Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[sraymond]

I've been a little preoccupied with tagging these days, but I spent a little bit with the Hairstyle this evening.

I've got a question, a comment or three, and a couple of requests...

Question:

The main.xml has a transistion section.  The comments read:

TRANSITIONS: animated screen transitions to use
     0: TRANSITION_TYPE_FADE_SMOOTH
     1: TRANSITION_TYPE_FADE_PIXEL_NOISE,
     2: TRANSITION_TYPE_WIPE_LEFT_TO_RIGHT
     3: TRANSITION_TYPE_WIPE_RIGHT_TO_LEFT
     4: TRANSITION_TYPE_WIPE_TOP_TO_BOTTOM
     5: TRANSITION_TYPE_WIPE_BOTTOM_TO_TOP
     6: TRANSITION_TYPE_CURTAINS
     7: TRANSITION_TYPE_BLINDS

Back: transition to use when going back
BackSteps: number of transition steps when going back
Forward: transition to use when going forward
ForwardSteps: number of transition steps when going forward
Select: transition to use when the selection changes
SelectSteps: number of transition steps when the selection changes

What is the transistion step all about?

Comments:
1.  Here's a screenshot:

The "Show Files" (on the left list one step below the Media Library or Playlist button) is a little confusing as it changes the menu on the left side.  It's probably not obvious to the first-time user that it's actually showing the files based on the position of the list to the right - sort of a short-cut or "stop travelling down the tree and show me what you've got so far" type of action.  Why not put this button on the list to the right?  It would seem to make much more sense.

2.  The "two left arrows" to do the same thing as the "back" seems redundant.  Why this feature?

3.  I saw it mentioned before...  and it bears repeating:  The "back" needs an image (instead of the NoThumb.gif).

Requests:
1.  I don't know what the list to the right is called, but it's not controlled anywhere in the main.xml.  I love tha alpha blending.  But the "magenta" color of the selected item looks horrible on my TV.  Please make this configurable in the main.xml.

2.  Did I say I loved the alpha blending?  Please give the list on the left a facelift with alpha blending!

Ok...  I know you guys must be spread pretty thin these days, but I hope my questions, comments, and requests make sense, are easy to implement, and show up soon!

Scott-

[Oblong]

I'm using MediaCenter with Hairstyle as the primary interface to my HTPC/PC Jukebox and thought I would weigh in as well:


1. When navigating the media library, Enter should immediately enqueue whatever is selected, artist, album track, etc..., and right arrow should drill down

2. There should be programmable "discrete codes" to provide direct access to Playing Now, and the Media Library without having to navigate the menus.

3.  Add a "Back" (Backspace) key independant of the left key that maps to the "Back" button.  The double left arrow works pretty well, but isn't really intuitive.

4.  I'd love a "Currently Playing  Track" banner on the screen (Top or bottom) showing track name, maybe artist, and a little progress bar showing the playback position.  Something a lot smaller than Track Info from the PIP.

5.  Create a new property in the View Schemes "Show in Hairstyle" so that we can exclude extraneous View Schemes from Hairstyle without deleting them.

6. Provide volume setting for the navigation sounds.

7. I second sraymond's comments about the magenta highlight on the buttons, it's unreadable on my TV as well.

Thanks  for the opportunity to make suggestions.  I just wanted to say I've been blown away with your rapid progress on MJ/MC since I first started using it.  Keep up the good work.

Walter...

[Matt]

Thanks guys.  When the main GUI changes settle down, we'll throw some more attention at Hairstyle.

If you don't mind, bump this thread in a week.  And keep the ideas coming

[Jaguu]

J River,

when I run MC9 in Hairstyle mode on TV screen, it always happens that Hairstyle falls back to mega-me mode.

When you run slideshows you fall back to full screen, which presents itself on the screen as an ugly transition and at the end you get a black screen not knowing exactly what to do. There is no graceful return to where you started the slideshow. Or you might even fall back to mega-me, which you do not definitely want on a TV screen.

I feel Hairstyle should be a completely independent interface to MC9, maybe similar in principle as NetRemote. Once Hairstyle is started it should never fall back to mega-me mode. It should always stay in its own mode. It should not have any right-click menus that startup mega-me functions and it may have a command line option to start it independently from the rest of MC9.

