[infinityloop]

Do not use this ALPHA on a productive system!
Do not reuse any old user data when testing this ALPHA release!

Now that we made this clear, lets move to the interesting part

Since the release of MediaPortal 1.0.2, a lot has happened. The team has agreed that MediaPortal 1.1.0 will be the last major release of MediaPortal and will therefore focus on MediaPortal 2 from now on.

As this will be the last major release, we want it to be the best ever. And for that, we need your help.

Major changes in this ALPHA:

• old, unsupported TV-Engine (TVE2) was removed
  (together with all related plugins - WebEPG is currently ported to TV-Server, which will be available in 1.1.0 RC1)
• first steps to support Windows 7 and Vista + TV-Pack
• UAC compatibillty enhancements:
  following folders are now also located in %ProgramData%\TeamMediaPortal\MediaPortal
  • Tuningdetails
  • Languages
  • Skins
• IP-TV support has been added to TV-Server
• access CI-menu from inside MyTV and TV-Server configuration
• integration of MPC-HC subtitles engine (no need for any 3rd party filters any more to get subtitles to work, also as a great benefit this allows hardware acceleration to be used when using subtitles)
• updated installer to use MySQL 5.1 64bit on 64bit OS'es
• MySQL 5.1 is now the default SQL-Server on a fresh installation.
  (you can still use your already present SQL-Server as this effects only systems where no SQL-Server is present)
  Benefits compared to MS SQL-Server:
  • uses less system resources than MS SQL Server
  • much easier to deploy (automatic download/install of MS SQL 2008 is not possible on Windows 7)
  Note: If you want to use MS SQL 2008 Express SP1, then you have to install it manually.
• Skin changes:
  • brand new OSD for MyTV, MyVideos and DVD
    (still work in progress and only available for Blue3wide at the moment. You can show the osd by using "i" button on your remote or "y" button on your keyboard.)
  • VU-Meter in MyMusic
    (off per default, has to be enabled in MP Configuration - only available in Blue3wide at the moment)
  • List of all skin changes since 1.0.1 (Skin Designers should subscribe that page!)

Complete list of changes:

There were a lot of smaller changes done as well.

• Changelog: MediaPortal
• Changelog: TV-Server
• Changelog: Installer - DeployTool

Installation notes:

• a present MediaPortal 1.0.x installation can not be upgraded
• a present MediaPortal 1.0.x installation will be uninstalled
  (No data will be lost, you will find MediaPortal_backup and TV-Server_backup folders which contain the plugins,skins and user files of the 1.0.x installations)
• a present TV-Server database will be upgraded and can be reused
• do not reuse any skins, plugins, databases or configuration files from MediaPortal 1.0.x with this alpha!

Testing and Bug reporting:

The changes we made require a lot of testing to ensure that MediaPortal 1.1.0 will be shipped as bug-free as possible.
Please take your time to test this Alpha release carefully and report bugs you found in our related bug report forums in the development section.

Do not post results of 1.1.0 ALPHA testing anywhere else!

Please follow the Bugreport guideline when reporting issues. If you don't, then the bugreport will not help our developers and it will be removed to keep the forums clean.

Development:

If you are a developer, then you can help us to make MediaPortal 1.1.0 a great release. You can post your bug fixes directly in the dedicated ::submit patches forum:: . Our developers will review them and then add them to SVN once approved.
Besides bug fixes, we also have a lot of open tasks in our roadmaps which community developers might want to help us with.
Just pick one and start a "Work in Progress" thread in the ::submit patches forum:: to avoid someone else doing the same work.

• Roadmap: MediaPortal
• Roadmap: TV-Server
• Roadmap: Installer - DeployTool

Our SVN on Sourceforge will be synced during the next 48 hours so you can base your changes on the latest svn.

Because of issues with the automatic syncing between our team SVN server and Sourceforge, we have decided to move our team internal SVN repository to a new powerful, dedicated server.
Once this is finished, everyone will have read-access to it and therefore access to the most recent sources.
Sourceforge will be kept as a backup where we sync our SVN once every month.
Please watch the news for more details.

SVN-Testbuilds

After the release of MediaPortal 1.1.0 ALPHA, we will start to release SVN-test builds again.

The road to 1.1.0 final

As soon as we can be sure that all major changes are working nicely, we will release MediaPortal 1.1.0 RC1.
Depending on how well the development goes, there might be more release candidates.

Our release target for 1.1.0 final is December 2009.
But depending on the amount of help from the community, an earlier release might be possible as well.

The time after MediaPortal 1.1.0

The team will focus on MediaPortal 2 from now on. But this does not mean that MediaPortal 1 is dead.

There will be at least one 1.1.x release. But we want to outsource the major part of it's development to the community.

:: Download MediaPortal 1.1.0 Alpha ::

[zicoz]

Thanks for the update, But there is one thing I'm wondering. The items that are under "Futuire Release" will those be added to 1.1.0? On one hand the roadmap sais it won't but then on the other you say that the WEBEPG will be a part of 1.1.0 RC1 and the WEBEPG is listed under the "Future Release" part in the roadmap.

[Marvman]

Originally Posted by zicoz

Thanks for the update, But there is one thing I'm wondering. The items that are under "Futuire Release" will those be added to 1.1.0? On one hand the roadmap sais it won't but then on the other you say that the WEBEPG will be a part of 1.1.0 RC1 and the WEBEPG is listed under the "Future Release" part in the roadmap.

They wrote

There will be at least one 1.1.x release. But we want to outsource the major part of it's development to the community.

so it will become at the latest with one release after 1.1

[infinityloop]

Originally Posted by zicoz

But there is one thing I'm wondering. The items that are under "Futuire Release" will those be added to 1.1.0?

The answer is very simple.
We do not have the required dev/manpower to do the "future release" tasks for 1.1.0.
But if someone from the community posts the codechanges as *.patch during the next weeks, then it is very likely that you will see it included in MediaPortal 1.1.0 final.

Originally Posted by zicoz

On one hand the roadmap sais it won't but then on the other you say that the WEBEPG will be a part of 1.1.0 RC1 and the WEBEPG is listed under the "Future Release" part in the roadmap.

Oh thats a misstake.
Fixed it now, thanks for pointing me to it.

[zicoz]

Thanks for clearing it up

[bazzz]

Is: "mediaportal thats it!" going to be a new slogan/banner? If so, you might want to put in an apostrophe ("that's").

[Gixxer]

Originally Posted by bazzz

Is: "mediaportal thats it!" going to be a new slogan/banner? If so, you might want to put in an apostrophe ("that's").

i dont think it will be a slogan or banner, its just a creative way of filling in an empty space when release date is really close. there is more work on the OSD going on, so no big deal.

thanks anyway.

[rtv]

Originally Posted by Gixxer

i dont think it will be a slogan or banner, its just a creative way of filling in an empty space when release date is really close. there is more work on the OSD going on, so no big deal.

thanks anyway.

Exactly. Currently it's more a proof of concept to decouple the skinning from the code behind (preferring control conditions). Harley might surprise you with a completely different design in the next release

[bazzz]

Okay cool. I just didn't want you guys designing a whole new skin and around a spelling mistake!

[4roma]

Well, a little congrats with this alpha release is in order I think. Nice work.