[james666]

Hey guys,
i followed the developement of xbmc over the last 4-5 years, using different media center devices myself.
I feel we live live in a time, where the new touch devices (tablets, smartphones, hybrid touch devices, etc), and also the connectivity of the devices demands adjustments softwarewise from xbmc. Also with the new win8, and all the new devices presented on IFA in Berlin, its clearly, that touch devices will be the future devices!

Dont get me wrong, I am quite happy how xbmc works with my harmony one. you have a pretty solid user experience. XBMC generally fullfils all my needs when it comes to playing movies and episodes, and presenting it on the big screen.
But i comes short when navigating through my database of 15.000 photos and music files. Its simply not optimal to navigate through this mass of files with a standard remote approach aka left/right/up/down/ok/back...

So... because i want xbmc to continue to be the leader in home theater entertainment, i think they have to concentrate waaay more on supporting touch devices and voice command api´s, to enhance use experience in a more natural way.

I know there are skins which are focussed on touch, i know there are remotes which support touch controlling your library through you ios or android device. But nothing really feels snappy or integrated enough. It does not feel as "one" system, but more like one system controlling another system (which is like it is, but not like what it should feel).
It simply does not feel natural enough. I also did not see any voice controlling app/tool which allows me to play a playlist or play certain song, show me a picture or start a movie yet.
I would like to swipe left and right through my librarys, filter for genres with a fingertip. But not just on my xbmc on the ipad, but on the big screen in my living room THROUGH my touch device. I want to be able to keep my eyes on my main device, not on the remote.
I like to swipe through photos the way it feels on my ipad, again but on my TV without delay or a "stream" happening.
Have you seen those impressive videos of presenting fotos on a galaxy s3? Image how it would feel and look on the big screen

I would like to know from other interested users, if they see the future of xbmc also the way i described, and if you think xbmc developers will adress this issues.

What are your thoughs?



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So basically, why should browsing photos on my xbmc 50" screen not look like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-6mWKpe_YU (or similar), with me controlling xbmc without actually looking at my remote, just per touch.

For Videos it could look similar to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdnoamQCkyE (video from 2009,... so lets pretend it would be smooth, does not have to be a "wall" could also be 2-dimensional and more like itunes coverflow...
in fact i can´t find a video which shows better what I have in mind :| but at least at should give an idea...

[Swifty]

I'm sure there will be more touch skins and features (maybe gestures etc) in time.. especially now that android can run xbmc.

But for the moment, you do know there are other alternatives when searching library? - eg. CH -/+ will PAGE up and down for most remotes.
Also, on my MCE remote at least, I can use the numerical buttons to jump to letters (much like text messaging worked on old phones - ie. press '1' for A, press it twice for B etc.. it works great to quickly jump to a certain area of the library list.

[james666]

Yes I know about those alternatives mostly, but even though when I use those,... Sliding through photos, pinch and zooming, or doing multi touch gestures on an ipad feels so much better, natural and instintive, that I wish to have that experience at the big screen too! =)

[natethomas]

Setup Android or iOS remote control. Boom, instant big screen touch interface.

[james666]

So i think you talking about this app here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nshdFqJdEY

The thing is, i do not see any difference from the user experience point of view when I compare this to controling my xbmc with my harmony one remote.
There are just buttons displayed on a small remote, exactly what i do not mean by a natural way controlling xbmc...The harmony might even be the better option here, since i can feel the buttons, and dont have to look at them.

It should be more intuitive: I should not need to take a look on my remote(Tablet/phone) why can´t I just swipe left/right, tap one finger, tap two finger(back).
When watching photos, why is there not pinch to zoom/doubletab, swipe right fo next picture?

I am saying: The current approach of controlling an xbmc is the wrong one!

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Also i may add: The different viewmodes on the big screen are totally not optimized to be controlled by a touch interface. Yes this is just the skin, but i do not see many skins optimized for that purpose, and I actually have no clue why this is the case...

