[bsoriano]

So just doing some more testing on this skin as i go and thought I would just point out a few small flaws ive seen so far, they are NOT high priority type bugs, but just stuff ive noticed..
    1- In Music OSD, theres no button for turning on/off Lyrics. There is a button that lets you select the lyrics provider addon, but no button to enable/Disable, (unless you turn it on in crclyrics to automatically display lyrics all the time)
    2-When bottom shortcuts are enabled, the now playing section on the home screen is covered up by the Main menu bar (Depending on what music info you select to show, like next tracks)

-For touchscreen:
    3-It would be nice if the scrollbars were a little more visible. I couldnt figure out how to navigate the PVR guide for example untill I saw that small dot on the right side for the scrollbar, lol.
    4-The touchscreen controls at the very top are so tiny it makes it very hard to use even with your finger. (Especially with my Galaxy Note 20 that has curved glass at the edges, lol)
    5-When any Video or music is playing in the background, the touchscreen stops working for some reason when you navigate back to the main menu, you can no longer navigate until you stop the playing media. Might be hard for you to test unless you have a touchscreen device. But this is still the best skin so far for touchscreens, so very happy about that!!!

Heres a pic of the home screen info being blocked..Just un unforseen side effect of adding botton shortcuts I know..

@jdig4240 , I have added code to Amber to Enable/Disable Lyrics.  First, you will find a global skin setting to "Disable Lyrics".  By default it is set to No.  You can find the new setting here:



Second, there is now a toggle in the Music OSD to "Activate Lyrics".  This in essence toggles the global setting.  The new setting looks like this:



If lyrics were not started for this item, you can then click on the Lyrics button on the settings popup to run the lyrics addon and get them started.  If you click the new setting again, lyrics will not show.

Please let me know if this is what you were looking for.  Thanks.

Regards,

Bart

Nice!!, Yes. Exactly. Thank you again!

@jdig4240 , thanks for confirming.

Regards,

Bart

[billyrene]

ok so here are a some issues i discovered from within the info dialogue

1. if you are in the info dialogue from anywhere within the library , a shelv or OSD, and get the info on an actor and end up here


to whatever info dialogue you go on from here, movie, tv show or episode the title is mising


if you highlight a movie at the bottom here, same director etc., the highlited movie title shows up on top as actual title


if you should select information on this particular movie here, on the next info dialogue you have the same issue with the title and it also keeps the runtime from the first movie, same thing with tv shows

2. if you pull up the info dialogue on a tv show, from within library, shelf or anywhere you get of course t
if you select a similar tv series, same year etc. from the bottom, star trek in this case it kicks you out of the info dialogue. if you choose info on the selected tv show you have the runtime issue again as explained above.

@billyrene , thank you for providing these.  Could you please try the latest from GitHub? I think I solved these issues.  In terms of selecting a similar series, what should happen now is that Amber will take you to that tv show if it is in your library.  Thanks.

Regards,

Bart

1. seems to be working pretty good

2. this only seems to be working if you do this from outside the library. like if you get the tv show info from a shelf, then select a similar tv show it takes you to that certain tv show within the library like you said. if you do the same thing from within the library it takes you back to the tv show you first got the info for. tbh i wasn't even thinking something that elaborate but in both cases maybe simply opening the info dialgue for the similar tv show

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. if you get the info dialogue for a movie from anywhere, OSD, shelf, library and from here you open another info dialogue for a movie ie. "also directed by" or "more from the same year". like this:



in the info dialogue that you get from here the actors seem to be missing. i honestly don't know what else is missing since i only use actors, director and same year

4. if you choose to enable the option "show only local info" you choose an actor you get of course this popup



compared here the other view when the "show only local info" option is disabled.



now in this view you have those nice separators that let you know what kind of a job the actor did on a certain movie, show etc. could this be implemented somehow in the popup dialogue from the first image as well? sometimes actors do also write or direct, which i find interesting, and  this info is not really given in the popup if "show only local info" is enabled.

