MPC-HC GUI Discussion Thread

[GreenEyez]

While MPC-HC is the best player on the market, getting the latest features first (PGS support comes in mind), the GUI is outdated. At it beginnings that was done to minimize sistem resource usage, on today`s modern sistems (P4 and above mostly) the impact of a new modern GUI would be minimal.

Also, a lot of people have started using MPC-HC as a external player from 7MC/MB & XMBC (my HTPC Software Guide for Windows 7 Media Center (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1250607) also recommends MPC-HC as an external player for MKV), and the look of MPC-HC doesn`t really go to well with these modern HTPC front-ends.

I`ve done a mock-up (In Adobe Illustrator) of my ideea of a revamped GUI, with added buttons and menus for subtitle/audio tracks and chapter selection, the things a lot of people use the most.

If the developers are willing to start redesigning the GUI, i`ll be more than happy to do the entire design, everything from top to bottom, as they say.:p

Mock-up removed, V2 added

[dbone1026]

While MPC-HC is the best player on the market, getting the latest features first (PGS support comes in mind), the GUI is outdated. At it beginnings that was done to minimize sistem resource usage, on today`s modern sistems (P4 and above mostly) the impact of a new modern GUI would be minimal.

Also, a lot of people have started using MPC-HC as a external player from 7MC/MB & XMBC (my HTPC Software Guide for Windows 7 Media Center (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1250607) also recommends MPC-HC as an external player for MKV), and the look of MPC-HC doesn`t really go to well with these modern HTPC front-ends.

I`ve done a mock-up (In Adobe Illustrator) of my ideea of a revamped GUI, with added buttons and menus for subtitle/audio tracks and chapter selection, the things a lot of people use the most.

If the developers are willing to start redesigning the GUI, i`ll be more than happy to do the entire design, everything from top to bottom, as they say.:p

Here`s how it looks (and the Illustrator file can be downloaded from here (http://www.mediafire.com/?gmmjldmygtymdnm) ):

I do like the idea of a more modern look. I understand that when all is said and done playback functionality reigns king over looks, but would be nice as time permits amongst the developers to see a more modern/functional look

[Inspector.Gadget]

IMO that's exactly the wrong direction to take the GUI in. MPC-HC, and before it MPC, have always featured clean design that integrates well with Windows. A look that's mainly "OS X circa 2000, as drawn in MS Paint, with some blue patches and an overweight font added" will only alienate a huge segment of the userbase, and isn't "modern" in any sense of the word. People that like the glitzy look already have an abundance of things to choose from.

[mariush]

While MPC-HC is the best player on the market, getting the latest features first (PGS support comes in mind), the GUI is outdated. At it beginnings that was done to minimize sistem resource usage, on today`s modern sistems (P4 and above mostly) the impact of a new modern GUI would be minimal.

Also, a lot of people have started using MPC-HC as a external player from 7MC/MB & XMBC (my HTPC Software Guide for Windows 7 Media Center (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1250607) also recommends MPC-HC as an external player for MKV), and the look of MPC-HC doesn`t really go to well with these modern HTPC front-ends.

I`ve done a mock-up (In Adobe Illustrator) of my ideea of a revamped GUI, with added buttons and menus for subtitle/audio tracks and chapter selection, the things a lot of people use the most.

If the developers are willing to start redesigning the GUI, i`ll be more than happy to do the entire design, everything from top to bottom, as they say.:p

Here`s how it looks (and the Illustrator file can be downloaded from here (http://www.mediafire.com/?gmmjldmygtymdnm) ):

While your idea and intention is good, you're obviously not an interface designer... what you did is horrible from a designer's view, as accessibility, functionality and whatever else i can think of

[Midzuki]

People that like the glitzy look already have an abundance of things to choose from.

That's it! The only thing that I don't like in MPC-HC's GUI is the position of the MRU list, which should be at the bottom of the File menu, and above the Exit command. And no, G.U.I. doesn't stand for "Gay User Interface". :)

[Keiyakusha]

GUI? Meh, it is should be known already that there is no chances to see new customizable interface in mpc-hc. No big deal! Let's hope that current GUI "that integrates well with Windows" will integrates well with something newer than windows98. What rally integrates well is WMP.Some non-players examples probably will be Firefox4 and Chrome. Also personally I'd like to see FULL matroska support (like in Haali splitter but even better) and for other containers too of course. I'd like to see subtitle renderer (internal and vsfilter) to be 50% faster than now. And some other things...
But unlikely this will happens until I became a grandfather so I will be happy if at least someone will look at small things like why "default style" option for subtitles acts weird... and why no subtitles is selected if the ones in container set to be disabled by default but external subtitles is present.

