PVR & Live TV settings: add a switch "Full screen for radio channels"
#1
As suggested by @phunkyfish, here is my feature request:

Please add a switch "Full screen for radio channels" to this settings page:

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While full screen is of course useful for live tv, it can pose a problem when launching radio channels, resulting in a black screen (if no visualisation or artwork enabled).
Black screen makes it difficult to see whether the tv set has been switched off and leads to me uselessly leaving my tv on for hours.

Additionally, most users might find it more convenient to keep displaying the previous view (like EPG, list of channels) as this allows them to navigate around while listening to the radio.

Thx and keep up the good work!
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#2
(2020-03-18, 18:38)kkbaf Wrote: Additionally, most users might find it more convenient to keep displaying the previous view (like EPG, list of channels) as this allows them to navigate around while listening to the radio.

You can anyway.  Just press back on your keyboard/remote and you will be back on the home screen with the radio playing.
Learning Linux the hard way !!
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#3
(2020-03-19, 09:58)black_eagle Wrote:
(2020-03-18, 18:38)kkbaf Wrote: Additionally, most users might find it more convenient to keep displaying the previous view (like EPG, list of channels) as this allows them to navigate around while listening to the radio.

You can anyway.  Just press back on your keyboard/remote and you will be back on the home screen with the radio playing. 
That's correct of course.  What I am arguing for is convenience, since full screen seems less useful for radio than for tv services in many cases.
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#4
Surely all that is needed then is a fallback image when there is no fanart to display.
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#5
A fallback image sounds like a reasonable idea.

In combination with some work on artwork behavior and display options (get artist image even if they not in my music collection but just playing on the radio, keep artist and song title displayed) I might even become a regular happy user of full screen radio Smile .

@jjd-uk Could you point me in the right direction? Can this be achieved by skin configuration?

I'll be on the lookout for suitable images that would match both talk and music radio as well as Estuary style.
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#6
Your advice has helped me to track down things: The background image is actually there in full screen radio, it's just very hard to see because of overlaying black with low transparency.

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I guess I'll have to head over to Estuary folks to find out how this can be changed, right?!
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#7
I'd have looked at this but none of the radio stations that I can get over PVR (TVHeadend in the UK) actually supply any track/artist info.  So I listen to them via the rad.io addon as their live streams do.
Learning Linux the hard way !!
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#8
(2020-03-21, 20:05)black_eagle Wrote: I'd have looked at this but none of the radio stations that I can get over PVR (TVHeadend in the UK) actually supply any track/artist info.  So I listen to them via the rad.io addon as their live streams do.
Can you  some sample URL's?

Martin
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#9
Thank you @black_eagle
It's the German public radios on satellites  Astra 19,2° 12266 H  that have Artist/Title Information via ETSI TS 101 154  and Kodi supports this since 2018 (ksoo's patch)

If I provide you with a streaming link to my box, would you give it a shot?

@emveepee I have just sent you a PM with some sample streams.
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#10
Sorry I was writing to @black_eagle  to send his internet station URL to test in PVR RDS won't work.  However check lynsat many of the RDS streams will have internet alternatives and don't waste a tuner that could be used for recording.

Martin
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#11
(2020-03-21, 18:27)kkbaf Wrote: Your advice has helped me to track down things: The background image is actually there in full screen radio, it's just very hard to see because of overlaying black with low transparency.

Image
I guess I'll have to head over to Estuary folks to find out how this can be changed, right?!
Is just the standard Estuary skin you use? not a mod of some kind? as if no fanart available then just the standard background should be shown, for example

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and within the Info active

Image

However this is with normal music files for which I've not grabbed artist fanart yet as I don't have a PVR setup to test with.
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#12
Standard fanart is controlled by https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/master...on.xml#L22

A fallback can be added to that line for example

xml:
<texture background="true" colordiffuse="88FFFFFF" fallback="special://skin/media/music.jpg">$INFO[Player.Art(fanart)]</texture>

Fallback images can be jpg or png.

If you don't want any background images for PVR Radio https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/master...on.xml#L23 to

xml:
<visible>String.IsEmpty(Window(Visualisation).Property(ArtistSlideshow.Image)) | !Pvr.IsPlayingRadio</visible>

So that adds a is not playing PVR Radio condition to the display of fanart.
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#13
(2020-03-21, 22:35)emveepee Wrote: many of the RDS streams will have internet alternatives and don't waste a tuner that could be used for recording.
Indeed, all of the public German radios do provide internet streams, but those are 128kbps (vs 320kbps on satellite).
(2020-03-23, 17:13)jjd-uk Wrote: Is just the standard Estuary skin you use? not a mod of some kind? as if no fanart available then just the standard background should be shown, for example
 
Yes, that's definitely standard Estuary 2.0.26 (repository system-addons). The only thing I have changed in the skin settings is the background pattern. The views look similar to yours, it's just that the standard background has got such a high opacity it is almost black (see above).

I'll test your advice using a fallback image and if that doesn't help I might try a fresh and clean test install on a virtual machine. Gonna report back in a couple of days. Thx again!
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#14
(2020-03-23, 21:45)kkbaf Wrote:
(2020-03-21, 22:35)emveepee Wrote: many of the RDS streams will have internet alternatives and don't waste a tuner that could be used for recording.
Indeed, all of the public German radios do provide internet streams, but those are 128kbps (vs 320kbps on satellite).
Totally understand, but 320 kbps is still compressed.  Is it AAC or MP2?

Also one of the classical links you provide the url said 128 and was actually 198. 

Martin
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#15
(2020-03-24, 00:16)emveepee Wrote:
(2020-03-23, 21:45)kkbaf Wrote:
(2020-03-21, 22:35)emveepee Wrote: many of the RDS streams will have internet alternatives and don't waste a tuner that could be used for recording.
Indeed, all of the public German radios do provide internet streams, but those are 128kbps (vs 320kbps on satellite).
Totally understand, but 320 kbps is still compressed.  Is it AAC or MP2?

Also one of the classical links you provide the url said 128 and was actually 198. 

Martin


Could you please shift this off topic discussion to another thread? Thanks.
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PVR & Live TV settings: add a switch "Full screen for radio channels"0