AppleTV1 UI issues

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Q. What Android hardware device do you own?  (HTC Hero, Samsung Galaxy,
etc)

A: Nexus S

Q. On what Android operating system version? (2.1, 2.2, Honeycomb 3.0.1
etc)

A: 2.3.4

Q. What DACP server, OS, and version? (OSX iTunes 10.1.2, Windows 7
MonkeyTunes 1.5.1 etc)

A: AppleTV 160 GB (one of the later models of the first generation)

Q. What TunesRemote+ version? (found on Menu->More->About)

A: Latest as of June 14th 2011 (always updating it anyway)

Please provide any additional information below.

The main developer asked me to pass my email to him to this issue tracker. Here 
we go:

"Thank you for the update of the app today. This is the FIRST version
of any Android iTunes remote app that actually works with the first
generation AppleTV. There are a few bugs remaining with the AppleTV
that I would like to report. I can test for you if you like btw.

1. When there's only one library paired, then select it and load it
automatically. See, each time I have to come out of the app and then
get back in, I have to re-pick the library. If it's just one library
paired, it should just pick it automatically. Fewer clicks, better UI.

2. The album art is not loading most of the time. When I pick a new
playlist or album, the album loads, since it's a "fresh" load. But
after pressing "next" to go to the next song, the album art does not
load anymore for that song, or any subsequent song. So basically, the
first song gets an album art, any subsequent in the playing list
doesn't. May be a simple UI bug, or a bit more serious, dunno.

3. The star icons for the rating do not always display. Sometimes they
do, and sometimes they don't. And sometimes, I can just go out and
back in to the same song, and then they're there. This seems to be a
UI/screen-refresh bug rather than a logic bug.

4. The "shuffle on/off" is very confusing. The text for it is
confusing, and when I change albums or playlists, it resets back being
OFF, so it adds to the confusion. Please let it be enabled throughout
an open session, until specifically is turned off by the user. And
please change the text to "Shuffle is on/off" rather than how it is
right now, which is not clear if it's on or off. Adding the word "is"
makes it clearer, just by looking at the menu.

5. When I'm listening to a song, and then I double click to it to go
to its album view, there's no way to go to the artist view. So if
Artist A has 3 albums, and I'm currently in a view inside one of his
albums, I'd like to have the artist name on the top of that screen to
be clickable, so I can go in a screen where I can see all 3 of his
albums."

Original issue reported on code.google.com by eugeni...@gmail.com on 14 Jun 2011 at 5:58

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Hey thanks for posting... some answers:

1. You should not have to do this.  It automatically connects to the last 
properly connected server all the time.  I test this heavily against iTunes and 
MonkeyTunes with no issues re-connecting.  Could be an Apple TV issue.

2. Nope. Tested heavily against iTunes 10.1.1.2 and MonkeyTunes with no album 
art loading issues.  Could be an AppleTV issue?  Can you try it against iTunes?

3. Hmmm I am also not seeing this issue on either iTunes or MonkeyTunes.

4. I believe this is default iTunes Apple Remote behavior just being emulated.  
I don't use the shuffle feature but I have not had other users complaining so 
it could be an Apple TV issue again?

5. This is how the Apple Remote for the iPhone works.  This behavior is just 
emulating how the Apple Remote works and this functionality is what happens 
when you double tap the Now Playing song it shows you the Album the song is 
from and that is it.

So to recap it seems like most of your issues are AppleTV related because other 
users would be reporting these same issues against iTunes.  Can you confirm by 
running against iTunes 10.1.1.2 or higher?

Original comment by mellowaredev on 14 Jun 2011 at 9:48

• Changed state: Accepted

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thank you for the reply, I tested the app with my iTunes 10.3.1.55 (latest 
version). Only one of the 5 issues appears to be AppleTV-related.

1. The bug appears with iTunes too. It does not try to reconnect to iTunes, it 
just stays all-black/idle until I select a library manually. If I press the 
"back" button to exit the app, it never reconnects. But if I press the "home" 
button, having the app in the background, the app simply continues to show what 
it would show if it was never exited. But it's reproducible here, when you 
press "back" to get out of the app, it never reconnects. The AppleTV is the 
first entry in the list of the paired libraries btw, if that has something to 
do with anything.

2. Album art indeed loads properly with iTunes and it seems to be 
AppleTV-specific. Anything you could do to fix it up for the AppleTV too? Any 
way I can debug it for you?

3. This bug is also reproducible with iTunes. Load a track to play. Double 
click to go to its album track listing. Press "back". Now the stars have 
disappeared.

4. No, this is not an AppleTV issue, it's a UI issue that's universal to the 
app. The problem is that the *wording* is very confusing. The Apple Remote uses 
colors to distinguish if we're currently in shuffle mode or not. In your app, 
it's never clear in what mode we're currently in.

5. Yes, but the Apple Remote app has additional views that your app doesn't. So 
this feature request would make sense, providing a bit more functionality by 
adding one more clickable item, the artist's name. Besides, just because Apple 
does it one way doesn't mean it's the best way. They're good, but they're not 
perfect. ;-)

One more bug/request:
6. In the "pick a library" screen the names of the libraries are not shown 
(while they are auto-detected and showing during pairing, so it's not like your 
code can't retrieve them). So in addition to the serial number and IP address, 
it should also show the library names (in my case: AppleTV, Eugenia's Music). 
But these are not showing, and so each time I have to think hard about which 
one is my AppleTV and which one is my iTunes library.

Original comment by eugeni...@gmail.com on 14 Jun 2011 at 10:07

[GoogleCodeExporter]

OK good debugging.

