Lets talk about version 313

[bialio]

So 313 is a pretty minor release - not a lot of new functionality in this release, it is mostly bug fixes and some cleanup.

Changes :
1) Banner Flow and Grid Flow are both selectable now as the default UMB.
2) Customization of the Landing Zone menu works better now - it is similar to how you change the priority of favorites. Right arrow puts you in 'move' mode where you can reposition the item. Right again will drill down to a submenu if there is one.
3) Trying out a new Main Menu (the one you see after hitting home once). Let me know what you think about that one.
4) Menu organization in the Global Options menu is streamlined (again) :) This changes every release I know, but I think it's pretty good now.
5) The Options presented for each area (Landing Zone, UMB, etc) list the context sensitive ones first, then global. You'll see what I mean once you open one of these up.
6) Misc other stuff - I'm sure there are some other changes in there, but nothing large jumps to mind.
7) Title sort has an option to ignore leading articles (The, An, A) - the default views that use a Title sort have been updated to use this.
8) There's an option buried in there somewhere to disable season specific fanart.
9) 'Manage Fanart' option is now available in the Detailed Info popup - lets you chose the default Banner / Poster / Background for an item or group of items. This only applies changes to existing media files - so if you get a new recording next week of The Real Housewives of Springfield it won't use the defaults you set here. Just warning ya.

btl.

[stuckless]

I was trying to get the VFS state saving before I did a build, but after making all the changes (and it's not working ;) ) I can see it's going to be a bigger job than I had hoped :(

I'll try to push out a Phoenix build tonight with the 313 changes.

[stuckless]

On a side note... not sure if this link is accessible to everyone or not... but here's a video of my puppy playing fetch :)

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150191323897536

[PiX64]

So when can we download and install :-)

Btw did u experience the sloW ui with the new sagetv beta.

[bialio]

I haven't seen anything particularly slow yet. But I haven't upgraded to the latest beta either.

btl.

[PiX64]

Yea I upgradEde and everything I read said that going back from this new release is a bit tricky.

[bialio]

On a side note... not sure if this link is accessible to everyone or not... but here's a video of my puppy playing fetch :)

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150191323897536

So now every post I see of yours I read in a Canadian accent, eh. Can't help it. You can put a Texas drawl on mine if you like.

btl.

[stuckless]

313 has been posted. You can update the old way, or, you can do the following...

- From Phoenix Option Menu goto Sage and SageTV Plugins, and then update the phoenix core plugin (should be 2.3.31). (will require a restart)

- From the Phoenix Option menu goto Admin Tools -> Update Phoenix. This will download the new phoenix 313 and while it's not required to reboot after you update this package, I restart sagetv server just the same, just to make sure that the new menus are loaded.

- Also, because 313 is a new stv, then you'll need load the 313 stv in the detailed setup.

[PiX64]

Love the season view, but i noticed that when i go into say Simpsons i see all the seasons right. Over on the right where it shows the number of shows in there, the titles all say Simpsons rather than the individual shows title. when clicking into the season i then see the show name listed. Any chance we can get the show title in the list on the season screen?

Also so far i am really digging the the new "home" screen where the toolbar pops out from the left. is clean, looks pretty and doesn't take away from what is the main focus of the screen. I like it! :clap:

I am also having a bit of trouble with the Wall view. IT has never actually worked right for me. IT brings up all of my dvds/blurays but the page flipping is sooo slow its almost unusable. it is roughly 7 seconds between page flips. Any idea why? Is there something i can provide you that may help diagnose the problem, or is this simply a (i haven't had time to address this issue but i know about it problem?)

[stuckless]

So now every post I see of yours I read in a Canadian accent, eh. Can't help it. You can put a Texas drawl on mine if you like.

btl.

In Canada, I don't have an accent... eveyone else does :D

Actually my accent is hybrid accent of growing up on the east coast for 18 years and central canada for another 20 :)

[PiX64]

That blows my mind to think of what that even sounds like ya hoser :-D

[PiX64]

just found an odd bug with 313

wehn watching tv hit the stop button, then hit ok on stop, the popup box will go away, but then will flash 5 times before returning you to the previous menu.

