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Small Feature Requests


pmac

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Hi, I realize that MBT was just released, and is still in Alpha, but I've noticed a couple things that aren't on the "to-do" list yet, and were small (but handy) features in MBC.

 

I haven't had much of a chance to play with MBT yet, but these are some things I've noticed so far, and will update this thread as I notice more:

 

  • Keyboard Search

- Unless I've just missed this somehow (maybe there's a different way of doing things in MBT) There seems to be no keyboard search feature implemented yet, I find this feature extremely important, since browsing a large collection takes a very long time without a keyboard search feature.

 

  • Fast-Scrolling through collections

- Another feature that I use every time I'm using MBC is (for lack of a better name) Fast-Scrolling. I use the Skip Forward/Skip Backward buttons on my remote to scroll through my media more quickly, instead of using the arrows to move through my collections one-by-one, I often use the Skip buttons to move through a few titles at a time, greatly speeding up the time it takes to browse my collections.

 

  • More View-Options

- I'd find it nice to have a few more view options in certain areas. For example: I'd like to be able to switch to list view when entering a TV Series that only contains one season, instead of the thumb-strip view it defaults to. Having the choice to pick any of the view options, no matter what part of a collection you are looking at would be a nice addition to MBT in my opinion.

 

  • Back to logon screen

- It would also be nice to be able to use the back button at the main screen to take you back to the logon screen to switch users. Having a "Are you sure you want to sign out?" Prompt would be a nice touch as well.

 

  • Pressing "Up" on the remote to get to settings, etc...

- Fairly self-explanatory, I know you can press "Up" on the remote/keyboard to access the settings buttons, etc. But right now it depends on which part of the screen is currently in-focus, ie. you need to be far enough to the right before you are able to go up to the very top where these buttons are located. Being able to get to these buttons whether you are currently on the left, center, or right side of the screen would make things quicker, and easier.

 

  • Upcoming TV

- Not really a feature request, more of a question. I'm not too sure about the Upcoming TV section. I'd assume it would show me upcoming episodes of series' I have in my collection, but it seems to show a random selection of TV Series in my collection, some with new episodes, some that are ended.

 

  • Selection going out of focus

- One issue I've found, which isn't a big deal, since the client is still in Alpha, and there's obviously going to be some small issues still, is: Sometimes my current on-screen selection; whether it's a tile, or a media selection, goes out of focus, and I'm no longer able to use my remote, until I move the mouse cursor over a tile or something, to re-select a tile. Then I'm able to continue using my remote like usual.

 

Obviously, being in the early stages of MBT there's still going to be lots of room for improvement, and it's coming along great so far. I don't expect a ton of feature requests to be implemented right away, I just figured I'd throw some ideas out there for a few things I noticed would make the experience better!

 

Thanks to all the Devs and everyone working on this project, great job!

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some of those are just bugs. i forgot to mention search and on screen keyboard in the roadmap.  fast scrolling via transport buttons - unlikely. i'm trying to make this dead simple. very few people ever know that that's there, which means the effort will be targeting a very small crowd. 

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seanbuff

... fast scrolling via transport buttons - unlikely.

 

Oh really? Not even support for standard 'Page Up / Down' keys to skip pages at a time?

 

This is also the first thing I noticed when using MBT, without this, scrolling through large collections can be very cumbersome. I do hope something can be done in this area.  ^_^

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aspdend

Oh really? Not even support for standard 'Page Up / Down' keys to skip pages at a time?

 

This is also the first thing I noticed when using MBT, without this, scrolling through large collections can be very cumbersome. I do hope something can be done in this area.  ^_^

I'm in agreement here as I use the transport buttons for fast scrolling all the time - very handy for my large collections

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imagine all you guys were equipped with was a roku remote. how would you then make it faster to to navigate your library. think about that.

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imagine all you guys were equipped with was a roku remote. how would you then make it faster to to navigate your library. think about that.

