Radio Recordings Info Missing (1 Viewer)

[Dadeo]

As an experiment, I copied to a "Video" folder a TV recording and a radio recording made within the last few days using MP. When I viewed the folder, I realised that the "Video" panel suffers from the same problem as "Radio Recordings" -- the programme info is missing in the "List" layout (see attached screen shots). "video_list_1" shows a folder containing a recently-recorded episode of "The Simpsons", but no programme info is displayed. "video_list_2" shows what is displayed when RIGHT is pressed.

Yes, that is the standard in aMPed, and unique from other skins - details only display when you press the right arrow. If you want them on screen you can choose an icons layout. Trying to suit everyone's preferences I made an exception for TV/Radio because there are never any backdrops/fanart or nice cover images, which there are in most cases in MP (using Fanart Handler plugin for fanart backdrops), Several users (including some of aMPed's loyal testers!) requested it. So I changed it a couple versions ago. I prefer consistency, but since I don't use TV/Radio anymore ....

On "Filmstrip", RIGHT from the last item displays the side-bar menu, but without any menu item highlighted.

I can't reproduce that. Are there any related errors in the log files?

DOWN seems to cause one of the entries in the menu to become highlighted, and then it is possible to return to "Filmstrip" by using LEFT or RIGHT.

I can reproduce this, for some reason the info down arrow (and navigation) does not display on videos. I'll investigate and post corrected files once I figure out why! BTW are you using Shares view, or one of the DB views like Title? (they use different skin files). I can reproduce the issue on any Video view with Filmstrip. Coverflow only displays the right arrow (not down) even though ondown works.

About copying recorded TV an getting metadata. I know a lot of users do it using the TV Series plugin, though I am not sure how they get it to recognize DVR-MS files. I know there is a plugin to use WTV files in MP.

Same goes for your scheduling preferences, there are a number of plugina/add ons that offer more options. MP is designed to be extended because we don't have a team or funds like MS does! So you get the basics with MP, but if you really want to unleash the power, you select the add ons you want. You can find (and install) them all easily using the MPEI (Extension installer) desktop shortcut.

In general, I would expect "TV Recordings", "Radio Recordings", and "Videos" to have a good deal of commonality in their appearance and behaviour.

Yeah, me too - but it's not the case as you have found in a few cases already. They have different configuration apps/settings and User Interface! And skinning them is quite different as well (TV/Radio is much more restricted/hard coded probably for good reasons )

PS: Apologies about the long discourse in my previous appends relating to WMC; I realised afterwards that I ought to have started a new thread. If you have the necessary power, please feel free to move those posts to a new thread in a more appropriate forum. Thanks.

No worries, I don't mind. Yes I can move the posts wherever you want - other WMC users might be interested. Just tell me what forum you would like to post them in.

 

[CyberSimian]

Yes, that is the standard in aMPed, and unique from other skins - details only display when you press the right arrow. ... I made an exception for TV/Radio because there are never any backdrops/fanart or nice cover images, which there are in most cases in MP (using Fanart Handler plugin for fanart backdrops).

I am one of those sad people who prefers information over "eye candy". 'Nuff said!

On "Filmstrip", RIGHT from the last item displays the side-bar menu, but without any menu item highlighted.

I can't reproduce that. Are there any related errors in the log files?

There are two oddities:

(1) LEFT from the first item shows the side-bar menu, but the choice highlighted is "Play DVD" (see first screen shot). Normally the choice highlighted is the topmost one -- "Layout: Filmstrip".

(2) RIGHT from the last item shows the side bar menu with no highlighted choice (see second screen shot).

I looked in the MP log, and there quite a few WARN-level entries that mention aMPed, but I cannot tell whether these are normal, or are related to this problem. I have attached the log file.

BTW are you using Shares view, or one of the DB views like Title? (they use different skin files).

When I read your post, I didn't know what "Shares" view was! But I have now read the wiki. Yes, I am using "Shares" view.

