Ultimate Media Player

Aus Ultimate Media Collector (UMC) - Wiki

Main

UMP (Ultimate Media Player) is an alternative frontend for UMC which includes the UMC movie part as well. It can be used either parallel to an UMC installation, as a replacement for the original frontend or without UMC (and then without movie functionality). UMP is not an PHP/Web application, it is c++ based rich frontend application. UMP uses MPD, if MPD is detected.

UMP currently works on A110 only. (X)200 Version is available, but playback is not supported by now on (X)200. A MS-Windows Version is available as well, please refer to the section in this Wiki!

For UMC (movie) users:! This version is for UMC 2.0.8 only . Version 1.84 is not supported anymore.

Main features:

• Browse your collection(s) of music - files. Collects Music-File Information either, by Media-Infos (e.g. MP3 ID Tags) or by directory structure
• Support for artists, albums, and songs
• Support for album cover, album backdrops and artist backdrops, embedded MP3 Cover
• Support to use XBMC Backdrop collections
• Stores all information in the UMP database.
• Support for multiple file sources
• Wide configurable (music File extensions / picture file extensions / picture fie discovery / sort orders / ....)
• Display your albums on your TV
• Play complete albums or single songs
• Filter your albums by alphabet char
• Filter your albums by genres
• Filter your albums by artists
• Full text search
• Lyrics supports
• Online Artist Backdrop collection
• MPD Player integration
• Multi language support
• Skinning support
• Support for SD, HD (1080) and FullHD (1920) resolutions

• Mainly all features for movie playback you know from UMC...

Introduction

Thica is the developer of UMP, an independent extension to UMC. Please consider and understand that the project may not be bug-free. The purpose of the UMP is to scan an archive of music-files and gather all relevant information, pictures, lyrics, Backdrops, etc … With it, it is possible to display the information in a comfortable, clear and above all, beautiful design on the NMT!

1. UMP (Scanner/Backend)
2. UMP Frontend

The concept of UMP follows the concept of UMC, which means, that information are stored in a single database (similar to UMC). In this documentation, you will find descriptions, examples and requirements as well as installation procedures to get started with UMP. You should be familiar with UMC first, before you start UMP. UMP ist using htbackdrops to collect artist backdrops online and searches online for lyrics, all other music information must be available locally.

Terminology

Please read to UMC Terminology (english) first. Here are some further technical terms:

Prerequirements

The following prerequirements are necessary to run UMP

• Popcorn Hour A110 with build in hard drive
• Note: I have heard of compability issues with A110 clones, so they might not work properly
• A working UMC installation (optional)
• One or more music libraries, which can be accessed from your popcorn hour
• A client PC with Microsoft Windows (TM) to run UMP. Note: UMP was developed to be portable to LINUX and maybe MAC. As the developer is not using those OS, he will not port the app by himself.
• An ImageMagick installation ON YOUR client PC (not on the popcorn hour)
• The UMCJukebox (frontend) currently is tested only for installation on the build in hard rive

Screenshots

Screenshots (all taken from an A110 - no fake): All screenshots taken from skin "umcclassic". Other skins will follow! Some screenshots are taken from English settings, some of them from the German settings. Click on a picture to view the "real size version".

Mainscreen

	UMP in combination with UMC Movie - Mainscreen
	UMP without UMC Movie - Mainscreen
UMP part
	Album overview. The MPD logo at bottom indicates, that MPD has been detected and will be used for audio playback
	If you prefer coverflow, no problem!
	Filter your albums by genre
	Or choose more Filter (Artistfilter as an example)
	Not sure about an album: Just perform a fulltext search!
	Direct playback possible, current a song is played in background using MPD
	Extended information about the current album
	Extended information about the current album
	Got more albums from this artist? Browse and direct switch to them
UMC Movie part
Just to be clear: UMP does not generate any movie information, it just displays the movie information collected by umc (movie). You can use both frontends on the same data collection. Currently umc 1.84 is supported.
	Movie overview (also available as coverflow, if you like)
	Filter your movies by genre
	Or choose more Filter (Genrefilter as an example)
	Not sure about an movie: Just perform a fulltext search!
	Movie details
	Extended information about the current movie
	Extended media information about the current movie
	Show the complete cast
	Show all movies of an actor and which of them are in your library
	TV-Shows are implemented as well
	Of course, you can see the plots of episodes
	Of course, you can see the plots of episodes
Other screens
	Change settings direct from the frontend
	Unsure about functions and keys? Press info for help!

