View Full Version : MediaStream - ::The wait is over::
MikeBeecham
2008-08-08, 13:52
http://digitalpage.co.uk/development/fluid/razorfishlogoeq7.png
So people...here we are. We've been working since October 2007, have utilsed a raft of talent, available through the community...all who have come together to provide a skin for the community to use.
There is an overwhelming desire to give you lots and lots of information and statistics about the skin...what it does, what it can do...what it cant do, etc. However, we think that you've probably been overloaded with info already, and probably just want to get your hands on it.
So then....Team Razorfish are very proud to be able to present you MediaStream...please hit the link to continue:
www.teamrazorfish.co.uk
I know its daft but I did have a grin on when I saw the link! :)
Thanks again Mike and all of the Team!
Roll on 5pm! I'm at work!! :(
Wow, got home early and it's right here!! :D
Thx Team Razorfish!!!!
The GRIN continues!
Just tried it on my Windows Laptop at work!
Cant wait to get home fire up the Xbox and see it all in 720p on my TV!!
The GRIN continues!
Just tried it on my Windows Laptop at work!
Cant wait to get home fire up the Xbox and see it all in 720p on my TV!!
That's a good idea! /me installs XBMC win32 on work laptop.
joncgde2
2008-08-08, 14:33
For those who don't like waiting times... I've upped a copy to mediafire for you :)
No waiting times + fast speeds + new skin = excitement! :D
http://www.mediafire.com/?rfxpigl0g4u
Very nice skin, clean and easily readable, only thing I'm not pleased about is the home screen menu being right in the center of the screen, covering half of the rotating background is making them a bit pointless to have :) hopefully theres a option to mod it and shift it to the left or right ?
Ninjamawwe
2008-08-08, 14:46
Love the logo :)
skunkm0nkee
2008-08-08, 14:50
Very nice skin, clean and easily readable, only thing I'm not pleased about is the home screen menu being right in the center of the screen, covering half of the rotating background is making them a bit pointless to have :) hopefully theres a option to mod it and shift it to the left or right ?
It is something we have discussed and we may be working on an update which has options for the positioning of the blade.
ewequeone
2008-08-08, 15:03
guys, seriously. wow.
I like to think I'm very minimalistic, and my first thought was the skin seems very busy, as in there is a lot of information on the screens, but after using it for a very limited time (seeing as the olympics have started) I have found it to be quite an enjoyable skin to use.
not to play favourites, but it will be a very difficult choice as to which skin I will now use (aeon or mediastream). I'll be giving it a thorough testing over the weekend, but for you guys, it shouldn't matter if one person chooses it or not, it really is such a great achievement.
thank you so much for giving this awesome work of yours to the community, I for one greatly appreciate it.
cheers,
Jason.
releasing while I´m working...grrr ;)
curious to try it out, I´m sure it´ll be quality
kudos to everyone at razorfish
MikeBeecham
2008-08-08, 15:05
thanks ewequeone...appreciate the positive feedback so far. Dont misunderstand me...either people will like it or they wont. And thats ok. We created for you guys to use and play around with...so whatever happens happens.
2nd the "WOW"
Its great.. menue's are clear and moden looking.... I've always been a PMIII man but I feel a change coming on... ;)
It is a very nice skin.
Pretty perfect but the fanart and backgrounds are pretty covered up wich bothers me tiny bit..
skunkm0nkee
2008-08-08, 15:43
Yep, that was a conscious design decision to not have the whole skin dominated by the backgrounds. Our philosophy was that the media should be a prominent feature of the skin and backgrounds (such as fanart or custom backgrounds) should be visible but not completely obscure everything else.
Having said that we're always open to feedback on what people like/dislike with the skin and will take such feedback on board for future updates.
bobrooney_78
2008-08-08, 15:52
Very nice skin, clean and easily readable, only thing I'm not pleased about is the home screen menu being right in the center of the screen, covering half of the rotating background is making them a bit pointless to have :) hopefully theres a option to mod it and shift it to the left or right ?
i second this.
Thanks a lot, it's a superb skin.
Thank you for all of your work on this great skin! I only had a few mins to play around with it before work, but I love it! Thanks again!
mike & razorfish guys, i'm lost for words - a year of polishing definitely shows. this is the killer skin for xbmc for me... your hard work is definetly appreciated!!
now where do i send the bug reports? :rolleyes:
skunkm0nkee
2008-08-08, 16:19
mike & razorfish guys, i'm lost for words - a year of polishing definitely shows. this is the killer skin for xbmc for me... your hard work is definetly appreciated!!
now where do i send the bug reports? :rolleyes:
Thanks.
