[da-anda]

IMO we'd need an improved input handling and keymap API where we can detect devices that support colored buttons (or make it a setting) and then we could show contextual help for the current button mapping of those colored keys like set top boxes do. But without such a detection/option we're not able to do this in a sane way, given our shitload of possible control devices and customizable keymaps. And on top of that every possible action that can be used in keymaps would need a translated label - sounds like a lot of fun to code

[scarecrow420]

detection may be a bit out of reach, but surely we could have an option in the settings menu to indicate the type of remote being used? There are already a section for "remote sends key presses" and things like that, so a "remote type" setting on that page would be good!

It has often come up that we couldnt do certain things by default because not everyone has a remote with guide/info/return/menu etc buttons on it, but catering for the lowest common demoninator (eg those 6 button remotes or whatever they are) sometimes limits the polish we can put on certain out of the box functionality. Having a settings menu option to indicate basic/standard/MCE remote, or a tick box for whether coloured buttons are present or not, would mean we could support some of the better functionality but dumb things down if the user indicates they have an appleTV style remote.

[produno]

It has often come up that we couldnt do certain things by default because not everyone has a remote with guide/info/return/menu etc buttons on it, but catering for the lowest common demoninator (eg those 6 button remotes or whatever they are) sometimes limits the polish we can put on certain out of the box functionality. Having a settings menu option to indicate basic/standard/MCE remote, or a tick box for whether coloured buttons are present or not, would mean we could support some of the better functionality but dumb things down if the user indicates they have an appleTV style remote.

Yeah this is the sort of thing i was getting at. Though again, it depends how user freindly you want to make XBMC and if its worth the time put into it. Though a pop up when installing XBMC could allow you to choose your prefered controller setup, or some sort.

[advocate99]

It'd be even better if there were some GUI method of identifying and re-mapping keys to functions. Ideally, I could go to:

settings -> remote

And see a screen that would show a code for each button when I push on my remote, and then be able to link it to a defined set of functions that most users might want to map or remap.

IMO we'd need an improved input handling and keymap API where we can detect devices that support colored buttons (or make it a setting) and then we could show contextual help for the current button mapping of those colored keys like set top boxes do. But without such a detection/option we're not able to do this in a sane way, given our shitload of possible control devices and customizable keymaps. And on top of that every possible action that can be used in keymaps would need a translated label - sounds like a lot of fun to code

[produno]

It'd be even better if there were some GUI method of identifying and re-mapping keys to functions. Ideally, I could go to:

settings -> remote

And see a screen that would show a code for each button when I push on my remote, and then be able to link it to a defined set of functions that most users might want to map or remap.

But different remotes work differently and give different functions depending on key presses? For instance some remotes use keyboard shortcuts, others use the remote function or JSON? Im not an expert at this but just trying to remember info on the wiki when i set up my own remote. So i would guess in that situation you would still need to select the type of remote you have before it can load the correct program to tell you the correct keypress function? or am i way off?

If that is the case, using my idea. If you have three different remote 'types' you can save three different databases, which will load the correct one depending on what the user chooses upon installation. This could possibly still be set in advanced settings? It will then load the correct .xml or whatever for that controller type. You can then have proper global settings for each controller type. Most poeple wouldnt need to change the button maps then, how many people do on a tv? or a set top box?

If im talking tripe, tell me and ill shut up

[Jönke]

Well you add one extra action that a user must perform to access the same thing. Context menu makes more sense I think, since we already got the code for it, and we access the functionality like that in the other epg windows too.

i think we need this action on guide info osd, because of the less button remotes, which do not hold a context menu button.
anyway i don't like the idea of having a context menu on an osd window, which is only visible/accessible in fullscreen view.

Any news on this ?

no, this have to wait until after gotham.

A little bump so it won't be forgotten

Would it not be nice if we had a subforum for pvr related requests?

