Curious about MP Roadmap

[eloo]

Hi,

In these MP changing times, I was just wondering if there is a official MP roadmap, or if the developers have it hidden somewhere. ;-)

Don't worry, I won't take a roadmap as a promise. I was just wondering what you are considering for MPs future (say 0.3, 0.4).

[Inker]

I can tell you that by 1.0 world peace is the big goal the team is workign towards. However that might take some time :-)

A bit closer is the integration of the TV server into the main project, as well as further down the road a new skinning engine.

[eloo]

Originally Posted by Inker

I can tell you that by 1.0 world peace is the big goal the team is workign towards. However that might take some time :-)

So 1.0 will fix the HIV, world hunger and Israel-Palestina problem and a few others

[mirk]

Originally Posted by Inker

A bit closer is the integration of the TV server into the main project, as well as further down the road a new skinning engine.

How further down the road is the new skin engine...1 month, 3, 6...12 ?

[zswman]

I think the original question was a serious inquiry. I am a happy user of (and $$ contributor to!) MP would like to know longer-term plans. There are a number of capabilites (a new default skin, ability to map arbitrary keys to remote buttons, keywords on pictures in My Pictures, overall consistency among menus, improvements to My Programs, stability, etc.) that are a lot more important to me than a client / server architecture for MP, for example. I would like to know what plans are to better determine if I should "hang in there" or go (gulp) poking around MCE for my needs. Thanks!

[Smirnuff]

Guys I think its save to say that even without a roadmap the ultimate aim direction is to make MP the easiest to install, best performing and most feature filled HTPC software in existance. Whatever worthwhile features found in other applications will eventually make their way into MP.

[Spragleknas]

(Seems like Smirnuff did not finnish his reply, I'll ad the last sentence)

"So we are about 90% there."

[msj33]

first of all - I like mediaportal very much but:

I dont' think we're even 10 % there!

Easiest to install? NOT!!!!
Just a single Mediaportal installation requires:

Primary:
.NET 1.1
.NET 2.0
Mediaportal

Secondary:
Latest SVN
FFDshow
Bunch of Codecs or Codecpack.
EPG Grabber.
Tv-Server
TV-plugin
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
additional (but recommened) SQL Server Management Studio Express

What happened to 1 Program= 1 installation!?!?

Best performance is another issue. Still to many bugs, and in my opinion a VERY bad TV-performance.

Both Internal and streaming is bad.
-Too big a delay on channel switch
-picture quality is very bad compared to other TV-softwares out there.

Feature filled HTPC software?

So and so........lots of different plugins, but i still miss better plugin integration(did anyone mention Mozilla or Meedio?).

Last of all, i can't stop mentioning, that for Mediaportal to EVER get a bigger usergroup and achievements, it needs to get more serious about ease of use.

-Way to many programs to install,the firest-time setup walkthrough is missing up on setting up plugins and not to mention the OLD faulty menustructure.

Correcting all these issues, would make my mediaportal day a whole lot easier!

Just have in mind that everyday people don't setup Mediaportal for a living:-P

Still very great work - keep it up - Hopefully 1.0 will be released in our lifetime:-)

/Morten

[ASiDiE]

Oh my......

[Inker]

Originally Posted by msj33

Easiest to install? NOT!!!!
Just a single Mediaportal installation requires:

Primary:
.NET 1.1
.NET 2.0
Mediaportal

Secondary:
Latest SVN
FFDshow
Bunch of Codecs or Codecpack.
EPG Grabber.
Tv-Server
TV-plugin
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
additional (but recommened) SQL Server Management Studio Express

What happened to 1 Program= 1 installation!?!?

So lets see, the only two things required from your list are a) .NET 2.0 and b) Mediaportal. Oh, and you actually forgot one, Windows.

In the future you will need two additional components, that is the TV-Sever and the SQL Server and if you use a single PC config the former may even be installed automatically for you.

Everything else is something that MP can take advantage of, but it is not required. None of them. .Net 1.1 is only required by one no-longer fully supported plugin. None of the core modules require it.

Bad TV-performance? Not for me and not for many other ppl out there. Perhaps its your cards drivers fault? For me MP is the single fasttest app when it comes to channel switching. TV Quality? This is codec and card dependent. But even the default configuration looks perfectly fine for me.

I agree with you on the plugin and setup part. This is an area that needs investment. But perhaps you have more specific suggestions instead of just saying "correct these issues". Tell us how to improve and we will try.