Post bugs/suggestions in here: http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=35671
Massive thanks to Mike and the Razorfish team for an outstanding skin! Quick question if I may: Whats the optimal resolution and file type to use for background images, and where's the best place to find images suitable for each category?
Very nice indeed. Outstanding work.
Cheers!
skunkm0nkee
2008-08-08, 16:29
Massive thanks to Mike and the Razorfish team for an outstanding skin! Quick question if I may: Whats the optimal resolution and file type to use for background images, and where's the best place to find images suitable for each category?
Backgrounds in the skin itself are 720p (1280x720) but I would imagine you can try other resolutions depending on what resolution you are running the skin in.
In terms of looking for other images to use, you could try images such as those that are used for Aeon as the categories should be very similar
Congrats to all concerned for hitting the date. Haven't tried it but I'm sure I'll get a chance over the w/e.
You're always going to have problems when throwing custom backdrops into the mix with vertical design. To be honest, I was surprised to see it in theDeviL's designs knowing his preference for backdrops; that's for him to explain if he chooses, though. Assuming you can pull it off without spoiling the look, I guess shifting the menu to the left would at least clear a space for centrally orientated artwork. I have to say it's a dealbreaker for me, but you've already stressed your individual vision for this and that should be respected. It's not like artwork features that big in many skins anyway.
One thing about the website, though. Please, for the love of God, redo those images so they're not riddled with compression artefacts. I'll happily shut up if I'm alone on this, but they're on the wrong side of the size/quality balance for me. This is a sleek-looking skin, after all.
Otherwise, +1 one to the previous comments. It looks very nice from I've seen so far. One question: did you use the remarkably Aeon-esque (it really is a coincidence but an amazing one if you've seen it) showcase view from theDeviL's design? This isn't a feature request, just for info.
Only able to try this baby tomorrow, and i'm looking forward to it... one thing though... i believe, with all tyhe hype...
MediaStream deserves a sub-forum as aeon does... it'll be easier to navigate and report bugs and so on... I think all skins should be setup like that... its just easier for everyone in the community!
Thanks for releasing this beast... I just know it's gonna be great!
skunkm0nkee
2008-08-08, 16:53
Congrats to all concerned for hitting the date. Haven't tried it but I'm sure I'll get a chance over the w/e.
You're always going to have problems when throwing custom backdrops into the mix with vertical design. To be honest, I was surprised to see it in theDeviL's designs knowing his preference for backdrops; that's for him to explain if he chooses, though. Assuming you can pull it off without spoiling the look, I guess shifting the menu to the left would at least clear a space for centrally orientated artwork. I have to say it's a dealbreaker for me, but you've already stressed your individual vision for this and that should be respected. It's not like artwork features that big in many skins anyway.
Yep, each to their own as we have said all along
One thing about the website, though. Please, for the love of God, redo those images so they're not riddled with compression artefacts. I'll happily shut up if I'm alone on this, but they're on the wrong side of the size/quality balance for me. This is a sleek-looking skin, after all.
Website will be receiving changes and updates over the coming weeks and months.
Otherwise, +1 one to the previous comments. It looks very nice from I've seen so far. One question: did you use the remarkably Aeon-esque (it really is a coincidence but an amazing one if you've seen it) showcase view from theDeviL's design? This isn't a feature request, just for info.
Nope, there's not too much of the original mockups theDevil posted still in the skin
thanks for all the work you guys put in this, now lets see how amazed I will be!
skunkm0nkee
2008-08-08, 16:56
Only able to try this baby tomorrow, and i'm looking forward to it... one thing though... i believe, with all tyhe hype...
MediaStream deserves a sub-forum as aeon does... it'll be easier to navigate and report bugs and so on... I think all skins should be setup like that... its just easier for everyone in the community!
Thanks for releasing this beast... I just know it's gonna be great!
You're wish is someone else's command (thanks to whoever setup the new forum :grin:)
Fuck it, I tried it anyway. Work can wait!
First impressions, which I hope you'll take as they're intended:
The good:
-Iconography is lush.
-Visual style and artwork is top notch - definitely a potential replacement for PMIII on that front.
-Nice to see you've used those watched/unwatched tabs from the original design, though it looks like you've relocated them somewhat from earlier concepts. They don't quite sit right on their current frames. Maybe having them fade in along with (rather than just after) the focus object would help in that respect.
-List view is really nice. You certainly get points for actually having a scrollbar in there (not something I've managed yet). Why the lack of space for list items, though, when there's so much free for the icons?
-Dialogs are great! Put mine to shame, certainly.