5. also kind of related to the above, if you have the "show only local info" option enabled and get the popup dialogue (img1 from point 4.), you can browse the info dialogue pretty much forever, getting info on an actor, then a movie, then a director maybe and so on.  until you hit close you can do that indefinitely

if you have the option disabled, and get the window from img2 from point 4, you can only do this once. let's say you get the info dialogue for a movie, select an actor, then get the window from img2 point 4, select a movie tv show or whatever there you get another info dialogue. from this info dialogue you cannot go on. if you select an actor, movie info etc. there it kicks you out....

hope i explained well enough for you to replicate this. i know it's getting kinda complicated, i just like to browse the info dialogue and came across this issue.

[bsoriano]

ok so here are a some issues i discovered from within the info dialogue

1. if you are in the info dialogue from anywhere within the library , a shelv or OSD, and get the info on an actor and end up here


to whatever info dialogue you go on from here, movie, tv show or episode the title is mising


if you highlight a movie at the bottom here, same director etc., the highlited movie title shows up on top as actual title


if you should select information on this particular movie here, on the next info dialogue you have the same issue with the title and it also keeps the runtime from the first movie, same thing with tv shows

2. if you pull up the info dialogue on a tv show, from within library, shelf or anywhere you get of course t
if you select a similar tv series, same year etc. from the bottom, star trek in this case it kicks you out of the info dialogue. if you choose info on the selected tv show you have the runtime issue again as explained above.

@billyrene , thank you for providing these.  Could you please try the latest from GitHub? I think I solved these issues.  In terms of selecting a similar series, what should happen now is that Amber will take you to that tv show if it is in your library.  Thanks.

Regards,

Bart

1. seems to be working pretty good

2. this only seems to be working if you do this from outside the library. like if you get the tv show info from a shelf, then select a similar tv show it takes you to that certain tv show within the library like you said. if you do the same thing from within the library it takes you back to the tv show you first got the info for. tbh i wasn't even thinking something that elaborate but in both cases maybe simply opening the info dialgue for the similar tv show

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. if you get the info dialogue for a movie from anywhere, OSD, shelf, library and from here you open another info dialogue for a movie ie. "also directed by" or "more from the same year". like this:



in the info dialogue that you get from here the actors seem to be missing. i honestly don't know what else is missing since i only use actors, director and same year

4. if you choose to enable the option "show only local info" you choose an actor you get of course this popup



compared here the other view when the "show only local info" option is disabled.



now in this view you have those nice separators that let you know what kind of a job the actor did on a certain movie, show etc. could this be implemented somehow in the popup dialogue from the first image as well? sometimes actors do also write or direct, which i find interesting, and  this info is not really given in the popup if "show only local info" is enabled.

5. also kind of related to the above, if you have the "show only local info" option enabled and get the popup dialogue (img1 from point 4.), you can browse the info dialogue pretty much forever, getting info on an actor, then a movie, then a director maybe and so on.  until you hit close you can do that indefinitely

if you have the option disabled, and get the window from img2 from point 4, you can only do this once. let's say you get the info dialogue for a movie, select an actor, then get the window from img2 point 4, select a movie tv show or whatever there you get another info dialogue. from this info dialogue you cannot go on. if you select an actor, movie info etc. there it kicks you out....

hope i explained well enough for you to replicate this. i know it's getting kinda complicated, i just like to browse the info dialogue and came across this issue.

@billyrene , thank you for the additional feedback.

I will not be able to do anything more about 2 or 3.  I am really extending the functionality of the video info dialog as it is.

In terms of 4, there is nothing I can do, since that local info only search is controlled by Kodi itself.  That is why, as you point out in 5, you can keep going on as long as you wish browsing the info dialog, since Kodi itself is keeping track of the window history and so on.

When I redesigned the info dialog in Amber, I wanted to make sure that it had as much functionality as possible, since also like to browse the info dialog.  The full functionality of the info dialog is achieved in Amber if you enable the use of TMDbHelper and Embuary Helper.  The settings are here:



Embuary Helper you can get from the Kodi repo for Matrix (or install it from the Manage Dependencies page in the Amber settings).  TMDb Helper, while it is in the Kodi repo, there is a very old version there, and Amber is coded to use newer functionality from that addon.  So, I encourage you to download jurialmunkey's repo (he is the author of the addon), from here: https://github.com/jurialmunkey/reposito...ey-2.0.zip

And install TMDb Helper from that repo.

