Phoenix Screen Shot Sneak Peak

[bialio]

Does Phoenix really exist?

We'll be posting a few sneak peaks and discussing Phoenix design and UI philosophy from time to time. Here's the first.

This is the TV show list view. All of these are subject to tweaking and change - so please don't point at this picture when Phoenix is released and say "I wanted it to look like that!" :thumb:

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/NewListViewTweaks.jpg

[broconne]

Looks great!

[Qusix]

I still don't think it really exists. I need more.

:corn:

[wrems]

I still don't think it really exists. I need more.

:corn:

:rofl: I agree!

[VikingCrown]

Looks amazing Bialio!!! Any chance this screen incorporates TV that isn't just recordings, such as episodes ripped from disks? Also any chance a follow up Screenshot could show the next screen when Arrested Development is selected?

[Fuzzy]

Any chance this screen incorporates TV that isn't just recordings, such as episodes ripped from disks?

Shouldn't REALLY be an issue, since the BMT/Phoenix API can import those vids to the recordings database...

[VikingCrown]

Agreed, its possible but they aren't recordings so why mess with the wiz.bin file if this screen like TVE can display both transparently.

[OneOfMany]

I'm really liking the look! I like the shaded transparency and the more contemporary title bar. Just a suggestion, instead of displaying the list of shows under the title (which I don't think is neccessary, is there the possiblility of having a metadat blurb about the actual show? Episodic content is available at the next button press anyways.

Keep it up, and now that you have teased us, we will be on you even more.. :)

Grant

[Brent]

Project Phoenix, Project Ortus and MyMovies. Three more reasons to be excited about SageTV 7. Keep the good news (and screen-shots) coming!

[Fuzzy]

Agreed, its possible but they aren't recordings so why mess with the wiz.bin file if this screen like TVE can display both transparently.

Its not messing with the wiz.bin. imports are stored ikn the same database as recordings. the ONLY difference is the ID number oprefix. the UIK filters by this prefix to determine whether or not to show an iktem in the recordings, or imports section. All BMT does is change the MF(mediafile) prefix, to an EP (episode). In my mind, that makes more sense anyway.

[OneOfMany]

That's perfect. If I can choose whether my media file is TV (whether actually recorded or ripped from a disc) or Movie (whether a DVD, BD or recorded from TV) and allowed to have a SEPARATE screen (menu item) for each I would be very happy. Allowing me to create a menuitem that filters to any or multiple import directories would be perfect!

Wait, I do that now with v6.6 :)

Grant

[MeInMaui]

Hi Everyone,

Here's a little bit of background info on the screen shot that bialio posted. The screen is what we have called the Universal Media Browser (or UMB). It is used for the display of all your media using our own implementation of a virtual file system. The View (media content, filtering, sorting, and grouping) is defined in an external xml file. To invoke the UMB with a specific View, you would set up a dynamic menu item (again our own implementation) that calls that view and then loads the UMB menu. There is a view selector from within the UMB to switch views and we are working on a menu to allow you to modify views from within the UMB as well.

There's more info (and more screen shots) to come over the next couple of weeks so stay tuned.

Aloha,
Mike

[OneOfMany]

It sounds like what you are saying is that we can define our own filters on this screen? By directory? If so, I'm LOVIN IT!

Grant

[wrems]

Does Team Phoenix have any sort of tentative timeline for release?:D

[Fuzzy]

It sounds like what you are saying is that we can define our own filters on this screen? By directory? If so, I'm LOVIN IT!

Grant

It looks like you can get a glimpse of what the VFS can do u the BMT web UI's Browse feature. It's a virtual folder structure, where you can get to a given video a couple different ways (Genre, Type, etc).

[MeInMaui]

It looks like you can get a glimpse of what the VFS can do u the BMT web UI's Browse feature. It's a virtual folder structure, where you can get to a given video a couple different ways (Genre, Type, etc).

Yes, BMT uses the Phoenix VFS. In fact the views you see in BMT are some of the default views for Phoenix as well.

Aloha,
Mike

[PLUCKYHD]

Yes, BMT uses the Phoenix VFS. In fact the views you see in BMT are some of the default views for Phoenix as well.

Aloha,
Mike

I was starting to wonder what happened to Mike with all the silence lately good to see you still exist :)

[mickp]

over the next couple of weeks

Woohoo!!! Phoenix is only a couple of weeks away? :)

Mick.

[panteragstk]

Can't wait for this. :goodjob:

[MeInMaui]

Here's a shot of the weather screen. This is still being tweaked a bit, but it's pretty close to its final form.

Aloha,
Mike

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=10797&stc=1&d=1281291442

[panteragstk]

Very Nice. How long have you guys been working on this? Over a year now right? Can't wait.

[bialio]

We've been at it for 17 years. We were way ahead of the curve.

The problem is we only get to work on it for 20 seconds a day......

[SteveW]

Here's a shot of the weather screen. This is still being tweaked a bit, but it's pretty close to its final form.

Aloha,
Mike




Mike, will we be able to, like in SageMC, customize displays of map images and such? I changed some of mine to our country's weather service for radar, lightning, a local webcam image, etc. in SageMC.

Looks nice by the way! :clap:

-Steve

[ohpleaseno]

Here's a shot of the weather screen. This is still being tweaked a bit, but it's pretty close to its final form.

Aloha,
Mike



This screenshot tells me two things.

1) I can't wait for Phoenix

2) I want to live in Hawaii. 73 degrees and FEELS LIKE 73 degrees.

[wayner]

I am glad that I stuck with the SageMC UI for now in V7 as this looks like it will be the way to go. Great job guys, can't wait!

[panteragstk]

We've been at it for 17 years. We were way ahead of the curve.

The problem is we only get to work on it for 20 seconds a day......

Goldfish attention span?

[MeInMaui]

Goldfish attention span?

Pretty much. Now what was I doing?

[bcjenkins]

How well does this read at 10-15'? It seems like some of the font sizes will require glasses.

B

PS - FTR I jack up the font size to 22 on the default STV so I can read it without my glasses

[wrems]

How well does this read at 10-15'? It seems like some of the font sizes will require glasses.

B

PS - FTR I jack up the font size to 22 on the default STV so I can read it without my glasses

I tend to agree.

[alton987]

I hate the stock icons, so here was my idea. The red is to bright but everyone knows what a solid red icon means. Replace the icons with text at the bottom that is neutral. Info is their if you want it but not in your face.

http://i38.tinypic.com/5lcvfb.jpg

[bialio]

The screen is what we have called the Universal Media Browser (or UMB). It is used for the display of all your media using our own implementation of a virtual file system. The View (media content, filtering, sorting, and grouping) is defined in an external xml file. T

To illustrate that all media is using the UMB - here is a shot with the View being imported video.

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/VideosPreview.jpg

[Skirge01]

Wow! This is really looking nice. I'll keep my mouth shut about most of the little things because I'm sure things are going to change or be able to be changed by the end user.

That said, any chance the weather background image will change based on the weather forecast for the day? I've always loved programs that did things like that (screensavers, desktop background changers, etc.).

[bialio]

Many things will be tweak-able - however feel free to list some of the items that concern you - we will be keeping an eye on feedback from this thread and folding in what we deem worthy ;)

btl.

[SteveW]

Mike, will we be able to, like in SageMC, customize displays of map images and such? I changed some of mine to our country's weather service for radar, lightning, a local webcam image, etc. in SageMC.

Looks nice by the way! :clap:

-Steve

So Bialio, any comment on tweakability based on my above question?

[MeInMaui]

That said, any chance the weather background image will change based on the weather forecast for the day? I've always loved programs that did things like that (screensavers, desktop background changers, etc.).

That's the way it works. The background images use the same numbered naming conventions as the weather icons.

Aloha,
Mike

[bialio]

I'm not the weather guy, so I can't say for sure. But I am guessing that eventually that will make it in. The early releases will be the core functionality, with the the ability to tweak more and more added as time goes by.

btl.

[MeInMaui]

Mike, will we be able to, like in SageMC, customize displays of map images and such? I changed some of mine to our country's weather service for radar, lightning, a local webcam image, etc. in SageMC.

Looks nice by the way! :clap:

-Steve

We don't have maps integrated yet, but we do plan to add it. They may not be customizable at first, but we'll be adding lots of customizable options throughout the UI once the basics are all working.

Aloha,
Mike

Edit: Yeah, what bialio said. :)

[Skirge01]

Many things will be tweak-able - however feel free to list some of the items that concern you - we will be keeping an eye on feedback from this thread and folding in what we deem worthy ;)

btl.

In my utopia, I'd like...

1. To be able to get rid of the entire top line, except for the date, time, and system (messages/recording/etc) icons.
2. The TV Show count to show watched/unwatched numbers.
3. Banners rather than cover art and titles.
4. Lots of filtering/sorting options, which can be saved and/or set as default.

After writing that, I realized I was subconsciously trying to make it look more like TVE. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. :blush:

[tonysathre]

Are Dynamic Menus going to be available? Also, someone said this was only a couple weeks away? Is that true?

[iolaus]

I am VERY excited for this! Might provide the impetus for me to move to SageTV 7.

[bialio]

Every UI needs a home menu right?

That's actually somewhat debatable, however we of Phoenix decided that to NOT have one would be too much of a paradigm shift for most folks. So we will likely have 2 or 3 different ones. This is my favorite of the bunch. If you have ever used Boxee you will notice some similarities right off the bat.....

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/LandingZone-2.jpg

It's fairly self explanatory. What I am most liking about this, if I do say so myself, is the 'Featured' area - where our complex and beading edge AI tries to guess what you want to watch.

btl.