-In terms of basic function, almost entirely bug-free more me so far. Can't understate the achievement there.
The maybe not-so-good:
-Something about it feels chaotic to me. Maybe it's the dramatic shifts between layouts, maybe it's having all the options together on a pop-out side panel, maybe it's the aforementioned clash of shades on the main menu. I dunno. It's probably just me.
-Personally, I'd love to see animations across the skin halved in length. All the tweening and acceleration functions in XBMC are nice an' all, but I'd rather spend less time watching them after prolonged use. The whole thing feels a bit sluggish. Nice tween on the main menu pop-out, though.
-Just a few basic design issues, like having to move up from movies to make the side menu pop out. Nothing too awful.
In all:
An extremely nice-looking skin and a fine achievement from all involved, especially given the potential strife of working in a team. A more than viable replacement for PMIII as XBMC's default skin in terms of textures, but maybe not so much in terms of function. The sluggish animation and fluctuating layout leaves the PMIII man in me feeling a little disorientated - it doesn't feel like an environment I could enjoy spending time in. That's an entirely personal point, though, and I do have quite specific tastes. For the Vision crowd, however, I reckon this'll be an irresistable proposition.
Props!
ezechiel1917
2008-08-08, 17:33
thanks for the release, it is absolutely fabulous. :nod::grin::cool:
manturafs
2008-08-08, 17:41
thanks for the comments djh. appreciate the look from you. as for one comment:
-Personally, I'd love to see animations across the skin halved in length. All the tweening and acceleration functions in XBMC are nice an' all, but I'd rather spend less time watching them after prolonged use. The whole thing feels a bit sluggish. Nice tween on the main menu pop-out, though.
i don't see this being a huge demand, but as you probably know, not too hard to do. i think we'll add a no animations type of thing in our skin settings after getting some other things out of the way.
thanks for the comments djh. appreciate the look from you. as for one comment:
i don't see this being a huge demand, but as you probably know, not too hard to do. i think we'll add a no animations type of thing in our skin settings after getting some other things out of the way.
Good call.... the Xboxes 733Mhz CPU can add sluggish animations all on its own!! LOL!
if this skin was a girl, i would tap it.
Love the "Image Stream" for my pictures!!
Big Up! ;)
sandman4sure
2008-08-08, 18:52
The skin looks fabulous! Big thumbs up!!
Is there a way to disable "*all seasons" in tv-series?
It always shows a big thumbnail for "no thumb" and I don't think I can change that?
skunkm0nkee
2008-08-08, 19:01
Yep, that's an xbmc thing - have a look in the wiki (I think it comes under advancedsettings)
This looks great.I don't mind the placement of anything.It's new,original,clean and user friendly.Hard to find skins like this that are not dependent on other skins concepts.Good job Team RF.
sandman4sure
2008-08-08, 19:33
Yep, that's an xbmc thing - have a look in the wiki (I think it comes under advancedsettings)
wonderfull, that worked!!
Thanks
Great skin lads, fiar play...
But is it just me or can you not jog/skip during video playback????
When i press up on the d-pad it brings up the info pane on the bottom???
Actually none of the movie playback buttons work at all!!!
........"But is it just me or can you not jog/skip during video playback?"
Works fine for me.Do you have the latest T3CH build?
skunkm0nkee
2008-08-08, 20:40
Great skin lads, fiar play...
But is it just me or can you not jog/skip during video playback????
When i press up on the d-pad it brings up the info pane on the bottom???
Actually none of the movie playback buttons work at all!!!
Better to post things like this in the Bugs and Suggestions thread but from the sounds of it you're keymap sounds like it's messed up, try resetting it to the original keymap.xml (I don't use a controller but I know pressing up/left/down/right on the remote skips through the video as it does on othe skins)
Excellent work guys. I've been using Aeon, and might still, but this is the first skin that seems like it'd be very easy for my wife, mother, etc to use. As such I might make a separate profile for them and then switch back and forth with Aeon and MediaStream myself. :)
I think people will be disappointed if they try using the same custom backdrops that they've been using for Aeon, since they're just not positioned correctly with the main menubar. I'd suggest to all of those people to look through and find specific images that will work or to stick with the defaults. It's not a skin issue at all, just an extra step to keep it looking incredible. :)
Thanks for all the work you guys have put into this. I think it's extremely easy to use, makes sense, and is actually very "standardized" between all of the different screens and views.
iordonez
2008-08-08, 21:11
Wow that is a good looking skin... And very elegant to use. Did some testing with Plex on my laptop and everything works great! I'll try using it on my Mini when I get home.