If you have the necessary power, please feel free to move those posts to a new thread in a more appropriate forum.

No worries, I don't mind. Yes I can move the posts wherever you want - other WMC users might be interested. Just tell me what forum you would like to post them in.

Probably the "Newcomers" forum would be the best choice, with a title something like "Migrating From Windows Media Center to MediaPortal". That is sufficiently general to be used by anyone who wants to ask questions or offer advice about moving from WMC to MP. Thank you.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[Dadeo]

OK Moved WMC posts to https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...m-windows-media-center-to-mediaportal.127387/

I am one of those sad people who prefers information over "eye candy". 'Nuff said!

You are not alone, I think it is about 50/50 among MP users. I'm one of those who finds "a picture is worth a thousand words".

When I read your post, I didn't know what "Shares" view was! But I have now read the wiki. Yes, I am using "Shares" view.

Are you using aMPed's video thumbs or covers layout? Can post a screenshot of filmstrip view? If you use covers layout, down arrow should work. Thumbs view is designed for videos without metadata. I can guess that recorded TV falls in between - you want to display the video thumb images because you don't have a cover grabbed when indexing in Database, but you want to see the metadata. I can do that, but it is a feature request and will take longer.

(1) LEFT from the first item shows the side-bar menu, but the choice highlighted is "Play DVD" (see first screen shot). Normally the choice highlighted is the topmost one -- "Layout: Filmstrip".
(2) RIGHT from the last item shows the side bar menu with no highlighted choice (see second screen shot).

Yep, I just can't reproduce that, so hard to know what to fix. I tried explicitly setting filmstrip to go to the 'Layout' menu item (attached fixe for Videos Shares, Thumbs layout). See if that helps again.

I noticed in your log your screensize is 1228x690 - perhaps when MP reduces from 1280x720 it thinks a different button is 'closer' BTW do you use windowed or fullscreen mode?

 

[CyberSimian]

OK Moved WMC posts to https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...m-windows-media-center-to-mediaportal.127387/

Thank you!

Are you using aMPed's video thumbs or covers layout? Can post a screenshot of filmstrip view? If you use covers layout, down arrow should work.

Yes, I was using the installation default, which is "Covers" layout (see screen shot, which shows filmstrip with the focus on the last item; note: last item has no programme info available to MP -- it is a WTV file).

Thumbs view is designed for videos without metadata. I can guess that recorded TV falls in between - you want to display the video thumb images because you don't have a cover grabbed when indexing in Database, but you want to see the metadata. I can do that, but it is a feature request and will take longer.

Yes, now that I have tried "Thumbs" layout, it gives a better presentation for recorded TV that has been moved to the "Video" section, and I would indeed like to see the programme info for it. But I appreciate that it would be an enhancement, and that you would need to fit that in with other calls on your time (assuming that you agree, of course!).

More generally, I think that one ends up force-fitting one's requirements into the tool available. Storing recorded TV in the "Videos" section is not an obvious thing to do. WMC had irritating quirks with the way that it handled the "Recorded TV" folder, and storing recorded TV in the "Video" section was the best way to circumvent these quirks. If MP does not have these quirks, storing recorded TV in the "Video" section may not be necessary. (I need to spend some time experimenting to determine how things behave.) But as a rule of thumb, I would say that if information is available, there should be a way to see it!

(1) LEFT from the first item shows the side-bar menu, but the choice highlighted is "Play DVD". Normally the choice highlighted is the topmost one -- "Layout: Filmstrip".
(2) RIGHT from the last item shows the side bar menu with no highlighted choice.

Yep, I just can't reproduce that, so hard to know what to fix. I tried explicitly setting filmstrip to go to the 'Layout' menu item (attached fix for Videos Shares, Thumbs layout). See if that helps again.

