Only a suggestion...

Tophicles · 2008-01-21, 05:41

... far be it from me to impose, this project is WONDERFUL so far! I'm utterly thrilled with the elegance and power of this program.

I have one feature request, what about "Auto Bookmarks" for AVI files? It would sort of be like when you ask a DVD authoring program to "Auto Chapter" every XX minutes?

I would find this useful for playback of AVI files, the pseudo-chapters would make navigation much easier.
If this is already a feature of the system, chalk this suggestion up to typical newbie silliness!

Great job folks!

level20peon · 2008-01-21, 09:40

Hello Tophicles,

you can jump instead of fast-forwarding / rewinding by pressing the left or right arrow keys once or more often.

-level20peon

Tophicles · 2008-01-21, 14:07

Hey, thanks for replying!

Yeah I know you can jump by incremental amounts with the left/right keys, but wouldn't it be easier if, upon loading a movie, you had the option to create "chapters" or bookmarks every XX minutes?

That way you wouldn't have to repeatedly press the directional arrows... just my .02

level20peon · 2008-01-21, 14:22

You can adjust how far the skip steps should go. If you're not comfortable with their default width you can adjust them (see attachment).

-level20peon

GetWell · 2008-01-22, 13:57

I agree with Tophicles...

Yeah you can jump forward and backwards (also in dvd), but why threat it differently?

James · 2008-01-22, 19:58

Jumping backward/foreward by a fixed amount is an existing feature in MP1. When I think about "Bookmarks" in movies I get an image of pushing a button and setting manual bookmarks. That I can later use to jump to parts I find interesting/like. Which could be an interesting feature.

However, Auto bookmarks I don't understand what you mean by that?

Tophicles · 2008-01-23, 02:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by James

Jumping backward/foreward by a fixed amount is an existing feature in MP1. When I think about "Bookmarks" in movies I get an image of pushing a button and setting manual bookmarks. That I can later use to jump to parts I find interesting/like. Which could be an interesting feature.

However, Auto bookmarks I don't understand what you mean by that?

Hi James - I'll try to clarify...

Firstly, let me say again, FANTASTIC product - PLEASE don't interpret this as a "complaint" or general "lack of features" malaise...

What I mean is - when you purchase a DVD, the movie is set into "chapters" which allow quick navigation from one "scene" to the next. While I know you're aware of this, I just wanted to indicate the context of this "auto-bookmarking" feature. On many home DVD creation programs, you can have the program auto-scan for "chapters" to create for you in your own DVD menu.

All I was thinking was, if a component could be set for "chaptering" your AVI files by a set amount (say user-defineable 3min, 5min). When watching a video, the user would have an extra option on the "Information" menu called "Chapters" or "Scene selection" or something. MediaPortal would scan each AVI as they were loaded and save a thumbnail of "jump points" inside this AVI that the user could navigate to like in a DVD's scene selection menu.

While I relaize that the user can skip through the AVI and set bookmarks manually, I thought maybe it would be helpful to have the ability to auto-set the initial index.

Maybe I'm just a lazy bum, but that's my idea... thanks for your consideration...

mikael · 2008-01-28, 23:30

Thanks Tophicles for your suggestion! This is something we can consider while re-thinking the MPII fullscreen media UI for coming releases.

Tophicles · 2008-01-29, 22:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikael

Thanks Tophicles for your suggestion! This is something we can consider while re-thinking the MPII fullscreen media UI for coming releases.

Thanks very much for considering this request! I'd love to help out any way I can, you guys are doing a fantastic job!

Spagbol · 2008-04-10, 02:23

You can already have 'chapters' of a sort for avi files with the use of a ComSkip file as described elsewhere in the forums. They won't have chapter titles or thumbnails (awesome if that is eventually implemented) but at least you can skip to the beginnings of chapters.
I for one love the ability to do that as I watch a lot of music DVDs as avi files and obviously the songs are split as chapters. Takes the guesswork out of finding the beginning of the next song!
I wrote a program for my own use that will create ComSkip chapter files 1) from original DVDs and 2) for already created avi files for which you don't have a DVD (you can manually input times or frames, you can set automatic chapter points at a defined interval, say every 15 minutes, and you can also just preview the video and click a button to drop chapter points). At the end you just save the text file as the same name as the avi and in the same folder and MediaPortal will read it and make the chapter points available for you to skip back and forward to.
As I wrote the program just for personal use, it's not great looking but it's functional. If you want I can tidy it up a little and post it up somewhere for you. Will take me a few days or so though as I'm very busy at the moment.

