My Movies 3.10

This page will go through the added functionalities in the My Movies 3.10. The primary new functionalities are additional views and cover styles, which is explained better with images. You can go through the added features below, and either see or read about the changes.

Additional Views

My Movies 3.10 contains two new views that individually can be configured using the Collection Managment programs configuration. In addition, some more configuration options have been added for some of the prior views.

The first of the two new views is called "Cover Strip", with an intention of looking as close to Media Center's built in Movie Library as possible. The reason for this is that many users prefer the simple overview that this view gives, but still would like to use My Movies instead of the built-in library, mainly because of the automated meta-data functionalities, the parental controls and so on.

The image below shows the "Cover Strip" view, with the default two rows. With two rows, titles are not displayed below the covers, and the information of the marked title contains only basic information.

The image below also shows the "Cover Strip" view, but configured for only one row. By having one row, you will get titles displayed below the covers, and the movie description (synopsis) is displayed for the currently marked item.

The second of the new views is called "Cover Row and Details", or just "Cover Row" depending on your configuration. The idea behind this view is a single row of covers, with the movie backdrop behind the covers.

The image below shows the "Cover Row" view clean, without details, and without titles below the covers.

The image below shows the "Cover Row" view, where titles have been added below the covers. Notice that the bottom of the backdrop is faded out to the blue background, to ensure that the white title text is visible on all backgrounds.

The image below show the "Cover Row and Details" part of the view, where details about the currently marked title have been added. The titles below the covers can be enabled and disabled independently from the movie details.

While the prior images of the "Cover Row" view have displayed covers in it's default "Flat" style, the image below show the covers in a "Flow" style, where the covers are twisted. Again, the combination of layout style, displayed titles, and displayed movie details can be configured independently from each other.

Cover Styles

The next new feature is user created cover profiles, which allows the user to select between different looks of the movie covers. The system will, when the cover style is changed, regenerate all the thumbnail files in the library, and all changes or addition to the library will automatically be applied with the selected style.

During the last part of December, a page on our website will be created where users can view and download cover profiles created by other users.

The image below show the covers in the included "Plastic" style.

The image below shows the included "Plastic" style applied on the "Cover Row and Details" view, with "Flow" configured as layout style.

  

Parental Controls Addition

Prior to My Movies 3.10, users have been able to enable parental controls for the Media Center interface, but some users have requested that users were also blocked from entering the Collection Management program.

You can now click a checkbox in the parental controls section, which requires the user to enter the parental control pin # before they can open the Collection Management program.

Intros and Trailers

The new intros and trailers feature is one that some enthusiast users have requested for a long time. It allows the user to select a folder containing intro movies and/or a folder containing locally stored movie trailers.

The user can then configure an amout of intros and/or trailers from 0 to 10 to be played prior to the actual movie. These intros and trailers will be played either by alphabetical naming or random internally in Media Center. When completed, the actual title playback is started, either internally in Media Center, or through a configured external player.

The feature is intended for enthusiasts who would like a cinema experience by playing trailers and/or intro movies such as THX, DTS, Dolby Digital or custom intros before the movie starts.