Imagine the simple situation: You rip and tag new cd's on your pc, while yourt kids are playing with Hairstyle on your TV.

[nila]

Yeah - one for hairstyle - Ability to LOCK it in hairstyle mode for when we're creating pc's purely for media in say our living rooms. It should stick between hairstyle mode and full screen playback unless we click on a specific button.

Also - please fix the bug that when I try play an mp3 with a cover it jumps to full screen - VIDEO AND PICTURE ONLY is what I want for jumping - not audio!!

[AdamP]

Another vote for a hairstyle 'lock' w/ switching between hairstyle and fullscreen only.  Trying to set up Media Center as core for htpc...

[Oblong]

I agree completely with Jaguu and Nila, once I go into Hairstyle mode I don't want it going back into Mega-Me mode.

I'd go so far as to say I wouldn't mind a seperate EXE for hairstyle, or maybe a command-line switch.

Also, another request:
Could we have searching in Hairstyle, with an on-screen keyboard, something equivalent to MCE or TiVo?

Walter...

[jwaters]

I'm also using Hairstyle via TV and Remote Control as my main interface to MC - no mouse, no monitor.  With the current 9.1.x state of Hairstyle, I've settled on a fairly useable setup:

1. Customized Hairstyle's main.xml:
    - remove the PIP (not enough space for it)
    - make all buttons larger (for readability on a TV)
    - make the clock bigger
2. Customize a TrackInfo visualization. Requirements:
    - Readable on a small TV
    - Show cover art
    - Show visualization
    - simple

I've set MC to load in Hairstyle mode.  Using the remote, I can select images or music to play.  Once Something is selected, it switches automatically to the TrackInfo visualization I've selected -- nice to read on any TV throughout the house, showing cover art and an equalizer.

Once I'm ready for something new, I press the "menu" button on my remote (this sends F11) and Hairstyle shows up again.  Repeat.

Jaguu -- if you press esc, it sends MC back to full screen mode (I don't like this behavior either) - not good for a TV, but if you use F11, it toggles back to Hairstyle.

Here's some screenshots:





Combined with a ChannelPlus modulator w/ IR, I can listen, watch visualizations, and navigate my music from any TV in the house, and it's usable down to a 14" TV.

There's still several things that need some work. Here's my list:

- fix back button to it's own image
- magenta highlights unreadable on a TV
- show currently playing in Hairstyle
- option to NOT exit hairstyle mode when a playlist starts
- better control over what mode is displayed when playing starts/stops
- I also like the 'discrete' codes idea, for playing now, etc.

Thanks for all the great work, JRiver.  This is truly an outstanding product.  I eagerly await it to mature a little more!

JW

[AdamP]

jwaters,

Can you post or pm your modified main.xml?  I agree that the buttons aren't large enough to read  onscreen and was curious to see an alternative.

Thanks.

Adam

[salsbst1]

ditto what everyone else is saying.

jwaters, thanks for the tips.  I'd also like to see that modified xml file!

Regards,
Stuart

[jwaters]

Sure. There are still works in progress, but here they are:

Hairstyle - unzip to a folder under FullSkins (contains XML file and other images):
http://home.attbi.com/~jasonwaters2/JW_FullSkin.zip

TrackInfo Visualization - unzip to a folder under Visualizations/Track Info:
http://home.attbi.com/~jasonwaters2/JW_TrackInfo.zip

JW

[Buckaroo]

1. When navigating the media library, Enter should immediately enqueue whatever is selected, artist, album track, etc..., and right arrow should drill down

2. There should be programmable "discrete codes" to provide direct access to Playing Now, and the Media Library without having to navigate the menus.

3.  Add a "Back" (Backspace) key independant of the left key that maps to the "Back" button.  The double left arrow works pretty well, but isn't really intuitive.

4.  I'd love a "Currently Playing  Track" banner on the screen (Top or bottom) showing track name, maybe artist, and a little progress bar showing the playback position.  Something a lot smaller than Track Info from the PIP.

