[BETA] CommunitySkin4 (pre-release) available - Post bug reports here please

[pz1]

CommunitySkin 4.0.0 (pre-release) download links are now live.[/B]

- It would be helpfull in the future if you did update the version numbers . The first public beta carried the same version number.
- I am not completely sure about this, but may be others noticed this as well: At install I was asked if I wanted to retain my current theme. I answered yes in the expectation that my that all my personal settings would be preserved. Unfortunately It seems all settings had gone back to the defaults. Otherwise upgrade went fine. Changing settings indeed is a bit slow, but I can't say if it is really slower than in the previous beta.
- The purpose of the HD is not clear to me. From the name I take it is for HD-TV, but from some of the description it seems it is meant for widescreen. In other words does it make sense to test this on my LCD via the MVP? (I could test this of course, but due to a construction job on the house the LCD is temporarily in the attic, so before I start digging...)
Pieter

[gEd]

pz1: You last point in particular is a good one. I was wondering which version I should use for my SD widescreen TV running which (to prevent tearing) I am currently running at 1024x576 but which would typically be run at 720x576.

[McBainUK]

It would be helpfull in the future if you did update the version numbers . The first public beta carried the same version number.
- I am not completely sure about this, but may be others noticed this as well: At install I was asked if I wanted to retain my current theme. I answered yes in the expectation that my that all my personal settings would be preserved. Unfortunately It seems all settings had gone back to the defaults. Otherwise upgrade went fine.

It's probably best to un-install any previous CS4 BETA version before installing this one as there is no "upgrade" process as yet. Just added a note to first post to make this clear.

The purpose of the HD is not clear to me.

See post #3 here.

In other words does it make sense to test this on my LCD via the MVP?

You may find the HD a little slow on the MVP due to the high resolution graphics. Like most things I'd just try it and see

[McBainUK]

pz1: You last point in particular is a good one. I was wondering which version I should use for my SD widescreen TV running which (to prevent tearing) I am currently running at 1024x576 but which would typically be run at 720x576.

If your computer can handle it we'd recommend matching the screen format 1st, SD/HD second.

[Fatman_do]

Not quite sure what you mean by this. Screenshot?


They're pretty much the same thing. The list buttons are used when the Up/Down arrows are ment to be clickable. I think the majority of screens and plugins use the List Buttons gaphics. Can you confirm this fatmando?

This is correct.

[Fatman_do]

I have and it changes it for the built in video library but not the plugin video library thats being developed. Hope that makes sense?

Thanks

I have a "slick" version of the Videos Library plugin, but not stored into anything the skin plugin can use. It is located in the SD versions' Videos Library folder, you have to rename the xml file to skin.xml.

[Hairy]

One very minor observation: test for OSD doesn;t quite fix box. see pix

Could you try the attached OSD skin to see if that tidies it up a bit.

Thanks for the screen shot, unfortunately I don't have a TV card in the development machine so a lot of the OSD stuff is done blind, so to speak.

Cheers

[Hairy]

pz1: You last point in particular is a good one. I was wondering which version I should use for my SD widescreen TV running which (to prevent tearing) I am currently running at 1024x576 but which would typically be run at 720x576.

Just to help clear up the reasoning behind the two versions and which one people should choose.

In order of importance: CS-SD and CS-HD have two different basic layouts and two sets of graphics. The primary factor when choosing which version to run is your final display output format, with it's resolution being secondary. So if you have a Standard (4:3) display you should try CS-SD first and if you have a widescreen (16:9) display you should try CS-HD. The higher resolution graphics included in the HD version are to take advantage of the superior resolution in HD displays.

I've attached a couple of screen shots to hi-light why we developed both separately, they show the Standard (4:3) display layout distorting on a widescreen (16:9) display, beside the widescreen layout on an actual widescreen display.

We'll try to make this more clear on the wiki when CS4 launches.

[Hairy]

pz1,

Yourself and ACTCMS have noticed some considerable flickering with the default graphics on the MVP, I can offer a suggestion on why this may be happening.

I've read that horizontal lines at 1pt width can flicker on a CRT, so I designed all the horizontal graphics with at least a 2pt width. Unfortunately this may not have been enough or the MVP may be a little more sensitive to these pixel widths. So some of the default graphics may flicker when displayed via the MVP. To try and cover my bases I included a set of "Matte" graphics which are simpler, more solid coloured graphics.

Do you guys feel that it might be useful to include a pre-defined theme layout for the MVP and do you have any suggestions on which of the current graphical options would suit that best?

Cheers

[ACTCMS]

pz1,

Yourself and ACTCMS have noticed some considerable flickering with the default graphics on the MVP, I can offer a suggestion on why this may be happening.

I've read that horizontal lines at 1pt width can flicker on a CRT, so I designed all the horizontal graphics with at least a 2pt width. Unfortunately this may not have been enough or the MVP may be a little more sensitive to these pixel widths. So some of the default graphics may flicker when displayed via the MVP. To try and cover my bases I included a set of "Matte" graphics which are simpler, more solid coloured graphics.

Do you guys feel that it might be useful to include a pre-defined theme layout for the MVP and do you have any suggestions on which of the current graphical options would suit that best?

Cheers

I've seen the small pt size flicker on horizontal lines on the MVP before, but that's not my current problem...

What I am seeing is the whole image moving rapidly up and down by approx 4-5% of the screen height. When the main menu first appears, the image is stable, but after a few seconds, or after any keypress, the jittering starts. If I start watching TV or recorded video, the image stabilises and OSD stuff is fine, but a few seconds after I drop back to the menu structure, the jittering starts again. It's almost like a bad connection between the MVP and the TV, but it doesn't happen with Blue, Blue-Retro-SHV or Slick.

Since nobody else seems to be seeing this problem, it's probably something to do with my setup, but I can't figure out why it only happens with CS4 (SD and HD).