I will report on the "Thumbs" layout in a moment, but staying with the "Covers" layout, when I was testing this morning, I noticed a third oddity about "Filmstrip". I displayed my test folder in "Filmstrip" layout, then pressed RIGHT repeatedly. At some point the list scrolled to bring into view the last item in the list. Further RIGHT presses brought the focus to the last item (see screen shot). There is no arrow pointing right, but another RIGHT press displayed the side-bar menu. but with no choice highlighted. In this state, LEFT and RIGHT do nothing, but pressing DOWN once or several times eventually causes a choice to be highlighted. This is always the "Settings" choice. Now LEFT and RIGHT do work, and it is possible to return to the filmstrip.

Now that we are back on the filmstrip, pressing LEFT repeatedly moves the focus along the list to the left, and at some point the list scrolls to omit the last item. But now the last item has disappeared permanently! Pressing RIGHT repeatedly to move the focus back to the last item only goes as far as the penultimate item, and RIGHT from the penultimate items displays the side-bar menu (once again, with no choice highlighted). Exiting "Videos" to the "Home" panel resets things, and the last item is visible once again on entering filmstrip.

The "Covers" layout seems to have problems too (this is using the new xml file). I entered the filmstrip display, pressed RIGHT repeatedly to get to the last item. Now, of the four possible directions:

(1) LEFT moved the focus back to the penultimate item (OK).

(2) UP and RIGHT displayed the side-bar menu with the topmost choice highlighted (OK). In this state, the LEFT and RIGHT buttons work normally to remove the side-bar menu from the display and return to filmstrip.

(3) DOWN displayed the side-bar menu with no choice highlighted (incorrect). In this state, LEFT and RIGHT did nothing, but UP removed the menu from the display and returned to filmstrip. Note that there is no down arrow displayed in filmstrip.

Also, when the focus is on the middle item in the filmstrip, with an item off-screen on the left, and another item off-screen on the right, only a left arrow is visible; there is no right arrow.

This is all very puzzling. The folder that I have used for these tests is a folder that contains a few test files. There are three DVR-MS files (no metadata), three WTV files (again no metadata), and two TS files recorded recently using MP (one TV, one radio) complete with XML files. These errors are all repeatable. Is there some "super debug mode" that you want me to enable and run the tests again?

I noticed in your log your screensize is 1228x690 - perhaps when MP reduces from 1280x720 it thinks a different button is 'closer' BTW do you use windowed or fullscreen mode?

I started using WMC in 2009, and experience since then has shown why HTPCs have not become a mass-market choice -- there are too many itty-bitty things that go wrong or don't work properly. You might think that a TV is a TV -- simply plug it in! But it is not quite that simple (I will skip that tale of woe), and the result is that I have to run my LCD TV at 1228x690. This is not ideal, but is the "least worst" of the alternatives. However, I do normally run MP fullscreen (and I take the screen shots in fullscreen).

 

[Dadeo]

I'm really stumped CyberSimian - it all works correctly here Even more strange is that it works for you in Titan/Default skins which use exactly the same navigation I have in aMPed. TBH you seem to have a number of display issues, and they seem to occur more frequently with aMPed maybe due to the larger fonts? I'll keep trying to think of a solution but don't hold your breath - it's pretty hard when I can't reproduce the issue. You already posted debug logs and though I'm no expert, I could not see anything that would cause your issues in the log.

BTW if you are using a keyboard you can press the Home and End keys to go to the first and last item. You can probably map that to a remote button, but I never have because you can use SMS style navigation

As I mentioned before the 'info' right arrow only displays when you have metadata, but that still doesn't explain all your issues!

I started using WMC in 2009, and experience since then has shown why HTPCs have not become a mass-market choice -- there are too many itty-bitty things that go wrong or don't work properly. You might think that a TV is a TV -- simply plug it in! But it is not quite that simple (I will skip that tale of woe), and the result is that I have to run my LCD TV at 1228x690.

