CouchPotato - an iPhone remote app for MediaPortal | Version 1.2 (2011-08-05) (1 Viewer)

[noemfie]

Re: CouchPotato - an iPhone remote app for MediaPortal

Awesome , got it for my Iphone so long , works like a charm , 5 star review

 

[snoekieboe]

Re: CouchPotato - an iPhone remote app for MediaPortal

Looks like the new version got released since my ipad shows an update to version 1.1, allthough it still has the old date.

Could you confirm the update and what new or enhanced features are in it?

 

[TranceManNZ]

Re: CouchPotato - an iPhone remote app for MediaPortal

Shows new date for me on Iphone, looking good. Keep those updates coming

 

[Shukuyen]

Re: CouchPotato - an iPhone remote app for MediaPortal

Yep, Apple surprised me tonight be starting review and approving the app this night



Note: CouchPotato 1.1 needs at least WifiRemote 0.3.1 to work! Please update first.


New in CouchPotato 1.1

☛ Control MediaPortal with gestures!
Shake the device when you are connected to your MediaPortal to enter gesture mode. You can now remote control it without looking at the app. You can find a list of gestures on the gesture mode view.


☛ Progress bar for playing media
While playing a file in MediaPortal you can now see a progress bar on the upper status display of CouchPotato. Tap and drag at the current position of this bar to jump to a specific time in your file.


☛ Hide toolbar
You can hide the toolbar by swiping down with two fingers (or show it again by swiping up with two fingers). In CouchPotato 1.1 there is a new setting that lets you decide if you want to hide the toolbar completely or only half like in the previous versions.


☛ Facebook, Twitter and E-Mail integration
You can now let your friends know what you are listening to or watching! Press the "i" button when playing a file to go to the details page. Here you can now find a "Share" icon on the top left.

You can now also recommend CouchPotato to your friends from the settings Thanks for that!


☛ Manual server adding
There are some of you who are having trouble with Bonjour and auto server detection. There is now a workaround in place for you: On the server list tap the edit button to manually add a new server. You can either type in all the data or scan the QR code that you can find in the WifiRemote configuration.
CouchPotato automatically tries to wake up a manually added server before it connects. Please note that you can not see the online status of a manually added server.


☛ Spanish translation
CouchPotato is now localized to Spanish, many thanks to Aitor!


Changes in CouchPotato 1.1

☛ ⇊⇈ Showing/Hiding the toolbar now needs up/down swipes with two fingers

☛ Some bugs were found and fixed




Now it is time to look into media browsing, in parallel work on an iPad layout is done. The iPad layout will be released after media browsing is done, as the design doesn't make a lot of sense without it.

 

[robbo100]

Re: CouchPotato - an iPhone remote app for MediaPortal | Version 1.1 (2011-07-19)

Hi Shukuyen

I thought I would post some feedback on the new version which I have had a quick play with:

1) I love the gestures!!!! It works really well (mostly) and is intuitive. However, I find the two finger menu hide option very difficult to operate and they Couch Potato seems to easily confuse it with the volume change function, or a single finger swipe (I can hardly ever get it to work).

2) The media progress bar is also really nice. It would be great if this progress bar continues to display when viewing the media information page.

3) It would also be great if the gestures continued to work whilst showing the media information page (or in the top section at least where touching the screen has no function).

4) For some reason, the "home" button has stopped working and seems to trigger the "back" command instead (note: I think this is a problem with Wifiremote not Couch Potato since the problem was evident before I updated my iPhone but after I updated Wifiremote).

5) When watching live TV, the gesture "back/stop" command does not seem to work. If you double tap then MP brings up the "do you really want to stop live TV?" message. You can then swipe left or right to select yes or no, but if you then do a single tap to select your option you then send a "pause" command. Therefore it seems impossible to stop live TV using gestures.

6) The same problem as discussed in item 5 is also a problem with menus. If you do a long tap gesture, the menu item is shown. Again, you can navigate using up and down swipes, but you can not select an option using a single tap (as it sends the "pause command". This is the case for menus for videos and live TV.

7) Changing the media playback position using the media progress bar is an excellent feature, but picking up the moving slider can be a little tricky owing to the slider being quite small. Could it be coded that tapping and holding anywhere on the slider picks up the moving slider rather than having to tap at the precise position of the current play progress point (does that make sense)?

8) Media information does not seem to work with live TV. Is this a bug, or just something not yet coded?

9) If I have the media information page selected in Couch Potato and I use the normal remote control (i.e. not Couch Potato) to change the playing media (i.e. next music track), then the media information does not refresh and update (if item 3 is carried out, then this will need to happen).

Keep up the brilliant work - I love this app. I hope the above comments help to continue development of a fantastic plugin.

Robbo100

 

[Shukuyen]

Re: CouchPotato - an iPhone remote app for MediaPortal | Version 1.1 (2011-07-19)

Hey Robbo100,

thanks a lot for your great feedback!

1) I love the gestures!!!! It works really well (mostly) and is intuitive. However, I find the two finger menu hide option very difficult to operate and they Couch Potato seems to easily confuse it with the volume change function, or a single finger swipe (I can hardly ever get it to work).

You are right, the gestures are still a little tricky, but in my tests this combination of gestures worked best. For the two finger up/down gesture try to draw a straight line and don't change the distance between the fingers, then it will work quite good. I will try to improve this in the next version but I don't know how much room there is left.

2) The media progress bar is also really nice. It would be great if this progress bar continues to display when viewing the media information page.

Agreed.

3) It would also be great if the gestures continued to work whilst showing the media information page (or in the top section at least where touching the screen has no function).

