[bsoriano]

@bsoriano - Hi Bart,

I think the widget loading issue could be on my side, but when I use just an older version of Amber without all the new changes, it just loads much faster. The thing is though, once I enter into the media views and come back out to the main menu, everything is just there, so there isn't really a delay. However, when I reboot, the widgets do take a few seconds to load, whereas they didn't on older versions. I guess this is to be expected?

I also just wanted to point out to you that the currently selected album is not centered as you can see on the attached image. It is no big deal, but I wanted you to know. I can change it, but I would prefer if the change came from you, rather that I have to keep backing up that file after each update.



Regards,

Shedrock

@shedrock , thanks for your feedback.  In my system also the widgets take a second or two to load.  I imagine that there is code optimization that could be done to make them faster, but it is beyond my skills at the moment.

As for the album position, the third position (which has been the default since I took up maintenance of Amber) is the focused one, and I realize it is a little bit left of center.  Unfortunately, the design of the view was not done to have the focused album be right in the center of the screen.  I guess I could attempt that, but I would rather not take that on at the moment.  

Given the above, what do you usually do to fix this? That way I can incorporate that in the skin.  Thanks for your help.

Regards,

Bart

[bsoriano]

@bsoriano 

Hi Bart, I haven't been around much lately but the work you have been doing to the skin looks great !!!

There is 1 thing I am struggling with however.

As you know I use Plex Kodi Connect.

When using the default kodi skin ( Estuary ) the actor images take a second or 2 to load the first time they are displayed but after this they display instantly, I assume they get cached.

But when using amber they don't seem to get cached and they always take a second or two to load up even if you looked at them a minute ago.

Is there anything you can do about this.

Thanks in advance.

@treboR2Robert , thanks for your feedback!  

I understand there is a slight delay when the cast comes up in the video info dialog.  It is constant, meaning it does not get better or worse with use.  That is the best I could do in order to be able to control what happens when you click on a cast item.  I know I could redesign this completely so that Kodi shows its default cast container and I do some workarounds so I can still control what happens when you click on a cast member, but I am not too keen on doing that at the moment.  I will keep this in mind as a To-Do, but without any commitment as to when I will include this change.

My apologies that I could not be of more help.

Regards,

Bart

[treboR2Robert]

@bsoriano 

Hi Bart, I haven't been around much lately but the work you have been doing to the skin looks great !!!

There is 1 thing I am struggling with however.

As you know I use Plex Kodi Connect.

When using the default kodi skin ( Estuary ) the actor images take a second or 2 to load the first time they are displayed but after this they display instantly, I assume they get cached.

But when using amber they don't seem to get cached and they always take a second or two to load up even if you looked at them a minute ago.

Is there anything you can do about this.

Thanks in advance.

@treboR2Robert , thanks for your feedback!  

I understand there is a slight delay when the cast comes up in the video info dialog.  It is constant, meaning it does not get better or worse with use.  That is the best I could do in order to be able to control what happens when you click on a cast item.  I know I could redesign this completely so that Kodi shows its default cast container and I do some workarounds so I can still control what happens when you click on a cast member, but I am not too keen on doing that at the moment.  I will keep this in mind as a To-Do, but without any commitment as to when I will include this change.

My apologies that I could not be of more help.

Regards,

Bart

OK man no worries, there is no rush ! thanks for getting back to me anyway.

what happens different when clicking on a cast member with amber compared to estuary then ? i hadn't noticed.

thanks again

rob

[bsoriano]

@bsoriano 

Hi Bart, I haven't been around much lately but the work you have been doing to the skin looks great !!!

There is 1 thing I am struggling with however.

As you know I use Plex Kodi Connect.

When using the default kodi skin ( Estuary ) the actor images take a second or 2 to load the first time they are displayed but after this they display instantly, I assume they get cached.

But when using amber they don't seem to get cached and they always take a second or two to load up even if you looked at them a minute ago.

Is there anything you can do about this.

Thanks in advance.

@treboR2Robert , thanks for your feedback!  

I understand there is a slight delay when the cast comes up in the video info dialog.  It is constant, meaning it does not get better or worse with use.  That is the best I could do in order to be able to control what happens when you click on a cast item.  I know I could redesign this completely so that Kodi shows its default cast container and I do some workarounds so I can still control what happens when you click on a cast member, but I am not too keen on doing that at the moment.  I will keep this in mind as a To-Do, but without any commitment as to when I will include this change.

My apologies that I could not be of more help.