5.  Create a new property in the View Schemes "Show in Hairstyle" so that we can exclude extraneous View Schemes from Hairstyle without deleting them.

6. Provide volume setting for the navigation sounds.

I just wanted to throw my strong support behind everything Walter has said. I'm also using my MC in Hairstyle as my HTPC core. setup as follows:

PC with Radeon 9000 driving dual monitor setup (17" LCD & NTSC TV). Screens are in mirrored/theater mode, which makes video go full screen on the TV while keeping it in a thumbnail on the LCD. Very cool setup for HTPCing. I'll be keeping the same basic setup as I move to DTV in the next few months.

Additional requests:

• On the fly (hotkey enabled) aspect ratio controls.
  
  
• Different sized Now Playing windows for different views (so that my pictures take up all or most of the screen, but videos sit in a small window (as they do now).
  
  
• Some kind of program guide integration for the TV module (I'd happily pay extra).

This is the best media player & manager ever conceived by the gods, and I think that a similar level of coolness is reachable as an HTPC core.

Oh, and let's get a skins section going.

Keep up the awesome work, guys!

[Kurt Young]

I believe that the idea for an entirely separate Hairstyle.exe is an outstanding idea.

[JC]

I've set MC to load in Hairstyle mode.  Using the remote, I can select images or music to play.  Once Something is selected, it switches automatically to the TrackInfo visualization I've selected -- nice to read on any TV throughout the house, showing cover art and an equalizer.

I downloaded your file above and really like it. However, my computer does not auto switch to the visualization. Am I doing something improperly? Is there a setting somewhere that I've missed?

Thanks.

[lOth]

However, my computer does not auto switch to the visualization. Am I doing something improperly? Is there a setting somewhere that I've missed?

JC,

in Hairstyle setup, check autohide. That should do it.

[JC]

JC,

in Hairstyle setup, check autohide. That should do it.

Thank you!

I'm such a newbie

[lOth]

the "magenta" color of the selected item looks horrible on my TV

Same here. Pleaaaaase, get us rid of the magenta....

I'd love a "Currently Playing  Track" banner on the screen (Top or bottom) showing track name, maybe artist, and a little progress bar showing the playback position

I don't know about the progress bar, but it shouldn't be too hard to have the same text fields that are available in the Visualization Studio. Or would it be too difficult?

I mean, look at the screenshot below. If I could upsize the [Location] text (here 'Now Playing), replace it with [Artist], [Name], [Album], and leave it above the PIP displaying Cover Art Spectrum, I would be happy to uncheck auto-hide and use Hairstyle instead of full screen Track Info.



Now that I think about it, showing the [elapsed_time] text field somewhere could be a decent replacement for a progress bar too.

[JC]

Some things that would be nice to have for hairstyle ...

Hotkey to initiate
It would be nice if, regardless of what mode MC9 was in, a single hotkey could send it into hairstyle mode. One of the Function keys or ctrl+H, for example.

Mouse wheel changes volume
For those using Hairstyle on their computers ... being able to modify the volume simply by scrolling the mouse wheel would be nice.

Admittedly, these are two very minor enhancements, but you asked for ideas.

[JeffreyK]

Another minor thing I would like to see changed is that both hairstyle and fullscreen mode are always on top of all other apps, even when I alt-tab to another app (like a web browser, which I do quite often on my htpc).  It would be nice if the window would lose the topmost setting when MC wasn't the active app.

-Jeff

[Buckaroo]

A packageable hairstyle skin file & autoinstaller (similar to the way MEGA & Mini-me skins work now) would be very useful

Speaking of which, does anybody else have any cool hairstyle skins?

[Buckaroo]

Seems like as good a time as any to give a little *bump*

[knickelfarz]

A packageable hairstyle skin file & autoinstaller (similar to the way MEGA & Mini-me skins work now) would be very useful...

Yes, please, and an easy way to switch between different hairstyles...maybe just a third tab in the skin manager? Would make development much easier

[Buckaroo]

Thread... getting... weaker...
Must! Reach! Utility belt!

Actually, a serious thought-

I'd like to be able to control how MC handles the screensaver/energy saver modes. I'd see the following 3 options:
- Always use system settings.
- Always use system settings execpt when playing video/stills (not just full screen).
- Always use system settings except when in Hairstyle.

