Monochrome v3.2 Released... (1 Viewer)

[Psycho Reptile]

Installation and Readme

[collapse]BACKUP YOUR OLD INSTALLATION, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ;-)

Mediaportal 1.1.0 (or later) REQUIRED

TESTED USING: Mediaportal-svn-11-30-2009--21-44-Rev24281 (Not extensively)
RELEASE DATE: 5th December 2009
RESOLUTION: 1366x768 (16:9)
Note: Display problems will only be looked at if running at the recommended resolution.

Supported Plugins (HIGHLY recommended as the new sliding basic home screen links to them ;-)

NOTE: Install plugins before installing the skin. If the plugin is an MPI/E do not install the skin file if provided, first try the included skin file.
If that does not work correctly then use the skin file supplied by the MPI/E. Make sure you have plugin language files if they are needed.

PLEASE NOTE: YOU CAN USE TWO OF THE OLD PLUGINS SUPPLIED WITH MY SKINS (IE: EXTRA & WATCH MENUS)
RENAME BASICHOME.OLD.XML -> BASICHOME.XML. BACKUP THE OLD ONE.
HOPEFULLY A MENU DESIGNER WILL FOLLOW SOON ;-).

DriveFreeSpace 0.4
GlobalSearch 1.7.0
Moving Pictures 1.1.0
MPInfoService 1.32
MP-TVSeries 2.3.3589
MPWebBrowser 0.5
My Music Videos 0.4.11MR
MyLyrics 1.41
OnlineVideos 0.14.0
ShowTimes 2.4.1
YouTube.fm 0.5.6

Installation Instructions (BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP)

Copy the fonts from the font folder into your Windows\Fonts folder.
If using Vista you may need to right-click on the font and choose "install".

Copy the skin folder to you MediaPortal\Skin folder.

Copy the plugins to your MediaPortal\Plugins folder.

Enable and configure all the included (and recommended) plugins.

Enable the analog visualization in the now playing music screen (recommended).

Disable grouping in the advanced settings of Moving Pictures.

Enter the following test into the Drive Free Space GUI Text box:

Drive: %drive% (%label%)
Size: %totalspace% %unit%
Used: %freespace% %unit%
Free: %freespace% %unit% (%fspercent%%)

Delete the cache folder in: ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\Cache (Vista)
Documents And Settings\All Users\Application Data\Team Mediaportal\Mediaportal\Cache (Windows XP)

Alternative Screens

You can use the old style non-sliding basic menus by copying the BasicHome.xml from the Alternative XMLs\Non Sliding Basic home folder to your skin folder.

You can use wide banners with no Fan Art in MP-TVSeries. Copy the TVSeries.xml from Alternative XMLs\MP-TVSeries Wide Banner No FanArt folder to your skin folder.
Turn off Fan Art in series view in the GUI.

Original are in the Alternative XMLs\Originals folder.


Known Bugs

Sudoku text is too dark on dark skins - embedded in MediaPortal code.
Only two drives are shown at the moment in the DriveSpace plugin.

***** Thanks to all at the MediaPortal website *****

Have fun!!!
Psycho Reptile.


Release History

Version 3.2

MP-TVSeries - added vignette behind hidden menu.
MP-TVSeries - repositioned hidden menu and logos.
MP-TVSeries - changed filmstrip appearance to match other screens.
Last.fm - added time and date to screen.
Music Playing Now - Added missing MyMusicPlayingNow.xml, oops!
Music Playing Now - Added conditional visibility to playing next track label.
Music Playing Now - Fixed label scrolling off screen.
Moving Pictures - added vignette behind hidden menu.
ShowTimes - added vignette behind hidden menu.
ShowTimes - changed filmstrip and thumbnail appearance to match other screens.
Global - changed list colours to be more readable.
OnlineVideos - a couple of bugs reported are fixed.
Moving Pictures - Added support for 1.0.0, incl. new gfx.
MyLyrics - Added support for 1.41.
MyLyrics - - Added conditional visibility to playing next track label.
And some other tweaks I can't remember.

Version 3.1

I really can't remeber... a month's work and 89 XMLs and 184 graphics files changed... oops
Added support for a couple of plugins, listed above.

Version 3.0

Initial reworked ALPHA release after loss of data.[/collapse]

Please wait for the download to approved in the repository

Psycho Reptile

 

[yvos]

Great skin again! Only one small bug the mymusicplayingnow.xml is missing (I know just turning on VU meters will solve the issues also and looks even better ;-)

If you do additional requests somehow the background image (mainly on the home screens) is looking like my monitor is on 16 bit color depth, maybe it's my configuration but I don't think or hope so.

