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Custom Arctic MediaBrowser skin


elcabong

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elcabong

Just a heads up, I wasnt able to finnish enough to push a new update sunday, I will try to atleast get some functional updates into git this week (and i will post again to let you know git is updated) and hope to have more done by the end of week for a repo push.

 

things updated:

now pulls username and user picture from mb3 server for the home screen.

edited the last few views so that "overview" background data can be turned off for faster loading on slow devices.  (let me know if some views dont function properly.

 

Things looking into this week:

local trailers

cinema mode

fixing double entries in ongoing tv (or all) widget(s)

actor info

 

Things that cannot be fixed (at least for now):

the letter that pops up when scrolling through lists.  this is taken from a xbmc variable, so i cannot change the fact that it pulls T from The instead of I from "The Incredibles".  if there is another skin that implements this correctly, let me know and il try to figure out how that was implemented,

as mentioned above, Alpha sorting for NextUp widget is not currently possible with xbmb3c.

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xnappo

FYI - the sorting of NextUp items in the list is really a hack where I am using the XBMC sorting instead of MB3. 

 

I requested @@Luke change the server to respect the sorting flag for NextUp but it was denied.  Personally, I find the MB3 order useless.

 

So - please chime in if you think the server should support NextUp sorting by show name :D

 

xnappo

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elcabong

interesting it was denied.  I think it can be useful to allow alphabetic sorting as an alternative option to the current "smart" sorting as its easier to find the specific show your looking for if you have like 15+ that are ongoing.  I personally dont mind the smart sorting as it mostly keeps the stuff i want to watch at the front of the list, but it would be more user intuitive if the list could be sorted alphabetic and didnt shuffle around after you watch things.

 

on a side note, @@xnappo

i was looking for how to integrate the cinema mode, local trailers, and play from dialogvideoinfo, and couldnt find any examples in some of the other skins.  Im wondering if we should have (maybe in the dev forum space) links to all of the github skin projects.  It would help to be able to look through recent updates to see what was added to the code for each revision instead of trying to grep the whole 1080 directory in the skin.   I know a few links are posted, but some skins are available only through the repo.  I dont know if they even are available on github, but something to consider as more people take a crack at modifying skins.  the window properties post is a great resourse, but some of the implementation im a little at a loss.

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im85288

 

i was looking for how to integrate the cinema mode, local trailers, and play from dialogvideoinfo, and couldnt find any examples in some of the other skins.  Im wondering if we should have (maybe in the dev forum space) links to all of the github skin projects.  

 

You can find examples for the local trailers and play from dialogvideoinfo in my 1080XF skin. The github link is in the first post. For Cinema Mode nothing needs to be done in the skins, the xbmb3c addon creates a playlist of items (e.g. the two trailers from cinema mode and the movie to watch) and passes that to the play method. 

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elcabong

Excellent, thanks for pointing me to that.

 

skin updated in git and pushed to repo.

 

updates:

now pulls username and user picture from mb3 server for the home screen.

edited the last few views so that "overview" background data can be turned off for faster loading on slow devices.  (let me know if some views dont function properly.

local trailers (and i cleaned up the available buttons on video info screen if mediabrowser mode is on)

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  • 4 weeks later...
elcabong

I was waiting for Helix to go beta before starting to mod the required updates so I only have to do it once.  Now that it looks stable, I can start looking into making it helix compatible.

 

Let me know if there are any other requests for the skin, and il try to work them in at the same time im working through the code for the Helix updates.

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Great news! Arctic mkii still has a large following and your version seems to be the only version getting a helix upgrade. Cheers to you!! An option to use either MB3 or the native Kodi libraries would be a nice addition and would benefit the entire Kodi community.

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elcabong

There is currently an option (in skin settings>mediabrowser tab) to turn on/off MediaBrowser mode which will toggle the use of video (movie/tv show) libraries from mediabrowser (default) or the built in xbmc/kodi library, and there is an option to use xbmc/kodi music library even if mediabrowser mode is on for video types.

 

Im going to post in the kodi WIP thread for arctic when i make these updates for helix, as ive been seeing some people ask for it there, but have not gotten any response other than arctic mkiii will be coming down the pipe at some point in the future.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Jurialmonkey has again mentioned mkiii but an ETA seems to be in the distant future. Thanks again for keeping the skin that so many rely on alive and well!!

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elcabong

No problem, this skin is still used daily in 3 rooms at my house.  and il keep updating it when i have time as i havnt quite found another skin that can compete on all the levels that this one covers for me.

 

There are some big revisions coming down the pipe for how the xbmb3c (mediabrowser) addon will get data for skin use, and integration of a helper script for extra/faster data loading.  Im going to wait until some more of that infrastructure is set in stone before I update this skin.  if it looks like it will still be a few months before the addon stuff gets finalized, then i will look at helix compatibility as im using live tv a little more these days, and i hear there are some great updates for it.  otherwise il update everything at once.  Il keep this thread posted as i make the updates as we get closer to the new year and i have some time off work.

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now pulls username and user picture from mb3 server for the home screen.

 

 

Thank you very much for bringing this skin for XBMB3C use!

 

Regading username and user picture polls, I've noticed that when I switch profiles, MB3 properly sees the new user but the skin doesn't pick it up.  I'm not sure if this is a skin issue or addon issue, but thought I would report it. Over time, the skin eventually picks it up (usually after restarting the skin over a longer period of time).

