MediaEngine's future, are you part of it?

CarComp · 02-14-2007, 12:07 AM

I'd like to do a major overhaul on MediaEngine but my car engine blew up so now I have to replace that. MediaEngine is still on my mind, but I can't help thinking that its getting a little outdated. It does run well, but theres a lot of things that could use improvement, and it seems that the users move on to the next pretty graphic and cool thing. I personally can't keep up with the changing technology (new programming languages, directx, Vista, etc)/

I'd like some input on this. I'd like to involve some fresh talent on the mediaengine team, but usually all I get are people who want the source so they can make one little change and aren't really into the whole "making something for the world to enjoy" thing that got me interested in starting this project. Theres also people out there who i'd go through the whole interview process, only to give them the source and they could care less afterwards.

People like phat_b, Jy, and ABCD (and countless others i've worked with in the mp3car world since 1998) are few and far between. If you are ever lucky enough to work with someone like this, don't take it for granted. The experience is incredible.

As for the future of MediaEngine, I don't know. I'm not quitting on it at all, but i'm not really getting anything back out of it. We do a lot of fixes for individual users, but the majority of the users have no trouble with it, and we never hear from you. I suppose thats how things work in life.

Back in the day, there were only a few choices for car software. There was Cobra2 and 3, Magnetik's AutoPlay, and MediaEngine. Users had to pick and we were pretty much the de-facto standard. Life was good, and the users were computer geeks who knew exactly what parts of the program needed debugged and we talked daily on IRC b/c of my circumstances. These days, I get a few minutes now and then and its kinda hard to support thousands of people.

Phat_b does a remarkable job of helping out with support, and I do believe he is still actively coding on the project now and then.

If anyone is interested in being part of the mediaengine team, and has good coding skills in visual basic 6.0, please contact me. I'd like to still see some new work being done on the project, and I feel it needs a fresh set of eyes to pore over the work that has been done. I'd like to find someone with a passion for writing good stable software, and has an emphasis on designing something to share with others.

tmar89 · 02-15-2007, 08:44 AM

I would love to help out but I am just swamped with work and would not have enough time to dedicate to the coding. As it is, I work on plugins for an HTPC program and I can hardly get them out. However, I wouldn't mind being a Q/A member.

Maddominican · 02-16-2007, 08:41 PM

CarComp.... I have RR and MediaEngine on my CarPC and I see myself running ME more often than the other, mostly because there's no WinAmp to deal with and I love the featrure that allows me to 'EMBED' Street Atlas 200? within the frontend itself, not like others that only run it on-top; still having control of SA0? AND MediaEngine.

A feature I've been waiting for is the ability to FF-RW video/music to just a specific part so I don't have to play the whole thing again to see/hear that snippet. Also, a bigger clock-calendar would be welcome (Make mine red and put some fries and ketchup on it!) The wasted space at the bottom of the GPS app could be displaying this info also (date/time) in short format.

Thanks and keep it up!

jazz13 · 02-18-2007, 11:13 PM

First off, I love MediaEngine and I've been using it since day one of deciding to do my car-pc. I've tried just about all others, and prefer ME because IT JUST WORKS.

Now that the butt kissing is out of the way, there's some stuff that needs to be said. You mentioned that you can't keep up with changing technology and I think this is going to be the big problem with ME. At the moment, the best thing ME has going for it is that it does just work and works well. Users may be crying out for some animated menus and all the 'pretty' stuff but really, you're not going to pull this off to a decent enough standard without using DirectX, OpenGL, SDL, or something like that. All of which are going to be a pain in the rear end to use from VB6, if it's even possible at all.

I think ME's future can take either two paths.

a) Look at what you've got in the way of skills and resources and from that try and figure out what you can do next with ME.

or b) Decide what you want ME to do and from that figure out what skillz and resources you need to pull it off.

Personally, I've always been an "option b" kinda guy and in my infinitely humble opinion, ME isn't going to be anything more than "the one I use because it just works" (which is far from a bad thing) unless you guys think about taking the same path. I guess it comes down to what you guys want to see ME become or if you're happy with where it stands in the mp3car community today.

Personally, I love ME and will only ever think about replacing it if I ever find something better which, to date, nothing has come close.

pRoFiT · 02-24-2007, 01:11 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Maddominican

A feature I've been waiting for is the ability to FF-RW video/music to just a specific part so I don't have to play the whole thing again to see/hear that snippet. Also, a bigger clock-calendar would be welcome (Make mine red and put some fries and ketchup on it!) The wasted space at the bottom of the GPS app could be displaying this info also (date/time) in short format.

Thanks and keep it up!

Strange, when i held done forward or reverse the song playing would fast forward or rewind. If i clicked it it would go to the next song. Is this what your talking about or did i misunderstand. Ive been know to do that lately.