Right now, the monitor never goes to sleep when Hairstyle is up, and I'd like it to be able to, but to know when video or a slideshow is playing and stay on durring playback.

[lOth]

BUMP!

well, I guess it won't hurt adding a wishlist to the bump...  

_ what about a 'home' button?
_ what about a shortcut key for the back button and, possibly, the wished-for home button?
_ to make tags information available as text keywords in addition to [Location] and [Time]
_ specific hotkeys for each view (Mega-Me, Mini-Me, Fullscreen, Hairstyle)
_ association of different views (list/thumbnail) with different locations and/or media.
_ get rid of the magenta! (no matter how many times, we'll keep asking until it disappears   )

Well, who's going to give it a bump now? Let's push the matter on the forefront before the next build!

[lOth]

Forgot one:

_ associate autohide with the type of media (most likely for me videos and images)

[JimH]

Some things that would be nice to have for hairstyle ...

Hotkey to initiate
It would be nice if, regardless of what mode MC9 was in, a single hotkey could send it into hairstyle mode. One of the Function keys or ctrl+H, for example.

Did you try F11 or Ctrl-W?

[Oblong]

The Problem with F11 (or ctrl-W) is that it cycles through the windowed/hairstyle/visualization modes.
This works, but if you have much experience with home theater automation (and I know you Lurk over at avsforum Jim), you know that the key to having precise control of your a/v equipment with a remote, is having "discrete" commands.

For Example: my TV (a crappy old Toshiba) will only let me cycle through the Inputs (TV / Video1 / Video2) so it makes creating macros for my learning remote (Home Theater Master MX-700) a pain in the a**.  It would be ever so much more useful if I could just tell the TV "Go to Video 2" because it's deterministic.  Right now it's a relative thing, you have to know what input you're on in order to select a different input.

I would like the same degree of control over my TV Jukebox / HTPC as any other component in my A/V stack.
As such, I believe that discrete commands for MC are a must.

I'd like discrete commands for at least the following:
Track Info Mode
Visualization Mode
Now Playing
Media Library

And I'd still like discrete commands for back and  select (as in my earlier post above.)

And since I'm asking,
I'd like the ability to assign discrete commands (hotkeys)  to specific View  Schemes.

Thanks for listening.

Walter...

[Buckaroo]

I'd like discrete commands for at least the following:
Track Info Mode
Visualization Mode
Now Playing
Media Library

And I'd still like discrete commands for back and  select (as in my earlier post above.)

And since I'm asking,
I'd like the ability to assign discrete commands (hotkeys)  to specific View  Schemes.

Thanks for listening.

Walter...

Heeeeeck yeah! I always prefer a descrete command to a toggle.

[sraymond]

Heeeeeck yeah! I always prefer a descrete command to a toggle.

I agree if there are more than two states...  but if you use the "menu" key, you've only toggling between "Hairstyle" and "Full-Screen".  Why are discrete commands (i.e. "Switch to Hairstyle" and "Switch to Full-Screen") any better?

Scott-

[lOth]

if you use the "menu" key, you've only toggling between "Hairstyle" and "Full-Screen".

how do you do that with a remote control? trying to select the correct item in the right-click menu from across the room is even more of a pain than cycling through the different modes with your CTRL+W (or F11) assigned button.

[Ryan_Nowlin]

Just  discovered MJ9, and man am I blown away -- best app yet!  Started building an HTPC as a result, main interest being Hairstyle mode for MP3 playing.

One problem I'm having with Hairstyle is when I select an artist who has more than 20 albums displayed, I can't seem to find a "page down" function that will display the next 20.   All the arrow keys seem to take me to the next artist or the next menu.

Help!

[lOth]

Just  discovered MJ9, and man am I blown away -- best app yet!  Started building an HTPC as a result, main interest being Hairstyle mode for MP3 playing.

One problem I'm having with Hairstyle is when I select an artist who has more than 20 albums displayed, I can't seem to find a "page down" function that will display the next 20.   All the arrow keys seem to take me to the next artist or the next menu.

