Items to be fixed in Beyond Media

[cfaslave]

This thread began as a stab at fixing/improving the already existing features in Beyond Media. Unfortunately, the thread has over the Summer of 06 (sounds like a song) become the thread realizing the reality that Snapstream has been sending mixed signals, but might be abandoning Beyond Media for good and focusing on BTV as the future?!? If you agree with me and others, please voice your concern to Rakesh & all of the SS crew and ask them to either:
1. Begin fixing some of the BM issues (see below) and releasing new updates to BM (aka not giving up on it)
2. or at least release the software to open/shared source.

UPDATED: You can voice your preference to have Beyond Media fixes and integration as a priority here in Brett's unofficial poll.

Below is some of the language from the original post:

This list has morphed into part fix list, part feature request list and part "what the heck is happening with Beyond Media" thread. Below is a list by category that I started and have updated with everyones suggestions:

Beyond Media Core Functionality

• Fix audio control to work like BTV4 so don't have to go to Settings for System Volume
• Make sure all keyboard commands are the same as BTV’s where appropriate -- ffwd & rewind are the most noticable differences currently - Part of the Integration mentioned below
• Integration of BTV into Beyond Media--One program to be the HTPC powerhouse that does TV/PVR, Music, Videos, DVD's & Weather very well. -
• Make the menu easier to customize. Ability to sort and change order of menu items would be really nice. Ability to rename a menu item would be usefull as well. Currently, you have to edit an XML file and hope you don't screw something up to do this sort of thing.
• Ability to "nest" menu items as sub-menu items in more of a tree view. (eg. ability to have movies as a menu item and then option to put dvd player, dvd library and videos all under movies)
• A simple plugin that anyone can configure (ie: launch file that will start up an exe program)
• Password Protection for any menu item
• Web interface to change settings for Beyond Media functions - much like BTV is today.
• Support for streaming TV, video, music files across internet with signon.

DVD & Video Player:

• Resume where left off does not work. Currently when you exit the Movie and then re-enter a movie at a later time, it starts back from the beginning.
• Better flexibility & built-I support for different codecs. Should be able to change codecs easily without editing xml files.
• DVD Player subtitles. Turning on or off subtitles is a bit tricky for many users. This could be simplified so that user could simple change settings and it works.
• DVD Player doesn't always show the status bar at the bottom when you pause the movie. (can sometimes force the status bar to show when you switch to windowed mode and back to full screen). - I opened a support ticket on this 7/2006 & it was added to SS's bug report list on 7/20/2006.
• Fix Auto Aspect Ratio on Video & DVD Player
• Smooth out FF and Rewind, and add on-screen speed indicator
• add .tp files to all skin's VideoBrowser XML
• Add support & codec for QuickTime video, including
• Add .mov files to all skin's VideoBrowser XML
• Add the ability to select a list of videos to play in sequence
• Add more functionality to the video fast-forward and rewind functions. Currently, we just have jump ahead by 1 sec, 30 sec, and 60 sec. Slow motion would be really nice also
• Support more video file extensions (RM, VOB, .divx).
• Tags for video's???

Music Player - I use cncb's J River Media Center Plugin for this given the problems in the core player.

• It crashes often; it should work more like the J.River Media Player Plugin that is used to be available. Needs to be fixed in a big way a.k.a. major overhaul required.
• Ability to play DRM'd music downloaded from pay-per-download sites.
• Integration with Ipod playlists & ratings - Recognize iTunes directory structure and playlists, as alternative to or in addition to WMP
• add .m4a files to all skin's MusicBrowser XML
• Display Artist Name up top with Album name when browsing by Album
• Add option on Music Browser pop-up menu to browse Albums by List of Names, rather than grid of cover art/gold album pics
• album art and other thumbnails (pictures, videos) these need to be cache'd for quick loading. I have over a thousand albums and album view takes forever to reload the images.
• Lyrics support - ability to read from id3 as well

Weather

• Show the current day forecast and this evening's forecast – button to go to extended forecast.
• Add radar or other moving image maps to weather
• Ability to change zip code with remote and switch between two or more cities.
• Weather Alert Message if there is a weather alert in your area

Photo's

• Ability to organize by tags
• functionality more like cncb's PSE photo plugin without having to purchase PSE...

