Simple is better...

[BestRip]

I have a very central point I really would like to see in a new My TV design:

A simpler design in a fixed format, possibly with all info on 1 screen including sub-tabs(?) that has become commonly used in Windows and in many other commercial menu systems (like for example any TV's on screen menu settings)... They all follow a similar format for a reason: it is an easy way to grasp the whole page and all the possible settings.
As MediaPortal is constructed now it can leave you thinking: "...are there more screens that I have not found that are essential to control MP?" It can tend to leave one feeling a bit confused and incompetent, I think...

A strict adherence to structure could be very good and if that makes it difficult to fit all into 1 page, I think some settings could be entered in the TV-server and MP -settings parts instead of the My TV-part... accessible from "settings" instead of inside My TV...

The attached images are just very very simple examples serving only to illustrate the point above, as I don't by far have the insight and knowledge of the functions that would be necessary to structurize the menus.

The "Record, TV-Guide, Channel and Archive" could be accessed through the remote's 4 colored buttons, the OK AND also the Menu buttons, all to make it really easy to get there... aside from that, all maneuvering would be through the arrow buttons.

In the Channel AND TV-guide sections (tabs?) a small TV screen could serve as a quick zapping utility that doesn't have time shift and therefore is extra quick in changing channels...

A new(?) feature suggested: Recording from time shift buffer...

...any opinions about this concept.

[maxtrash]

i like the idea of the four tabs linked to the four colored buttons!
To keep it simple would also be a very good idea ("KISS"). In these examples however I feel there are still too many options (e.g. quality of the recording)

nice screenshots BTW!

[BestRip]

Originally Posted by maxtrash

i like the idea of the four tabs linked to the four colored buttons!
To keep it simple would also be a very good idea ("KISS"). In these examples however I feel there are still too many options (e.g. quality of the recording)

nice screenshots BTW!

Thanks maxtrash
About "many options" I just think it will be impossible to satisfy everyone with an even more strict or sparse amount of settings than something like this. My point however to have all items on just one page is illustrated possible even with quite a few options available. I'm sure there may be several other ways to accomplish this but I still feel it's an important point and the way I made it could be OK as it is quite functional.

Perhaps this point may not appear very important to MP-developers and testers as many probably know the composition of the program inside out, by heart, in their sleep and so on...

Another small but somewhat significant issue I've also tried to address in the examples, is the fontsize vs. the sourrounding graphics. To keep the graphics small while fonts relativly large... thus being able to fit in more text on a single page, not having to scroll when not really neccesary! Aiming at an as fast as possible overview over any page... "KISS"?

[Redfish]

Does recording all occurences of a given television series work when you only have 2 days advance of TV guide?

Also is it possible to simultaneously watch a program that's being recorded from the start while the recording is further? Can you read and write to a file on your harddisk?

[BestRip]

Originally Posted by Redfish

Does recording all occurences of a given television series work when you only have 2 days advance of TV guide?

Also is it possible to simultaneously watch a program that's being recorded from the start while the recording is further? Can you read and write to a file on your harddisk?

TV guide wouldn't have to be more than, well, seconds before the start of a show...

The standard commercial harddisk machines I have can "chase play" while recording. Any standard harddisk would allow that today, providing the software can handle it (I think ).

The above screen dumps are just examples illustrating how I would like MP to handle the "My TV" part of the MP program... it describes no actual functions in MP, and with no comments from any of the developers either... probably not very likely to be a model for any future MP interface ...too simple?

[The_Stig]

Don't hesitate. All these suggestions are being watched. It just isnt currently the time to take real steps. Even some team members made very good suggestions long time ago and it isnt implemented :-)

So thanks for your work, we will see what happens...

[halotron]

I cant help but comment on the word "fixed" you used.
The issue I have with myTV in particular is that the UI uses fixed coordinates for everything (correct me if i'm wrong here, i just had a quick look).
So, if you have a screen 640x480, you have to calibrate the screen since the blue theme asumes a resolution of 720x568 or some such.
That would be all nice and dandy if it was not for the fact that the calibration is buggy (version 0.2.3.0).

An other way would be to use relative positioning. That would I guess all but eliminate the need for calibration and the need of different themes for different resolutions.

I'm new to mediaportal btw :-) Nice app!

[Nitram]

The ability to record from any point in the timeshift buffert would be nice

A simple way to define the numer of channels i the epg, (I only use 6 channels)

The KISS idea is always nice to implement, it usually gives the app an high WAF

/Martin