another new product coming soon: Beyond Media

[imf4]

Originally posted by -LD
so, what we're seeing here is a blatant ripoff of the myHTPC basics?

i'm all for competition, but not when it just means ripping off someone else's idea

One could say the same exact think to myhtpc, that it is a ripoff of Windows MCE.

If you are an avid myhtpc user then why do you even care what Snapstream is doing.

[Cayars]

Originally posted by -LD
so, what we're seeing here is a blatant ripoff of the myHTPC basics?

i'm all for competition, but not when it just means ripping off someone else's idea

I'm not sure I follow your logic. They're not ripping off anything from myHTPC. They are creating a very similar program with the same purpose but I'd hardly call it a ripoff.

Would you same the same thing about Beyond TV? Is it a rip off of Showshifter, Sage TV, MythTV, etc... ???

[ctebo]

Give Beyond Media a chance to ship as a product before dismissing it as a ripoff...

Heck, while I like and use myHTPC, I think its biggest strength is also its weakness. Pablo's unwillingness to open up the source and get others involved in development of the core is limiting its growth, and giving companies like Snapstream a chance to outshine myHTPC, by virtue of the fact that Beyond Media can have a real development team assigned to it, and potentially deliver way more product in much less time. That doesn't sound like a "myHTPC ripoff" to me.

In fact, I think that all of us consumers of htpc software benefit greatly by having Snapstream, CyberLink (http://www.gocyberlink.com/english/p...ema/3/main.jsp), and NVIDIA start playing in this space. These companies are all investing a decent amount of effort in the same space that myHTPC is playing in. Pablo needs to decide if he wants to compete on features (which he has indicated to date) or price (free). If its competing on features, he'll have to get more developers working on the myHTPC core.

In the end, we all win by having the opportunity to choose the software that is best suited to our needs. Right now, there isn't much choice.

Chris

[eggman51]

Yeah I agree .. not really a "ripoff" as such, there are a ton of products in this space - and more to come I am sure.

However, I guess I woulda preferred to see BTV become something like "the PVR of choice for myHTPC users" rather than shifting efforts to BM and Firefly.

While I acknowledge it's inevitable that Snapstream needs some kind of interface like this - and that there is significant opportunity in the marketplace - I really woulda preferred to see BTV mature a little (feature, performance and quality wise) before diverting resoures to BM.

I would think that the 3.5 cycle will be extended much past normal cycles in order to accomodate the concurrent development.

I also really hope this is nto oen of those product announcements that is vapor ware. I hope a beta is imminent, but from some of the comments i have read, it sounds like these products are not finished the design phase.

Good luck with 'em.

Hopin fer multi tuner before Sage finds the crystal slippers and gets all purdy like.

eggman

[brujack]

As far as audio goes, please support ogg. I have ripped most of my music in ogg format and I am reluctant to rerip in mp3.

This is looking like a really good product that will simplify my setup for my wife. The wife factor is very important

Bruce

A very satisfied BTV user (used to be a very angry ATI MMC user)

[wincrasher]

I'd rather see this product more closely integrated with Beyond TV instead of as an add on. Sold as an add on is OK, but have it
merge with Beyond TV somehow so you have a single menu screen.

Right now I'm using xlobby 2.0 for the same purpose. One of the really cool features of this program is that it will show your DVD library - either offline or online disks - and gets all the movie info and cover art from a database in a program called dvdprofiler - a fairly popular dvd cataloguing program. I'd like to see Beyond Media include this capability and it's convenience.

[ctebo]

Cataloging one's DVD library is a handy feature, especially when you have enough storage to keep those DVDs available on disk...

For inspiration folks might want to take a look at an application that does this very, very well - DVDLobby. http://www.cinemaronline.com/dvdlobbypro.html

To see the rest of the product suite visit http://www.cinemaronline.com.

Bear in mind with the DVDLobby screen shots that users are running this in either one of two modes - 1) using a tablet/touchscreen PC as a control for their home theater PC, 2) with a standard IR remote against their HTPC being displayed on the TV.

Their MainLobby product in principle provides similar functionality as a platform for building apps like DVD Lobby, and their other products.

Their target market is fairly upscale though (and their price reflects it). But for those who have dropped $10,000 on their set of speakers, the beautiful rich UIs that can be produced with the ****Lobby suite are pretty impressive.

