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PDF reader, for reading Ebooks
#46
GJones Wrote:Then by all means, write it yourself. The idea behind feature suggestions is to rally support for something needed, not something wanted by a few people.

Yes, PDF usage is extremely widespread. That has little to do with this request for ebook support. Web browsers are even more widespread, but there is still a lot of discussion to just how useful they are for a 10-foot interface.

If you have a suggestion, you have two options. Be willing to sell someone else (a developer) on the idea of its vast importance or be willing to learn enough to do it yourself.

A number of posters here are assuming incorrectly that we'd ONLY be reading PDF's and eBooks via the TV if such a feature was implemented. Ideally what I'd like is to download eBooks from XBMC and then read them via the XBMC app on a tablet. Often I like to read while listening to music so being able to access and change both all within an XBMC app would be extremely useful. This is especially so if you are using a certain Apple product that can't multitask Wink.

BTW I am new to XBMC and absolutely love it now, it is like a little christmas present to myself and I've had zero problems with it so far. I have been dreaming for years for what I can now do with XBMC, keep up the fantastic work guys!!
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#47
crooksy Wrote:A number of posters here are assuming incorrectly that we'd ONLY be reading PDF's and eBooks via the TV if such a feature was implemented. Ideally what I'd like is to download eBooks from XBMC and then read them via the XBMC app on a tablet. Often I like to read while listening to music so being able to access and change both all within an XBMC app would be extremely useful. This is especially so if you are using a certain Apple product that can't multitask Wink.

BTW I am new to XBMC and absolutely love it now, it is like a little christmas present to myself and I've had zero problems with it so far. I have been dreaming for years for what I can now do with XBMC, keep up the fantastic work guys!!

I get reading PDFs on a tablet or on a computer, but not why this needs to be part of XBMC. XBMC is pretty squarely aimed at a 10-foot interface for TVs.

While I understand your issue, I just can't see why it should be built into XBMC core to help so small a user group. Even if this were implemented, I think it would still have issues with your hardware multitasking (or lack thereof).

For me, I think the use cases on this one fall on the "desktop/tablet on which I run XBMC sometimes" instead of "dedicated XBMC machine." That dedicated XBMC machine litmus test is a pretty good indicator if it should be in core, if you ask me.



On a side note, glad you found it. I can't take any credit for any code in core but am working on a few addons that will be available some day.
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#48
GJones Wrote:I get reading PDFs on a tablet or on a computer, but not why this needs to be part of XBMC. XBMC is pretty squarely aimed at a 10-foot interface for TVs.

While I understand your issue, I just can't see why it should be built into XBMC core to help so small a user group. Even if this were implemented, I think it would still have issues with your hardware multitasking (or lack thereof).

For me, I think the use cases on this one fall on the "desktop/tablet on which I run XBMC sometimes" instead of "dedicated XBMC machine." That dedicated XBMC machine litmus test is a pretty good indicator if it should be in core, if you ask me.

On a side note, glad you found it. I can't take any credit for any code in core but am working on a few addons that will be available some day.

Well I guess it is all down to how you define the term "media centre". To me a media centre is where a user has lots of different media files that are all stored in one location or over multiple sources on a shared network that can be EASILY accessed via multiple access points. Media files as a minimum include music, pictures, videos/movies, TV, radio, podcasts, streamed media, aggregated media (RSS) AND eBooks.

The TV shouldn't be used to dictate this definition as the only or main access point. Instead multiple devices should be allowed to access the same library and the GUI optimised to match the benefits of each device.

This makes the media more accessible to those users who aren't as computer savy as the rest of us because they only have to learn one interface with no fuss.

Which if we are all honest is the holy grail for all of us (especially my wife Smile ) and XBMC is perhaps the closest of all to reaching this goal.
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#49
crooksy Wrote:Well I guess it is all down to how you define the term "media centre". To me a media centre is where a user has lots of different media files that are all stored in one location or over multiple sources on a shared network that can be EASILY accessed via multiple access points. Media files as a minimum include music, pictures, videos/movies, TV, radio, podcasts, streamed media, aggregated media (RSS) AND eBooks.

