it gives you a quick way to see where you are in the alphabet without having to search around the screen for the title.

The name caption is not necessary IMO and may ruin the look of this. I liked it better as it was and as you said, Enter gets you more info...
Title: Re: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: fitbrit on February 02, 2012, 03:29:51 pm
(http://sassywire.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/chicken_close_up.jpg)
Subtle, Jim.
Title: Re: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: fitbrit on February 02, 2012, 03:43:43 pm
The name caption is not necessary IMO and may ruin the look of this. I liked it better as it was and as you said, Enter gets you more info...

I completely disagree with this. In a long list of TV episodes, for example, all you would have is a series of thumbnails. If one wants to arrange one's Genres in such a view, the information displayed would be even more meaningless in Flow. There has to be a caption.
Title: Re: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: rick.ca on February 02, 2012, 03:59:25 pm
The name caption is not necessary IMO and may ruin the look of this. I liked it better as it was and as you said, Enter gets you more info...

True, but unless the list has already been filtered, it would be helpful to have some information—to provide a basis for deciding which ones to view the details for. It needs the equivalent to the small info panel (about which you could also say "enter gets you more info"). Because some will want to display less or no information here, a separate info panel is warranted.

There has to be a caption.

Yes, there needs to be something. An info panel would be more versatile than a caption. And an arbitrary caption, or the general file caption, would be an irritant as often as it might be helpful.

I suppose it depends on how much space is available and how the information is to be presented. If it's just to be a few lines at the bottom of the screen, a fully configurable caption might be the best solution. Any fields could be included, formatted with <font> tags and line breaks.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: gvanbrunt on February 02, 2012, 04:30:00 pm
Here's and idea on description etc:

When you first show the flow, put up a "press down arrow for full information" that fades out. When you press it on an item, a translucent window can pop on top with the description etc. This would be the same information that normally displays on the info page. This has the following benefits:

- it keeps the screen clear which many users seem to want
- it gets information that would normally require a bunch of button presses to get
- it will look cool (I know some hate eye candy but you can always close your eyes :) )
- it will allow anyone to tailor what information appears.
- my guess is a lot of code can be reused from the existing display screen.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: Matt on February 02, 2012, 04:33:09 pm
Out of curiosity, is the reason we don't have movie poster backdrops yet due to some copyright or similar constraint or is it still on the radar for a future release?

Tonight:
NEW: Theater View shows movie backdrops from TheMovieDB.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: raym on February 02, 2012, 05:15:03 pm
Tonight:
NEW: Theater View shows movie backdrops from TheMovieDB.

Awesome! This is going to be great!!

Thank you.
Title: Re: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: Alex B on February 02, 2012, 05:16:11 pm
I completely disagree with this. In a long list of TV episodes, for example, all you would have is a series of thumbnails. If one wants to arrange one's Genres in such a view, the information displayed would be even more meaningless in Flow. There has to be a caption.

Agreed.

When you are in the middle of a 22 episode season you need to know also the episode number.
Title: Re: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: JustinChase on February 02, 2012, 05:18:34 pm
When you are a middle of a 22 episode season you need to know also the episode number.

last played or % played would also be good/useful in this situation.  I usually can't remember which episode number I last watched, so a visual indicator would be most welcome.
Title: Re: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: raym on February 02, 2012, 05:20:17 pm
I completely disagree with this. In a long list of TV episodes, for example, all you would have is a series of thumbnails. If one wants to arrange one's Genres in such a view, the information displayed would be even more meaningless in Flow. There has to be a caption.

Fair enough.. Guess I wasn't thinking TV series. Let me re-phrase then, for movies, I don't think Name is necessary.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: Alex B on February 02, 2012, 05:56:56 pm
It seems that the caption should be configurable. It could have a default rule that can be edited.

Here is what I might use for TV Series: [Series] - S[Season]E[Episode] - [Name] (played: [Last Played])

A more complex expression could create a different caption for each Media Subtype.

Fair enough.. Guess I wasn't thinking TV series. Let me re-phrase then, for movies, I don't think Name is necessary.

