Beta Release Thread

[cmcg 874]

I respectfully disagree with you both on both counts.

 

The back button should show the page you viewed before this one. It's not an "up" or "zoom out" type function. It was previously disabled when browsing left/right through episodes as adding all those views would have created a confusing back stack. Frankly it's much better now (for me, I'll get this beta out shortly and you can see) since the functions available should always navigate forward and you should always go back on the back button. To me, that adds consistency that was previously missing on this page. (Granted, that's not actually why I did it and I'm just now making up this argument to support my view, but I stand by it nonetheless!)

 

The Albums, Series, Movies and A-Z pages are laid out in a grid. The only actions that are intuitively expected are that up, down, left and right move you around the grid. Falling off the side of the grid and reappearing at the other side is no more intuitive then going up off the top and appearing at the bottom. Yes, as a convenience, it has been there and now the one on the left is gone but the overall effect of these changes is to add to the easy of use for the majority of users.

 

Failing to support those who choose to use the nicer of the two remotes that came in the box was not an acceptable solution for me. I've made two very small compromises to achieve that and responded to feedback with an improvement in the next beta.

 

It's a community app, and I am listening.

[CBers 6779]

Any way of adding an option to the settings to determine which remote is used and then code it accordingly.

 

I know it's extra work, but you'd keep us old users happy as well as the newer users.

 

Just a thought.

[FrostByte 5055]

It's too early in the morning and I haven't had my coffee yet to have an opinion   I fell in love with my touchpad remote again though after the last release though. 

 

My TV only came with the touchpad remote.  If I hadn't bought my Samsung HTS then that would probably still be my primary remote.  Maybe Logitech had a fancier one with a touchpad and disc player keys I can find

[c0m3r 95]

I fully agree @@cmcg. This seems to be is very similar to the HD/not HD argument. Its clear that samsung is moving towards smaller multi-touch remotes as opposed to the larger ones of old. The app therefore needs to keep up with this progression and adapt for those who buy the later TVs. It is always the case that as an app develops, changes need to be made which users on older sets are unable to use or would prefer were not made. However, when those people do eventually upgrade and get the new remote they will certainly be grateful that the changes were made. I think the current setup is a good compromise for both camps.

[FrostByte 5055]

I think their TVs came with a smaller touch also, they just chose not to use it

[CBers 6779]

I think their TVs came with a smaller touch also, they just chose not to use it

Yes, I got both with my F8000 TV, I never got on with the touch remote, so use the standard remote.

 

It's not a major issue the way the left button has been implemented, but I just feel it's inconsistent through the UI now.

 

If an option for Smart Remote Yes/No could be implemented then this conversation would be irrelevant

[paulsalter 84]

Can you clarify what you mean by using the back button

 

To me it is this

 

If I am on the home screen and select TV it displays all my shows, pressing the back button then goes back to displaying the home screen

if I select the latest episode of a show from the home screen, pressing back takes me back to the home page

if I select the latest episode of a tv show from the home page, then right/left to view other episode, I am still on the same screen so if I hit back it should take me to the home page

[FrostByte 5055]

I'm just going to wait and see when it releases, I'm easily confused

[paulsalter 84]

I'm just going to wait and see when it releases, I'm easily confused

And me

 

Going to wait and test the next version

 

I don't like being negative on something, especially when someone is doing it for our benefit in his own time

[Ultroman 87]

I must say I'm a little confused as well. Correct me if I'm wrong, but are these buttons not on all remotes, and currently not used in the app (while not playing something):

FF

RW

Guide

Channel Up

Channel Down

 

Couldn't Guide be the new LeftMenu button? And FF and RW switch to the next and previous episodes on an episodepage, and skip an entire page of elements on e.g. the TV or Movie pages? Or maybe channel up/down could do that.

 

Is there a reason why we don't use those buttons? Both my clunky remote and my smart remote have all of those readily available, without having to press the Keypad-button.

 

If it's because we want to be able to play music while we're browsing our content, then I'd vote for having to press a key to switch between controlling the music player, and browsing the content. I will never use it to play music while browsing, and I don't think the majority will, so if the music player has monopoly on some keys, I'd say a wrong turn has been made. I don't know, I'm asking

Edited October 11, 2015 by Ultroman

[FrostByte 5055]

They aren't all on the face of the remote, but if you click "More" then more keys are available.  I think there are 3 or 4 screens you can flip through.  This way you can have a smaller remote with just the most used keys and a menu for some of the other less used keys.  FF and RW are in the More menu for streaming files.  What my TV remote doesn't have are some keys like the one to open the disc tray and a few others which are BD specific and only come with a BD or HTS.

[Ultroman 87]

Ah, I see. It is a bit of a problem, that the app has to work with that wide a range of devices, that all have very different remotes. Then the developers have three choices:

 

1. Pack functionalities into several menus.

2. Make layouts for all types of remote.

3. Make a key-mapping system so users can change and save their setup.

Edited October 11, 2015 by Ultroman

[FrostByte 5055]

 

Here is my version of the smart remote and there are several different versions with different keys.  Some other Smart Remotes have the A,B,C,D buttons where mine has the Light, DVR, etc buttons (I get A-D by hitting More.)   Those 3 bars at the top and 2 sides of the touch pad can also be programmed.  I think by default the one on the right (labeled 1,2,3) brings up a number pad.   Maybe the top bar can be programmed for FF/RW or Skip >| tracks?  That would be nice for playing music

[fluffykiwi 50]

I'd just like to see it a bit more like the video section. For example instead of moving straight into A Z in some categories, it goes into displaying all within the category, with an A Z selection at the top. Would also be more like web client.

