Topic: Theater View and beyond! (Read 6943 times)

raym · « **on:** April 04, 2006, 07:40:42 am »

I'm a big fan of Theater View. It's the main reason I purchased MC to begin with! Unfortunately though, Theater View gets criticised from time-to-time on this forum for being inadequate compared to other HTPC front ends like Microsoft MCE etc. So, this got me thinking.... wouldn't it be great if Theater View was not only as visually appealing as MCE but feature rich like the rest of MC as well?!

I hope I'm wrong but based on what I read here, Theater View development is not high on JRiver's priority list. If this is true, I think it's a real shame. HTPC's are extremely popular right now and many people I know are either buying one or thinking about buying one. The problem with most HTPC front-ends available today is that while they look good, they fall far behind MC in terms of its sheer media management power. Few HTPC applications on offer today (well, none I've seen) give you everything you could want to manage a large media library well like MC does PLUS allow you to view and listen to your media in the comfort of your living room thanks to Theater View!

Over the last couple of years I've recommended MC to quite a few friends and family members interested in a HTPC setup. Unfortunately, the majority of them have ended up choosing something other than MC because of Theater View's "problems". This makes me angry because as most poeple reading this are well aware, MC rocks! If only Theater View was a little slicker...

So, based on my own experiences with Theater View as well as feedback I've had from those who have used it, here's some suggestions which would surely rocket MC far beyond the competition:-

01. Fully customizable interface. Not just colors - the works!
02. Ability to save and name Playing Now playlists (Remeber, we're talking Theater View - IR remote only!!)
03. A usable search facility (ala Meedio's on-screen keyboard perhaps?)
04. Ability to drill down into an item to show useful tag information eg, Director/Plot info for DVDs etc
05. Ability to delete files and make simple tag edits (configurable option???).
06. Ability to move items around within Playing Now (not just remove)
07. OSD improvements to include time remaining info etc for audio AND movie playback
08. Improvements in the way items are added to Playing Now. Eg, opting to play a single song should NOT include the whole album the song belongs to while blowing away your current Playing Now playlist in the process!
09. There's probably more but I think you get the idea...

Anyway, like I said, I love Theater View and I'll continue to support it 100% !!!

Cheers.

godavego · « **Reply #1 on:** April 04, 2006, 08:49:38 am »

Great suggestions!

Count me in as a heavy user of TheaterView.

cncb · « **Reply #2 on:** April 04, 2006, 09:48:52 am »

I agree. I ended up going with Snapstream Beyond Media since it is very customizable and easy to write plugins to extend the functionality. But nothing beats MC for music management and playback so I wrote a plugin to control MC from Beyond Media. It is not perfect but does provide some of the items on your list.

Doof · « **Reply #3 on:** April 04, 2006, 10:05:05 am »

Maybe a plugin could be written that uses a Flash frontend that executes MCC commands on the backend?

CDvd · « **Reply #4 on:** April 04, 2006, 11:42:46 pm »

It may be hard to make a TV's playing now equivalent in Flash!! How to tube visualisations (classic, 3d gforce,tabby and others) or MC's video output to a flash frontend??
It sounds good, yes, but it sound also not possible

I think it may be simpler to add flash components to MC's TV skins. (I may be wrong but I don't think it's possible)

I'd like to add that making TV visualy more appealing souds good but it must be as simple as it is now. I tried Ahead nero's Show Center : beatifull, bloated and inintuitive. (my humble opinion).

StarBand Guy · « **Reply #5 on:** April 05, 2006, 11:37:39 am »

Another "heavy user" of Theatre View here!

glynor · « **Reply #6 on:** April 05, 2006, 12:59:04 pm »

I figured I'd mention that I've written about my desires for improvements to Theater View for quite some time. Here are some of the postings...

MC12 Requests thread

TV Center Poll thread

and in rpalmer's old Theater View wishlist thread

slikvik · « **Reply #7 on:** April 06, 2006, 04:10:55 am »

Blimey,

I decided to come back to these forums after 6 months to see if any improvements had been made to Theatre View and found your post.

I made lots of post regarding Theatre View since version 9 and thankfully some of these were added in 10. But I then lost interest in the forum as I noticed that T.V. had fallen down the priority list. I realise that Handhelds are more important even though I don't use them, but maybe now it's time for a HTPC resurgence.