Also agreed, but a little harder to do. Will put it definitely on my list.

4) For some reason, the "home" button has stopped working and seems to trigger the "back" command instead (note: I think this is a problem with Wifiremote not Couch Potato since the problem was evident before I updated my iPhone but after I updated Wifiremote).

Funny, this is working as it should here. But I also got another report about this. Could you please locate the "WifiRemote.xml" file (should be in MediaPortal\defaults\InputDeviceMappings\ for 1.2.0 beta or in MediaPortal\InputDeviceMappings\defaults for pre beta) and send it to me via email at support at couchpotatoapp.net?

5) When watching live TV, the gesture "back/stop" command does not seem to work. If you double tap then MP brings up the "do you really want to stop live TV?" message. You can then swipe left or right to select yes or no, but if you then do a single tap to select your option you then send a "pause" command. Therefore it seems impossible to stop live TV using gestures.

Single and double tap are mapped to ok and back if there is no video in fullscreen. If there is video in fullscreen they are mapped to play/pause and stop. This is what you are experiencing here, the dialog is on top, but video is still in fullscreen. Sorry about this, will have to find a way around it in the next version.

You could minimize live tv with a pinch gesture and then select "Stop TV" from the menu as a workaround.

6) The same problem as discussed in item 5 is also a problem with menus. If you do a long tap gesture, the menu item is shown. Again, you can navigate using up and down swipes, but you can not select an option using a single tap (as it sends the "pause command". This is the case for menus for videos and live TV.

Same thing here, will need to find out if there is an open menu.

7) Changing the media playback position using the media progress bar is an excellent feature, but picking up the moving slider can be a little tricky owing to the slider being quite small. Could it be coded that tapping and holding anywhere on the slider picks up the moving slider rather than having to tap at the precise position of the current play progress point (does that make sense)?

Yes, that totally makes sense.

8) Media information does not seem to work with live TV. Is this a bug, or just something not yet coded?

Not yet coded. This needs to be done in WifiRemote first then in CouchPotato.

9) If I have the media information page selected in Couch Potato and I use the normal remote control (i.e. not Couch Potato) to change the playing media (i.e. next music track), then the media information does not refresh and update (if item 3 is carried out, then this will need to happen).

Good point, shouldn't be too hard to fix (fingers crossed )



Thanks again for your very observatory and constructive comments. Those help a lot and are greatly appreciated.

 

[mbuzina]

Re: CouchPotato - an iPhone remote app for MediaPortal | Version 1.1 (2011-07-19)

One thing I found trying to use CouchPotato: When I use WiFi Personal Hotspot I get the No WiFi message, even though my PC is connected to it. I guess this is handled differently in iOS, but it might be an idea for future versions.

 

[robbo100]

Re: CouchPotato - an iPhone remote app for MediaPortal | Version 1.1 (2011-07-19)

Hi Shukuyen

Thanks again for your very observatory and constructive comments. Those help a lot and are greatly appreciated.

That is my pleasure!

The "WifiRemote.xml" you requested is attached to this post.

Quote:
Originally Posted by robbo100
1) I love the gestures!!!! It works really well (mostly) and is intuitive. However, I find the two finger menu hide option very difficult to operate and they Couch Potato seems to easily confuse it with the volume change function, or a single finger swipe (I can hardly ever get it to work).
You are right, the gestures are still a little tricky, but in my tests this combination of gestures worked best. For the two finger up/down gesture try to draw a straight line and don't change the distance between the fingers, then it will work quite good. I will try to improve this in the next version but I don't know how much room there is left.

Thanks for your advice, that definitely helps me make it work, however it has highlighted another bug

10) If you are on the gesture screen and use the two fingers down-swipe to minimise the bottom menu and then you shake the iPhone to return to the remote buttons screen, it is impossible to get the bottom menu back again. On the last version you could do a single finger up-swipe (whilst on the button screen), but now neither the single or double finger up-swipe work whilst on the button screen. You have to shake the iPhone again and do a two finger up-swipe to get the menu back. That said, the gestures screen is so good it almost renders the button screen as obsolete, but if you are keeping the button screen (which you probably should) then this menu must be more easily accessible.

Robbo100

 

[Shukuyen]

Re: CouchPotato - an iPhone remote app for MediaPortal | Version 1.1 (2011-07-19)

One thing I found trying to use CouchPotato: When I use WiFi Personal Hotspot I get the No WiFi message, even though my PC is connected to it. I guess this is handled differently in iOS, but it might be an idea for future versions.

My carrier won't let my use that so testing is a bit hard But I will try to fix it, thanks!


@Robbo100: You WifiRemote.xml looks good ... will need to do some thinking what could be the issue.

10) If you are on the gesture screen and use the two fingers down-swipe to minimise the bottom menu and then you shake the iPhone to return to the remote buttons screen, it is impossible to get the bottom menu back again. On the last version you could do a single finger up-swipe (whilst on the button screen), but now neither the single or double finger up-swipe work whilst on the button screen. You have to shake the iPhone again and do a two finger up-swipe to get the menu back. That said, the gestures screen is so good it almost renders the button screen as obsolete, but if you are keeping the button screen (which you probably should) then this menu must be more easily accessible.

This is a bug, it worked with two fingers in my tests but doesn't in the release version. This will be an easy fix.

 

[powermarcel10]

Re: CouchPotato - an iPhone remote app for MediaPortal | Version 1.1 (2011-07-19)

I want to say thank you!! For me, the most important feature for an iphoneremote app is the gestures, so thanks for adding that!!! I should test this new version the coming days, and report my opinions.. I also sent you an email back with the logs, because the problem with missing movie info is still there..

Best regards,