Beyond Media update (Nov 10, 2004)

[rakeshagrawal]

Development on Beyond Media continues to speed along -- the first release candidate (RC) shipped last week and we're currently preparing to release the second RC. We expect to announce the official launch date and time shortly.

In this update, I want to focus on Beyond Media's powerful interface and skinning engine -- as I've mentioned in previous posts, Beyond Media is built on top of a powerful interface engine. The interface, from the setup wizard to the Beyond Media application interface itself, use Direct3D to deliver a rich and responsive user experience. And whether you are an end-user or a system builder, we know you want to be able to personalize and customize the look and feel of Beyond Media so that's exactly what the Beyond Media skinning engine lets you do.

This begs the question: How can you create your own skin? When Beyond Media ships, a preliminary version of the Beyond Media SDK will be available and it will include (among other things) detailed documentation of how to create skins for Beyond Media and the object architecture underlying the skinning engine. A few of our Beyond Media beta testers have already begun to dabble in creating skins for Beyond Media so expect to see some cool skins available at launch.

In related news, we will be launching the SnapStream Developers Network (SSDN) side by side with Beyond Media. The SSDN will include a general discussion forum for the Beyond TV SDK and the Beyond Media SDK. The SSDN will be a haven for beginner and advanced developers alike when it comes to building any kind of add-on, plug-in or skin for Beyond TV or Beyond Media.

What if you want to download an existing skin, plug-in or add-on? That's where the SSDN downloads directories come in. The SSDN download directories (one for Beyond TV and one for Beyond Media) will be a showcase for YOUR programming and graphic design talent (and believe me when I tell you that there is a lot of talent in this community). As a user, the best part is that Beyond Media plugins and skins will be easy, easy, easy to install -- you just download your plugin/skin/whatever, double-click and it'll automatically be installed in Beyond Media.

So returning to the topic of Beyond Media skins: there is some really cool stuff in the pipeline. What I've posted below is just a rough sampling of some of the skins that are in the works, but they should give you an idea of just how powerful this new skinning engine is.

And stay tuned, I'll be posting something about Beyond Media plug-ins next week -- there is a lot of work that has been done here both in terms of infrastructure as well as actual plug-ins.

Discuss this update here

[rakeshagrawal]

This, of course, is the default "BlueWave" skin that will ship with Beyond Media:

[rakeshagrawal]

And this is a preliminary version of the "Beyond TV" skin: (it will also ship "in the box" with Beyond Media):

[rakeshagrawal]

Another skin:

[rakeshagrawal]

RedWave, a variation on BlueWave:

[rakeshagrawal]

One of attisb's skins:

[rakeshagrawal]

Final comment: if you are interested in getting schooled up now on creating skins for Beyond Media, PM me and I can get you started!