[nomaanc]

if a video is paused the screensaver does not start. I think this should be implemented as it is a "screen saver" prevents burn-in

[jmarshall]

This is by design. If a video is playing, the screen will dim to around 20% brightness. This should be sufficient to prevent burn-in. If your not sure, then switch to the GUI - the screensaver should kick in then I think?

Cheers,
Jonathan

[lexicon]

I too have been wondering why paused video gets a dim, and not the Black Screen screen saver I have set. Is it some side effect of active video playback, or could you in fact make xbmc respect the user's chosen screen saver?

Would all black be better than dimmed (i.e. dim to 0% and not 20%)? (Where in the sources would I look to try to change this for myself?)

--thanks.

[nomaanc]

This is by design. If a video is playing, the screen will dim to around 20% brightness. This should be sufficient to prevent burn-in. If your not sure, then switch to the GUI - the screensaver should kick in then I think?

Cheers,
Jonathan

ic maybe there could be a setting to change the brightness of the dimness?

[LaTropa64]

I have my screensaver to 10% dim and, unless I'm dreaming, played videos get dimmed to the 10% also.

[lexicon]

I have my screensaver to 10% dim and, unless I'm dreaming, played videos get dimmed to the 10% also.

nope, you're not dreaming. I found the code in application.cpp, and it takes the dimness that's set (20% unless user's changed it) if a dialog is active or video is playing.

In the gui, the spinner only goes 10-80%, so it can't be forced to 0% (all black).

So, it looks to me like Black or any other screen saver should be just as valid an option as Dim, so why not allow it in the code. With all us nervous plasma owners, it would make for peace of mind.

[Livin]

Having a screen saver in place of the dim would be nice...
I get distracted sometimes and forget I had my show on pause while I'm busy doing other things for long periods of time... like work.

Anyway, if the screensaver was on and some text that said "Press Any Button to Resume Video" would fade in and out somewhere on the screen (like in the 4 corners randomly - again to avoid burn), we'd know if it was a paused video or just the std screensaver.

[lexicon]

Having a screen saver in place of the dim would be nice...
I get distracted sometimes and forget I had my show on pause while I'm busy doing other things for long periods of time... like work.

exactly

Anyway, if the screensaver was on and some text that said "Press Any Button to Resume Video" would fade in and out somewhere on the screen (like in the 4 corners randomly - again to avoid burn), we'd know if it was a paused video or just the std screensaver.

nah, too fancy/not possible, why bother. The real point is, why should it be a different screensaver than the one the user chose? You pause your show, walk away, and come back 5 minutes later or a week later, it's in screensaver mode, you hit any button, and you see where you left off. Whether a home window, menu, or playing video - same diff.

[ultrabrutal]

Yes I have to agree. It's weird and annoying that it dims which is not good for plasma. Temp burnins happen at 20% also on my LG

[spiff]

there are technical reasons why we can't run the screensavers while in fullscreen video. to save mem, the gpu's z buffers are disabled during video playback (after all, video is 2D). some of them screen savers requires z buffers -> no go.

[lexicon]

there are technical reasons why we can't run the screensavers while in fullscreen video. to save mem, the gpu's z buffers are disabled during video playback (after all, video is 2D). some of them screen savers requires z buffers -> no go.

fair enough - so how about dim to 0% instead? Or, really what I should say is, how about allow the Dim screen saver setting spinner to go to 0% (right now it has a minimum 10%).

Or (and I know you may not like this one, since extra cases are frowned upon), but if the ss is "Black", then use it, else use the Dim value?

anyway, just some thoughts.

[lexicon]

I just threw a patch up on the tracker for this, if anybody who can compile for themselves wants to try it. Patch # 1624699.

It just involves changing 1 line in application.cpp to force a Black screensaver instead of forcing Dim.

Alternatively, I think you can change this line in GUISettings.cpp - CGUISettings to allow the Dim settings spinner to go down to 0.

Code:

from:  

AddInt(7, "screensaver.dimlevel", 362, 20, 10, 10, 80, SPIN_CONTROL_INT_PLUS, MASK_PERCENT);

to:

AddInt(7, "screensaver.dimlevel", 362, 20, 0, 10, 80, SPIN_CONTROL_INT_PLUS, MASK_PERCENT);

[lexicon]

OK, first, if you can't compile but really want to get a black screen instead of dimmed screensaver during paused video or active dialog, do this:

/userdata/guisettings.xml - find this section and set the dim level to 0
<screensaver>
<dimlevel>0</dimlevel>

Second, I'm casting a vote to have the spinner control range changed from 10-80% to 0-80%.

This involves a minor edit to 1 line of code, it won't affect anybody's existing settings, it won't change the behaviour of anything else, and it will allow nervous plasma owners to properly configure things the way they want.

(Also, I just added a description of this behaviour to the wiki: http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/wiki/inde...e_Settings)

Sound good?

[lexicon]

/userdata/guisettings.xml - find this section and set the dim level to 0
<screensaver>
<dimlevel>0</dimlevel>

Or, maybe the preferred approach at the moment (until the ability to set fade level to 0 gets into svn ) is via advancedsettings.xml. guisettings.xml is not recommended for manual editing.

Code:

<advancedsettings>
    <screensaver>
        <dimlevel>0</dimlevel>
    </screensaver>
<advancedsettings>

of course, this will completely remove the Fade Level control from the gui, so you need to remember what you did.

[lexicon]

fyi: spiff just committed the "allow user to set dimlevel=0" change, so if you're running any build Jan. 6 or later, you don't need the advancedsettings.xml option specified. (Of course, if you do spec it, then you never need to worry about it again...).

wiki page updated