What i think would be nice, would be to select menu from a dvd so you can skip all the intro trailers. I had to keep clicking forward to get to the main menu

tmar89 · 02-25-2007, 12:09 AM

CarComp, do you have ideas of what you want to do with the program and a timetable of what you want done?

Maddominican · 02-25-2007, 02:15 PM

I know 'bout that feature, I'm talking about a trackbar or something similar to just jump to a specific part of the audio/video by just doing 1 click.

Thanx.

jazz13 · 02-25-2007, 11:22 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Maddominican

I know 'bout that feature, I'm talking about a trackbar or something similar to just jump to a specific part of the audio/video by just doing 1 click.

Thanx.

A position slider. I think that would be handy to have as well.

sebberry · 03-05-2007, 12:59 AM

All I want to see is IG3 being embedded properly. I like Media Engine because unlike most of the others, it is simple and uncluttered. I don't need phone, apps, movies or any other useless crap. If I want to watch a movie, I will do so at home or on my laptop with a screen twice as big as my carputer screen. I don't need to launch apps, browse the web or watch videos while I am driving.

The only think I would like to see is maybe the addition of Sirius sat radio and maybe a better skin editor, but other than that, I like it - except the IG3 thing.

valve90210 · 03-26-2007, 10:29 AM

Personally I use Media Engine as my front end for my mp3 computer. I have tried all sorts of other front ends but none of them are as simple to use as ME and have all seemed over cluttered.

I've had very few problems with ME (apart from one text search problem I'm currently experiencing) and have foudn it to be a great piece of software.

I would love to be able to help with the coding etc but have never done anything such like and would really be of very little help sadly.

I am hoping in the very near future to begin making a skin for ME and hope that depending on how much free time I have I might be able to make more.

I really appreicate the hard work that has gone into the software and am very glad I stumbled upon 3 or 4 years ago cos It's great!!!

Valve

ThunderStick · 03-26-2007, 10:57 AM

I have been using Media Engine for years, infact I have donated a few skins over the past few years, and have seen this develope from the early really beta stages. It has come a long way and I hope to keep seeing it grow.
Here is a link to one of my earliest skins I have done.
Media Engine - Software for Car Computer Systems
Thanks for the efforts,
We enjoy it

ccsnet · 03-26-2007, 11:21 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by ThunderStick

I have been using Media Engine for years, infact I have donated a few skins over the past few years, and have seen this develope from the early really beta stages. It has come a long way and I hope to keep seeing it grow.
Here is a link to one of my earliest skins I have done.
Media Engine - Software for Car Computer Systems
Thanks for the efforts,
We enjoy it

Same here... "Contrast" for any one whos wondering.

In its day it was number one and the fact its still in use today proves how good it is.

Terran

scott011422 · 03-26-2007, 11:26 AM

I personally love it. I chose it for its simpleness. Its just so easy to use! I don't have to worry about other people using it. When I started my project, I didn't want to build something that only I could use. I wanted someone to use my truck and have very little if any learning curve. Media Engine fits that bill wonderfully. I recently added an XM PCR and that works great too! I really couldn't be happier. If I had any complaint, it would be lack of ability to change the way a song displays. I'd like it to only display the Song title, Not the artist album title crap. On some cds, the screen is compleatly taken up by the artist and album name. I have to select each song so I can see the name on the top. But I can live with it. [But It would be nice!

] I am confused on Sebberry's comment. I'm running IGv3 and have no problems whatsoever. All and all, Great Front End!!

tmar89 · 03-27-2007, 10:57 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by scott011422

If I had any complaint, it would be lack of ability to change the way a song displays. I'd like it to only display the Song title, Not the artist album title crap. On some cds, the screen is compleatly taken up by the artist and album name. I have to select each song so I can see the name on the top.

I agree. There should be a way to customize your display. I for one never liked having the track numbers on the left side of the list because it took up much needed real-estate.

valve90210 · 03-28-2007, 07:30 AM

Having now had a brief play with the skin maker, I would very much like this to be more functional.

I think the current systems is ok (though has annoying ghosting of buttons and a refresh problem) but it would be lovely if the skinner could have full control over where thigns were placed, eg the clock, the text displays on the playing screen etc as this would allow people to be really really creative with their skins etc.

I'd also love to see various elements done in a sort od modular way, withthe option of turning off modules you don't want. For example, I use ME as the front end of my music computer, and would love the option to be able to turn off some of the modules (GPS, Ext Apps, Radio) as they are never going to be used and it'd be nice to be able to remove them from the menus etc. At the moment my best option is to create my own skin which doesn't include buttons for these.

Having had a play over the last few days with several other Front ends for media computers, I have to say Media Engine is still my favourite, in particular in terms of music playback. The other pieces of software, have been very interesting to see, and some have been very nice, but they all seem rather over complicated and are trying to achieve too much. Mainly I guess because they have been really for dedicated HTPC's rather than Carputers.

One thing I did notice while looking at these other front ends, is that some of them look very much more polished and professional in their default themes/skins.

Valve

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