[Announcement] TvPlugin -> MyRadio "Reloaded"

[gemx]

Originally Posted by level20peon

Is there a way to show thumbs for the Group folders ?

Just added this functionality. It will be available from rev 16172.
You have to put the thumbnail in the same folder as the channel/station logos (MP DIR\thumbs\Radio) and name them like "folder_name of radio channel group.png"

[level20peon]

Originally Posted by gemx

That's how it was before but i wanted MyRadio to behave more like MyTV where all channels that are not linked to a group are automatically added to the "All channels" group at startup

Kind of... You could have channels in the root directory BESIDES creating groups.

It just is annoying that one has to enter a group AFTER entering the main function "Radio" in order to be able to see a program at all. If somebody wants to see it this way it should be optional.
You also could accomplish this by adding the possibility to create a "root group" the content of which automatically would be shown in the root directory of the Radio function.

I think that it is an acceptable requirement for users of the TV-Server to be able to manage groups either way .


-level20peon


EDIT:

Originally Posted by gemx

Just added this functionality. It will be available from rev 16172.
You have to put the thumbnail in the same folder as the channel/station logos (MP DIR\thumbs\Radio) and name them like "folder_name of radio channel group.png"

Thanks a lot . So it has to be png ?


Offtopic: I read quite some requests in the past in which users asked for the possibility to use png instead of jpg files for thumbnails. Have I overseen the integration of this function in general by incident ?

[gemx]

Originally Posted by level20peon

It just is annoying that one has to enter a group AFTER entering the main function "Radio" in order to be able to see a program at all. If somebody wants to see it this way it should be optional.
You also could accomplish this by adding the possibility to create a "root group" the content of which automatically would be shown in the root directory of the Radio function.

I think that it is an acceptable requirement for users of the TV-Server to be able to manage groups either way .

Sound like a good idea.
So we just show all channels/stations which are in the "All channels" group in the root folder?

Originally Posted by level20peon

Thanks a lot . So it has to be png ?

Offtopic: I read quite some requests in the past in which users asked for the possibility to use png instead of jpg files for thumbnails. Have I overseen the integration of this function in general by incident ?

It's indeed png. Don't know since when though but quite for a long time

[level20peon]

Originally Posted by gemx

Sound like a good idea.
So we just show all channels/stations which are in the "All channels" group in the root folder?

I don't know whether most users prefer a) the presence of a folder, where all non-grouped content is listed or b) not. I am using just one group in the TV-Part, which is opened by default anyway so I didn't think about this before.
If there are more users of the a) group I would suggest to leave it just the way it is now (All channels are added to "All Channels" by default) but ADD a second group named "ROOT" for example the content of which is shown in the root screen of the Radio-function.
If there are more users of the b) group it would be better (and easier) to make the "All channels" folder root-folder.

I hope you get what I mean, this would be difficult to explain even in german


-level20peon

[Olodin]

Originally Posted by level20peon

I am using just one group in the TV-Part, which is opened by default anyway so I didn't think about this before.

I suppose this is what most users would prefer after initial configuration. Seems just less odd and saves you one click on your mouse/keyboard/remote. Making this configurable would be nice, cause some users will want more options after knowing the default way

Another thing just out of interest:
Do you make use of the code basis used in the tv channel configuration? From my point of view it makes no sense to treat radio or video differently in configuration or handling (epg, recording, display in UI, etc) so sharing most of the code seems to be close-by.

[TritonT]

@gemx – welcome back

Just tested svn16179 and webstreams are working very well and the configuration problems are gone, pity about dvb radio being broken again though. Here’s a few function things -

‘Root’ Folder –
I really don’t want all the channels if haven’t bothered putting in a group turning up there. After my dvb scan I have about 400 channels I don’t want to see them by default. Can’t we just have it remember the last group we were in between uses or choose a default group in configuration, then all you have to do is back up to choose another group or all channels.

Multiple URLs –
Many web radio stations provide up to 7 fail-over URLs (as can be seen by looking in the asx), giving you a much better chance of getting the station to actually play. Would it be possible to add, say 3 extra URL fields.

Combinations –
After initial scan for channels, I have between 50 and 100 radio stations that are duplicated between dvb-t and dvb-s and sometimes triplicated on different satellites. If radio had Combinations like TV has these could be merged.

Card Priority –
If Web-Streams appeared in the card list you could set priority, so for example if a dvb card was not available to play a particular station it would use the stream instead. (Would need Combinations for this to work.)

Website –
Having another tab in channel configuration for ‘associated web page’ would be good. Many radio stations and TV channels refer listeners back to their web page for info, competitions, etc. In the future when MediaPortal is capable of rendering a web page, this would give you a ‘one-click’ to webpage while listening.

I realise this is an enormous wish-list, but I thought I’d better write it down to see what people think. Thanks again gemx for having a look at My Radio.

[Nemulate]

Originally Posted by level20peon

I don't know whether most users prefer a) the presence of a folder, where all non-grouped content is listed or b) not. I am using just one group in the TV-Part, which is opened by default anyway so I didn't think about this before.
If there are more users of the a) group I would suggest to leave it just the way it is now (All channels are added to "All Channels" by default) but ADD a second group named "ROOT" for example the content of which is shown in the root screen of the Radio-function.
If there are more users of the b) group it would be better (and easier) to make the "All channels" folder root-folder.

I hope you get what I mean, this would be difficult to explain even in german


-level20peon

Hi, I'm for making all channels available directly if you only have one 'root' group. The root group would I suppose be called 'all channels' and would be the default group to be open when entering radio. Isn't this the same as how the tv channels work?

[level20peon]

It does only when you just have one group. If there is more then one group you would have to leave the current group and enter another one rather than browsing other groups as sub-groups of the default one.


-level20peon

[Nemulate]

Only ever have one group for tv as only about 40 channels to choose from! Likewise radio is about 30 channels so happy with just one group.

[level20peon]

@Nemulate: Sure, I have just 28 TV channels for which one group is sufficient. I was just trying to imagine which solution would be best for ALL users (there are users with way more channels).



@gemx: I now played around with the new Radio-function for some time and this is MY suggestion:

1. Create another standard group called "root" the content of which would be displayed in the Radio root-section.
2. Create the possibility to hide the "All Channels" group.

The reasons for this are quite simple. Why not just make the "All channels" group root ? Because the Internet Radiostreams I added were moved to this group, too. Even after removing them from this group they were re-added. It would be quite a pain if ALL channels would be displayed in root then.
Hiding of the "All Channels" group would be a nice feature if you intend just to use custom groups.

I think this should suite every single users needs.


-level20peon