Some constructive criticism/nitpicks... (1 Viewer)

ggeorge747

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Ok, my background is coming from the BTV world, but as many know that software is behind the times and so I was looking for something to move on to. Looks like MediaPortal would be it. But there are a few minor things that I've grown used to in BTV that I figured would be in MP, but aren't. So here's my wishlist (or if it's already there, please let me know!)

(Also I'm going at this on MP1.1.3.0 with just the keyboard/mouse while I test it out.)

  1. I'm guessing it's possible to take off items from the main menu, but I can't seem to find that feature. Is it buried in the settings pretty deep or am I just not seeing it?
  2. It would be nice if when you started a song that it would immediately go into the visualization. Is there an option for that?
  3. Stopping a video, song or whatever... Hard to get used to it continuing to play after I've left a section. I suppose you'd normally press STOP to stop it with a remote, but is it possible to make it stop automatically?
  4. Going along with that last one: What's the RETURN to the video/song button called? I take it it can be mapped to a remote control, correct?
  5. Importing videos was a bit of a pain. Until I figured out you had to scan the folder first. Is that something you have to do every time you add a new video? If so, that definitely won't work for me.
  6. Skipping in the video... In BTV you can enter the exact minute you want to skip to. Is that a feature in MP too?
  7. Intelligent Frame Correction add-on didn't seem to work at all. It would always stretch the video.
  8. One of the main reasons I want to switch is for YouTube videos. Well, I found that extension called "OnlineVideos" which kind of works... But it would be nice if the "Search" was easier to find. That and the videos never actually PLAY. This happens with most of these sites (although strangely ******* works perfectly...) Maybe I'm missing something?
  9. The Maya skin looked nice but going into the "Plug In" section used all these backgrounds (instead of the blue one) which made it difficult to see the text. Then later it stopped doing that. Now, I'm just hunting and pecking for settings, but I didn't see anything in there about allowing for backgrounds.
  10. Which leads me to another criticism: The interface LOOKS intuitive, but the actual use is confusing. For example: If I press the Left button on my keyboard sometimes a Menu appears. I thought pressing Left on the keyboard would move the selection to the left instead? Or if I press ESC I thought it would go up and then STOP when it reached the top level menu. But it keeps going back through everything I've done.
  11. The Weather feature is nice, but even after selecting my city only the Europe satellite shows. Is this the only map available?
  12. Is the MySQL install overkill? Looking at the database and tables and there's not much there. I figured it would be loaded up after taking an hour to scan all my videos. But there's only the "setting" table that has anything in it. I don't have my capture card set up yet, so maybe it's for that?

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Well, sorry to be such a noob. I know that's a lot of little nitpicks, but I at least wanted to get it out. They add up for me so I'm hoping MP2.0 resolves the ones I can't fix for MP1. Guess I'll wait and see what MP2.0 has to offer before I upgrade.

Thanks for reading...

--GDG
 

TLD

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Ok,
[*]I'm guessing it's possible to take off items from the main menu, but I can't seem to find that feature. Is it buried in the settings pretty deep or am I just not seeing it?

Go to MediaPortal configuration/plugins right click on the menu item you want to remove and click disable.

[*]Importing videos was a bit of a pain. Until I figured out you had to scan the folder first. Is that something you have to do every time you add a new video? If so, that definitely won't work for me.

Install the plugin Moving Pictures in will scan the folders you select with it and add movies automatically.

[*]Skipping in the video... In BTV you can enter the exact minute you want to skip to. Is that a feature in MP too?

Setup for this is in MediaPortal configuration, it works in steps 15,30,60,360 etc you can add however many seconds you like in steps.

[*]One of the main reasons I want to switch is for YouTube videos. Well, I found that extension called "OnlineVideos" which kind of works... But it would be nice if the "Search" was easier to find. That and the videos never actually PLAY. This happens with most of these sites (although strangely ******* works perfectly...) Maybe I'm missing something?

Install the SAF 4 codex and they will work, you dont have the proper codex installed more that likely.

[*]The Maya skin looked nice but going into the "Plug In" section used all these backgrounds (instead of the blue one) which made it difficult to see the text. Then later it stopped doing that. Now, I'm just hunting and pecking for settings, but I didn't see anything in there about allowing for backgrounds.

[*]Which leads me to another criticism: The interface LOOKS intuitive, but the actual use is confusing. For example: If I press the Left button on my keyboard sometimes a Menu appears. I thought pressing Left on the keyboard would move the selection to the left instead? Or if I press ESC I thought it would go up and then STOP when it reached the top level menu. But it keeps going back through everything I've done.

[*]The Weather feature is nice, but even after selecting my city only the Europe satellite shows. Is this the only map available?

[*]Is the MySQL install overkill? Looking at the database and tables and there's not much there. I figured it would be loaded up after taking an hour to scan all my videos. But there's only the "setting" table that has anything in it. I don't have my capture card set up yet, so maybe it's for that?
[/LIST]

-----------------

Well, sorry to be such a noob. I know that's a lot of little nitpicks, but I at least wanted to get it out. They add up for me so I'm hoping MP2.0 resolves the ones I can't fix for MP1. Guess I'll wait and see what MP2.0 has to offer before I upgrade.

Thanks for reading...

--GDG

The weather setup is in MediaPortal configuration, you need to configure a web page radar to get the radar for your area.

You should read this it will tell you how to setup (MediaPortal 1): MediaPortal Wiki - MediaPortal Wiki
 

Paranoid Delusion

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  • June 13, 2005
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    About codecs, I would now recommend SAF6, version 4 is out of date and no longer maintained, pm hoborg to get unlock key which must be in the same folder as SAF6.exe when you run it.

    Regarding Maya, when creating basichome in editor, do not use IFX setting for anything other than Movies, Music and TVseries.
    Also you could be seeing home, not basichome screen, this in MP113 is under the general tab, MP120beta handles this better with all variances of the aforementioned setting under GUI.
     

    ggeorge747

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    Thanks guys. I'll try those suggestions. I always worry about asking noob questions from a seasoned group of pros.
     

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