GSOC

Welcome

On this page we collect ideas for students projects for the Google summer of code. Feel free to contribute to this page.

Requirements for students

Each of the ideas needs Java knowledge, since the whole TV-Browser project is written in Java.

Topics

If you have an idea for a topic on your own, please just add it to this list or discuss it with us in the forum. As a starting point we have added some topics below:

Recreate Filter GUI

The User Interface of the filter settings should be rewritten. At the moment only people with deep knowledge about computers are able to add new complex filters. The new GUI should it make possible for everyone to easily add and create filters, even if those filters represent complex conditions using AND, OR and NOT. The task shall not only include the implementation of a new user interface, but also a proposal and usability rating for different UI approaches.

Enhance Firewall detection

At the moment the firewall detection is not very good. At the beginning the tvbrowser tries to connect to the internet. If this fails a dialog box without hints is shows. This should be enhanced to show the most common problems with the common firewalls (e.g. Norton, GData). The task should also consider using Universal Plug and Play for detection of network ressources.

TV-Browser downloads the data from different server-groups. If one of these server-group fails, a very cryptic message is shown. It looks more like a defect on the user side than a defect on the server side.

Preselected channels for setup

If you start the TV-Browser for the first time, you have to select all channels for yourself. It should be possible to select a country (or other criteria) and get a list of channels preconfigured for that specific country, which matches the needs of that specific user. This means that even users from the same country may have very different program lists because of the region they are in, or because they use different ways to receive their programs (e.g. satellite versus DVB-T). Find a way to calculate a useful initial channel list for the user by using as less criteria (region, country, receiver type, ...) as possible.

Add new way to display the program table

The program table is shown like a german tv guide. US citicens are not used to that style. The program table should be able to rotate 90 degrees (in principle), so that the user can switch seemlessly between European and US layout style.

New plugin ideas?

As TV-Browser has a plugin interface, you are able to add features we never imagined. Have a cool idea? Just tell us...