Skip Steps not working in MyMusic during playback (1 Viewer)

[Phiolin]

MediaPortal Version: 1.1.0 final
MediaPortal Skin: StreamedMP
Windows Version: Windows 7 Ultimate
CPU Type: AMD Athlon II X2 240e
HDD: OCZ Vertex 60 GB SSD
Memory: 4 GB DDR3
Motherboard: Asus M4A785T-M
Video Card: Ati Radeon HD 5450
Video Card Driver: Catalyst 10.6
Sound Card: via ATI HDMI
Sound Card AC3: via ATI HDMI
Sound Card Driver: Catalyst 10.6
1. TV Card: Mystique CaBiX-C2
1. TV Card Type: DVB-C
1. TV Card Driver: KNC ONE BDA 2.1.202.0
2. TV Card: none
2. TV Card Type: none
2. TV Card Driver: none
3. TV Card: none
3. TV Card Type: none
3. TV Card Driver: none
4. TV Card: none
4. TV Card Type: none
4. TV Card Driver: none
MPEG2 Video Codec: ffdshow
MPEG2 Audio Codec: ffdshow
h.264 Video Codec: ffdshow dxva
Satelite/CableTV Provider: none
HTPC Case: SilverStone Grandia GD05B
Cooling: BeQuiet Silent Wings USC 120
Power Supply: Enermax MODU82+ 425W
Remote: Logitech Harmony 525
TV: Panasonic TH50-PV71F
TV - HTPC Connection: HDMI

Maybe not exactly a new bug report, as I reported it during 1.1.0 beta as well and the team decided it won't be fixed for 1.1.0 release.
Strictly speaking I think it should be considered a bug, as existing functionality has been broken by some code changes between 1.0.2 and 1.1.0, leaving some code unused in BassAudio.cs.

During some g_player refacturing, the functionality to use skip-steps during music playback via FFWD/REW remote keys or F5/F6 keyboard keys got lost and was replaced by increased/decreased playback speed. I think it actually was an oversight, as the code is still in BassAudio.cs, it just doesn't get called because g_player seems to intercept the keypresses.

It may be possible to bring this back by introducing new custom actions that we can map to keys in the configuration. This would at least allow users to choose if they rather want increased/decreased playback speed or skip steps to navigate through an audio track.
I managed to get this working for me by using the ACTION_DELAY_SUBTITLE_MIN/PLUS actions in BassAudio.cs (around Lines 720-730). Those were free and I had keys assigned to them anyway, so it was a logical solution for a quick workaround. Later I switched to the PureAudio plugin, which has similar functionality (although can skip only in steps of 20 seconds), so currently I don't really bother - but other users seem to be, judging from recent comments on the older bug report thread.
I think music playback is currently the only MePo area where skip steps are not working, so it may even be logical from a design perspective to bring this back somehow.

hwahrmann already confirmed the bug back then, as can be seen from the old bug report/mantis.

Further references:
Mantis #2551: 0002551: Skip Steps no longer working in My Music - MediaPortal Bugtracker
Bug report from 1.1.0 beta: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...ps-not-working-when-using-fwd-rwd-keys-73098/

 

[jameson_uk]

hwahrmann already confirmed the bug back then, as can be seen from the old bug report/mantis.

Further references:
Mantis #2551: 0002551: Skip Steps no longer working in My Music - MediaPortal Bugtracker

his last comments on that bug report are

Won't be fixed. we agreed that Manfred'S changes will be left as they are.
Music Player should behave like a DVD player and not do skip steps.

I am fairly sure the outcome last time was that ffwd/rew will speed up / slow down playback and left/right will carry out skip steps?

 

[Phiolin]

No, the outcome was that for the moment it will be left as is (ffwd/rew will cause speed-up/slowdown, no skip steps possible for music playback at all) and that it may later be fixed as the solution that hwahrmann deployed short-term was not ideal and was reverted in a later svn revision.
I had a short discussion with hwahrmann via PN at that time, and his opinion was that it will be possible to fix this, but will likely require some more thinking from a design perspektive to come to a proper solution and should be taken up again after the 1.1.0 release - that's why I'm bringing it up now.

Having left/right for skip steps would probably also interfere with most skins as the user will be hindered to move around. I think that was the reason why he implemented that only for the full-screen vis and "now playing" screen. However, some skins even allow movement on the now playing screen, so that may have been the reason why the fix was reverted later on.

I'd prefer a solution where I can maybe choose in the configuration if I want FFWD/REW to speedup/slowdown or skip steps for music playback - that way everyone could configure it to their liking and maybe it's not too difficult to implement it this way.

Imho the speedup/slowdown way is outdated and lacks precision as well as speed compared to the skip step functionality.

 

[kkendall]

yes. the current 'solution' is outdated and makes the music section useless for a lot of people as you can see in other threads about this.
It basically makes the music section for me useless because all my files are between 20 mins and 8 hours long (dj sets, etc). Handling these files in the current music section is simply undoable. I really hope skip steps are introduced again very soon!
If skip steps don't interfere in full screen video, can't there at least be a solution for 'full screen' music?

 

[kiwijunglist]

I would agree that skip steps would be preferable over FFWD from a user perspective.

I would either disable FFWD and replace with skip steps

(or)

keep the MCE "FWD" >> key as FFWDx2,x4,x8....
and assign the MCE "PREV/REPLAY" "|<" and "Next/SKIP" >| keys to do skip steps.

this would be consistent with the video player where the remote FWD key does FFWD and the NEXT/SKIP key does skipping

 

[kkendall]

I'd say keep << and >> for x2, x4 etc (just like in the video section),
keep |< and >| for next/previous track,
and make < and > (left and right of the OK button on remotes) for skipsteps (just like in the video section) in Now playing and full screen (vizualisation) music.

 

[kiwijunglist]

opps i forgot that |< and >| are previous track... that is really dum of me!!! =)

make >> and << skip steps and forget about FFWDx2,x4,x8..

You probably can't use Left / Right arrows because that is needed for menu navigation in quite a few skins. eg. B3W

 

[kkendall]

You probably can't use Left / Right arrows because that is needed for menu navigation in quite a few skins. eg. B3W

Damn! I use StreamedMP and that skin doesn't have that problem (maybe a designchange for B3W needed?). There you can use < and > without any problem in Now Playing and full viz.

 

[kiwijunglist]

not true, streamedmp uses left / right in V1.3 default screen, it also uses left / right in some of the V1.2 screens that use top album tracks/tracks tagged with...

Anyways I would prefer skip > FWD any day for music. It's horrible navigating a track with FWD.

 

[kkendall]

not true, streamedmp uses left / right in V1.3 default screen, it also uses left / right in some of the V1.2 screens that use top album tracks/tracks tagged with...

Anyways I would prefer skip > FWD any day for music. It's horrible navigating a track with FWD.

Yes, I agree, I think almost everybody would prefer skipsteps over ffd.
...anyway, I'm looking at the Now Playing screen in MP right now and streamedMP does not use left and right on the Now Playing screen. It does use up and down to scroll through the 4 menuoptions on the right, but not left and right. Also on the full visual screen these buttons are not used, at least not at my end. I installed the latest StreamedMP, all with default settings.