Beta 7 UI Feedback

[Asmordean]

I think more than a few people, myself included, felt that a few element from SageMC should have become default behavior.

1. Default action for each menu should be configurable via the setup menu.
2. Aspect Ratio menu when watching TV should have the option to edit the aspect ratios. Even better would be the ability to add new ones on the fly. Some HD stations here like to play a movie in SD format so it is only 640 across then the movie is letterboxed on top of that to 16:9. With the option to add or edit while watching I can deal with that.

A nice bonus would non-uniform scaling but I can live without that.
3. Program Guide - Option to disable the information on the top or limit it to a single line to allow for more rows to be visible.

4. Better icons for recording. [M] [F] [O] aren't especially helpful. More so to new users. I understand what they mean but it's not that obvious. I've altered my icons to look like a record button and a record button with a heart. My roommate picked it up immediately what it ment.

5. "Recording Schedule" "Schedule Recording" Reword this to something like: "Scheduled Recordings" and "Upcoming Recordings"

6. (This one is a bit much for a simple UI feedback but I'll put it out there)Search TV airings - Google TV has a nice idea (if they haven't gone and patented it. "Search" should be a menu option. Instead each section should have a search. Say if you are in the TV section and you hit "Info" or some other type of button you get a search box and off you go. No matter if you are looking at your recordings or live TV.

EG: Search for "Transformers"
[Video] Transformers: Faith of the Fallen
[TV Recording] Transformers: Megatron's Master Plan
[Upcoming] Transformers: The Movie

7. Setup
Configuration Wizard really should be only accessible on first install or starting the executable with an option. It occupies the top row and is something that you'll probably only ever do a single time or when you have a hardware change.
Detailed Setup - Call this setup. This is what it is. Detailed is redundant.
Scan Imported Media - This should be a menu option that lives in the Video and Music directories. Not something buried in Setup.
System Information - Unneeded Nerd Joy. The info is useful but stick it in the detailed setup instead.

8. Last one - Auto Thumbnails. Make it grab 30 seconds in or something. Not 3 or 4 seconds like it does now. Nearly all my default thumbnails consist of credits from the previous show. Also maybe have an option to download fanart or something from thetvdb instead of generating a thumbnail.

[tedson]

I actually like every one of those ideas.

[Dingdul]

Originally Posted by tedson

I actually like every one of those ideas.

+1

[PosterBoy]

Hi

I would like to add my feedback to a positive thread

First off, I love SageTV 7 so far, and I bought the upgrade the day it was available and have no regrets. I LOVE the new plugin system. It makes life a ton easier This is from someone who has no qualms about digging in and figuring out the tough stuff. It makes experimenting with different plugins a breeze. I also like the stuff I have heard about the under the hood improvements. I am excited about what the user community will do with all of the new toys (Pluckys video is an awesome indication). I could go on and on here but gushing about details isn't as important as the feedback. Suffice it to say I am very pleased.

As far as the UI goes, I think the improvements are great. It has a much more modern look and feel. I love the fact that hitting enter on the remote or clicking the mouse on it take you straight to the recorded TV. This is where my family and I go 90% of the time.

I used SageMC before and there are really only 3 things in the new UI that I like less than what was in MC:
1) I don't like how many key strokes it takes to resort the shows. I don't have a problem hitting the options key to get to that menu (David G can add that key to his universal remote ). But sort order is what we always change on the recordings list. We go between Newest first and Title A-Z. It is especially difficult that you have to hit the reverse sort order check box when going between the two. I think that newest first should be the non-reversed option. This is my biggest pet peeve with the new UI. Resolving this one would make me very happy.

2) I suspect that the user community will be providing this one, but I really miss the IMDB search under SageMC for movie art and details. It would be nice if this was in the UI by default, but I can understand how Sage could get into hot water with IMDB over it.

3) I don't like how many mouse clicks it takes to exit SaveTV. I think like how some have suggested you should be able to set the default action for enter for each of the main menu items. I also think you should be able to get rid of the are you sure you want to exit SageTV pop-up. I can understand why that might be key on the server, but clients and servers running in service mode dont require it that prompt.

As far as bugs go, I have seen 2 so far:

1) From the All Recordings view, if I click on a movie I want to watch that requires parental locking, the options box comes up as it should. When I click on watch now, the prompt for the parental lock code come up but it sort of fights for focus with the options dialog box. I can still enter the parental lock code OK but if I was prone to seizures, this might be an issue

2) I am having some sort of problem with my HDHR where it can seem to tune into certain channels. I can see them under the HDHR quick view, and when I try to preview them, Sage tells me it is getting plenty of signal, but the preview image never comes up, and any recordings attempts on those channels generates error message in the log and results in no recording. I am going to look into this a bit tonight and see if I can fix it by re-scanning the channels.

