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FR: MBT - Photo slideshow screensaver


mattykellyuk

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mattykellyuk

 Hi thanks everyone for the work really loving mb3.

 

My wife really misses the media centre screensaver that pops up random photos from your photo library. Is there any chance of having this feature in mb theatre?

 

Thanks

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Shaun

Posted Today, 08:31 AM

I'm in the process of  generalising the screen saver infrastructure and will add a photo screen saver as a part of the process.  

 

That said, we are in the process of doing a major restructure of MBT internals, which will have to be complete first. Hopefully I can have an alpha of the screen saver available in a few weeks.

 

shaun

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Shaun

I like the Apple TV photo screen saver, I have not seen the Media Centre one. I will a have a look.

Does XBMC have one ?

Does anyone else have any others they like ?

Are there any other I should look at ?

 

shaun

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BATTLE DONKEY

The media centre photo screensaver is a black background n the photos are laid out in a grid pattern. The camera pans over the photos zooming in on individual photos for a few seconds before backing out again.

 

If u want to attempt something with a little more animation and a bit of a 3d look there are a few apps on the Google play store (I'm searching for a specific one I remember but can't find it)...

Best way I can describe it is that if u can picture a flat table surface with 4 people standing at either side of it. As the camera pans around the table in a clockwise pattern it looks as if the 4 people are throwing photos on the table randomly. The photos spin from off screen landing slowly on the table in random spots, on top of each other, beside, etc. As the camera keeps panning around it refreshes so that the table ahead is always clear and there is room for a continuous stream of photos to keep getting "thrown" individually onto the table.

 

I'll try to find the name of the app and edit this post if I can

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The other interesting part about the WMC saver is that, when in the grid (which isn't just a simple grid but a layout of photo frames) all the photos are black and white and, as it zooms in on one of them, it phases into full color.

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Aphid

The lock screen screensaver thing that Windows 8 does it pretty nice. It alternates between displaying a few random pictures in a non-uniform grid, or displaying a picture full-screen, with slide in transitions each time it changes.

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Koleckai Silvestri

I like the current screensaver in MBT. However instead of movie backdrops, it could show the picture library. Would be nice if the screensaver could double as a discrete slideshow function as well.

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  • 1 month later...
eightpots

I really love the way WMC randomly picks photos from your photo library. Also your given the option to play the slideshow while listening to music. So im a +1 also for this feature.

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Shaun

I had not thought of music, thats a cool idea. I don't have wmc installed, but I'll have a look.

Does it just pick random tracks or what ?

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Shaun

I like the current screensaver in MBT. However instead of movie backdrops, it could show the picture library. Would be nice if the screensaver could double as a discrete slideshow function as well.

 

Its very simple to use photos instead of backdrops for the MBT backdrop screen saver. It won't look nearly as good as all the backdrops have 2.5:1 or better aspect ratios (i.e wider than longer) while the vast major of photos are 3:4 (i.e longer than wider) or square, and therefore they need black bars on the sides or have to be cropped in some automatic way. 

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Ghostm

Can i make a simple but a bit off topic request?

 

I use the steam plugin in mbt, pc games require full cpu resources, it appears my cpu spikes considerably in mbt when loading new images. Either in the gui or loading images from the backdrop screen saver. And/or even when the logo option is running across the screen. 

 

I would like to set the interval for my screen saver, and be able to select a single image that is static, that does not change in an attempt to hopefully lower/kill cpu spikes while mbt is in the background changing images while im on steam. 

 

Xbmc users get around this creating batch scripts and killing the entire xbmc client when steam or emulator games are in use while monitoring the window and then reopening xbmc when steam or emulators are closed. This always seemed to be a clumsy way of doing things. I would think a simple static image as a screen saver and being able to select an interval for it to kick in quickly would be a better easier solution. But just my opinion. 

 

When its not loading the next image mbt uses next to nothing, when it loads a new image and/or a backdrop it spikes to 25%, obviously not to good when pc games are running and im using the steam plugin from mbt.

