[pecinko]

I have a feeling that you are trying to make a true Apple TV 2 skin, and maybe that would be your end goal. Apple does well by keeping things simple. Simple skin that would feel and look almost the same as Apple TV, but works as well as Quartz 2 would be awesome.

Yes, this is the idea. Differences are that contrary to Apple TV it will feature more than 1 view (if you enable additional views in settings).

Plan is to have fan list, fanart, and grid view which are mainly finished. Putting dialogs and other stuff in place. It's slightly quicker than Quartz 1 and it mostly has Apple TV look (it's impossible to bend XBMC entirely to Apple look).

[pecinko]

Is Quartz 1 still available somewhere (for Eden)?

Thanks

Sorry, I don't have it and don't support it for Eden. Quartz Origins will take it's place in near future.

[pecinko]

Is there a way to move this to Movies. Its probably always movies, so that would be nice.

I suppose you're using Quartz 1?

Unfortunately I can't support one user features. You can use your drive to play music, too so it get's very complicated to "solve" it on per user basis.

For what it's worth, if you press Left while on Movies section it will take you right to XBMC menu with Play disc.

[pecinko]

I do like seeing the show name and episode on the home screen. However, it looks so busy! Many of the names are too long so they auto-scroll kind of awkwardly. Not sure how you'd fix that though... it needs more lines.

Thanks for feedback. I'll think about it some more to find a way to keep it tidy. TBH, this was just quick fix. Improvements are possible, of course.

if you have a second could you get back to me about my question regarding extrafanart?

Now, this is the part when you probably start laughing - what's extra fanart? I like it light and clean so did not pay attention on extra fan art classes. I'll need to take a look what's needed skin wise to give you the answer.

If it tends to over complicate the code and/or use extra scripts, I'm afraid it won't be supported by me.

[rcrh]

Sorry, I don't have it and don't support it for Eden. Quartz Origins will take it's place in near future.

Cool. Then I'll remain on the edge of my seat, quivering with anticipation.

Thanks.

[pettergulbra]

I suppose you're using Quartz 1?

Unfortunately I can't support one user features. You can use your drive to play music, too so it get's very complicated to "solve" it on per user basis.

For what it's worth, if you press Left while on Movies section it will take you right to XBMC menu with Play disc.

I understand.

But is it possible to get the Open/Close menu to always be there
then? Not just when the DVD/CD is inserted?

Or just an Disc menu like Movies, Music, Pictures, etc. Also when a disc is not
in the drive.

If it is possible for me to make a change in an simple mode for this, I could do
it my self, but I haven't found it yet.

[pecinko]

But is it possible to get the Open/Close menu to always be there
then? Not just when the DVD/CD is inserted?

If it is possible for me to make a change in an simple mode for this, I could do
it my self, but I haven't found it yet.

That is one of the problems you run into while thinking about skin design. ATV users would not like to see it at all, as it's useless to them. OTOH, making everything optional will create settings page that nobody wishes to visit.

Open ../skin/720p/home.xml

Search for <visible>System.HasMediaDvd</visible> (should be 2 of them if I remember correctly)

Delete that line. Find next. Delete that one also.

Let me know if it helped.

[mediumdry]

Hi Pecinko, I've been away for a while. I'm very happy that you're going to re-release the old Quartz style, as I prefer it to the new home page. I am very happy to see the panel view for tv shows, it's just as I imagined. I hope it makes an appearance in Quartz origins.

As to some ideas... what is the limit of the number of favourites in the home window custom options? Currently it's capped at 5, but I was wondering if more were possible? As it is, I'm already adding a few more by renaming music to "Live TV" and only showing live streams under it, but I would prefer a few more than five. I didn't find any maximum in the Skinning manual, but I may have missed it. Would 10 be asking for too much?

And I was wondering, could they also be added under the Pictures and XBMC submenu? I suppose in theory yes... and if you don't want to add them, please let me know what files I need to be in and I'll edit the skin by hand myself, but my skills are less than stellar, so any help is appreciated.

Looking forward to the newer version, most of my XBMCs are still running Quartz-nightly 1.0.3!

[pecinko]

First of all, thanks for suggestions

happy to see the panel view for tv shows, it's just as I imagined. I hope it makes an appearance in Quartz origins.

Unfortunately, chances are very thin for that to happen, but never say never.

manual, but I may have missed it. Would 10 be asking for too much?

This is most probably going to happen, I'm not sure if I will raise it to 8 or 10.

And I was wondering, could they also be added under the Pictures and XBMC submenu? I suppose in theory yes...

I need a good reason for this to happen. You can place addon shortcuts above Pictures, but I see no good reason to mess with XBMC.

General plan is:

- Movies,TV Shows, Music, Pictures, Addons, XBMC and 1 Custom (bespoke) section on Home, probably placed as first section before Movies.
- Customizable menu items for Movies, TV, Music and Custom section.
- Customizable home shelf items for Pictures and Addons
- Now playing info shown above XBMC menu
- Recently added above Movies, TV, Music

Is there anything I have overlooked?