[wrems]

I must say that is one great lookin' screen. Keep up the great work! Can't wait.:D

[Skirge01]

Every UI needs a home menu right?

That topic recently came up in our household when we realized (after a couple years) that 99% of the time we turn on SageTV, we go right into the TV Recordings screen. I was hoping you were going to say that there was no home menu... until you said...

What I am most liking about this, if I do say so myself, is the 'Featured' area - where our complex and beading edge AI tries to guess what you want to watch.

At which point I quite literally said aloud (sorry for being crass, but it'd lose the impact otherwise), "That's f***ing cool!"

Beyond that, I'm definitely liking the home screen. Beautiful work, guys!

[darcilicious]

As a big fan of Boxee, needless to say, I like it! Can't wait... can't wait... is it Christmas yet? ;)

Edit: Hopefully the three columns are somewhat configurable? Personally, I'd rather see a list of recently recorded that what's going to be recorded.

[Skirge01]

Edit: Hopefully the three columns are somewhat configurable? Personally, I'd rather see a list of recently recorded that what's going to be recorded.

Ever since I switched to TVE, I haven't seen a need to know what was already recorded. I have this nice list of alphabetized shows with banners, so I don't care what's recent, just, overall, what I have to watch. Not that there's anything wrong with anyone else wanting it, but I found the upcoming recordings much more useful. That said, I'd guess it's customizable.

@bialio: For recordings which are close to their due times, does it show a sort of countdown? I.e. In SageMC, it would show "in 1 hr 23 mins". I generally use that to gauge whether or not I can stop the SageTV service, reboot the server, or take it down for maintenance.

[bialio]

The third column has many different 'views' available - in the shot above there are 3 configured, and #2 is active (which is upcoming recordings).

#1 is Recent Recordings and #3 is currently recording in the current implementation. Users will be able to add and remove what is available for that. Also, the numbers on the remote are shortcuts to make that view visible.

btl.

[jm9843]

The third column has many different 'views' available - in the shot above there are 3 configured, and #2 is active (which is upcoming recordings).

#1 is Recent Recordings and #3 is currently recording in the current implementation. Users will be able to add and remove what is available for that. Also, the numbers on the remote are shortcuts to make that view visible.

btl.

Nice. Will the team make a view that is "recently imported videos" that shows the last handful of videos that were imported into to the media library? While not as interesting to me, you could do the same for music/pictures as well. I was just thinking about the need for such a feature and am not aware of anything that does it currently.

[wrems]

I really like the numbered views on the right.

Any chance a view could be added that shows the most recent media played? A really nice and easy way to get back into a movie that you started previously kind of thing. I find myself starting several different media and not finishing one due to interruptions. It would be great to have that watched list available from a home screen like this.

Thoughts?

[pjpjpjpj]

It would be fantastic to have a selection (dare I say, "a wide selection"?) of things that you could choose to be in each of those three slots. That way we could all configure it the way we want it. For example, I would love to have "Recordings" and "Scheduled Recordings" in the two slots (center and right). The left slot would be the "sub headers" for whatever topic I was focused on at the top (as the screenshot shows). I like the AI "highlight" idea, but I probably wouldn't really need it, and certainly not in lieu of having recordings and scheduled/upcoming recordings both easily accessible.

Obviously 50 different posters here will have 50 different "wants" for those slots, that's why I think it would be great to have each slot configurable from a list of options.

Nonetheless, it looks awesome and I'm excited.

[bialio]

The far left slot will always be the menu items available for whatever has focus - TV, Movies, etc.

We'll keep your other suggestions in mind.

btl.

[mbowling]

This looks really nice, but I'm a bit concerned about how small the 'Featured' text might be on a smaller TV. We only have a 37 inch TV because that is the biggest that will fit in our entertainment center. My wife really likes the entertainment center, so a larger TV is not an option.

An option to replace the 'Featured' column with one of the right column views, such as 'Recent Recordings', would be helpful. Actually... I think I would prefer to see the 'Recent Recordings' in one column and 'Upcoming Recordings' in the other column. Keep up the good work!

[pjpjpjpj]

Awesome, bialio.

I guess I'm sorta thinking about the way I can customize my cellphone's main menu. There is a list of about 20 different functions (camera, video, media player, calculator, etc.) that you can choose to be a shortcut for the upper right, upper left, and each of the 4-way directional keys. You could, if you wanted, make all six buttons be the same exact shortcut (though they could have added a gray-out function if one item was already used... they didn't). So with this main menu, I was thinking that the center and right slots would have an options menu that you could pull up and select what you wanted to show in that slot.

Hope that makes sense. :dance:

[tonysathre]

Would be really nice if when you select the Movies menu item, the 3 panes would show the Recently Added, Recently Watched, and um...something else. Are those panes configurable? Is the Main Menu configurable?

[bialio]

Everything is more or less configurable - although some of the items will require getting your feet wet with XML or even Studio if you are real serious about changing them.

Left column will always be the menu items that go with the item selected at top. Middle column for now will always be featured - although what is featured will be somewhat configurable. For instance, if you are in Movie menu it shows the most recently imported movie, not a TV show......

The right side is what I intend to be most configurable - you will be able to select how many different views there are there, and what those views show, and what number they are assigned to......

[emotionnotion]

This is looking great gents and coupled with Sage My Movies is the final knockout blow for SageTV 7.

The big question is when do you go for a release candidate?

:dance:

[ehfortin]

Hi,

I just saw that your description seems to indicate that you have a HDTV connected to your server that is running on an Atom D330. Is that correct? Are you actually using this to play HD content? I was under the impression that WHS was pretty much a headless system. If that's what you are doing, I assume you have a NVidia ION motherboard? How the whole thing run? Any stuttering? And what about getting SGTV famous circling ball while navigating in the menus?

Server: Tranquil T7 Intel Atom D330, 2GB RAM, Windows Home Server, Sage TV 7 Current Beta, 1 HDHomerun tuning 2 OTA channels, MyMovies, Akai 42" HDTV Plasma


I also noticed you were mentionning that you had XBox 360. Do you use them to play content from SageTV? If so, can you tell me how you are doing this?

You seems to have an interesting setup :)

Thank you.

ehfortin

[emotionnotion]

Hi ehfortin,

you are right it IS a headless system. I do not playback anything on the WHS rather all through the HD200 extenders and the other devices as needed.

At present, my TV recordings and Movie rips are on a shared NAS drive.

I have a uPnP server installed also on my WHS for streaming to PS3 and XBOX for example.

I tend to watch AVI's and MPG2 recordings on the PS3 and XBOX 360 only at present using uPnP to the shared NAS drive.

SageTV is only used for the recordings not the playback on the non-Sage devices. My setup shows I (like PluckyHD) am also a Windows media center convert :D

[MeInMaui]

Hi Guys,

Here are a few more shots to highlight some visual improvements to the universal media browser (UMB) and the Phoenix menu system.

I'm in the process of unifying the fonts to make everything easier to read and later easier to customize.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=10917&stc=1&d=1282582888

More info on the menu system to come...

In a nutshell, the Phoenix menu system is designed to let you get information and manage your system from any screen. That means if you want to switch to another menu, you don't have to take a detour through your landing screen. The pop-up global main menu is always available by pressing the Home button. If you want to jump to the landing screen, just hit Home again.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=10918&stc=1&d=1282582888

We have also incorporated a global Options menu. Again this menu is available anywhere by hitting the Options key. Upon opening, it provides a list of context sensitive items that are defined by the current menu screen. There are also other options that are always available for managing the system.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=10919&stc=1&d=1282582888

Among these options is the configuration system. You will not have to leave the current screen to change settings. This is all done through the pop-up menu system.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=10920&stc=1&d=1282582888

There is also a system information screen that is always available via the Info key. It provides a quick way to view/access all of the recent activity on the system. I will probably add a Recently Watched item as well.

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=10921&stc=1&d=1282582888

[MeInMaui]

And one more...

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=10922&stc=1&d=1282585566

This is the Action menu that is available in the UMB by pressing the skip fwd key. It provides the means to modify the current view and to search (find) the content of the current list for items that contain a particular keyword. I find this useful for my kids' shows where they may have nearly 100 episodes and they want to watch the one with _fill in the blank_. This should make finding that one episode a bit easier.

We'll continue to provide more info as we go.

Aloha,
Mike

[emotionnotion]

Looks great to me. Increases the WAF and will help me find things for the kids from the 100s of episodes they have.

Can't it.

What integration are you planning with MyMovies as this is the other major experience for me on the platform at present?

[routerunner]

Looks great to me. Increases the WAF and will help me find things for the kids from the 100s of episodes they have.

Can't it.

What integration are you planning with MyMovies as this is the other major experience for me on the platform at present?

you probably know that MyMovie doesn't use Phoenix fanart, well it does, but limited to the backgrounds, all the other metadata are in separate files and not in the wiz.bin like BMT/Phoenix does...and to be quite honest this is a real shame as like you I'm very keen on using SMM, but the thought of redoing 2000+ DVDs metadata kills me...

[bialio]

MyMovies will work file with Phoenix - there will be some integration required at some point but just because they are getting metadata from different locations doesn't mean it won't work.

You could run Phoenix UI + MyMovies but have the metadata provided by Ortus if you wanted to - and some might :D

btl.

[routerunner]

You could run Phoenix UI + MyMovies but have the metadata provided by Ortus if you wanted to - and some might :D

...I'm probably completely wrong, but this involves triplication of the same metadata, wouldn't be more simple to use one source of metadata? Don't get me wrong and I don't want to minimise all the fantastic work you guys are doing, but at the end of the day Phoneix/SMM/Ortus/??? are graphical front end to the metadata provided by SageTV and stored in the wiz.bin; as software engineer myself I wouldn't go into trouble to reinvent a new source of metadata if I already got one which is reliable, debugged and accessible via clean API interface, does make sense? ;)

[bialio]

I'm not saying it's the recommended setup, but nothing would preclude anything from working just because there are 3 sources of data......

btl.

