Meedio - Anyone Look at this Program

[Richard_P_Harvey]

What a piece of crap that is compared to Xlobby. And they sell it for $59. It does look like it's more "finished" than Steve has Xlobby right now however.

Steven if you're out there, it would be great if you could stop looking to add "everything" into Xlobby and get a solid, stable and good looking base application. Just my opinion however.....!

Once upon a time I suggested Xlobby to lots of people but now it's far too fragmented (load this, add this, patch this etc.) that unless you're a geek like most of us here you have no chance at getting Xlobby set up and working.

Really Steven if you could just create a solid base code and maybe use the add-in approach for all the extras it would be better.

[dalanik]

Well, Meedio is not a bad product IMHO. It's just aimed at different group of people. IMHO, meedio is for beginners that don't know much about PCs and are not willing to invest time in setting up their HTPC.

Ant then there's the price... I guess If I was from the states or western europe and wanted meedio, 50-60 bucks wouldn;t be a problem. Being from the CZE, where 60$ has different value I have no choice but to go with alternative (free) program...

not to mention that I think XLobby is much, much better for advanced user

But I agree on point of making XLobby more stable... this was discussed some time ago, but I guess there r so many things people want implemented that it's no easy task to have 100% stable core...

D.

[lar282]

I agree with Richard
--get a solid, stable and good looking base application. Just my opinion however.....!


don't forget that meedio has internal player and that makes alot of diff for some people. so much easier to set up then. But xlobby is better in my eyes. I actually went over to meedio for 4 weeks but came back again.


//Lasse

[Naylia]

I have been looking to add a tv tuner to my htpc so I had thought about maybe switching to meedio in hopes that the meediotv would arrive shortly and be a good all in one package. So I started reading the forums over there and people have just as much if not more trouble configuring it than I have had with xlobby. And on top of that they want 100 bucks for housebot so that I can use my pocketpc with it. Craziness. I think I'll just get sage or beyond integrated with xlobby when i get my pvr card. Seems like a more reliable setup.

[stevenhanna6]

stop looking to add "everything" into Xlobby and get a solid, stable and good looking base application

I agree, thats why I'm not going to touch pvr stuff. But I've been really trying to fix alot of bugs lately and I am moving in the direction of a new major release with a new basic skin to get people going right away.

As far as meedio and all the other apps out there, people just try whats out there and pick what they like.

[Cooch]

I agree that xlobby needs a solid, stable base application to really take off but...

I think the xnet stuff is extremely important. Unless I am missing something the only other front-end that does xnet type stuff is mainlobby. I won't bash mainlobby but lets just say $100 plus for some graphics files not to mention the cost of the app make it a little less than desirable.

I dream of the day I can control the audio on any pc in my house without running wires to use single pc multizone. I really get delirious when I think of the possibility of starting a DVD for the kids in the living room while I watch a DVD in the theater all from the same tablet without leaving my seat.

This IMHO would set xlobby way apart from the competition.

[Cosworth]

"A stable base" has been missing for a long time now. A little polish wouldn't hurt either - so let's get rid of the "Not working yet" & "Not finished" sections of Xlobby.
Last thing: getting a release plan going where each point release is "transparent" for everyone is preferable to "the latest version" approach where you are never really sure what changes from one day to the next.

[Richard_P_Harvey]

Steven,

Great to see that you agree with this in concept. I think "solid base code" really means two things to me.

1. The application needs to work plain and simple, mostly bug free and something the somewhat tnone experienced user can install and use right out of the box. In this same area comes simplicity of installation. Once upon a time you used an "msi" package, you should go back to that approach because for most people it's someting they are comfortable with. If issue pop up after release use the patch method to fix them, for example if the weather plugin should stop to work for some reason provide a patch to fix the problems.

2. The second area is the overall look and feel of the basic skin. Most of use that have been around here a some time are comfortable in the skin editor but the average user may never look there and if the basic skin looks clean and is functional they will be happy. Some examples are as follows:

Buttons that are uniform in size
Lables that fit the buttons and are in the right place
Rows or columns are aligned
Navigation and Transport buttons are common screen to screen
Interscreen navigation based on real usage patterns

We who do edits know how time consumming this can be but if the base skin is real clean there will be little to do for most people. I would be happy to help you clean up the base skin.