[zag]

Maybe implement these 2 small feature requests

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=154675

[xhaggi]

Maybe implement these 2 small feature requests

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=154675

I use XBMC to watch Live TV allot. I think the navigation could be easier if some navigation functions change.
Second change:
When choosing a tv channel in the EPG timeline with the "ok" button on my remotecontrol (sends enter/return key) I get a popup with the tv channel info and then I have to choose "switch" to actually change channel.

you could change the default action within Live TV settings under EPG iirc.

[snorkel]

I posted these in the PVR help section:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=195850

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=195849

In a nutshell:

Show number of recordings in the Live TV recordings screen either as a column in the grid or in () in the series/folder title.

And add the ability to delete all recordings in a series/folder.
I.e. when you click the context button on the remote or keyboard have a delete entry in the context menu that would delete the entire folder or the ability to at least select all when in a folder/series and then context click and select delete and have it apply to all the selected ones. Reword the confirmation dialog to fit i.e. Are you sure you want to delete selected recordings?

These are small things but add up to big usability gains. My wife won't use the XBMC PVR because it lacks these two little things.

[negge]

@snorkel: once 4753 (PR) is merged it should be possible to use the same view mode switching mechanism for recordings as for other folders in the library.

Regarding deleting of folders I thought that was implemented already?

[scarecrow420]

On the topic of Recordings here are 2 points I wanted to raise

1) In our pvr.wmc addon forum, we have had a number of user requests to be able to display a Logo/thumbnail for the folders in the recording list. Since the folder structure in recordings is just a virtual path, derived from the "Path" field of the returned Recording items, there is no place to specify the folder thumbnail currently.
To implement this without changing too much, we could extend the Recording Item return to have a FolderThumbnail field as well as the Path, and then if specified, this image could be displayed for the parent folder that the recording item sits in. Obviously this is a bit weird if you have 86 recordings of a show and all of them specify the thumbnail path of the parent folder (what if they each specify some different file!). We could just take whatever the thumbnail on the first (or last) recording item was, whatever was easier. If we wanted to support multiple subfolders (eg Show Name\Series 1\Name of Recording) then we could provide comma separated thumbnails in the FolderThumbnail field. It would be a best effort only, rely on the AddOn programmer to make sure they provide the correct number of thumbnails for the number of subfolders, if they get it wrong then the thumbnails just wont be set. Similarly, if they specify multiple conflicting ones for parent folders, just take whatever one is easiest (eg the last recording item to be processed).

This is just 1 way of doing it, that doesnt depart from the current scheme where the recording folder structure is derived from "Path" fields on the actual recording items. If we wanted to change things more significantly, we could change things so that recording items could have a type of either File or Folder, then we could provide the folders as their own item and include their single thumbnail there. We could add a new PVR capability bSupportsRecordingStructure so that addons could then implement this as they get to it, and XBMC knows to expect Folder and File items instead of just File items.

2) I have often wanted to do a PLAYLIST of recordings of a show. I record some kids shows for my son and they are only like 10 minutes per episode. If I want him to be out of my hair for 30 minutes I would want to queue up a few of these recordings, or even just start playing a recording in this show's folder and have it automatically play the next file when it reaches the end (similar to how XBMC does audio and video files etc). Is it just me, or are we not supporting playlist functionality on recordings at the moment? I dont seem to be able to use the Queue commands etc, and the playlist view always shows as empty. So essentially I have to keep coming back every 10 minutes to play the next episode.
If we arent supporting playlists for recordings, then we should!


I can help with some coding and pull requests but I havent done much development on the XBMC PVR API side, only on the front end addon and our backend side, so would definitely appreciate some guidance from xhaggi opdenkamp and others, in how they would like this done on the XBMC API side etc

[negge]

Queueing recordings in a playlist should also be possible on said PR makes it, if I'm not completely mistaken as to what it's all about. Regarding thumbnails for recordings, I think it should work the same as all other folders in XBMC, ie. they have the folder icon. If someone wants fancy stuff for recordings they can add the recorded folders to their library.