[routerunner]

I'm glad I made the decision while ago to stick with BMT/Phoenix as I can wait to use what you guys are making for the community...BTW have you guys some preview of the Movie/Music/Photo sections....OK, all right, I know, stop barking and just seat/wait/see...:jump:

[PLUCKYHD]

MyMovies will work file with Phoenix - there will be some integration required at some point but just because they are getting metadata from different locations doesn't mean it won't work.

You could run Phoenix UI + MyMovies but have the metadata provided by Ortus if you wanted to - and some might :D

btl.

Just to clarify this I will make mymovies work with the phoenix STV (will require some work on my part to remap everything to their stv calls but not too much.)

Also you can't use phoenix or ortus metadata in MyMovies just wanted to re clarify that as the statement there claims it can and that is not possible.

You can however like bailo said use mymovies to provide metadata to the core sagetv database however fanart from mymovies will not be pulled into ortus or phoenix unless they chose to or I decide to right a implementation class for them. (outside of my SMM interface that is.)

[PLUCKYHD]

...I'm probably completely wrong, but this involves triplication of the same metadata, wouldn't be more simple to use one source of metadata? Don't get me wrong and I don't want to minimise all the fantastic work you guys are doing, but at the end of the day Phoneix/SMM/Ortus/??? are graphical front end to the metadata provided by SageTV and stored in the wiz.bin; as software engineer myself I wouldn't go into trouble to reinvent a new source of metadata if I already got one which is reliable, debugged and accessible via clean API interface, does make sense? ;)

It does you are correct but options are also good things there is no reason you have to run them all.

MyMovies is meant just for my interface but my interface will be brought into the phoenix STV just like it is the default and will be ortus.

[stuckless]

...I'm probably completely wrong, but this involves triplication of the same metadata, wouldn't be more simple to use one source of metadata? Don't get me wrong and I don't want to minimise all the fantastic work you guys are doing, but at the end of the day Phoneix/SMM/Ortus/??? are graphical front end to the metadata provided by SageTV and stored in the wiz.bin; as software engineer myself I wouldn't go into trouble to reinvent a new source of metadata if I already got one which is reliable, debugged and accessible via clean API interface, does make sense? ;)

SageTV doesn't actually provide metadata... you still need processes to actually get that metadata from some external source, such as imdb, tvdb, etc, and then populate the sagetv system. Even with that, Sage doesn't natively support all metadata fields that you'd need, but at least they do provide a way to store custom metadata fields. And, it wasn't until Sage7 that a developer had a nice clean way to actually update Metadata in the wiz.bin. In bmt (for sage6), I used so many hacks to get things working, it would make a grown man cry :(

That being said, the Phoenix metadata apis do fetch metadata from external sources and it populates the wiz.bin directly, which is clean, and results in less duplication. But, fanart is another story. There is nothing in sagetv about handling fanart, so each system, phoenix, ortus, mymovies, etc will have their own preference on how it should be done.

I agree that there is overlap in the 3 projects... but at the end of the day, choice is good, and progress happens simply because there is choice. 3 projects means 3 different design goals, engineering goals, etc.

[PLUCKYHD]

I agree that there is overlap in the 3 projects... but at the end of the day, choice is good, and progress happens simply because there is choice. 3 projects means 3 different design goals, engineering goals, etc.

perfectly stated :thumb:

[routerunner]

...three times debugging...;)


That being said, the Phoenix metadata apis do fetch metadata from external sources and it populates the wiz.bin directly, which is clean, and results in less duplication. But, fanart is another story. There is nothing in sagetv about handling fanart, so each system, phoenix, ortus, mymovies, etc will have their own preference on how it should be done.


...you've got exactly my point, what if people doesn't want the fanart (covers+background)? What if people just want a better, easier, clean, intuitive interface? Why I cannot use SMM and its UI without be obliged to install/configure MyMovie? I will perfectly happy to use SMM without any Background, and just with the "folder.jpg", but with the usability and intuitive interface only SMM can provide so far, even my dog can use it ;)

[PLUCKYHD]

...you've got exactly my point, what if people doesn't want the fanart (covers+background)? What if people just want a better, easier, clean, intuitive interface? Why I cannot use SMM and its UI without be obliged to install/configure MyMovie? I will perfectly happy to use SMM without any Background, and just with the "folder.jpg", but with the usability and intuitive interface only SMM can provide so far, even my dog can use it ;)

Because it is called "MyMovies" meaning it was built for that specifically so they are one and the same that is why it only works when using their collection manager ;)

I could have and may one day support the default db (probably will but way off in future). but then the features will be pretty limited as just the core will pretty much remain with out all the advance searches/filters and such that are available through MyMovies only.

My main decision for not writing to the DB was to not interfere with BMT or Ortus or the default. Could I have written the code to not interfere and write to the default db absolutely but it would have taken more time I didn't have currently. Plus I am more comfortable with SQL databases then sage and that is just my preference.

No sorry back on topic please post in the sub forum this forum is for the great work phoenix guys are doing not me ;)

[pjpjpjpj]

Back on topic... looks awesome!! :clap:

A couple of questions that popped into my head - and please don't take this as criticism, because it looks great - I'm just curious:

1) How are you handling current recordings vs. archived recordings? More specifically, how would you get to archived recordings? Will there be a selection within, maybe, "Admin Tools", that determines whether that menu item on the "Info key" popup is "current", "archived", or "all"?

2) Are the menus going to be user-configurable at all? For example, will we be able to determine what "shortcuts" are on the pop-up menu that appears when you hit "Home"? Or at least be able to rename them or remove them?

3) Will we be able to determine a default view and path for, say, videos? For example, when I had v6 and nielm's DCM, I made a main menu link (called "DVD Collection") to take me, in "folder view", straight into a single folder that had my DVDs organized into folders by genre. Now, in v7 default (no menu customizing yet), when you click "Videos" and choose folder view, it shows you every folder you have that has videos in it, all in one big list. I don't like that.

4) Will there be the ability to add submenus or screens? And add shortcuts to them from one of the default menus? Example: in v6/DCM, I had a text file reader that I linked to my infopopup log file, and created a menu item called "Caller ID Log" (so I could see who had called recently). I also converted my Windows address book to a text file and had a menu item for "Address book" that I could pull up in Sage. And, of course, there were plugins like the "Weather Report Suite" and "MovieTimes" that required adding menu items to get to them. It would be great to be able to have these again.

As you can tell (by #2, 3, and 4), I'm really missing nielm's DCM. :D

[stuckless]

1) How are you handling current recordings vs. archived recordings? More specifically, how would you get to archived recordings? Will there be a selection within, maybe, "Admin Tools", that determines whether that menu item on the "Info key" popup is "current", "archived", or "all"?

Phoenix has it's own VFS (Virtual File System). Things like "recordings", "videos", "archived recordings", etc are all named views. So, in theory, anybody can choose to replace those views (in a custom xml file) with whatever they want to show for those views. Or, you can create your own views, with very specific filter/sort/group options, etc. The views are all user configurable.

2) Are the menus going to be user-configurable at all? For example, will we be able to determine what "shortcuts" are on the pop-up menu that appears when you hit "Home"? Or at least be able to rename them or remove them?

Phoenix has it's own dynamic menus (configured via separate xml files). A user can edit those menus as see fit. Dynamic menus have some of the features that are found in nielm's dynamic menus, but it also has other features as well.

3) Will we be able to determine a default view and path for, say, videos? For example, when I had v6 and nielm's DCM, I made a main menu link (called "DVD Collection") to take me, in "folder view", straight into a single folder that had my DVDs organized into folders by genre. Now, in v7 default (no menu customizing yet), when you click "Videos" and choose folder view, it shows you every folder you have that has videos in it, all in one big list. I don't like that.

Given that you can configure the menu, i'd say yeah, you can probably do this. But over and above that, I'm not sure if there will configuration options that enable a default view in the ui or not.

4) Will there be the ability to add submenus or screens? And add shortcuts to them from one of the default menus? Example: in v6/DCM, I had a text file reader that I linked to my infopopup log file, and created a menu item called "Caller ID Log" (so I could see who had called recently). I also converted my Windows address book to a text file and had a menu item for "Address book" that I could pull up in Sage. And, of course, there were plugins like the "Weather Report Suite" and "MovieTimes" that required adding menu items to get to them. It would be great to be able to have these again.

Phoenix menus can have sub menus, and associated menus.

On a side note about Phoenix... Phoenix consists of an api, services, and a ui. Different plugins can depend on different levels of phoenix. For example, our Phoenix UI will depend on the core services, since they are required for us. But other plugins, such as bialio's fanart plugin, only depends on the phoenix-api, since it only needs access to the fanart/metadata apis. Once phoenix is released, different plugins can use the API in their own needs. ie, if someone wants to create another media browser plugin using the phoenix vfs, then they can do so, but the end user is not required to also install the phoenix ui. Or, dynamic menus can be added to the core stv, if someone wanted to write an implementation using the phoenix dynamic menu apis... and again, depending on the phoenix api doesn't mean that you need to install the phoenix ui (although I recommend that you do ;) ). To date, many of the apis in phoenix are not released. The reason for this, is that as we implement various features, we sometimes change the API. But once phoenix is released, the apis are fair game to anyone.

[bialio]

But once phoenix is released, the apis are fair game to anyone.
Except Plucky.

[PLUCKYHD]

Except Plucky.

:eek: Guess I will stop making a tv app then....