Nice work guys, it's really bugfree for a first release.
One small comment, the skin feels a bit slow in terms of animation/browsing.
manturafs
2008-08-08, 23:03
Nice work guys, it's really bugfree for a first release.
One small comment, the skin feels a bit slow in terms of animation/browsing.
yeah, we are going to be implementing a no animation setting for those who want speed.
great work guys.
really.. well done.
Truly grate skin... but i have a big wish list.... :)
When you go to the menu while watching a movie, have it playing fullscreen in the background like MARK-III.
Have an option to have a horizontal home scroller to display the menu like the Aeon lower scroller.
Have the scroller look something like this... have a menu slide up whith the options above the menu if you push "up"
have a menu slide up whith the options below the menu if you push "down"
have the choices pop up to the left of the option if you chose for example SYSTEM - SKIN, almost like now.
Have the weather display on the home screen when you go past the WEATHER menu, not in a separated window.
SKIN
SCRIPTS
FILE MANAGER
GUIDE AREA 1 ARTIST FAVORITES
RECENTLY ADDED LIVE CHAN AREA 2 ALBUM PROFILES
FILES VIEW RECORDIN. AREA 3 FILES APPEARANCE
| | | | |
MOVIES - TV SHOWS - CHILD MOVIES - CHILD TV SHOWS - CLIPS - ADULT - MYTH TV - WEATHER - MUSIC - GAMES - ARCADE - APPS - PICTURES - COMICS - SYSTEM
| | | | | |
GENERAL SETTINGS GENERAL FILES GENERAL HARDWARE
LIBRARY LIBRARY SLIDESHOW LCD
PLAYER PLAYER AUTORUN
SUBTITLES FILES CACHE
LAST.FM AUDIO HARDWARE
CD RIPPING MASTER LOCK
NETWORK
MikeBeecham
2008-08-09, 00:37
so basically...you want compeltely different navigation? I think you're in the wrong sub-forum mate...try Aeon above. That has horizontal scrollers and does a lot of what you want!!
:D Thanks!
well maybe... it is almost as yours only your left view wold be on the bottom... and you wold have an different menu pop up if you push "up" then you wold if you posh "down"...
what about point 1??? any interest???
well maybe... it is almost as yours only your left view wold be on the bottom... and you wold have an different menu pop up if you push "up" then you wold if you posh "down"...
what about point 1??? any interest???
That's coming in the next release I believe.
Point 1 that is not the horizontal scrolling.
Guys,
Well what can I say, your release hasn't disapointed at all. I am so glad the slide out blade from the main menu was swapped around since the first concepts of way back when. It seems in many respects that you have also found your way back to some of the simpler designs, I know monkey was playing around with the idea of graphics for the view types and things of that nature, but seeing how this turned out seems there was no need to go down that path anyway... Perhaps ideas to take to the next skin.. LOL..
So what can I say that hasn't already been said.
I love what you have done with the fanart.
The views are great, especially those which use Library for info, and photos.
Contextual Menus look spot on.
I like the tweening, and think atm the timings are fine, that may change with more use and novelty factor runs out. But for the moment their peachy.
The skin is professional, not gimmicky, easy to use yet feature packed.
I have only tried this on my HTPC (Yes... I am now the proud owner of a HTPC..!) :D
and have yet to setup a remote, however I notice that some of the screens are extremely mouse friendly with scroll bars etc. But other screens (main menu) the mouse will send the screen into continueous scroll, other screens need keyboard input to get elements / options to work. But your skin is not alone in this element, I think the only skin that is truly mouse friendly is PMIII. I know this isn't a priority as most htpc users will want to get a ir controller set up anyway, as will I in due course.
Other than that as a HTPC user I would like to be able to remove some options from the main menu (such as apps) which no longer apply, well at least untill exe's are implemented.
That said the Team Deserve, a Good Nights rest, Night Out whatever floats the boat for a real sucessful endevour that could change the way that one man band skin developers think about creating skins.
Don't hold ideas to yourself... If you have skin ideas form a team, there is safty in numbers. True the glory won't all be yours, but the end result is something that the comunity is more likely to salivate over.
Damn too much rum..... Rambling now...
GREAT WORK
:) I belive i read that there might be an option to have the blade more to the left...
if so wold it be possible to have the weather screen display in the right without opening a new view???
Would it be of interest to make more home screen menu items, like "child movies", "child tv shows" "clips", "adult"
this seams like the best team yet... :)
Hey Broads great to hear from you. Just picked up on one thing you said about removing Apps from the Home Menu. You can do that by going into the System Sub Blade and bring up skin settings. You can enable / disable any unnecessary Menu Items.
e.g. if you use library mode disable the Videos Menu and just use Movies and TV Shows or Visa Versa for non library users.
