Looking for better TV viewing experience (1 Viewer)

meierk

Portal Pro
February 28, 2008
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I'm offering this as a improvement suggestion knowing full well that there may be a way to customize MediaPortal to achieve my desired outcome, that I just haven't found yet since I am a fairly new user.

I have owned 5 STB's over the past years and have seen many more at friends and families homes. The one thing about these devices is that you are either watching TV, viewing the guide or configuring the device. This is a consistent interface which makes it highly intuitive.

What I would prefer is to happen when I select "Watch TV" is for my LCD screen to show nothing more than the last channel that I was viewing. If I want to view another channel, I will either use the up/down channel button, or select "Guide" on my remote to bring up the EPG. Once in the EPG, the Escape key should return me to the program I was viewing, not the main MediaPortal menu. Having to first select "Watch TV" and then select another option is neither intuitive to me, my family or my friends, but is also not very efficient.

If this is something that can be customized, I apologize for the intrusion and welcome a link and information that will help me customize my interface.

-Kevin
 

pilehave

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  • April 2, 2008
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    Hornslet
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    I'm offering this as a improvement suggestion knowing full well that there may be a way to customize MediaPortal to achieve my desired outcome, that I just haven't found yet since I am a fairly new user.

    I have owned 5 STB's over the past years and have seen many more at friends and families homes. The one thing about these devices is that you are either watching TV, viewing the guide or configuring the device. This is a consistent interface which makes it highly intuitive.

    What I would prefer is to happen when I select "Watch TV" is for my LCD screen to show nothing more than the last channel that I was viewing. If I want to view another channel, I will either use the up/down channel button, or select "Guide" on my remote to bring up the EPG. Once in the EPG, the Escape key should return me to the program I was viewing, not the main MediaPortal menu. Having to first select "Watch TV" and then select another option is neither intuitive to me, my family or my friends, but is also not very efficient.

    If this is something that can be customized, I apologize for the intrusion and welcome a link and information that will help me customize my interface.

    -Kevin

    You can force MP to start TV in full-screen when entering "Watch TV" in MP Configuration. This would be an improvement of your current situation ;)
     

    meierk

    Portal Pro
    February 28, 2008
    72
    2
    Home Country
    Canada Canada
    Love to be able to say this works, but I haven't been able to get my TV Server working since RC3. Funny thing is I can always get DVB Dream working in less than 5 minutes.

    Thanks anyway. If I get this working I will try your suggestion.
     

    meierk

    Portal Pro
    February 28, 2008
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    Home Country
    Canada Canada
    After working with MediaPortal for a few months I decided to come back to this thread and provide more information. I understand that MediaPortal can start the TV plugin in fullscreen mode, but then I have to press the Esc button on my remote to get to a menu where I have to press more buttons to get to the EPG. It would much more intuitive if MediaPortal had the ability to go straight to the Guide, and not by pressing the Esc (go back) button. I would prefer MediaPortal start in fullscreen by default and if you want the menu or guide, you press the appropriate button on your remote. This will result in few button presses and an experience more in line with the majority of STB's on the market.

    Kevin
     

    JoeSmith

    Portal Pro
    November 17, 2007
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    could you please explain what exactly you wanna do ?
    i push a single button on my remote to go to the mini-guide or a single button to go to the full-epg
    maybe your remote is not properly set up
     

    piranha

    MP Donator
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  • September 17, 2005
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    You should/can have EPG mapped to a button on your remote.
    Alternatively you can use the OK button (it works on my MCE) to get miniepg.
     

    pilehave

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  • April 2, 2008
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    Hornslet
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    Well my iMon remote cannot do that since it emulates keystrokes to MediaPortal, and these cannot be edited beyond what is allready in the MP Config. This means that I cannot target Window-ID 600 (EPG).

    If anyone can do this withou installing 3rd party plugins, please share!
     

    meierk

    Portal Pro
    February 28, 2008
    72
    2
    Home Country
    Canada Canada
    Well my iMon remote cannot do that since it emulates keystrokes to MediaPortal, and these cannot be edited beyond what is allready in the MP Config. This means that I cannot target Window-ID 600 (EPG).

    If anyone can do this withou installing 3rd party plugins, please share!

    My remote is an iMon as well which probably explains why others can map to a guide, but we cannot.

    Kevin
     

    pilehave

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  • April 2, 2008
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    Well my iMon remote cannot do that since it emulates keystrokes to MediaPortal, and these cannot be edited beyond what is allready in the MP Config. This means that I cannot target Window-ID 600 (EPG).

    If anyone can do this withou installing 3rd party plugins, please share!

    My remote is an iMon as well which probably explains why others can map to a guide, but we cannot.

    Kevin

    I've been using this plugin for some time now, it makes your remote experience more configurable: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/plugins-47/generic-keyboard-remote-input-plugin-25755/

    It's still a hassle because you have to setup your buttons in the imon program AND in the plugin AND make sure that the keys are mapped correctly. If you want to I can send my config to you tonight when I'm back home (now it's morning, I'm at work)

    Edit: Got my remote running like a dream, although I have mapped the keys a bit weird since i use my Logitech Harmony 885 and this has different buttons. Now I have one button to switch between Fullscreen TV and EPG and another to go directly to recordings (and back).
     

    fabien44

    Portal Pro
    March 12, 2006
    414
    33
    Hello,
    I want to express my views too.
    I think recording functions are not very WAF.
    Example:
    - Recording a live and scheduled program have not the same behavior (no confirmation message for the second when i want to cancel it, not the same options in the information menu, ...)
    - same button to record and cancel record (could bring confusion for some people)
    - If i want to modify my recording (change end time for example) it's too complicated to access to parameters and i wonder if it is possible to change it.
    - etc.
     

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