[nonJon]

Hat tip to the creator of Quartz: pecinko

It's here!

[nonJon]

Change log

2024-05-30 [v5.21.0]

• omega release
  

2023-01-31 [v5.20.0]

• nexus release
  
• plot displayed for movie sets where applicable
  
• skin for global search add-on
  
• remove support for MIA skin.backup and skin.helper add-ons
  

2023-01-31[v5.19.1]

• improved seekbar
  
• plot displayed for movie set where applicable
  
• skin for global search add-on
  
• remove support for MIA skin.backup and skin.helper add-ons
  

2020-04-17 [v5.19.0]

• matrix release
  

2020-10-06 [v5.4.11]

• video player seekbar now properly displays step-size/position when seeking using directional buttons
  
• hide time/temp while screensaver is active
  

2020-04-12 [v5.4.10]

• movie director is searchable in video info dialog
  
• proper skin for pvr channel guide that somehow slipped thru the cracks
  
• new skin settings category:icons for hiding various UI elements
  
• add 'Play program' button to pvr info dialog
  
• improved add-on browser
  
• add Auto-update and Dependencies buttons to add-on info dialog
  
• new sideblade menu option 'Choose art' allows custom wallpapers for embedded players (pvr channels/recordings views)
  
• cleaner options menus resize on the fly rather than include disabled (grayed out) entries
  
• add watched/unwatched progress overlays for icons and big icons views
  
• add 4K badge for list-type media views
  
• add option to animate fanart background in fullscreen music player
  

2020-01-30 [v5.4.9]

• reskinned video info dialog w/respect to actors
  
• new weather widget - see skin settings category: General
  
• added icons for 480p, 540p, 576p & 4K media
  
• improved player status textures for seekbar
  
• added volume icon to seekbar
  
• file manager path fix
  
• enable HD icons for fanart 1 & 2 media views
  
• numerous bug fixes and UI tweaks
  

2019-10-15 [v5.4.8]

• new skin setting to mute now-playing background video - category: player
  
• fix thumb placement for music videos in media info view
  
• added volume muted indicator to the right of the system clock
  
• improved volume dialog
  
• added elapsed/duration time display for music now-playing shelf
  
• "Use extened info bar for OSD" skin setting now applies to seekbar when video playback is paused
  

2019-04-01 [v5.4.7]

• fanart slideshow for homepage
  
• enable icon view for music/artists
  
• added KodiTV MultiPass support
  

2019-02-17 [v5.4.6]

• filter/search support
  
• improved video info window
  
• surface libreELEC config add-on in settings
  
• improved navigation for settings dialog
  
• dismiss ext info bar on video OSD exit
  
• reduced footprint for slider dialog
  

2019-01-24 [v5.4.5]

• game support
  

2018-12-07 [v5.4.4]

• bump xbmc.gui version to 5.14.0
  

2018-10-30 [v5.4.3]

• fixed UI glitch induced by v5.4.2
  

2018-10-25 [v5.4.2]

• improved textures for angular theme
  
• added random option for populating movie shelf
  
• added PVR fullscreen HUD for 0-9 direct channel input
  
• improved autosizing of context menus w/scroll indicators for large lists
  
• bug fixes
  

2018-08-24 [v5.4.1]

• new skin theme - angular
  
• improved scrolling animation for add-on browser
  
• fixed 'In progress' link for TV shows sub-menu on home screen
  
• language files cleanup
  

2018-08-08 [v5.4.0]

• leia release
  

2018-08-02

• new skin setting - category: Homepage
  

2018-07-31

• playlist window gets improved handling of mixed media and background video/fanart support
  
• added default icon for music sources
  

2018-07-29

• removed deprecated audio codec option from music OSD menu
  

2018-07-28

• added rudimentary progress indicator to TCM wrapper
  
• minor cosmetic changes to mypvrchannels window
  

2018-07-18

• options menus go on a diet to match context menus
  
• improved handling of video player covers and tv logos for video info OSD and now playing shelf
  
• fixed display of live tv program end time in video info OSD
  
• fixed truncation of 3 digit temps in weather app
  
• fixed truncation of plot/synopsis in media info and media info 2 views
  

2018-07-14

• video bookmarks window get a new look
  
• fixed a couple menus ignoring the no animation setting
  

2018-07-12

• added poster image and 'show fanart' button to video info window
  
• improved animation for large lists
  
• improved handling of fanart on home screen
  
• numerous/minor cosmetic improvements
  

2018-07-10

• added recently recorded option for auto-populating tv/pvr media shelf
  
• new skin setting to select recently watched or recently recorded for tv media shelf - see Settings>Skin>Homepage/Home media shelf customizer
  

