[In v2.2] New features: play default, no viewed check mark, less top menu, wrap

[breazile]

I just updated to the latest version, and CMC is coming around nicely. I have some feature requests that come to mind after using the app for a while:

1) When you navigate to a movie can you make "Play" the default so you do not have to arrow down to play the movie? Most of the time I want to play a movie, not look at the details, so I'm looking to avoid the extra navigation.
2) It would be nice to have an option to not show the viewed movies icon (green check marks) over the titles. I don't need to keep track of what was viewed, just about everything has been. I sort by add date, so the latest movies are listed first anyway. Having an option to show/hide that would be great
3) I would like a cleaner option when I view titles. I have 3 cover rows selected, and it would be nice if the top menu was completely gone unless I arrow up. Maybe an option for that in the settings, and using more of the bottom of the screen as well. I really only want to show the movies titles, and not a lot of extra stuff when I'm browsing through the movies. The feature could take up the whole screen just with movie titles.
4) Having a wrap-around option when viewing movies would be great. I have a lot of titles, and sort by date added. The first movies are listed near the middle of the screen with a lot of blank space on the left. It would be nice to see the oldest titles to the left, and have the app wrap round when you scroll through the titles.

Thanks

[Pauven]

Hi Jon, thanks for sharing these suggestions.

1) "Play" is the default behavior if you either a) press the "Play" button on your remote control, or b) press the "Play" button your your multi-media keyboard. Also, if I make "OK"/"Enter" do the play action, then how would anyone be able to open the movie details? Hopefully you have a "Play" button at your disposal.

2) That's an interesting idea. I had given some though to making the display of certain icons optional. I'll add this to the list for a future version. I also need to add this icon and a few others to the Skin, so they can be changed (then you could replace it with a blank graphic to turn it off), but I didn't get to that for v2.1.

3) I could certainly make the visibility level of the top icons customizable. You can also go to 4-rows of covers, that hides the top icons and sounds similar to what you are asking, using the entire screen for covers.

4) No promises on this one, but I will look into it. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a reason why this wouldn't work, but the logic for displaying these covers is incredibly complex, so this might be a challenge.

Paul

[breazile]

The intent for #1 was on the movie details page. Once I hit enter to get to the movie details, I was looking to just hit enter to play rather than arrowing down to select play.

[Pauven]

Oh, okay I see.

But I'm not sure I agree that is a good default. When you're hitting OK/Enter from the covers screen, you could accidentally press it twice and launch a movie, which means you then stuck while it's going through the PowerDVD startup sequence and not responding to close commands. Some of us have twitchier fingers than others, and on a bad day I get some extra button presses going.

Having it open to the top menu instead of the Play button is essentially a safety feature. And if you are wanting to reduce keystrokes, then hitting Play from the covers screen reduces 2 button presses, versus the 1 button press reduction you are asking for. Isn't that a better solution?

Sorry, I'm not trying to be difficult, I'm just having a hard time seeing this request as better, all things considered.

Paul

[breazile]

Probably just a habit I have from My Movies. I'll give the play button a shot from the remote. If there is more than 1 disc does it give you a menu, or just play the first one (from the covers page)?

[Pauven]

Pressing "Play" on your remote is the same as selecting "play" from the details screen. It will show the exact same prompts.

The only difference is that, from the covers screen if you press "Play" on a Box Set or TV Series, nothing will happen. This is because you first have to go into a Box Set/TV Series so show the discs to pick from before you can use the "Play" button. This is no different than going to "play" on the details screen, but I didn't like how it felt broken when I discovered this behavior a few weeks ago.

[Pauven]

2) It would be nice to have an option to not show the viewed movies icon (green check marks) over the titles. I don't need to keep track of what was viewed, just about everything has been. I sort by add date, so the latest movies are listed first anyway. Having an option to show/hide that would be great

3) I would like a cleaner option when I view titles. I have 3 cover rows selected, and it would be nice if the top menu was completely gone unless I arrow up. Maybe an option for that in the settings, and using more of the bottom of the screen as well. I really only want to show the movies titles, and not a lot of extra stuff when I'm browsing through the movies. The feature could take up the whole screen just with movie titles.

4) Having a wrap-around option when viewing movies would be great. I have a lot of titles, and sort by date added. The first movies are listed near the middle of the screen with a lot of blank space on the left. It would be nice to see the oldest titles to the left, and have the app wrap round when you scroll through the titles.

2, 3 & 4 have all been added to v2.2. Personally I am enjoying both 3 and 4.

I'm on track to have v2.2 released in May.

Paul