[MeInMaui]

Except Plucky.

:rofl:

[Brent]

It's beautiful. Looks like there is a LOT to Phoenix. Love it!

[pjpjpjpj]

That all sounds great, if not a little over my head (where's the emoticon for watching info sail over your head?).

If I translate your post correctly, stuckless, it sounds like, at release time, you would need to know XML to customize menus and add screens and such, and phoenix will not come with a "menu customization" function per se.... But phoenix will be set up in a way where people with programming knowledge (and Studio knowledge) can create plugins allowing various clever ways of UI customization (such as how nielm's original one worked with copy/pasting)?

Is that right, or am I confused?

[stuckless]

That all sounds great, if not a little over my head (where's the emoticon for watching info sail over your head?).

If I translate your post correctly, stuckless, it sounds like, at release time, you would need to know XML to customize menus and add screens and such, and phoenix will not come with a "menu customization" function per se.... But phoenix will be set up in a way where people with programming knowledge (and Studio knowledge) can create plugins allowing various clever ways of UI customization (such as how nielm's original one worked with copy/pasting)?

Is that right, or am I confused?

Phoenix may actually come with ways to customize views/menus from within the UI. (that's not my area :) )

But, if it doesn't come with that, then people would be able to customize views and menus by manually editing the XML files :(

[bialio]

Couple more screen caps for your enjoyment. These are the other two options for the first screen you see in Phoenix - we are calling it the Landing Zone. Both of these are a lot more minimalistic than the Boxee version - for people who like simple and not a lot of clutter.

HText - made famous by SageMC and some little known upstart called XBMC?
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/serenityHtext.jpg

Vertical-style - pretty standard.
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/serenitySimple.jpg

The Serenity Skin (any SageMC'ers out there will recognize the cows and the orange!) is also in use for these shots. This is not the default skin in Phoenix, just one that ships with it :thumb:

btl.

[PLUCKYHD]

This is not the default skin in Phoenix, just one that ships with it :thumb:


Wow you guys are going to be shipping us something :dance:

[wrems]

Very nice, and polished looking. Great job! Can't wait.:D

[Polypro]

Awesome.

P

[ToxMox]

This is all looking very interesting/wonderful. Can't wait! :goodjob:
If you need a tester let me know ;)

[JetreL]

All I want to know is there an option to pull in Plucky's Music listening girl... :eek: Looks good by the way. Can't wait to try it out!

[bialio]

Just had an AWESOME bit of inspiration for a layout in Phoenix : I present to you, PHLOXEE

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/phloxee.jpg

[bialio]

This just came to me out of the blue - I think it looks pretty sharp. :thumb:

[Skirge01]

You may run into a prior art issue (http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/345619). ;)

[PLUCKYHD]

This just came to me out of the blue - I think it looks pretty sharp. :thumb:

Out of the blue huh looks familiar to me....;) I prefer ploxee myself ;)

Guess I need to stop sharing screenshots ;)

[bialio]

In all seriousness, this does showcase one of the nice features of Phoenix - the Universal Media Browser (UMB) pictured here is built to make it easy to either extend or replace completely, as I did with PHLOXEE. So for someone who likes to make these kind of screens (like the PLUCKSTER) in studio it's all there.

btl.

[PLUCKYHD]

In all seriousness, this does showcase one of the nice features of Phoenix - the Universal Media Browser (UMB) pictured here is built to make it easy to either extend or replace completely, as I did with PHLOXEE. So for someone who likes to make these kind of screens (like the PLUCKSTER) in studio it's all there.

btl.

I hope you don't think our work doesn't exceed studio....I personally don't like studio a whole lot and try to do everything I can outside of studio.

[bialio]

I don't really understand what you are saying. The UI is done in studio, as it has to be. Most everything else is down in java......

[gplasky]

Just had an AWESOME bit of inspiration for a layout in Phoenix : I present to you, PHLOXEE

What is Ploxee?Ploxee is my rendition/take of BoxeeTV [/B]

PHOOEE
Too many screenshots-not enough product. :eek:

OK-great work has been done by all. Can't wait to touch it. :D

Gerry

[wrems]

PHOOEE
Too many screenshots-not enough product. :eek:

OK-great work has been done by all. Can't wait to touch it. :D

Gerry

My sentiments exactly! BTW, you devs are really doing some great things. I can't wait to get to play with some of these new fantastic looking guis.

[PLUCKYHD]

PHOOEE
Too many screenshots-not enough product. :eek:


It shouldn't be long for ploxee now at all the latest betas are working spot on so far all the screenshots I have posted are fully functional and working. Just getting the auto playlist and playon stuff fully integrated tightly like boxee. :cool:

As Bialo showed whipping up new UI's doesn't take too long if you know studio and the api you are using, once your api is done now getting them fully functional with new features is the hardest part.

Bailo,
By staying out of studio as much as possible I meant I only do the bare UI code that is needed in studio all the backend stuff is from api's. I prefer not to do anything I don't have to in studio. I just felt like you were implying whipping up what we have done is easy and I was just stating it is far from it. I too am excited about all the work Stuckless has done with the UMB and more importantly to me the dynamic xml api's.

[Fuzzy]

PHOOEE indeed. I too am tired of all the 'screentshot' devs who only ever tease and never give out the goods... in response, i present my masterfull UI work, all without any previous teasing of the juicy screenshot variety (mostly because I only spent about 35 minutes in studio from idea to public release)...

[PLUGIN] Fuzzy Malore Tweaks.... (http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51414)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8593871/Fuzzy's_Malore_Tweaks.jpg
See, I'm all about pleasing the community.. not teasing them..

;-) j/k guys, the stuff looks good.. but it's pointless if you're the only ones who can use it.. ;-)

[bsung]

PHOOEE indeed. I too am tired of all the 'screentshot' devs who only ever tease and never give out the goods... in response, i present my masterfull UI work, all without any previous teasing of the juicy screenshot variety (mostly because I only spent about 35 minutes in studio from idea to public release)...



Seriously, 35 minutes? Not much I can get done in that amount of time.

[Fuzzy]

Seriously, 35 minutes? Not much I can get done in that amount of time.

There's really not that much to that tweak... added a couple conditionals, an image widget, and a call to the Phoenix API to get the banner... Then about 5 minutes tweaking size/alignment... I think it took as long to remember how to publish it to the repository...

[wayner]

@Fuzzy - You seem to have the same content on Sage as I do. Have you been surreptitiously logging into my server? You just forgot Diego!

[stuckless]

No, Phoenix is not dead, not even close :) With the bombshell notice that Ploxee is being scrapped, and that Ortus is losing 2 members, I thought that perhaps people would be curious as to where Phoenix sits.

First, let me say, that projects like Phoenix take a tremendous amount of effort for people that are actively working on it. Because of this, I'm not surprised that Plucky is going to focus on SMM, and not Ploxee and Ortus. It would be very hard for any individual to be actively involved 3 major projects (and still have a life). The members of the Phoenix Initiative are committed to seeing it through. While each of us has a private life, a work life, and a Phoenix life, we do try to NOT spread ourselves too thin.

Second, projects like Phoenix require a lot of design work. Our "core values" has always been to place a tremendous amount of time and patience into the design (both the underlying code and the UI) before we start just producing stuff. We did this, because each of us is acutely aware of how hard it is to maintain something that has not been designed well, from the ground up. Because of this, progress at times, appears to be slow, but in reality, there is always progress... just not always visual STV progress (which the progress that we can visually share). Because of life and work, sometimes, each of us, may only contribute a couple of hours a week, so you can imagine how long this takes :(

Third, projects like Phoenix require that there be a certain amount of synergy among team members. I can say, from my perspective, that our team has a lot of synergy. When a team loses synergy, it can quickly unravel, but I don't see that happening (in the short term) with Phoenix (I'm not suggesting that it happened with other teams, because I'm not aware of dynamics in the other teams). I enjoy working with each member, and sometimes, they even enjoy working with me :)

Lastly, for projects to sucdeed, the people need to enjoy their time that they spend working on it. Again, from my perpsective, I enjoy working on Phoenix. I can't speak for the other members, but I think they enjoy it was well (although we all need to break a times).

I realize that "Screenshots" are just teasers :) But keep in mind, when Phoenix is delivered, our goal is to deliver an add-on that can satisfy both visually and functionally, and also enable others to extend it, either by creating new views, new menus, themes, etc. All of this takes times, and as mentioned above, a tremendous amount of planning.

Hopefully you'll bear with us, as we continue to tease with screenshots, as a symbol, that we are still moving forward. I think the wait will be worthwhile.

[pjpjpjpj]

Stuckless, what a fantastic post.

Thanks to you and the rest of the Phoenix team for all of the hard work you have put in on the project, and for all the hard work you continue to put in. I'm sure in our anxiousness, some of us occasionally come across as rude or unappreciative, but I can assure you (at least I think I speak for most everyone) that it's not meant that way, and it's simply a result of being so anxious to get all the form and function that Phoenix promises.

Keep up the good work! :clap:

[stuckless]

Stuckless, what a fantastic post.

Thanks to you and the rest of the Phoenix team for all of the hard work you have put in on the project, and for all the hard work you continue to put in. I'm sure in our anxiousness, some of us occasionally come across as rude or unappreciative, but I can assure you (at least I think I speak for most everyone) that it's not meant that way, and it's simply a result of being so anxious to get all the form and function that Phoenix promises.

Keep up the good work! :clap:

Thanks, I think it's important for people to understand that a project is more than just a random group of people churning out code. It's about building something, collectively, using a common set of goals. And Phoenix is certainly built that way. I'm passionate about Phoenix, and I'm sure the other team members are as well.