2018-07-08

• added episode thumbnail option for populating tv shows media shelf
  
• new skin setting to choose thumbnails or posters for tv shows shelf - see Settings>Skin>Homepage/Home media shelf customizer
  
• added category icons for initial settings window
  

2018-07-07

• PVR (not just live tv) is now fully supported
  

2018-06-30

• new advanced skin setting for slower hardware - see FAQ
  

2018-06-26

• added background video capability to the skin
  
• new skin setting to disable video playing in the background - category: Player
  

2018-06-25

• improved PVRrecordings window
  
• bug fixes
  

2018-06-20

• port related bug fixes for music playlist editor and smart playlist editor
  

2018-06-18

• Settings>System information window gets a complete makeover
  
• added support for RSS ticker w/skinsettings level control - category: Homepage
  
• added two new skin fonts
  
• clock is now overlayed for consistent presentation throughout the skin
  
• improved consistency of window headers
  
• epg genre tweaks
  

2018-06-16

• new skin settings - category:Menus
  
• autoscroll and scrollbar settings now default to active
  
• improved layout for dialog confirm
  
• fixed issue with kiosk setting being ignored
  
• epg tweaks
  

2018-06-12

• added Fanart 1 & 2 views from Quartz 4
  
• new skin setting category to disable unused views - this can improve UI performance on low power devices
  

2018-06-10

• added 4 new skin settings - category: Player
  

2018-06-08

• EPG mark 3
  
• fixed issue with subtitle call from OSD menu
  

2018-06-06

• new skin setting to select recently added or recently played for populating the music shelf - see Settings>Skin>Homepage>Home media shelf customizer
  
• added auto scroll for plot in live tv channels view
  

2018-06-04

• enhancements to EPG
  
• increased movie/tvshow media shelf item limit to 14
  

2018-06-01

• added TCM utility - see comment above
  

2018-05-31

• improved live tv channel switching
  
• added support for channel switch preview
  
• added proper player caching indicator to fullscreen video player
  
• fixed conditional visibility issue when summoning video codec from OSD menu
  

2018-05-30

• fixed issue with the PVR sideblade menu deploying when it shouldn't
  

2018-05-29

• reorganized skin settings categories to make way for new features
  
• new skin setting to hide Live TV link on homepage
  

2018-05-28

• improved scrolling animation for live TV channel list
  

2018-05-18

• added watched content indicators per user request
  
• watched and unwatched/progress indicators are now off by default
  
• added dynamic sort letter badge for scrolling in movie/music views - on demand page control (right arrow) is unaffected by this change
  
• added a slew of default icons appropriated from Estuary
  
• improved DialogVideoInfo with respect to actors/roles and default thumbs
  
• port related bug fixes
  

2018-05-10

• new skin setting to play music fullscreen
  
• fullscreen music player now defaults to showing fanart
  
• new skin setting to hide fanart in fullscreen music player
  

2018-08-015

• new skin theme - Angular
  

2018-08-06

• reskinned video bookmarks backported from leia
  

2018-05-19

• shortened animation time for Media info 2 view
  
• moved all/watched/unwatched toggle to the top of the movies option menu
  
• reorganized skin settings categories to make way for new features - coming soon
  

2018-05-17

• added watched content indicators per user request
  
• watched and unwatched/progress indicators are now off by default
  

2018-05-16

• default icons phase 2 - more granular control delivering improved icon diversity
  
• added dynamic sort letter badge for scrolling in movie/music views - on demand page control (right arrow) is unaffected by this change
  

2018-05-13

• added a slew of default icons appropriated from Estuary - hope this change is well received
  

2018-05-11

• improved DialogVideoInfo with respect to actors/roles and default thumbs
  

2018-05-09

• improved wrapper for TCM
  
• Spinal Tap inspired option for 'Background art visibility' setting
  

2018-05-07

• added TCM utility to skin archive and advanced settings - see comment above
  
• OSD transparency setting applies to seekbar now as well
  

2018-05-03

• new skin setting to play music fullscreen
  
• fullscreen music player now defaults to showing fanart
  
• new skin setting to hide fanart in fullscreen music player
  
• improvements to main settings screen
  

2018-04-23

• added a couple more notches to menu transparency settings and made the defaults less aggressive
  