BUGS in the Current Beyond Media (some already mentioned above)

• DVD Player doesn't always show the status bar at the bottom when you pause the movie. (full screen display gets trapped under Windows taskbar) - I submitted a ticket on this 07/13/06 -- on 07/20/06 Tucker submitted it to the SS "bug tracking system in the developers que
• When fast forwarding in a movie, DVD Player locks up entire Beyond Media Program. Have to force shutdown of BM and restart This is an issue reported on the forums AGES ago here

If I missed anything or stated others request incorrectly, I know I can count on everyone to remind me. I'll try to keep the list organized and updated to help out our fearless Snapstream Team

Brent

[MarcP]

Originally Posted by cfaslave

3. Weather. This works as it is, but it would be nice if it showed the current day forecast and this evening's forecast. Also could add radar mapweather modules should show the day's and evening's forcast (otherwise, what good is it?), as well as have moving radar images or some sorta map available.

To add to that... It's be nice if it could make a small on-screen mention when a special weather warning has been issued for our area.

[ZetaVu]

Ok, my list has been posted long ago but let's see what I can remember:

Video Playlist! I want to select a bunch of videos and add them to a playlist and have it play sequentially, letting me jump between them like dvd chapters, this is one of my dealbreakers

Music - album art and other thumbnails (pictures, videos) these need to be cache'd for quick loading. I have over a thousand albums and album view takes forever to reload the images, this makes the music player totally useless.

Weather - either give me animated doppler radars or forget about it. I am currently using the weather plugin which lets me assign one map, Media Portal lets me assign 6 maps per locations, oh, and let's not forget the option of having more than one location!

PPC remote - There are a lot of examples, Webamp for Winamp, Media Control for WMP, MPBlue for Media Portal, and of course NetRemote which can plug into iRiver amongst others. I need to be able to scroll on my ppc through songs, playlists, artists, genres, albums, etc, select songs, albums, etc, have BM play them, have it transmit the id3 info to my pda, and be able to navigate. I can do this with all the other plugins I mentioned. Then of course this needs to be expanded to videos and btv, etc.

The PSE plugin for pictures - AWESOME!, one of the things that keeps me coming back, this should be integrated directly into BM and you should be able to apply tags to videos in the same way.

Recipe database, just like drinks database except you can load your own recipes.

Lyrics - have it read from id3 as well (yes, I know it's a plugin) and hell, have it transmit that to my ppc.

While we're at it, how about streaming music, pictures and video just like ORb?

I could continue, but this should be enough to get us through the 6 months of beta testing.

[Moe]

- Top priority - add Resume where left off to DVD and Video Player

- Fix Auto Aspect Ratio

- Smooth out FF and Rewind, and add on-screen speed indicator

- Easy - add support for additional codecs, at least PowerDVD6 and NVIDIA, so customers don't have to edit XML files

- Easy - add .tp files to all skin's VideoBrowser XML

- Add support & codec for QuickTime video, including
Easy - add .mov files to all skin's VideoBrowser XML

- Easy - add .m4a files to all skin's MusicBrowser XML

- Recognize iTunes directory structure and playlists, as alternative to or in addition to WMP

- Fix problem where full screen display gets trapped under Windows taskbar

- Fix audio control to work like BTV4 so don't have to go to Settings for System Volume

- Fix problem of display of multiple My Music/My Pictures/My Video by translating All Users/Documents/My XXX to Shared XXX and username/My Documents/My XXX to username's XXX

- Add option on Music Browser pop-up menu to browse Albums by List of Names, rather than grid of cover art/gold album pics.

- Display Artist Name up top with Album name when browsing by Album

- Remember the customers choice of Grid vs List in ALL browsers by swapping lines for him/her instead of making him/her edit XML files

- Put today's and tonight's forecast and radar image on main Weather screen with button to go to extended forecast.

DVD Library should be installed by default in the main menu DVD position, but if you can't do that...

- Make selecting DVD from main menu go to a submenu where customer can select Play DVD, or Play DVD File and then browse folders named for the DVD name inside a main folder established in Settings.

[Harold]

A full featured news reader would be nice. Maybe some way to surf online video content (like CNN news clips). Better controls on the DVD player. Complete rework of the photo and music sections. Actually the user/developer community has probably fixed these with plugins.


The long promised BTV integration... which would hopefully allow the call center popup to work while in BTV mode among other things.