Installation

UMP download:

Download UMP 2.2.3

Unpack afterwards the downloaded „umpxxx.zip into your existing UMC directory eg.: "D:\UMC" (Care with Vista: under „C:\Program files“ do not unpack, select another partition than the system partition, because it can come, otherwise, to authorization problems!) Make sure, that the included subfolders will be extracted in the subfolders too!. If you use UMP without UMC, you can choose an empty directory to unpack the UMP files. The installation package includes an example configuration file "UMP-config.xml.example". You need to rename this file to UMP-config.xml before first use!

The MS-Windows version (in additon to the core UMP package) is available at UMPWIN 2.2.3

There are no further installation steps like registry entries, binds, active x controls, so for deinstallation, just delete the files.

ImageMagick:

If you do not have ImageMagick installed on your PC, you need to download it from the Imagemagick Homepage. It is sufficient to use the 8 Bit static version, nevertheless, all other versions should work as well. Important: You need to reboot your PC after installation of ImageMagick! After reboot, please check the following: Open a comand line and type: convert logo: logo.miff imdisplay logo.miff If you don not see an Imagemagick window, you may need to adjust your path to ImageMagick

Configuration

Please read the guidelines for UMC configuration first, as UMP follows similar rules. UMP uses an independent, single configuration file "ump-config.xml". This file is located in the settings directory of you UMC installation. Please note: UMP will use both configuration files "UMP-config.xml" AND "umc-config.xml" if both are available. If you use UMP without an UMC installation, you need to apply some parameter in the "ump-config.xml".

Configuration parameter

The configuration file is designed as an xml file which contains sections and tags. Followed all sections and tags are described. Please note UMC is not consistent to use 0/1 or true/false to enable options. UMP accepts both writings.

Section <music>

This sections contains all parameter to configure the UMP specific behavior.

Tag: <musicfiles>

This tag defines all file extensions of the music files to look for. The file extensions must not contain the leading dot and must be separated by the "|" sign. This tag has a default value: mp3|wav|wma|sndflc|flas

Tag: <coverpattern>

This tag defines, how to search for cover picture files. Cover search order is described in section pictures. You can use leading and trailing wildcards like "*" and "?". You can use multiple pattern, <artistnamecollectpattern> This tag has a default value:[Cover]|*cover*|*front*|*folder*|*album*|*. File extension for the picture files are defined in the umcconfig.xml file. The [Cover] tag has an hardcoded function, which will be extended to Albumname[Cover] AND Artistname_Albumname[cover]. Theses tags will be searched in the Album Folder (if Librarytype=0) and in the other given search folder for cover picture. All other tags will only be searched in the album folder! The "*" at the end of the list, defines, that any picture file in the album folderis taken, if no other tag matches to a cover picture. Remember: All special characters will be replaced againt a space character eg: "/" "\" """ ,...

Tag: <albumbackdroppattern>

This tag defines, how to search for album backdrop picture files. Backdrop search order is described in section pictures. This a single tag, and not a list of pattern like for cover. No wildcards are supported. This tag has a default value:[Album_Backdrop]. File extension for the picture files are defined in the umcconfig.xml file. The albumbackdroppattern will be extended to Albumname"TAG" AND Artistname_Albumname"TAG". Theses tags will be searched in all given search folder for backdrop pictures. This tag has a default value:[Album_Backdrop] Remember: All special characters will be replaced againt a space character eg: "/" "\" """ ,...

Tag: <artistbackdroppattern>

This tag defines, how to search for artist backdrop picture files. Backdrop search order is described in section pictures. This a single tag, and not a list of pattern like for cover. No wildcards are supported. This tag has a default value:[Artist_Backdrop]. File extension for the picture files are defined in the umcconfig.xml file. The artistbackdroppattern will be extended to Artistname"TAG". This tag will be searched in all given search folder for backdrop pictures. This tag has a default value:[Album_Backdrop] Remember: All special characters will be replaced againt a space character eg: "/" "\" """ ,...

Tag: <artistpicturepattern>

This tag is reserved for later extensions.

Tag: <nolyrics>

This tag defiens, if you like oerform an online search for song lyrics. Set it 1 or true, to prevent the online lyrics search, which increases scan speed.