Regards,

Bart

OK man no worries, there is no rush ! thanks for getting back to me anyway.

what happens different when clicking on a cast member with amber compared to estuary then ? i hadn't noticed.

thanks again

rob

@treboR2Robert , when you click on a cast item in Estuary, it does a local search for that person in your video database, and it presents the results in one way only (a list).  That is the Kodi default behavior for the container with id 50, the cast list.  We skinners cannot change that behavior, so I use a different container, fill it with the cast info, and allow you when you click on an item to either search online or locally, and if you search locally, I present a custom search window that shows you the posters and additional info for each result.  The additional flexibility has a bit of a time cost.

Regards,

Bart

[treboR2Robert]

@treboR2Robert , thanks for your feedback!  

I understand there is a slight delay when the cast comes up in the video info dialog.  It is constant, meaning it does not get better or worse with use.  That is the best I could do in order to be able to control what happens when you click on a cast item.  I know I could redesign this completely so that Kodi shows its default cast container and I do some workarounds so I can still control what happens when you click on a cast member, but I am not too keen on doing that at the moment.  I will keep this in mind as a To-Do, but without any commitment as to when I will include this change.

My apologies that I could not be of more help.

Regards,

Bart

OK man no worries, there is no rush ! thanks for getting back to me anyway.

what happens different when clicking on a cast member with amber compared to estuary then ? i hadn't noticed.

thanks again

rob

@treboR2Robert , when you click on a cast item in Estuary, it does a local search for that person in your video database, and it presents the results in one way only (a list).  That is the Kodi default behavior for the container with id 50, the cast list.  We skinners cannot change that behavior, so I use a different container, fill it with the cast info, and allow you when you click on an item to either search online or locally, and if you search locally, I present a custom search window that shows you the posters and additional info for each result.  The additional flexibility has a bit of a time cost.

Regards,

Bart

Cool I hadn't noticed that before.

I am doing a fresh install as we speak so I will check it out.

Thanks again for the information

Keep up the amazing work

[treboR2Robert]

Oh and I didn't thank you before for removing the annoying pop up to install "embuary helper"

That seems to have gone away.

Thank You !!!

[treboR2Robert]

@bsoriano 

Hi Bart,

So I tried it out again and...

Amber DOES cache the actor images.

When I first click on a movie, the actor images load up 1 by 1, but if i go back and click on the same movie again this time they all load together ( but with a 2 or 3 second delay like you said )


I also tried clicking on the actor images in estuary and i got the list of movies that the actor is in pop up like you said.

I then tried this in amber and I get a screen pop up with "search results for (actor) in the top left and TWO spinning loading wheels saying "please wait".
These wheels have been spinning for about 15 minutes now and nothing is happening.

Do I need another plugin to make this work ?

Would it be complicated to just add an option to disable this behaviour and instead use the default kodi behaviour ? The delay is kind of annoying and at the moment the extra stuff you have added doesn't seem to work. ( for me at least)


P.S... I tried Aeon Nox Silvo again and it has GOT NOTHING ON AMBER !!!

Amber is by far the best skin on kodi in my opinion !!! The amount of options you have added are amazing !!! And the layout and design is brilliant !!! You even stopped the other annoying pop up about the autofill plugin

If you could make those actor images load instantly the skin would be SOOOOO SMOOOOTH

Let me know if you want me to test anything, I will be happy to help you.

Thanks again

Rob

[bsoriano]

@bsoriano 

Hi Bart,

So I tried it out again and...

Amber DOES cache the actor images.

When I first click on a movie, the actor images load up 1 by 1, but if i go back and click on the same movie again this time they all load together ( but with a 2 or 3 second delay like you said )


I also tried clicking on the actor images in estuary and i got the list of movies that the actor is in pop up like you said.

I then tried this in amber and I get a screen pop up with "search results for (actor) in the top left and TWO spinning loading wheels saying "please wait".
These wheels have been spinning for about 15 minutes now and nothing is happening.

Do I need another plugin to make this work ?

Would it be complicated to just add an option to disable this behaviour and instead use the default kodi behaviour ? The delay is kind of annoying and at the moment the extra stuff you have added doesn't seem to work. ( for me at least)


P.S... I tried Aeon Nox Silvo again and it has GOT NOTHING ON AMBER !!!

Amber is by far the best skin on kodi in my opinion !!! The amount of options you have added are amazing !!! And the layout and design is brilliant !!! You even stopped the other annoying pop up about the autofill plugin

If you could make those actor images load instantly the skin would be SOOOOO SMOOOOTH

Let me know if you want me to test anything, I will be happy to help you.

Thanks again

Rob

@treboR2Robert , thanks for doing more testing on this.

