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More => Old Versions => Media Center 11 (Development Ended) => Topic started by: Cindy_B on March 06, 2004, 01:32:29 am

Title: Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Cindy_B on March 06, 2004, 01:32:29 am
I play a lot of music videos with MC.  Recently MC has been displaying cover art prior to opening every video track.  It flashs the image for about a second or two then plays the video  It's awful.

If this is a new feature it should have options to turn it off.  I find it very distracting when playing videos in full screen on a huge second monitor.  I'm using mpg and don't know if this is the case with other codacs.  

I have reported this as a bug, however it's been overlooked for several versions since 10.073.  

Is this a bug? If not can someone tell me how to turn it "off".

Thanks!

Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Cindy_B on March 07, 2004, 04:22:25 am
Bump
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: JimH on March 07, 2004, 08:05:39 am
No idea.  Unless you have cover art mixed in a playlist with your videos.  What does Playing Now give for a list of files?

Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: dragyn on March 07, 2004, 10:27:52 am
It flashes the "Cover Art" screen when switching videos. I see this too.
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Cindy_B on March 07, 2004, 02:06:06 pm
No idea.  Unless you have cover art mixed in a playlist with your videos.  What does Playing Now give for a list of files?



My playlist is just music videos.
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Cindy_B on March 07, 2004, 02:10:21 pm
It flashes the "Cover Art" screen when switching videos. I see this too.

It also has text saying "opening...." underneath the cover art.
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Cindy_B on March 09, 2004, 12:36:48 am
Okay.... Another version and no fix. :o
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Cindy_B on March 10, 2004, 01:29:09 am
Okay.... Another version and no fix. :o

Two more versions and no fix. 10.0.87  
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: JimH on March 10, 2004, 09:32:28 pm
Please try build 88.  It fixes another similar problem with video playback.
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Matt on March 10, 2004, 09:55:57 pm
This is by design.  That way it'll show the art associated with a movie if it takes a while to open.

Maybe when there is no art it shouldn't show the logo, but it's debatable.
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Cindy_B on March 11, 2004, 01:56:22 am
This is by design.  That way it'll show the art associated with a movie if it takes a while to open.

Maybe when there is no art it shouldn't show the logo, but it's debatable.

If thats the direction MC is choosing to go then I feel there should be an option to turn this off.  As a dj I find it very annoying.
If DJ's are playing music videos it should be gapless just like audio.

It's been requested in past threads that users would like to see videos mix (crossfade) like audio, what would make you think we would want this icon gap? ?
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Cindy_B on March 12, 2004, 02:00:32 am
Yahoooo!

Thanks for removing the icon.  You made my week!  ;D

Now can we have the option to turn off Cover Art?  PLEASE.......
My video cover art are small in size to save space and just look awful between videos tracks on a TV monitor.
 
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Cindy_B on March 12, 2004, 11:06:16 pm
I'm thinking of removing all my cover art for videos just because of this new feature.   I hate that I have to do this, after taking hours/days to set cover art up.   That's how much I dislike this new feature.


PLEASE........put an option to turn it off.  :'(
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Cindy_B on March 13, 2004, 05:28:55 pm
bump
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Cindy_B on March 17, 2004, 12:29:58 am
Is there a way I can delete this in the reqistry?
 ?
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: MusicPlayer4U on March 18, 2004, 12:54:38 am
I just upgraded to ver 10 and have to agree with Cathy.  The clip art between video tracks is annoying.  :-[
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: NoCodeUK on March 18, 2004, 03:19:49 am
Have to confess I found this new behaviour a bit odd too... I can see how it would work with Movies but for music vids or tv series which don't really have cover art it is annoying... any chance of a field that would act as a toggle for it?  ie 1 says do it and 0 says don't??

Cheers

Adam
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Cindy_B on March 18, 2004, 06:56:23 pm
Have to confess I found this new behaviour a bit odd too... I can see how it would work with Movies but for music vids or tv series which don't really have cover art it is annoying... any chance of a field that would act as a toggle for it?  ie 1 says do it and 0 says don't??

Cheers

Adam

Thank you Adam!  

I agree 100%   A toggle would be nice.  Currently the cover art is not even up long enough to read the Artist info, so what's the point?   I think Mc didn't think this one through enough to add it as a feature.

I say change it or loose it!

Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: clout on March 18, 2004, 07:01:58 pm
What I'd like to see is a removal of the delay between videos altogether. If we could use the xfade settings applied to audio files with the transitions available for images,MC would become a powerful Video Disco program.
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: MusicPlayer4U on March 18, 2004, 07:08:50 pm
What I'd like to see is a removal of the delay between videos altogether. If we could use the xfade settings applied to audio files with the transitions available for images,MC would become a powerful Video Disco program.

Agree,  that's one of many features which have been requested for video playback for sometime now.  That's why this feature is annoying.  It's giving us more of a gap between video tracks.  If I delete my clip art it loads the next video much faster then with clip art.


 
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: JimH on March 18, 2004, 07:17:30 pm
I think we're going to add a delay so that cover art isn't displayed unless the video is slow to load ( >3 seconds ).
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: clout on March 18, 2004, 07:23:37 pm
How about some way of buffering the next video clip to avoid the delay altogether?
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: MusicPlayer4U on March 18, 2004, 07:38:34 pm
I think we're going to add a delay so that cover art isn't displayed unless the video is slow to load ( >3 seconds ).