I'd also like to point out, that while SageTV doesn't contribute directly to projects like phoenix, they do offer an incredible amount of support. I don't think we'd be where we are at today, if it were not for their support. SageTV is has been great to deal with in terms of requiring clarification on details, and even adding new features. They are all about enabling us to do what we need to do.

[ohpleaseno]

Help us Obi-Wan Kephoenix. You're our only hope.

(seriously though, it's great that this project is still moving forward. Hopefully we'll continue to see great things from all the extremely talented people involved in all of these projects)

[tmiranda]

Help us Obi-Wan Kephoenix. You're our only hope.

And all along I thought it was Obi-Wan Kephoenixee.

[ohpleaseno]

It was more of an attempt at syllabic similarity. Don't hate on the artist.

:)

[bialio]

Phoenix can do Malore-ish screens too. :cool:

[bialio]

PHOOEE indeed. I too am tired of all the 'screentshot' devs who only ever tease and never give out the goods... in response, i present my masterfull UI work, all without any previous teasing of the juicy screenshot variety (mostly because I only spent about 35 minutes in studio from idea to public release)...

;-) j/k guys, the stuff looks good.. but it's pointless if you're the only ones who can use it.. ;-)

Hey Fuzzy - what part of the Malore screens are the big selling point for you? I'm working on a phoenix view that looks like Malore, but I suspect that just having two panes with shows on one side and episodes on the other is not ALL that malore is loved for....

btl.

[bialio]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8593871/Fuzzy's_Malore_Tweaks.jpg


Another question - what ARE all of those numbers and letters? 0221, 0242, [CA], etc.

That's one thing that bogs me down when I goto a malore screen, there is so much clutter and so many weird numbers/etc floating around. Our version will be a lot cleaner......

btl.

[tmiranda]

I'm also a malore lover.

Things I really like:

- Ability to setup alternate views and switch between them with just a keystroke.
- Ability to change the number of rows that appear.
- Ability to se timebar on the right hand pane that shows how much of the show I've already watched.

Things that could be better:
- There really isn't a good place to put fanart. I'd like to see the menu background use fanart. (I'm not a big fan of fanart "banners" replacing the text on the left, or right hand pane.)

I'm assuming the following "must have" items are already on your list:
- Ability to shoose grouping, sorting and filtering.
- .edl compatibility (i.e. do all the things that are possible with the comskip playback plugin)

There's probably more that I just take for granted.....

[bialio]

Did you open the attachment above? It's just an early shot of what I was working on, but it does have the fanart as the background.

Phoenix (in general) is all about different views, and we are currently working on ways to both configure and switch around between views. Grouping/Sorting/Filtering is very rich and the sky is the limit.

Does the Malore in the STV use the "|<<" and ">>|" key to switch between the configured views?

Also Phoenix supports edl natively - comskip just works.

btl.

edit - removed talk about the phoenix_comskip_* api calls - probably too confusing. It's not a secret or anything.

[Opus4]

Another question - what ARE all of those numbers and letters? 0221, 0242, [CA], etc.

That's one thing that bogs me down when I goto a malore screen, there is so much clutter and so many weird numbers/etc floating around. Our version will be a lot cleaner......Those 'weird numbers' provide context info to help understand what you are looking at, such as the left showing the number of items in a group and the right displaying info according to the chosen sorting style for the list of items in a group. In the screen shot, it looks like it is sorting by ShowID, so the last 4 digits of the ID are displayed. If a different sort style was chosen, different info could be displayed. Show ID isn't always indicative of the order episodes were actually aired, so you could choose to sort by original airing date (OA) & then it would show that date first for the lines on the right.

- Andy

[Tiki]

Another question - what ARE all of those numbers and letters? 0221, 0242, [CA], etc.

That's one thing that bogs me down when I goto a malore screen, there is so much clutter and so many weird numbers/etc floating around. Our version will be a lot cleaner......

btl.

The numbers are the Episode #s. The Zap2It guide data provides a long string to identify the episodes like, EPxxxxxx or SHxxxxx. The last 4 digits are the episode # and will match with the episode #'s from the IMDB database. Note: Episode #'s are sequential (approximately) and don't restart from one season to the next. Sometimes episodes are aired out of order (e.g. 1,2,5,6,3,4,7,8).

Malore lets you sort by episode number or by original air date. I usually prefer original air date, but sometimes episode # works better. I do like to be able to see the numbers in some view.

I believe the [CA] indicates that Comskip was run on that file and it sees the text file (edl or whatever). Personally, I don't use Comskip, so this is not useful to me. If anything, it would look better if someone made a pretty icon for it.

Many Malore views also show both the record date and the original air date.

I'm a dedicated Malore user. The biggest advantages to me of Malore are:


multi-pane menu layout makes it easy to see things at a glance without drilling down into sub-folders.
All Movies are treated as a single show called "movies" and get grouped together (I have over 100 movies recorded off premium cable channels, and I don't want to sort through them all to find the latest episode of my favorite sitcom).
Can easily set-up multiple custom views on the same menu and flip through them very fast (with the skip fwd2 and skip bkw2 buttons). For example, on my Sage Recordings screen, my main view is grouped by show and sorted by original air date, my second view is grouped by date and sorted by date (makes it easy to find a group of back-to-back recordings and watch them in order). I also renamed one of my custom malore menus as "sports" and added separate views in that screen for football, baseball, basketball, hockey, racing,...
I like seeing the channel logos here too.

[gplasky]

Phoenix can do Malore-ish screens too. :cool:

Watched bars. You need Watched bars somewhere. Either in the right side of the screen (like in Malore meus) or maybe somewhere in the header where the fanart and episode description is.

The Movie group is a big must-have too. I like to keep the recorded movies seperate from the series recordings.

Gerry

[bialio]

The way I have my views set up in phoenix there aren't any movies in the TV section - recorded movies show up over in 'Videos'.

I know this won't be to everyone's liking - but to me the two big buckets are TV and Movies. I don't care where they came from, that's how I split them browse them.

I'm sure we'll have a movie grouping available (SageMC had this as well) but the option for the movies to show up somewhere else all together is something new and (I think) better.

btl.

[Skirge01]

I definitely prefer having everything in the same place, but separated via filters or views. I don't want to back out or jump to a completely different place in SageTV (even if I can do so with a single button press) in order to view movies. I like a single interface. The malore menu switching sounds like a pretty good method for this, but I've never used them before. I currently use TVE and bring up the filter menu to filter what I want, so a quicker method of doing that would be nice.

[OneOfMany]

I'm with you bialio.

My preferences are:

- dedicated TV screen to merge/show recorded TV and TV-series sets
- dedicated movie screen to merge/show recorded movies/DVDs/BDs
- dedicated video screen to allow sorting/filtering of the other video categories I create (as of now - MusicVids, HomeVids, Educatational Vids, Shorts (internet crap :))

It really allows us the separation of video that we like :)

Grant

[Dreameriz]

I agree would be nice
I'm with you bialio.

My preferences are:

- dedicated TV screen to merge/show recorded TV and TV-series sets
- dedicated movie screen to merge/show recorded movies/DVDs/BDs
- dedicated video screen to allow sorting/filtering of the other video categories I create (as of now - MusicVids, HomeVids, Educatational Vids, Shorts (internet crap :))

It really allows us the separation of video that we like :)

Grant

[Fuzzy]

The single biggest feature of Malore that I like are the Different Views. that is the one thing it has that no other UI I've seen has, and it's one thing noone has even starterd to implement. The two pane display (which you do seem to already have) is also great. I'm not sure if I like it because it is the easiest for me to use, or if it is just what I was used to coming from a dish network DVR - but in my mind it just makes more sense.

There are, obviously, things about it that need updating (hence me looking at trying to make some improvements), but it has survived over the years quite well, with minimal overall changes (Thanks Andy for keeping this thing relevent), I think because it DOES work very well in a LOT of different situations.

[Fuzzy]

As for the movies - I am intending to be able to split out Movies into a different Malore view, then have that view, for instance, grouped by Sub-Category... It'll take a bit of extension to the filtering system - which if I get free time, will be the next tweak I make.

[Fuzzy]

More info:

[CA] means Comskip Available or something... looking in studio, it only shows up if a .txt file is there (notice, it doesn't even check for .edl - this is old bloat that has been there since Malore made it many moons ago, and could certainly be removed) It is redundant as the Comskip Playback plugin already adds a CS icon to the screen, i believe.

[CC] means Closed Captioned - but in reality, it, like [CA], is really only shown if there is an .smi file.

Malore was originated a long time ago, and has have no official caretaker since Malore's departure from the community - so things like this have been left in. It is also evident that it was done ages ago, as almost everything in it is text based - no extra icons, even the description is just a long string, strung together with [OA]: and such as item headers.

[Opus4]

As for the movies - I am intending to be able to split out Movies into a different Malore view, then have that view, for instance, grouped by Sub-Category... It'll take a bit of extension to the filtering system - which if I get free time, will be the next tweak I make.There is already a choice for grouping by subcategory. And, if you group by category, but there is only a single category, it automatically groups by subcategory instead. You could even create a view that filters to only include movies & group that by category or subcategory... which is what I do.

More info:

[CA] means Comskip Available or something... looking in studio, it only shows up if a .txt file is there (notice, it doesn't even check for .edl - this is old bloat that has been there since Malore made it many moons ago, and could certainly be removed) It is redundant as the Comskip Playback plugin already adds a CS icon to the screen, i believe.

[CC] means Closed Captioned - but in reality, it, like [CA], is really only shown if there is an .smi file.Please be sure you are looking at a default STV w/o any plugins. If you can find it in the default STV, I'll remove it for the next STV update, but I think you'll find the [CA] and [CC] tags are coming from a plugin you have installed. If it is old bloat, the plugin may need to be updated.