Chris

[Tim Reese]

The more I read the more I like the sound of it. I enjoy the use of MyHTPC but if I can have something that more closely integrates with BTV I would be even more pleased.

Also thinking of ditching my Remote Wonder for the Firefly.

Will the media module have the capability of "Super Tagging" similar to Musicmatch?

[blitzkrg]

well whatever you do PLEASE support command line options.
and hurry up

[Tim Reese]

Originally posted by blitzkrg
well whatever you do PLEASE support command line options.
and hurry up

Command Line Options are a definite must YES!

[Buckaroo]

I know that some of this has already been covered, but I thought a wish list for Beyond Media might be useful:

General:
- Robust Client/Server model
- Choose & Play any media on supported client
- Send media to supported client (e.g. get music to play on several computers)
- Radio tuning for supported cards
- Pluggable, open architecture
- Link to media eCommerce with direct support (e.g. iTunes, Cinema Now)
- Extended metadata support (Album Artist, Series title, Season #)

Audio Player:
- MP3, MP3 Pro, WMA, OGG, APE, WAV, AIFF & Apple AAC support
- JRiver-style Smartlist support (automatic playlist creation based on user-definable criteria, e.g. Most Popular)


Video player (these should also be in BTV):
- WMV, MPEG 1,2, & 4, Divx, XviD, Quicktime support
- Manually adjustable aspect ratio (including arbitrary)
- Manually adjustable overscan
- Manually adjustable video position
- Manually adjustable video zoom
- Image controls (color, saturation, contrast, etc.)
- User-definable presets for all of the above
- Direct hotkey access (cycle would be fine) for all of the above
- Per-file presets settings (automatically launch on file playback)
- Hotkey assignable presets settings
- User definable chapter stops
- User definable subtitles
- User definable language tracks
- Variable speed playback
- Jog slider
- Advanced control bar with hide/unhide
- Access to DirectShow filters' properties
- FFDShow support (this would bring subtitles, DScaler, and so much more... A Must Have!)

DVD Player:
- Plugable audio/video support
- Direct Audio/Chapter/Title/Angle access
- Multi-region support
- On-line catalog (DVD Profiler front end)
- Playback from hard drive


I look forward to a great product!

[draiko4]

if Beyond media runs with the same GUI setup as Beyond TV, the beyond TV directX shell load time should be eliminated, it should just play off of the Beyond Media shell... or one would think.

Also, something I'd love to see sometime... Porting to Microsoft Plus!'s Voice command... I love the ability to call up my audio and video just by speaking to my computer. I may try to do that myself with the .NET plug-in functionality, I just hope they'll offer an SDK.

I have a few other ideas for plug-in features that I'll code as soon as I get my hands on Beyond Media.

Make sure Beyond Media has cool visual effects for music playback... people like those (especially if they're plug-ins) skinability is also a plus, but people can live without that.

The only complaints I've ever heard from people about Beyond TV are it's load time and the inability to have folders in the BTV GUI.

Also, I hope snapstream offers a discount on Beyond Media for People who have purchased Beyond TV, maybe half of a bundle price.

[bccicone]

Is this another Product or, will it be integrated within Beyond TV.

It would nicer to intergrate into one product.

More development should also be spent on controlling the channels to be switched on the cable box or satellite.

This is the heart and soul of this software. If you need to do it manually, Then its not a TIVO competitor.

bob

[satkinson]

As a tv news director, I use both a tivo and an MCE professionally - one records our newscasts and the other records the competition's.

TiVo continues to take the interface crown (IMHO, of course) but MCE isn't bad - though it is a bit dodgy, performance wise.
(I get some audio hiccups when recording, though they go away on playback, on a P2.6 system.)


I'm excited about an integrated program that can be added to an XP home box (please offer some kind of combined price for BTV and the new item...) and that presumably will run leaner.

What would be nice? An editable interface, so that I could drop out the features I absolutely will never use.

Also - clear shortcuts that will let me get to the record menus in one click.

So...color me excited. Can't wait to try this.

Scott Atkinson

[wetdagger]

Hey SatKinson, great to have you onboard! I know you can offer a ton of insight into this product. I'm big on an interface too, being a web designer. You've hit the nail on the head when asking for a customizable interface. We'll see what BTV will offer when they release the API.

Have fun on this forum!
wd