Poll: Freevo 1 improvements

configuration:
File locations and messages must agree, if users are to make sense of messages. This is especially true or setup, config and other user options. Different distributions seem to have taken liberties with this probably moving file and not changing messages that refer to them.

I like Freevo a lot and use it mostly for playing video on my Apple TV (running Linux). The only complaint I have is that the configuration is a nightmare. If possible, provide some kind of tool that lets you answer questions and write a configuration file based on the answers. It would make it easier for people who are not python developers.

It seems that I did not read it that good, so I did it the opposite:

ok=ok
Blank= not ok

So in the end I am pretty satisfied with freevo !

Pictures:
Very slow entering when entering a large directory of pictures because of cache building. Could caches be built/updated offline, e.g. with a cron job?)

I am OK with editing configuration files, but would like some more in-depth documentation (e.g. on creation of events and actions)

Video = OK

Music needs better playlists. I have all my music organized in directories, so can basically only play one directory at a time. I would like playlists based on tags (e.g. play anything from 2005, play any classic song, play any song randomly, ...) WITH directory recursion.

Pictures: I couldn't get a rss slideshow with about 2000 pictures in it to work (10 pictures from one directory work). Freevo just stalls. Is it possible to show an rss 'shuffled' ?

If you have performance problems you may want to give python-psyco a chance, it's kind of a just in time compiler, and makes freevo a little bit more faster.

Have a look at it here:

psyco.sf.net

4. Watching TV w/ TVtime does not work in Europe. TVtime via Freevo keeps changing to 'channellist US' or NTSC. Dunno which exactly it was, but TVtime don't work. Pity, since TVTime has that beautiful immaculate EPG on screen!

5. Keep up the good work! I LOVE Freevo.

3. Personally I am disappointed that the lyrics plugin does not work anymore, but that is NOT the fault of Freevo off course, since it was an internet service from Amazon if I'm not mistaken.

Indeed Freevo tells me on the command line what variable names heve changed since my settings file version (= 2.1), but that is not very clear to read. The Wiki, however, IS clear in its lay-out and easy to read and the first place people start to look on how to custumize their config.py files. I think Freevo would greatly benefitof a rigorous update of the Wiki/Documentaion!

2. I realy like Freevo: its setup ain't exactly "a piece of cake" but once you have a good /etc/freevo/local_conf.py then upgrading is quite easy.
But, the fact that a lot of info (that is: the local_conf.py syntax is of variables and settings) on the Info/Wiki page is for the old version of local_conf.py. Since I am not the one that changed the variable names, I do not feel that I should be the one to change that in the Wiki.

Some constructive feedback:

1. It seems that the items I checked here are green (= "OK") and the ones I didn't became red (= need improvement). I was under the impression that it should be the other way around...

The music player is far too limited, especially if you have plenty of mp3...

As Doug said, a jukebox functionnality with the ability to queue up song would be nice. It would good to be able to save playlist and give them a name (not the auto naming that currently exists).

continuing from previous comment:
the gui is too static. i mean, i don´t want too much bling-bling, but it looks more like a browser than a media center.
vlad

huh, i missed smth. my entries should be reverted.
listening to music is a real pain. only the directory browsing works, but that is really annying if one has a big music collection. configuration is really easy. i only started using freevo because it was the only media center app which worked 3/4 out-of-the-box. vidoe viewing is ok, but i also have some troubles with dvd-isos. however this is not so bad.

(continuation from previous post)

4. Picture viewing is painfully slow. I can't use it at all. I believe this is because of the imaging library. This might be already fixed in later versions.

9. Configuration
It would be nice to have a nice configuration utility that would allow less technically inclined people to configure and use freevo but I personally don't mind having to go in and modify config files.

(continuation from previous post)

2. Video viewing

Collapsing of files with the same name and numerically incresing suffixes (e.g. video_1.mpg, video_2.mpg, etc) does not always work.

It would be nice to be able to see on the screen how much time has passed/is left of a given movie/clip.

6. Weather
I installed the weather plugin and after a while it stopped working.

8. GUI Interface (continuation from previous post)

That's a nice feature but I would rather prefer to be able to browse through directories quickly rather than to have to wait for minutes when entering a directory with a large number of files.