[73ChargerFan]

I like GreenEyez' design, especially for my family members. It would autohide anyway.

The current design isn't attractive, and not very functional. It is a list of advanced options to control playback of the current video.

And how can anyone defend the full-screen interface "green bar" slider?

[Hypernova]

I think if somebody would replace the current seekbar with Windows' progress bar (or a look-alike, since I guess the Windows' progress bar does not support clicking) then it would be enough to make MPC-HC integrate well with Windows within a foreseeable future. Maybe a scroll bar will work as well? Of course I do realize that saying "replace" does not mean it's that simple in the code otherwise it would have been done already.

[namaiki]

Oh God no..

This image might explain a few things:
http://www.infocellar.com/win98/mediaplayer-configuring_files/image009.jpg

* crosses fingers for hotlinking

...and I wouldn't mind seeing VSFilter being faster than now like Keiyakusha.

Maybe the right-click menu in full-screen could have an option for a short version with perhaps just navigation, possibly filters and full screen toggle (and another option to hold shift and right-click to see the long version, i guess).

[Hypernova]

Oh God no..

This image might explain a few things:

http://www.infocellar.com/win98/mediaplayer-configuring_files/image009.jpg

* crosses fingers for hotlinking

..You're right namaiki. I hide all the control bar so I didn't realize that that part is where it looks so Windows 16&32bit. I always wish that somehow someone could slap WMP's control overlay onto MPC-HC, but I think that's asking too much so I kind of hope replacing only seeking has higher chance, but now..

Well, I can live with the old school GUI as long as the features are there :cool:

[namaiki]

^Unhide the seekbar and in fullscreen mode, if you put the cursor to the bottom of the screen, the seekbar will appear?

[Hypernova]

^Unhide the seekbar and in fullscreen mode, if you put the cursor to the bottom of the screen, the seekbar will appear?

Yes. I didn't hide or have any problem with the current seekbar though. Maybe I'm not clear on that part. I only hide the control bar i.e. playback, pause, etc. buttons.

[namaiki]

Oh I c.. I get that, but are you really wanting to make the seekbar green or blue?

[Hypernova]

Oh I c.. I get that, but are you really wanting to make the seekbar green or blue?

No. Not really. I just think that if the seekbar could be replace with Windows' progress bar (whatever the version that it's running on), then it will feel more "integrated" with the system.

[nevcairiel]

The problem is that MPC-HC uses the very old MFC components to render the UI, and MFC is not really skinnable.

For modern-looking UIs, you either render them yourself (which is A LOT of work), or you use the new UI toolkits that come with the .net environment. Changing the UI toolkit is basically a rewrite of the whole frontend part of the player, however, which is also alot of work, and has no developers to do it - also MPC-HC has other issues that don't allow this kind of change.

If one were really to write a new GUI, it would basically be a new project. Then once the GUI is done, you could merge all the playback components, renderers, filters and whatnot from the old project into the new.
But then, we already have other players that look "modern", and we can easily use the MPC-HC filters in them. I don't see the big requirement to rewrite it, imho.

PS:
imho, GreenEyez design is really ugly. Rather have the current WMP interface or the default XBMC skin.

PPS:
Also, if you like the default XBMC skin (or any XBMC skin), there is work going on to write a DirectShow based player backend for XBMC (the DSPlayer project). Its shaping up quite nicely so far, and once its rather stable, it can fill all your needs for a nice looking and capable playback GUI.

[Octo-puss]

Who gives a damn about GUI? I thought the oldschool minimalistic looks are intended.
I would much rather see the devs spending time and energy on understanding the code and fixing stuff, than adding new features or even reworking the GUI.

[p0w3rh0u5e]

Well, i think the classic and clean design is one of mpc's major pro's, but it's understandable, when some users ask for a bit of modernization, it just looks aged here and there.

Replacing the seekbar, volumecontrol and the buttons with some more 2010 looking ones would'nt hurt. Actually i think even skin-support would'nt hurt anyone, if its done right.

While the gui still works good enough in windowed mode, it really does'nt does well in fullscreen mode, i think thats the only real drawback of mpc's current design. Even VLC with ts customizeable controlbar looks better here... ;-)

[GreenEyez]

It was a MOCK-UP ffs, or a scetch, done in 30 minute. Just a plan on were to put the new buttons and menu styles.

