The future of Mediaengine

**Kamakazie2** · 08-01-2005, 11:05 PM

Here are a few changes i would love to see in Mediaengine that i think would really finish it nicely.

We all have given up on the dlink radio so i think we need to look into developing an interface that works with the Radioshark. (Start Flaming here)
Anyway its not a great radio but if you hack it up its really not that bad. the fact that it provides audio over the usb cable is convienent.

As far as Gps is concerned, all we need to add there is a very small scrolling title bar showing what is playing.

Lets not forget Sirrius Sat radio possibilities..

AND PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE FIND A WAY TO MAKE THE EXIT/CLOSE BUTTON LARGER

Overall Mediaengine is the best looking program out there. I really appreciate all the hard work the ME staff has done.

**WiCKeD 5.9L** · 08-01-2005, 11:23 PM

I have never heard any definitive conclusion on the Radiosark. Every post I have read roughly averages into "D-Link sucks, try the Radiosark!" The next post is always, "Well how is the Radiosark?" ...and that is always left unanswered. I get the feeling they both suck, but are decent if you hack them into the stock antenna. It would be nice to have them both supported, because I would like to give them both a shot.

I agree, ME seems to be the best engine out there.

Love that it uses Winamp, because you can use the gnarly ASIO/24-bit internal plugins.

The only issue I have with it is the HOME button needs to be accessible from every page. PITA to pull up the navigation toolbar to jump around. I want to be able to navigate from the front of my frontend, with the nice big buttons. Either that or make it always visible. 1 less button everytime you need to move around. The sliding taskbar effect is cool, but a pain with a touchscreen.

**gerard** · 08-02-2005, 03:19 AM

dont bother, mediaengine = DEAD, very DEAD.

use roadrunner instead, and tell guino youre likings.
he is very active on the board and programm.

**Kamakazie2** · 08-02-2005, 07:22 AM

Originally Posted by gerard

dont bother, mediaengine = DEAD, very DEAD.

use roadrunner instead, and tell guino youre likings.
he is very active on the board and programm.

I wouldnt say that. Phat B and Carcomp have lives also and for a free program they are allowed to put whatever time they wish into it. With the 2nd release recently launched there is no need for any other releases. Unfortunatley ME supports a limited number of hardware devices but those limited number of devices work perfectly. IT meets all of my needs. DVD,DIVX,VIDEOCD, MP3, OGG, FM, GPS embedded, X10 Remote. what else do you possibly use on a regular basis? Hell it even runs my Audi/VW diagnistic software as a 3rd party plugin with no problems.

Most importantly i dont remember the last time ME has ever crashed on my system.

**phat_bastard** · 08-02-2005, 10:31 AM

Thanks for the kind words kamakazie2 - we appreciate it.

We do agree that the d-link is dead. The drivers for it were / are junk in the first place. We've been holding off awaiting the fate of this project USB FM/AM tuner with RDS/RBDS that Seth initiated, but it appears that project has changed directions a few times since we last visited it. I think the next best thing at this point is to integrate support for radiator. This will give us control of a much larger base of tuner hardware, but it probably won't be as cleanly integrated. At the same time, we've never been opposed to adding native support for more devices but we've invested a lot of money in hardware for this project and the reward for us has been slim or none. With that said, if anyone has a device they want supported my suggestion to you would be to first run it past myself and CarComp so we can make sure the drivers and SDK are there. Next, organize a group of supporters (you're welcome to do so in the M/E forum here) and purchase two of whatever it is you want supported, under the premis that we (the developers) get to keep the hardware so we can test against it during revisional progress. We'll do what we can to accomodate your requests in a timely manner, and if for some reason we can't we'll return the hardware to you.

I'll take a look at changing the GPS mini control's display to a scroller. The only drawback to the scroller is that it's a pretty CPU intensive control, so it might not be loved by the miniITX crowd.

As for your request for Sirius support, I'm not aware of anything for Sirius that's equivalent to the XMPCR. I did see a thread mentioning an interface that would make a Sirius receiver emulate the XMPCR, which would be great. If this is something currently available I'd be open to working out a way to borrow the hardware for a few weeks to test and implement.