Aeon "Stark" - Working screens

[Competes2win]

this skyline view that's not coming out is this the view that is top right in that stark prototype group of pictures above the crazy wavy one? If so than I guess I agree that it's a bummer that its not coming out but also understandable if djH's goal is to make the skin really open, the info box does sort of take away from the backdrop, although he could do a lot worse with even more "claustrophobic" views... I for one would prefer to see it out at some point in time, but doesn't really matter.

[digitalhigh]

I think everybody thinks that just because the one that was tagged as "Skyline" isn't gonna be in there doesn't mean that there's not going to be a view that's not really similar. From the looks of it, w/e replaced skyline will probably be a smarter, prettier version of the same view.

[djh_]

Thinking about it, so long as I can get Skyline relatively in keeping with everything else - and Aeon is a bit darker generally now - I don't see why it can't go in as an optional extra. That said, it would mean finding the code...

EDIT: And no, there was never an alternative to it. It was intended as an alternative to Showcase.

[BritneysPAIRS]

it would be great to have the source files for it to add to someone elses project even if it was the textures and and myvideo xmls and or view mode xml

its up to you im sure the mods like vision one I see around would love it...and im sure it wouldnt compete with your project its tops for sure.

If it isnt going in.... wouldnt want to lose the work thats all it looked pretty good to me

Cheers

[thesuffering]

do you have an estimated date yet for release, or a timeframe you are shooting for? or is it a cant rush perfection type thing?

[digitalhigh]

I think tent date was right around new years. hopefully thats still true.

[thesuffering]

fingers crossed, really looking forward to this

[Batemann]

DJH,
With or Without Skyline, for me this is THE reason to say farewell to my 8 year old Xbox, and order myself a fullblown HTPC. Even the lady of the house said so after seeing your new screenshots.

I have been using Aeon since the beginning, Never posting a thing on these forums (I'm not much of a Forum-guy), but I wanted to get over myself, and thank you for all your work. I use a LOT of software and XBMC is one of the most well-written and thought out applications I ever used. But when you put your designing skills and ideas on how a GUI can be as Intuitive as possible on top of that, damn... You get something that I've never seen, and everybody who steps in my living room for the first time is blown away by it. I wanted to thank you for it, and just the thought of the fact that we've never even seen the COMPLETE idea's you've had, makes me very excited. ;-)

[digitalhigh]

DJH,
With or Without Skyline, for me this is THE reason to say farewell to my 8 year old Xbox, and order myself a fullblown HTPC. Even the lady of the house said so after seeing your new screenshots.

I have been using Aeon since the beginning, Never posting a thing on these forums (I'm not much of a Forum-guy), but I wanted to get over myself, and thank you for all your work. I use a LOT of software and XBMC is one of the most well-written and thought out applications I ever used. But when you put your designing skills and ideas on how a GUI can be as Intuitive as possible on top of that, damn... You get something that I've never seen, and everybody who steps in my living room for the first time is blown away by it. I wanted to thank you for it, and just the thought of the fact that we've never even seen the COMPLETE idea's you've had, makes me very excited. ;-)

Amen to that! Same here. Built a HTPC for the explicit reason of being able to use Aeon Stark as smoothly as possible. I've also re-tagged and designed fanart for as much of my music and movies as possible...and music fanart isn't even fully implemented yet! That's how excited I am about Aeon. But I'm sure nobody could tell that about me, right? :D

[thesuffering]

are there any preliminary requirements or recommendations to run stark? i dont plan on running any hd movies as they just take up way too much space, and i can deal with dvd quality. i love the new visuals and interface though. I have a hackintosh currently running plex with aeon skin, my xbox with aeon.
guess what im asking is do i need to upgrade my hackintosh to run this smoothly, interface wise?

[onesojourner]

January is only 2 weeks away. Stark could potentially be out in 2 weeks. That's crazy.

[djh_]

are there any preliminary requirements or recommendations to run stark?

Don't use an Xbox.

(not that I've tested it)

[thesuffering]

Don't use an Xbox.

(not that I've tested it)

:laugh: yea, i was planning on retiring the xbox to another room, and run stark on a real pc, just wanted to make sure i didnt need to upgrade the pc

[R111]

Don't use an Xbox.

(not that I've tested it)

I'm sure a Xbox Friendly Texutres.xpr will be out not long after its release.

[rudeboyx]

hope so.
This skin looks the dogs bollocks and would love to see it on old faithfull (xbox)

[onesojourner]

whats the point of an hd skin if you can't watch hd content? I guess its alright if you are just using it for music, but video?

[digitalhigh]

whats the point of an hd skin if you can't watch hd content? I guess its alright if you are just using it for music, but video?

IMHO, there's two answers to this question, a short one and a long one.

The short one is...there really isn't. I mean, I really enjoy having a crispy display for my music and browsing videos and TV, and it's nice to take advantage of all my 58" HDTV can do, but in all actuality, there is no massive benefit of having a HTPC running XBMC vs. an Xbox, except for being able to run the fully unmodified Aeon Stark (when it gets released).

The long answer is...HD playback on the computer is still sort of in it's infancy, if you compare it to something like the XVID or DIVX standard. The fact that XBMC on a computer can't play HD well without a smokin' CPU doesn't mean that it will always be like that. There is work being done on GPU supported H264 playback...but everything here is done out of everybody's free time, so it can sometimes take a while.

Point is, eventually, either XBMC will play HD content by means of GPU support, or everybody will have fast dual-core processors to play with and it won't be an issue. Either way, older computers just aren't designed to play HD stuff because it's still a new thing.

Wow...that was winded and offtopic. Sorry DJH. :D

[frater]

I'm watching half-rate HD movies on my HD-ready plasma screen. It's a beautiful picture. I've seen many HD LCD's with worse quality. Resolution isn't the only factor. The DAC of the xbox is much better than those in other equipment.
It's a bit strange that Americans have been satisfied with NTSC long after the end of the 20th century and now all of a sudden 1280 x 720 isn't good enough.

The xbox has no problem rendering a 1280 x 720 divx movie and those movies are only 2.5 GB which is 1/3 of many SD DVD's. I recently bought a spare xbox for € 40,- No way to beat that with a PC

[mrt2]

Which picture shows this skyline view everyone is talking about?

[pantherman007]

hope so.
This skin looks the dogs bollocks and would love to see it on old faithfull (xbox)

And for anyone who isn't fluent in Brit-speak, "dogs bollocks" is (are?) a good thing. :grin:

[esdubu]

And for anyone who isn't fluent in Brit-speak, "dogs bollocks" is (are?) a good thing. :grin:

ha ha ha yes! It's like saying the bees knees only in less polite company :grin:

[pantherman007]

It's a bit strange that Americans have been satisfied with NTSC long after the end of the 20th century and now all of a sudden 1280 x 720 isn't good enough.