D
if this skin was a girl, i would tap it.
Now these are the type of comments I appreciate :grin:
pletopia
2008-08-09, 03:57
Just wanted to congratulate you guys on putting together a great looking skin
I don't have lots of time to play around with it and fully test it until next week but from what i saw looks very profesional yet simple and nice.
only thing that i personally would like to see (maybe i missed the view in which case sorry) is a "wall" view like aeon has since that is personally my favorite view for movies as i have more then the average person ;)
The skin looks great. I particularly like the "Media Preview" view under movies. Wow...fantastic job.
I have read all the posts of this subforum and agree with some of the comments.
1 - The home screen blade does kill some of the dramatic impact of the b/grounds. Instead of pulling it to the left side of the screen like has been commented I'd like to see it fully to the right - with the dark overlay lessened on the left to allow more background to come through. Or...perhaps the option to switch to a horizontal menu panel along the bottom. Love the selection zoom-outs!
2 - I think I read somewhere the "Media" view in TV episodes isn't showing. I find this as well - could have already beed fixed. I'd like to see this view with the option of using the same epsiode-image aspect ratio as the other views (instead of poster size)
Finally, as the post said above me, I'd like to see a "Wall view". Having a large collection makes this view a must. I'd like to see one that exposes the movie info when you pause on the cover (adjustable time to appear).
With such a view, I can already see I'll be making the shift the this skin. Excellent job team!
looks nice... like the feature set and the flow.
A few items I'd like to have options for...
a) ability to move the menu bar far left... while it is cool, it blocks the background so much it becomes pointless to have a BG
b) the clock is very small, difficult to see
c) Home screen weather :)
d) ability to completely hide Settings on the menu bar
e) All screen menus on the left side of the screen (Pictures already has this)... humans naturally look left to right if they read left to right... yes, there are several published studies on this ;)
otherwise very polished!
skunkm0nkee
2008-08-09, 11:17
Suggestions really belong in the Bugs and Suggestions thread but I'm on a roll so what the hell!
1 - The home screen blade does kill some of the dramatic impact of the b/grounds. Instead of pulling it to the left side of the screen like has been commented I'd like to see it fully to the right - with the dark overlay lessened on the left to allow more background to come through. Or...perhaps the option to switch to a horizontal menu panel along the bottom. Love the selection zoom-outs!
Not sure that moving the blade to the right is going to be practical as the sub-menus all slide out to the right?
2 - I think I read somewhere the "Media" view in TV episodes isn't showing. I find this as well - could have already beed fixed. I'd like to see this view with the option of using the same epsiode-image aspect ratio as the other views (instead of poster size)
Media Preview and Showcase views are for Movies in the library mode only at the moment. If you see them initially it is because the id for that view is the same as the id for the view you were using in a previous skin
Finally, as the post said above me, I'd like to see a "Wall view". Having a large collection makes this view a must. I'd like to see one that exposes the movie info when you pause on the cover (adjustable time to appear).
Wall view and coverflow view are views that are suggestions on our bug tracker and will be dealt with when we can.
a) ability to move the menu bar far left... while it is cool, it blocks the background so much it becomes pointless to have a BG
The background as such is pointless (no matter how much of it is visible)other than a bit of eye candy, the menu is far more useful I think. It has been requested a few times and we've already said we'll add an option for this
b) the clock is very small, difficult to see
What do other users think?
c) Home screen weather :)
Added to our bug/suggestions tracker
d) ability to completely hide Settings on the menu bar
If you changed your mind it would be pretty difficult to get back to settings to change it back?
e) All screen menus on the left side of the screen (Pictures already has this)... humans naturally look left to right if they read left to right... yes, there are several published studies on this ;)
Most screen menus are in relation to the media on screen which forms the left part of your view and then the menu on the right so in essence you are moving from left to right (if you have menus on the left then you are moving focus from right to left and then reading left to right within it)
johnny utah
2008-08-09, 11:21
LOVE THIS SKIN!!
what's that little blue circle icon that shows up on top of the covers?
does it have any function? (ie. watched/not watched?)
is there a way to remove it?
Not sure that moving the blade to the right is going to be practical as the sub-menus all slide out to the right?
Yeah...I overlooked that when I made the post. Could the sub-menu blades be reversed? Somehow, looking at it, I thought it would be better fully right-justified. Regardless...it's a cool look :nod:
skunkm0nkee
2008-08-09, 11:26
LOVE THIS SKIN!!
what's that little blue circle icon that shows up on top of the covers?
does it have any function? (ie. watched/not watched?)
is there a way to remove it?
