The poor My Picture feature seems to be the only feature on MP that doesn't get the attention it deserves, if any at all. Sure the TVServer is cool and listening to music or watching movies is more popular, but the My Picture feature could be just as cool if given a chance (Well, maybe not AS COOL as the TVserver, but you get the point). Now if I were a coder I would just jump in and fix the things that I feel need to be addressed with this feature, but alas I am not. So I and am now on a quest to appeal to you the good people in MP coding-land to focus some of your attention over for a few minutes to help me with this after-thought of a feature.
Here are a few items that I feel need to be addressed to really get things started:
1) Make the slideshow feature an option as a screensaver. This would be a great alternative to the visualizations feature in My Music. Yes, I know that you listen to music and view pictures at the same time right now. But this is very cumbersome the way it is designed right now. First you have to go into music and pick your playlist (or whatever) then you have to go out of that and then go into pictures and start a slide show there. Now if you want to change music you have to start the process all over again. Just make the slideshow a visualizations option.
2) Make music playlists available within this feature. Kinda the same idea as #1. It would be nice to be able to change music without having to reset the slideshow everytime.
3) Add manual and automatic options for image rotation.
4) Add a "no repeat" option to the random slideshow.
5) Add a "view pictures in subfolders" option the the slideshow. I've been told that this is already a feature built in, but I have never been able to get it to work.
6) Add the ability to import from subfolders.
6) Fix the "Ken Burns" effect. This is the coolest thing about the slideshows. But it is not coded very well. While the pictures do move and dissolve one into another, it is not very smooth. This is what happens: the picture FADES ON, then it MOVES, then STOPS MOVING, then DISSOLVES to another picture, the begins to MOVE again. The image should not stop moving while it is fading from one to another. It should be fluid.
7) Add a "rotation" option to the "Ken Burns" effect. Maybe something like 10 degrees of rotation. So when an image is zooming in or out it will also randomly rotate clockwise or counterclockwise but 10 degrees. Or whatever amount the user wants.
These are just a few items that I've thought of to really get this feature to be more that just a basic picture viewer that nobody ever uses.
Personally, I use this quite often. When the kids are home I put on the slideshow and some music and they can sit for hours sometimes watching this. It is much better than them watching Spongebob all day. It is great also for when we have friends and family over. It is almost always becomes a great conversation starter.
I apologize for the long post, but I really feel that this feature could and SHOULD be improved upon and if so, it could be one that a lot more people use more often.
Thanks for reading this and I hope that someone out there will take some time out of their busy coding schedules and address the items I've outlined for this feature.
I'd be so appreciative.
George Shubin
Here are a few items that I feel need to be addressed to really get things started:
1) Make the slideshow feature an option as a screensaver. This would be a great alternative to the visualizations feature in My Music. Yes, I know that you listen to music and view pictures at the same time right now. But this is very cumbersome the way it is designed right now. First you have to go into music and pick your playlist (or whatever) then you have to go out of that and then go into pictures and start a slide show there. Now if you want to change music you have to start the process all over again. Just make the slideshow a visualizations option.
2) Make music playlists available within this feature. Kinda the same idea as #1. It would be nice to be able to change music without having to reset the slideshow everytime.
3) Add manual and automatic options for image rotation.
4) Add a "no repeat" option to the random slideshow.
5) Add a "view pictures in subfolders" option the the slideshow. I've been told that this is already a feature built in, but I have never been able to get it to work.
6) Add the ability to import from subfolders.
6) Fix the "Ken Burns" effect. This is the coolest thing about the slideshows. But it is not coded very well. While the pictures do move and dissolve one into another, it is not very smooth. This is what happens: the picture FADES ON, then it MOVES, then STOPS MOVING, then DISSOLVES to another picture, the begins to MOVE again. The image should not stop moving while it is fading from one to another. It should be fluid.
7) Add a "rotation" option to the "Ken Burns" effect. Maybe something like 10 degrees of rotation. So when an image is zooming in or out it will also randomly rotate clockwise or counterclockwise but 10 degrees. Or whatever amount the user wants.
These are just a few items that I've thought of to really get this feature to be more that just a basic picture viewer that nobody ever uses.
Personally, I use this quite often. When the kids are home I put on the slideshow and some music and they can sit for hours sometimes watching this. It is much better than them watching Spongebob all day. It is great also for when we have friends and family over. It is almost always becomes a great conversation starter.
I apologize for the long post, but I really feel that this feature could and SHOULD be improved upon and if so, it could be one that a lot more people use more often.
Thanks for reading this and I hope that someone out there will take some time out of their busy coding schedules and address the items I've outlined for this feature.
I'd be so appreciative.
George Shubin