Where should SageTV go from here? Yeah I know we just got a ton of stuff but since I am typing so much I cant resist... I would like to see some sort of streaming capabilities to mobile devices (Android over Apple please! iBrent aside, I just think Sage appeals more of the Android crowd than the Apple crowd!). I think this would be a huge draw for new customers. After messing with the web apps by Nielm, jreichen and the others, I know most of the pieces are there, but someone just needs to put package them all together.


Thanks again for all of the hard work

Kent

[Thomas Wischgol]

Originally Posted by Asmordean

7. Setup
Scan Imported Media - This should be a menu option that lives in the Video and Music directories. Not something buried in Setup.

I actually like that they moved it out of the video and music sections. It scans both media types at the same time and in v6 it was burried too way down. The way it is now it is much more accessable.

Thomas

[reboot_this]

Originally Posted by Asmordean

4. Better icons for recording. [M] [F] [O] aren't especially helpful. More so to new users. I understand what they mean but it's not that obvious. I've altered my icons to look like a record button and a record button with a heart. My roommate picked it up immediately what it ment.

Care to share your custom icons? I might try those out myself, depends how they show up in the guide though.

Also, what did you use for the "O"?

[briands]

Having been a long time SageMC user, the thing I miss right away is the dynamic menu option. We have gotten so familiar with my custom menu layout that my whole family is digging for the right screens now. Also Home button does not seem to go to HOME screen...

I also notice on several screens (main menu is one) that options brings up the "Video Menu Options". I don't know the use case where you would want to change that on a regular basis (I'm certain there are some), but I don't think I ever change it after it is set up.

Recorded TV flow...The Recording list shows the Show names on the left and the episodes for the highlighted show on the right (I like this - sort of like many of the add ins for sage 6). Then when you select the show, you get a Options popup that you must select "Browse episodes" to get to select one of the episodes that you just saw listed on the main screen.
<edit before post> Just noticed that the right arrow get's the behavior I expect from OK...guess we'll learn... eventually

I would like to see recording date and/or season episode in the listing on the right of the Recordings screen as well as the episode list on the episode screen.

Online Menu item- I prefer weather available from the home screen directly. The Online videos are too deep, but I guess it's a nature of the

Pictures as backgrounds... I don't get it. I see in a lot of the Media devices now that it is common to use these artistic photos for the background, but I think they are a little distracting and will be tiresome as well. My first thought would be it might be better if there were several and they could change every now and then, but that may confuse as you would have to double check that you were on the expected menu. I just prefer a more subdued background graphic with a context sensitive icon. I'm certain this will be easily configurable with the skinning ability. Also - if you are going to have the TV on the beach square to the screen, can you at least put the preview window over the screen

[blade]

Originally Posted by briands

Having been a long time SageMC user, the thing I miss right away is the dynamic menu option. We have gotten so familiar with my custom menu layout that my whole family is digging for the right screens now. Also Home button does not seem to go to HOME screen...

There was a dynamic menu import for the default v6 STV as well. I think pretty much everyone wants this function. If it's not added to the default v7 STV I expect someone will update the v6 import to work with v7. I hope it doesn't take too long though.

Recorded TV flow...The Recording list shows the Show names on the left and the episodes for the highlighted show on the right (I like this - sort of like many of the add ins for sage 6). Then when you select the show, you get a Options popup that you must select "Browse episodes" to get to select one of the episodes that you just saw listed on the main screen.
<edit before post> Just noticed that the right arrow get's the behavior I expect from OK...guess we'll learn... eventually

You can turn the pop-up window off that opens when you select a group of recordings. It's in detailed setup under the advanced section I think.

Online Menu item- I prefer weather available from the home screen directly.

I agree if I have dynamic menus and can remove some of the items from the main menu. It already has more items than I'd like. Really don't want to add more unless I can remove or move something.

[naln]

Any way to customize background images for some of those menu's?
I would like less 'busy' backgrounds or some solid/fade color background rather than the jazzy pictures......did a quick search of the forums and did not stumble on anything for sage7, so just thought wld ask here!

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by naln

Any way to customize background images for some of those menu's?

See Appendix O of the manual. The same theming mechanism still works in V7, except that you should place new themes under STVs\SgaeTV7\Themes instead of STVs\SageTV3\Themes.

[naln]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

See Appendix O of the manual. The same theming mechanism still works in V7, except that you should place new themes under STVs\SgaeTV7\Themes instead of STVs\SageTV3\Themes.

Thanks!