[dcell59]

My list of things I'd like to see fixed/added:

1. Volume goes to 100% when resuming paused video, so I have to click each volume button to get it back to the correct level.

2. The info pop-up isn't always in front of the video. This is intermittent, but it's usually broken on one of my systems.

3. It needs an on-demand on-screen clock for watching in the dark.

4. The video fast-forward and rewind functions need more control. Currently, we just have jump ahead by 1 sec, 30 sec, and 60 sec.

5. The slide show wait time needs to be settable.

6. When the directory contents change, it would be nice if this was reflected immediately. Windows has a mechanism for informing programs when folders change.

7. Fix the file sorting problem for drives other than C.

8. Fix the image cache exit freeze problem.

9. Support more video file extensions (RM, VOB, .divx).

10. Add the ability to select a list of videos to play in sequence.

[Harold]

An easy way to go in and out of standby would also be nice. This is really more of a BTV problem, but search the forum on the topic and you'll see alot of workarounds and discussions realted to this feature.

[cfaslave]

I updated my first post to keep the list current with everyone's suggestions.

Brent

[Moe]

The part about BM getting trapped under the Windows Task Bar applies to more than just the DVD, Video, (and Music) players, where it blocks the controls. It happens to the main menu too and other areas too.

All browsers: remember the customers's choice of grid vs list view by making it the default rather than requiring customer to edit an XML file and swap two lines.

All browsers: distinguish between files in individual users and "All Users" Documents and Settings, i.e. translate .../username/My Documents/My Videos to Username's Videos and .../All Users/Documents/My Videos to Shared Videos. Same with Music and Photos.

I can't remember any other problems with the Photos.

I'm not going to hammer SnapStream about not playing iTunes .m4p protected files. To my knowledge Apple's SDK doesn't support it. I've read a plug-in for WinAmp does it, and don't know anything about it, but would have to ask if that includes music purchased with iTunes 6 and later. Hymn can't "crack" those yet AFAIK. My solution is to not buy any more music from iTunes. But I still use their software to rip CDs to .m4a.

[cfaslave]

Thought of another "fix" item that would make BM more flexible:

Beyond Media Core Functionality

• Make the menu easier to customize. Ability to sort and change order of menu items would be really nice. Ability to rename a menu item would be usefull as well. Currently, you have to edit an XML file and hope you don't screw something up to do this sort of thing.

[dequire]

My feature request is simple: Hire a developer that does nothing but work on BM and give them the above requests

[dcell59]

It's a good idea, but it's more than just a developer. They would need at least one dedicated tester, and full access to the QA lab (which I assume they have). If it wasn't for the lab part, the developer could be a telecommuter (I'd love the job, but I'm not moving).

[richt]

A back end database.
Stop scanning my directory structure everytime I want to access a video file. You actually think I can remember where I stored a particular episode of Doctor Who? I need to be able to display and search through these things intelligently. Directory listing just don't work when you have 1.2 TB over 6 or 8 drives.

[Gunn]

Hey, its its one dedicated developer to work on it, I'll take it! At least things would move along. Give us the beta versions; we'll be the dedicated tester and QA lab. Beyond Media is sooooo stale!

cfaslave, why don't you edit your initial post at the top of this list with the thread you created lower down....keep it updated with these features. It's nice. The forum admin needs to make it a sticky. But I don't think they want to hear any of this at Snapstream.

Among other things, I had high hopes for Weather plugin. I mean, I can already look at my digital thermometer and look outside to see everything I need to know that exists on the BM weather screen! Pretty much useless. To make it usable, it needs to have radar images...so we can see what's coming. Animated radar loops of the past several hours which are available on weather.com would be even better to get a sense of direction. THAT type of thing should be basic functionality for this plugin.

Thanks for compiling the list; lets keep adding to it.

[Gunn]

1) I'd like to see the interface be more of a heirarchy; kind of like a tree view. Instead of having every plugin on the main menu and you have to scroll down, it'd be nice to categorize or customize their location. When I used to use myHTPC, I had on the main menu, something like:

...
Videos
Music
Aquarium
...

Under Videos, I had further selections:

Home Videos
Movies
Clips
Other

And in myHTPC, you could assign a password entry to any of the items, useful for locking out guests...or kids.

2)A simple plugin that anyone can configure (ie: launch file). My old "Aquarium" button in myHTPC launched a Windows screensaver that had fish swimming around. My easy-to-take-care-of fish tank!