Has Connected Development Finished?
We've seen nothing new from the Connected team for the Connected Server or any new plug-ins since January. Doesn't bode well for the platform.
Could someone on the team please confirm that there is still development going on and what we might see in the NEAR future?
Thanks in anticipation
The team has been working on the device SDK to provide support for more chipsets and platforms. There is also a new server release with more languages supported and a few bug fixes on the way.
Please continue to develop this excellent device. I love it, and it seems a real pity to let it die on the vine. Please!
Thanks for the reply.
I appreciate that the device SDK needs to be developed to keep abreast of the latest standards etc., but additional language support and bug fixes for the Connected Server sounds a little like "true" development has actually finished to me.
Can I read from this that as far as Connected Server and the DSM-330 is concerned, further development is essentially over?
If it is, it's a real shame. The potential for this device is huge. I, for one, am most frustrated by the music handling which is amateurish to say the least.
I've seen reference here to using the Connected JukeBox Plug-in as a substitute, but that just doesn't cut it. It's clearly very well intentioned and is perhaps the direction Connected should have gone, but it's very bug ridden and is almost impossible to navigate through very large music files. I have over 20k files and every time I go back to the main menu/ artist list it takes nearly 2 minutes to load it again. Very frustrating when you're building a playlist.
Video is also a pain. I was given an .rmvb file the other day and thought "no problem - I'll stick it through DIVX 7 Converter". Wrong - it doesn't support that file type - and it's the latest version - what gives?
Come on guys, fix what you've got before doing the Star Trek thing. The waining activity on this forum must be a clue as to what's happening to your customer base.
I must admit I'm pretty happy at the moment with the state of the connected server.
I've complained for quite a while but the Connected Jukebox resolved most of those complaints. Especially the latest addition that means you do not have to stay in the plugin for music to continue.
My overall wishlist only has a couple of things left on it (music stutter and folder.jpg in thumbnails).
I have about 14,000 tracks and the connected juke box is a little slow (about 7 seconds to refresh). I tend to add the whole folder contents to the playlist with the menu button, this means that I don't have to navigate out of the main browser list. Not sure why hindsights takes 2 minutes, maybe a small amount of reorganisation could improve this.
I also think that the connected jukebox really shows the power of what is available from the plugins. We need more people like Trebor writing this stuff, perhaps another one for photos.
There has been some talk about the popcorn hour. In my opinon from what I've heard if you are happy to have the PC on then the connected device gives a much better user interface and for me this is the primary feature. I can cope with reduced file compatability but if the interface is boring and text based it is difficult to browse.
Obviously I would welcome further deveopment but i do think the connected device (in it's current form) is better than many other devices on the market.
Looking forward to the latest release.]
Greenman
I agree with all the comments here.
Regarding Hindsight's post, it sure seems like development has stopped. Way back when we were told server updates would be spaced further apart, I was sceptical of the motives but accepting so long as any development took place. At this stage though, for all intent and purposes, it doesn't look to be happening.
It's quite sad really when you look at some of the older posts (which come up from the spamming) where there was a lot of communication and feedback between users and developers not to mention frequent updates. So, all is clearly not well behind the scenes - perhaps most of the company's resources are being put on Project Remoulade.
Regardless, this 'DivX Connected is Finished' theme seems to be becoming more prominent on the forums. Would sure be nice if someone from DivX confirmed that this is not the case and whether we'll get any more development (any!) in the short-to-medium term.
Greenman also hits it on the nail. While we may be frustrated with development at this point in time, the DSM 330 still remains one of the best streamers on the market. For the popcorn fanboys, the big selling point is codec and 1080p support. However, with Kamiwa's hack, the 330 can playback most video files (and though it's transcoded, for most users this will suffice). However, for myself in particular, the 330's user interface is really the big differentiator. With that in mind, I still have not found a GUI from the competitors that really rivals it (with the exception of XBMC/Mediaportal - though these are software based). Most streamers on the market have a directory based structure approach and don't have a PC dependent architecture. However, most are painfully crude and basic, and while they may read directly from a NAS or hard drive, many don't use a database structure. The resulting problem (and one of the deal breakers for me) is an issue with browsing speeds. Popcorn hour can be enhanced with other GUI's like YAMJ etc but these remain HTML based and pages must be reloaded so speed remains an issue. They also require a not inconsiderable amount of skill and setup time. So while we give the 330 a hard time, relatively speaking, it stands in very good stead.
Now if we could only get that development going again...!