[davilla]

Keep them coming guys, these are all good suggestions and will help in starting the wheels turning.

[natew]

Considering that XBMC stable builds are only release twice annually, I'm not sure that this would be a necessity. And updating to SVN builds is not really a good idea IMO as the number of support questions and the like would certainly go up.

I hope this isn't too far off topic, but I want to mention that this is one of my biggest annoyances with XBMC. The problem is primarily that skinners are constantly trying to get the latest possible features from svn.. which makes perfect sense.. but that means that the latest skins are often unuseable without a recent svn update. So then, we have to choose between a stable release or a nice new skin.

I wish I could offer a solution rather than just bitch, but it seemed worth mentioning to me. Perhaps it would help if it were possible to impliment skinning engine updates to the stable release more frequently, and save the more behind-the-scenes updates for more updates. Of course, that could only work if the skinning engine updates were less prone to cause problems than other updates, and I have no idea if that's the case.

edit: Did that make sense?

[theuni]

natew:

This was high on my annoyance list as well, and will be addressed for the next release.

TheUni

[feikenberg]

The one thing I miss the most, is not being able to integrate the iTunes and iPhoto library of the AppleTV into XBMC. That is the only reason I'm still exiting XBMC on the ATV.

[davilla]

The one thing I miss the most, is not being able to integrate the iTunes and iPhoto library of the AppleTV into XBMC. That is the only reason I'm still exiting XBMC on the ATV.

With or without DRM handling. iTunes music with DRM "could" be handled. iTunes video with DRM remains closed.

[feikenberg]

With or without DRM handling. iTunes music with DRM "could" be handled. iTunes video with DRM remains closed.

DRM handling is not an issue for me. I use iTunes for my 99% DRM-free music collection and use XBMC for all of my video files stored on a NAS.

[seedzero]

DRM handling is not an issue for me. I use iTunes for my 99% DRM-free music collection and use XBMC for all of my video files stored on a NAS.

Same. I probably only have one or two music tracks with DRM.

[Solaris]

The iLife integration is definitely high on mylist (Both Local and Remote). I also think there would great value in the ability to download svn builds from within XBMC either manually or automatically.

I gave this some thought, and I believe someone on this thread mentioned the confusion generated with sources (Video vs Movies, vs TV Shows, etc...) How about a 1st run wizard script that would guide users in creating their initial sources ?

[migueld]

@migueld:

That stretching looks strange to me, but because you're using Mediastream I can't tell whether or not it's correct or wrong. Mediastream does some dodgy stuff with it's PAL folder that is basically completely broken - it only worked originally because it was equally broken in the code. With the code fixed, MS looks strange in some modes. Deleting the PAL folder will help.

Does the calibration screen show the square is actually a square?

Some screenshots in PM3.HD would be interesting.

As to some of your other points:
1. There is no Test Resolution button anymore.
2. XBMC remembers the window size (the window is arbitrarily resizable) but currently doesn't remember the position (or screen). Just haven't had enough time to get on to that. It may not remember if you switch using "\" and close XBMC (setting may not be saved) - will take a look at that. Will also get positioning saved. I don't have dual screens, so may have ro rely on someone else to fix that up.

@all: Thanks for your responses - we appreciate any and all things (big or small) to help make XBMC better on specific platforms, as often they apply equally to all platforms, as most of the above do.

Cheers,
Jonathan

Regarding the stretching, removing the PAL folder from media stream seems to have no effect. The calibration screen does show a square. In the case of PM3.HD it may be normal for it to look stretched, I'm not sure if it's optimized for 4:3, but with media stream there is clearly a difference (Plex media stream vs xbmc's). Here's a shot of PM3HD:



Notice the buttons are rectangular but should be square, wallpaper is stretched, etc.

[jmarshall]

It's up to the skin to specify that it wants images to be a fixed ratio. PM3 doesn't request that.

Some of the thumbs in PM3.HD might possibly request a fixed ratio (<aspectratio>keep</aspectratio>) so that might be worth a test.

I'd take a look through Mediastream and see if it's using that on the backgrounds or not. If it is, there may be some place we're screwing up that ratio - most people run on 16x9 so won't have noticed.

Cheers,
Jonathan

[steve1977]

Thanks for opening this thread. My points are in line with the ones most mentioned. Let me elaborate a little more.


1) ITunes integration
* I don't mind about the drm part
* I currently work by scanning my itunes library into xbmc, which works fine
* I also experience significant download periods though. I believe that xbmc takes the info from the library, but downloads the album cover (although it is integrated in the mp3s)
* also, I don't particularly like the artist art that is downloaded from scrapers; would prefer a solution where random and changing album arts are shown instead (the same way itunes does it)
* however, overall I can live well how it is currently done and don't see the current way as a huge disadvantage

2) Iphoto integration
* this is indeed very unfortunate that it doesn't work and is major point of improvement
* the plugin doesn't work remote and xbmc doesn't have a picture library on its own

[garyi]

Just referring back to slow releases has there been a release to address the change in scraper information for TVDB?

I don't quite understand on the insistence for only 6 months releases. And when something pretty fundamental changes one would expect a point release, especially for AppleTV where changing the application package contents manually is a daunting task for most people.

All most people will see is 'oh I am not getting pretty art work anymore, thats a bit crap' Sort of thing.

Although I acknowledge that a degree of skill is required to actually load XBMC onto ATV in the first place, actually playing around with files in there is by far more difficult than sticking a USB stick in the back.

[dfish3d]

One of the useful things Plex does that XBMC doesn't is it's (on by default) "fakefullscreen" borderless window rendering mode.

This allows for a few useful things: growl notifications work properly, cmd-tab shows up properly, and it prevents the mouse from being absolutely captured, allowing other 3rd party "hot corner" utilities (like teleport) to work correctly.

it's other huge usability feature is a real Preferences window, removing a lot of preferences from the "works with a remote" interface but still making them easily accesible.

These 2 things would be wonderful in XBMC.

[migueld]

One of the useful things Plex does that XBMC doesn't is it's (on by default) "fakefullscreen" borderless window rendering mode.

This allows for a few useful things: growl notifications work properly, cmd-tab shows up properly, and it prevents the mouse from being absolutely captured, allowing other 3rd party "hot corner" utilities (like teleport) to work correctly.

it's other huge usability feature is a real Preferences window, removing a lot of preferences from the "works with a remote" interface but still making them easily accesible.

These 2 things would be wonderful in XBMC.

I like an option for fakefullscreen but not as default. I think most users given that they use XBMC directly with their TV will benefit from the fact their viewing experience won't get disturbed by a growl message or update notice in the middle of a movie.

I don't like a separate preferences window. For one I think it adds more confusion since users have to check 2 places to changes settings. Secondly, it kills the ability to change everything via the remote, one has to grab a mouse and keyboard to make changes. That's clumsy and unnecessary.

[dfish3d]

re: separate preferences window

it actually reduces confusion, by making all the crap buried in an XML file actually editable by human beings, and preventing your girlfriend from accidentally changing shit she shouldn't. That's the entire point.

Editing an xml file buried 8 directories deep isn't how you present options to an end user, advanced or not.