The xbox has no problem rendering a 1280 x 720 divx movie and those movies are only 2.5 GB which is 1/3 of many SD DVD's. I recently bought a spare xbox for € 40,- No way to beat that with a PC

If it's strange that Americans have lived with NTSC for a long time, why is it strange that they embrace 1080p now that it's available to them? Duncan's designing his skin for the resolution and performance he wants, which happen to be beyond what the classic Xbox can handle. No one is saying you can't continue to use an Xbox, just don't expect designers aiming for the high-end to downgrade their products to the Xbox's lower capabilities.

I for one am looking forward to Stark showing off 1080p in all its glory. :D

[mrt2]

Does this mean that I won't be able to use this skin since my TV is only 1080i? :(

[thesuffering]

Does this mean that I won't be able to use this skin since my TV is only 1080i? :(

not at all...its designed for 1080p, but you can still use it in 1080i/720p it just wont look as nice as 1080p

[smcnally75]

whats the point of an hd skin if you can't watch hd content? I guess its alright if you are just using it for music, but video?

I don't know about you, but I would much rather have 300-400 movies in 480p than 30 movies in HD. A dvd rip takes from 3GB to 7GB depending on the rip, convert it to DiVX and now you're down under 1GB with still very acceptable quality. A BluRay rip takes a minimum of 20GB per movie. For me, at this point, it isn't worth all the extra money needed for storage alone to build an HD movie library. But, long story short, Duncan is building this skin free of charge so he can do it however he wants. ;)

[bluemonq]

I suppose this is straying off a little bit, but there seemed to be a few people who are concerned about this: for those who are worried that their to-be-Aeon-enhanced XBMC PCs will be pushed to the limit playing HD content and have video cards that support hardware decoding of h.264 (such as the recent ATI HD 48x0 series) or have CoreAVC installed might want to look at this thread:
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=40136
It's an unofficial workaround to allow XBMC launch an external player that supports hardware acceleration/that lets you choose a different filter. If you watch your videos fullscreen, you wouldn't even tell the difference since the UI of the other player won't be seen (unless you move your mouse around).

[K-FleX]

I don't know about you, but I would much rather have 300-400 movies in 480p than 30 movies in HD. A dvd rip takes from 3GB to 7GB depending on the rip, convert it to DiVX and now you're down under 1GB with still very acceptable quality. A BluRay rip takes a minimum of 20GB per movie. For me, at this point, it isn't worth all the extra money needed for storage alone to build an HD movie library. But, long story short, Duncan is building this skin free of charge so he can do it however he wants. ;)

Yes, uncompressed they are in that range (I have seen some down below 15 gig before) but compressed you can have as low as a 1.4 gig Micro-HD MKV rip and notice significant quality improvements compared to a 2 CD DivX rip of the same size. So you can have higher quality without actually increasing your capacity needs dramatically.

I have XBMC on my XBOX and MediaPC and use both all the time. I don't see the need for my Xbox to have a high-def / fandangled skin though. If all your vids are low-qual/low-def then why would you need your skin to be high-def? I think the time spent on optimizing skins for the xbox would be better spent on improving skin features etc.

Keep up the good work djh, hanging for the release.

[BritneysPAIRS]

the reson why aeon one hangs mostly on the xbox is an over active xml saving code

I posted a ticket for this as it servely slows down an xbox using alot of skin settings
http://xbmc.org/trac/ticket/5206
that is all that slowed down aeon it also had a few mem issues when using large fanart but the speed is fine....I removed the xml issue from the source and it speeds it up at least 3 times for window entry and exit

[djh_]

That's interesting. Not sure if you're talking about Aeon's code or XBMC's, but the "Stark" version has been rebuilt from scratch with much cleaner and more precise code.

[extinct]

Are the Media Flags working in Stark?

[pletopia]

media flags need to be implemented into xbmc first .. only then can aeon (and every other skin) utilize them

[onesojourner]

I don't know about you, but I would much rather have 300-400 movies in 480p than 30 movies in HD. A dvd rip takes from 3GB to 7GB depending on the rip, convert it to DiVX and now you're down under 1GB with still very acceptable quality. A BluRay rip takes a minimum of 20GB per movie. For me, at this point, it isn't worth all the extra money needed for storage alone to build an HD movie library. But, long story short, Duncan is building this skin free of charge so he can do it however he wants. ;)

I would totally agree with you if it were 2 years ago. but hhd prices have literally crashed over the last 6 months. 1t drives can be had for less than 100 bucks. I have seen them as low as 85 (thats shipped) and 1.5t drives have been as low as 120 bucks. I will agree a 700mb divx rip is acceptable on a SD tv, but aeon is unusable on a SD tv all the fonts are to small and its designed for widescreen. I upgraded mine about a month ago and divx movies are not acceptable any more. A 480p mkv is watchable. The xbox even after I tried tweaking it could not play those. Those files run about 2.5 gigs. a 720p encode is about 4.5 and 1080p encodes are around 7 for animated films and 12 for a great rip of a normal movie. The difference between an sd encode and a hd encode is incredible.

[smcnally75]

I would totally agree with you if it were 2 years ago. but hhd prices have literally crashed over the last 6 months. 1t drives can be had for less than 100 bucks. I have seen them as low as 85 (thats shipped) and 1.5t drives have been as low as 120 bucks. I will agree a 700mb divx rip is acceptable on a SD tv, but aeon is unusable on a SD tv all the fonts are to small and its designed for widescreen. I upgraded mine about a month ago and divx movies are not acceptable any more. A 480p mkv is watchable. The xbox even after I tried tweaking it could not play those. Those files run about 2.5 gigs. a 720p encode is about 4.5 and 1080p encodes are around 7 for animated films and 12 for a great rip of a normal movie. The difference between an sd encode and a hd encode is incredible.

You guys seem to have forgot that the xbox can handle a 720p skin just fine. I've run Aeon and MediaStream on my xbox and they both look great.

[pletopia]

its not about running the skin in HD (720 or 1080) .. its about running the skin in HD AND being able to play HD rips

if all you want is to keep watching SD rips .. then yes ... an xbox running aeon at 720p is fine however if you'd like to watch better quality rips (movies and tv) then a xbox doesn't cut it anymore

[smcnally75]

its not about running the skin in HD (720 or 1080) .. its about running the skin in HD AND being able to play HD rips

if all you want is to keep watching SD rips .. then yes ... an xbox running aeon at 720p is fine however if you'd like to watch better quality rips (movies and tv) then a xbox doesn't cut it anymore

I've known that. What I'm talking about though is about how this skin (Stark) may not work on a standard xbox even at 720p. At least that is what I've come to understand from what Duncan has said.

[digitalhigh]

I've known that. What I'm talking about though is about how this skin (Stark) may not work on a standard xbox even at 720p. At least that is what I've come to understand from what Duncan has said.