Edited by Ghostm
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Shaun

I think the a solution is to create a low CPU screensaver. It should be pretty simple to create. You can always select the no screen saver or logo screensavet option - why don't you try the logo screen saver and let us know how it goes

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Ghostm

The logo scrolling screen saver i noticed when i tested was using around 8-15% cpu as it scrolled across the screen, better but still not optimal. 

The no screen saver still has revolving images built into mbt gui that causes large cpu system spikes. In the background for instance it seems to constantly change pictures causing a small and short cpu spike just like with the backdrops. 

Also the interval thing is an issue, it takes awhile to kick in. 

A low cpu simple one would likely fix this issue. 

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How about if MBT just didn't engage the screen saver if it isn't the active application in Windows...?

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I had not thought of music, thats a cool idea. I don't have wmc installed, but I'll have a look.

Does it just pick random tracks or what ?

 

It is actually the other way around.  It is an option in the music player to use your photo library as the SS while playing whatever music you are.

 

MBC has a similar feature the other way around - designed around creating a soundtrack for particular photos.  Any wpl playlist in the photo folder will be played while playing that photo slide show.  It would probably be good if MBT implemented this same functionality.

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Ghostm

How about if MBT just didn't engage the screen saver if it isn't the active application in Windows...?

I monitored mbt without the screen saver and since it constantly changes background images or images on the main page built into the gui it still causes large cpu spikes  when it changes those images. 

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I monitored mbt without the screen saver and since it constantly changes background images or images on the main page built into the gui it still causes large cpu spikes  when it changes those images. 

 

It could also arrest these transitions if it isn't in the foreground.  MBC does this whenever you are playing anything..

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Ghostm

It could also arrest these transitions if it isn't in the foreground.  MBC does this whenever you are playing anything..

Yes this would be even better :)

 

And frankly perfect. I thought of such an idea, but had no idea if it was possible or how difficult it would be. 

Edited by Ghostm
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Shaun

It could also arrest these transitions if it isn't in the foreground.  MBC does this whenever you are playing anything..

 

There is a ticket for this bug   #40 -  Video backdrop continues to play when screensaver is running (see https://github.com/MediaBrowser/MediaBrowser.Theater/issues/40)

 

I have tracked down why it occurs and will fix it next time I am doing some work on the screensavers (soon) but that will only turn then backdrop rotators off when you have a Screensaver running,

i.e setting to non won't help, so I will add a low CPU screensaver that uses less than 5% CPU 

Edited by Shaun
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Shaun

I was talking about rotating backdrops...

 

I'm not sure I understand.  I thought the bug & the issue were that the rotating backdrops were

 

1. Causing CPU spikes

2. Continuing to run when the screen server was running

 

I guess you are saying, if a screen saver is running or of we have launched another app like a game, then MBT will be in the background and then we should turn off the rotation backdrops ?

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Ghostm

I'm not sure I understand.  I thought the bug & the issue were that the rotating backdrops were

 

1. Causing CPU spikes

2. Continuing to run when the screen server was running

 

I guess you are saying, if a screen saver is running or of we have launched another app like a game, then MBT will be in the background and then we should turn off the rotation backdrops ?

 

Well for me for instance I like the option to  turn screensavers off completely. I like the none option the best and would prefer not to use a screen saver (at this point i have kind of hijacked this thread now). However rotating images is not just in the screen saver, but mbt gui by default has constant image rotation as well. The backdrop rotation is  built into the mbt gui itself, the main page rotates images, the background constantly rotates images, this also causes large cpu spikes. So when an external program is launched and mbt is in the background and another program is in the forground (Like videogames), I would like the rotating images in mbt gui to stop so people can play games without cpu spikes. And when mbt goes back into the forground then mbt gui can begin rotating the images again in the gui.

 

For instance i just booted up mbt and the main page has images rotating, and in the background images are constantly rotating causing cpu spikes. What ebr mentioned is that mbc gui will stop rotating images when an external program is executed, and mbc is in the background. Thus not interfering or causing cpu spikes while your using other programs or doing things such as gaming.

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