Valid values are:

• 0/false: Option not set
• 1/true: Option set

The default value is 0.

Tag: <albumsortorder>

This tag defines the sort order for the Albums in the Album Index page. valid values are:

• artist : Sort order for Albums is Artist , relesase date, Album Title
• album : Sort order for Albums is Album Title

Tag: <filesongplaylisthandling>

This tag defines, how you like to treat playlists. valid values are:

• RemoveAllwaysPlayListFile : If a song is part of a playlist, it will not be shown in any other Album
• LeavePlayListFiles : Songs in playlists will still be part of their Albums (results in duplicate songs)

Please refer to section playlists

Tag: <umcconfigfile>

This tag defines the Path/Name to umc config file (if blank then /settings/umc-config.xml is used). Starting version 1.8 of UMC several config files could be used for UMC. Here you can define, which of them to use for UMP.

Tag: <cleanupalbumsorttitle>

This tag defines, if you like the remove prefixes like "The, A, La, le, Les, Der, Die, Das,..." from the sortorder for albums (and artists). This does not remove those prefixes from the Title/Artist as shown the fronted, just from the sort order.

Valid values are:

• 0/false: Option not set
• 1/true: Option set

Example:

cleanupalbumsorttitle not set

Screen view:

Back in Black

Sex and Crime

The Master Plan

cleanupalbumsorttitle set

Screen view:

Back In Black

The Master Plan

Sex and Crime

Tag: <sortordercleanuppattern>

This defines the list of all prefixes to be removed from the sort order. This list will be used igf the option cleanupalbumsortoder is set. The prefixes will be only removed from start of the text.

Tag: <artistnamecollectpattern>

This tag adjusts all given artist names to the first Element of the list. The purpose of the tag is, to collect the different writings for artists in sampler in one name. The pattern must be separated by the "|" sign. The first element of the list defines to name, where the following pattern will be adjusted to. This tag has a default value: Various Artists|VARIOUS|NO ARTIST|VERSCHIEDENE|VARIOUS SINGERS AND MUSICGROUP|SAMPLER|MP3|ARTIST

Tag: <skin>

This defines the UMP skin, if no skin is provided, UMP uses the "umcclassic" skin.

Sub Section <debugoptions>

This section within the <music> section enables some options to show further information from the scan process

• <list_artists> Shows a list of all found artists after the scan process
• <list_albums> Shows a list of all found albums after the scan process. Also lists all albums with no cover files
• <list_genres> Shows a list of all found genres after the scan process
• <list_songs> Shows a list of all found songs after the scan process
• <list_results> Not Implemented

Section <libraries>

This section defines all libraries for music files to search for. This is similar to the <libraries> section of UMC, so I advise to read the UMC documentation first UMP supports several libraries, where you have your Music files stored. A library defines the paths, how the music files can be accessed by the scanner module (from the PC!) and the paths, how the same music files can be accessed by the Popcorn Hour. There are no limitations for the number of libraries.

Sub Section <library>

This section defines a singe library.

Tag <ignore>

This tag enables or disables a single library

Valid values are:

• 0/false: Library is enabled
• 1/true: Library is disabled

Sub Section <music_scan_dir>

This section contais all all definitions for specific library.

Tag <pc_dir>

This tag describes, how the music files can be accessed from the UMP Scanner application, so from your PC. You have to use your OS rules for pathes, so for Windows, you need backslashes and for LINUX you need slashes. No trailing slashes / backslashes are allowed.

Tag <pch_dir>

This tag describes, how the music files can be accessed from the popcorn hour. You have to use LINUX rules for pathes, so use slashes. No trailing slashes are allowed. I strongly advice to read the UMC Wicki, how to define the pch_dir paths. UMP follows the same rules.

Tag <scan_type>

The scantype defines, which content should be searched in the libray.

Valid values are:

• 0 : UMP searches for everything, (Music Files, all picture files, playlists)
• 1 : UMP searches for only for cover files
• 5 : UMP searches only for Backdrops (Albums and Artists)
• 7 : UMP searches everything but music files
• 8 : UMP searches only for music files
• 9 : UMP searches only for playlists

Tag <subdirs>

This tag defines, if subdirs for the library will be included in the search

Valid values are:

• 0/false: Option is enabled
• 1/true: Option is disabled

Tag <ignoremediainfo>

If you set this value to true, UMP ignores the mediaInfos for album name, artist name, song title. Normally mediainfos are stored within the ID Tag. If those are ignored UMP tries to gather this information from the filename and the directory name.