All DJH has said is that he has not tested or designed it for the Xbox. Whether or not it will work has not been tested yet. Well...not entirely. I know that the *leaked* version of Stark worked just FINE on my Xbox1. Granted, it was FAR from being complete, but the *initial* product worked without problems...

[smcnally75]

Well that will be sweet if it works on the xbox! I switched from Aeon to MediaStream because of a few things but would love to go to stark if it works well.

[digitalhigh]

Well that will be sweet if it works on the xbox! I switched from Aeon to MediaStream because of a few things but would love to go to stark if it works well.

I just wanna be clear...the version I tested was far from complete...most likely lacking in the majority of features that the final version will have. That incomplete snapshot worked on the Xbox.

Knowing DJH, I'd imagine that he's gonna be pushing the envelope as far as graphics go.

[BritneysPAIRS]

its a source issue that was put in sometime in the last 6months or so Jmarshal could fix id say but at present the xbox xml saving is over active and really slows down the window entry and exit.... if you change a setting (skin setting it should take about .1 of a sec to it) now it even glitch the music this includes stuff like sort by as it saves it to the settings file. If Jmarshal fixed this or someone else your skin would operate very fast I can can show you how to test this also could probably find the fix as it was fixed once for this issue a 18months ago.

[jmarshall]

BritneysPAIRS: Your harddisk is fragmented. Nothing (zero, zip, nada) has changed with this stuff for well over a year. You probably also have thousands of skin settings sitting in guisettings.xml from skinning attempts that won't be helping things.

[BritneysPAIRS]

I test the version with a clean install and even when you change the view method or sort method it takes about 1 second and glitchs the music if I roll the xbe back a year it takes about .1 of a sec and no music glitch with the same xml for my video on aeon

PS im using altantis final built from svn with guisettings wiped from boot back to defaults ... maybe its the extra features in the year newer xbe slowing things down like fanart im not to sure

I love aeon skin but to make it run smooth on xbox I rolled back the xbe about a year then added fanart and corrected the skin slightly and there is a world of diff in the speed it runs

[djh_]

First the good news (and no, there aren't really a million backdrops):

http://www.aeonproject.com/dropbin/aeon2_assistant.jpg

Say hello to the Aeon Assistant. You can summon it from any page within XBMC where it provides context-sensitive advice on various bits and bobs. This is in addition to the slides present in the standard Settings section. If the news update looks a little fuzzy, it's because it's downloaded from the Aeon server and is therefore optimised for speed. It's also the only thing in Aeon that does not now refer to strings.xml - not much I can do about that yet. Because the Assistant pops up over existing windows (though the window furniture fades out), it adopts whichever backdrop(s) are running at the time.

Some more good news:

The new schema for Aeon's xml and window structure should make modding or tweaking it a doddle. Includes are used where common sense says they should be, not to the point of needles in haystacks. Moreover, they've been organised into specific xml files according to purpose and named accordingly, so you can track them down in an instant. Comments, meanwhile, are used to explain pretty much everything that needs them

Some more good news:

Holy shit have I got a backdrop pack for you. Not quite a million, though. Now to find a host.

Now some bad news:

A work opportunity's come up that I simply can't turn down, which means delays. We're talking weeks rather than months, but let's just say you won't be downloading on New Year's Day. Apologies.

But at least:

Most of the important stuff's done and is entirely bug free, with skin-wide localisation support and optimised animation. This is probably bad news for volunteer translators as there are a *lot* of strings involved.

[pletopia]

for the backdrop pack .. why don't you just torrent it ?

[DToX]

whats the filesize of this pack?

[digitalhigh]

Dude...all I can do is sit and stare at the pics of this badboy. It's so freaking beautiful. And now I'm taking the time to sit down and set up thumbnails for all the various ROMS I've accrued over the years. I think that it's safe to say that I'm quite ready to use this skin now. :D

[pletopia]

Dude...all I can do is sit and stare at the pics of this badboy. It's so freaking beautiful. And now I'm taking the time to sit down and set up thumbnails for all the various ROMS I've accrued over the years. I think that it's safe to say that I'm quite ready to use this skin now. :D

hehe :)

[sensei73]

WoW... no more to say!!

If you're looking for someone to translate it in French let me know. (I can also help for translating it in Japanese)

[cyberwizzard]

If you need a translation in Dutch, let me know :)

[Cranial]

If you need a translation in Dutch, let me know :)

I can translate into Australian ;) :D

[flipped cracker]

if you need me to look at the skin while it's in english, just say the word.

[onesojourner]

delays due to work are always a good time to implement an unplanned beta test... ;)

[digitalhigh]

delays due to work are always a good time to implement an unplanned beta test... ;)

Yeah...give it a little time out in the wild...let us get back to you with the final things that need smoothing over. You know, outside of whatever you're still planning for it.

[joncgde2]

Looking for a host for your backdrops?

Use Mediafire (http://www.mediafire.com)... seriously - they have 100MB file limits, but it would be well worth it.


I serve a lot of files for my windows mobile smartphone, and I've had around 30TB transferred, yet they're still up, still offered at around 250kb/s download :D and no wait times! :D:D

Please do us a favour and up it here... some people still think rapidshare is good, what with its 1 minute wait times and 30 kb/s speeds... grr

[devilrejects]

I can tanslate it in german

[R111]

i can do any translation you want. might need a head start with the skin tho.. ;)

[Borja487]

I can translate it in spanish :laugh:

[ImpreZa]

And if you need, I can translate to swedish.

Thanks for a stunning skin, XBMC with Aeon is the reason i´ll buy a Mac Mini and upgrade from my god old Xbox.

[XBMCG33K]

I can translate in English hehe

[digitalhigh]

Uh...I don'te dun talk me too good dat english...I just rilly dont want two weight too play wit this babie ehneemore. :)

[natethomas]

http://www.aeonproject.com/dropbin/aeon2_assistant.jpg



Who is that in the background? Very attractive, I think.

[pletopia]

looks like avril levigne .. or however you spell that last name ;)

[Se7enDays]

What view options will there be for tv shows? Will a banner view be included?

[pletopia]

i'm hoping and praying that djh doesn't take out a banner view .. there is still a decent sized population who hasn't switched to poster view for series banners .. i know x2biris is taking it out in his next version of horizon which i feel is a mistake but its not like i can do anything about that but just express my opinion about that decision in the forum

[HitecDevil]

First the good news (and no, there aren't really a million backdrops):

http://www.aeonproject.com/dropbin/aeon2_assistant.jpg

Say hello to the Aeon Assistant. You can summon it from any page within XBMC where it provides context-sensitive advice on various bits and bobs. This is in addition to the slides present in the standard Settings section. If the news update looks a little fuzzy, it's because it's downloaded from the Aeon server and is therefore optimised for speed. It's also the only thing in Aeon that does not now refer to strings.xml - not much I can do about that yet. Because the Assistant pops up over existing windows (though the window furniture fades out), it adopts whichever backdrop(s) are running at the time.

