[Fixed in v2.1] Misc Questions Re Functionality

[pks]

Paul,

Sorry if I should have created individual topics for each of my questions.

1) What is the purpose or function of the Settings option called "Force Close PDVD" which I currently have set to "Yes"? It suggests that this will force Power DVD to close under some condition. But I don't know what. When I use CMC to launch a movie and PowerDVD takes over, in order to stop it and have it return to CMC control, I just hit the "Stop" button on my remote and it then shows the PowerDVD menu that gives me the option to restart or resume. That's when I hit the button I've chosen for F$ in order to terminate PowerDVD and return to the CMC run screen.

2) A couple questions relating to the CMC's Music Library functions. I have a 100" screen ad HD projector. I've always enjoyed using WMC's music function. But when playing a piece, I like the ability to minimize the entire window. This then reveals my desktop which I always have set to the solid color of black. I like this because it allows me to more thoroughly enjoy the listening experience in a dark environment without the irritation of seeing anything on the screen. I then also like to darken my listening room lights which I also accomplish with programmed remote buttons. Sorry if this sounds too purist. But it is a very pleasurable experience.

Your browser obviously does not operate within a window. So it cannot be minimized. What are your thoughts on this. Could any enhancements ever be offered to 'go black' - or whatever? If I could mute my projector, I would. But can't.

3) If the above dark screen will never happen, could/would you be willing to change the music screen saver function so that it I could permanently turn off the screen saver. The maximum of 180 seconds doesn't do it for me. After the 3 minutes of having to stare at my selected album or song, I am then shocked by a whole 100" screen full of album covers. It's just not a 'purist' audio experience in my opinion. (No insult intended.) Perhaps I'm missing other options.

4) Finally, in great anticipation of your 2.1 release with the additional support of .ts files, I have continued to edit my collections and run up on a problem. I added my home videos by coding them in MMCM as "Other" for Media Type. But a further goal has been to add the TV shows that I have recorded over the years and be able to have them listed by their own media type. So my goal is to choose movies in your media type filter drop-down and have it then list just my movies, or select TV shows in your media type filter drop-down and have it just list TV shows, or then select Other to have it just list my home video movies. This all falls in line with the functionality that WMC had where you could go to movies, or to TV or to Videos.

So I added all my TV shows to MMCM and coded them for Media Type as TV. But when I then had CMC fully re-scan all my media, it resulted in the error log showing the same message for each TV show:
"A title set as TV Series is missing the required TV Web Service ID. Overriding media type, setting to Other media type to force CMC to display in CMC".

So, of course, now all my TV shows are commingled in with my home video movies - which I didn't want.

The way I've recorded my TV shows over the years has varied. Some were recorded using WMC TV Recording feature. Others were recorded in different ways resulting in different file formats - all of which I have been able to play before in WMC and now find that I can still play them using Power DVD directly. These formats include: .iso, .mp4, .wmv, .ts, .wtv, and .avi.

So I am wondering what "TV Web Service ID" is (I think it's associated with recorded steaming TV shows but I'm not sure - never heard of it before).

Is there anything I can do to get my TV shows added to CMC so they can be organized and viewed as a separate media type?

Thanks, Pete
(sorry for my long posts)

[Pauven]

Hey Pete, and Happy New Year!

1) Force Close PowerDVD doesn't help close PowerDVD when you're done playing a movie - you still have to use the ATL+F4 command or Close Programs MCE Remote button to do that. Rather, this feature only runs at CMC program startup - when you launch CMC. This has a couple benefits: One, when you close the main PowerDVD app, it leaves behind a half dozen helper processes that, in my opinion, just muck up the works. My Force Close finds all of these and closes them too, every time you start CMC. Second, if you launch CMC while it is already running, it starts a 2nd copy of CMC, which recognizes that it is already running, performs the Force Close PowerDVD routine, changes focus back to the original copy of CMC that is running, and then closes itself (the 2nd copy). The ultimate goal here was to let you re-launch CMC while PowerDVD was running, and the end result would have been PowerDVD would be closed and CMC would have focus again. Unfortunately, PowerDVD is a rude app, and prevents other programs from seeing button presses while it is running - so pressing the Launch CMC button does nothing while PowerDVD is running.

It also closes out other players too, like VLC, MPC, etc. I've renamed this in v2.1 to "Force Close External Players" to better reflect this.

2) I've been thinking about adding some additional window modes for CMC just for the Music Library, as you describe. One would be a small player, and it would allow you to minimize it to the taskbar. No promises on this one, though, as if it breaks how well CMC works in full-screen mode, then it's not gonna happen. An alternative might be that I can add a lights-out mode, which would completely black out the screen. Thoughts?

3) I would be willing to allows the screensaver to be disabled only if replaced by a full screen blackout (#2 above). With the prevalence of Plasma and especially now OLED screens that suffer from screen burn-in, I'm just not willing to be sued for screen replacements because my app ran for hours on end with the same image and now the screen is ruined. I've actually got some screen burn in on my fairly new LCD office monitor due to the Windows 10 Start Menu icon. On Windows 10, that icon is always white, and the taskbar is almost always dark. I think Microsoft owes me a new monitor...

4) TV Series are something special in My Movies - it is a special relationship between Discs (DVD/Blu-ray), TV Series Name, Seasons, and Episodes. While your recordings are TV Shows, they are not configured as My Movies TV Series, which are treated very specially in CMC. Instead of TV Series, you can try Music or Documentary in My Movies, as CMC doesn't do anything special with those. If that doesn't work well for you, we can look into some other options (all of which would require code changes).

Hope that helps,
Paul

[pks]

Paul,

1) Understood. Thanks.
2) A lights out mode or such option would be good.
3) A full screen black out would be good.
Liability shouldn't need to be a concern if you include a warning in your user agreement. I think over 100,000,000 apps in the world do not flip over to a screen saver. If I left Microsoft Excel on continually for 6 months, I'd get screen burn but Microsoft would certainly never accept liability.
4) I'll recode my TV shows as documentaries. That will work.
Thanks, Pete

[Pauven]

Hey Pete,

Even though v2.1 had already reached Release Candidate, I decided to go ahead and add to it the option to 'Fade to Black'. It seems to be working well. That should take care of both #2 and #3.

Paul