The TV shouldn't be used to dictate this definition as the only or main access point. Instead multiple devices should be allowed to access the same library and the GUI optimised to match the benefits of each device.

This makes the media more accessible to those users who aren't as computer savy as the rest of us because they only have to learn one interface with no fuss.

Which if we are all honest is the holy grail for all of us (especially my wife Smile ) and XBMC is perhaps the closest of all to reaching this goal.

The ten-foot interface is the accepted usage for XBMC. Though some may use it on a desktop, the design goal is remote-centric for display on a TV or a monitor used in a way consistent with that of a TV.
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#50
PDF is useless on xbmc and tv's, please close thread.
PointOfView Nvidia ION Atom 330 - TRANSCEND 2GB DDR2 DIMM 800MHz - G.SKILL 64GB SSD 2.5
Open Elec Beta4 1.95.4
XBMC Online Manual - HOW-TO post about a problem in a useful manner - Create/View Bug Report
Setup/Fix correct resolution on XBMC/Ubuntu - Usefull linux terminal commands
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#51
GJones Wrote:The ten-foot interface is the accepted usage for XBMC. Though some may use it on a desktop, the design goal is remote-centric for display on a TV or a monitor used in a way consistent with that of a TV.

Not wishing to start an argument, but yes its the accepted primary usage for now but that can easily change and thankfully XBMC is evolving to not rely solely on the TV.

For example I frequently use the iPod Touch XBMC app to select and listen to music via my receiver without having the TV switched on. As more popular devices are added to this list of XBMC compatibility you will find many more uses that go above and beyond your view and how the product was originally intended to be used.

Certainly with the explosion in popularity of tablets these types of feature requests are only set to increase.
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#52
The-Boxhead Wrote:PDF is useless on xbmc and tv's, please close thread.

If you actually read the posts the discussion is not just about reading PDF's and eBooks on TV's (which I agree is pretty useless) but is also about reading them on other XBMC compatile devices such a tablets and laptops.
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#53
Well lets add a word processor, calculator, paint and powerpoint, who knows.. 0,5 % of xbmc's userbase might find it usefull in a 2% situation Wink

this thread belongs in the addons section... at best.
PointOfView Nvidia ION Atom 330 - TRANSCEND 2GB DDR2 DIMM 800MHz - G.SKILL 64GB SSD 2.5
Open Elec Beta4 1.95.4
XBMC Online Manual - HOW-TO post about a problem in a useful manner - Create/View Bug Report
Setup/Fix correct resolution on XBMC/Ubuntu - Usefull linux terminal commands
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#54
The-Boxhead Wrote:Well lets add a word processor, calculator, paint and powerpoint, who knows.. 0,5 % of xbmc's userbase might find it usefull in a 2% situation Wink

this thread belongs in the addons section... at best.

Agreed. Not core functionality.
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#55
agreed it belongs to the addon section, agreed it's not core functionality... but I personally (and with me a lot of other people I think) would love to be able to look at their ebook magazines. So if somebody is able to develop such an addon, people could decide for themselves if they would install this functionality or no. I don't think anybody should complain about such an initiative. Keep this thread open and see whether there are people who like the idea and have the knowledge to develope this addon
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#56
Here's an option to those that want to be able to read their ebooks from XBMC - use the Advanced Launcher addon as I am. Angelscry posted about this a little back using comics, .cbr / .cbz files, but it works just as well with pdf files which is the format I use for storing my e-magazines.

Check out the details here.
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#57
I disagree. Completely.

XBMC is a MEDIA center. And I guarantee you that every magazine and book publisher consider their products to be MEDIA. And while I can't guarantee this, I would bet you a *whole* lot of money that in a very short time, over the next few years you won't be able to buy paper magazines, newspapers or books anymore.

I personally have cancelled all of my paper magazine subscriptions (well, we only got 4 or 5 in our household anyway), and now receive those as digital editions, all perfectly legit right from the publisher's distributors who offer this as an alternative to paper versions. As well as holding all of the content, these are generally interactive with weblinks to additional value added content. Check out a digital interactive edition of National Geographic - you won't go back to paper. Consider it the BluRay version of print media.