[Woppie]

With 3 options I would be really happy;

- Hide all channels group
- go to full livetv screen immediately
- hide DialogPVRChannelsOSD upon selecting channel

Also can't seem to sort my channels with the media portal server as backend, not sure if that's a bug or what.
It's properly sorted (the way I like) in media portal but within xbmc it displays the order of scanning.

Last thing I personally do; change the translation from "Tijdlijn" (Timeline) to "TV Gids" (TV Guide) for Dutch.
For me and some people on a Dutch forum it really makes no sense or at least it's a bit odd and even other htpc applications use "TV Gids" or "Programma Gids" instead.
Even for English "TV Guide" might be the better translation.

One thing I recommend to everyone; add this to keyboard.xml:

Code:

<PVROSDChannels>
    <keyboard>
    <left>PreviousChannelGroup</left>
    <right>NextChannelGroup</right>
    </keyboard>
  </PVROSDChannels>

It makes you go left and right on the on screen osd guide between channel groups which is a godsend if you got 125+ channels like me.
Really... this should be a standard with xbmc, it makes no sense this wasn't added.


The only and last thing I miss (but can leave without if I really must) is an add-on that levels sound between programs and commercials... it's such a pain.

[negge]

- hide DialogPVRChannelsOSD upon selecting channel

There is an option to hide it in Settings -> Live TV -> somewhere.

Also can't seem to sort my channels with the media portal server as backend, not sure if that's a bug or what.
It's properly sorted (the way I like) in media portal but within xbmc it displays the order of scanning.

Sorting in XBMC is not supported at the moment, though it should be possible soon once some WIP changes are merged. However, the channel list is sorted by channel number. If MediaPortal doesn't send any numbers it's up to the PVR addon to make up some order, so this is probably an issue with the addon itself, not XBMC per se.

Regarding timeline vs. guide, it's just the specific view that is called the timeline, there are other views too. XBMC calles the guide by its correct name (EPG) and I doubt that is going to change.

Regarding your keymap change, that should not be necessary at all, it is the default behavior to change groups when pressing left/right.

The only and last thing I miss (but can leave without if I really must) is an add-on that levels sound between programs and commercials... it's such a pain.

Not gonna happen, but the EU has banned this particular practice so it should get better soon. In Finland the broadcasters already comply with the law.

[Woppie]

There is an option to hide it in Settings -> Live TV -> somewhere.

Unfortunately not, there are some settings for the timeline but not this one;



I'm sure it can be made though, it's pretty obvious this screen should be able to hide itself once selecting a channel.
Might need to look into this on a skin level, that's the only coding I can do and it might be possible.

Regarding your keymap change, that should not be necessary at all, it is the default behavior to change groups when pressing left/right.

Nope, it's not the standard behaviour but at least a lot of people will be happy with my fix
At times like this I love how customizable xbmc is, at least the enduser can make it right even when the devs think their way is better.
To me the whole way the navigation works in the stock skin is odd and I'm so happy there are a lot of skins that improve on this.
It's probably because of the support for remotes with a single few buttons but to my proper remote it feels like a sports car with a steering wheel of a tank.
Not be able to go left or right between channel groups really enforces that feeling.
Hopefully you'll see my point here why I feel this way.

Regarding timeline vs. guide, it's just the specific view that is called the timeline, there are other views too. XBMC calles the guide by its correct name (EPG) and I doubt that is going to change.

I strongly disagree but it's an easy fix anyways. To me and some other Dutchies on IRC it's really odd and since I can fix it myself this is good enough for me.
Again this is a sample why I love how customizable xbmc is.

Not gonna happen, but the EU has banned this particular practice so it should get better soon. In Finland the broadcasters already comply with the law.

It has been banned since 2003 here and pretty much all channel but some comply.
To bad you don't like such plugin but I hope someone else that can code in the community shares my problem and decides to do something about it