Blue circle (with the closed eye) is unwatched and grey circle (with the open eye) is watched. The next release will have an option to hide it
yeah the clock is pretty small
Sorry to be a pain and ask so many things. Is the infodialogfullscreen (osd) thingee meant to pop up everytime you chapter jump. I guess perhaps it's serving the same function as the small top right-hand display in PM3. That'll have to be a tweak :D
skunkm0nkee
2008-08-09, 11:49
It will show everytime you search through a video (either chapter jump or fast forward/rewind etc) to show you the progress bar that shows how far through the video you are
Just stepping in to congratulate you on your work, very slick skin ! I especially like that everything is easy to read with the bigger font (on my projector the resolution isn't that great, so the bigger font is a necessity to read anything without getting headaches), the big movie posters that are big enough so you can see what movie it is from the poster alone and that everything just works.
My only criticism is the animation times - I don't really want to turn them off completely, I would just want to make them faster - since they do look cool, but get old after a week or two I suppose :)
jmarshall
2008-08-09, 13:09
hotzenplotz: Try this trick. Open MediaStream/skin.xml. See if it has an <effectslowdown> tag. If not, add it like this:
<effectslowdown>0.5</effectslowdown>
A value of less than 1 will speed every animation up. 0.5 == double the speed.
Find a good value and post it so that the team knows where to start.
Cheers,
Jonathan
jm: thanks for the tip. I worked through 0.5 to 0.9 to find a value that suits me. A value of 0.8 feels like a good compromise to me, because the animations still look slick but it is noticably faster. I might adjust this to 0.7 though - because at that value the speed the navigation seems perfect although you could argue the animations might be a tiny bit too fast. The main animation that always "annoyed" me a bit was the animation that goes into the settings menu - I won't see that one too often in the future, but maybe an overall slight tweak of the animations and a bigger tweak to that animation would be the way to go.
Just thought I'd drop a quick post to say I really love the skin, although I agree with the sentiment that the animations are just a touch on the slow side, the level of polish and professionalism is excellent throughout.
if i can just tag a teeny feature request? Actor thumbnails in the cast page on tv/movie information please, I've spent an age updating various shows on thetvdb.com with actor thumbs and was disappointed not to see them in this skin!
otherwise keep up the great work guys!
This theme is a great technical achievement no doubt. The artwork is top notch. I was impressed at what the theming engine could do through this skin. From a usability standpoint It doesn't seem like the type of skin that would stand the test of time if it ever wanted to become the default xbmc skin. There are some things that bug me alittle:
- The blade system at the home screen covers half the background. This might be a conscious decision but some ppl might not like it.
- The blade system sometimes is disorientating the way it opens to the right then sometimes open to the left.
- At the movies panel the top half of the screen is wasted. Therefore list and list info view show's too few movies. On a widescreen TV it's alot of wasted space.
- Also there is no icon view? This is a great dissapointment.
- Animations look great but after awhile they become a drag and take too long.
These are just some observations, I hope you don't take it the worng way. :o
skunkm0nkee
2008-08-09, 15:03
Just thought I'd drop a quick post to say I really love the skin, although I agree with the sentiment that the animations are just a touch on the slow side, the level of polish and professionalism is excellent throughout.
We're looking into both disabling and speeding up of animations (thanks JM for the effectslowdown tip!)
if i can just tag a teeny feature request? Actor thumbnails in the cast page on tv/movie information please, I've spent an age updating various shows on thetvdb.com with actor thumbs and was disappointed not to see them in this skin!
Has now been added to our list
skunkm0nkee
2008-08-09, 15:11
- At the movies panel the top half of the screen is wasted. Therefore list and list info view show's too few movies. On a widescreen TV it's alot of wasted space.
This is one of the beauties of trying to create something for a large number of people who all different opinions on how things should look/work. Some people would like to see more of the backgrounds and some people would like to see less of them. In the end we hope to create a suite of views that caters for as many of these preferences as possible, at the moment there may not be the exact view you'd like for each of the media screens but given time hopefully that'll be addressed.
WOW! This skin was definitely worth the wait! I'm impressed! I guess I don't have to mention MediaStream will be my skin of choice from now on!
Of course there are also things that I think could be done differently, there always are, but I'll save those comments for another day. Also I wouldn't be surprised if most of these things will be addressed in one way or the other as the skin evolves.
Thank you for all your hard work! I really appreciate it! :grin:
If you changed your mind it would be pretty difficult to get back to settings to change it back?
