WarrenH 16 Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 (edited) First off, I have great admiration and appreciation of the programmers of Media Browser. I'm a long time supporter, thru V2, V3, on Win 7, Win 8, Roku, Android and Samsung TV devices. There have been some great accomplishments over the years and there can be no doubt that MB is the best program for viewing stored media. I see numerous threads with requests and suggestions for more advanced aspects, and am guilty of same as I'm eagerly awaiting a QNap app. However, here's a back to basics request - for a useable Win 8 app. My wife's laptop is Win 8 without Windows Media Centre, wirelessly connected to MB Server. Her options are Smart Player (inadequate as it allows access to the server and metadata side of the house where she only requires playback), the paid for Win8 App and MB Theatre. The latter two are probably the best choices as they're almost perfect; however with some obvious aspects missing. There's no Favourites, and there's no alpha keyboard or directory selection (as in all of the other Roku, Android, etc apps). As such, if she wants to play an episode of The Vampire Diaries out of my collection of 913 series, the following mouse clicks are required: - open app click 1 - select tv click 2 - scroll and select all click 3 - scroll across screen of 913 series until reaching V, overshooting V and scrolling back, eventually finding V - as she's on wireless connection, wait a minute for artwork to complete so she can actually read the series names on screen - select the Vampire Diaries click 4 - select the season click 5 - select the episode click 6 - select play click 7 And when she wants to go back to the Home screen to now watch a movie, it's another 5 clicks to get there (the Win 8 App). Possibly I'm missing something obvious with either of these apps. It's rumoured Win 10 may not include Media Centre, so we'll be heavily dependant on MB Apps for our media experience, it only makes sense they're as WAF and friendly as possible to use. Edited February 1, 2015 by WarrenH 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
politby 88 Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 I agree, there is way too much clicking and swiping needed to get to what you are looking for. I feel a lot of this is being caused by inefficient use of screen real estate. I commented on this in another post but nothing much happened. This is why I have moved back to Plex on Windows 8.1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicpa 554 Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Hi, Can't speak for MBT, but the Win8 app is a little better than described. It took me a while to remember that right click is your friend. So are the three little dots and "-". It wasn't intuitive to me... So in the above - open app click 1 - select tv click 2 - scroll and select "all" click 3 Click the "-" lower right hand corner. Bring up alpha view. Scroll over to "V" And go from there The same "-" works for movies, music, TV Channels and probably some others I haven't found yet. Makes a big usability difference for me. Hope it helps 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7illusions 1249 Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 If you know what you want to watch, using the searchbar in the startview would be my recommendation. To get to home from any view in the app, bringout the top-appbar and click "Home" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenH 16 Posted February 1, 2015 Author Share Posted February 1, 2015 Vicpa, yes that unintuitively works but only on the Series view, if you go through folders it's not available, seems like it's an afterthought to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14913 Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Why isn't the search option intuitive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenH 16 Posted February 2, 2015 Author Share Posted February 2, 2015 Why isn't the search option intuitive? I meant the "-" isn't particularly intuitive per vicpa's response, and as mentioned it doesn't work for folder views Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14913 Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 I meant the "-" isn't particularly intuitive per vicpa's response, and as mentioned it doesn't work for folder views I understand, I just was asking why, in your example where she wants to watch "Vampire Diaries" she doesn't just start typing "Vam.." in the search box. Wouldn't that get there really quickly? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilentAssassin 96 Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 Her options are Smart Player (inadequate as it allows access to the server and metadata side of the house where she only requires playback), She can only access the server config and metadata manager if you use the same mediabrowser user account for watching media as you do for administering the server. Best practice is to have an account for server admin and metadata management and another account for media playback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarterJK 35 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Why use the App? I use my Windows 8 laptop, but I use the http://app.mediabrowser.tv web link via my browser (Chrome or FF, IE is not a good choice) It works great, either mouse controlled or even touch screen works great for me, no need for an app. But again, I find most Metro Apps lacking in functionality for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vidman 589 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 (edited) Why use the App? I use my Windows 8 laptop, but I use the http://app.mediabrowser.tv web link via my browser (Chrome or FF, IE is not a good choice) It works great, either mouse controlled or even touch screen works great for me, no need for an app. But again, I find most Metro Apps lacking in functionality for me. Probably for the same reasons he mentioned that he won't use the smartplayer app (which is basically the same thing), but as SilentAssassin says he should have separate users for this, one with Admin rights for editing stuff and one without for viewing Edited February 3, 2015 by Vidman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swhitmore 781 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 The app works great for me. The next release has a killer feature too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenH 16 Posted February 3, 2015 Author Share Posted February 3, 2015 Thanks the comments, and yes I appreciate there are additional options available; search, the browser with non-admin accounts, etc, although I would question their simplicity or WAF. I think my real issue is as initially stated - there are in my humble opinion 2 excellent apps; the Win 8 App, and MB Theatre. However - both seem incomplete as they don't have Favourites, and whilst the Win 8 App alpha search isn't particularly intuitive (in my opinion), it's not present in Theatre. All other MB apps have these functions, why not these two. I think that for a large and ever expanding collection, Favourites is probably the most powerful part of MB. I have my dozen or so favourite TV shows, my wife hers, my kids theirs. By looking at my Favourites, I can easily see which series have had new episodes added, similarly so can other family members. This saves me having to remember that there was a new episode of whatever, or that there wasn't because the superbowl was on instead. And before anyone mentions the Next Up thingy - what happens if I miss out a week of watching - next up will have missed an episode - yet next up is in the two Win 8 apps I mention. So my real plea remains - could the developers please finish off the already 2 excellent apps; the Win 8 App (paid for) and MB Theatre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vicpa 554 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 (edited) Hi, Personally I think the Win 8 app is the most complete modern stand alone client and is continually getting better. MBC does everything in the WMC context. Favorites would be a great addition. I made a feature request ( http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/15925-favorites-as-a-view/ ) that as I understand it would help. (I could be wrong) Perhaps if we can get some likes and comments on the request. The dev team can take a look at "favorites" and figure out the best way to implement it consistently across apps. Edited February 3, 2015 by Vicpa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14913 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 And before anyone mentions the Next Up thingy - what happens if I miss out a week of watching - next up will have missed an episode - yet next up is in the two Win 8 apps I mention. I'm afraid I don't follow this. How will Next Up "miss an episode"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7illusions 1249 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 NextUp doesn't make you miss an episode. It's user based, you and your wife can watch a series with different accounts and you will have different NextUp episodes depending on where you left off. It's the next Unwatched episode of a show for the signed in user. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swhitmore 781 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 I'm afraid I don't follow this. How will Next Up "miss an episode"? He may have confused 'Next Up' with "Latest' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14913 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 He may have confused 'Next Up' with "Latest' Yeah "Latest" is useless (or even detrimental) when it comes to TV. But that's why there is "Next Up". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmac 132 Posted February 3, 2015 Share Posted February 3, 2015 Win 8 App, and MB Theatre. However - both seem incomplete as they don't have Favourites I could be mistaken somehow, but I've been solely using MBT since it's release, and favourites has always worked for me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenH 16 Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 (edited) pmac - there's no favourites in MBT So, I've been trying to change my viewing habits based on the suggestions above, with next-up seeming to be the recommended solution. Bear in mind I watch about 16 ongoing tv shows a week. The MB8 App only shows a half dozen of the next-up series I'm watching: Whilst MBT comes a lot closer and displays most of the shows I'm watching: Whilst using Favourites in the Android App, or even the old fashioned MB2 Favourites, I can very easily keep track of the 16 shows, and how many episodes need o be watched: So whilst appreciating the many suggestions offered, I'm asking once again for easy alpha selection and Favourites in MB8 App and / or MBT especially given the drive to ensure a universal experience across all viewing platforms. The recently updated MB8 App missed out o these simple aspects, so I'm holding out hope for the apparently in progress MBT update - who knows? Edited March 1, 2015 by WarrenH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now