Issue with new ticker flashing on main menu

[sk0tto]

I'm having a problem with the news ticker. It scrolls across the screen just fine, but every five seconds or so, all text on the main menu briefly gets brighter. Not only that, but at the same time, it looks like the ticker jumps forward a few extra pixels, and then jumps back. I'm currently using the xmedia skin, but the problem occurs on other skins, as well. I have also played around with the interval and speed settings in the news.xml file.

It's hard to get any kind of screenshot on this, but I'll post my main menu\skin.xml and my panels\news.xml.


main menu\skin.xml:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><settings>
    <!--GBPVR V0.94.13 - MENU FOR  X M E D I A - LAST UPDATED ON 11 13 05 text style -->
    <!-- Composite Images -->
    <CompositeImages>
        <CompositeImage name="Background" size="720,480">
                <DrawImage filename="..\background.jpg" loc="0,0" size="720,480" />
                <DrawImage filename="..\images\logo.png" loc="200,150" size="292,96" />
        <DrawImage filename="..\images\menu1.png" loc="5,13" size="130,30" />
                    
                      

        </CompositeImage>
        <CompositeImage name="SelectedButtonImage" size="160,45">
        <DrawImage filename="..\images\menu_item.png" loc="4,5" size="160,30" />    
        <DrawText text="@buttonText" loc="15,7" size="146,34" textStyle="ButtonText" align="Left" />
        </CompositeImage>
        <CompositeImage name="NormalButtonImage" size="160,45">
                <DrawRect loc="4,5" size="160,45" radius="10" borderWidth="0" borderColor="Transparent" fillColor="Transparent" />
<DrawText text="@buttonText" loc="15,7" size="146,34" textStyle="ButtonText" align="Left" />
        </CompositeImage>
        <CompositeImage name="CenteredSelectedButtonImage" size="160,45">
            <DrawRect loc="4,5" size="146,34" radius="10" borderWidth="0" borderColor="Transparent" fillColor="Transparent" />
            <DrawText text="@buttonText" loc="15,8" size="146,34" textStyle="ButtonText" align="Left" />
        </CompositeImage>
        <CompositeImage name="MoreUp" size="50,20">
            <DrawImage filename="moreup.png" loc="0,0" size="50,20" />
        </CompositeImage>
        <CompositeImage name="MoreDown" size="50,20">
            <DrawImage filename="moredown.png" loc="0,0" size="50,20" />
        </CompositeImage>
    </CompositeImages>
    <TextStyles>
        <TextStyle name="ButtonText" color="White" typeFace="Arial" size="14" style="bold" />
        <TextStyle name="ScreenLine5" color="White" typeFace="Arial" size="40" style="plain" />
        <TextStyle name="ScreenLine6" color="#2d7eed" typeFace="Arial" size="15" style="plain" />
        <TextStyle name="TaskDescription" color="White" typeFace="Arial" size="12" style="bold" />
    </TextStyles>

    <!-- special elements -->
    <SpecialElements>
        <SpecialElement name="Buttons" loc="10,60" spacing="35" alwayCentered="false" maxVisibleButtons="10" allowTopBottomWrap="true" showNumbers="false" />
        <SpecialElement name="TaskDescription" visible="false" loc="10,305" size="710,450" />        
        <SpecialElement name="TaskImage" visible="true" loc="655,0" size="50,50" />
        <SpecialElement name="MoreUp" loc="650,5" />
        <SpecialElement name="MoreDown" loc="650,40" />
        <!-- plugin panels -->
        

                <SpecialElement name="Panel" panelName="Clock" visible="true" transparency="1" loc="250,5" size="300,60" />
                <SpecialElement name="Panel" panelName="MusicPanel" visible="true" transparency="1" loc="10,330" size="723,150" />
                <!--SpecialElement name="Panel" panelName="NextRecording" visible="true" loc="190,270" size="496,70"-->
        <!--SpecialElement name="Panel" panelName="CheckEmail" visible="true" transparency="1" loc="200,250" size="400,100"-->
                <SpecialElement name="Panel" panelName="NextRecording" visible="true" loc="190,250" size="496,70" />
        <SpecialElement name="Panel" panelName="News" visible="true" loc="20,430" size="680,40"/>
</SpecialElements>
</settings>

panels\news.xml:

Code:

<settings>
    <!-- text style -->
    <TextStyles>
        <TextStyle name="FeedText" color="Yellow" typeFace="Arial" size="12" style="bold"/>
        <TextStyle name="TitleText" color="White" typeFace="Arial" size="12" style="bold"/>
    </TextStyles>
    <!-- Composite Images -->    
    <CompositeImages>
        <!-- News, the size should match the panel size in the main menu skin-->
        <CompositeImage name="Background" size="680,40">            
        <DrawRoundedRect loc="5,5" size="670,30" radius="1" borderWidth="2" borderColor="Transparent" fillColor="Transparent"/>
        </CompositeImage>                                        
    </CompositeImages>    
    <Custom>
        <!-- Number of pixels ticker advances at each refresh -->
        <CustomElement name="Speed" value="10"/>
        <!-- Time in miliseconds between refresh (minimal 10, but 100 is probably a safer value) -->
        <CustomElement name="Interval" value="100"/>
        <!-- Number of pixels ticker advances at each refresh, for usage on the MediaMVP -->
        <CustomElement name="MVPSpeed" value="100"/>
        <!-- Time in miliseconds between refresh, small values won't make sense due to hardware limitations -->
        <CustomElement name="MVPInterval" value="1000"/>
        <!-- Seperator between items in the ticker -->
        <CustomElement name="Separator" value=" | "/>
    </Custom>            
    <!-- special elements -->
    <SpecialElements>
        <!-- The area in the composite image used to draw the actual text -->
        <SpecialElement name="NewsPanel" loc="10,10" size="660,25"/>
    </SpecialElements>    
</settings>

Anybody else have this issue? How do I fix this?

[stefan]

You might be better off asking this question in the plugin and skin support part of the forum, as this is not part of GBPVR.

[reven]

the problem is gbpvr is using GDI+ to draw the graphics, which is extremely slow. and requires a lot of horsepower to produce a smooth animation. also whenever gbpvr refreshes the screen (eg when you push a button) it will also refresh the ticker, so instead of waiting for the ticker time interval to update gbpvr will force an update, causing the *crappy* effect.

long story short, theres not much you can do, adjust the refresh rate to about 750ms or just turn it off all together.

[sk0tto]

I apologize for not posting in the proper forum. I didn't realize this was the general support. Thank you for your quick replies. I will try adjusting the refresh rate.

Thanks again!