Malore was originated a long time ago, and has have no official caretaker since Malore's departure from the community - so things like this have been left in. It is also evident that it was done ages ago, as almost everything in it is text based - no extra icons, even the description is just a long string, strung together with [OA]: and such as item headers.I've kept the 'malore' name for those menus because he was the person who created the system and I feel that giving him the credit is the fair thing to do, but I've been maintaining it, extending it, and so on for a few years now. The things you mentioned above aren't still there, as far as I can tell, so old code has been removed and much new code added.

Most of the display is text based simply because I felt text was still the best way to display a lot of letters and numbers -- I like to see lots of info about many airings at once rather than pictures about just a few items. Personally, I want to use the screen real estate to find something to record or watch rather than look at pictures about a show. But, there is a double-height row option that uses icon markers and channel logos (it can even be set to auto-revert back to single height rows when there are many items in a list). I believe the double-height row concept was modified to show the images on the left in the screen shot earlier in this topic. I'm not sure what other icons are really needed vs desired for personal preference or for customizations for things like comskip or fanart.

And, concatenating several items into the description is actually a decent way to display more info that would otherwise get cut off & not seen if they were listed on separate lines instead.

This Phoenix topic is probably not the best place to continue if there are real problems that could be addressed or improvements that could be made in the existing malore style menus -- if there really are requests for changes for those hidden menus in the default STV, please start a new topic. However, some of what has been said is user preference that can be covered by customizations or completely new implementations such as what has been mentioned for Phoenix. Not everyone wants the same thing, which is why customizations are so useful. :)

- Andy

[Fuzzy]

Please be sure you are looking at a default STV w/o any plugins. If you can find it in the default STV, I'll remove it for the next STV update, but I think you'll find the [CA] and [CC] tags are coming from a plugin you have installed. If it is old bloat, the plugin may need to be updated.
Yeah, looks like I found it. I think it's being added by the Phoenix FanArt for malore plugin. I just always remembered it being there from the Malore's of past, and have been using the phoenix addon for so long now, I never noticed it's removal (though, honestly, I still never really see them that often, since I've never use smi's, and havent used .txt for quite some time)
I've kept the 'malore' name for those menus because he was the person who created the system and I feel that giving him the credit is the fair thing to do, but I've been maintaining it, extending it, and so on for a few years now. The things you mentioned above aren't still there, as far as I can tell, so old code has been removed and much new code added.

Most of the display is text based simply because I felt text was still the best way to display a lot of letters and numbers -- I like to see lots of info about many airings at once rather than pictures about just a few items. Personally, I want to use the screen real estate to find something to record or watch rather than look at pictures about a show. But, there is a double-height row option that uses icon markers and channel logos (it can even be set to auto-revert back to single height rows when there are many items in a list). I believe the double-height row concept was modified to show the images on the left in the screen shot earlier in this topic. I'm not sure what other icons are really needed vs desired for personal preference or for customizations for things like comskip or fanart.

And, concatenating several items into the description is actually a decent way to display more info that would otherwise get cut off & not seen if they were listed on separate lines instead.
True, it does make things more compact - though I think I'd prefer a bit more structure to the data... common fields always displaying at the same location on the screen - aids in seeing differences as you scroll through the lists.
This Phoenix topic is probably not the best place to continue if there are real problems that could be addressed or improvements that could be made in the existing malore style menus -- if there really are requests for changes for those hidden menus in the default STV, please start a new topic. However, some of what has been said is user preference that can be covered by customizations or completely new implementations such as what has been mentioned for Phoenix. Not everyone wants the same thing, which is why customizations are so useful. :)Correct - i only brought Malore up sort of tongue in cheek, showing my tweak - but it did seem to spark some design discussion for Phoenix itself, so i just went with it. I don't feel anything really needs to be changed with the core Malore screens - at least nothing that would be easy to change - the addition of a secondary filter setting is about all I can think of, but that's no small task.

[bialio]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I think I understand the 'allure of malore' now. Interestingly enough, the double pane view is really all phoenix was lacking.

Stay tuned, we are getting close to a private beta.

btl.

[ToxMox]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I think I understand the 'allure of malore' now. Interestingly enough, the double pane view is really all phoenix was lacking.

Stay tuned, we are getting close to a private beta.

btl.Oooh. I like private betas!

[bialio]

One more glimpse of the two-pane view (ie malore).

This one has watched bars and banners. Both will be configurable.

btl.

[gplasky]

One more glimpse of the two-pane view (ie malore).

This one has watched bars and banners. Both will be configurable.

btl.

I like it. Nice work.

Gerry

[panteragstk]

I like it. Nice work.

Gerry

Ditto...private beta...too bad I'm not in that group...

[bialio]

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/phoenix_ploxee_finished.jpg

Just a quick screen capture - we're still here. I suspect that the holidays will interupt a good bit of the Phoenix Momentum, however we are all still on board and workin' on stuff. I'm even able to use Phoenix at home now :D

Look for the private beta to kick off early in the new year.

btl.

[rtrski]

drooooooooool

[ChaOConnor]

Thank you to Team Phoenix, as always, I can't wait!!! :D

[panteragstk]

no banners...shame shame...j/k nice job so far. I hope this does for v7 what sagemc did for v6. I expect it to...and more...so much more...

[setherd]

Soooooooo public release in about 330 days?:D:bang:

[bialio]

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/phoenix_xmb.jpg

This is one last Main Menu (we call them "landing zone" in Phoenix) - it is modeled loosely on the PS3's Xcross Media Bar.

This is not an attempt to emulate it exactly (for instance, to work with the global phoenix header up there it made more sense visually for the 'cross' to be in the lower left hand corner of the screen, rather than the upper). And currently there's not much "cross" ing going on, more of a T than an X. But so far this one is by far the most usable (in my opinion anyway) - very easy to get to where you are going.

btl.

[Skirge01]

It's probably the background, but I felt like I was tripping when I first looked at that. :D

Without seeing how it flows visually, it's tough to make any reasonable observation on it's usability. But, I am wondering... does this replace SageTV's main menu or is this another menu we'd get to FROM the regular SageTV main menu?

[bialio]

In a perfect world you will never see SageTV's V7 menu.

Our world isn't perfect of course, but that's the goal.

btl.

[jaminben]

I had high hopes for this but alas I don't think this is going to be for me.....sorry, each to his own though :)

To quote a quote:

In the words of Ron Burgandy, "I'm going to be honest with you, that smells like pure gasoline."

[bialio]

Isn't that actually a quote of a quote of a quote? ;)

I bet you'll find something in phoenix that you like. Even if you have to write your own landing zone (which is ridiculously easy for anyone studio savvy).

btl.

[calypsocowboy]

Any update?

[bialio]

Not really. We're all more or less back from vacation mode now, and working on stuff again.

Here's a quick peek at the current home screen. This has Weather Backgrounds enabled, which of course updates the background to match the weather conditions.

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/JanWeatherPS3SCreenShot.jpg

And here's a work in progress on the Music OSD screen. This is by no means finished, just a glimpse of the direction we are headed. Music will not be part of the initial private beta.

Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McCvlzbK7fQ)

btl.

[bialio]

And yes, I really do record Thundarr the Barbarian.:blush:

[Skirge01]

And yes, I really do record Thundarr the Barbarian.:blush:

Loved that show when I was growing up! I always wondered what the heck was a Moc, though... :D I guess he was a "mock" wookie.

[gplasky]

And yes, I really do record Thundarr the Barbarian.:blush:

Who doesn't? :clap:

Gerry

[jaminben]

The music screen video looks good :)

[OneOfMany]

OK.. I really, really liked that. And being a fan of the horiz menu.. I'm having trouble waiting lol..

Glad to witness the rising :)

Grant

[wrems]

Is the ‘Recording Today’ info on the background always there? Or, does it toggle according to the cursor focus being on ‘TV Shows’?

[bialio]

Right now it's always there unless there is video playing, which is in that same area. It can be turned off completely if you don't want to see it.

I put that in last night actually, because I found that one of the things I'm constantly going to look at is what is currently recording, and what is going to record tonight.

btl.

[wrems]

Love it! I really like that touch.

[ayjax]

Looks great! Cant wait to try it all out! :thumb: Is there an ETA for public beta release?

[alton987]

Sagtv needs to add a beta option to the plugin section.

[stuckless]

Sagtv needs to add a beta option to the plugin section.

SageTV does have a beta option for it's plugins... not many people use it though.

[PLUCKYHD]

SageTV does have a beta option for it's plugins... not many people use it though.

I do SMM will probably stay there forever :bang:

[stuckless]

I do SMM will probably stay there forever :bang:

That's OK... BMT should probably be listed as Beta but it isn't :)

[pjpjpjpj]

Just curious, in post #41 you guys were working on a 3-panel setup where you indicated that (at least) one of the panels would be changeable to various information. Is this still in the works, or was it scrapped?

Also, post #80 showed both vertical and horizontal menu screens? Still optional?

And there was also the discussion of there being a popup type menu heirarchy rather than a true "home/main menu". Still true?

If the answer to these is that they are all still in there, then, good gracious, you guys are filling this thing chock full of options! Nice! :thumb:

[bialio]

Most everything you've seen is still in there. The popup menu hierarchy is sort of there, although I'm not sure it's exactly what you might think it is.

btl.

[JonTom]

This looks so awesome!

Two questions,

1 - Imported Videos: I organize them by folders, will that organization be usable in Phoenix UI or do I need to start thinking about metadata for Genre, etc? (I have a folder "aaNicholas Videos" for my kid's videos, "aaTv Shows" - can I filter these out somehow in PhUI?)