Valid values are:

• 0/false: Option not set
• 1/true: Option set

Sub Section <mediacenter>

This section is only needed, if you use UMP without UMC. Otherwise UMP will collect this information out of the umc config file. I strongly recommend to have a look at the UMC Wiki how to configure the mediacenter files

Tag <path>

This tag describes, where to place the Mediacenter files (PC view)

Tag <share>

This tag describes, how the popcorn hour finds the Mediacenter files

Sub Section <rss>

This section defines your news ticker for the main page. It is similar to the UMC feed configuration, but you can only define one feed.

Sub Section <feed>

Tag <name>

Provides the name for the feed

Tag <link

Provides the url for the feed

Example Configuration File

Here you find an example of the ump-config.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 
<ump_config xmlns="http://www.umc-project.de/xmlbeans">
 
    <extension>
        <!-- The name of the extension -->
        <name>UMP</name>
        <!-- The extension description -->
        <description>This extension scans your music libraries and add an alternative player to your media player to play movies and music files</description>
 
        <!-- The version of the extension -->
        <version>2.0.2</version>
 
        <!-- Homepage of the extension (http://www......)-->
        <homepage></homepage>
 
        <!-- The extension authors -->
        <authors>Thica</authors>
 
        <!-- Here you can define 1-n screenshots. Please store the screenshots in the folder Extension-Name/images/screenshots/ -->
        <screenshots>
            <img1>extension1.png</img1>
            <img2>extension2.png</img2>
            <img3>extension3.png</img3>
            <img4>extension4.png</img4>
        </screenshots>
    </extension>
 
    <requirements>
        <!-- Supported operating systems -->
        <os>
            <windows supported="true"/>
            <linux supported="false"/>
            <mac supported="false"/>
        </os>
 
        <!-- Libraries that must be available for the extension (leave empty if not required)-->
        <libs>
        </libs>
 
        <!-- Tools that must be available for the extension  (leave empty if not required)-->
        <tools>
        </tools>
    </requirements>
 
    <execute>
        <!--  -->
        <cmd>../../ump.exe</cmd>
 
        <!-- If true, the UMC backend will pass the current used UMC config as a parameter '-umcconfig [path]' to the extension -->
        <umc_config>true</umc_config>
 
        <!-- If true, the extension will be executed before the regular UMC scan -->
        <execute before="false"/>
 
        <!-- If true, the extension will be executed after the regular UMC scan -->
        <execute after="true"/>
    </execute>
 
    <music>
        <musicfiles>mp3|wav|wma|snd|m4a|flc|flac</musicfiles>
        <coverpattern>[Cover]|*cover*|*front*|*folder*|*album*|*</coverpattern>
        <albumbackdroppattern>[Album_Backdrop]</albumbackdroppattern>
        <artistbackdroppattern>[Artist_Backdrop]</artistbackdroppattern>
        <artistpicturepattern>[Artist_Picture]</artistpicturepattern>
		<albumsortorder>artist</albumsortorder>
		<filesongplaylisthandling>RemoveAllwaysPlayListFile</filesongplaylisthandling>
		<umcconfigfile></umcconfigfile>
        <skin>umcclassic</skin>
		<cleanupalbumsorttitle>1</cleanupalbumsorttitle>
	<nolyrics>0</nolyrics>	<sortordercleanuppattern>a|an|the|de|het|een||die|der|das|des|dem|der|ein|eines|einer|einen|la|le|l'|les|un|une|el|las|los|las|un|una|unos|unas|o|os|as|um|uma|uns|umas|en|et|il|lo|uno|gli</sortordercleanuppattern>
		<artistnamecollectpattern>Various Artists|VARIOUS|NO ARTIST|VERSCHIEDENE|VARIOUS SINGERS AND MUSICGROUP|SAMPLER|MP3|ARTIST</artistnamecollectpattern>
        <debugoptions>
            <list_artists>1</list_artists>
            <list_albums>1</list_albums>
            <list_genres>1</list_genres>
            <list_songs>0</list_songs>
            <list_results>0</list_results>
        </debugoptions>
    </music>
 