Help!

If you're talking about the 'navigation buttons' that appear under the PIP in the original hairstyle, there is no 'page down' button.
However, the 'page down' key itself will do what you're looking for. If you want to build an HTPC, I would recommend that you assign the 'page down' and 'page up' keys to specific buttons on your remote control.

[sraymond]

how do you do that with a remote control? trying to select the correct item in the right-click menu from across the room is even more of a pain than cycling through the different modes with your CTRL+W (or F11) assigned button.

Just send the "menu" key via the remote control.  I use girder, and for some reason the "menu" special key doesn't work - you need to use the "apps" special key instead.

Scott-

[lOth]

Just send the "menu" key via the remote control.  I use girder, and for some reason the "menu" special key doesn't work - you need to use the "apps" special key instead.

Scott-

I thought about that but it sort of defeats the purpose of controling MC via a remote. In order to toggle between hairstyle and fullscreen with the menu function one would have to press once a button for "apps", 4 times a button for the down arrow key (in order to reach the toogle item in the menu), and once an Enter/OK button. I don't know if Girder has macro functions (for some reason I believe it does), but even then, the discrete command/hotkey would seem to me a more straightforward solution.

[Ryan_Nowlin]

If you're talking about the 'navigation buttons' that appear under the PIP in the original hairstyle, there is no 'page down' button.
However, the 'page down' key itself will do what you're looking for. If you want to build an HTPC, I would recommend that you assign the 'page down' and 'page up' keys to specific buttons on your remote control.

I tried the Page Down key on a keyboard, and there is no response.  I don't see any place where the keys are defined in a setup menu or anything.  Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[Buckaroo]

I think that this is all leading to something I've been mulling over for a while- user asignable hotkeys. I think that a manual command<->key binding capability would be very useful. I'm thinking of something like what Zoomplayer does. MC could ship with it's default keymapping, but users could then go in and map any key combo to any function. In the beginning, even a .ini edit would be acceptable.

I actually think that the way that MC handles the remote programming is a good model for this (although what I'm talking about would be infinitely more flexible).

Craziness?

[sraymond]

I thought about that but it sort of defeats the purpose of controling MC via a remote. In order to toggle between hairstyle and fullscreen with the menu function one would have to press once a button for "apps", 4 times a button for the down arrow key (in order to reach the toogle item in the menu), and once an Enter/OK button. I don't know if Girder has macro functions (for some reason I believe it does), but even then, the discrete command/hotkey would seem to me a more straightforward solution.

I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing.  On my Windows keyboard, there is a "menu" key between the right-control key and right-windows key.  Pressing this key toggles between full-screen and hairstyle.  If the display is neither full-screen or hairstyle, it does nothing.

This "menu" can be sent by using a keyboard event in girder.  The special key "menu" doesn't seem to work, though.  Instead, you need to send the special key "apps".  Doing this will simply toggle between full-screen and hairstyle (without having to cycle through the mega-me).

Scott-

[lOth]

I tried the Page Down key on a keyboard, and there is no response.

That's odd. The Page Down key works great for me in Hairstyle, whether on the keyboard or via my remote control. If I understand you correctly, on a same longer list in hairstyle your Down Arrow key would work fine but not the Page Down key? Is that right???

[lOth]

I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing.  

We were talking about the same thing but stupidly enough I had always thought that this key was the exact equivalent of a right click, so much so that I didn't even bother actually pressing it in either fullscreen or hairstyle. I assumed that it would bring up the right click menu... Well, never trust your assumptions. Thanks for the tip Scott! That will be a good work around while waiting for the discrete commands. Indeed, I guess that toggling between hairstyle and fullscreen is pretty much all one needs for an HTPC. That would still be nice if one could toggle to hairstyle directly from Mega-Me and to Mega-Me from Fullscreen, without cycling through another mode.

[NoCodeUK]

Not sure but I think the thing Matt introduced in the last build allows you to change keyboard shortcuts...ignore me if it does not.  I am at work and I don't have MC in front of me...check the release thread for the last but one build...