As always just my 2 cents....! But I still feel that Xlobby is significantly better than anything else out there.

[Aaron]

Hi all...

You all talk about stability but for me, I've seen decent stability. There are a few quirks but nothing major. Though I must admit, I do not use it on a daily basis YET!

Once XL will integrate into Homeseer, XL will be my daily remote!
*if you could see me I'm basically drooling at this point just thinking about it!


I know Steven has done a SUPERB job on this app. And I'm sure it will only get better.
I also want to give MANY THANKS to the great skinners that are here. Without them XL would be cool but not nearly as user friendly and cool ti use and look at!

[gamejester]

I also find xlobby very stable.
I have it running 24/7 with no issues.
The way things are at the moment suits my needs perfectly, Steven is very responsive to bug fixes and feature changes. Everything else out there is too basic.

I believe Steven should continue developing Xlobby as a pseudo development platform and not worry about a dumbed down newbie version. As far as messy areas are concerned, there is no reason for a regular user to go digging around in setup or designer if they had a simple skin that for filled their needs.

However (before I get flamed) I believe the newbie user could get up and running by installing one of the excellent skins created by the skin engineers. I will shortly be releasing a new skin XiVo, but am holding off until I have finished the support docs and install prog for it. I then plan for a newbie to install Steven's xlobby and then run my set up which will gather their environment setup requirements and pre-configure the skin for them. I am still working out a few kinks making my skin 100% generic, but this is very do-able.

In short, let Steven do the hard (and useful) work developing the core, and leave the config and user assistance to us.

Time is a finite commodity, and Stevens is precious to us all!

[kolemieux]

He's been promising PVR stuff for 3 years and counting guys..... Not gonna happen. Even if it does won't touch BTV, Sage, and the others.

Have u tried to Skin Modify with Meedio - if u r a PHd maybe..... No way guys..... No way.

Steven - what you have here is something VERY VERY Special. I will be donating ASAP and have been delayed in doing this. I think using XLobby in conjunction with BTV give me perfecto results.

Xlobby is the SUPERIOR platform for HTPC construction. The skinning and everything you've done is MASTERFUL.....

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

stop looking to add "everything" into Xlobby and get a solid, stable and good looking base application

I agree, thats why I'm not going to touch pvr stuff. But I've been really trying to fix alot of bugs lately and I am moving in the direction of a new major release with a new basic skin to get people going right away.

As far as meedio and all the other apps out there, people just try whats out there and pick what they like.

[Vince_B]

And on top of that they want 100 bucks for housebot so that I can use my pocketpc with it.

Even then Meedio does not have real PPC support. I have been watching Meedio thinking it's going to be so great, etc. Their PPC support is you steering the main interface on your main display with your PPC.

Over there they are so wrapped up in PVR they can't see the forest. Maybe it's just me but the media I have collected (and not off the tv) is far more important to me than recording alot of shows and managing them. Making the system easier to use and comprehensive without tv support is by far the first priority. PVR is so complex I agree with the above comment to use the best third party tv app and go on with life. IMO they'll never get past the PVR part if they make it good. Heck, they bought housebot and are selling it, so they didn't write that either. If I'm jaded here it's because I asked about the PPC thing months ago and the response was something like 'oh, yeah, that'll all be there' and it's not. So glad I haven't made an investment yet.

Anyway, I'd like to second all the great comments, XL and skins is fabulous and will be even more so when I figure it out. I agree with the packaging ideas more or less, definitely Xnet/PPC is super important, context help in the setup would be good, but for me it's really about Xnet and zoned media. (Also more IR support if possible, comprehensive zoned IR blaster support like Xantech would help tie the pc in other rooms to the audio, satellite, etc in those rooms where applicable) Getting access to media in an easy way makes this whole thing more fun and more useable for others. I am over steering around my display with the remote. I'm stunned that Meedio is missing this, and also agree that it's more confusing not less to setup, esp the media paths etc, which are way too confurable. You don't need all that and XL is proof.