I think having the Settings selection hidden would be optimal... this way guests don't go snooping.
Most screen menus are in relation to the media on screen which forms the left part of your view and then the menu on the right so in essence you are moving from left to right (if you have menus on the left then you are moving focus from right to left and then reading left to right within it)
Not sure I get what you mean. It is more natural to 'select' from a left menu and view the selection on the right of the menu. That is all I was saying.
No worries... these items are minor but I figure would help the navigational use of the skin since from one screen to the next is is not always consistent at the moment.
jayman978
2008-08-09, 18:43
@skunkm0nkee
I disagree with Scarfa's assessment. When using fanart, I do not think that the top part of the screen is wasted space at all. The fanart helps pull all the elements together. I am very impressed with the views and surprised how satisified I am right out of the box.
Great job!
My only suggestion is to try to improve the speed at which the interface handles switching fanart. There is a drag in the animation. Thanks!
skunkm0nkee
2008-08-09, 20:15
My only suggestion is to try to improve the speed at which the interface handles switching fanart. There is a drag in the animation. Thanks!
The next release will use largeimage controls for the fanart so that should (hopefully) be a bit smoother
I agree,but It would be nice to have more file views.Other than that,this skin is a 9.9. :)
Rookie
This is something we will be looking into in the not to distant future.
D
jmarshall
2008-08-10, 05:01
Please, no more views than are absolutely necessary. This is one place that many skinners go wrong. Don't just add them because you can. Stick to as few as possible that work well 99% of the time. Too many and both usability and design unity suffer.
pletopia
2008-08-10, 05:49
I agree with the above that "more is not better" but for movies (especially large collections) the "wall" view is clutch
pletopia
2008-08-10, 05:51
ohh .. and for a wall view .. vertical i think is better vs horizontal scroll since you can scroll faster since you get more on the screen at one time
Please, no more views than are absolutely necessary. This is one place that many skinners go wrong. Don't just add them because you can. Stick to as few as possible that work well 99% of the time. Too many and both usability and design unity suffer.
While I agree that too many options can be a bad thing I'm curious why you think usability would suffer?
Under all normal circumstances wouldn't you choose a view you're happy with and then never change it again? In that sort of scenario having more options could indeed be a good thing as you're more likely to be able to find a view you can be happy with all of the time.
Having said that I agree that it's best to keep focus and only add the well thought out and polished views.
Oh, BTW. I think the skin is fantastic! I think the team has succeeded in combining form and function much more successfully than Aeon, but then that's still in alpha so hopefully it will make strides forward in usability.
jmarshall
2008-08-10, 07:35
Usability suffers simply because it's harder for a new user to find the view they want to stick with. Choice is not necessarily a good thing. In many cases it can be detrimental.
3 great views are much better than 8 views, five of which are mediocre.
Usability suffers simply because it's harder for a new user to find the view they want to stick with. Choice is not necessarily a good thing. In many cases it can be detrimental.
3 great views are much better than 8 views, five of which are mediocre.
How about 6 or 7 views all of which are great. It can be difficult to cater to different tastes.
On the topic of too much choice being detrimental I HIGHLY recommend this TED talk (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html) from a few years ago. Well worth watching.
Michal, I suggest you go watch the video again, since Barry Schwartz actually lists all of the reasons NOT to give a large number of choices.
The problem with giving too much choice is that it requires the end user to understand all of the options they're given. Additionally, in a programming environment it adds to the workload of the developer and tends to increase the number of bugs while marginally adding to the value of the product. Finally, having more choices tends to water down the quality compared to a few choices.
An example: image formats for TV series banners, since I have lots of experience with it. The more image formats I add to my site, the more choice people have. However, it also results in more bandwidth, more confusion about the format requirements, more confusion in the API, and less quality in the banners themselves.
IMHO this applies to skins as well. Give a person a dozen choices and they'll be confused and overwhelmed since there's no way they will know which is the best possible one for that section unless they play around with each one for a period of time. Alternatively you can give them a couple of very distinct options and they'll have a much easier time deciding which one works for them.
Barry Schwartz says this in his speech as well by saying that the more choices people have, the less likely they are to make a choice (choice paralysis). He also says that people are generally less satisfied when they make a choice from a large set since that person tends to wonder what they're missing in the other choices.
So, 3-4 excellent views ARE better than 6-7, as long as those 3-4 are distinct and cover the most common use situations.
I'm fully aware he's arguing AGAINST a large number of choices which is why I linked it.