1. This should definitely not happen and does not happen in my setup.  Have you 
tried going into iTunes and choosing "Forget All REmotes" and then re-pairing?  
It also could somehow be network or firewall related.  See this issue of 
somehow who had the same issue and fixed it...

http://code.google.com/p/tunesremote-plus/issues/detail?id=49&can=1

2. Since I don't have an AppleTV1 to test with this would be difficult to debug 
and fix.

3. OK this should be easily fixable.

4. Understood.  This is the way it has been since Jeffery Sharky wrote the 
original version in 2008 and you are the first user to ever have an issue with 
it.  I will consider it but there is really not much room on those menu's and 
anything too long will become ellipsized like "Shuff..." so you wouldn't know 
ON or OFF.  I think that is why Jeff Sharkey chose the short wording he did.

5. True but the author's original intent was to duplicate Apple Remote 
functionality.  Apple is definitely not perfect so maybe one of the developers 
here will take this on an submit a patch for it.

6. That should be easy enough.

Original comment by mellowaredev on 15 Jun 2011 at 10:55

[GoogleCodeExporter]

2 more things:

Would you be able to test an APK if I put one out there?

And also I can't reproduce #3.  It looks like the rating stars is sticking 
unless a new song is selected or comes on.  I have tried using the back button 
and navigating to the list by double clicking the cover art and still the 
rating stars stick.

Original comment by mellowaredev on 15 Jun 2011 at 4:21

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Yes, I can test APKs, thanks.

Original comment by eugeni...@gmail.com on 15 Jun 2011 at 6:38

[GoogleCodeExporter]

OK I posted a BETA on the Downloads page...

BETA includes following functionality so please test!

- Text changed to Shuffle is on, and Shuffle is off
- Use Library name instead of GUID for display on Pick Library screen
- Do not ellipsize Playlist names

Original comment by mellowaredev on 21 Jun 2011 at 12:57

[GoogleCodeExporter]

My main problems with the app and AppleTV are not fixed though... the ones are 
fixed are easy UI bugs only. Should I just get a  video of the screen showing 
all the bugs?

Original comment by eugeni...@gmail.com on 21 Jun 2011 at 8:46

[GoogleCodeExporter]

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[GoogleCodeExporter]

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[GoogleCodeExporter]

A video of these issues will do me no good.  I need to be able to reproduce 
them in the Android emulator.  Without an AppleTV1 that would be impossible.

So just to be clear you are still having these issues with the AppleTV1:

1. Pairing still makes you pair every time.  I cannot reproduce this issue with 
either iTunes or Monkeytunes.  I believe it is happening to you but typically 
this is when the "Forget All Remotes" in iTunes fixes it for other users that 
have reported it.  I have setups on both OSX and Windows7 both using iTunes and 
Monkeytunes and this does not happen in any of my setups.  It connects to the 
last server every time and that code has not changed since 2008 when Jeffery 
Sharkey wrote the original version?

2. Album covers don't always display, but you were able to verify this does not 
happen with iTunes.  Without an AppleTV1 to debug with this would be impossible 
for me to fix.  Honestly it might be a bug in the old version of DAAP the 
AppleTV1 uses which Apple is not keeping up to date with the iTunes 10 version.

3. The rating stars show up properly but when you hit Menu they disappear.  I 
can't reproduce this but it might still be an issue with iTunes I should be 
able to debug.

Does that sum it up?  

Original comment by mellowaredev on 22 Jun 2011 at 2:21

• Changed title: AppleTV1 UI issues

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Good day. I just wanted to chime in with comments from another user's 
perspective. Of the 3 remaining issues:

1. I pair with multiple iTunes libraries on both Windows 7 and OSX Snow Leopard 
just fine. I also use an AppleTV 2 (black puck) and that seems to work just 
fine with control via AirPlay. I know that's not the setup being reported, but 
I'm able to easily connect to multiple libraries without issue.

2. I don't have this problem at all. Running Android 2.2.1 on an HTC 
Thunderbolt and album covers display properly unless the individual mp3 file is 
missing art within iTunes. Sometimes in iTunes, the album will display art but 
a few of the songs inside the album will still be missing the proper art or 
even have multiple art files (happens when copying libraries between 
computers). It doesn't sound like that's the issue here, but might be worth a 
look because I can't replicate this issue either.

3. Rating stars display properly for me. I've tried a number of different ways 
to try and reproduce this, but I can't.

Original comment by buzzden...@gmail.com on 22 Jun 2011 at 3:53

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I am inclined to close this issue since the remaining items are either can't 
reproduce or for the AppleTV1 I don't have a device to debug with.  Let me know 
if that is OK?

Original comment by mellowaredev on 28 Jun 2011 at 8:25

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Is it impossible to find someone who has an AppleTV1 in your area so you can 
debug it there? I mean, if you live in the Bay Area, you're welcome to come to 
my home.

Original comment by eugeni...@gmail.com on 28 Jun 2011 at 8:33

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Unfortunately I live all the way across the country in Philadelphia.   I have 
an AppleTV2 but I don't know anyone with the older model 1.

Original comment by mellowaredev on 28 Jun 2011 at 8:37

[GoogleCodeExporter]

would it be possible to shuffle play the entire library with this app?

thanks!

Original comment by steffer...@gmail.com on 13 Jul 2011 at 4:18

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I don't think this is quite the appropriate ticket for that but basically all 
your can do is click the Shuffle button and leave it up to the Server to 
implement what it shuffles.  ITunes behaves differently than MonkeyTunes etc.

MonkeyTunes shuffles your entire Now Playing list whatever is in there and not 
your entire catalog.

Original comment by mellowaredev on 13 Jul 2011 at 4:23

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Closing this ticket as as much as could be done is release on the Android 
Market as 2.4.1

Original comment by mellowaredev on 24 Aug 2011 at 8:44

• Changed state: WontFix