Some more good news:

The new schema for Aeon's xml and window structure should make modding or tweaking it a doddle. Includes are used where common sense says they should be, not to the point of needles in haystacks. Moreover, they've been organised into specific xml files according to purpose and named accordingly, so you can track them down in an instant. Comments, meanwhile, are used to explain pretty much everything that needs them

Some more good news:

Holy shit have I got a backdrop pack for you. Not quite a million, though. Now to find a host.

Now some bad news:

A work opportunity's come up that I simply can't turn down, which means delays. We're talking weeks rather than months, but let's just say you won't be downloading on New Year's Day. Apologies.

But at least:

Most of the important stuff's done and is entirely bug free, with skin-wide localisation support and optimised animation. This is probably bad news for volunteer translators as there are a *lot* of strings involved.

hi djh_ i found this article in my news feed reader http://lifehacker.com/5115050/livedrive-offers-unlimited-online-storage if you have time check it out..
your screenshots are stunning cant wait or the next ones..keep up the great work an thank man!

[Jorsher]

I don't know about you, but I would much rather have 300-400 movies in 480p than 30 movies in HD. A dvd rip takes from 3GB to 7GB depending on the rip, convert it to DiVX and now you're down under 1GB with still very acceptable quality. A BluRay rip takes a minimum of 20GB per movie. For me, at this point, it isn't worth all the extra money needed for storage alone to build an HD movie library. But, long story short, Duncan is building this skin free of charge so he can do it however he wants. ;)

For those that care about quality, divx is not the codec of choice. I currently have 3 x 1TB drives full of media, and I get 720p/1080p content when available. A bluray rip does not take a minimum of 20gb. I have numerous rips of 1080p content that are discernable from the original source unless you do a frame by frame comparison. These rips run 8-12gb. The 720p rips are 4-6gb. HIGH quality DVD rips run 1-2gb.

I don't know where you're getting your rips, but you're getting ripped :P

BTW, this magical codec is called h.264. Many video cards, including the onboard ones, support hardware decoding of this, making cheap $150-250 HTPCs for HD content a reality.

h.264 > xvid/divx

Better compression, better quality.

BTW, this looks amazing, and I cannot wait for it to become public. The 7.5TB media server is standing by :)

[digitalhigh]

For those that care about quality, divx is not the codec of choice. I currently have 3 x 1TB drives full of media, and I get 720p/1080p content when available. A bluray rip does not take a minimum of 20gb. I have numerous rips of 1080p content that are discernable from the original source unless you do a frame by frame comparison. These rips run 8-12gb. The 720p rips are 4-6gb. HIGH quality DVD rips run 1-2gb.

I don't know where you're getting your rips, but you're getting ripped :P

BTW, this magical codec is called h.264. Many video cards, including the onboard ones, support hardware decoding of this, making cheap $150-250 HTPCs for HD content a reality.

h.264 > xvid/divx

Better compression, better quality.

BTW, this looks amazing, and I cannot wait for it to become public. The 7.5TB media server is standing by :)

I couldn't agree with you more, it's just that currently, XBMC doesn't support hardware decoding of h.264 material, meaning that unless you have a pretty nice CPU, you can't watch them without some modification of the program.

I don't want to sound like a brokeazz, but the majority of the machines I have are built out of parts gleaned from older computers people don't want. So, I don't have a dual core, which means divx for me...

[Jorsher]

I couldn't agree with you more, it's just that currently, XBMC doesn't support hardware decoding of h.264 material, meaning that unless you have a pretty nice CPU, you can't watch them without some modification of the program.

I don't want to sound like a brokeazz, but the majority of the machines I have are built out of parts gleaned from older computers people don't want. So, I don't have a dual core, which means divx for me...

Ew, that's disappointing news :(

Well, there are other options, but hopefully this will be integrated.

BTW you don't sound like a brokeazz. My main workstation has a q6600 @ 3.6ghz, BUT, I only planned on a cheap dual core for the HTPCs.

[djh_]

i'm hoping and praying that djh doesn't take out a banner view .. there is still a decent sized population who hasn't switched to poster view for series banners .. i know x2biris is taking it out in his next version of horizon which i feel is a mistake but its not like i can do anything about that but just express my opinion about that decision in the forum

There's no banner view. Banners haven't been part of Aeon for a while now.

[pletopia]

There's no banner view. Banners haven't been part of Aeon for a while now.

that is a pity :sad: .. i don't want to re-do my library and lose banners .. but if i must i will :-/

[Competes2win]

that is a pity :sad: .. i don't want to re-do my library and lose banners .. but if i must i will :-/

I made the switch reluctantly once djH made that switch... but I've come to be thankful... the authentic dvd art and everything are just better quality then the 'artists' work on the wide icons. I'm glad the switch was made and I think you will be too...

[pletopia]

well .. i get "authentic" dvd art for season banners since it looks like a dvd covers from the store .. and i have that .. i just liked the unique view of banners for the tv show level .. for many of the shows the artists did a great job

[natethomas]

looks like avril levigne .. or however you spell that last name ;)

It does look a bit like her, but it's very hard to tell. djh... any clues?

[bluemonq]

I couldn't agree with you more, it's just that currently, XBMC doesn't support hardware decoding of h.264 material, meaning that unless you have a pretty nice CPU, you can't watch them without some modification of the program.

I don't want to sound like a brokeazz, but the majority of the machines I have are built out of parts gleaned from older computers people don't want. So, I don't have a dual core, which means divx for me...
And again I'd like to point out an unofficial modification of the program that can work for you if you have a h.264 decoding piece of hardware and not married to the internal player:
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=40136

[Snowflake]

It does look a bit like her, but it's very hard to tell. djh... any clues?
It's very easy to tell. It's her, although the photo has been flipped left-right to go in this background.

It's available on the net in many places, here's a small one:
http://psp.88000.org/33__Avril_Lavigne.htm

[DrSlump]

Hi friends, where i can download this release that new aeon ?
^_^

[Weavus]

Hi friends, where i can download this release that new aeon ?
I won't be out for another month (maybe more).

[timdog82001]

There's no banner view. Banners haven't been part of Aeon for a while now.

:O That makes me very sad. Hopefully someone with more time than me does a mod that adds it. Don't the majority of of xbmc users still use wide icons? It's even the default in xbmc.

[Jezz_X]

:............ Don't the majority of of xbmc users still use wide icons? It's even the default in xbmc.

I would bet that would be a yes

[Weavus]

Don't the majority of of xbmc users still use wide icons? It's even the default in xbmc.
Maybe, but the point is the majority of Aeon users use posters now and that's what the skin is designed around. If you want to use banners I suggest you use a different skin that has support built in.

[ashlar]

I think posters, for the future, are the way to go. I, personally, love them and prefer them over wide banners.