2 - Music Browser: Please say that I'll be able to view my music By Album, sorted by Most Recently Added. Please? That would be good for Imported Videos too but less urgent (if this UMB thing works like I think it does I guess if it works for one it will work for the other).

[bialio]

Music will be viewable and sortable to your hearts content.

Folder based organization will be fine, although excluding by location is not something we can do just yet.

btl.

[jaminben]

2 - Music Browser: Please say that I'll be able to view my music By Album, sorted by Most Recently Added. Please?

Music will be viewable and sortable to your hearts content.

Just out of curiosity, can you sort Albums by Most Recently Added?.... I never worked out how to do this and could only ever do it by Year (using default sage sorting, or are you doing it via phoenix).

[bialio]

You can do it with the sorting we have in phoenix.

Album, in this context, is really just a way to group individual media files - which makes it pretty much a folder. That being the case, assuming that all the files from an album are added at the same time, you can sort it so that the folders (ie albums) use the largest/smallest MediaFileID* of the folders children as the basis for comparison.

* MediaFileID increments as files are added to the wiz.bin.

btl.

[jaminben]

Ahhh, thats a very clever idea..... I would have never thought of doing it like that.

[JonTom]

Music will be viewable and sortable to your hearts content.

Folder based organization will be fine, although excluding by location is not something we can do just yet.

btl.
Weeeeeeeeeee!

Yeah, I didn't mean exclude by location so much as filter for that location (ie: display aaTvShow's videos)

[JonTom]

Just out of curiosity, can you sort Albums by Most Recently Added?.... I never worked out how to do this and could only ever do it by Year (using default sage sorting, or are you doing it via phoenix).
You can do it with SageMC, but it actually uses the filedate, which is slow with a large library, and unreliable (if itunes edits a file tag the date changes and it gets resorted, etc)

[Slipshod]

Not really. We're all more or less back from vacation mode now, and working on stuff again.

Here's a quick peek at the current home screen. This has Weather Backgrounds enabled, which of course updates the background to match the weather conditions.


Looking good. Can't wait to get my wife off my back about the v7 UI.

[setherd]

Looking good. Can't wait to get my wife off my back about the v7 UI.

same here:goodjob::bang::bang:

[osx-addict]

Soo...? Any ETA?? :dance:

[panteragstk]

Soo...? Any ETA?? :dance:

Sometime between now and new years day...

[RedCoat999]

Sometime between now and new years day...

...of which year?

[gplasky]

Sometime between now and new years day...

...of which year?

C'mon-you're not going to nail them down that close. ;)

Gerry

[Skirge01]

It'll be done in the year 511. Or, as the Romans would write it VVID, aka VVhen It's Done.

[panteragstk]

...of which year?

excellent question...:thumb:

[jayman]

And yes, I really do record Thundarr the Barbarian.:blush:

Very nice work on this project! BTW, who's the dude on your avatar. I want to say he's from Johnny Quest, but I think I'm wrong......

[bialio]

Very nice work on this project! BTW, who's the dude on your avatar. I want to say he's from Johnny Quest, but I think I'm wrong......
Avatar picture is "Phil Ken Sebben" from Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law.

[OneOfMany]

Nothing worse than clicking "New Posts", seeing this thread, and bialio - you are the last one posting again..

Maybe THIS TIME lol..

Grant

[bialio]

One last screen shot to share - just another main menu variant, but I think this one is my favorite of all of them so far.

Functionally it works very similar to WMC, although it looks a lot nicer I think ;)

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/phoenixcrosslandingzone2.jpg

[jaminben]

One last screen shot to share - just another main menu variant, but I think this one is my favorite of all of them so far.

Functionally it works very similar to WMC, although it looks a lot nicer I think ;)

Looking good, kinda reminds me of a cross menu like PS3.... any chance of a video :D

[setherd]

One last screen shot to share - just another main menu variant, but I think this one is my favorite of all of them so far.

Functionally it works very similar to WMC, although it looks a lot nicer I think ;)


Does that mean we are close to a public release?? :)

[bialio]

We are closer today than we were yesterday. By the time you read this, even closer still!
btl.

[setherd]

:bang::bang::bang:

[bialio]

Looking good, kinda reminds me of a cross menu like PS3.... any chance of a video :D
Sneak Peak 1a (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogtp4SzTCGs)

[Bagal]

Very nice! :goodjob:

[PiX64]

man you guys are teases!!!!!!!!!!!!!

looks amazing and i can't wait.

[jaminben]

Sneak Peak 1a

Looks good, I guess we're going to have to up our game now :)

[Peter_h]

I've always liked the cross navigation. Looks real good guys.

[bialio]

Looks good, I guess we're going to have to up our game now :)
I know, you can publicly announce that you are no longer working on Ortus, then wait a while..... then swoop in from nowhere and announce a semi-public beta.

Oh, wait. Right. ;)

btl.

[Lostinpvr]

This looks to be a great advance. So when Is it going public ???
Awsome Work!!!

[datoney]

Wow this looks awesome! When is this going to be available?

[RedCoat999]

Think we managed to get them to admit to "sometime in the future"...!

[samgreco]

We may have to call a moratorium on all of these screenshots from all of you developers. I am going through far to many keyboards. What with all of the drooling....

[rgreenpc]

I really think you are giving Diamond and Ortus a collective run for the money... the interface is simply gorgeous.

I hope it comes out soon

[graywolf]

I really think you are giving Diamond and Ortus a collective run for the money... the interface is simply gorgeous.

I hope it comes out soon

George Jetson's car is pretty slick but not available either.

So considering that:
Diamond #1 (since it is better [than default STV] and available)
Ortus #2 (looks nice what we have seen, currently in limited Beta possible out soon?)
Phoenix #3 (looks nice also but no clue when it will be available.

[stuckless]

Phoenix is currently in "alpha" testing (ie, just phoenix members using it). I use it daily on 2 of my units, and I'm very happy with it.

Phoenix could probably go private beta today, BUT, I think we are missing 2 critical pieces...
1. Most of us are finding it hard to dedicate the time to Phoenix (at the moment) because of other commitments, such as work, family, and other projects. If we went to a private beta today, I'm not sure we'd be able to adequately support the people that are willing to try it out.
2. I think we need to have to base documentation on things like, configuring menus, views, landing zones, etc, to minimize the # of comments of "how do i...". But because of #1, it's been hard to find time to do that as well :(

We will release a private beta, but not until we feel comfortable being about to support it, and adequately respond to the positive and negative feedback :)

Now, I'm sure the really clever, "Hey, I can't for the freaking private beta" users, that enjoy running an unstable environment, have already figured out how to run it ;)

In the end, Diamond is here now... people should enjoy it. Ortus has gone private and I think it will appeal people as well. Phoenix is close, and I think that some people will love it, others will prefer Diamond, or Ortus, or the Default STV, and that's ok. Choice is good ;)

I really don't think we have many more screen shots to show anyways :)

Ok... maybe one more... of the info window (that be can shown from just about anywhere, showing a nice selection of information, including current recordings, new movies, upcomming recordings, etc)

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=11996&stc=1&d=1297437411

[graywolf]

Phoenix is currently in "alpha" testing (ie, just phoenix members using it). I use it daily on 2 of my units, and I'm very happy with it.

Phoenix could probably go private beta today, BUT, I think we are missing 2 critical pieces...
1. Most of us are finding it hard to dedicate the time to Phoenix (at the moment) because of other commitments, such as work, family, and other projects. If we went to a private beta today, I'm not sure we'd be able to adequately support the people that are willing to try it out.
2. I think we need to have to base documentation on things like, configuring menus, views, landing zones, etc, to minimize the # of comments of "how do i...". But because of #1, it's been hard to find time to do that as well


Completely understood. Especially the other commitments parts.

Don't want anyone to take my prior post as a "slam" of any kind. It was not intended that way.

Appreciate all the time/effort/talent of those that work on such great customizations.

Just my own Reality viewpoint.

[PLUCKYHD]

I really think you are giving Diamond and Ortus a collective run for the money.

Money??? Money?? Who is making money I want in!!!

[bialio]

Your check is in the mail. I'm sure of it.

btl.

[jaminben]

In the end, Diamond is here now... people should enjoy it. Ortus has gone private and I think it will appeal people as well. Phoenix is close, and I think that some people will love it, others will prefer Diamond, or Ortus, or the Default STV, and that's ok. Choice is good ;)


Choice is definitely a good thing, look at how many skins and addons XBMC has..... ultimately every different plugin, skin etc is going to push boundaries and make the next thing even better whether it be Phoenix, Diamond, Sage default or Ortus..... we all feed off each others inspiration.

Now where's my invite to the Phoenix beta :D

[MeInMaui]

Now where's my invite to the Phoenix beta :D

Must have gotten held up at customs. :p

[bialio]

It's hard enough distributing Phoenix to Hawaii AND Canada - the UK is just more than I think we can handle.....

[rgreenpc]

Competition drives innovation.... which makes better and better products (be them free or pay)

Plucky and I are old friends from the MC testing days...

I am just a sucker for a good UI.

I think all 3 have a place.

[stuckless]

I am just a sucker for a good UI.
I think all 3 have a place.

I agree. The problem with a good ui is that everyone's idea of one is different :) You put 3 people in a room and have them describe their "good UI" and you'll get 6 different ideas :)

[PLUCKYHD]

I agree. The problem with a good ui is that everyone's idea of one is different :) You put 3 people in a room and have them describe their "good UI" and you'll get 6 different ideas :)

and spend 10 hours arguing over it and still get nowhere :bang::bang:

[tmiranda]

and spend 10 hours arguing over it and still get nowhere :bang::bang:

Which is why the "best" UI's are not designed by committee, but rather by one or two individuals with talent and a vision. I have neither, which his why I stay away from UI design :D

[rgreenpc]

One last screen shot to share - just another main menu variant, but I think this one is my favorite of all of them so far.