I also ended up buying another program as a frontend. What I do/would like to do:

Instant on my PC.
Then using my remote...
Rip a CD in Secure mode.
Automatically get the cover art for it. (Maybe select from some choices.)
Automatically get the album info. (Maybe allow editing of these tags.)
Make sure that compilations are HARD tagged with Various Artist in AlbumArtist so they bloody display correctly (as complete Albums.)

Then I would maybe like to watch TV using my DigiTV DVB-T card.
Pause while I go to the loo ?!?
Finish watching the program...
And then pop up the EPG and record a program that night in the DVB-T's native Mpeg2 so I have no loss in quality when I decide to re-encode it to Xvid later on for storage.

Then, I'd like to play a DVD, using the codec of my choice and perhaps ffdSHow filters running on the picture.

The next day I'd like to send some music to Zone 2 (my Headphones,) while the missus' watches telly.

I've been using and building HTPC's for about 6 years and have been actively involved in AVSforums etc. Yet even now, I still find the above is only possible, using multiple programs and it's still not stable and simple enough for my wife to use.

phsingl · « **Reply #8 on:** April 07, 2006, 09:04:11 am »

Also a Theater-view user here - not sure that I concur that you need all the functionality in this view though. I can read the regular view on the tv from my couch (helps that its a DVI connected plasma) - so I use this for tagging, ripping & other 'detailed' work. I use Theater view a lot when I have friends over as it offers a simple UI for controlling the music and/or video.

I do agree that the look and feel could be a little better and that some playlist management would be a significant addition...

MrHaugen · « **Reply #9 on:** April 07, 2006, 05:52:06 pm »

I totally agree with the original post. The theater view could need some style improvements as vel as playlist management and ability to choos how to add to playing now. (Full album, when enter on album. Only song when enter on song etc...)

I have been using HTPC for 2 years now. Many of my friends have, or are about to get one, and there are ALOT more coming. Many would primarily use it in theater view and would like it alot more if it was a bit better.

I also give a high five for the idea of supporting ffdshow. It would make a HUGE difference. Today I have to use Zoom Player in addition to MC, as there are much I miss with the Video part of MC. Most important are the postprocessing.

But time and money is of the essence I guess. But if it would not be to much of a problem, go right ahead!

In advance; Thanks alot!

raym · « **Reply #10 on:** May 01, 2006, 07:54:27 am »

Quote from: phsingl on April 07, 2006, 09:04:11 am

Also a Theater-view user here - not sure that I concur that you need all the functionality in this view though.

Agreed and I'm not suggesting it should.

Cheers,
Ray.

glynor · « **Reply #11 on:** May 01, 2006, 10:54:15 pm »

One tiny little thing that would help me greatly with "remote control" navigation in Theater View is if Pressing the Right Arrow on an item in Theater View (when in the right-column items list) would, instead of doing nothing as it does now:

(a) If you've chosen a "View Scheme" or "View Scheme Child Item/Pane" (such as Genre under Genre/Artist/Album) do a "Show Files" command on the item.

(b) If you've chosen an actual media file, play it. (This option can be omitted if it's too hard, since the play button works).

As it is, the right arrow doesn't do much (other than move from the left column of "tools" to the right column of "choices"). The OK button on the controller (Enter) is useful, and I like the menu (so you can play all of them, and other things), and double-OK'ing Opens the selection up as it should. But getting to the "Show Files" option (which is needed fairly often) is cumbersome. It is right in the middle of the list, requiring 3-4 separate up-down arrow pressed to get to it.

Assigning the currently unused Right Arrow key to this function would simplify navigation and make me very happy!!

phsingl · « **Reply #12 on:** May 03, 2006, 10:56:57 am »

Quote from: raym on May 01, 2006, 07:54:27 am

Agreed and I'm not suggesting it should.
Cheers,
Ray.

Ray - just to clarify - I think we're in absolute agreement (and I add my vote for numbers 1,2,4,5,7,8,9 on your list) I was responding more to the fact that some people seem to want all the functionality of the fullscreen view in Theatre view...
cheers, Paul.

raym · « **Reply #13 on:** June 01, 2006, 11:40:30 pm »

I'd be interested in hearing from the JRiver team if there are any plans for Theater View improvements/enhancements scheduled for MC12??

ferent · « **Reply #14 on:** June 02, 2006, 01:33:52 pm »

Quote from: raym on June 01, 2006, 11:40:30 pm

I'd be interested in hearing from the JRiver team if there are any plans for Theater View improvements/enhancements scheduled for MC12??

