Bruji

I have been looking for a dvd server that provides an easy interface to select and view DVDs. Most solutions Mac and PC provide the same type of interface:

- browse through the list until you get to the DVD you want (DVDpedia and others)
- Go through multiple screens to narrow down the list into the Genre (the rest)

How about an interface the utilizes the framework that DVDpedia already provides. I think that it would be a much more elegant browsing method if the interface was able to:

1. Fit 5 or 6 rows of DVD images
2. Provide a starting screen with at least one DVD cover image from each of the genres in the database
3. After a DVD image is selected all the other DVD covers on the screen will change to match the genre of the selected movie (a nice graphic effect would be cool)
4. Find the movie you want and push play

Example: I highlite Toy Story and all other DVDs on the screen change to show me as many of the other Children's movies as I have in my database.

This is a much more human friendly browsing interface that will quickly allow the selection of a movie in a particular genre (it is the same way we look for movies in blockbuster or books in the bookstore)

Probably needs work, but I think it would be much cooler than menuing your way through your collection to find the movie you want to see...

When I go looking for a movie I typically don't know which movie I want I just know what genre I am in the mood for...

I just got an interactive demo of a Koleidascape (sp?) and it cleanly does what I mentioned above plus a bit more (3 rows of DVDs works very well). Very kool system for someone with 30,000.00 to throw at it.. For the rest of us just having something similar to the interface it uses on top of our homebrewed video servers will do just fine.

Ara Derderian over at HDTV Podcast showed us Kaleidescape as an interface that he envisioned for DVDpedia. He was also kind enough to mention us on his podcast to get us motivated to expand the full screen.

I got here from HT Guys Podcast , they rock !!!

I love DVDPedia, my 1st apple software.

also you should take a look at the fireball
http://www.escient.com/products/images/ ... sGuide.jpg

I would like to see a preference like for other screens that asks which fields should be included in the full screen display. I have made a custom field, for example, that is very important in my situation and would like to have that custom field displayed in the full screen mode. Thanks!

Ooooh. That fireball example just blows.

Thanks for the great software. I think for me, just displaying more DVDs on the screen and a smoother animation effect will be just fine. (At least rival Front Row)

I do like the context genre suggestion feature described by TonyH. Very Mac.

I know, from designing software, that such thoughful are simple UI's are much more challenging to design and implement...

BTW: I think you should keep in mind that a lot of us FullScreen mode users are those using DVDPedia as a front-end UI for their HT video-server. I consider this bunch slightly differing in need than those using DVDPedia primarily as a cataloging tool. As such, providing more remote (or command key) menu driven functionality in a simple and elegant way would make this product blossom into an even more kick-ass video server front-end!

Ewoo,
I want both?

I want a full screen interface that allows me to play a dvd from DVDPedia but I also want a full powered searching feature that DVDPedia already offers.

That's what I don't like about the Apple TV or worse, media center 2005. Search is either really limited (MCE 2005) or not there at all (Apple TV).

Or what would be cool is to allow DVDPedia back end to work with something like Media Central. Media Central is fun and all but has no info to the movies, making it very hard to choose movies based on random threads of actors or directors etc.

The Klaidescape interface is quite attractive, and is designed primarily for viewing on "big screens". The main menu allows vertical and horizontal movement. Select a movie cover, and the screen animates to place all other movies with the same genre on the screen.

The individual screen for a movie is well arranged, and its movie playback features are absolutely astonishing.

Lists of genre, actors, directors, ..., etc. are well laid out with ease of use and ergonomics at the forefront.

The pricing of Klaidescape is primarly taken up in the hardware, 1 - 5 TB RAID striped disks, dedicated dvd ripping hardware, and thin clients for movie selection and viewing. At $45,000, it's not for everyone.

With a litttle Flash or Macromedia programming, an interface like this shouldn't be too terribly difficult ... but who has the time?