A rule base system should be able handle that too.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: Osho on February 02, 2012, 06:12:53 pm
Very nice, I like it a lot - works very well for movies.

Regarding captions, I think it will be good to have this configurable (including blank captions of course). I would want to see it for televisions but maybe not for movies.

Thanks,
Osho

Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: Matt on February 02, 2012, 06:20:39 pm
The caption for files in Theater View is configurable in Options > Theater View.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: Osho on February 02, 2012, 06:39:31 pm
The caption for files in Theater View is configurable in Options > Theater View.

This applies everywhere no matter the media type or what level of hierarchy in a view - we are looking at. Different views and different levels of hierarchy my need different kinds of captioning. I am currently doing different kind of captioning based on media type, media sub type etc. but the expressions get too big and complicated and still I cannot have different kind of captioning in one view vs. another.

Thanks,
Osho
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: datdude on February 02, 2012, 08:38:18 pm
Love all of the new changes.  ;D

When using the 3D wall (3 rows) I have a lot of empty space on the top and the bottom, and the cover art is rather small. Could you 'zoom' in a bit more to make them easier to see? I think you could still squeeze in about 8 full columns as opposed to 9 with half columns on either side.

The cursor when first entering the 3D wall is also a little deceiving as I am not sure where it is. I can see the caption name for a movie, yet the cursors is sometimes not on it and still on the roller. I think either the cursor should just jump to the file, and make it obvious, or stay on the roller with no caption.

Thanks
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: jmone on February 02, 2012, 09:06:29 pm
All this new fangled stuff will never take off....bring back ASCII art I say  ;D
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: Hendrik on February 03, 2012, 01:01:42 am
This applies everywhere no matter the media type or what level of hierarchy in a view - we are looking at. Different views and different levels of hierarchy my need different kinds of captioning. I am currently doing different kind of captioning based on media type, media sub type etc. but the expressions get too big and complicated and still I cannot have different kind of captioning in one view vs. another.

Being able to define captions per View instead of globally would be awesome, indeed. I already have quite alot of conditions in mine to show different captions depending on media sub type and even location on disc, its getting incredibly complicated.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: Scolex on February 03, 2012, 04:05:32 am
I would like to see some sort of graphic/text to represent whether a movie/show/episode has been viewed or not.
I think this would be very valuable as it is quicker to look for a viewed/not viewed string or a graphic than reading a description.
I currently use a smartlist but this would make life simpler for the wife since she always forgets about the smartlists that are setup.
Pic shows both graphics which were found in a quick google search.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: MrHaugen on February 03, 2012, 05:25:42 am
I have to correct my self. The thread got locked, so I write it here. Earlier I thought that the Video wall style (sheet?) only consisted of a few columns. But that was of course because of my limited number of movies on my test machine. When I got up to 50+ Movies, it started to look rather good. I have one question though. Is it only me that only get square cover art here? There is a lot of the top and bottom of the covers that is removed. This makes reading the title and quickly finding a suitable movie much much harder, as the title often is cut out. Is this a bug, or part of a plan?
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: darichman on February 03, 2012, 07:09:48 am
Quote
Tonight:
NEW: Theater View shows movie backdrops from TheMovieDB.

This is awesome. I love the fade in for the backdrops.

One glitch for me... I'm getting the wrong images for a lot of films which have the same names but multiple releases
  - Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Sleuth, Scrooge
I have mentioned in another thread, but once a file is matched with a TMDb lookup, is it possible to store the ID and use this for lookup? At least this would be a unique identifier.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: nwboater on February 03, 2012, 08:18:52 am
Tonight:
NEW: Theater View shows movie backdrops from TheMovieDB.

I assume that 'Backdrops' means a full screen background image related to the movie. I'm not getting them - still the same old images in the background.

Rod
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: nwboater on February 03, 2012, 08:25:20 am
Great progress here!