That will work..... can we have an option to have black as well?  If we are displaying video on a big screen, don't we need larger format size for our cover art.   Currently I'm only using 256x256 for small thumbnail size for displaying within MC's interface.  Now I would need a much larger size for visual display in full screen mode.   More space and  ram.
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Cindy_B on March 19, 2004, 12:00:24 am
I think we're going to add a delay so that cover art isn't displayed unless the video is slow to load ( >3 seconds ).


That will work..... can we have an option to have black as well?  If we are displaying video on a big screen, don't we need larger format size for our cover art.   Currently I'm only using 256x256 for small thumbnail size for displaying within MC's interface.  Now I would need a much larger size for visual display in full screen mode.   More space and  ram.


I can't agree more.  I use very small clip art as well.
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: MusicPlayer4U on March 19, 2004, 02:48:07 pm
How about some way of buffering the next video clip to avoid the delay altogether?

This would solve the problem and get MC one step closer to Video crossfading..... maybe? ::)
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Cindy_B on March 19, 2004, 11:52:25 pm
How about some way of buffering the next video clip to avoid the delay altogether?

This would solve the problem and get MC one step closer to Video crossfading..... maybe? ::)

I agree that this idea of buffering would solve the problem, however.......that sounds like a major fix that could take awhile to do or perfect.

I vote to remove the cover art until another solution is figured out.  In other words....... put it back the way it was.  It worked fine before.  :o
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Platu on March 20, 2004, 04:13:15 am
I think we're going to add a delay so that cover art isn't displayed unless the video is slow to load ( >3 seconds ).


I vote for this solution. Slow loading videos need some type of status indicator. I would hate to remove the cover art completely.

Platu
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: MusicPlayer4U on March 20, 2004, 04:54:19 pm
I think we're going to add a delay so that cover art isn't displayed unless the video is slow to load ( >3 seconds ).


I vote for this solution. Slow loading videos need some type of status indicator. I would hate to remove the cover art completely.

Platu



Platu... what format are your videos?  I'm using mpg and they load just a fast as my audio files.  Is it the size of the video or the format /codac that make some videos load slower then others?
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Platu on March 20, 2004, 06:34:15 pm
I think we're going to add a delay so that cover art isn't displayed unless the video is slow to load ( >3 seconds ).


I vote for this solution. Slow loading videos need some type of status indicator. I would hate to remove the cover art completely.

Platu



Platu... what format are your videos?  I'm using mpg and they load just a fast as my audio files.  Is it the size of the video or the format /codac that make some videos load slower then others?

I'm using mpg (mpeg 2) high bitrate (8,000 plus) video files. I have over 1000 videos in my collection. Most do load fairly quickly but definely slower than my mp3 files. The factors that affect video loading speed are many: Processor/hard drive speed, Decoder used, file size, how the file was encoded, load on video server, etc. This leads to fluctuations in video loading times. My video server is a fairly low end machine. My audio files load quickly though. Since I'm a heavy Theatre View user (using a remote control), I appreciate the quick and definitive status feedback I get when playing videos using the remote.

To make everyone happy, it may be that this needs to be a configurable option in preferences. I just wouldn't like to see this feature completely disappear.

Platu

Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: DiscSpinner on March 21, 2004, 01:50:23 am
I am new to MC and understand why some people would like Cover Art between video tracks, and also the need for video DJs not to have it.

As a DJ who will be using MC for private parties, I would like to mix both audio and video without any cover art interruption.

I also think the small cover art looks weird in the center of any large Monitor display.  
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: DiscSpinner on March 21, 2004, 06:18:52 pm
Well......what ever method MC decides to take.... I hope it's soon.
Another build just went out with no fix on this feature.  :-\
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Cindy_B on March 21, 2004, 06:22:06 pm
Well......what ever method MC decides to take.... I hope it's soon.
Another build just went out with no fix on this feature.  :-\


Yeeeeeeap.....  I hear yeah!
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: DiscSpinner on March 23, 2004, 01:31:54 am
I think we're going to add a delay so that cover art isn't displayed unless the video is slow to load ( >3 seconds ).



Jim................   Please do at least this for now.  It's driving me crazy to see these pop up cover arts.      
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Scarpad on March 23, 2004, 02:47:34 pm
I have a question, short of scouring the internet P2P sites where are you folks getting music vieos from? I'd like to add some to my server....
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Platu on March 23, 2004, 03:50:02 pm
I have a question, short of scouring the internet P2P sites where are you folks getting music vieos from? I'd like to add some to my server....

I record most of my videos myself using a couple of ReplayTVs, pull the mpg video files off using DVArchive, cut/edit the files using Womble MPEG-VCR, and import the edited video clips into MC. I regullarly record live music performances from late night talk shows, MTV, American Idol, award shows, etc. It doesn't doesn't take very long to build up quite a collection.

Platu
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: DiscSpinner on March 23, 2004, 10:30:17 pm
Another update (97) with no fix.  :-\
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: MusicPlayer4U on March 24, 2004, 04:16:20 pm
New update version 98 Now delays cover art
 
7. Changed: MC only shows status / cover art for a video when opening after a little delay, so it won't flash between videos.


THANK YOU........  Thank you........  Thank you!!!!!  
Title: Re:Cover Art on Video Startup
Post by: Cindy_B on March 24, 2004, 04:49:30 pm
New update version 98 Now delays cover art
 
7. Changed: MC only shows status / cover art for a video when opening after a little delay, so it won't flash between videos.


THANK YOU........  Thank you........  Thank you!!!!!  

Yahooooo!  Yes, yes. yes...... Thank you! :D