[bialio]

I've seen that before, although I'm not sure what triggers it. But it's been around for a while.

Where you watching on an extender?

btl.

[PiX64]

yup hd200

[PiX64]

1) doesn't seem to do it on my hd300s
2). On the season views can be maybe get season banners? Pretty please :-). Wifey likes that a lot.

I was also wondering if y guys were planning on incorporating Netflix and July with eps plugin? I know at one point u guys said if we do our job right we won't need any other Plugins but wanted to ask.

Or what would be really cool is an entirely new interface for Netflix and hulu to integrate with playon.

Everything else so far with this release other than what I mentioned about the hd200 issue and slowness due to sage beta, this release is pretty solid. Ad always awesome awesome job!

[bialio]

I don't think we download season banners at all - I've mainly seen season backgrounds / posters? Maybe we do I don't know.

We'll put that on the list of features to look at adding.
btl.

[PiX64]

Way to avoid the Netflix hulu :-D

I know bmt downloads them. If u go into a show u can see different season banners if they are available from the source to dl.

[wrems]

I was also wondering if y guys were planning on incorporating Netflix and July with eps plugin? I know at one point u guys said if we do our job right we won't need any other Plugins but wanted to ask.


It took me a few reads to decipher this!:D Especially the July part...

My wife is a netflix addict and bugs me a least every 3 days. "So does it work yet?" ... "How about now...?" "So where do I find Netflix on this new system?" Drives me nuts:bang:

Please help my wife's impatience!:D

[PiX64]

I gott give props to iPhone autocorrect for that one :-)

Sorry :- D

[wrems]

I figured that or drunk texting was the cause;)

[stuckless]

I don't think we download season banners at all - I've mainly seen season backgrounds / posters? Maybe we do I don't know.

We'll put that on the list of features to look at adding.
btl.

BMT does attempt to download season specific fanart (banners, posters, and backgrounds) so if the show has season banners on tvdb then bmt should fetch it.

[PiX64]

Bialio - on the season view would it be possible to put a watched indicator next to the episodes on the right detail pain next to the episodes we have watched? otherwise when scrolling through the list of season folder you have to jump down into the show list before being able to tell if you watched all the shows or not....or more importantly where you left off.

[bialio]

Which UMB are you using? I know there aren't a consistent set of icons between the different browsers, some show watched, some show HD, etc. That's on the list of things to clean up.....

btl.

[PiX64]

I am using single list.

[PiX64]

Possible feature request. This one comes from my wife actually.

if you are at a top level folder for seasons, for example Spongebob and hitting ok of course takes you in, what if you could hit play on the top level folder and have Sage play all items in the child folder....

I think diamond does this already and she really loves this feature. With kiddos and cartoons that are only 10 - 15 minutes long, i can def. see this being useful.

what do you all think?

[wrems]

Possible feature request. This one comes from my wife actually.

if you are at a top level folder for seasons, for example Spongebob and hitting ok of course takes you in, what if you could hit play on the top level folder and have Sage play all items in the child folder....

I think diamond does this already and she really loves this feature. With kiddos and cartoons that are only 10 - 15 minutes long, i can def. see this being useful.

what do you all think?

I like that implementation too. +1 for me:thumb:

[PiX64]

Bialio can we get an idea if you and meinmaui are planning on playon support, netflix/hulu?

im debating weather or not i want to just make wifey use the wii for netflix, or if i want to buy a roku in hopes that we can get loopback working.

what do you guys do for netflix/hulu? currently i use playon and the online services menu which is ok i guess, but not as easy as the wife would like.

[bialio]

We do intent to support playon in the VFS. That's the next big feature that we'll deliver.

Some kind of loopback / Colossus / roku solution isn't out of the question but we haven't even talked amongst ourselves about it.

btl.

