Release plans for Beta 2 (0.2) (2 Viewers)

[Anonymous]

may be out of topic.. but...

will there be an 0.1.1 release before with all the fixes made already? Would be lovely!!!

 

[Frodo]

offcourse we'll release new version regulary
getting beta 2 ready will take some weeks/months
so in the mean time expect weekly release build as always
frodo

 

[gds]

Ok, here are my ideas:
Usability:
1 - rethink first level menus grouping. I'm thinking about a conceptual separation: audio (second level menu: cds, media library items, radios, internet streams, etc), video (second level menu: dvd, media library items, tv, internet streams, etc), internet (second level menu: messenger, IRC, firebird, webphone, etc), utilities (second level menu: weather, recipes, programs, etc), images, CONFIGURATION (I stressed this one because I think it is mandatory for an enjoyable user experience to be able to configure media portal from within its gui with the remote), etc. This is to have the least possible menu items on the first level, for a less cluttered gui;
2 - show most (or last) used 2nd level items on the right of 1st level ones (like mce2005 does, it really works);
3 - I know it's not at all about usability, but I think a better adherence to microsoft mce's gui would ease user's adaptation to mp;
4 - customizability: make mp work the way most of us think is best, while permitting the others to modify its gui to adapt to their needs. I.e. the ability to add most used 2nd level items to 1st level menu, either automatically after some use or through configuration menu.
5 - easy syncronization/download/upload with pocketpcs and memory cards;
6 - cd/dvd rip and burn integrated in each relevant menu (i.e. to easily rip audio cds or burn recorder shows);
7 - back and home buttons in each menu;
Features request:
1 - lan/web streaming server, so you can enjoy mp content from wherever you like;
2 - pocketpc integration both as a remote, a storage device and as a client to mp server for watching/listening to all mp stored content;
3 - lcd and touchscreen support;
4 - text search in tv guide;
5 - while browsing tv guide you should see a preview of the highlighted channel;
6 - in the tv guide there should be an option to tune the selected channel when the desired program starts;
7 - I think it would be great to check cinemas schedules from the gui.
When I can think of something more, I'll post it.

 

[FullMoon]

Usability
This is my biggest area for improvement. I am working on this and another (Beyond Media) program and there are good and bad points on both. Overally, MP is superior, bet here are the user issues that fall behind
1. video playback, instant jump forward. The current skip forward hesitates so you can shoose the time to skip forward. It would be ideal to have a second option that skips forward without hesitation a predefined limit. The skip forward with hesitation could be assigned to the up arrow, first initiates it, continuing to press changes the skip time, and the second (right arrow) just skips forward a time determined in settings. Alternatively, have settings determine if you want to skip instantaneously or give you a choice, one or the other.
2. Menu scrolling - this is slow, especially with thumbnails or album art. When I press the down arrow and a new row comes up it needs to be fast.
3. shortcuts - assign remote number keys to automatically get from main screen to a chosen screen
4. picture slideshow - BM has a feature which"animates" pictures, having them kind of float, it's a soothing effect vs just having them sit there and animating transitions.
5. For music, hell for anything, a pocketpc webserve application. A way to control Media portal interactively through pocket pc. Best example is Winamp with webamp, on the pocket pc I get a list of the songs in that playlist or directory, and can choose individual songs, choose new playlists/directories, paus, play, etc. I can control the music from any room without seeing a tv. I'd say go a step beyond and control all aspects of MP with this, you can use the Pocketpc through wifi as a universal interactive remote. The key is have it receive data from MP so you're not blind.

 

[Frodo]

pfff
this starts to look like the feature requests forum
that was not my idea, but if you guys cannot restrain yourself i guess
i'll no longer look @ this post

frodo

 

[tklon]

I think it will always end in requests when you want to improve something.

For me mp is working great. It covers all the things I want to do with my htpc. I control the system with the original hauppauge remote. Only for maintenance purposes I use RealVNC. The main focus to improve usability for me is to make the navigation easier with remote. With some simple changes you could save many button pushes. So I suggested that.