2008-01-21, 05:41	#1 (permalink)
Tophicles Portal Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	Only a suggestion... ... far be it from me to impose, this project is WONDERFUL so far! I'm utterly thrilled with the elegance and power of this program. I have one feature request, what about "Auto Bookmarks" for AVI files? It would sort of be like when you ask a DVD authoring program to "Auto Chapter" every XX minutes? I would find this useful for playback of AVI files, the pseudo-chapters would make navigation much easier. If this is already a feature of the system, chalk this suggestion up to typical newbie silliness! Great job folks!

2008-01-21, 09:40	#2 (permalink)
level20peon MP Donator Join Date: Jan 2007 Age: 26 Posts: 913 Thanks: 12 Thanked 36 Times in 32 Posts Country: My System	Hello Tophicles, you can jump instead of fast-forwarding / rewinding by pressing the left or right arrow keys once or more often. -level20peon __________________ some of my [HowTo] guides Backup your TV-Server configuration (advanced) Backup your MediaPortal configuration WebEPG (XMLTV) configuration most annoying bugs TV + 7 or more audio channels = lockup DVD + seek = lockup

2008-01-28, 23:30	#8 (permalink)
mikael Portal Designer Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Age: 23 Posts: 468 Thanks: 68 Thanked 53 Times in 28 Posts	Thanks Tophicles for your suggestion! This is something we can consider while re-thinking the MPII fullscreen media UI for coming releases. __________________ Skin: SimpleMP Beta 4

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2008-01-21, 14:07	#3 (permalink)
Tophicles Portal Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Country:	Hey, thanks for replying! Yeah I know you can jump by incremental amounts with the left/right keys, but wouldn't it be easier if, upon loading a movie, you had the option to create "chapters" or bookmarks every XX minutes? That way you wouldn't have to repeatedly press the directional arrows... just my .02

2008-01-22, 13:57	#5 (permalink)
GetWell Portal Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Age: 22 Posts: 114 Thanks: 0 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts Country:	I agree with Tophicles... Yeah you can jump forward and backwards (also in dvd), but why threat it differently?

2008-01-22, 19:58	#6 (permalink)
James Portal Developer Join Date: May 2005 Location: Switzerland Posts: 1,279 Thanks: 4 Thanked 55 Times in 34 Posts	Jumping backward/foreward by a fixed amount is an existing feature in MP1. When I think about "Bookmarks" in movies I get an image of pushing a button and setting manual bookmarks. That I can later use to jump to parts I find interesting/like. Which could be an interesting feature. However, Auto bookmarks I don't understand what you mean by that?

2008-04-10, 02:23	#10 (permalink)
Spagbol Portal Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 24 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	You can already have 'chapters' of a sort for avi files with the use of a ComSkip file as described elsewhere in the forums. They won't have chapter titles or thumbnails (awesome if that is eventually implemented) but at least you can skip to the beginnings of chapters. I for one love the ability to do that as I watch a lot of music DVDs as avi files and obviously the songs are split as chapters. Takes the guesswork out of finding the beginning of the next song! I wrote a program for my own use that will create ComSkip chapter files 1) from original DVDs and 2) for already created avi files for which you don't have a DVD (you can manually input times or frames, you can set automatic chapter points at a defined interval, say every 15 minutes, and you can also just preview the video and click a button to drop chapter points). At the end you just save the text file as the same name as the avi and in the same folder and MediaPortal will read it and make the chapter points available for you to skip back and forward to. As I wrote the program just for personal use, it's not great looking but it's functional. If you want I can tidy it up a little and post it up somewhere for you. Will take me a few days or so though as I'm very busy at the moment.