Adam

EDIT: Apologies, it is in this build -  13. Changed: Most menu text and all keyboard accelerators now located in external XML file. (Data\Default Resources)

[sraymond]

There aren't *all* keyboard accelerators...  it seems just the ones with an MCC command.

The "menu" key is not present.

Scott-

[lOth]

A new suggestion I just came up with: introduce a NoListRect (as in the <Buttons> section) for the PIP. That way, we could have a fairly decent sized Track Info or visualization within hairstyle (most likely on the Start Screen at the 'Home' location). With about 75% of the screen used for a display plug-in, I personally wouldn't need to toggle between HS and Fullscreen anymore.

Combined with the much wished for 'Home' button and shortcut key, it would be quite neat. The combination would result in some sort of 'playing now' screen with it's own shortcut in hairstyle.

Now that I think about it a 'real' Back button and shortcut key would be great too. By 'real' I mean that, instead of reverting to the previous level in the menu, it would bring you back to the previous screen, regardless of your present position in the menu structure (not sure I'm making myself very clear...). Thus, one could toggle between browsing the library, playlists, etc and the 'playing now' I just mentioned.

[JC]

We were talking about the same thing but stupidly enough I had always thought that this key was the exact equivalent of a right click, so much so that I didn't even bother actually pressing it in either fullscreen or hairstyle. I assumed that it would bring up the right click menu... Well, never trust your assumptions. Thanks for the tip Scott! That will be a good work around while waiting for the discrete commands. Indeed, I guess that toggling between hairstyle and fullscreen is pretty much all one needs for an HTPC. That would still be nice if one could toggle to hairstyle directly from Mega-Me and to Mega-Me from Fullscreen, without cycling through another mode.

Add me to the list of the "Thanks to Scott for the tip!" list. I wasn't aware of this and it is what I was looking for.

Thanks Scott!!!

[Oblong]

bump.

[lOth]

bump.

'Ah non! c'est un peu court jeune homme!'

Excuse my French  

[lOth]

NOOOoooooo!!!! the hairstyle thread has been relegated on page 2 of the MC9 board and is now in great danger of plunging into the darkness of page 3!

Now thanks to this bump, it will come back to the top


Since gratuitous bumps will soon get very annoying I'd better post something new. Here it is, a link to a new thread where I've posted links to download two hairstyle skins I made (well, it's rather a cut and paste from JC and JRiver's work, but I like to think I made them somehow...)

Almost forgot the link   :

http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=MediaCenter;action=display;num=1058407203;start=0#1

[NoCodeUK]

I like the brushed metal skin

(This is really a shameless bump for the thread which I admit is not really adding to the convo but hey its better than justb typing 'bump!' )

Adam

[dkan24]

The brushed metal skin is great and I think it shows just how close we are to making HS look really good.  

The colors and text are so much better, it looks so much more professional.

The only thing I really want is a good playing now window.  One that shows what song is currently playing, what the que is and the time.  Being able to move tracks around in the que would be very nice as well.  I have the PIP displaying the cover art, and it looks real nice.  But almost 2/3 of the screen has nothing on it.  There is more than enough room for all the info that I requested above.

btw- How do I save a screenshot of my screen?

thanks,
Dan

[sraymond]

I'm back to playing with Hairstyle...  and I've noticed a few bugs:  
1)  With thumbnails on, there is a serious performance issue (way slow) and it sometimes locks up MC.
2)  I get some hard freezes of MC, which I have to close with task manager.  The resulting error is a Media Core...

About adding must-have features...  this has been talked to death.  JimH mentioned in another recent thread (the last day or two) that more work would be done in a few weeks, so it's probably not worth repeating the same things...  I assume that JRiver has a feature list they're going to work from.

But to just the few biggies (for me)...
1)  Play transports and play progress
2)  Round out the customization (I can't change the alphblend on the left-column or the magenta right-column text color)
3)  Add or remove left-column items

Scott-

[dkan24]

Just to add to the thumbnail view:  it is nice to see thumbnails for artist and albums, but not for each song.  When you get into the tracks, a simple list is probably best.  

Also, one click play now for albums, instead of first having to enque all then hit play.  

Looking forward to this (almost as much as I am to the new 8000HD PVR from TWC)