One small suggestion - make it so you can continue to scroll from the end to the beginning and vice versa. We have a lot of movies and even with our fairly fast HTPC it takes quite awhile to go from beginning to end. If we think we want to look at a movie that's near the opposite end it would sure be quicker to just keep going in the same direction and not have to reverse direction.

Thanks,
Rod
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: fitbrit on February 03, 2012, 11:05:45 am
Great progress here!

One small suggestion - make it so you can continue to scroll from the end to the beginning and vice versa. We have a lot of movies and even with our fairly fast HTPC it takes quite awhile to go from beginning to end. If we think we want to look at a movie that's near the opposite end it would sure be quicker to just keep going in the same direction and not have to reverse direction.

Thanks,
Rod

Agreed. However, one additional thing I'd like to see is a jump-to mode when you press a letter of the alphabet on a keyboard. It would be nice to jump directly to movies beginning with R simply by pressing R. This is already the case in other TheaterView views, so it should probably be included in Flow. Very good work so far!
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: nwboater on February 03, 2012, 11:21:37 am
Agreed. However, one additional thing I'd like to see is a jump-to mode when you press a letter of the alphabet on a keyboard. It would be nice to jump directly to movies beginning with R simply by pressing R. This is already the case in other TheaterView views, so it should probably be included in Flow. Very good work so far!

It would be great to have a way to advance in 'chunks'. But I think a lot of effort has been made in Theater View development to keep it as keyboard-less and mouse-less as possible. So it would be helpful if a way could be done to do that advancing with something on the remote. Perhaps the up/down 'Channel Change' buttons? And then for those with keyboards use fitbrit's approach.

Rod
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: fitbrit on February 03, 2012, 11:23:11 am
It would be great to have a way to advance in 'chunks'. But I think a lot of effort has been made in Theater View development to keep it as keyboard-less and mouse-less as possible. So it would be helpful if a way could be done to do that advancing with something on the remote. Perhaps the up/down 'Channel Change' buttons? And then for those with keyboards use fitbrit's approach.

Rod

How about fast forward and rewind buttons?
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: Matt on February 03, 2012, 11:23:56 am
Page Up / Page Down (channel buttons on your remote) and typed navigation will both be added to 3d lists (just like they're already there with 2d lists).

It might be a couple builds depending on other things, but feel free to remind us if it doesn't happen soon.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: nwboater on February 03, 2012, 11:25:35 am
Page Up / Page Down (channel buttons on your remote) and typed navigation will both be added to 3d lists (just like they're already there with 2d lists).

It might be a couple builds depending on other things, but feel free to remind us if it doesn't happen soon.

Thank you Matt.

Rod
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: fitbrit on February 03, 2012, 11:26:56 am
Page Up / Page Down (channel buttons on your remote) and typed navigation will both be added to 3d lists (just like they're already there with 2d lists).

It might be a couple builds depending on other things, but feel free to remind us if it doesn't happen soon.
:D
I was just putting myself in your shoes earlier, wondering whether it was frustrating when we ask/demand features that are already planned but you haven't had time to implement yet?
Especially when we frame the 'request' as "THIS FEATURE IS WORSE THAN USELESS WITHOUT XYZ, JRiver SCUM!"
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: gvanbrunt on February 03, 2012, 06:16:44 pm
I know some have mentioned this, but in flow view the items "without focus" need to be a higher resolution. They don't look good on a larger screen. The transition to focus also is a little jerky on my computer that is relatively well powered. Anyone else seeing this?

Also the backdrops are too dark\translucent to see well. Could use a bit of polish.

Over all, looking really good though.
Title: Re: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: glynor on February 03, 2012, 06:20:06 pm
Pawk pawk pawk pawk-pawk  ;D

(http://sassywire.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/chicken_close_up.jpg)

I know, I know... But I'm busy cutting holes in my house, and I have to duck down under a RG6 cable right now to even type at my machine.

Next week will be more sane.  I hope.

Dear lord, I hope...
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: rick.ca on February 03, 2012, 07:54:41 pm
I know some have mentioned this, but in flow view the items "without focus" need to be a higher resolution. They don't look good on a larger screen. The transition to focus also is a little jerky on my computer that is relatively well powered. Anyone else seeing this?