	<libraries>
		<library>
            <ignore>false</ignore>
		    <music_scan_dir>
		        <pc_dir>Y:\Musik\MP3 CT</pc_dir>
		        <pch_dir>file:///opt/sybhttpd/localhost.drives/NETWORK_SHARE/BIGSTORAGE2/Musik/MP3 CT</pch_dir>
		        <scan_type>0</scan_type>
		        <subdirs>true</subdirs>
                <ignoremediainfo>0</ignoremediainfo>
		    </music_scan_dir>
		</library>
		<library>
            <ignore>false</ignore>
		    <music_scan_dir>
		        <pc_dir>Y:\Musik\MP3 dvr</pc_dir>
		        <pch_dir>file:///opt/sybhttpd/localhost.drives/NETWORK_SHARE/BIGSTORAGE2/Musik/MP3 dvr</pch_dir>
		        <scan_type>0</scan_type>
		        <subdirs>true</subdirs>
                <ignoremediainfo>0</ignoremediainfo>
		    </music_scan_dir>
		</library>
 
 
        <library>
            <ignore>true</ignore>
		    <music_scan_dir>
		        <pc_dir>Y:\Musik\Backdrops</pc_dir>
		        <pch_dir>file:///opt/sybhttpd/localhost.drives/NETWORK_SHARE/BIGSTORAGE2/Musik/Backdrops</pch_dir>
		        <scan_type>0</scan_type>
		        <subdirs>true</subdirs>
                <ignoremediainfo>0</ignoremediainfo>
		    </music_scan_dir>
		</library>
	</libraries>
 
	<mediacenter>
		<path>D:\UMCJUKEBOX2.0</path>
		<share>HARD_DISK/UMCJukeBoxMusic</share>
 
		<rss>
			<feed active="true">
				<name>Heise</name>
				<link>http://www.heise.de/newsticker/heise.rdf</link>
			</feed>
		</rss>
	</mediacenter>
 
</ump_config>

Windows Version

A version for MS-Windows 7 is available as well. This is still high experimental and not full completed, but major functions are working. Prerequirements:

You need:

1) MS-Windows 7.0 or MS Windows Visa SP2 + Extension (For direct 2D)

2) VLC latest version

UMP for MS-Windows includes mouse support. Click around to detect, where it is supported (still under development)

Key assignments:

UMP Supports a Multimedia keyboard with direct keys for play, pause, skip Additional shortcuts

tab: start playback
ctrl+p pause/resume
ctrl+f next track
ctrl+p previous track
ctrl+shift+f increase speed
ctrl+shift+p decrease speed

Configuration GUI

There is no GUI to configure the ump-config.xml file, and there are no plans to build it. Starting version 1.8 UMC will have a gui for configuration, we might be able to integrate UMP configuration later.

Preparing your music library

By default, UMP does not require special preparation. To improve scan results you might pay attention to the following guidelines:

• It's a good idea to have proper ID tags in your mp3 files (or equivalent information in other tagged music file types)
• To start, check if you have album covers within your album directories, if you have organized your files album based
• If you have unmaintained collection from different sources, you might place them in a/some single playlist(s). This will reduce the number of album detected and places the files within the playlist.
• if you have no or less quality ID Tags but a good folder structure, use the <ignoremediainfo> tag in your library definition

Writing to the PCH is slow. Build the UMP Library on your PC Harddrive and copy the files afterwards to your PCH. The UMP scan process is compatible with iTunes folder structure. (Feedback from users, I do not use apple products)

Scan Process

To start the scan process, just open a console window, change to your UMC application directory and start UMP.exe. Depending of the size of your library it might need some time to finish. UMP ist using htbackdrops to collect artist backdrops online and searches online for lyrics, all other music information must be available locally. UMP does not place any files in your music library (like some other applications do). All files are kept within the UMC frontend directory structure. There is no GUI for the scan process (by purpose), the process details are displayed at the console window. UMP 2.0 uses Imagemagick to render the graphics, which is more flexible than the hardcoded routine from 0.1.8x. But ImageMagick is much slower, so be prepared, that it takes some hours to finish the scan.