[MeInMaui]

We use the Wii, Roku and Sage at various TV's around the house. Each platform has some unique features and having the 3 alternatives allows us to stream different programs from Netflix simultaneously to different TV's (with playon you can only stream one). But as bialio said, this is definitely a planned feature. :thumb:

[PiX64]

Sweet!

I'm thinking abougettig a roku and would def be willing to help figure out how to code a core Phoenix feature that use Lioopback or whatever.

[stuckless]

I started this... but then I stopped :( I downloaded the playon trial and I was trying to communicate with it using upnp, but it was a challenge. I haven't given up on it, but my trial has expired now :( I'll buy the yearly license and start work on this again. PlayOn is also a windows app, which means that in my development, I'm basically running a windows vm session to communicate with it... all these little nuances sort of made me lose interest :)

[PiX64]

Nice! Well I am def willing to helP out and figure out the most workable solution. Loopback seems pretty interesting. Playon has just been a problem for me when I was using diamond and such. About 1 out of ever 4 times playing something that was imported into recording or whatever would play the wrong shows.

That being said I had never had the wrong file play going the long route of online services...

[Gustovier]

Finally upgraded...

I gotta say I don't like this quick menu that pops up after hitting home once. I just don't like the aesthetics of it and I wish just pressing "Home" once would return me back to the main menu. There's nothing really on this menu that I would use as well. I've also noticed sometimes pressing Home a second time will just show the background image and nothing else instead of the main menu

Poster grid navigation feels a little snappier, but it still needs speed improvments (I'm using an hd300)

Also I'm loving the image manging from the stv now! You should make it refresh the images though when you delete one...

[wrems]

I agree about the menu that comes up after hitting home. I personally would rather that be an option to toggle... Aesthetically for me it's fine. It's more utilitarian for the way my family uses Phoenix. A single click of the home key to bring us back to the box landing zone would be perfect.:)

[PiX64]

While i sort of agree, i def. see where bialio et. al were going with the quick menu. In my opinion one of the biggest issues with the current default STV, diamond, etc as well as other home media UI's is that they are NEVER media centric. The ui while it may be flashy it always seems to take away from the entire purpose of the setup MEDIA!

so in my opinion the quick menu is spot on from a deisgn and usability perspective. if i am watching a show, why do i necessarily want to navigate all the way back to the home screen just to see my media play in a window, or in the background? i personally don't.

that being said i could def see modifying a few things and using the OSD/mini guide concept to allow the user to browse more areas of the sage setup with a less intrusive style. So for example if i am watching a show or better yet wifey is watching a show and i want to look at say a movie. I could hit the quick home menu navigate to videos, and instead of it poping up the default videos screen with media playing in the background it could maybe popup a miniguide style videos menu at the bottom.

just an idea but either way i see arguments for and against the quick screen. NICE job phoenix team! :clap:

[wrems]

I totally agree Pix:D At the same time, I'm only advocating for a way to toggle it on and off. Then it can suit anyone's needs.

[Gustovier]

What bugs were fixed in this version? I don't think Im noticing anything. At least none of the ones I've listed out over the past couple of months.

Also when in a umb the search function that get to from the action menu(by pressing ffwd) needs some love. When ever you select a letter it puts it in there twice. The keypad doesn't seem to work properly here as well. Since I could see this a very common function to access is there a way to make it easier to access as well?

[bialio]

The change log for 313 is at the top of this thread.

btl.

[PiX64]

I found another strange ui issue the other day:

here is the scneario:

1) watch live TV
2) let live TV buffer for a while in my case about 20 minutes
3) proceed to let live tv play
4) I have comskip running on livetv and processing in real time
5) auto comskip works correctly on initial file of live tv.
6) once the show flips to the next show int he live tv buffer, it appears that there is an error in the phoneix ui. what happens is the status bar, and the "Skipping Commercials...." text will remain ont he screen even when not skipping commercials. pause, brining up another menu, whatever will not fix it. The only thing that fixes it is to stop the playback and start the file over.