When you have TMDb Helper and Embuary Helper enabled in Amber, if you click on an actor in the video info dialog you get this:



Which allows you to either search online in TMDb for info on the actor, or search locally.  If you choose to search online, you get this:



Which provides you information on the actor, including movies in which the person was a cast member, movies where the person was a crew member, and also tv shows where the person was a cast member and crew member.  Also pictures of the person from TMDb.  So for Daisy Ridley above, the rest of the screen is:





If you click on any of the movies or tv shows from this screen, you will get an info dialog for that movie or tv show, and you can continue doing this on and on, since TMDb Helper is keeping track of the window history.

If on the other hand, you select to search locally, you get this dialog that you are already familiar with:




You can click on an item in this dialog and you will get an info dialog for the item.  The info dialog should be complete, including actors.  By the way, I am not sure if you knew that you can decide which custom lists, besides the cast, are shown in the info dialog.  You can find the setting here:



If you notice from above, I have selected the ones you said in your post that you like to see (Director and Year). 

Another interesting point of searching online using TMDb Helper, is that the movies/tv shows that are returned have an indicator for the ones that are in your database, like you see here:



You can see the indicator in the top right corner of the posters for the tv shows that I have in my library from the ones shown.  You can get the indicators to show in the top right corner by tunring on this setting:




I will not say that this is all perfect, since TMDb Helper tends to be slower than just local info, since it has to go online to get information.  Also, if you search locally for an actor, you need to continue to search online for any actor after the first one, or else you will get a blank page that you will need to press Back or Escape from.  This is an issue in my code that I have not been able to figure out, but it is an edge case that I have not gotten complaints about and has a workaround, so I am not planning to investigate it further.

I encourage you to play around with online searches and having TMDb Helper and Embuary Helper active.

The info dialog can do a few other things, but I will put those in a separate post.

Regards,

Bart

[bsoriano]

@billyrene , here are some of the other things that the info dialog can do, in case you have not found them yet:

1. You can click on the Director, and Amber will search where this person has appeared.  If you have TMDb Helper and Embuary Helper enabled, you can choose whether the search is local or online. 






If online, you get the same person info dialog I showed before for an actor, with the same functionality:



If you search locally, you get this:




2. You can do the same thing with writer.  If there are multiple people for director or writer, Amber will show you a dialog to choose for which one you want to do the search, after you select to search either online or locally.

3. You can also click on Genre, and search either locally:





Or online:



As you can see from above, you also have the indicators which show which items you have in your library.

4. You can click on country, and Amber will search locally for which movies you have from that country.  The search here is only local, since the TMDb API does not have a search by country functionality.  So you would get this;



5.  Finally, you can also click on Studio, with the same functionality of searching online or locally, including deciding for which one you want to do the search if there are more than one.  In the example below, I searched locally:






I hope this gives you a better idea of the capabilities of the video info dialog in Amber.

Regards,

Bart

[crazyhands911]

@bsoriano 
This has been gone for me for a little while now, but is not used all that frequently since most movie sets are recognized, but I no longer have the option to create a new collection, only select an existing collection. I can still remove from a collection if I no longer want a movie in a collection or change the collection it is in, just not make a new one. So for instance, I would like to create a Justice League Collection and put both versions of the movie in it. I currently am unable to do so. This is primarily used by me with stand up comedy where I group the specials for each comedian into a collection. Thanks for any advice you can provide. I thought perhaps a helper or something got defaulted to off or something, similar to the issue I had with the alphabet strip disappearing and I had to re-enable the Embruary Helper.

[bsoriano]

@bsoriano 
This has been gone for me for a little while now, but is not used all that frequently since most movie sets are recognized, but I no longer have the option to create a new collection, only select an existing collection. I can still remove from a collection if I no longer want a movie in a collection or change the collection it is in, just not make a new one. So for instance, I would like to create a Justice League Collection and put both versions of the movie in it. I currently am unable to do so. This is primarily used by me with stand up comedy where I group the specials for each comedian into a collection. Thanks for any advice you can provide. I thought perhaps a helper or something got defaulted to off or something, similar to the issue I had with the alphabet strip disappearing and I had to re-enable the Embruary Helper.

@crazyhands911 , thanks for reporting this.  The button is there, it just has the wrong label (OK is the incorrect label in your screenshot).  

I just fixed this on GitHub, please download and test and let me know that it is indeed fixed.  Thanks.

