STVi idea- Source-agnostic 'New' screen

[Halstead]

Ok, I'll start off by saying that this idea is dependent on something that may or may not be a part of the media import engine: a date/time stamp on all imported media. With that caviat, let's dig in:

My media usage has changed a lot recently, and is centering less and less around programs recorded by the SageTV server (although they are still important). I've come to realize that what I really want is a 'source agnostic' view similar to the Recent Recordings section of the current MyTV screen that lets me know what's new in my media library/available media.

To keep it manageable, I'd imagine a New Media (please come up with a better name) main screen that lists the, let's say 5, most recent media files (whether imported or recorded, or (eventually) available via RSS feed for sources like Hulu & Netflix) for each of the following categories:

• TV Series
• Movies
• Music

I could imagine single rows, a bit like what Boxee is doing on it's welcome screen, but with a date/time stamp that appears on or by the items. Also like Boxee, there would be a button on each row that would take you to a longer, multi-screen list screen for that category just like the Recordings screen SageMC currently has, with all of the same filtering options.

To further help manage this view (and deal with times when, say, you've just imported a whole TV season) there could be a option similar to the current 'intelligent' grouping that would put all new Top Gears under a a single folder icon.

I'm not an STVi developer, but I wanted to get this out there and see if anyone might bite...

[reggie14]

I think this is an interesting idea. Occasionally people bring up the idea of trying to merge all video files into a single screen, getting rid of the distinction between recorded files and imported files. In principle, I think that makes sense, but in practice I don't think it would work very well. Recorded files have good metadata associated with them, imported files do not (although, evilpenguin's new semi-automated tool sounds cool).

I think that basically means its not a really viable option to merge them completely. But, a what's new screen makes sense from a functional perspective. I almost always end up watching video files that are relatively new. With TV, I'm probably selecting something from the Recent Recording screen of Sage MC 80% of the time.

At the same time, I'm not sure where you'd put a What's New screen where it would make a lot of sense and be useful. I'm not convinced it should be integrated with the Sage main menu, but I also think that's the only place you should really integrated all three- recorded TV, imported video, and music.

So, what do you think about having what's new lists for each item separately? Kind of like how in SageMC there's a main menu specifically for TV. I think you could do the same thing with imported video and music. The screen could be used to display recently added items, and provide a good way to filter out what you don't want to see on the next screens that actually display the media items. I don't think the interface is terribly well-suited for people with a large amount of music and/or imported videos. There is filtering functionality built into the interfaces of both the stock UI and SageMC, but I never find myself using it. I think I might if it was displayed in a different manner.

[Addict]

<jumping up and down>

Yes! Yes! Someone else wants what I want! (ha, ha)

See my previous post on the topic...that never got much traction:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31849

Here's to hoping this one does!

[reggie14]

I think most people, particularly those with a small number of imported media files, would just look at these screens as another screen and button click to pass through. I think its a good idea, but I'm not terribly surprised it hasn't received a warm reception.

[tchapin]

I like the idea. Perhaps it could be a feature of the main menu that gets turned on or off.

At the very least, if you're just using Sage as a PVR, it could show the most recently recorded shows.

Todd

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by tchapin

At the very least, if you're just using Sage as a PVR, it could show the most recently recorded shows.

Just so you know, SageMC does this. The stock UI doesn't though.

[brewston]

I quite like this idea too...


SageMC will also display music by time, so I can't see why this couldn't be extended to imported videos (and pictures) It would then be a case of grouping them together on one screen

[bluenote]

I love this general idea. I want my content included all together. With the ability to look up IMDB info and save it as metadate to movie files, all that might be missing in my mind is the same ability to do so for tv files.

Convergence please!