Advise: Check and move the backdrops, which have been collected online and are placed in the "download" directory to a different directory and add this directory to your library configuration

Pictures

UMP supports album Cover, album backdrops and artist backdrops. The following rules how UMP handles covers are based on the default configuration for picture pattern. Pattern / Cover search is case insensitve! Special characters in Artist / Album Names will be replaced by a blank: eg: "AC/DC" will be "AC DC"

Album Cover

Album cover are detected by the following rules in sequence order, and stops by success.

1. UMP tries to find a picture called album name[cover].picture file extension in the directory, where the music files are located
2. UMP tries to find a picture called artistname_album name[cover].picture file extension in any of the given library pathes
3. UMP tries to find a picture called album name[cover].picture file extension in any of the given library pathes.
4. UMP tries to find a cover, following the cover picture search pattern, in the in the directory, where the music files are located. The sequence of cover picture search pattern is followed. If the cover picture search pattern includes a *, then any picture will be taken.
5. UMP takes the default cover.

Album Backdrops

Album Backdrops are detected by the following rules in sequence order, and stops by success.

1. UMP tries to find a picture called artist name_album name[album backdrop].picture file extension in any of the given library pathes.
2. UMP tries to find a picture called album name[album backdrop].picture file extension in any of the given library pathes.
3. If no album backdrop is given, the artist backdrop is used
4. if no artist backdrop is given, the default backdrop is used

Artist Backdrops

1. UMP tries to find a picture called artist name[artist backdrop].picture file extension in any of the given library paths.
2. UMP supports the XBMC folder structure for Artist Infos. This means, if you have a file Fanart.* in a Subfolder, UMP detects the upper directy level as the artist name and the picture is taken as the artist backdrop.
3. Its a good idea to check at XBMC-Forum for popular backdrop selections for download

Artist Pictures

Not supported by now

Genre support

UMP supports one genre per music-file. Album genres are the summary of all album file genres. Genres are displayed in the frontend und used for album filters.

Playlists

UMP is able to scan external playlists and to integrate them as albums into UMP Extension. Only M3u type playlists are supportet. Once a playlist has been detected, if will be handled like other albums for picture detection. The base-name of the playlist will be taken as the album name, so be careful to use the same playlist name for different playlists.

You can choose two different options

1. You like to add the music files from the playlist to the album with the playlist-filename. The music files will stay in their original album, so you have the music file in different albums. This option is, if you pick your existing music files and compile playlists for them.
2. You can choose to music files in playlists will be removed from their original albums and just will be part of the playlist - album. This is useful, if you got a list of files for a playlist and you like to avoid to have albums with just one song in it.

Log Files

Log Files are located in the „/logs“ folder. Currently UMP creates just one log file called "UMP.log", where all messages from the scan are logged.

Configure MPD

UMP can use MPD as the player for music files. MPD supports only one data source (library) and you need to configure MPD properly that it works with UMC At the end, the pathes to the library must match between MPD and UMP. In UMP you define the path to your libray in the <libraries> section, and looks like <pch_dir>file:///opt/sybhttpd/localhost.drives/NETWORK_SHARE/BIGSTORAGE2/Musik</pch_dir>

Please refer to MPD for MPD download, installation and configuration!

For MPD, you have to adjust your MPD config file: "/share/Apps/mpd/etc/mpd.conf". Here will find the line music_directory, and it should look like music_directory "/opt/sybhttpd/localhost.drives/NETWORK_SHARE/BIGSTORAGE2/Musik"

You may need to restart your popcorn hour after you adjusted the MPD config file and it migth take hours until MPD finished the scan of your library.

Starting UMP

In your library directory you will find a file UMP.htm , which can be started from gaya.

Frontend

The frontend follows similar rules as for UMC Movies. You can press the info button on most pages to view a help screen which shows you the available keys. The following screen descriptions for some pages and key settings belong to the umcclassic skin and they might be different for other skins.

Main screen

On the main screen you can select which function of UMP you like to use. Remember: UMP is also a replacement for UMC , so video playback is part of UMP. Remarks: Pictures currently not implemented.

Settings

Here is the place to configure the behaviour of the frontend.

• You can choose either the "flipped/paged" view for movies and albums, or a coverflow view.
• You can select the language for the frontend. Hint: This only changes the strings/text of the static frontend and not the movie plots. To change eg the movie plot language, you need to adjust the language tag in your umc movie setting xml file before you scan your movies
• You can select the mount options: "No mount" will not perform any mount activities, "Automount" mounts a library before playback. Fullmount will mount all your libraries at system start.
• You can select, if UMP should use MPD
• You can select the skin to use: Remarks: UMP is able to use different skins at the same time, UMC is not. So if you change the skin, you will still have the UMC Movie skin covers and backgrounds.

