[Finished] Make EPG entry point for watching and recording TV (1 Viewer)

[astronaut]

The follwing changes should be implemented in the user interface in order to avoid unnecessary clicks when starting a TV show:

The highlighted TV show should be started directly by pressing the "OK" button from the EPG screen. By pressing the "info" button, the same menu should be shown that is shown today when pressing the OK button. Pressing the "recording" button should lead to the recording screen or menu right away.

By following this suggestion, watching TV is made easier because only one click instead of two starts a TV show. Recording a TV show can be done with the same number of clicks as today, albeit with a different button than today ("info" instead of "OK"). Pressing "Recording" does what it should do and makes programming a recording with a remote control even easier. I strongly assume this is the behavior that is expected by the majority of users.

I use a Microsoft MCE remote to control MP, in this post I am referring to the buttons on the remote. I assume that the same user interface issues can be experienced with other remotes or a mouse where "OK" is equivalent to the left button and "info" is equivalent to the right button.

After a bit of discussion (see Bug and Problem Reports) I started a small round of qualitative user testing with two users so far. I did the tests professionally and did not ask suggestive questions etc. Of course, the number of participants is not big enough to base a decision on these results solely. However, both participants I have asked so far preferred EPG over MiniEPG to start watching or recording TV and therefore corroborate my evaluation. According to these results, MiniEPG is not needed, however, the harm done by having a secondary EPG like MiniEPG is not big, hence it can stay if other people think it is necessary.

Sidenote: I am a usability professional and a long time and enthusiastic MP user (for about 10 years or so). From a usability point of view, MP1 with the Titan skin is a very good solution for watching and listening to media. Because OnlineVideos has a flaw in MP1, I gave MP2 and the available skins a try, and my professional assessment is that user experience needs to be improved quite a bit before it is as usable as MP1/Titan. Please don't consider me as ungrateful, I appreciate the work that is being put into MP, however, I think the user experience with MP2 is not as good as it could be and I want to give my feedback on how to make MP2 better.

 

[ge2301]

I'm in charge of the MP2 skins. I basically agree with all your points. I'm sure there a lot of potentials in terms of navigation, so your feedback is very welcome. Partly things can not be changed easily as skinner, so I'd like to hear first feedback from our MP2 devs about it before I take a look.

 

[astronaut]

Thanks for the thumbs up. After reinstalling MP2, I noticed the new Titan skin, I am excited to see this fast development in MP2 skins!

 

[Timhoh1234]

@morpheus_xx @ge2301
Selecting a program from EPG for recording will be statistically much less then selecting a program for viewing from EPG. So I fully agree, it's not good to show always a dialog in between, which means always one additional press to watch a program.
Why not directly showing the program on selection (OK-Button) and just showing the recording dialog when pressing the recording button or info button?
That would be much easier and intuitive.

 

[Lehmden]

Hi.
This will break the continuity in remote usage completely. In Mini EPG it is ok to instantly start watching a program as there are no other options (schedule a recording) available and only the recent program can be selected.

As you can not play a program that is not yet running you need to have a different behavior for recent and future programs in big EPG if you would implement this option. It will lead to unexpected behavior as soon as a program is near to it's' end. The refresh cycle of the EPG view can not be to short for performance reasons (many, many database queries and lots of GUI drawing is necessary for a refresh), so it is updated every 15 minutes (or so, don't know the exact value). That's why the border between recent and future program is (can) not be exact defined from inside the EPG view. For a time frame of around 15 minutes you can not know which reaction is to expect, if you press the "OK" button. We only could avoid this by constantly refreshing the EPG. But this is impossible due to performance reasons. Unexpected and not calculable reaction to a user action (like pressing the OK button) is far away from being user- friendly, if you ask me.

 

[Timhoh1234]

Hi.
This will break the continuity in remote usage completely. In Mini EPG it is ok to instantly start watching a program as there are no other options (schedule a recording) available and only the recent program can be selected.