Instead of ignoring this post better give feedback on the suggestions you like and put the requests you don't like in the waste area. Finally you are the lord of mp, Herr Frodo.
:wink:

 

[gds]

uh..
I can't really understand your disappointment, frodo.
It seems to me that, even though some feature request made their way to this post, most of us tried hard to express their ideas on the usability part.
As about my post, I clearly divided the usability part from the feature request part, so you could ignore the latter, in the event you didn't like it.
Not to say I don't like your work (which I really do), but I think you've been too fast in posting your answer.

 

[Frodo]

no i have not
almost all replies talk about new functionality
what i meant for beta 2 (and i stated that cleary) is
how to improve the usability for the existing functionality
offcourse new features mean more joy, but
that was not the topic. The topic is how to improve the usability of MP as it is now.
Like giving better and more messages
Like improving mouse support
Like the tvguide which now shows if it contains no tvguide data
etc, etc

New features should be posted in the feature request forums

Frodo

 

[tomtom21000]

Usability:

1. I said so a couple of times allready: have a popup with all available keys of the current module. Having used MP for 3/4 Year I know x,y,b,F3 but am often uncertain what´s more. It saves 20 questions per week on the forum on how to get tv fullscreen and lets beginners faster use the huge potentials of MP. Em3ror was working on it, but I don´t know his current status.

2. Make the main categories of MP Setup translatable like tv, pictures etc.
Make the message "needs to be restarted" in the setup translatable. I wouldn´t recommend to translate the settings themselves, because this is hard for a lot of the terms like "capture pin", etc. Localize the installer messages. This is not important for me, but maybe nice to have.

3. Still would like to see a concept for channel switching. My suggestion with sketch is in feature requests

tomtom21000

 

[Anonymous]

Usability... for me, I'm still fairly new to the app and the controls are either not inuitive or not obvious. To improve usuability for me or another new user, maybe make the controls obvious. I don't see this as you adding new functionality, just making the current functionality obvious. Maybe this could best be done through a newbie skin, I dunno. I'm starting to play with the skin engine so maybe I'll play with this a bit.

Performance... It would be cool if you lowered the CP usage. I'm not quite sure how I could even recommend ways to do that. However, I think tied to that or even a derivitive there is one thing I absolutely HATE about MP. It takes 2 to 3 seconds just to change channels in MyTV. At first I thought this was just the technology but I went back and used the app that came with one of my capture cards (InterVideo Theater, I think) and there is still a delay, but not more than a half second or so. To me that is acceptable. I use the Hauppage 350 as my main card, btw.

Stability... Not sure if this fits here or not but here goes nothing... I've read a few threads where people have stated that everytime a new release is done, the skins have to be updated. As a former software project manager (please, don't throw tomatos) I find that a little amazing, if true. If I did that to my products that I was trying to release, I'd never deliver anything. So here's my suggestion. I understand the core functionality of that engine may not be complete and needs some tweaking. I would set a target (say 0.1.5.0) where you solidify the core of the skin engine and not make any major changes to it after that point that would make skins incompatible with future minor releases. Also being from software development I understand that you never know today what you want tomorrow. So with major releases, make core functionality changes which may not allow older/existing skins to be compatible. This would save the skinners a lot of work and encourage people to make new skins (less work.) It would also improve consistency and usability of the OSD. This could also probably be applied to other areas of the product as well, I'm guessing. Hope I didn't confuse anyone.

Ok... in summary here are my suggestions for improving the core. (with no new feature requests... hopefully)

1) Make current functionality of the UI obvious
2) Cut down the latency in changing channels
3) Solidify features/functionality of the skin engine

There's a bunch of biproducts that can be gained from my suggestions as well. But those would be new features so I'll stop there. I have a few other things rattling around in my brain. Once I can explain them without confusing myself, I'll post them.

ok... throw those tomatos now..

Cheers!