I share your feelings about relying on addons, but at the same time I really loved the idea of seeing the movie duration in hours-minutes, so I tried to implement that through variables.xml and finally I got it! The code is this...
Code:
<variable name="Durat_min">
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,1,Right)]">1 [LOWERCASE]$LOCALIZE[12391][/LOWERCASE]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,2,Right)]">2 [LOWERCASE]$LOCALIZE[12391][/LOWERCASE]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,3,Right)]">3 [LOWERCASE]$LOCALIZE[12391][/LOWERCASE]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,4,Right)]">4 [LOWERCASE]$LOCALIZE[12391][/LOWERCASE]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,5,Right)]">5 [LOWERCASE]$LOCALIZE[12391][/LOWERCASE]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,6,Right)]">6 [LOWERCASE]$LOCALIZE[12391][/LOWERCASE]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,7,Right)]">7 [LOWERCASE]$LOCALIZE[12391][/LOWERCASE]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,8,Right)]">8 [LOWERCASE]$LOCALIZE[12391][/LOWERCASE]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,9,Right)]">9 [LOWERCASE]$LOCALIZE[12391][/LOWERCASE]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,0,Right) + !StringCompare(ListItem.Duration,60) + !StringCompare(ListItem.Duration,120) + !StringCompare(ListItem.Duration,180) + !StringCompare(ListItem.Duration,240)]">0 [LOWERCASE]$LOCALIZE[12391][/LOWERCASE]</value>
<value> </value>
</variable>
<variable name="Durat_mov">
<value condition="[!IntegerGreaterThan(ListItem.Duration,60)]">$INFO[ListItem.Duration,, $LOCALIZE[12391]]</value>
<value condition="[!IntegerGreaterThan(ListItem.Duration,99) + SubString(ListItem.Duration,6,Left)]">1 h $VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[!IntegerGreaterThan(ListItem.Duration,99) + SubString(ListItem.Duration,7,Left)]">1 h 1$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[!IntegerGreaterThan(ListItem.Duration,99) + SubString(ListItem.Duration,8,Left)]">1 h 2$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[!IntegerGreaterThan(ListItem.Duration,99) + SubString(ListItem.Duration,9,Left)]">1 h 3$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,10,Left)]">1 h 4$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,11,Left)]">1 h 5$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,12,Left)]">2 h $VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,13,Left)]">2 h 1$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,14,Left)]">2 h 2$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,15,Left)]">2 h 3$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,16,Left)]">2 h 4$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,17,Left)]">2 h 5$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,18,Left)]">3 h $VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,19,Left)]">3 h 1$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,20,Left)]">3 h 2$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,21,Left)]">3 h 3$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,22,Left)]">3 h 4$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,23,Left)]">3 h 5$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,24,Left)]">4 h $VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,25,Left)]">4 h 1$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,26,Left)]">4 h 2$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,27,Left)]">4 h 3$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,28,Left)]">4 h 4$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value condition="[SubString(ListItem.Duration,29,Left)]">4 h 5$VAR[Durat_min]</value>
<value>$INFO[ListItem.Duration] [LOWERCASE]$LOCALIZE[12391][/LOWERCASE]</value>
</variable>
...it returns the movie duration in the variable "Durat_mov" in the format "1 h 53 minutes" and it works up to a duration of 5 hours (more than enough, I think
) I have checked it in my skin and it works flawlessly... maybe you'd like to have a look at it...
I do not support modded versions of my skin. I also do not appreciate others taking credit for my work, adding some themes, and distributing it as there own. Not your fault but it is not nice hearing about it. That version also looks to be distributed on piracy community build B.S. so that is double sadness 
might want to check with Millhouse. He would probably know if it is on his end or a skin issue. Just make sure you try a complete new skin install by manually deleting all skin folders first then reinstall. I can't replicate this.
I'll think about it though.
Thanks...