The issue you mention with local search should not happen.  This is what happens for me when I click on a cast item (and do not use embuary helper or tmdb helper):

For the example, I will click on Josh Gad:



And I get this window:



I am not sure why it is not working for you.  It might have to do with you using PKC, though in theory that should not matter, since the local search is just searching your database.  Could you please go to the Search menu item, click it (press enter), type the titel of a movie you have and press Enter, and see if you get anything back other than the "Please Wait" busy loaders? Thanks.

Regards,

Bart

EDIT: @treboR2Robert , I will do as you suggest.  In the next skin update, if you have the option "Show Only Local Info" set to Yes (Settings, Amber Settings, Video Info), Amber will show the cast with the standard Kodi behavior.  Thanks for your idea.

[treboR2Robert]

So I installed a bunch of stuff 1 at a time from "manage dependencies" in amber settings and each time tried clicking on the actor image again.

Nothing changed (still get the spinning loading please wait ) until I installed Embuary helper, now when i click on an actor image absolutely nothing happens !

I tried installing the next dependency ( embuary info ) but when i click it nothing happens.

I tried rebooting but it didn't help.

I then tried installing the embuary skin from the kodi repository and now in the amber settings (manage dependencies) embuary info is installed.

BUT still nothing happens anymore when i click on an actor image.

[bsoriano]

So I installed a bunch of stuff 1 at a time from "manage dependencies" in amber settings and each time tried clicking on the actor image again.

Nothing changed (still get the spinning loading please wait ) until I installed Embuary helper, now when i click on an actor image absolutely nothing happens !

I tried installing the next dependency ( embuary info ) but when i click it nothing happens.

I tried rebooting but it didn't help.

I then tried installing the embuary skin from the kodi repository and now in the amber settings (manage dependencies) embuary info is installed.

BUT still nothing happens anymore when i click on an actor image.

@treboR2Robert , I am sorry you are having even more issues.  You do not need Embuary Helper installed or Embuary Info.  Amber works well without them.  You also do not need Themoviedb helper.  The local search does not use addons.

If you are feeling adventurous, you can download the latest from GitHub, Leia branch.  I already uploaded the changes to show a fester cast.

What you need to do is go to: https://github.com/bartolomesoriano/skin.../tree/Leia, there should be a green button that says "Clone or Download", you click it and then choose "Download Zip", which should download a zip file for Amber.  Then, in Kodi, you can go to Settings, Addons, Install from Zip File, and choose the zip file that you downloaded before.

Please let me know if you did that and how did it go.  Thanks.

Regards,

Bart

[treboR2Robert]

Hi Bart thanks for getting back to me so fast.

I just installed tmdb helper before i see your reply and now it pops up and asks me whether to show "local info" or tmdb info and both seem to work.

I did not have global search installed or enabled before and had also deleted it from the menu.


Having tried the tmdb info it is actually quite a cool feature, especially how it looks like it is all part of the skin.

I will download your latest update from git though and try that right now.

I will post back here when i have it installed.

Thank you !!!

[bsoriano]

Hi Bart thanks for getting back to me so fast.

I just installed tmdb helper before i see your reply and now it pops up and asks me whether to show "local info" or tmdb info and both seem to work.

I did not have global search installed or enabled before and had also deleted it from the menu.


Having tried the tmdb info it is actually quite a cool feature, especially how it looks like it is all part of the skin.

I will download your latest update from git though and try that right now.

I will post back here when i have it installed.

Thank you !!!

@treboR2Robert , please remember, when you download the latest from Git, that if you want the faster cast, you need to set the option "Show Only Local Info" to Yes.  You can find the option here:



When you set that to Yes, there will be no tmdb online info searches either.  The cast will just have the standard Kodi behavior, like Estuary.

Regards,

Bart

[treboR2Robert]

The new version works GREAT !!! the actor images no longer load at all they are just displayed instantly !!!

Excellent work !!!

You have gotten good at this

Thank you again Sir

[bsoriano]

The new version works GREAT !!! the actor images no longer load at all they are just displayed instantly !!!

Excellent work !!!

You have gotten good at this

Thank you again Sir

@treboR2Robert , thank you for confirming and your kind words!

Regards,

Bart

[shedrock]

@bsoriano - Never mind me Bart. I tried and tried to center that Music Discart but maybe I am not having a good day. I know I did something the other day while mocking about with it and it worked. I will keep trying, but right now it is fine the way it is. The skin is fantastic the way it is. It is a pleasure to use it, and MOST importantly, my wife loves it and is familiar with it. As usual, I continue to test it to see if I find any bugs. Maybe at some point we will have the option to use small icons in the Favorite view, but that's neither here nor there.

Thank you again for your continued dedication to this skin.

Regards,

Shedrock