v4 to v5 Windows Client Questions

[cbdavi19]

10+ year GBPVR/NextPVR user. Finally took the plunge and ugraded from v4 to v5 following established guidance (backup v4 program and data folders, uninstall v4, install v5, restore npvr.db3 and config.xml, restore updateepg.bat, and postprocessing.bat). Most everything went fine.

My plan was to use the built-in Windows client (client/server has always been on the same PC), but I'm having annoying TVGuide visual issues (no problems with guide sources):

1. Genre colors. I saw in another post that customized genre colors from v4 are stored in npvr.db3. I can see them in there (since I reused my old DB), I have the box in the web UI checked to show genre colors, but they aren't showing. I even tried unchecking and rechecking the box and restarting the service. No joy.

2. Vertical Menu Style. Default skin works fine if Menu style is SlideOut or Horizontal. If I select Vertical and restart the client, I get a .NET Framework exception (attached). Windows 10 PC up-to-date and .NET client version is 4.8.04084.

3. Skin customization no-go. I found the Skin folder in Program Files\NextPVR\data\skin. I used to have fewer and taller/thicker rows in my TV Guide. Copied and renamed my old v4 skin that was setup the way I like. I can select it, but the number of rows in the guide doesn't change, the background doesn't change, and it has the same Menu Style > Vertical = .NET exception. So how to get my old skin recognized?

Logs and relevant files attached.

[mvallevand]

Yes I noticed the genre colours in UI client no longer worked a few week ago.

Sub is aware of the vertical problem. Skin should also work the same but you need to be v5 compatible so copying them isn't an option.

Martin

[sub]

1. Genre colors. I saw in another post that customized genre colors from v4 are stored in npvr.db3. I can see them in there (since I reused my old DB), I have the box in the web UI checked to show genre colors, but they aren't showing. I even tried unchecking and rechecking the box and restarting the service. No joy.

The web app doesn't use custom colors. It's got fixed colors it uses. May look at making them configurable in the future.

NextPVR.exe should still show any custom colors you already had configured in your v4 database.

2. Vertical Menu Style. Default skin works fine if Menu style is SlideOut or Horizontal. If I select Vertical and restart the client, I get a .NET Framework exception (attached). Windows 10 PC up-to-date and .NET client version is 4.8.04084.

This can be fixed by editing the "C:\ProgramFiles\NextPVR\Skin\Default\Menu\Vertical.xml" file, and changing "Calibri" to "DroidSans".

3. Skin customization no-go. I found the Skin folder in Program Files\NextPVR\data\skin. I used to have fewer and taller/thicker rows in my TV Guide. Copied and renamed my old v4 skin that was setup the way I like. I can select it, but the number of rows in the guide doesn't change, the background doesn't change, and it has the same Menu Style > Vertical = .NET exception. So how to get my old skin recognized?

As Martin mentioned, the skin system is pretty much the same. I definitely don't test really old skins with it though. You might be best start with the v5 skin files, and make those tweaks again.

[cbdavi19]

mvalleyand, thanks for the fast response!

I tried copying the v5 Default skin folder and modifying the Guide.xml file in the TV Guide folder with the only relevant/different values from the v4 version:

v5:
<Element name="Guide" location="@guideOffsetX,16.6" size="@guideWidth,4.87" alpha="255" visibleChannels="10" wrapText="false" backgroundColor="backgroundColor" selectedColor="selectedColor" recordingColor="recordingColor" recordingSelectedColor="recordingSelectedColor">

<Element name="Channels" location="1.55,16.6" size="@channelWidth,4.87" alpha="255" clearBeforeRender="true">

<Text text="@titleSubtitle" location="1.55,5.09" size="76.9,20" font="Title1" borderColor="Border2" outlineWidth="1" align="Left"/>

v4:
<Element name="Guide" location="@guideOffsetX,16.6" size="@guideWidth,6.12" alpha="255" visibleChannels="8" wrapText="false" backgroundColor="backgroundColor" selectedColor="selectedColor" recordingColor="recordingColor" recordingSelectedColor="recordingSelectedColor">

<Element name="Channels" location="1.55,16.6" size="@channelWidth,6.12" alpha="255" clearBeforeRender="true">

<Text text="@titleSubtitle" location="1.55,3.09" size="96.9,20" font="Title1" borderColor="Border2" outlineWidth="1" align="Left"/>

All of the other files/folders/settings in this skin folder are exactly the same as the v5 Default. Still no joy.

So there must be more to it?

[cbdavi19]

Sorry for the crossing threads.

• The switch from Calibri to DroidSans in menu\vertical.xml file worked. No more .NET faults on the Vertical menu style.

• The copy of the v5 Default skin and changing the relevant values did, in fact, work. There are now 8 rows instead of 10 in my new custom skin, but the rows still look very skinny compared to what I remembered in v4, which was throwing me off.

• Regarding genre colors, all I ever did was configure movies to be one color, and sporting events to be another. I don't really care what color they are, as long as they stand out from the crowd. If I change them to use supported colors, will they show up in the guide? Is this supported list of color mentioned somewhere? Or is it more like this post where I need to map the genres in my guide (Schedules Direct enhanced by I-XMLTV) to the genres that NextPVR uses?

[sub]

• The switch from Calibri to DroidSans in menu\vertical.xml file worked. No more .NET faults on the Vertical menu style.

Great

• The copy of the v5 Default skin and changing the relevant values did, in fact, work. There are now 8 rows instead of 10 in my new custom skin, but the rows still look very skinny compared to what I remembered in v4, which was throwing me off.

I'm pretty sure be working the same as before. If you think it's different, it's probably down to some change you forgot to make.

• Regarding genre colors, all I ever did was configure movies to be one color, and sporting events to be another. I don't really care what color they are, as long as they stand out from the crowd. If I change them to use supported colors, will they show up in the guide? Is this supported list of color mentioned somewhere? Or is it more like this post where I need to map the genres in my guide (Schedules Direct enhanced by I-XMLTV) to the genres that NextPVR uses?

Checking it, it didn't currently use your previously set EPG colors. Zero people have asked about it in the last 2 years of NextPVR v5, so I'm guessing it's not something most people care about. I have fixed it for the next build though, so your previously set EPG colors will start working in NextPVR.

(admittedly, I'm tempted to just have it use the default genre coloring as used in the web app)