Here`s a evolved version, i did today. As for integration, this one should integrated better with windows 7 (depends on the win color theme) . The classic MPC look, as someone stated above, integrates with Win 95 at the moment.

Mock-up 2 removed, V3 added

[Mercury_22]

Just a thought: wouldn't be nice to leave everything as it is except make the controls bar autohide in windowed mode too and make it transparent, ( the background not the buttons aka controls ! WMP 12 "style")?

And, my dream, replace Favorites with (add) a Library ! Media Player Classic Home Cinema Center ! :)

P.S. I'm just asking ! is it difficult to apply the autohide function to the windowed mode too?

[Inspector.Gadget]

That latest sketch-up is still completely the wrong direction. It looks like someone tried to skin Winamp classic to look like WMP11. Bright colors, glossy everything, a million buttons just interfere with usability.

[Keiyakusha]

Here`s a evolved version, i did today
Colors indeed too contrasting, but IMO this is right direction. and buttons... we won't look at them all the time, but only in windowed mode or in fullscreen when interface appears. Current amount of buttons is just fine.

[pankov]

GTPVHD,
it's not fair to compare the playlist/albumlist view of WMP12 and the empty view of MPC.
It's an absolutely different story if you compare the view of WMP12 when it plays a movie.
I personally don't use WMP but I have to admit that I like it new look - with the transparent seekbar and controls ... well there is much to be desired but you have to admit it looks good, something I can't say about MPC's '98 look.

[Keiyakusha]

If we talking about list view... Personally i don't need it but I can see that people very often asks for more advanced playlist or even library.

Let's see my comparison:
MPC-HC (http://imgur.com/S3sLr.png) vs. WMP (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/Windows_Media_Player_12_on_Windows_7.png)

[GreenEyez]

I didn`t have the chance to fine tune the colors, especially the top menu ones are bright as hell. I`ll run it through PS and fix those. As for the buttons, they are exact the same number of buttons as MPC-HC currently has (top and down menu), and 3 more for subtitle/audio/chapter switching in the down menu. Actually, the pause button is missing.

[Hypernova]

For reference, here is what WMP12 looks like when playing video. Note that all the control can be autohide.
http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/7971/wmp12.th.png (http://img821.imageshack.us/i/wmp12.png/)

@nevcairiel Thank you for the info. Looks like it's really hopeless.

Still, I think if someone are going to do it, I think replacing the button, seekbar, etc. with Windows' UI is the way to go. Any "unique" GUI will alienate at least half the MPC-HC users.

[apathy]

Just a thought: wouldn't be nice to leave everything as it is except make the controls bar autohide in windowed mode too and make it transparent, ( the background not the buttons aka controls ! WMP 12 "style")?

P.S. I'm just asking ! is it difficult to apply the autohide function to the windowed mode too?

If it's currently impossible to skin the ui, is this possible? This would be perfect! The autohide controls is one of the things I love about WMP12 because the player looks extremely clean while keeping the functionality.

[Px]

Looking on iface proposals from previous page, 10x for
And no, G.U.I. doesn't stand for "Gay User Interface".

[Mercury_22]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/Windows_Media_Player_12_on_Windows_7.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Media_Player_Classic_screenshot.png

Anyone actually uses WMP12? Cluttered, messy, buttons everywhere. Contrast that with MPC-HC, clean, uncluttered and logically designed(I know it's a Gabest MPC screenshot but MPC-HC looks the same).

@GTPVHD I was referring as pankov said to "the view of WMP12 when it plays a movie"
GTPVHD,
it's not fair to compare the playlist/albumlist view of WMP12 and the empty view of MPC.
It's an absolutely different story if you compare the view of WMP12 when it plays a movie.
I personally don't use WMP but I have to admit that I like it new look - with the transparent seekbar and controls ... well there is much to be desired but you have to admit it looks good, something I can't say about MPC's '98 look.
Which one looks more "Cluttered, messy, buttons everywhere" now?
http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/102/capturedoa.png http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/6159/mpchc.png

I still think that to make the controls bar autohide in windowed mode too it will do much good without much trouble for MPC-HC's GUI

P.S. And maybe for "Caption&Menu" bar too (autohide)

[GreenEyez]

The auto-hide option is one of the things i also support in my GUI design, the top menu (play/open/navigation etc.) should pop up when you hover the mouse over it.