[Martijn]

when you say controlling xbmc currently is wrong you actually mean you are doing it wrong.
sure there can be some improvements but that doesn't mean it's wrong now.

the ios/android remotes can do way way more thn just displaying some buttons.

[james666]

As far as i know, they can´t do...
1) Pinch & zoom in photo galleries
2) Browse through movies&episodes with swiping my finger on the touch interface left/right - up/down (same for photos)
3) Recognize 2-finger tip, 3 finger tip
4) Recognize multi finger movement(gestures)

What i wanna say is: You cannot controll your xbmc comfortable with an touch interface without looking on your remote device frequently.

Is any of the mentioned 1-4 possible?

[RandomNinjaAtk]

The interface is designed first for the TV, which is meant to be used by a remote control. Martijn is right that the Remote apps do a lot more, like browsing the library and choosing the video, which is far more then just arrows on the screen. As the andriod version does come out for phones and with the new release of Win8. I'm sure we'll see better skins in the future that are more touchscreen friendly.

[james666]

Don´t get me wrong NinjaAtk, because thats exactly what I want. I want my media on the big screen, and when i controll it via a remote, i do not want to look on my small phone screen, but keep watching on my big screen while controlling and navigating to my content and media.
The touch interface should just enhance my experience controlling my xbmc.

The bigger screen has my TV - so my eyes should focus on it all the time.
The better controll Interface is my Tablet/Phone (since it allows multitouch controlling) - so thats where my hand is...

I am not sure, if this is just a question of the right skin or the right app...but a combination of all of those, and so I conclude, i should be worked on this issue by the xbmc team itself, and not just by a skin creator.

[RandomNinjaAtk]

I think the gesture control would be more of a result of the Remote control app, no change in XBMC. However I do not see a way use pinch to zoom type of controls because XBMC has no zooming function for photos that I know of... But I don't see why a simple swipe left or right could not execute the left or right arrow button on a remote. But I think that would be up to the app designer..

[natethomas]

As far as i know, they can´t do...
1) Pinch & zoom in photo galleries
2) Browse through movies&episodes with swiping my finger on the touch interface left/right - up/down (same for photos)
3) Recognize 2-finger tip, 3 finger tip
4) Recognize multi finger movement(gestures)

What i wanna say is: You cannot controll your xbmc comfortable with an touch interface without looking on your remote device frequently.

Is any of the mentioned 1-4 possible?

2 is absolutely supported. To my knowledge, 3 and 4 aren't necessary. Can't say about 1, as I don't do much with pictures on those remotes. The video you posted is essentially "doing it wrong." The correct way to use your iphone or android remote is by browsing the library that's fully displayed within the remote, and then selecting from the library that you view in your remote. That selection is then presented on the screen. There's really no reason to do multi-touch for the same reason you can't do multi-touch on the iphone music player. It's pointless. You're just navigating a series of menus.

[natethomas]

In fact, let me put together a video later today and show you the FULL POWER of the iOS remote.

[james666]

So basically, why should browsing photos on my xbmc 50" screen not look like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-6mWKpe_YU (or similar)

For Videos it could look similar to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdnoamQCkyE (video from 2009,... so lets pretend it would be smooth, does not have to be a "wall" could also be 2-dimensional and more like itunes coverflow...
in fact i can´t find a video which shows better what I have in mind :| but at least it should give an idea...
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I will put this text & videos above in the first post as well, so that there is some eyecandy at the first posting ;D

[natethomas]

Half the available skins today already do a wall of videos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW46lLh4m_s

[james666]

I totally feel no one shares my visions

Its about the usability/controlling of such a touch optimized view, not about the view itself. There will be millions of future win8 tablet users (surface,hybrids and more), then there are the other millions of android users and of course all ios users. And right now noone is able or will be able to controll their tv xbmc media center by touch the way i described.

Every touch remote has the approach to show the content and navigationbars/buttons on the touch device itself, which i find very suboptimal, and noone seems to bother.

In my mind the first person who successfully combines a touch friendly skin for the big screen and a cross platform remote app, which lets you controll your xbmc setup the way i described before, will produce the most successfull xbmc skin/app of all time...