GBPVR Has Split Too Many Ways

[ACTCMS]

It's important to remember that GBPVR is not a commercial product. The software (core apps and optional plugins/skins) is totally free for private use and is still being continuously developed. As such there is a hobbyist aspect to it - part of the enjoyment for lots of users is playing around and tailoring their systems.

As far as inter-operability is concerned, even paid for software has problems (how many apps did Vista break?).

IMHO the support of a knowledgable, friendly and helpful forum like this one more than compensates for the odd hiccup when a new version of a plugin is released.

[fla]

Personally I only test XSuite with the default blue skin. Although I try to help people who are having problems with other skins I don't see the support of other skins as a direct responsibility of plugin developers.

Of all the polls a certain person made before leaving, was there ever a useful one like finding out which skin people use?

[mvallevand]

Of all the polls a certain person made before leaving, was there ever a useful one like finding out which skin people use?

I wish he would ask today, it would save a lot of spam around the Internet, at least GBPVR.com is safe.

I've looked at a lot of logs and so many people use blue that the poll isn't necessary. The poll would also be un-scientific because I find the active forum members also tend to be more likely to use non-blue.

I myself only test mvpmc and the PCH with the blue skin.

Martin

[LewE]

First of all. I did not start this thread to have a flame war. I am amazed at the hostility of some of the replies

the rest of what you say is crap

Wow. A suggestion about how the product could be better is crap just because the software is non-commercial. It must be nice living in a world where everything is either black or white.

its not commercial and if it went the way you want it then half the plugins/skins whould never get to where they are now using gbpvr/pvrx2 we the users are the testers if doesnt work you ask the developer if he can fix it

Isn't that what I was doing? Asking the developers to at least label their plug-in as not working under a particluar environment such as the Community skin.

in my opinion thats what makes it so great i love the fact that if i cant get something to work i can actually ask the guy that wrote the program what ever it might be

I agree that this is a real plus. I have enjoyed this environment in some commercial applications also. Some commercial companies are very open to suggestions about how their software can be improved. Suggestions I have made to Tealpoint Software and to Raxco (makers of PerfectDisk) have ended up in new releases of their software.

i can see where you are coming from but if you want all that go buy a commercial version
im sure you would be back in a week

You don't have to be a commercial developer to be willing to make your software a little easier for the end user to install and use.

[stustunz]

so you expect the developers to waste their time (what little they have) to test there skin or plugin with all the other plugins skins c'mon get real

[bgowland]

I do think, however, that they may not be thinking in terms of the end users who may be using different skins (such as the Community skin) than they use in their original testing.

I still think the problem is that they (we) can't cater for all skin variations. The only reason the DVB-T Radio plugin got released with both Blue and Community skin files is because I happen to use Community these days (ironic huh?) - if I'd released it several months earlier, it would have only had Blue skin files (as did the original alpha version that I sent out to a few volunteer testers). I would, however, have explained that the user would need to create their own skin2\DVB-T Radio folder and copy the files in to it to get it working.

If they would keep this in mind then they can make their work that much more accessible to us.

As psycik pointed out, many of us programmers are artistically challenged and even providing basic skin funtionality uses an alien part of our brains (it hurts ). Skinning (over the years) has become more versatile but consequently more complex - I actually find it more difficult to understand what the heck all the potential variables are in a skin file than I do to dismantle a DVB-T transport stream and extract the audio from radio stations. Go figure.

In an ideal world there'd be a default 'installer' packager that we could all use which would identify what a user's preferences were and adjusted accordingly but, bearing in mind that most plugins get distributed as zip files or similar, it's not possible to cover the whole range.

Cheers,
Brian

[LewE]

so you expect the developers to waste their time (what little they have) to test there skin or plugin with all the other plugins skins c'mon get real

If you go back to my original post you will find:

I would like to propose that all new releases of plug-ins be issued with both BLUE and COMMUNITY skin files. At the very least, they should be released with installation programs/files that allow the plug-in to function without crashing regardless of whether the user is using BLUE or COMMUNITY skins.

A third and least desirable option is to release any new plug-ins with a warning that they crash if the user tries to run them in the Community skin.

I propose that simply trying out a new plug-in under both the BLUE and COMMUNITY skins and including in the release notes whether the new plug-in works in those environments is not putting a burden on the developers. Admittedly, this was my third and least desirable option but this small effort on the developers' part will avoid each of the thousands of users going through this and finding out for themselves that a plug-in doesn't run under BLUE or COMMUNITY skins.

I suspect that the developer should know this without even having to run any tests since they know the insides of their application and what it requires to run.

Frankly, if a developer finds this to be too much of a burden then I have to wonder how much testing they do of their plug-ins before releasing them.

[mvallevand]

Frankly, if a developer finds this to be too much of a burden then I have to wonder how much testing they do of their plug-ins before releasing them.

(I thought something was up my craw today). I'm not a plugin developer, though the mvpmc and mvpmcx2 clients are really close and I've done 1000's of hours of testing but I've loaded and certainly never "tested" the Community Skin. I'm sorry you feel I am not doing a satisfactory job.

Martin

[LewE]

(I thought something was up my craw today). I'm not a plugin developer, though the mvpmc and mvpmcx2 clients are really close and I've done 1000's of hours of testing but I've loaded and certainly never "tested" the Community Skin. I'm sorry you feel I am not doing a satisfactory job.

Martin

As a user of both MediaMVP and Popcornhour units, I am very thankful for all the work that you have done.

What I asked as a minimum was a statement in the release notes that the plug-in was tested under BLUE and not under COMMUNITY and you can not state that it will work with COMMUNITY. Is that too much of a burden for a developer to add to their release notes?

I did not start this thread with the intent or expectation that it would upset that many people. I just identified what I thought would make it a lot easier for the end users when a new plug-in or function is released.

From your viewpoint as a developer wouldn't you rather take this small extra step and avoid having many end users posting threads wondering why the latest and greatest crashes. I am not picking on TV Listings but it was its latest release (which no longer runs under Community skin) that caused me to initiate this thread.

[ACTCMS]

First of all. I did not start this thread to have a flame war. I am amazed at the hostility of some of the replies

Frankly, if a developer finds this to be too much of a burden then I have to wonder how much testing they do of their plug-ins before releasing them.

A bit contradictory perhaps...?