[digitalhigh]

I think posters, for the future, are the way to go. I, personally, love them and prefer them over wide banners.

What would be really nice is if XBMC could support BOTH types of gfx natively, and display them if the skin supported it...

[tjost]

Why cant you start it as a torrent. So many Computers are running all the day like mine and of course the torrent tool is on.

[onesojourner]

I agree torrenting the pack would be great. I will upload it for a while once I get it.

[bionic1234]

What would be really nice is if XBMC could support BOTH types of gfx natively, and display them if the skin supported it...

That's a good idea.

[djh_]

But what difference would it make to the end user? If a skinner wants banner views in they'll put them in. XBMC functionality has nothing to do with it.

Not trying to be argumentative here, just saying.

[Jezz_X]

<rant>
Indeed in the end its djh_'s skin and if he want to do posters only tuff luck to banner users. Its not like with a little time and effort people can't learn to put them back into the skin anyway.
Once you start the skinning engine is very logical and easy to get a grip off its just taking the original effort to learn it.
Besides its all just plain text anyway not like its compiled code that you can't modify yourselves

</rant>

[digitalhigh]

But what difference would it make to the end user? If a skinner wants banner views in they'll put them in. XBMC functionality has nothing to do with it.

Not trying to be argumentative here, just saying.

I know what you're saying, and I honestly don't care about banners.

But I do remember when I made the switch from banners to posters for TV, and I thought it would be neat if you could put a showname-banner.jpg alongside the poster gfx file instead of having to do a rehaul if you want to switch skins or something.

It has little to do with Aeon Stark having poster view...but I think that it would be a lot easier for the people who already have a dedicated banner setup...the ones asking to have banners included.

I'm not really arguing for banners to be included in stark...I know why they're not there, and I agree with that reasoning. I'm just pointing out something that other users might like having...

[SirBC]

I'm pretty new to XBMC so I may be missing something here, but doesn't the default TV scraper (thetvdb.com) use wide banners as the site default? It looks like it on their homepage.

A quick perusal of thetvdb.com for the TV shows I collect show less than 50% have poster views available, while 100% of the shows have wide banner views available.

[tjost]

you can chose in the skin what kind of icon you prefer.

[Jezz_X]

you can chose in the skin what kind of icon you prefer.

Correction you can choose in XBMC scraper settings which you prefer nothing to do with AEON

[natew]

Would I be completely insane to be hopeful for 16:10 compatibility (sans stretching)?

[Competes2win]

Would I be completely insane to be hopeful for 16:10 compatibility (sans stretching)?

lol i've never even heard of this aspect ratio I don't think...

[rwparris2]

lol i've never even heard of this aspect ratio I don't think...

it is what many widescreen laptop monitors are.
widescreen TVs are 16:9, laptops are 16:10 (just to make us angry)

[timdog82001]

its what my widescreen desktop lcd monitor is too. Kinda retarded.

[djh_]

Would I be completely insane to be hopeful for 16:10 compatibility (sans stretching)?

Not insane but fruitless given that there's no control over that on the skinning side. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[onesojourner]

I have a question. In the current version of aeon when you pause a tv show it shows you a squished episode preview in a poster size box. Is there a way to have aeon use the dvd cover instead and will the new aeon unsquish the preview or do the dvd poster?

[pletopia]

a few days ago there was talk about a "mother-of-all" fanart packs .. any decisions about that ?? can you enlighten us more about the contents of it .. is it movies ? tv ? music ? weather ??

EDIT: hehe .. didn't scroll down enough and see the Merry Christmas! post :)

[crowbar77]

The link to the backdrops on your site doesn't seem to be working anymore, just thought i would give you a heads up. :)

Happy Holidays

[scrp]

The link to the backdrops on your site doesn't seem to be working anymore, just thought i would give you a heads up. :)

Happy Holidays

Works now (for me anyway)

[digitalhigh]

I don't get it...is the big fanart pack up? Where? My stupid ass doesn't see anything...

[onesojourner]

its not really a pack but a collection of backdrops. you just download them individually.

[digitalhigh]

I see...

Has anybody downloaded them all yet? Would be nice to have everything in one fell swoop...plus save DJH some bandwidth.

[watzen]

If djh don't mind, then I can create a torrent for them.

and here it is:
Backgrounds torrent (http://torrents.thepiratebay.org/4609564/BG.4609564.TPB.torrent)

[mkv1080p]

can someone upload the pack to rapidshare, etc please?

[watzen]

Why rapidshare when there is torrent?

[XBMCG33K]

I second the RS request please. RS is MUCH MUCH faster IMHO. :)

[watzen]

yeah thats why everyone use rapidshare to download their movies and such...

[mkv1080p]

because torrent is illegal and too complicated.

[watzen]

torrents aren't illegal.

[FourTwentySmilz]

The act of downloading copywritten media is illegal.......torrents themselves are not illegal. As long as the media isn't copy protected, torrent sharing is fine. And as far as RS being faster than Torrents.........Wake Up!!! I think you may be dreaming.

[tjost]

Download Movie from Rapidshare is also illegal. The Torrent is good and fast. i´m Happy

[XBMCG33K]

The act of downloading copywritten media is illegal.......torrents themselves are not illegal. As long as the media isn't copy protected, torrent sharing is fine. And as far as RS being faster than Torrents.........Wake Up!!! I think you may be dreaming.

It may be depending on your amount of seeders on the torrent, you may be right but RS doesn't require a single seeder and with an application such as IDM it's faster. I'm pretty sure I've woken up, or I would still be using torrents. :rolleyes:

[asphinx]

True, torrents are dependent on seeders/available amount of those. However to fully utilize RS it requires a premium account (paid for service) which torrents do not require. So in fairness to each of them I think one shouldn't compare the two, instead just embrace their differences and use depending on the demographic one wishes to target.
Both however are not in themselves illegal it's what it's users decide to use the service for, that makes that particular action illegal. My two cents. :D

[digitalhigh]

Howabout we talk about Aeon Stark? I got my torrent of the backdrops last night, so I'm happy. If you people who have a hardon for RS want, spend the time uploading 600mb to their site. Thus far, the only thing here is the torrent...

[onesojourner]

Does any one have a guess as to when we will get stark? I am guessing Jan 15.

[watzen]

I'd bet on Feb 14:th, cuz djh wants to show us some looove..

[maxposure]

I will be seeding the Fanart/Artwork for a while. Hope there are takers. Can't wait for STARK

[mrt2]

I'll help seed. No worries! :D

[Jiggles]

About that torrent, shouldn't those backdrops be in TIF format? I thought that they needed to be uncompressed due to performance issues.

[natew]

Sort of. The filesize of the torrent would be greatly increased though if they weren't compressed in the torrent.

