Bugzilla – Bug 4337
Transporter knob UI user feedback
Last modified: 2010-05-07 11:11:33 UTC
(reference support tmid 11288) My new Transporter has arrived and looks great. I've plugged it in and tried navigating my music library but haven't got the audio hooked up yet. I have a couple of initial comments on using the TransNav knob (on 6.5.0): 1. Looping of lists. Using the remote control, the lists operate like an endless loop, so pressing up on the top item takes you to the last item etc. Using the Transporter knob, the lists stop at the top and bottom. So, if you go to browse artists and it starts up with 3 Mustaphas 3, the only way to get to Yo-Yo Ma is to spin forwards through the full list. You really need to be able to go backwards as well as forwards. 2. Navigating Long Lists. I have 1700 albums by 1060 artists. With the remote, you can use the Alpha keys to select all the artists beginning with a letter and then the up and down buttons to find the artist you want. Using the Knob, you have to go through every single artist. The software should be smart enough to know that if there are more than (insert number here) items in a list, it needs to give you an intermediate A-Z list to better specify what you want. I thought "OK, I can use the remote to select a position in the list and then scroll backwards and forwards". But it doesn't work. Use the knob to navigate to an Artist starting with A. Then press M on the remote to select the first artist beginning with the letter M, then use the Knob to scroll forwards. Logically it should give you the next M artist. Instead, you get the next A artist, not the next M artist. 3. End of List Action. The physical feel of the knob at the beginning and end of a list is a little weird. The knob stops to tell you that you're at the end (or top) of the list and you can't turn it further. If you wait a moment or so, you will be able to turn it before it stops again, which feels a bit unknoblike (like the collar is loose) if you know what I mean. My preference would be for endless lists and free rotation in both directions, but if you are going to stop the knob, then once it has stopped, it should really stay stopped. Are there any user settings to control how the Knob works? Thanks for a great product.
Dan: 1. Tell the customer that you can push through the end (or beginning) of the list to wrap around. It shouldn't take much force. 2. Very long lists are still a problem with the current knob acceleration. 3. The behavior at the end of the list probably needs some tweaking.
The knob operation at the start and end of lists has in my mind some potential of improvement. At least on my unit, there is no hard stop at start/end of lists. Instead I feel some small steps in the knob when I continue to apply force at the start/end postion. Also, the knob stop force seems smaller at the start than at the end. As Dean suggests, it is possible to apply enough force on the knob to have it wrap around. However, the feedback of the knob when this happens is not what I associate with a high quality rotary. From the Immersion documentation, it seems to be possible to have detents of varying depth. If this is indeed possible, one option might be to just have a deep detent at the start/end of lists. Overcoming this deep detent brings you to the other end of the list. This would in my mind be better than the sort of quasi full stop that is present now. When using the knob as a volume control, there of course has to be full stop functionality at the start and end of the scale.
Will review post-7.0
Especially the physical feedback scrolling to the end of lists is not 'optimal'. The knob slips through the end (not forced to do it). Would be really nice to have it fixed.
All new Squeezebox products are likely to be based on the SqueezePlay platform. We do not plan to implement any further enhancements to the ip3k firmware or which are targeted specifically at ip3k-based products.