Yes please!!

shortie · « **Reply #15 on:** June 02, 2006, 01:38:48 pm »

Just adding my vote for a better/more customizable Theater View. I bought Meedio and used both it and Beyond to do everything except play my music files -- I'd come back to MC to do that even though it was more difficult and cumbersome to do so with its Theater View implementation.

JDizzy · « **Reply #16 on:** June 02, 2006, 08:41:33 pm »

Count me in!!!

I can't believe that someone has not made a 'do it all' frontend. (Although I think Main Lobby by Cinemar is close to what I need)

I use Sage TV for video capture and playback, Theater Tek for DVD play, and J River for audio playback.... Sage TV loads Theatre Tek just fine but there is no plugin to load J River.

Beyond Media has a plugin to load J River, but when exiting gets stuck in another view which drives me crazy.

I am considering learning how to basically make a splash screen that loads when you boot the computer that has buttons to load the above applications.
When the applications load, they load on top of the splash screen so when you close the app. the spash screen is there.

Problem is that with Fullscreen View of J River, there is no exit other than to another view from which you need your mouse to exit..... which is doable but really klunky..

Basically, I want an interface to load the applications using 1 remote so when someone comes over to watch the TV, or listen to music, you can give them the remote and say ' Enjoy' and not have to worry about them getting befuddled or lost in the interface....

JD

raym · « **Reply #17 on:** June 02, 2006, 09:28:59 pm »

Quote from: JDizzy on June 02, 2006, 08:41:33 pm

Count me in!!!
...
I am considering learning how to basically make a splash screen that loads when you boot the computer that has buttons to load the above applications.

JD, You can load whatever app you like from Theter View quite easily. I use it to load external programs all the time and it works quite well. When you launch another app this way, MC minimizes out of the way for you automatically. No need to manually close or hide Fullscreen mode.

You're right about the lack of do-it-all front ends though. I don't think this really exists yet. You can get close and MC helps you get there but it's not complete.

Glad to see so much support for Theater View.... I'm not alone!

JDizzy · « **Reply #18 on:** June 03, 2006, 12:00:07 pm »

Thanks...

After making a button to exit MC back to the desktop I got to thinking that I could add several other buttons to load Theater Tek (DVD) and Sage (TV) and basically use MC as my frontend.

I messed with trying to figure out the command to put in the 'parameters' field to load the programs but it did not work... probably due to path problem.

Then I tried making a .bat file to load things and failed again...

Let's say for example I wanted to load Sage TV from a button within MC Theater View.

The file to load Sage is here: C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\SageTV.exe

How would I go about this?

JD (sorry if this is not the place to discuss)

Mr ChriZ · « **Reply #19 on:** June 03, 2006, 12:10:47 pm »

You need to place it in quotes (This is a windows thing)
so...
"C:\Program Files\SageTV\SageTV\SageTV.exe"

JDizzy · « **Reply #20 on:** June 03, 2006, 01:21:15 pm »

Using the quotes works but I just realized that Sage TV opens under MC and thus, you cannot see it. Is there a switch or command line toggle that forces opening program on top (or minimizes MC when button is pushed...)

Do I need a batch file?
JD

raym · « **Reply #21 on:** June 04, 2006, 01:44:55 am »

JD, you might wanna try unchecking the "Keep MC in focus" option in the Theater View options. Take a look here for all the other things you can do with MC from the command line http://www.jrmediacenter.com/DevZone/CommandLine.html If you have any other questions, please start another thread....

raym · « **Reply #22 on:** June 05, 2006, 08:40:03 am »

Quote from: raym on June 01, 2006, 11:40:30 pm

I'd be interested in hearing from the JRiver team if there are any plans for Theater View improvements/enhancements scheduled for MC12??

jojo1967 · « **Reply #23 on:** August 28, 2006, 04:30:19 pm »

Add to the idea, an easy way to find an album(s) of the song playing and be able to add all of their albums to the playlist, keeping with the not blowing your playlist up to listen to the album. It would be great if chosen music could play, then go back to playing a default playlist when a user doesn't have any music cued.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: Theater View and beyond! (Read 6943 times)