Yes. I suppose the lower resolution is necessary for the performance of the animation, but it would be nice if something could be done about the transition jerk at the end. It detracts from an otherwise perfectly smooth animation.

Quote
Also the backdrops are too dark\translucent to see well. Could use a bit of polish.

Seems just right to me. Any less so and it would compete with the covers (and with the info panel, if that is displayed). It would also make the backdrop transitions more distracting.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: gvanbrunt on February 03, 2012, 08:45:36 pm
Quote
Seems just right to me. Any less so and it would compete with the covers

I can barely see them on mine. I'll have to wait and see on my HTPC how it is.

Edit:

Just checked on my HTPC. Just my 2 cents but seems a hair too dark and or translucent on there. What is anyone else seeing?
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: nwboater on February 03, 2012, 09:20:21 pm
I'm still not getting Backdrops. Do they have to be enabled somewhere? Don't see anything for them in Theater View settings.

Thanks,
Rod
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: Matt on February 03, 2012, 09:32:27 pm
I'm still not getting Backdrops. Do they have to be enabled somewhere? Don't see anything for them in Theater View settings.

Thanks,
Rod

Make sure you didn't turn off online media slideshows in Options > Theater View > Theme.

Also, the 'Name' field needs to be correct (and possibly of a reasonably common movie).
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: fitbrit on February 03, 2012, 09:54:49 pm
I can barely see them on mine. I'll have to wait and see on my HTPC how it is.

Edit:

Just checked on my HTPC. Just my 2 cents but seems a hair too dark and or translucent on there. What is anyone else seeing?

It could afford to be a bit more prominent and still not detract from the covers... but not too much.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: nwboater on February 04, 2012, 08:03:24 am
Make sure you didn't turn off online media slideshows in Options > Theater View > Theme.

That was it. I had Online Media Slide Shows turned off because I could never solve the problem of audible ticks when the images transition during music listening. Turned it back on and now have backdrops. Since we listen to a lot of music I guess I wont be able to use the backdrops.

Thanks Matt.

Rod
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: nwboater on February 04, 2012, 08:12:18 am
It could afford to be a bit more prominent and still not detract from the covers... but not too much.

For us they are too prominent and really detract from the clean feel of the new animation without backdrops. So if we were to use them we would want them dimmer. Interesting the different reactions to their prominence!

Also my Wife commented that many of them have head photos that are mostly hidden by the large cover. She didn't like that aspect of them. I think that if there was a way to control their brightness that a lot of different people might be satisfied.

Rod
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: nwboater on February 04, 2012, 08:21:17 am
We are really getting to like the 3D animations and plan to continue using them. As we scroll through we can get a sense of the movie just glancing at the covers. Action movies which my Wife doesn't like (owing to violence) really stand out and she quickly bypasses them. Many of her chick flicks have a particular style that stand out as do old movies.

The large covers are a big part of what makes this work for us, so do hope you will keep them.

It's been interesting scrolling through our large movie collection. We are noticing and checking out several movies that we bypassed in scans using our old view (in Theater View).

So thanks again Matt & Team for all you good efforts on this.

Rod
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: rpalmer68 on February 04, 2012, 11:09:09 pm
I'd really like to see the descriptions like in the sample.

The reason being last night I switched to this new view to give t a try.   We then decided to watch the next movie in the Harry Potter series, but couldn't remember which one we were up to.
With this view I have to go inot the movie, read the description and then back out to go to the next movie until I find the correct one.

I'd be happy with the suggestion made that the description fades in after a second or so.

Richard
 
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: Matt on February 04, 2012, 11:23:48 pm
I'd really like to see the descriptions like in the sample.

The reason being last night I switched to this new view to give t a try.   We then decided to watch the next movie in the Harry Potter series, but couldn't remember which one we were up to.
With this view I have to go inot the movie, read the description and then back out to go to the next movie until I find the correct one.