• transparency settings now apply to side-blade menus as well
  

2018-04-21

• complete overhaul of Q5CE menus - see comment above for details
  
• added skin for CU LRC Lyrics
  
• music OSD gets new control textures
  

2018-04-15

• improvements to music info dialog
  
• added user rating to music visualizer - keyboard shortcut 'PageUp' 'PageDown'
  
• focused video player control now tints to selected skin color rather than hard-coded orange
  
• music player OSD gets the same treatment
  

2018-04-13

• skin archive now contains packed textures for improved render performance
  
• fixed issue with PVR not correctly displaying subchannel numbers
  

2018-04-11

• video bookmarks functionality restored
  
• added video info to options OSD menu
  
• fixed conditional visibility issues across OSD components
  
• reskinned codec OSD to shrink footprint and segregate PVR/Player info into tabs
  

2018-04-08

• fixed display issue with DialogSlider - keyboard shortcut 'a'
  
• added new skin colors
  
• added custom home background art feature - experimental
  

2018-04-06

• fixed missing metadata in add-on browser/info views
  
• codec info is now available during full screen video playback - keyboard shortcut 'o'
  

2018-04-05

• skin settings gets a new look, additional options and categories with which to organize them
  
• event log viewer fixes
  

2018-03-28

• improvements to full screen OSD
  
• improvements to video info OSD
  
• improvements to progress dialog
  

2018-03-27

• port related bug fixes
  
• complete overhaul of the music playlist editor
  
• cosmetic changes to smart playlist editor
  
• channel group switching for DialogPVRChannelsOSD
  

2018-03-24

• port related bug fixes
  
• improvements to weather
  
• removed Last FM button from music info views
  
• propagated configurable fanart transparency to all views
  
• cosmetic change to numeric keypad
  
• DialogPVRChannelsOSD altered for visual continuity
  

[nonJon]

reserved

[nonJon]

Quartz 5.21.0 is now available from the official kodi repo. Please to enjoy.

[Chang]

Thank you @nonjon 

[nonJon]

you're welcome

[ceejayemm]

Thanks very much for taking on the maintenance of this skin, I am glad to see it now properly supported in Omega 21.

The skin is great and makes things a lot clearer for me in Kodi, being able to easily modify the menu items to get rid of a lot of things I don't use in Kodi.  Could I ask if one small, minor, change could be made to the TV / Guide items.  It would be really useful if having selected a programme from the TV Guide to be recorded, either as an individual recording or as a series (Timer) recording, that the programme item in the Guide is marked in some way to show a recording/Timer has been setup.  Other skins do this by adding a icon (which tends to be not very visible) or by highlighting the Guide programme item in some way (turning the item red is my preference) but unfortunately at present the Quartz skin does not seem to do this, it would be great if it could be made to do so.  As noted earlier my preference would be by the use of a highlight colour (red in my case) but if this could be customised so much the better. 

If it matters I use the NextPVR PVR Client from the Kodi repository and get the guide details via a remote NextPVR server. Using the NextPVR web app to access the remote NextPVR server I can see that NextPVR does indeed colour the Guide item when a recording has been setup but this is not then being returned back into the Quartz skin. The NextPVR support team tell me that this is a function of the skin developer to carry this forward into the skin. Other Omega skins do indeed translate this in their own ways when a recording is setup.

Many thanks again for your efforts to date.

Chris

[nonJon]

@ceejayemm welcome to the kodi forum

The problem with using a highlight to indicate recording is the EPG genre fill palette. Perhaps you're not seeing this because of your schedule provider...



Note that, for most of us, sporting events are color filled red so a red highlight would be illegible. No color is going to work without ditching EPG genres altogether. That would be a jarring change that's sure to displease some users including me. ;-)

I thought about underlining text for this purpose but that too has drawbacks. Will think more on this subject...

[ceejayemm]

Thanks for at least considering this request.

I had often wondered what the coloured blocks within the TV Guide represented but I have never seen an explanation as to what the colours represented, may be I just hadn't looked hard enough :-)  If a highlight block is probably out of the question - how about using a highlighted border or frame around the program set to be recorded ?  In this way it wouldn't interfere with the exiting colour block meanings.

Regards.

Chris