For online weather, you need to add / adjust your location. Weather data comes from “The Weather Channel”. You could either add the location as a readable text like “Dusseldorf, Germany” or you can use the Code from the with a leading pound “#”

• Several skin specific options are available as well. Current: Background options for umcclassic are implemented

Some remarks how to use the settings dialog. There are two listboxes: On for the settings and on for the options for a specific settings. Uses the arrow key right you can switch from the settings listbox to the values listbox. Press OK on a value the change the value. If it is a static value, the focus return the the settings listbox, otherwise an input dialog appears. To save your settings, press OK,w hen the settings listbox has the focus.

Album Index

The album index page has the same functions as the movie index page, with some changes

• Full navigation support (navigation keys left, right, up, down, pgup, pgdn)
• Play complete album (play)
• Switch to album details (enter)
• Quickfilter support (genres only)
• Full filter support for album genres , album and artist genres (red button)
• Enter complete songlist by using the source button

You can configure the sort order for albums. Either they will be sorted strictly alphabetical. Or you can choose to have them sorted as Artist Name - Album Release date - Album Name . In addition, you can configure to hide prefixes like "the, a, ein, ..." from the sort order.

If you see a mpd logo at the bottom of the screen, UMC has detected mpd will use mpd as a player for music files.

Keys:

• PGUP / PGDOWN: Go to the next / previous page in album list
• 1-9 : Use as in your mobile phone: Filter albums list to the first char (always album title) eg: 444 = "i"
• red button: shows filter menu
• green button: erase any filter
• yellow button: shows quick filter (genres only)
• blue button: shows full text search dialog
• home: Back to Home Page
• Source button: Switches to a screen , which shows a list of all songs (not just of an album)
• play button: plays the whole album
• enter button: switches to the album details page

Red button (filter) menu:

The red button menu shows three icons

• First button shows all genres and you can set the filter just to show albums according to the specific album genre
• Second button shows all artists and you can set the filter just to show albums according to the specific artists
• Third button shows all genres and you can set the filter just to show albums according to the specific artist genre

Album details

The album details page will show the backdrop, album picture and song list for a specific album. You can choose to play either a single song or a complete album. Play a File or an album using the play button.

Keys:

• PGUP / PGDOWN: Go to the next / previous page in song list (if album has more than 18 songs)
• home: Back to Home Page
• play button: plays the selected song

Song List

From the album index page you can change to the song list view by pressing the info button. This is a list of all songs, not just from the selected album. Here you can choose the standard features:

Keys:

• PGUP / PGDOWN: Go to the next / previous page in song list
• 1-9 : Use as in your mobile phone: Filter song list to the first char (always album title) eg: 444 = "i"
• red button: shows filter menu
• green button: erase any filter
• home: Back to Home Page
• play button: plays the selected song

Red button (filter) menu:

The red button menu shows two icons

• First button shows all genres and you can set the filter just to show songs according to the specific song genre
• Second button shows all artists and you can set the filter just to show songs according to the specific artists

Knows limitations and bugs

• Just Windows support (scanner)
• You should reboot the nmt from time to time to clear up memory fragmentation (UMP is becoming slow)
• MPD HDMI Fix solution sometimes hangs up the nmt (dont't know why)
• Caused by a bug in the umc movie database , displaying the movielist of an actor (blue key) take very long (up to one minute)

Important

Important note: Watched status is stored in a file named "umcmmediastatus.db". Make a regular backup of this file!

FAQ

Please read the UMC FAQ first, a lot a questions are answered there!

Q: Why is UMP not a part of UMC?
A: Maybe I was not passioned enough to wait for an official development path. It's my personal project.

Q: Will be UMP integrated in UMC?
A. Maybe, who knows.

Q: Do I need UMC for Movies, I am using a different application for movies?
A: No, you can run UMP without UMC (and then without movie support)

Q: Are skins supported?
A: Yes, I will release a skinning guide soon.

Q: Can I modify UMP by myself.
A: UMP follows the GNU public license. Contact the author to get access to the sources

Q: I can not hear any music/playback does not start.
A: It is likely, that your mpd configuartion does not match the UMP configuration. Refer to section "configuration" how to configure UMP and MPD.