It's one click to get lots more details (that are fully user customizable), and one click to return.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: TheLion on February 05, 2012, 04:32:50 am
It's one click to get lots more details (that are fully user customizable), and one click to return.

Matt,

first of all this is a great new feature that certainly will be my default when using Theater View (or simply showing off Media Center). Thank you for that! While trying it out one idea came to me: When I enter the "detail view" of a particular title there are fields for genre, director, actors... IMHO it would be most useful if a click on these fields would select them as criteria for another view. Eg. a click on the director of a movie will show all other titles of that director (again as animated 3d list).

What do you think?
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: MrHaugen on February 05, 2012, 06:24:27 am
It's one click to get lots more details (that are fully user customizable), and one click to return.

The result is often two clicks, because you'll have to go back out if you don't want to watch it. At the same time, this new screen kind of breaks the flow of things. I never want to use the large info view, but it's kind of forced anyway. This is one of reasons why people want meta data while browsing this way. If info like Seen/Not seen, Title, Description, Genre, Rating, Duration was on this screen, I would never have to go in the Large info view. What meta data people find important is of course very variable. That's why many thinks it's a good idea to be able to customize what info is shown in this view. Hence the idea of a new horizontal info pane which Rick and others have pointed out.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: mbagge on February 05, 2012, 06:38:52 am
Thanks from me too for this new eyecandy - I really enjoy it.

One little thing though, when it tries to look up national translations of film titles it does not always find anything.
eg. Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribian.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: JimH on February 05, 2012, 06:58:36 am
Matt,

first of all this is a great new feature that certainly will be my default when using Theater View (or simply showing off Media Center). Thank you for that! While trying it out one idea came to me: When I enter the "detail view" of a particular title there are fields for genre, director, actors... IMHO it would be most useful if a click on these fields would select them as criteria for another view. Eg. a click on the director of a movie will show all other titles of that director (again as animated 3d list).

What do you think?
I think it's a good idea.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: FastKayak on February 05, 2012, 12:42:07 pm
Mouse wheel?

I can use the mouse wheel to move forward and backward through the menu roller.  Should it, or could you make it, do the same with cover flow?

Suggestion (or feature request) - display the cover with "focus" in the center of the screen... today it can be slightly off the screen edge which just seems weird.

Nice to see theater view getting some eye candy.  Last week I put all my DVD's in the closet and now use MC as my video player - this is only possible (for me) due to the efforts of J River to make the video configuration simple.  A shout-out for Red October and all the work of the various developers.

Thanks, FastKayak / Larry
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: TMA-1 on February 06, 2012, 08:38:00 am
This is great! Super!
Eye-candy like this is what MC needs more of. Perhaps it is not for the powerusers but its apealing to the large group of general users, including me.  
What I miss as a next step when selecting a movie is a special movie detail view where the movie-info (synopsis, actors and other details) gets more focus and room.
Title: Re: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: JimH on February 06, 2012, 09:28:10 am
This is great! Super!
Eye-candy like this is what MC needs more of. Perhaps it is not for the powerusers but its apealing to the large group of general users, including me.   
What I miss as a next step when selecting a movie is a special movie detail view where the movie-info (synopsis, actors and other details) gets more focus and room.
You get that if you hit Enter or OK.
Title: Re: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: SamuelMaki on February 06, 2012, 11:47:58 am
Mouse wheel?

I can use the mouse wheel to move forward and backward through the menu roller.  Should it, or could you make it, do the same with cover flow?

Suggestion (or feature request) - display the cover with "focus" in the center of the screen... today it can be slightly off the screen edge which just seems weird.

Nice to see theater view getting some eye candy.  Last week I put all my DVD's in the closet and now use MC as my video player - this is only possible (for me) due to the efforts of J River to make the video configuration simple.  A shout-out for Red October and all the work of the various developers.

