Help make new default skin

[sub]

I'd like to improve the general look of GB-PVR, but unfortunately I'm artisically challenged, so I'll have to look to the wider community for help.

I'd like to replace the 'blue' skin with one that will give a better first impression. This may be a matter of adopting an already existing skin, or designing an entirely new one. I would like to hear people's thoughts on this, or if the ideal skin already exists then let us know. I'd love to see any general discussion on this, from color scheme's, good fonts, background images etc. This is your chance to get it looking the way you think it should.

To help ensure we can make a great skin, I'm happy to make changes to the core components of GB-PVR, but I have to be realistic about what can be changed in a reasonable period of time, and what can be done within the limitations of the devices we support, so not everything will be possible.

Stealing artwork from other applications may cause me legal problems, so we'll need to avoid this.

[nightwalker]

As long as we're voting. I'm a big fan of the Fat Blue Hi Vis skin. Looks very nice on the computer but where it really shines is on the MVP. It looks very good there. Simple, clean, easy to navigate and very readable on any TV you send it too. It's also the one my wife can figure out what to do with, without me needing to spend a lot of time explaining to her to push this button and that button etc. It's all there on the screen.

I know it's been mentioned and shot down before but I've been telling her for years that all the info she needs is usually on the screen. So skins and plugs that don't have navigation buttons in the same place i avoid. There is not much i can do about the TV guide and search but in everything else i go for skins and plug ins that are consistant thruout whenever possible.

[reven]

Stealing artwork from other applications may cause me legal problems, so we'll need to avoid this.

you may be able to use project mayhem 3, its for xbmc which is open source. just contact the guy who does the skin (i forget his name, late for class i can post a url later) if you can use it (hopefully he would say yes), black skins look the best in my opinion.

[Pioneer4x4]

I just played with a MCE machine for the first time tonight. I liked the look of the cylindrical rounded buttons. The 3D look is nice, other than that, I like the default blue one. Honestly, I never played with skins too much. I'm more of a function over form kinda guy.
Maybe I'll play with the builtins for more of an opinion.

[UncleJohnsBand]

You may want to take the 2 skin approach...one for GBPVR native and the other for GBPVR via MVP. Often times what looks good on the native GBPVR does not look so good via the MVP.

Now that you have added the ability to have one skin selected for natvie and one for MVP I don't think this would be two big of an issue.

They could even look close....the biggest problem I see between native and MVP is Font selection and size....

I am sure tipstir will be weighing in on this thread since he seems to be the master Skin creator...

[cubsfan]

I'm a big fan of the BlueMCE2 skin, looks great on a GBPVR native

[pbb]

I've checked out a few of the skins. While I like the MCE skins, I find myself gravitating to the Fat Blue Hi Vis skin too. My wife's eyesight was what really prompted me to try it (we watch TV through the MVP), but I have to admit it makes everything a lot more readable and is very clean (which I think is the most important part). Except of course where it cuts off words. My wife asked me if the guy who developed the skin was southern too because it kept saying that we were "Recordin" shows! I wouldn't mind if being jazzed up a little though

[alibert]

Hi,

To help ensure we can make a great skin, I'm happy to make changes to the core components of GB-PVR, but I have to be realistic about what can be changed in a reasonable period of time, and what can be done within the limitations of the devices we support, so not everything will be possible.

Regarding the core components, I think at least the FM radio screen needs changes to make it skinnable. Maybe just like you did it in the past with the internet radio, which now is similar to the recordings screen. Also, the skin files of the video and music library are not that much changeable in my opinion.

-alibert

[sub]

Regarding the core components, I think at least the FM radio screen needs changes to make it skinnable. Maybe just like you did it in the past with the internet radio, which now is similar to the recordings screen.

Have you looked recently? The FM Radio functionality was rewritten recently, and is very skinnable. Pretty much everything is skinnable, and very similar to Net Radio and Recording screen skinning. Take a look at C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\skin\Blue\FM radio\skin.xml

Also, the skin files of the video and music library are not that much changeable in my opinion.

You're right on that front. These are the oldest screens left in GB-PVR. They've had very little change in the last 18 months. I do intend to rewrite these very soon, and incorporate some of the ideas from the plugins that have been developed since.

[alibert]

Hi,

Have you looked recently? The FM Radio functionality was rewritten recently, and is very skinnable. Pretty much everything is skinnable, and very similar to Net Radio and Recording screen skinning. Take a look at C:\Program Files\devnz\gbpvr\skin\Blue\FM radio\skin.xml

yes it did change together with the scan-ability, but you are limited to use the default black background of an item in the list of channels. I meant that there are no composite images for something like "DetailsViewNormalItem" and "DetailsViewSelectedItem" to change the appearance of a channel in the listview.

-alibert