The suggestion is that you convert them to .bmp (or .tif if you're on a mac) after downloading.
(But leave the originals in the torrent so you can keep seeding :))

[theuni]

for i in $(ls *.jpg | awk -F "." '{print $1}'); do convert $i.jpg $i.tiff; done

That should do it. Just delete the .jpg's when done.

apt-get imagemagick if it complains.

TheUni

[nekrosoft13]

djh_

will your skin support foreign characters? stuff like: ś, ę, ó, ź etc....

[Villain]

djh_

will your skin support foreign characters? stuff like: ś, ę, ó, ź etc....

Same question.

[djh_]

That's the plan, yes.

[ju1ce]

I can re-post this to RS in a bit if people still want it..

[natew]

I don't plan on running Aeon on an xbox, but how serious of a step up in hardware requirements will the final Aeon be?

For instance if, the current Aeon runs fairly smoothly on my current hardware, but just barely, do you think there will be a significant drop in performance after the upgrade? (I'm running from my two year old laptop with 1 gig of ddr1, a Pentium M at 1.87 and an nvidia Go 6200 TC)

[R111]

djh, what is your system setup. from pc to tv.. thanks.

[jmartin147]

First things first, my hats off to you, this skin looks absolutely amazing. I've installed XBMC on my current HTPC but I'm not going to bother adding skins until this comes out. Seems like that day can't come soon enough.

Second, I'm trying to get some backdrops ready for when this comes out and there are quite a few I don't have or am dissatisfied with the quality of them. Does anyone have suggestions on where to get good quality MOVIE backdrops (I've already exhausted "themoviedb.org"). Or if anyone has any packs they've already assembled.

There is one in particular that djh uses on his sample Aeon screens for Apocalypse Now. It's a different one than anything I've seen else where, not even on his own backdrops section. So if you're listening, please upload!!!!

Thanks and keep up the awesome work.

[digitalhigh]

First things first, my hats off to you, this skin looks absolutely amazing. I've installed XBMC on my current HTPC but I'm not going to bother adding skins until this comes out. Seems like that day can't come soon enough.

Second, I'm trying to get some backdrops ready for when this comes out and there are quite a few I don't have or am dissatisfied with the quality of them. Does anyone have suggestions on where to get good quality MOVIE backdrops (I've already exhausted "themoviedb.org"). Or if anyone has any packs they've already assembled.

There is one in particular that djh uses on his sample Aeon screens for Apocalypse Now. It's a different one than anything I've seen else where, not even on his own backdrops section. So if you're listening, please upload!!!!

Thanks and keep up the awesome work.

I sent you a PM regarding backdrops.

@DHJ - Is this thing ready yet? I don't think I can comb through my video library any more...it's all ready to go. ;)

[pletopia]

@digitalhigh - any chance you would be willing to create a torrent of your movie backgrounds and upload that ?

i'm grabbed the one that was created a few days ago .. but i could always use more :)

[digitalhigh]

@digitalhigh - any chance you would be willing to create a torrent of your movie backgrounds and upload that ?i'm grabbed the one that was created a few days ago .. but i could always use more :) Im actually working on a recompile of all the art ive done. rhould b ready in a day or two.

[djh_]

Here's an example of what can be done with the new stringcompare functions of the skinning engine. With about 40 studio icons in place I'm getting about a 60 per cent hit rate on my movie collection. Part of that's because the imdb scraper doesn't pull all of the studio info, but I reckon a few more images and some crafty visibility conditions should achieve an acceptable 80 per cent (for US and UK movies anyway).

The remaining flags are all pulled from filenames for the moment, though renaming my entire collection took about 30 seconds with the wonderful ReNamer, nfo files and all. By the time Aeon's finished, I'm thinking XBMC will have proper media flag support.

All this is optional of course, for those that like a little less clutter.

http://www.aeonproject.com/dropbin/aeonOne_flags1.jpg

http://www.aeonproject.com/dropbin/aeonOne_flags2.jpg

http://www.aeonproject.com/dropbin/aeonOne_flags3.jpg

[digitalhigh]

So, in order for it to detect DTS/Dolby, etc, they need to be coded into the filenames?

Is there any way for XBMC to detect the codec used for the audio?

[djh_]

Not yet, but hopefully soon.

[Jezz_X]

So, in order for it to detect DTS/Dolby, etc, they need to be coded into the filenames?

Is there any way for XBMC to detect the codec used for the audio?

Yes its being worked on right now infact as well as resolution stuff djh_ just did it the way by looking at filenames

https://xbmc.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/xbmc/branches/hdflagging/

[digitalhigh]

Yes its being worked on right now infact as well as resolution stuff djh_ just did it the way by looking at filenames

https://xbmc.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/xbmc/branches/hdflagging/

Awesome. So I don't have to go renaming my entire library. :D

[pletopia]

i see there is a general HD icon ... djh .. are you planning on using that or having a 720p and 1080p icons

[nekrosoft13]

Im actually working on a recompile of all the art ive done. rhould b ready in a day or two.

need to keep an eye for that :cool:

[Cyndrax]

Here's an example of what can be done with the new stringcompare functions of the skinning engine. With about 40 studio icons in place I'm getting about a 60 per cent hit rate on my movie collection. Part of that's because the imdb scraper doesn't pull all of the studio info, but I reckon a few more images and some crafty visibility conditions should achieve an acceptable 80 per cent (for US and UK movies anyway).

The remaining flags are all pulled from filenames for the moment, though renaming my entire collection took about 30 seconds with the wonderful ReNamer, nfo files and all. By the time Aeon's finished, I'm thinking XBMC will have proper media flag support.

All this is optional of course, for those that like a little less clutter.
<cut out images here>


I've had XBMC on my XBox for 3 years now, so I've been lurking here for a long time. I had to register to say how excited I am to check out Aeon once it's done. I'm putting together an HTPC parts list right now to update my HTPC box for full Aeon goodness.

To ask a possibly stupid question, but what movies are the backgrounds from the first two images in djh_'s post from? I know the third is Dark Knight.

[Beatzeps08]

The second one is from "Domino" with Keira Knightley.

[HexusOdy]

Thats possibly the sexiest skin I've ever seen on anything. It's the attention to detail that does it!

[digitalhigh]

To ask a possibly stupid question, but what movies are the backgrounds from the first two images in djh_'s post from? I know the third is Dark Knight.

Second image is from Chronicles of Riddick/Vin Diesel

[maxposure]

Fantastic Job djh_
I have to tell you that I am a recent XBMC convert from meedio. Once I realized who really had the inspiration for this beautiful skin I decided to make the switch and now couldn’t be happier. Some of the features that I did miss (having to codec icons and HD icons) you have solved. While the wait is killing me (I built another HTPC last night, getting it ready for Aeon) I appreciate you making it as complete a solution as possible. Keep up the great work.

