Please change the colors back! (1 Viewer)

[Keneo]

I currently have My TV Series set up so that all unaired and unavailable episodes are displayed. I recently upgraded to the latest version of this plug in.

I'm not sure why but you guys decided to change the color scheme. But it is no longer easy to distinguish between unavailable episodes and previously viewed episodes. Whats worse is that my 72-year-old mother can't tell the difference at all and now calls me frequently to report non-existent problems with missing episodes.

In the next version, would it be possible to include an option to select colors for viewed, unavailable and new episodes? Or, at least, choose colors that are not so similar for viewed, unavailable episodes?

I think you guys are great for developing this but the color change just seems like an unnecessary step backward.

 

[The_Stig]

Gotta post here off-topic...but this made my day!

Your 72-year-old mother is using Mediaportal!?! Great, great, great! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Holzi]

Isn't this all skin related stuff?

 

[RoChess]

This is all skin related, and actually MediaPortal team changed the colors. You do not mention which skin you use, so I'm just going with Default/DefaultWide.

The colors in question are used in the 'references.xml' skin file, and in this case they are the colors defined for the '<description>default listcontrol</description>' item. The hover effect in question however is done via a transparant PNG image file, so you would have to replace that image as well.

I'm using a modified version of DefaultWide skin myself that enlarges fonts to make things easier to read on small TV from large viewing distance. And I've edited back the original colors from the Blue3 skins that the previous MediaPortal version used.

    <selectedColor3>ff888888</selectedColor3>
    <selectedColor2>ff888888</selectedColor2>
    <selectedColor>ff888888</selectedColor>
    <remoteColor>ffFFA075</remoteColor>
    <remoteColor2>ffFFA075</remoteColor2>
    <downloadColor>ff80ff80</downloadColor>
    <downloadColor2>ff80ff80</downloadColor2>
    <dimColor>77ffffff</dimColor>

 

[ltfearme]

If you are using the default skin in MediaPortal, then you will have to change the colors yourself in the references.xml file (see rochess comment above). MediaPortal changed colors, not tvseries.

 

[Keneo]

Wow, thanks for your help. I didn't expect to be able to fix this myself.
I managed to change the <playedColor> tag to a light blue. And that solves the problem for the most part. But now when a played item in the list is highlighted/hovered it is just blacked out. I imagine this is because of the transparent .PNG file that you mentioned. Do you know which file I need to change? How do I go about changing it?

 

[RoChess]

Inside your skin folder there is a subfolder "media". Put the attached files in there and you will have the old 'green' focus/highlight color back via 'list_sub_focus.png', as well as the faint border on the non-focus items with the 'list_sub_nofocus.png' image.

Note: Remember to clear out your 'cache' folder. MediaPortal stores all these small images into larger cache images, so it might not always end up using your new images until you clear/empty out that cache folder first. It is located in the same place you found the 'skin' folder.

list_sub_focus.png + list_sub_nofocus.png:

 

[Keneo]

Hey, you have taught me a lot about how the skins work and how I can customize it.
I really like the green focus bar much better than the default one (black, yuck).
You have inspired me to try playing with the font sizes next. I also think that they could be a bit bigger. I never thought that the media portal made the best use of the available real estate on the screen.

Thanks for your help again.

 

[RoChess]

Hey, you have taught me a lot about how the skins work and how I can customize it.
I really like the green focus bar much better than the default one (black, yuck).
You have inspired me to try playing with the font sizes next. I also think that they could be a bit bigger. I never thought that the media portal made the best use of the available real estate on the screen.

Thanks for your help again.

No problem.

The main cool thing about open-source projects such as MediaPortal is that it is very easy to adjust it to your specific needs/liking.

Attached is a ZIP file of all the DefaultWide modifications I use myself. Just keep in mind that these also contain some personal settings, such as the hyperlink parameters I use for my MP-TVSeries setup, but those are easy to adjust. The plugins I use are Moving-Pictures, MP-TVSeries, mvCentral (replaces Music on basicHome for music videos), InfoService, Fanart-handler, OnlineVideos, WorldWeather and IMDb+. Skin should work without some of those plugins not installed, just keep it in mind when you are not getting the results you expect.

Ideally you would compare the skin files to the original and learn/see what I changed to make certain effects happen. That way you can pick/choose yourself exactly what aspects you want to use for yourself. WinMerge is a good open-source program to do the comparison with for that.

Enjoy.