A good workaround would be to have a configuration option that would allow turning off caching/metadata gathering. One day I might just go in and add it myself ;-) ...

What's up with these comments ? Cannot enter more than 512 characters ... awesome !!!

Note: I am using Freevo 1.5.3 and some of the items might have been fixed by now.

I will list the items in order of severity.


8. GUI interface/10. Performance

This is the biggest complaint I have. Freevo uses some caching and it likes to take a look at the file's metadata (i.e. length of play, etc) before entering a directory.

This poll is weird :(
i entered no data...

hmm

i have a new poll idea
next time please make an easier poll :)

thanks

Better interface for music listening, something like vista MCE

Tv: Since some releases, manual tv recordings
losed an intuitive way to stop/cancel recording

Gui: I still haven't seen the new way to
select items, mockups were colourful

Weather: still not working here, maybe
cause I live in Europe (sigh)

was not in the poll but also:

sensors : still new sensor idlebar plugin
is somewhat incompatible with my system (sensors compiled as builtin and
not module? some old/deprecated option
missing in my kernel?)

There is one big point missing in the poll: 11. Documentation ! I think dokumentation should be much better. Especially for new versions. Not every freevo beginner can look through .py-files and read program behavior and configuration options. I had some trouble getting all functions running with lirc because events had no global names. And i did not find a complete event list or an explanation how they work (name scheme, etc.).

I would love to see a freevo frontend to mpd, but a general improvement of playlists in both music and video would suffice.
And a configuration cleanup would be nice. Perhaps modulize it, and make freevo.conf include various module confs would help for readability and easyer gui/webUI implementation

problem using ubuntu 7.10 and synaptic package , work fine with SVN 1.7.8.
too complex configuration for TVGUIDE.
too complex configuration for MAME.
easy configuration with LIRC ( nice work! )

My take?
Configuration! A .d directory with one file per plugin, more doc on all the xml around (playlists) and pre-generation of fxds by the GUI.
A better slide/picture viewer would be nice.

jhkhkj

quote
"You just need to click the boxes for the areas that you think need improving or none it everything is okay."
when I click it it says 'ok'

nevermind - GUI needs HUGE improvement - if it is gonna compete with Windows Media Center - as I choose not to install / check and deny even to consider - Freevo needs a fancy interface with nice animation, fade in / out etc...

I might be great to create an interface to create your own skin without having to learn a new programming language. This will also encourage people to contribute with new skins.

TV Guide configuration is a nightmare, it's the one part of Freevo I don't use, because I can never get it to work. Also, the configuration for ATSC HD channel setup and recording needs to be streamlined. Fortunately, with help of fellow Freevo users, I got it to work, but it wasn't easy. Finally, I know it's has more to do with xorg.conf than Freevo, but can it be made easier to setup TV out from a Hauppauge 350 card through the local_conf.py?

Opengl transitions in GUI that work flawlessly ?

Configuration:
I like the flexibility of the textfiles, but the naming is not allways very intuitive/consequent, and it is not allways clear what the default is or which plugin is activated by default... (and must be removed by hand if not desired)

I would like a merge of the two *_conf.py files such that the user sees clear what is set/activated and what not.

Daap client would be great!

I would love jukebox functionality: queue up songs on a playlist that is currently playing the previously selected songs. It could be done by leaving Freevo to manage the play queue and pass songs one by one to the music player.

Especially the TV guide needs some improvements on Performance

While I'm at it... can TV/Video be made detachable like audio. I'm sure most other media centre packages can already do it.

A new option to browse the web on your TV with the remote would be darn nice!

The TV Guide interface needs a huge overhaul

Just wanted to clarify

"Perfomance":

I feel using the GUI is sometimes very slow even with a 2.4Ghz P4. I think the GUI of something comparable to a standalone entertainment device should have no feeling of latency at all.

I'm using Freevo 1.7.3 from ubuntu.geole.info.

"Configuration":

Enabling configuration from the GUI or even the WebUI would rock! I would prefer the GUI though :) And even just making the configuration file more readable would help.

Do comments work?