[Batemann]

Fantastic Job djh_
I have to tell you that I am a recent XBMC convert from meedio. Once I realized who really had the inspiration for this beautiful skin I decided to make the switch and now couldn’t be happier. Some of the features that I did miss (having to codec icons and HD icons) you have solved. While the wait is killing me (I built another HTPC last night, getting it ready for Aeon) I appreciate you making it as complete a solution as possible. Keep up the great work.

Haha. Hope this heals your Christmas-eve-blues-feeling a little DJH. Your first convert. You can have your very own Aeon-cult. :-)

Have been using XBMC for as long as I can remember. Spent the days around Christmas building my first HTPC, updated my whole library with new 1080p fanart and proper posters. And now it's just sitting there. Waiting. With Mediastream, which is nice, but I miss Aeon.

I will wait patiently, actually watch some movies and tv shows on my new HTPC, I have been told that's the actual reason for having an HTPC. ;-)

Good luck djh.

[digitalhigh]

I will wait patiently, actually watch some movies and tv shows on my new HTPC, I have been told that's the actual reason for having an HTPC. ;-)

Good luck djh.

LOL...you know, my GF says the same thing. "Are you actually going to WATCH a movie, or are you just gonna sit there and look at the pictures."

"WOMAN...I'm making sure everything looks right for when Aeon Stark is released."

"WTF is Aeon Stark?"

[Batemann]

LOL...you know, my GF says the same thing. "Are you actually going to WATCH a movie, or are you just gonna sit there and look at the pictures."

"WOMAN...I'm making sure everything looks right for when Aeon Stark is released."

"WTF is Aeon Stark?"

HAHA! :-) Well, My wife actually KNOWS what Stark is, So she knows why I'm so anal about all my artwork. She loved the Stark-screens, but since the Alpha of Aeon was quite low on the WAF, and for some reason Mediastream has a higher WAF, I'm gonna have to spent some time in getting it actepted in the living room. Although, from what I read djh seems quite a perfectionist, so I have good hopes on the WAF in the finished Stark. :-)

[Cyndrax]

The second one is from "Domino" with Keira Knightley.

First image is from Chronicles of Riddick/Vin Diesel

Thanks for the help!

[digitalhigh]

HAHA! :-) Well, My wife actually KNOWS what Stark is, So she knows why I'm so anal about all my artwork. She loved the Stark-screens, but since the Alpha of Aeon was quite low on the WAF, and for some reason Mediastream has a higher WAF, I'm gonna have to spent some time in getting it actepted in the living room. Although, from what I read djh seems quite a perfectionist, so I have good hopes on the WAF in the finished Stark. :-)

Yeah...I'd imagine that Stark will be one of those ideas that totally redefines how we think of how something works. From what I've seen, one of it's main goals is to take full advantage of the modern capabilities of XBMC, especially when it comes to HD display. You should have no problem getting it accepted into your living room. ;)

[maxposure]

HAHA! :-) Well, My wife actually KNOWS what Stark is, So she knows why I'm so anal about all my artwork. She loved the Stark-screens, but since the Alpha of Aeon was quite low on the WAF, and for some reason Mediastream has a higher WAF, I'm gonna have to spent some time in getting it actepted in the living room. Although, from what I read djh seems quite a perfectionist, so I have good hopes on the WAF in the finished Stark. :-)
My GF has been putting up with me a couple months while i have been on my HTPC craze. I had numbers of problems with the build, and then it took me months to get meedio where it needed to be. Powerful program with nice features but I was constantly tweaking. 3 days after switching to XBMC I allowed my girlfriend to use the thing and all was extremely smooth. With all this extra time on my hands last night I told her, "I have plenty of spare parts; I think I’m going to build a second one for the bedroom tonight." Needless to say, she went out for the evening.

Now I guess all that is left is to get artwork to really get prepared for "Stark or Aeon or One"....whatever it is to be called.

@Batemann & digitalhigh. Can you give your methods for acquiring artwork and posters? Do you use Media Companion or Movie Info Plus? What websites do you get your sources? How do you keep your girlfriend/wife as excited about Stark as you are? Thanks. Feel Free to PM me.

Patients to everyone

[rickatnight11]

I just got an account at movieposterdb.com, so what I have been doing is going through with Media Companion and finding non-HD posters (or posters I don't like) and replacing them with ones from movieposterdb.com. I am doing the same with fanart but replacing them with themoviedb.com's content.

[digitalhigh]

@rickatnight, @maxxposure

I sent you PM's about the fanart...don't wanna hijack DJH's thread too badly...

[rickatnight11]

djh, could you post what filename naming conventions Aeon uses to generate those video and audio icons, and whether it's based on the movie filename itself, or the movie foldername (if that's how we have it organized and are scanning.)

My perl-master friend is working on a script for me to rename all my video files to the correct foldernames I have just finished up (MovieName<space>(year)[resolution]) and the respective nfo, tbn, and jpg files. I'd like to make sure we add in as many features as possible before running the script.

[djh_]

Don't bother renaming anything yet. XBMC should have media flagging support sorted out by the time this arrives, which means it'll pull the required data from the media streams themselves. Except the source (Blu-ray/HD-DVD/HDTV/DVD) icon - you'll need to add that data to the filename. Strings it looks for are:

Bluray
HDTV
SDDVD
HDDVD

[bbaldino]

Looks absolutely stunning. Looking forward to the release djh_, looks like you've done some incredible work here.

[pletopia]

Don't bother renaming anything yet. XBMC should have media flagging support sorted out by the time this arrives, which means it'll pull the required data from the media streams themselves. Except the source (Blu-ray/HD-DVD/HDTV/DVD) icon - you'll need to add that data to the filename. Strings it looks for are:

Bluray
HDTV
SDDVD
HDDVD

1. any chance it could use the dirname or the filename to pull that ?
2. can you also add DVDRip to the choices (equivalent to SDDVD) ?

[djh_]

1. I don't see why not.
2. I doubt that'll happen. If it's a DVD rip then it's a DVD as far as I'm concerned. Then again, I'll probably have xvid and divx flags.

[pletopia]

1. nice :)
2. the reason i asked about dvdrip is cause thats pretty much the "scene" standard to name SDDVD content with dvdrip and even the rips i've made i've tagged them as dvdrip but if you got xvid/divx tags then i guess i'll end up getting those displayed since i have that in the dirname also

ps .. i asked this a few pages ago didn't notice a response so i'll ask again .. will there be unique icons for 720p and 1080p HD or just one common one for HD in general

[digitalhigh]

1. nice :)
2. the reason i asked about dvdrip is cause thats pretty much the "scene" standard to name SDDVD content with dvdrip and even the rips i've made i've tagged them as dvdrip but if you got xvid/divx tags then i guess i'll end up getting those displayed since i have that in the dirname also

ps .. i asked this a few pages ago didn't notice a response so i'll ask again .. will there be unique icons for 720p and 1080p HD or just one common one for HD in general

My collection is set up so that straight DVD files (anything with a VOB) has a folder with (DVD) in the title. Instead of having it prefer SDDVD or DVDRip, why not just scan the name for *dvd*?

