Australia
- Moderator
- #1
I request that MP adds a list(database?) of users allowing for per user settings and data.
I would imagine that alot of MP users would have family using MP. Problems arise tho with multiple users using the same mediaportal. I recommend that a list of users and thier details should be kept by mediaportal itself. This allows for mediaportal and plugins to use this data. Users could have rating(or level) restrictions. Users could also have their own set of watched/unwatched data. MP could add the ability to have "logged in" user(s), giving personalised settings, playlists, skins, news, etc.
Restrictions. At the moment the only way to restrict viewing is to put files in a different folder and pin protect it. This is not ideal. Through the use of ratings data gathered by the info scripts for files, or by manual setting, a file could have a rating (or level) put on it and only users that meet it can watch that file. By doing this, all the movies could be kept in the same share, or listed together on moving pictures or similar plugins, and keep these restrictions in place. Maybe moving pictures or my videos could be set to only show videos that can be watched, making restricted videos hidden.
Watched data. At the moment, for families the whole watched/unwatched feature is practically useless. If any one person watched a file its marked as watched. If there was a way to login users, mediaportal could work out if a user has watched a file. Mediaportal could ether check which users are currently logged in and mark that show watched for them when it finishes, or simply ask who was present at the end of the file, with the default option being "as previous" or something similar, so that you can simply click ok, and only need to interact with it if someone comes or leaves. This allows for other features like "show files i have not seen", and it would be usful for people in families.
Per user playlists. Playlist are usually used for types of music, or moods, but with families playlist end up just being a collection of music per person, or you end up with a ton of em with a set of different playlists per person. If mediaportal could check who is logged in, it could provide only the playlists for that person, or persons, depending on preference.
Per skin settings, skins are defiantly a per person thing. Some people would like there to be only the one skin for the whole family so that it is easier to teach how to use MP, which could be a preference in MP config to force only one skin. Other people would like to be able to change the skin. Skins are chosen on personal tastes and preferences. Each user could have their own skin, with it's own layout. This means that if one family member likes dark blues and only uses music and videos then they could have mediaportal adjust to them, while if you have a little kid, it could be bright yellow with children characters, and only goes to moving pictures with their children movies only showing up. Mediaportal already allows for the skin to be changed while its running, and the menu layout is based on only one file, so mediaportal would only need to keep track of that one file per user.
The login and out of users could be done via a dialog that simply marks if someone is present or not, and which users settings mediaportal should be using. The dialog could be brought up via a button on the overlay menu that sits at the top of the screen and/or by button key press, allowing for remotes to simply have a button assigned to it, if so wanted. Maybe an option could be added to allow MP to ask who is starting MP, I’ve MP isn’t set to run all the time.
There are probably a ton of other useful features that could be added if mediaportal added a users list that I haven’t thought of. I know it might be too late to add it into MP1 but hopefully MP2 could just add the user list, allowing plug developers to take advantage of it and MP could later add the other features that could be taken advantage of by keeping track of users.
Maybe for MP1, some plugin developer can write a generic user list plugin, and then other plugins could use it. Later to the community could submit patches to add this functionally to mediaportal itself.
O and just in case, I searched the forums for any ideas like this. I couldn’t find any, but sorry if there is one out there. Hopefully I’ve given some more ideas to the suggestion. Thanks for taking the time to read my suggestion.
I would imagine that alot of MP users would have family using MP. Problems arise tho with multiple users using the same mediaportal. I recommend that a list of users and thier details should be kept by mediaportal itself. This allows for mediaportal and plugins to use this data. Users could have rating(or level) restrictions. Users could also have their own set of watched/unwatched data. MP could add the ability to have "logged in" user(s), giving personalised settings, playlists, skins, news, etc.
Restrictions. At the moment the only way to restrict viewing is to put files in a different folder and pin protect it. This is not ideal. Through the use of ratings data gathered by the info scripts for files, or by manual setting, a file could have a rating (or level) put on it and only users that meet it can watch that file. By doing this, all the movies could be kept in the same share, or listed together on moving pictures or similar plugins, and keep these restrictions in place. Maybe moving pictures or my videos could be set to only show videos that can be watched, making restricted videos hidden.
Watched data. At the moment, for families the whole watched/unwatched feature is practically useless. If any one person watched a file its marked as watched. If there was a way to login users, mediaportal could work out if a user has watched a file. Mediaportal could ether check which users are currently logged in and mark that show watched for them when it finishes, or simply ask who was present at the end of the file, with the default option being "as previous" or something similar, so that you can simply click ok, and only need to interact with it if someone comes or leaves. This allows for other features like "show files i have not seen", and it would be usful for people in families.
Per user playlists. Playlist are usually used for types of music, or moods, but with families playlist end up just being a collection of music per person, or you end up with a ton of em with a set of different playlists per person. If mediaportal could check who is logged in, it could provide only the playlists for that person, or persons, depending on preference.
Per skin settings, skins are defiantly a per person thing. Some people would like there to be only the one skin for the whole family so that it is easier to teach how to use MP, which could be a preference in MP config to force only one skin. Other people would like to be able to change the skin. Skins are chosen on personal tastes and preferences. Each user could have their own skin, with it's own layout. This means that if one family member likes dark blues and only uses music and videos then they could have mediaportal adjust to them, while if you have a little kid, it could be bright yellow with children characters, and only goes to moving pictures with their children movies only showing up. Mediaportal already allows for the skin to be changed while its running, and the menu layout is based on only one file, so mediaportal would only need to keep track of that one file per user.
The login and out of users could be done via a dialog that simply marks if someone is present or not, and which users settings mediaportal should be using. The dialog could be brought up via a button on the overlay menu that sits at the top of the screen and/or by button key press, allowing for remotes to simply have a button assigned to it, if so wanted. Maybe an option could be added to allow MP to ask who is starting MP, I’ve MP isn’t set to run all the time.
There are probably a ton of other useful features that could be added if mediaportal added a users list that I haven’t thought of. I know it might be too late to add it into MP1 but hopefully MP2 could just add the user list, allowing plug developers to take advantage of it and MP could later add the other features that could be taken advantage of by keeping track of users.
Maybe for MP1, some plugin developer can write a generic user list plugin, and then other plugins could use it. Later to the community could submit patches to add this functionally to mediaportal itself.
O and just in case, I searched the forums for any ideas like this. I couldn’t find any, but sorry if there is one out there. Hopefully I’ve given some more ideas to the suggestion. Thanks for taking the time to read my suggestion.