Functionally it works very similar to WMC, although it looks a lot nicer I think ;)

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/phoenixcrosslandingzone2.jpg

Will Channel logos in the guide be available?

[bialio]

Eventually. To some degree images lose their value when the space they occupy force them to be overly small, which is why they aren't there now.

btl.

[RedCoat999]

Whats the paypal address, and private sign-up link then!!!!
:thumb:

[rgreenpc]

Eventually. To some degree images lose their value when the space they occupy force them to be overly small, which is why they aren't there now.

btl.

Fair enough -

I guess I have found them useful since I have been on WMC forever. I have been using MyChannelLogos with it.

I don't even care about channel numbers... I browse the guide by Logos.

[bollockz]

I am really looking forward to the day when this is released. Looks awesome

[alton987]

One last screen shot to share - just another main menu variant, but I think this one is my favorite of all of them so far.

Functionally it works very similar to WMC, although it looks a lot nicer I think ;)

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/phoenixcrosslandingzone2.jpg

Is there anyway to add any 3D effects to the icons. SageTV icons always look so flant\bland.

[PLUCKYHD]

Is there anyway to add any 3D effects to the icons. SageTV icons always look so flant\bland.

There is but most stay away from them since extenders can't run them. I do t know what Phoenix is doing in that regard btw not speaking for them.

[Tiki]

There is but most stay away from them since extenders can't run them. I do t know what Phoenix is doing in that regard btw not speaking for them.
It's true that the extenders don't support 3D graphics, but you don't need 3D graphics to do what I think he is asking. You can certainly draw 2-dimensional graphics that look 3D-ish.

However, if you want to do fancy effects (such as rotating an image in three dimensional space), Plucky is right and the extenders can't handle it.

[bialio]

This is a one time call for private beta testers! The first 4 people I hear from shall receive the golden ticket!

We've already got a few, and they are so overwhelmingly positive that we need to broaden our test base ;)

btl.

[Opus4]

We've already got a few, and they are so overwhelmingly positive that we need to broaden our test base ;)So... people should only apply if they don't like the screenshots? :p

- Andy

[bialio]

I have received sufficient PM's regarding beta! Thanks for the interest, you may now move along. Nothing to see here.

Yet.
btl.

[PLUCKYHD]

I have received sufficient PM's regarding beta! Thanks for the interest, you may now move along. Nothing to see here.

Yet.
btl.

But there is lots to see in diamond :rofl: :hi:

[bialio]

OK, time to start plugging Phoenix in the Diamond forum I see :D

[tmiranda]

Oh boy, I love to see a good fight!

[panteragstk]

But there is lots to see in diamond :rofl: :hi:

OK, time to start plugging Phoenix in the Diamond forum I see :D

Oh boy, I love to see a good fight!

Can't we all just get along? http://planetsmilies.net/violent-smiley-1372.gif (http://planetsmilies.net)

[jaminben]

Oh boy, I love to see a good fight!

Fight, fight, fight.......


We all love a good playground fight...... no scratching, hair pulling or biting though :thumb:

[jptheripper]

For me. I love Phoenix, and Diamond, and Ortus.

The same reason i love iOS (shudder) and Android. Creativity, competition, others ideas, all leads to better products in the end.

<honesty>I hate iOS, but you get my point</honesty>

[pjpjpjpj]

<honesty>I hate iOS, but you get my point</honesty>
Same reason I love 3D TVs. The more 3D TVs flood the market (for which I have no interest), the cheaper the non-3D models will become. :D

[jptheripper]

Same reason I love 3D TVs. The more 3D TVs flood the market (for which I have no interest), the cheaper the non-3D models will become. :D

or the more 3d tvs flood the market, the more ppl will realize how crappy the tech is, and we will come up with something actually useful.

[panteragstk]

or the more 3d tvs flood the market, the more ppl will realize how crappy the tech is, and we will come up with something actually useful.

Yeah, like the other 3 times 3d has tried and failed...if at first you don't succeed, try to see if people will still notice that you aren't trying very hard...:eek:

[Fuzzy]

Yeah, like the other 3 times 3d has tried and failed...if at first you don't succeed, try to see if people will still notice that you aren't trying very hard...:eek:

Yeah, but the difference this time, is that there is now Porn in 3D... :D

[PLUCKYHD]

Yeah, but the difference this time, is that there is now Porn in 3D... :D

Case and point!! It is sad but porn defines the adoption of most new technology.

I myself don't think the 3d is a fail this time me and my wife enjoy the occasional movie in 3d at home and thinks it adds a nice extra layer of enjoyment. I myself am amazed at the clarity of the 3d mostly because you are getting double the resolution (1080p to each eye) it really is impressive to us. We were not impressed in the stores but when we got it home with the lights off we were. But as fuzzy said porn and a new 24 porn will drive the adaption. I just hope they keep coming out with new movies as well.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program Phoenix.

[Skirge01]

I just hope they keep coming out with new movies as well.

Never fear. There will always be new porn coming out. :rofl:

What do you mean that's not what you meant?

[bialio]

Cover Flow for Phoenix.


http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/coverflow.jpg

When you pause on a movie for X seconds, the cover slides out and up into this next screen :

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/coverflowhighlight.jpg

which has a limited selection of options - play, set watched, and fetch metadata.

Here's a video clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cov_Ywmm_s

btl.

[Gunserotti]

Looks very nice. I like the fact that you have kept the covers to the bottom half of the screen. This really allows the fanart to become a major viewing feature. Most of the visually important part of fanart (e.g. faces) occurs in the upper half.

[tonysathre]

Looks nice. Any chance of adding a trailer option to the info screen?

[bialio]

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/phoenixgrid.jpg

btl.

[panteragstk]

Nice!

[clayfree]

Want!

[KJake]

April Fools?

[jptheripper]

bialio, you are a dirty dirty tease.

[alton987]

Could someone please post a picture of recoredtv?

[Gunserotti]

I really like the rounding of the corners....I notice that on other screen shots you have square corners for the images. Is this on purpose or are you still in the "design/experimentation" phase?

Looks great....

[bialio]

There's an option to enabled / disable rounded corners.

[bialio]

Here's a few updated screen shots:

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/aprilupdate1.jpg


http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/aprilupdate2.jpg


http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/aprilupdate3.jpg


http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh68/bialio/phoenix/aprilupdate4.jpg

[RedCoat999]

I still don't get the difference between a TV show and an archived one?

[bialio]

Archived is a mechanism that Sage provides for separating out some recordings. Some people use it to hide shows they've already seen (older seasons of TV shows for instance). I use it to separate out Kids shows.

btl.

[pjpjpjpj]

Perhaps he was asking why the layout is different in the screenshots above (between recorded and archived)? One has the episodes on the right and episode detail at the top, the other has generic show description on the right and nothing at the top.

What is the situation with the "TV Seasons" coverflow look, vs. the "TV Shows" and "Archived TV Shows" banner look? Is "TV Seasons" a separate filter setting that carries the coverflow look, or are there options to have the coverflow or banner looks for any of these (and you just happened to have them set this way for the screenshots)?

[bialio]

Those shots just show some of the different options for recorded TV (first three) and movies. The 'malore' style is there (top one) and then a couple of variations on the single list (Banners enabled/disabled, etc).

TV Shows, Archived TV Shows, TV Seasons are 3 different views I have defined, each grouped/filtered/sorted differently. Any view can be displayed in these different variations pictured most recently - the cover flow / grid style browsers are a little more limited on what views they work with.

btl.

[RedCoat999]

Can you automatically put kids shows into the archive section then? I could not find anything in the organize favorite

[Gunserotti]

There's an option to enabled / disable rounded corners.

Brilliant...

[jarredduq]

bialio, you are a dirty dirty tease.

Let's light this candle! Can't wait for the beta. Public beta that is.....

[ukmgranger]

So looking forward to getting my hands on this - should boost the WAF massively!

[cat6man]

I still don't get the difference between a TV show and an archived one?

i move everything nightly from the sageTV pc to a networked drived for storage.............sageTV then (re)finds it and marks it archived.

[zoltran]

How well does Phoenix run on the HD200/300 extenders. ?
I'm using Diamond now, and notice it can be a little 'sticky' when cursoring arround.

[RedCoat999]

How well does Phoenix run on the HD200/300 extenders. ?
I'm using Diamond now, and notice it can be a little 'sticky' when cursoring arround.

Much much smoother than Diamond on my HD200 - my personal experience

[zoltran]

Thanks Redcoat.
This is sounding better all the time.
Does Pheonix also integrate the Playon plugin the way Diamond does ?


btw, how did you steal my cat ?

[RedCoat999]

Thanks Redcoat. ...
btw, how did you steal my cat ?

Unfortunately my cat, Stanley, just got diagnosed with diabetes! Poor fella, just started insulin shots yesterday...

[Comitizer]

Can you automatically put kids shows into the archive section then? I could not find anything in the organize favorite

You can automatically have the favourite add a user category and then filter based on that. I think it's the "right way" to do things since v7. I set up a "kids" category and added it to all the kids favourites. Then, I use the built in TV menu customizer to have an option that only displays "kids" category.

As for archive recordings, I always assumed it was so that Sage wouldn't delete the file if the favourite is set to "keep only 5" or something like that.

I use it to keep shows that I like evern though the series is set to only keep a certain number.

[zoltran]

Unfortunately my cat, Stanley, just got diagnosed with diabetes! Poor fella, just started insulin shots yesterday...
So sorry to hear that, they become such good friends.