Thanks, FastKayak / Larry
Mouse wheel would make it almost perfect :) I like to see a bit more higher quality covers (I use images from IMDB...) and maybe a little bit bigger and better centered... Or could it be possible to move the coverflow 3d-mode to near at the top of the free space and add movie info below it? Or other way around... I am still using the default view, but maybe when coverflow gets improved I would change to it...
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: TMA-1 on February 07, 2012, 03:16:04 am
The backdrops looks about right to me on my computer screen. I will check later on my TV. I wouldn't want them to clutter the screen to much, but at the same time still beeing visible.
Perhaps a setting would be handy here? Screens shows a VERY different picture in general (projector, rear projection tvs, plasma, lcd), especially when it comes to contrast and shadow detail. 
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: Castius on February 07, 2012, 10:20:11 am
This is a really nice new addition.
I really like the idea of controlling what is showen. Like progress bar for previusly watched. This is one of the nice things in netflix.
I'm also still very interested in how can we show people images. There is alot of good metadate in there. I just want more visual ways to present and navigate it.

Thanks!
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: MrC on February 07, 2012, 10:37:53 am
When there is no cover art in the cover-flow-like new list view, the left rendered artwork box edge is not attached to the generic no-artwork image; it just floats to the left of the generic image.

The shade of gray seems ineffective given the darkness of the backdrops.  Perhaps this adds to the feeling of flatness from the single shade / line of gray (vs. a rendered plane)?
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: gvanbrunt on February 07, 2012, 04:22:49 pm
Quote
Perhaps this adds to the feeling of flatness from the single shade / line of gray (vs. a rendered plane)?

I too think the grey "sides" look unfinished. I think they are required for a 3D look but need some polish.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: MrHaugen on February 10, 2012, 06:38:18 am
Any chance of fixing the Sheet list type to display cover art correctly? There is still to much of the covers missing. Rendering this list type less useful than it should be.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: gvanbrunt on February 10, 2012, 05:36:48 pm
Quote
Any chance of fixing the Sheet list type to display cover art correctly?

I don't have an issue with it, but I haven't tested it much. Are you sure you have all thumbnails built?
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: MrHaugen on February 11, 2012, 05:38:29 am
Of course. I'm not talking about actual missing cover art. I'm talking about the fact that cover art is cut by about 40%. 20% on the top and 20% at the bottom. This makes a LOT of the graphics and text on the covers disappear, and it makes finding the right movie that much more difficult.

This is the same behavior for Gizmo. Gizmo handles all art in a square, and all vertical or horizontal shaped art will be cut off to fit this square positions. What I'm asking is for a bit more logic here, to expand this square to a rectangle to fit the covers. At least when all the cover art in a view are of the same shape. Theater View should be a priority, but Gizmo views should also get some changes here imo.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: )p( on February 11, 2012, 05:54:50 am
On vertical lists <right> will select the item. Maybe in the horizontal animated lists <down> could also select the item. You get then a very natural way of a quick look at the details of an item with <down> and then <up> takes you right back when you scroll through the list with <left> and <right>.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: tls62dk on February 11, 2012, 07:03:45 am
This looks great! Many of my movies has a Danish titel in the Name field and for some them I do not get a backdrop from TMDb. Could we have a fallback so that MC will look up the Original Title field, if the regular Name field does not return with any info for the backdrop?

TLS
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: gvanbrunt on February 11, 2012, 12:55:54 pm
Quote
On vertical lists <right> will select the item. Maybe in the horizontal animated lists <down> could also select the item. You get then a very natural way of a quick look at the details of an item with <down> and then <up> takes you right back when you scroll through the list with <left> and <right>.

+1
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: MrC on February 11, 2012, 01:31:32 pm
Can the mouse wheel be made to move forward and backwards in the new list views?
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists in 17.0.80
Post by: nwboater on February 19, 2012, 03:15:33 pm
Page Up / Page Down (channel buttons on your remote) and typed navigation will both be added to 3d lists (just like they're already there with 2d lists).

It might be a couple builds depending on other things, but feel free to remind us if it doesn't happen soon.

A friendly reminder.

Also another plug for being able to scroll from the end of the list to the beginning & vice versa. Would sure be conenient.

