Feature requests for HT4.0

I really don't understand why it have to be numbers, on the right side is a perfectly working alphabetical row

 

I've never thought about using numbers but the advantage is that you can just press a number key to get to a position.

One problem is that the alphabet is in a column not a row which means that you have to navigate over to it and then go down each letter to get to where you want. One possible solution is if there was a row of letters at the top and bottom of the screen as well as the column at the side, then that might help make navigation easier.

 

@TifKag - this only works if you are in alphabetic list sorting order. My default order is by the date. The newest movies first. Alphabetic scrolling is useless in this case.

@Enet - if you are in alphabetical sorting using keyboard will take you to the first poster of the direct letter input from the keyboard. I have small media keyboard attached to Zidoo. This is a must for Zdmc and hany for HT search.

 

Sometimes I connect a mini keyboard so that's good to know. But in general I used a TV universal remote.

 

There's no alphabetical row when sorted by year. You have to scroll every single line. You can currently jump 2 by 2 using digits 2 for up and 8 for down, it's still 50 press to get from the beginning to the end of the list for me (and that's when I'm using the second smallest poster size, if I use a bigger one it takes ages to get through a decade) and there aren't any other options. It seems only reasonable to hope for a "fast travel" option there, especially because it works exactly like another function of the player, and doesn't interfere (as far as I know) with any browsing method.

[edit] about my request for setting "watched" easily from the poster wall, I found it ! You must be in the "All" section (green round icon with a folder), then display the left menu by going left, go to "unwatched", then going to the top (where you can select sorting options) and on the left there's a checkbox icon, you can then select a bunch of movies then press "menu" and they can be set as "watched". Kind of hidden, but convenient !
This could be the base for other functions, instead of being hidden in the "unwatched" submenu, create a specific left menu entry "bulk selection", and then when you press "menu" (after you made the selection) you can choose which action to perform (add to favourite, remove from favourite, add to collection, watched, unwatched etc.).

 

100% agree with that. They could put the function at the top of the poster wall in "ALL" just like they do here and there in the categories of the left menu, so no need to change the options. That would be so usefull for different actions, like to add a bunch of vidéos to a custom category in one shot.

 

How about rolling over titles so when you’re at the very end or beginning when you go to the left, down, etc, you go to the other end? Do people understand what I mean? For example when I’m looking at my movies and I’m at a “Z” title I have to scroll all the way back through my catalog to get to A again.

 

Press <Return>.

 

Well yes, that will hop back to the beginning wherever you are, but you can’t jump from A to Z very quickly (or am I missing something?).

 

If we are building the wish list here I’d like to see a function to view unobstructed backdrop on the movie page. Let’s say that arrow up gets the focus on top row of icons and one more press up would slide overlay with movie poster and synopsis down exposing clean background. Some of Kodi skins can do that. I’ve been asking for this since beginning of HT. I even had videos to show what I’m talking about.

 

I know I asked for the ability to disable the creation of collections for movies, but I'm a tweaker and I thought I would detail some of the reasons I dislike them and offer suggestions for improvements. I really like the idea of collections, but the implementation has a few things that make them unappealing from a visual and usage standpoint. Which is why I am currently disbanding collections that are created.

1) When opening a collection, the sorting button is highlighted, instead of the first movie in the collection. This requires extra button clicks on the remote to get to an actual movie. God forbid you forget that the sorting button is highlighted by default and click the ok button. Then you have to hit yet another button (back) to then click down into the movie collection. Shouldn't sorting be a secondary concern when you enter a collection? How many times are you going to sort/re-sort a collection that it should be the first highlighted button?




2) Posters in collections are currently centered horizontally and vertically. This obscures the background/fan art, so much so that it's kind of pointless to have it displayed on the collection screen. Most posters/fanart put their visual focal point and/or protagonist in the center of the image. That focal point is then covered up by collection posters and looks odd at best and usually quite cluttered and ugly. I suggest centering the posters horizontally but have the vertical position shift to the lower part of the screen. This will allow you to see more of the background. It's not perfect but better, IMO. Imagine how much better the screen composition would be in the screen above and below if you shifted the posters lower. It would not be perfect, but the majority of the protagonists' faces would be visible and that center focal point preserved. These are just a few examples from my library, and not even the most egregious ones.







Thanks for considering my suggestion.

 

I would appreciate an option to remove Genres.
Somehow all genres appear twice in my HT4.0, one containing the actual movies, the other one totally empty when selected/filtered.

 

When rematching unmatched files it would be nice if the dropdown suggestion menu for the title also provided the folder name in which the file is located as a potential match option. This would save a lot of typing on the awkward keyboard.

 

I suggested this fix/improvement to HT long time ago. We have amazing artwork (backdrops) for best movies but we can't see it. Some of the skins for Kodi allow to see full unobstructed artwork. All we need is to slide down overlay screen with posters and synopsis on movie page and collections. Using up arrow brings focus on buttons to the top row. One more click up should scroll overlay down exposing background. I hope more people comments on this to get Zidoo attention. Just like @lawdawg said, it looks obstructed, cluttered and ugly the way it is now. Here is example video from Kodi slide out overlay screen.

 

I fully agreed with @3DBuff and @lawdawg!!

 

For grins I did a mockup in GIMP showing the difference. In addition to moving the poster to the bottom of the screen, I only dimmed the background behind the poster area. This last is similar to what Zidoo is already doing to the background on the movie details screen.

Current antman


Suggested Antman


Current Avengers


Suggested Avengers

 

Yes you are right, I suggested it to be in the left menu but I read somewhere that the left menu is a legacy browsing feature which was replaced with the current browsing style in other sections. Since in the "unwatched" section the bulk select icon is located in the sorting row at the top, this would be natural to find it here no matter which section you're in

 

This is something I am also hoping for after making a recent switch to Zidoo. Love the smooth playback with HT 4.0, Trakt support would make it near perfect for me!

 

I just found out I was cheated by HT for a while about the "watched" status. While there's a specific icon and a specific status for "watched" contents (you can set it with a long press or define how many minutes from the end HT should consider the video as "watched"), no matter if bookmarks are enabled or not, as long as you have played your video more than the first value of the bookmark setting (which can't exceed 7 minutes), the video will be silently considered as "watched". By silently, I mean it won't feature the "watched" icon, and it's still considered as "unwatched" if you check with a long press on the poster. However, it will not show up in the "unwatched" section, whether it's the left menu unwatched section, or the custom filter "unwatched". So, if you watch 8 minutes of a 3 hours long movie, HT will not show the file as "watched" but will not display the file in the "unwatched" section either.
It would be great if HT considers a file as "watched" only if you reach the second value (how many minutes before the end). Or maybe just ask ? I often launch a file and randomly get to a point in the video, to check the quality, the subtitles etc. so now I'm stuck, I know I have dozens of unwatched movies which don't show with the unwatched filter

Another issue with the filters is the selection of countries. Maybe there's a way to change it, but right now the selection is irrelevant regarding to my movie selection. I have no movie from India and a handful from another country, but I can pick India and not the other country

 

Hello, is it possible to have an option to adjust the blur effect in the fanart on HT. I gave it a try and I find that we gain visibility Or be based on the poster and have an automatic fanart with a blur effect. (Plex effect)