Well, I said I am going to do it ... so here you go, all of the code for video browser is now open source under GPL at:
http://code.google.com/p/videobrowser(I'm considering a BSD style license but I'm not really sure, if anyone wants to contribute and will only contribute to a BSD project let me know)
The download location is the google project link.
There is now a new discussion board at:
http://bbs.wasnotwas.com/I have been discussing with the OML guys how this project can help the OML team. But .... I just want to clarify something here. Video Browser is my baby and while I use Vista MCE I will use it to browse through my media. I am the decider when it comes to what features go in and what features are left out. I have a vision of where I want this to go and will lay it out as soon as I can get it in writing.
If you use my video browser, it will not go away, it will not get slower, it will not get bloated. The current SVN trunk already has some awsome metadata caching algorithms that makes browsing network shares really fast.
If you feel like helping, here are some things that will help:
1. Submit all known bugs to the google code page.
2. If you are good with graphics, I would like to ship with stock images for TV, Movies and each Genre.
3. If you are good with websites and would like to mock one up please shoot an email to me, I intent to have the website under source control with the video browser, I am fine hosting it
4. If you want to buy a domain and donate it to the project shoot me an email. I would be happy to rebrand.
5. Make the wiki on google code useful ... it should explain what it is and how to use it.
If you are a developer, let me know what it is you want to write, off the top of my head here are some things I would be keen on
1. Media center native look and feel, powered by olcay and soultakers open source controls.
2. Auto update feature: It should check daily if a new version is out there and offer an upgrade, all the windows for doing the upgrade should be in mcml and it should describe whats in it for me when upgrading.
3. Localization: some people want it. I want an option to localize but do not want any complex configuration menus (like xbmc). A registry setting should do since the vast majority are using this in english.
4. Online content. I really want online content like trailers and video podcasts.
5. Richer movie browsing without making the interface too complex. click on actor to see his/her movies.
6. An option for watched unwatched tracking.
7. Show me which movies / shows are new in my library this week.
8. Fix bugs, I want Video Browser to have 0 bugs, no crashes and always be ultra fast.
9. Transcode 360 and extender support
Feel free to PM me with any ideas (or just edit the wiki and add them)
Peace
Sam