Anyway, i added a brushed titanium layer under the menu bar, it makes it look better and reduces the glossy effect, made the Play/Pause button WMP12 style. reduced the brighteness of the buttons to the ones used by WMP12 and Windows for better integration and redesigned the top menu ones. I`ll post it tomorrow since i still want to tweak some details.

Should i use the same seek bar as WMP ?

[GreenEyez]

WMP12 is cluttered and messy in its default view and in the "lite" view, having a menu bar where everything is logically accessible is more important. Try figuring out how to open a file in WMP12's "lite" view if you're not so tech savvy. Usability sacrificed for the sake of looking "modern", ugh.

It`s default view offers functionality for Libraries, Streaming/Play To other devices, some of us have entire movie collections / music collections and hundreds of photos so Libraries are a must.

And even so, my design and the request of other are to auto-hide the top menu, NOT to remove it. It should pop-up when you hover the mouse over that section. No functionality reduced, but better looking GUI, more cleaner.

[Inspector.Gadget]

The bottom line is that WMP12, GOMPlayer, KMPlayer, etc. are all ugly as sin and look like digital replicas of something you might have ripped out of an "audiophile"'s Kliptsch dashboard unit in the late 90s. Not an example to emulate. IMO, anybody that wants the bloated GUI design paradigm to reign over usability should look elsewhere. Here's to keeping MPC-HC simple and not cluttering it up with ZOMGEYECANDY.

[dbone1026]

The bottom line is that WMP12, GOMPlayer, KMPlayer, etc. are all ugly as sin and look like digital replicas of something you might have ripped out of an "audiophile"'s Kliptsch dashboard unit in the late 90s. Not an example to emulate. IMO, anybody that wants the bloated GUI design paradigm to reign over usability should look elsewhere. Here's to keeping MPC-HC simple and not cluttering it up with ZOMGEYECANDY.

The challenge is that everyone is going to have their own opinion of what looks good/bad. One thing I would say is that adding some features/design doesn't necessarily mean it is bloat. I think there can be a compromise between keeping the simple/clutter free approach while adding some more design features to enhance user interaction.

[pankov]

guys,
as I see it this conversation is meaningless at present. I doubt any developer will invest time in it in the next couple of months.
GreenEyez,
I like your passion and will to make a nice GUI but I doubt your work will see real usage in the near future.
Let's focus on the present tasks and problems so we can have a perfect playback and then improve ... or better say - rewrite ... the whole user interface.

[roytam1]

IMHO MPC-HC stands for "Media Player Classic - Homecinema" which should keep it in classical(MFC) feel and for those who wants something skinny should use splayer instead.

[Astrophizz]

Uh, I would avoid splayer :/ Besides a lack of user control with it, it also does wacky stuff to people's systems.

[Betsy25]

@GreenEyez

No hard feelings, but I'm sorry to say your proposed "GUI's" are utter garbage. Why not keep it readible like it is now ?

Why everyone want every application to be a colourbook when your have to wear 3+ glasses to be able to read buttons/text ???

[GreenEyez]

I`ve upped the text to 14-16 in the meantime, if you still can`t read it, then no offence, but you do need glasses. I can now read the text from 3 meters away (the image gets resized when posting, so the text is a little fuzzy due to the resizing though)

http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae148/GreenEyez2010/MPC-Mockup3.png

[GreenEyez]

roytam1 - Splayer is nice but i doesn`t hold a dime at MPC-HC. IMO, MPC-HC is the ultimate player (great PQ due to very good filters/decoders, supports for lots of renderers , good useful features) in my opinion, except for the GUI. Having visited AVS forum and other audio-video forums for some time, i`ve never heard of somebody actually liking the Win95 theme....

[Mercury_22]

I`ve upped the text to 14-16 in the meantime, if you still can`t read it, then no offence, but you do need glasses. I can now read the text from 3 meters away (the image gets resized when posting, so the text is a little fuzzy due to the resizing though)
Much better except the shape of the blue buttons (and maybe the color) also make the speaker button look more like a "speaker" (maybe add more circles inside?) But all in all what's the point since nobody (no dev) will change the GUI?

[MPC-HTPC]

IMHO I prefer MPC-HC's many options and functions over a nicer GUI, since the actual one absolutely serves it purpose!

However, I got a question about commit 2125 "Change : show filename in OSD at open, instead "Pause/Play";" - Why do not keep the pause/play in OSD? I understand that this could be of benefit, when having several files in the playlist. But when I just open a file out of Explorer or like XBMC/MediaPortal I only open one file after the other and would prefer to just see play/pause in OSD. Could this be toggled depending on the case (many files in playlist or just one)?