Yeah the Team is sick and tired of hearing me repeat that over an over again
The only think I can think of is to change your screen size to native 1280x720 just to test if you get the same issues.
If your TV doesn't support overscan there is an option in MP Settings (only in GUI) > Screen Calibration you may be able to get to work for you.
Sorry I can't be more help!

 

[CyberSimian]

I'm really stumped CyberSimian - it all works correctly here ... I'll keep trying to think of a solution but don't hold your breath - it's pretty hard when I can't reproduce the issue.

No worries. If this were a common problem, there would be other "aMPed" users posting about it. The fact that they are not posting indicates that it happens only in some rare combination of circumstances.

The only thing I can think of is to change your screen size to native 1280x720 just to test if you get the same issues.

I will definitely try this, and let you know what happens.

If your TV doesn't support overscan there is an option in MP Settings (only in GUI) > Screen Calibration you may be able to get to work for you.

Yes, my TV is a Toshiba LCD TV dating from 2006, and it does not have any adjustments for overscan. This is why I have used the Nvidia "resize the desktop" facility to reduce the logical screen size to 1228x690. (The native panel size is 1366x768, but the highest resolution that allows 50Hz refresh is 1280x720.) I did have a play with the MP overscan setting. Although there was enough adjustment for fullscreen video, I could not find any way to similarly adjust the MP panels, so all of the panel fields near the edge of the screen end up partially off screen!

I appreciate the time that you have spent investigating the issues that I have had, even though we have not been able to solve the last one. Many thanks.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[CyberSimian]

The only thing I can think of is to change your screen size to native 1280x720 just to test if you get the same issues.

I tried changing my Windows screen resolution to the native LCD panel resolution, namely 1366x768. At this resolution, the TV supports only 25Hz and 30Hz refresh rates. I chose 25Hz, but I would not use it long term at this refresh rate due to the unpleasant visual artefacts that occur on rapidly-panning scenes (one needs 50Hz or a multiple of it to avoid these artefacts).

Sadly, the same oddities were present -- LEFT from the first item displayed the side-bar menu with an unexpected choice highlighted, while RIGHT from the last item displayed the side-bar menu with no choice highlighted.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[Dadeo]

Just to confirm, did you test with Vidoe Thumbs or Covers layout? I only did the fix for Thumbs layout so far. Should have mentioned that!

 

[CyberSimian]

Just to confirm, did you test with Vidoe Thumbs or Covers layout? I only did the fix for Thumbs layout so far. Should have mentioned that!

You did mention it (in an earlier post)! But I could not remember whether I had tested "Covers" or "Thumbs", so I have just tested both. Note: the test screen size is actually 1360x768 (not 1366 as I said previously).

Both "Covers" and "Thumbs" showed the problems that I had described in previous posts (and this is using the modified XML file that you had provided). There seems to be some variation in what happens once I get to the side-bar menu with no choice highlighted. Sometimes a single DOWN is sufficient to cause one choice to be highlighted (it is always "Settings"); sometimes it requires more than one press. But this evening I got to the side-bar menu with no choice highlighted, and then I couldn't get out! No matter how many times I pressed DOWN, UP, LEFT, or RIGHT, no choice became highlighted. I had to press the EXIT button (ESC key) to return to the "Home" panel.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[Dadeo]

Sorry that didn't work - I can't figure out what could override the explicit navigation on your system. Do you have any plugins installed? If so, you could try disabling them and see if it makes a difference? Just trying to eliminate any possible causes. When you get an issue like this it can take a while to diagnose it.

If this were a common problem, there would be other "aMPed" users posting about it.

Yeah but even so I wish I could figure it out, I can imagine it is very annoying! Of course, if it only applies to filmstrip (and sometimes coverflow) layouts you can avoid those, but even so....

If you use the 'Watchdog' (Debug mode) shortcut from Windows Start menu and post the zip of logs it creates (it will provide more than you posted before) I can take a look, or ask one of the developers who might be able to spot more than I can.