I'm quite happy with there being 3-4 great views (but only if they include one that I will be completely happy with :P ). I would have thought that the sort of people who switch skins looking for what they want will have a generally good idea of which of the views they would prefer. I agree however that more views increases the burden on the developers and potentially may reduce quality. Judging by what they've done so far I don't think that will have a problem managing to find a balance so it's probably a little early for us to be debating this.
I understand completely your example with image formats however I don't think it's a good comparison. It's much easier to objectively assess the pro's and cons of image formats and decide which are best than it is to do with skins which are much more subjective. As has already been demonstrated in this thread there are diametrically opposed views as to whether the background images should take centre stage or the foreground information, not to mention those who think there should be a balance (though I acknowledge this skin favours the foreground info).
I think most people will immediately rule out a few of the views based on their taste and only really be choosing between the remainder of views. I'd rather have a view added and then removed than to never have the opportunity to try it due to arbitrary limits.
I MOSTLY agree with what you have said, but ultimately it will be up to the developers.
P.S. I should disclose that my opinions are due to being the sort of person who is not completely happy with anything. It's a debilitating condition :P
jmarshall
2008-08-10, 09:48
It was a nice video, thanks for posting it. Let's get back to praising MediaStream ;)
Cheers,
Jonathan
I agree with the above that "more is not better" but for movies (especially large collections) the "wall" view is clutch
I've got a large movie collection as well but I use the PageUp and PageDown controls (which I've mapped to my remote control) to navigate them.
By the way, this is the only skin I've used that I've not disabled the scrollbar because it looks so damn nice.
Reggienz
2008-08-10, 10:11
Congratulations Team Razorfish. Slick, professional and now my default skin. Even my wife is impressed - and that is saying something! Few individuals would spend so much of their own spare time to create something for the wider community and expect nothing back in return. Thank you for your efforts and soak up the praise - you deserve it.
It seems to me that the bar has been raised to dizzying heights!
I just noticed the progress bar during video playback. It's by far the nicest playback GUI I've seen for XBMC. Very clean, properly formatted and spaced, and doesn't require that I stare at it for more than a second to figure out what's going on. It's the little things that make a skin great, and this is just one example of how you guys have nailed it. :)
UND3R ACHI3V3R
2008-08-10, 11:13
Is there movie-fanart support? I would look myself but I'm at work and forgot to check while home.
sigalakos
2008-08-10, 11:25
It's excellent! The perfect balance between usability and looks. Now my number 1 skin that replaces the tired old xTV. I created a video tour of MediaStream skin on YouTube. You can view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMm4A0xzvqA&fmt=18 . Also a gallery of Mediastream screenshots on flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sigalakos/sets/72157606636024855/:cool:
Is there movie-fanart support? I would look myself but I'm at work and forgot to check while home.
Yes when scraping but there's no search option just yet.
Some guys on the plex forums (http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php?showtopic=715) put together a pretty neat walkthrough of MediaStream, which you can view on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMm4A0xzvqA&fmt=18
sigalakos
2008-08-10, 12:28
Some guys on the plex forums (http://forums.plexapp.com/index.php?showtopic=715) put together a pretty neat walkthrough of MediaStream, which you can view on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMm4A0xzvqA&fmt=18
hehe! that would be me :rofl:
Let's spread some Mediastream love around :-)
and here is an HD version of the walkthrough of MediaStream
http://www.tinkeringwithin.com/2008/08/10/plex-osxbmc-with-mediastream-skin-demo/
skunkm0nkee
2008-08-10, 13:57
Yes when scraping but there's no search option just yet.
Has been coded for the next version along with an option to move the home blade further to the left :grin:
i was just gonna suggest that someone post on videos ;)
manturafs
2008-08-11, 00:10
wow, nice videos! thanks for putting those up!
wow, nice videos! thanks for putting those up!
it's a pleasure. thanks for a splendid skin. :grin:
I was wondering hat sort of turnaround time you're expecting for the second release.
The bugfixes, refinements an enhancements it sounds like you've already made make me very eager for the next release.
Would be great to have an idea of whether we should expect to be waiting days or weeks.
And again, thank you so much for such a beautiful and functional skin.
hmmm.. the skin looks go so far but when I go into the sub menus such as my videos and go to browse my screen goes blank. I have to back out to get to the main menu. And when I load up xbmc it comes up as a black screen I have to hit the back menu just to get into the main menu.
I am running vista x86 am I the only one having this problem?
MikeBeecham
2008-08-11, 12:28
chepnut, you will see that we have a bugs and suggestions thread also. If you could post this issue in that thread I will get one of the guys to look into the issue for you.
Mike