First, thanks so much for such a terrific contribution to those needing to manage large collections of HDD based movies - I've tried many of the alternatives before finally making it here, and Moving Pictures takes the crown for smooth interface design, integration with a capable player frontend, and - most importantly - an unbelievably capable, time saving importer. Once the genre sorting falls into place, I will finally be satisfied with my ability to manage my movie collection. Great work!
If I may, I have a few small suggestions that may improve usability and/or style:
Default Disc covers - Just as there are default backgrounds, it would be great to have a default cover generated for each disc (with the title typed on it) that the importer can't find a cover for. This would make the cover view options usable and less of an eyesore (no empty boxes) for those with numerous movies that lack official covers.
Auto Scrolling - Make an option to slowly scroll through the list of movies (especially for thumbnail and filmstrip views).
Display format, resolution, etc.. - Maybe create one more line in a movies (expanded) description, possibly below Runtime, looking something like: Format: [Media Type] [Resolution] [Audio] [Channels]. For example, a Blu-Ray would appear as Format: Blu-Ray 1080p TrueHD 7.1 , while a movie on a HDD might be Format: HD 720p DTS 5.1 . Information could either be detected from the files, or in the case of discs, maybe from a DB.
User Ratings - A second 10-star rating that can be set from within MP (and maybe a prompt after finishing an unrated movie to rate it) - I'm sure many will agree that IMDB's scores are at best only a rough indicator of one's personal opinions of a movie.
Condensed List View - Currently, depending on skins, I can fit about 10 movie titles on screen at best in list mode; 20 in small thumbnail. Could a more condensed list mode be added to fit the maximum possible number of titles on screen as possible (while still being readable on the avg 1080p display) be added? For large movie libraries, its a pain to scroll through ~50 pages of movies.
Well, that's all I can think of for now, hopefully some of that was useful and not already mentioned. Any of those ideas sound like they would be worth implementing?
If I may, I have a few small suggestions that may improve usability and/or style:
Default Disc covers - Just as there are default backgrounds, it would be great to have a default cover generated for each disc (with the title typed on it) that the importer can't find a cover for. This would make the cover view options usable and less of an eyesore (no empty boxes) for those with numerous movies that lack official covers.
Auto Scrolling - Make an option to slowly scroll through the list of movies (especially for thumbnail and filmstrip views).
Display format, resolution, etc.. - Maybe create one more line in a movies (expanded) description, possibly below Runtime, looking something like: Format: [Media Type] [Resolution] [Audio] [Channels]. For example, a Blu-Ray would appear as Format: Blu-Ray 1080p TrueHD 7.1 , while a movie on a HDD might be Format: HD 720p DTS 5.1 . Information could either be detected from the files, or in the case of discs, maybe from a DB.
User Ratings - A second 10-star rating that can be set from within MP (and maybe a prompt after finishing an unrated movie to rate it) - I'm sure many will agree that IMDB's scores are at best only a rough indicator of one's personal opinions of a movie.
Condensed List View - Currently, depending on skins, I can fit about 10 movie titles on screen at best in list mode; 20 in small thumbnail. Could a more condensed list mode be added to fit the maximum possible number of titles on screen as possible (while still being readable on the avg 1080p display) be added? For large movie libraries, its a pain to scroll through ~50 pages of movies.
Well, that's all I can think of for now, hopefully some of that was useful and not already mentioned. Any of those ideas sound like they would be worth implementing?