Q: MPD Playback starts , but no sound A: A know bug in MPD if you are using HDMI. (A110) You need to start playback of a single music file using the A110 GUI

History

0.183 First Release

0.184

Fixed: Artist filter now successful , even when the chosen Artist does not have a complete Album and is just a part of a sampler.
Fixed: ShowAll works, even if "share" not configured in umcconfig.xml
Added: Production year of Album will now be shown in the album index
Added: In AlbumIndex, the number of albums will be shown in bottom left corner
Added: Detection and usage of embedded MP3ID Cover 
Added: Songlist at info button at albumindex
Added: In Songlist page, you can choose play, pgup,pgdn, red button for filter menue, a-z for alphabetic picture
Added: Artist genrefilter at red button in albumIndex

2.00

Complete rebuild of the application, change from php to "real code"

2.0.2

Changed: Name changed from UMC Music Extension tom Ultimate Media Player
Changed: Changed to UMC 2.0 Database and skin design
Changed: Background for settings dialog
Added: Online Weather status
Added: Online Lyrics scan
Added: Support for TV-Episodes Pictures
Added: Option to enable/disable backdrop swap in songlist
Added: Option to cycle to the main index backdrops
Added: Support for XBMC Backdrop Support
Added: Movielist, Serieslist, Albumlist, Seriesflow (2 Options)
Added: Background for Settings
Fixed: Fullmount
Fixed: Some small marquee issues
Improved: Coverflow is now flickerfree

.. several small issues and skin improvements....

2.0.3

Fixed: Playback of wrong episode
Fixed: Abnormal termination when calling album details in songlist
Fixed: Some issues with fullmonut on windows share (nfs problems pending)
Fixed: mpd hdmi fix issues
Fixed: Found one memory issue when terminating apps
Added: Message if mounted file could not be found
Added: mpd diagnostics (press play in settings dialog)
Added: Fullmount diagnostics (press red in settings dialog)
Added: Some messages to restart gui after playback
Added: Movieinfos to Episodes

2.2.3

Fixed: Issues with Automount and Fullmount
Fixed: Database error with faulty lyrics
Fixed: Issue with wrong Cover assignment throughout scan
Fixed: Memory Leaks
Fixed: video_ts playback
Fixed: Playback of multipart movies
Fixed: Empty Albums, if all songs of an album got no year entry
Fixed: Playback of multipart movies

Added: Experimental Windows 7 version available
Added: Scanner now searches Online for missing Artistbackdrops at www.htbackdrops.com
Added: Option to avoid scan for Lyrics
Added: Several Skin enhancements
Added: Name of Artist of Movie shown at Backdrop
Added: Movie Rating and Year are now shown in MovieIndex
Added: Sort Order for Movies
Added: Sort Order for Albums
Added: Scrollbars for Listboxes
Added: Scrollbars for Multiline Textboxes
Added: Song Genre are now shown in Songinfos
Added: Options to change Backgrounds for Movies, Series and Albums by user in settings dialog
Added: Sortorder, Quickfilter and Mediastatus to the Movie Filter - Dialog
Added: Sortorder, Quickfilter and switch to Songlist to the Music Filter - Dialog
Added: Mouse Interface for Windows Version (Not fully completed)
Added: Colorpicker Dialog
Added: Artist Backdrops will change to selected Artist in Songlist for Sampler

Changed: Code works with UMC 2.08 (tested with Version from 1.11.2010)
Changed: DB Design for Music to interoperate with the Windows Version
Changed: Playermodule is now scripted
Changed: Internal recoding for the upcoming integration of the scanner in the frontend
Removed: Fix MPD HDMI playback error as it is no stable
Removed: Separation of Album and Artist Backdrops. Both backdrop types are now stored in one directory
Improved: Listboxes are now flickerfree
Limitation: The input dialog in settings does not support extra chars like slashes/backslashes, dots, colons, umlaute, etc. Will come in the next version.
Limitation: UMC Pathfinder is NOT supported, you have to use proper PCH pathes in your umc-config.xml

Remarks: Sometimes you will hear playback dropouts using MPD playback while navigating through UMP. This happens, as MPD heavily utilizes the PCH CPU and UMP as well. Resources are linited....