As you can not play a program that is not yet running you need to have a different behavior for recent and future programs in big EPG if you would implement this option. It will lead to unexpected behavior as soon as a program is near to it's' end. The refresh cycle of the EPG view can not be to short for performance reasons (many, many database queries and lots of GUI drawing is necessary for a refresh), so it is updated every 15 minutes (or so, don't know the exact value). That's why the border between recent and future program is (can) not be exact defined from inside the EPG view. For a time frame of around 15 minutes you can not know which reaction is to expect, if you press the "OK" button. We only could avoid this by constantly refreshing the EPG. But this is impossible due to performance reasons. Unexpected and not calculable reaction to a user action (like pressing the OK button) is far away from being user- friendly, if you ask me.

I'm not really sure what you want to say. If there is a parameter to show "watch program" in a dialog, what is the problem to use the same parameter to show the program directly on selection. In case the parameter is false nothing happens. This has nothing to do with updating the epg

 

[morpheus_xx]

I find it consistent to offer user choice when selecting a program:
Only for currently running programs a direct playback would be possible. Alternative options to schedule would need to be moved into context menu, if "click" starts tuning. Some users even don't know that there is a context menu in other areas, so moving the important scheduling options there I would consider a bad idea.

I know that it is a different behavior compared to MP1, but in my opinion not every behavior must (or should) be copied without impeaching.

 

[ge2301]

The required behavior is also existing in WMC and Kodi, so it's not only about a comparison with MP1.
In WMC the program starts directly on selection, if it is already running. A recording dialogue appears for all future programs.
I think this would be the best behavior for several very good reasons:

• It hardly happens, that you record a program, that is already running (because the beginning is missing and usually you would watch it and record it from the FullScreenControls.
• As Timhoh1234 said, statistically users watch more than they record, so it's never good to think the software knows better than the user what is needed.
• The argument that users won't know about a context menu is a bit funny for me. Intuitively the first thing I'd try is the record button. It can be added to wiki into a manual. If this is a problem, then having the red button for switching to full screen, the yellow button for changing subtitles and much more things are a real problem, because nobody would know them without checking a manual once.

Overall we have a lot of complaints, that users do not feel comfortable with some navigation points. The "pain" is hiding in small details. It's not about copying from MP1, we need to listen to those feedbacks. We can also start a poll with several options and I'm very sure about the result.

 

[ge2301]

I added a poll and can only encourage everybody to vote for a clearer picture

 

[morpheus_xx]

It hardly happens, that you record a program, that is already running (because the beginning is missing and usually you would watch it and record it from the FullScreenControls.

Yes, probably not recording: but I use a click on it to show repeated airings of the same program so I can record it later. And I don't expect to change the channel while I watching another channel already.

As Timhoh1234 said, statistically users watch more than they record, so it's never good to think the software knows better than the user what is needed.

This is exactly the problem with your argumentation: If the software should not think that it can make it better, it's also not better to tune the channel. So if it can't know it better, asking the user what he want is the only logical solution.

And you should consider the fullguide not as a "zapping screen": It is the only place where you get offered the full program information, past, current and future programs. This means for me, that this screen is much more related to recording planning as you imply.

If users want to quickly change channels, they already have following options:

1. Zap by channel index/number
2. Use channel up/down
3. Use MiniGuide (OK)
4. Even use TVHome screen.

So I don't think that the fullscreen (for with I see program overview and recording controls as a primary target) should deal like a "zapping feature". And to start immediate tuning in a currently running while showing dialogs on 99% of the other programs (past and future ones) is not consistent.

Also the number of choices are much more than "tune" and "record", they are extensible by any other plugin (i.e. there was an interaction with TV Whishlist).

we need to listen to those feedbacks.

Yes, we listen. But obviously there are different opinions of users. And as I am also one long-years-MP2-in-production user, I think I have the right to have an own opinion myself.