Thanks for ALL the work that's been done on the animated lists. We are now using them for most views. Really adds some pizzas and I just find it fun to use.

Rod
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: TMA-1 on March 05, 2012, 04:36:36 pm
I have started to use VNC software on my tablet to control MC (Gizmo does not quite do it for me) and I use this animated list view but when moving the row of albumcovers and the selected album gets scrolled away all covers are then turned towards the selected cover resulting in a very narrow angle of the covers and I can't see them very clearly. Would it be possible not to rotate the covers so much so they are facing the user a bit more, even those in adjesent to the selected cover?

Here is a picture explaining what Im trying to say:

(http://www.bjornange.se/stuff/JRMC_view.gif)

Or is there a way to de-select any album so that the covers is rotated up to face the user more that way?
Perhaps any selected album should be automaticly de-selected when you start to scroll? Or something....
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: sKiZo on March 19, 2012, 06:21:23 pm
Newbie here ... and maybe there are different views built for the different media types, but ...

Just downloaded version 17.blah blah.99. So far, all I'm doing is music. Another post mentioned that it would be nice to have a ZOOM feature on the 3D wall that would decrease (or increase for the big screens) the number of cover rows. I doubt I'll ever do video - my setup is for an audio HTPC - and the three rows of covers the wall defaults to can be a bit of a strain to see on a 22" monitor located a few feet away.

Be way kewl if there was also a zoom control for the size of the zoom when you hover a cover ... be nice to be able to increase it all the way to full screen maintaining the aspect ratio if you've a mind to.

PS - on the new view you're talking about, I do like the idea of a bit less spin on the covers that are off center from the target ...

Which brings to mind a possible bug ... oh no he din't! ... he said the BUG word!

The covers zoom up when I hover over them ... nice ... but that stops if I do anything with the top menus. Even a mouseover breaks it. Toggling a new list style also breaks the zoom on the new style. If I exit theater view and come back in, the zoom feature is working again. Huh. Maybe some switch needs switching?

Oh. I'm using a wireless Gyration air mouse/keyboard  for control. A bit frustrating at first till I found out the thumbwheel works sideways in the menus (and you can't blame me for taking a while to find that out - I think it was a sneeze clued me in ... wait ... did that just move sideways?). Anyway, I do like it now. Only current annoyance is it seems to automatically click on hover if I leave the arrow in the same place too long. Have to do some digging and see wazzup wit dat.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: xplain on March 20, 2012, 03:21:20 pm
Something is wrong here,

When editing the xml file for theater View, in these lines:

<!-- Internal borders -->
      <Item Name="" Base="ViewBackground" Placement="Left" Size="0.5%" />
      <Item Name="" Base="ViewBackground" Placement="Top" Size="1%" />
      <Item Name="" Base="ViewBackground" Placement="Right" Size="0.5%" />
      <Item Name="" Base="ViewBackground" Placement="Bottom" Size="12%" />

The old styles acts like they should, but the new animated lists doesn't do it right

This one do it right:
(http://www.pix01.com/gallery/F70A5EA5-F5F0-4AD2-9954-560EAC859D81/Theater_View_animated_lists/6490818590.jpg)

This is wrong:
(http://www.pix01.com/gallery/F70A5EA5-F5F0-4AD2-9954-560EAC859D81/Theater_View_animated_lists/6490818591.jpg)

Thomas
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: xplain on March 21, 2012, 06:56:00 am
Bump

Sorry, I know it was a quick bump,
I just want to know if this will get a fix before I
continue with my idea.

Thomas
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: Matt on March 21, 2012, 02:27:51 pm
Currently 3d lists don't change size.  The layout rectangle defines the center point of the list, but the size will remain the same.

There is no clipper on the 3d projections, so left and right borders will always get covered as you scroll.

Better honoring the top and bottom borders would be a nice improvement, but it's not a simple change due to how 3d projection works.
Title: Re: Theater View animated lists
Post by: xplain on March 21, 2012, 02:52:54 pm
Ok, to bad :'(

Will have to go in another direction then.

Thanks for replying.

Thomas