Another additional request within the music view is to have a similar selection mechanism on the 'Icons' and 'Big Icons' view as it is on the Filmstrip.

Also then it would probable look good when the icons are closer to each other so it looks like a cover wall ;-)

Regards,
Yuri

 

[emphatic]

Man, those screens are fantastically clean! A bit confusing with the Shrek movie in the background and Iron Man in the overlay though.

Good work!
Emph

 

[Psycho Reptile]

Great skin again! Only one small bug the mymusicplayingnow.xml is missing (I know just turning on VU meters will solve the issues also and looks even better ;-)

Yeah, I've just realised that... it will be included in a tiny (100kb) maintenence release

If you do additional requests somehow the background image (mainly on the home screens) is looking like my monitor is on 16 bit color depth, maybe it's my configuration but I don't think or hope so.

Perhaps a Photoshop guru could tweak the background, it doen't look terribly brilliant on my lcd either... but I don't know how to make it better

Another additional request within the music view is to have a similar selection mechanism on the 'Icons' and 'Big Icons' view as it is on the Filmstrip.

Could you provide a screenie/mockup of what you mean...?

Man, those screens are fantastically clean! A bit confusing with the Shrek movie in the background and Iron Man in the overlay though.

LOL, yeah I know. I only have a few limited dummy files on my skinning pc... and some of them don't play cleanly

 

[yvos]

Another additional request within the music view is to have a similar selection mechanism on the 'Icons' and 'Big Icons' view as it is on the Filmstrip.

Could you provide a screenie/mockup of what you mean...?[/QUOTE]

I just found it in the Bleazle skin. https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/...bleazlewide-v7-picture411-music-big-icons.jpg

So that's what I meant but I didn't realize it's in the Bleazele skin. I thought I saw it a while ago on my xbox with XBMC.

Best
Yuri

If you do additional requests somehow the background image (mainly on the home screens) is looking like my monitor is on 16 bit color depth, maybe it's my configuration but I don't think or hope so.

Perhaps a Photoshop guru could tweak the background, it doen't look terribly brilliant on my lcd either... but I don't know how to make it better

It looks like it is converted to an 8-bit png somehow. I tried creating a file in Photoshop in several bits (16, 24, 32) RGB, Grayscale, etc. But after opening it in XNView it always gave a message that the file will be converted to 8-bit. So if anybody knows a trick how to prevent that...

 

[Hawkeye]

It looks like it is converted to an 8-bit png somehow. I tried creating a file in Photoshop in several bits (16, 24, 32) RGB, Grayscale, etc. But after opening it in XNView it always gave a message that the file will be converted to 8-bit. So if anybody knows a trick how to prevent that...

How did you save it? I mean, you can save it as png-8 (so it will be an 8-bit png) or as png-24 (with 24bit of course)...

 

[Psycho Reptile]

For anybody that's willing to give it a go it's a simple 1366x768 image with the following gradient 0%-#000000,25%-#333333,75%-#252525,100%-#000000

 

[yvos]

It looks like it is converted to an 8-bit png somehow. I tried creating a file in Photoshop in several bits (16, 24, 32) RGB, Grayscale, etc. But after opening it in XNView it always gave a message that the file will be converted to 8-bit. So if anybody knows a trick how to prevent that...

How did you save it? I mean, you can save it as png-8 (so it will be an 8-bit png) or as png-24 (with 24bit of course)...

I tried saving it as png-24 but still it gets converted to 8-bit if I open it in XNview. Might be due to the amount of colors used in grayscale. I don't know.

 

[Hawkeye]

For anybody that's willing to give it a go it's a simple 1366x768 image with the following gradient 0%-#000000,25%-#333333,75%-#252525,100%-#000000

Okay, I gave it a go...

 

[RoyDamgrave]

My Videos section

I have two issues with the current Monochrome skin. In the My Videos section, when viewing the items in the filmstrip mode, I don't see the buttons for the previous and next page. If I navigate with my remote to the location the items should be, I can press the button and skip to next pages (so the buttons are there, but not visible..). The second problem in the My Videos section is that not by every movie the IMDB information is shown, although the information is available in the database. And when I press 'Info' and go to the 'IMDB' section the information is shown, so Mediaportal can read the information, but is sometimes not showing it in the small bar below the filmstrip in My Videos.