Neverthesless, thank you very much to all the developers for all the effort you put into MPC-HC and all the good work! :thanks:

[GreenEyez]

A nicer GUI doesn`t remove the options, the buttons and menus are still the same as they were in the Classic GUI (and no, i don`t want t replace the Classic GUI, just offer an alternative one) , at least in my view the right click menu and options should stay the same. Stripping down functions from MPC would be a blasfemy.

Anyway, i`ll do a 4th mock-up with redesigned buttons (i have some spare time tonight) and a different color for them (maybe a grey gradiant as the Classic GUI has now) + a new speaker icon (something like this (http://iconlibrary.iconshock.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/step015.jpg) ), as indicated by Mercury_22, and leave it as it is, when and if the developers decide to offer alternative skins, i`ll develop the design left here on the thread.


And speaking of the OSD, is it possible to add an option for displaying the progress of the movie (time passed/remaining) in the OSD when Play/Pause is pressed ? It does so when using ff/rw. Or at least to display the progress bar.

[Lys]

As long as a new GUI is not the default and hidden deeply in the options, it is fine with me. The reason I use MPC instead of WMP or VLC is because of its current UI, and I don't want that to disappear.

[leeperry]

one thing's for sure, the yellow speaker MUST go hah

[Kado]

IMHO MPC-HC stands for "Media Player Classic - Homecinema" which should keep it in classical(MFC) feel and for those who wants something skinny should use splayer instead.

I agree with this one because I like the classic and clean feeling MPC-HC has, I use MPC-HC with "D3D Fullscreen" all the time and I only use the buttons skin with a custom logo.
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/3384/mpchckado.png (http://img707.imageshack.us/i/mpchckado.png/)
Something that would be nice is to add buttons to the D3D fullscreen GUI like stop, next and previous but that's not a priority. Otherwise the player is just fine although some people would like something extra or different.
I think that Visual C++ 2008 feature pack gave additional customization to the MFC. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Foundation_Class_Library)

[Hypernova]

I thought no one would oppose the idea of keeping everything the same except change the controls to what Windows' standard UI offer. I'm totally wrong. Some of you really like the "classic". Well, there are a lot of people still prefer classic (9x-ME) UI after all.

Looking at it again, I think there are only three parts that really standout: the volume slider, the yellow speaker, and the seekbar. If those two sliders get replace with the stock Windows UI then I would call it done on "modernized" MPC-HC. I don't like any UI(s) presents in any player either, except WMP12 when it's playing video (the one I posted).

I think I read somewhere that you can already change the icons for those buttons. Anyone can point me to a nice looking set?
@Kado : Can you tell me how you get rid of the yellow speaker?

[Astrophizz]

I think I read somewhere that you can already change the icons for those buttons. Anyone can point me to a nice looking set?
@Kado : Can you tell me how you get rid of the yellow speaker?

here: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=153123

and here for what Kado uses (I believe): http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1379298#post1379298

[Hypernova]

here: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=153123

and here for what Kado uses (I believe): http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1379298#post1379298

Thank you! I should have :search: :o

[GreenEyez]

Thanks Astrophizz , the ones done by Phaser look really nice.

Anyway, i`ve finished the 4th mock-up, with redesigned buttons to look like the WMP12 ones + a new speaker icon.

http://i966.photobucket.com/albums/ae148/GreenEyez2010/Mockup4.png

[GreenEyez]

And here`s the buttons for skinning the toolbar, 32 size : http://www.mediafire.com/?iha1dfffy7ymnsj

[Brazil2]

Who gives a damn about GUI? I thought the oldschool minimalistic looks are intended.
I would much rather see the devs spending time and energy on understanding the code and fixing stuff, than adding new features or even reworking the GUI.
IMHO MPC-HC stands for "Media Player Classic - Homecinema" which should keep it in classical(MFC) feel and for those who wants something skinny should use [another player] instead.
Exactly my thoughts.

And guess what, when I'm watching a video I'm looking at... the video! And not at the skin of the player, thinking things like "Wow my buttons look soooooo nice". Incredible isn't it ?

Not to mention that most of the time I'm watching videos fullscreen and I do NOT want to see any little part of a skin.

But seeing that this thread is three pages long already, I guess many people may think that's it's more important for an utility to look good rather than to have full working features.