Now where would XBMC be if when development was started someone said "Music, that's absurd, who's going to listen to music through their TV?" and stuck with the narrow minded view that Media=Movies and that's it.

To remain current and relevant, XBMC *needs* to evolve with media as it's form dynamically evolves.

That includes digital versions of print media.

I currently have hundreds of eMagazines and eBooks in PDF format, and they are perfectly usable on a TV whether the naysayers in this thread want to believe it or not.

XBMC=MEDIA center; MEDIA=Movies,TV,Music, AND DIGITAL PRINT DOCUMENTS

It would be nice to see some forward thinking of the future and relevance of XBMC's core functionality rather than closed minded opinions that something that a handful of dinosaurs don't think is worthy doesn't belong in the application.

Cheers
The REAL Joe
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#58
To be honest though PDFs and eMagazines in general really don't suit the 10-foot interface HTPCs have. You may say they are perfectly usable but I would hazard to guess you would be in the minority on this one. I know, myself, I would absolutely hate to have to sit and read a magazine, that is designed to be read from a close distance, on the couch. They are more suited toward handheld devices which is why products like the Kindle are doing so well.

Perhaps if XBMC was able to say 'pass' a file to another device like a tablet from the main screen then I would completely agree with you - include magazines in the database. But until that happens, you're best bet is to use something like Advanced Launcher which will do exactly what you're after albeit it's not part of XBMC's core features.

This is sort of the beauty of addons. They allow anypne to expand the feature sets and help cater to these niche kind of user segments.
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#59
Sranshaft Wrote:To be honest though PDFs and eMagazines in general really don't suit the 10-foot interface HTPCs have. You may say they are perfectly usable but I would hazard to guess you would be in the minority on this one. I know, myself, I would absolutely hate to have to sit and read a magazine, that is designed to be read from a close distance, on the couch. They are more suited toward handheld devices which is why products like the Kindle are doing so well.

Again with the naysayer opinion from someone who hasn't even tried it! I'm frankly getting tired of this!

We have repeatedly heard from those who actually HAVE tried reading digital print media on a 10-foot HTPC interface that it IS WELL SUITED.

Could I respectfully ask all of you who haven't actually tried it and who don't intend to to keep their opinions to themselves and refrain from commenting? Especially when your negative opinions are expressed as if they are a matter of fact rather than just a narrow minded singular opinion? It's just not productive. If the feature gets considered by the dev's and added in the future, just be happy to know that you don't have to use it.

Cheers
The REAL Joe
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#60
therealjoeblow Wrote:Again with the naysayer opinion from someone who hasn't even tried it! I'm frankly getting tired of this!

We have repeatedly heard from those who actually HAVE tried reading digital print media on a 10-foot HTPC interface that it IS WELL SUITED.

Could I respectfully ask all of you who haven't actually tried it and who don't intend to to keep their opinions to themselves and refrain from commenting? Especially when your negative opinions are expressed as if they are a matter of fact rather than just a narrow minded singular opinion? It's just not productive. If the feature gets considered by the dev's and added in the future, just be happy to know that you don't have to use it.

Cheers
The REAL Joe

What makes you think I haven't tried it? I have and, in fact, even set up Advanced Launcher to read eComics to test it out. It's a pain in the ass quite frankly and something that is only suited to XBMC running on tablet PCs.

If what you're after is having a quick and easy way of reading your magazines using XBMC I've already suggested using Advanced Launcher. It's the closest you're going to get to seeing something like this in XBMC until a developer agrees with you and actually adds this feature.

On a personal note:

So what you're looking for is a thread full of 'That's an awesome idea! Why didn't I think of it?' comments and if anyone else has an opinion that differs from you, then opinions be damned? What's not productive is being told that just because someone's opinion is negative, that it does not matter. That is the whole point to a discussion. Seeing the positives and negatives of the issue and discussing the reasonings behind those opinions.
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