Are you referring to the motion control features of the newer roku remotes? Or the general lack of buttons on the remote? In either case, have there been any stats collected on the percentage of users using roku's for MBT compared to users that use HTPC's with Harmony or MCE Remotes? I would assume the majority use the latter two, which I think would warrant the controls being centered around the capabilities of these remotes. The fast-scrolling and/or CH+/CH- in my opinion, are vital controls needed for browsing large collections. Otherwise, looking for a title seems painfully slow. With my Harmony, I can't even cycle through titles quickly by holding the arrow button like I can with the keyboard, it only recognizes single button presses, so without using my keyboard, I'm stuck going through titles one button press at a time...

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no what i'm saying is, what improvements inside the interface would you suggest to make navigation quicker. what you're asking is fine, but it will only be obvious to the person who setup the system. so how would non-techies do it without being taught? 

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no what i'm saying is, what improvements inside the interface would you suggest to make navigation quicker. what you're asking is fine, but it will only be obvious to the person who setup the system. so how would non-techies do it without being taught? 

 

Hmm... just off the top of my head, one possibility could be; if the user were to hold the arrow button down, instead of zooming through the titles like it currently does (on the keyboard anyways, or depending on the remote the user has), it could start by going through the titles on-by-one with a slight (say 300-500ms) pause between them, and if the user continues to hold the button, this could after a set duration, advance to skipping through the titles (instead of one-by-one, it could move say, 5 titles at a time) with the same slight pause between movements.

 

Another, more visual option could be adding something like chevrons underneath the tiles. Not sure how this would look with all view options, but just an idea. I for one use poster strip, and if I were browsing titles, and saw a left and right set of chevrons on either side of the screen under my poster images, that I could access by pressing "down" on my remote, I wouldn't hesitate to use them to move a "page" at a time, or something along those lines.

 

Hope all that made sense to you, hard to describe, but it looks good in my head! haha

Edited by pmac
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I wish we could do an alphabetical jump list :(

Are you meaning an on-screen jump list? Because, from what I understand, keyboard search and triple-tap are on the list...

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If I just hold down the left or right button on my remote while in MBT it seems to fly through the movies at a good speed, not sure if that works for others instead of a page up/down command?

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If I just hold down the left or right button on my remote while in MBT it seems to fly through the movies at a good speed, not sure if that works for others instead of a page up/down command?

 

The problem with that is it goes too fast to see anything.  I'm sure luke will get some sort of paging mechanism in there at some point.

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The problem with that is it goes too fast to see anything.  I'm sure luke will get some sort of paging mechanism in there at some point.

 

I agree you cant see what your passing, but for now its the easiest way I have found to go through it until that gets implemented.

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wraslor

You could take a page out of xbmc, On some skins at least if you hit the down arrow it will pop up with letters and then you can scroll quickly to whatever letter you want to skip to that part of the library.

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Anyone have any ideas why I might only be able to move one item at a time, instead of being able to hold the button for fast scrolling? (Harmony 650)

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aspdend

The problem with that is it goes too fast to see anything.  I'm sure luke will get some sort of paging mechanism in there at some point.

This works fine on my Harmony 555, but, like Ebr says, it goes too fast to see anything - the transport button 'jumps' are a great compromise for my use

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There is often a setting in the remote as to whether or not it should auto-repeat.

Hmm.. can't find anything like that, strange it seems to be working fine for other people with the same remote.

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SilentAssassin

I would like the ability to bring up the playback progress/controls when you are playing back media by pressing the play button on the remote. I use this ability in WMC to just check up on how far in/remaining I have of the item I am watching.

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seanbuff

I would like the ability to bring up the playback progress/controls when you are playing back media by pressing the play button on the remote. I use this ability in WMC to just check up on how far in/remaining I have of the item I am watching.

+1 - this feature is invaluable in WMC to me, would love to see it in MBT.

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