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elcabong

hmm..  i havnt used multiple profiles in xbmc in a while.. definitely pre-mediabrowser integration.  thanks for letting me know about this.

 

I know not many if any devs working on xbmb3c (mediabrowser for kodi) addon use multiple profiles, so you may need to do a quick test and let me know the results:  Do other skins have the same issue of name/picture not refreshing (not intended behavior), or do other skins update the user name/picture immediately after switching profiles (intended behavior)?

 

If you could let me know what you find, we can see if its something skin related or something that needs to be refreshed in the addon.

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  • 3 weeks later...
I know not many if any devs working on xbmb3c (mediabrowser for kodi) addon use multiple profiles, so you may need to do a quick test and let me know the results:  Do other skins have the same issue of name/picture not refreshing (not intended behavior), or do other skins update the user name/picture immediately after switching profiles (intended behavior)?

 

Hi, sorry for the late response, i had been waiting on a fire TV to come in so i can play with it better. 

 

Answer is that this is happening with other skins as well.  It goes a bit beyond just the profile name and picture as well.  You can actually see and access the previous profiles content, even if it's outside of the bounds of parental controls.  Once Kodi catches up and recognizes who is logged in, the parental content is back and the previous user's content is no longer on display.

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elcabong

@@Kent, what version of the addon and repo are you using?  it looks like there was some improvements in the below thread, but im not sure if those changes have made it into the stable repo, and definitely not into the kodi repo yet.

 

http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/11972-switching-profiles-stopped-working/?hl=profiles

 

@@im85288, @@xnappo, I just tested with version 0.9.747 and notice the same behavior.  should all the background loader threads be reset on profile switch?

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Hi I'm using the stable repo at the moment (repository.xbmb3c-1.0.2.zip).  I think the issue in the thread you linked too is a bit different then what I (we?) are seeing?  MBS is correctly reporting the profile switching but the addon is not reloading the new user data.  It does eventually load the new user data but it takes awhile and in the meantime the kids are able to get to content that should be restricted based on the parental controls.

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  • 3 weeks later...
elcabong

This skin has not yet been updated to be "fully" compatible with the new Kodi version.  you can download the skin from my github page and drop the skin folder in your addon directory, which should work.  if not you may need to edit the kodi version number in the addon.xml in the root directory of the skin.  note that if you do this, live tv will not function properly and i believe a change was made to the on screen keyboard, which will also not work until the skin has been updated.

 

Hopefully il find some time this month to do the updates and release a new version with updated kodi compatibility.

 

to all:

if there are any requests for skin functionality or nice to have things, now would be the time to request them.  that way i only have to do 1 major update to the skin as i dont get too much dedicated time i can throw at this skin anymore, would be easier to add small things when im already working on the code.

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Sp3kt3r

Thx im very happy to know that you are going to try updating the skin. I really like it. It's nice and light at the same time and works well for xbmb3c. The only thing I would like would be to have the option to choose the % of transparency of the background.

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pseudoheld

using the github version on kodi and its working pretty well.

however the main menu (panels view) is differently centered than the original. maybe its just because i am so used to the original but i prefere the way it looked.

it is a bit lower than your version. just somehow seems more centered.

anyhow working well and looking forward to the full release!

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pseudoheld

native kodi live TV isnt working. i have a plugin setup in kodi beacuse MB doesn't support my server (dvbviewer)

in 1080XF it works fine all the channels show and i can play them.

however in arctic whenever i select live TV the screen goes completely black. no channels no nothing.

 

also using the github version i can't type anything inside of kodi!

i wanted to change the IP adress of my tv server however its just blank and even typing on the keyboard does nothing!

Edited by pseudoheld
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elcabong

Thanks for your input, pseudoheld.

 

The live tv and on screen keyboard are 2 areas that will need to be updated for the Helix version (kodi), and i have not yet made those updates for the skin yet.  they are the 2 main compatibility changes that i will need to make before uploading a proper Helix version to the mediabrowser repo, and these sections will not work until i have made these updates.  you may need to change to a fully supported skin to make the changes for your IP address of MB server, then change back to arctic for general use (except live tv).

 

for the main menu change for panel view, I did change this slightly from the original version.  Yes, it did look more centered in the original version, but i didnt like how the animation worked when opening up the sub menu or highlighting the widgets.  Its been a while since i looked at the original, but i think the time and user name/section numbers (total count for movies/tv shows/etc) got covered up by the widgets when they were highlighted, and it felt like the main menu list (live tv, movies, tv shows, etc) moved too much when going between the sub menu and the widgets.

 

for the new updated im going to be pushing, ive been thinking about refreshing the panel view again, so i might revert this back to the original layout and create a new option for the home screen with the new update, that works more similarly to how the 1080XF skin works, where the widget is changed dynamically based on what submenu you hover over.  but this is still in idea phase.. i need to plan some time to make these updates as my free days seem to get filled with other stuff..

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pseudoheld

Yeah i changed the IP on a different skin and reverted back to arctic. worked fine.

 

I for one like how the original skin covers up the time and account info when opening the info about a tvshow or a movie. But once again thats just personal preference ;)

 

I like the 1080XF however what i really miss (and love about arctic) is to have the recently added episodes and movies in a nice list on the home screen. in 1080XF you have to first enter the widget and then scroll about to see whats new. in arctic you get all the recently added stuff in one quick and clean look. no scrolling about needed. So please don't change that ;)

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