You wanting to use play to add to queue sounds and also helps explain why we need to press BLUE to enable the Play, Pause, Skip, remote controls. I sort of wanted to be able to use them at any time, but I like the idea of just pressing play on an album, more than the convenience of pressing Skip without the Music menu being on screen.

Edited October 11, 2015 by fluffykiwi

[FrostByte 5055]

Music used to be almost exactly like movies until chessdragon broke it out to the different letters.  The problem was that some people had huge libraries (i.e. mine is close to 70K songs now) and it would take forever for the app to load someone's entire music library.  So he broke things up and now it only loads the music for the specific letter. 

[fluffykiwi 50]

I think the Return key should move you back to the screen you were on previously.
It is what I expect to happen and is one of the few keys Samsung gives an Action Definition.

 

2014 RETURN Return to the previous screen (up one step)

2015 RETURN Return to the previous stage.

 

http://www.samsungdforum.com/UxGuide/2014/03_input_method.html#ux-02

 

Whatever is chosen needs to be consistent throughout the app.

I liked pressing left to move to the next row, 1st icon, but will get used to any change.

Edited October 11, 2015 by fluffykiwi

[cmcg 874]

I tend to agree @@fluffykiwi but the issue would be like playing a slideshow from the media folders view and then someone goes "I started a slideshow from a folder, it only had 40,000 images in it, took ages to start. What gives?"

 

Peoples collections are massive. Chess left a few comments in the code when he moved to the A-Z views and they are all performance related. Could maybe set a threshold.

[cmcg 874]

BTW. Beta incoming. Finished testing on emulators, just off to load on my set. With you in a bit...

[fluffykiwi 50]

lol

 

I never thought of the time to load a huge collection completely. Only about 13k in mine...

 

I just thought it would just use the same setting where the user decided how many items to load at a time based on their connection speed, where the default is 150.

Thought it would load first 150 albums covers images and only load more as you scroll past those 150.  I usually increase this to the 500 maximum.

 

Maybe this setting does not do what I thought it did.

Edited October 11, 2015 by fluffykiwi

[fluffykiwi 50]

Chess left a few comments in the code when he moved to the A-Z views and they are all performance related. Could maybe set a threshold.

 

Maybe use the value set within user settings?

 

I do not really understand why there is a difference between showing about 30 movie posters or showing about 30 album covers on a screen at a time. Or loading between 150 and 500 album covers, or artist images, at a time based on user setting.

 

Probably just me not knowing exactly how the app works.

Edited October 11, 2015 by fluffykiwi

[FrostByte 5055]

It loads the entire movie collection, you're just displaying 30 at a time.  Else it would take a lot longer to scroll through them

[fluffykiwi 50]

What does the user definable value for item paging under settings do, i.e. 150 - 500?

 

Item Paging

As nobody likes waiting, items on screen are loaded in batches, with each new batch called when needed, as opposed to loading everything and making you wait until its all ready.

Change the number of items loaded in a batch dependant on how fast your server is.

Edited October 12, 2015 by fluffykiwi

[cmcg 874]

v0.593o
Allow use of the qwerty on-screen keyboard for text entry (manual logon and create playlist).
After clicking left to browse details of future episodes, use the back button to return.
Menu items in shows, series etc. use two tone grey. Matches the main menu and works over dark backgrounds.
Removed "Shuffle All" from playlists as the server does not support this.
In a playlist, when moving up to the menu items, Play All is always selected to help avoid accidental Deletes.
"Add To Playlist" now gives a result message and auto-closes.
Fixed: Deleting a playlist removes the items but not the list.
Fixed: Deleted playlist appears on the playlists page.
Fixed: Navigation within A-Z screens is inconsistent. Thanks @@fluffykiwi
Fixed: In a music playlist, songs from single disc albums have a "?" if no disc# is specified. Thanks @@FrostByte
Fixed: In Collections the focus can go up past the top line of collections. Thanks @@FrostByte
Fixed: Input box not focused when creating first playlist.

 

Known issue: Can't move from Username to Password field while using the qwerty keyboard. Switch to numeric.

[cmcg 874]

The fix for the Create Playlist issues causes a problem of it's own, that you are focused on the Create Playlist text box even when you have existing playlists. But it's better than the alternative as the focus bug is gone.

 

The on screen qwerty keyboard is a totally different library than we were using so please have a good play with manual user logon to ensure that it is at least is good as before when using the numeric keypad.

[FrostByte 5055]

v0.593o

 

Removed "Shuffle All" from playlists as the server does not support this.

 

 

Ya, the webclient will only shuffle a randomly selected 100 items from a playlist.  Can it be changed to "Shuffle" then and only play 100 songs like the webclient.  If you click (...) on a playlist in the web you will see it there, it just won't "Shuffle All"