[skimshady]

I think the home screen is more responsive now after last update! Excellent

Still, the "total episodes" and "unwatched episodes count" for the Series overlap with TVMA (Parental Age advice), also scanning library and new content will overlap with graphics in the skin.

Is it possible to always show english subtitles automatically? So, that I dont have to navigate to the OSD and left click 3 or four times and select it.

And, is milkdrop visualization too resource heavy for the skin?

I think your aim to keep it minimalistic is correct. There are other more complex and better skins for more powerful computers; Aeon Nox is a brilliant alternative. Quartz should be focused on small minimal equipment like the ATV2.

I would really like it to auto-update library at idle hours, and not at start-up. Is it possible?

Again, very nice skin this. Thanks for the effort

[casinatorcxc]

Loving this skin, by far the best on my AT2!

I recently noticed my TV Shows are showing run times as "48 min Minutes". All of my files are prescraped before running them into XBMC so I was worried that my nfo files were storing the extra "min" portion but even when I scraped from the web the problem persisted. Do you see this as well?

Thanks!

[mediumdry]

Unfortunately, chances are very thin for that to happen, but never say never.

Consider this my "pretty please with sugar on top".

On a related note, the alternative would be to take the page from Quartz and rewrite it for Quartz Origins, possibly under a different name, although I'm not sure how much work that would take. Is it closer to a rewrite or a drop-in?

This is most probably going to happen, I'm not sure if I will raise it to 8 or 10.
[...]
I need a good reason for this to happen. You can place addon shortcuts above Pictures, but I see no good reason to mess with XBMC.

Yay for more favourites in the dropdown lists. The reason why I asked for Pictures and XBMC is that the way I've organised it now, I have movies and related things, such as trailers, then TV shows with links to tv show archives (latest news, replay-tv stuff), then Live TV (a renamed Music) with an assortment of livestream links and my slingbox. With the additional favourites, I suppose (a renamed) Pictures would be enough for additional things like addon repository management, facebook and the like that I would otherwise see under XBMC. (I was thinking of having a second livestream collection)

This way, the things I watch/use are all easily accesible without having to go a few menu's deep.

General plan is:

- Movies,TV Shows, Music, Pictures, Addons, XBMC and 1 Custom (bespoke) section on Home, probably placed as first section before Movies.
- Customizable menu items for Movies, TV, Music and Custom section.
- Customizable home shelf items for Pictures and Addons
- Now playing info shown above XBMC menu
- Recently added above Movies, TV, Music
Is there anything I have overlooked?

Seems great as a skin. For my use, I would have the menu bar be higher and not have anything above it (no recently added there, I prefer it as a link in the section). Also, I have no interest in a "now playing" part. I'd be watching the now playing bit...

Is there any way to have the bespoke section be moveable? I'd prefer it as the one before XBMC and keep Movies as the option on the left, either first or last, depending on your reading (my wife comes from a right-to-left background)

Either way, my use of XBMC is not all round enough to be a good base for an all-purpose skin, I am just grateful that Quartz 1 and Quartz Origins work so well for my purpose!

[pecinko]

Loving this skin, by far the best on my AT2!

I recently noticed my TV Shows are showing run times as "48 min Minutes". All of my files are prescraped before running them into XBMC so I was worried that my nfo files were storing the extra "min" portion but even when I scraped from the web the problem persisted. Do you see this as well?

Thanks!

Take a look at your NFO file and you'll find extra min/Minutes added. Remove it from Ember or whatever you use for metadata.

[pecinko]

Still, the "total episodes" and "unwatched episodes count" for the Series overlap with TVMA (Parental Age advice), also scanning library and new content will overlap with graphics in the skin.

Could you post a screenshot regarding TVMA?

Is it possible to always show english subtitles automatically? So, that I dont have to navigate to the OSD and left click 3 or four times and select it.

This is controlled by XBMC. Use UP/DOWN in OSD to quick jump to options.

There are other more complex and better skins for more powerful computers

I disagree

I would really like it to auto-update library at idle hours, and not at start-up. Is it possible?

Controlled by XBMC, nothing I can do here.

[pecinko]

On a related note, the alternative would be to take the page from Quartz and rewrite it for Quartz Origins, possibly under a different name, although I'm not sure how much work that would take. Is it closer to a rewrite or a drop-in?

Hard to tell ATM. You may be missing some textures.

Is there any way to have the bespoke section be moveable? I'd prefer it as the one before XBMC and keep Movies as the option on the left, either first or last, depending on your reading (my wife comes from a right-to-left background)

Alternative placement I considered is between Add-ons and XBMC section. Hard to tell which is better. I'm not sure if I will be able to provide option to choose between the two.

Thanks for suggestions.