Regards,

Bart

[jdig4240]

Hey bsoriano, can you refresh my memory on why there isnt an option for wrapped menu for horizontal home menu? What problems do you think this would cause if changed?

[bsoriano]

Hey bsoriano, can you refresh my memory on why there isnt an option for wrapped menu for horizontal home menu? What problems do you think this would cause if changed?

@jdig4240 , there is no reason.  I inherited the skin with fixedlist for horizontal menu.  From an essential skin functionality, there should be no issue with a wraplist.  As far as I know, Kodi has an issue with wraplists on touchscreens.

I will add an option for this, instead of changing it.

Regards,

Bart

[jdig4240]

Hey bsoriano, can you refresh my memory on why there isnt an option for wrapped menu for horizontal home menu? What problems do you think this would cause if changed?

@jdig4240 , there is no reason.  I inherited the skin with fixedlist for horizontal menu.  From an essential skin functionality, there should be no issue with a wraplist.  As far as I know, Kodi has an issue with wraplists on touchscreens.

I will add an option for this, instead of changing it.

Regards,

Bart

I appreciate everything your doing to improve this skin. Thank you!

[jdig4240]

Hey bsoriano, can you refresh my memory on why there isnt an option for wrapped menu for horizontal home menu? What problems do you think this would cause if changed?

@jdig4240 , there is no reason.  I inherited the skin with fixedlist for horizontal menu.  From an essential skin functionality, there should be no issue with a wraplist.  As far as I know, Kodi has an issue with wraplists on touchscreens.

I will add an option for this, instead of changing it.

Regards,

Bart

I appreciate everything your doing to improve this skin. Thank you!

I will also test this on Touchscreen and let you know if it causes any functionality loss.

[bsoriano]

Hey bsoriano, can you refresh my memory on why there isnt an option for wrapped menu for horizontal home menu? What problems do you think this would cause if changed?

@jdig4240 , there is no reason.  I inherited the skin with fixedlist for horizontal menu.  From an essential skin functionality, there should be no issue with a wraplist.  As far as I know, Kodi has an issue with wraplists on touchscreens.

I will add an option for this, instead of changing it.

Regards,

Bart

I appreciate everything your doing to improve this skin. Thank you!

@jdig4240 , you are very welcome.  The changes are already on GitHub.  You can find the new setting here:



Please let me know if this is what you were looking for.  Thanks.

Regards,

Bart

[Reynald]

Hello, would you agree to create an option to simplify this view?
I would like to remove the director and information options (timing etc). Leave only the summary and genre.
And it would be nice to have an opacity option on the black matte, to reduce it a bit. I find it takes a lot of space on the fanart. If you can accept I would be happy.



I also have a suggestion. in list view especially. I find the font too big. (also lacking in style)


The size of the series titles. it's less pretty than the rest of the information.

[jdig4240]

@jdig4240 , there is no reason.  I inherited the skin with fixedlist for horizontal menu.  From an essential skin functionality, there should be no issue with a wraplist.  As far as I know, Kodi has an issue with wraplists on touchscreens.

I will add an option for this, instead of changing it.

Regards,

Bart

I appreciate everything your doing to improve this skin. Thank you!

@jdig4240 , you are very welcome.  The changes are already on GitHub.  You can find the new setting here:



Please let me know if this is what you were looking for.  Thanks.

Regards,

Bart

Tested wraparound. You were right. It does not work with Touchscreens, but works fine otherwise with remote/keyboard. So thank-you!

[BriceysCousin]

is it possible to view original titles that use a different alphabet? is there some kind of font file i could download?

i;m using kodi w/ amber skin on my Nvidia shield, and when i try to view information about certain movie titles (japanese in this example) in my library, the original title doesnt display correctly

as if it's missing fonts:

[bsoriano]

is it possible to view original titles that use a different alphabet? is there some kind of font file i could download?

i;m using kodi w/ amber skin on my Nvidia shield, and when i try to view information about certain movie titles (japanese in this example) in my library, the original title doesnt display correctly

as if it's missing fonts:

@BriceysCousin , you can change the skin font to either Arial Based or Arial Based No Caps.  You do it via the Interface Settings in Kodi:



In the example above I chose Arial Based No Caps.  This results in the following for an info dialog of a movie with an original title in Chinese:



Please let me know if this is what you were looking for.  Thanks.

Regards,

Bart