Also, howabout a flag for CAM? I know the goal is HD content here, but it would be cool to have a little movie camera or something, just for fun.

xvid/divx tags are cool though. What about AAC or DTS?

[watzen]

it's really easy to add whatever you want when it's released.

for an image that will show if "whateveryouwantittomatch" is in the full path to the file:
<control type="image">
<posx>0</posx>
<posy>0</posy>
<width>100</width>
<height>100</height>
<texture>imagename.png</texture>
<visible>substring(ListItem.fileandpath,whateveryouwantitto match</visible>
</control>

[Beatzeps08]

Don't know if its relevant now, but I converted my real DVDs in *.iso Files. So you don't have to make any folders and XBMC can handle these files very good.

[midgetspy]

Hey djh_, is it currently possible or would it require new XBMC features to allow skins to display one of a pool of fanart images for movies and TV shows? This way multiple numbered fanart images could be displayed (randomly pick one then cycle through in order) for single items. If this is currently possible, can/will you implement this in Stark?

[djh_]

I figured "SDDVD" because "DVD" alone might return false positives from "HDDVD" as well. The more I think about it, the more I'm inclined to go with a simple "DVD" logo for rips. The idea is to take movie collections away from all the "scene" jargon as much as possible. I'll give it some thought.

@midgetspy: I don't know about that. It'd be an XBMC feature request if anything.

[djh_]

Well, having just spent two hours with XBMC Media Companion, a bottle of whiskey and a gun, I can safely say there are a few issues with XBMC's scraping of the IMDb, and indeed the IMDb itself. For one, the MPAA ratings on the IMDb are split between two fields: "Certification" and "MPAA". Neither XBMC nor XBMC Media Companion (XMC) can scrape from the former, which means you have to add those entries manually. Secondly, what the XBMC scraper considers "Studio" is actually "Company" on the IMDb, meaning that all sorts of junk data is pulled down. So rather than, say, Warner Bros being listed for The Matrix, what you actually get is Groucho Film Partnership. Useless, in other words, and another case of having to enter the values yourself.

So the good news (for me, at least): I've finally got all of Aeon's flags showing up properly for about 95 per cent of my movies. The only ones left out are obscure or regional studios which I'll just have to ignore.

The bad news: if you want to use this feature and have it work decently, you'll have to put in some work yourself. And that's not "work" as in clicking a few buttons on XMC, it's going through your collection one-by-one and correcting junk values. Oh, and I'd consider nfo files a necessity from now on.

Still, looks bloody nice in motion.

[vincheesel]

Can't wait to see the new Aeon underway, and love your work!

I'm not sure if this is possible via skin, but have you considered having audio such as theme music when you are browsing through say... TV shows, or maybe a few movies, like Terminator??

I guess it would be a bit more processor intensive but it would add to the environment...

Just an idea...

[XBMCG33K]

Any new screens?

[timdog82001]

look back a page. he just posted some yesterday i think

[Cyndrax]

Still, looks bloody nice in motion.

Reading this made me really want to up the ante in asking for screen shots. Any chance of getting a small video capture of Stark actually "in motion" in the next round of shots?

[djh_]

There will be a video some point soon, but there's some retexturing that needs doing first. It is on the cards, though.

[Competes2win]

I'm not sure if this is possible via skin, but have you considered having audio such as theme music when you are browsing through say... TV shows, or maybe a few movies, like Terminator??

I guess it would be a bit more processor intensive but it would add to the environment...

Just an idea...

lol you could buy yourself a mac and use plex :) tv theme music is a feature, and it is quite nice... also more relevent to your question, it would be an xbmc feature and not a skinnable one.

Can't wait for this release DJH.

[HexusOdy]

Well, having just spent two hours with XBMC Media Companion, a bottle of whiskey and a gun, I can safely say there are a few issues with XBMC's scraping of the IMDb, and indeed the IMDb itself. For one, the MPAA ratings on the IMDb are split between two fields: "Certification" and "MPAA". Neither XBMC nor XBMC Media Companion (XMC) can scrape from the former, which means you have to add those entries manually. Secondly, what the XBMC scraper considers "Studio" is actually "Company" on the IMDb, meaning that all sorts of junk data is pulled down. So rather than, say, Warner Bros being listed for The Matrix, what you actually get is Groucho Film Partnership. Useless, in other words, and another case of having to enter the values yourself.

Is it possible to scrape that info from somewhere else other than IMDB? Is so, and seeing as 75%+ of XBMC users will be using Stark, maybe BillyAd can resolve it in XMC.

[CuFk]

When will Aeon 2 be available to download?

[parena]

When will Aeon 2 be available to download?

You didn't feel like going through the thread, huh? :/

"When it's done", which we are all hoping will be this month.

[pletopia]

don't want to hijack this thread but have a quick question relating to the last few posts .. i see djh was talking about XMC over the last couple thread posts he made .. i've heard of it and what it does .. haven't used it though

i also have heard of MIP (Media Info Plus)

whats the difference between those two ? which ones better ??

[Jezz_X]

Well, having just spent two hours with XBMC Media Companion, a bottle of whiskey and a gun, I can safely say there are a few issues with XBMC's scraping of the IMDb, and indeed the IMDb itself. For one, the MPAA ratings on the IMDb are split between two fields: "Certification" and "MPAA". Neither XBMC nor XBMC Media Companion (XMC) can scrape from the former, which means you have to add those entries manually. Secondly, what the XBMC scraper considers "Studio" is actually "Company" on the IMDb, meaning that all sorts of junk data is pulled down. So rather than, say, Warner Bros being listed for The Matrix, what you actually get is Groucho Film Partnership. Useless, in other words, and another case of having to enter the values yourself.
.....


Then post a proper bug report on trac and get it fixed :oo:

[asphinx]

-->pletopia, there are thread for both of those, I suspect you will find better answers there.

XMC (http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=33961)

MIP (http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=41129)

[CuFk]

parena: Sorry, but I didn't find that while I was going through the thread.

[parena]

parena: Sorry, but I didn't find that while I was going through the thread.

No problem. Perhaps it was a bit hidden, it's becoming a big thread. :nod:

[djh_]

Then post a proper bug report on trac and get it fixed :oo:

I didn't think it was fixable, tbh. It's more a problem with how IMDb discriminates between production companies and studios. (It doesn't.)

[smcnally75]

Then post a proper bug report on trac and get it fixed :oo:

I know this is something that "should" be fixed. But I find it much easier just to use something like Media Companion on a PC so I can manually groom my library and fill in any missing info.

[maxposure]

@djh_
When getting our posters ready for stark you told us that we wanted them to be at least 1080pixles in height. My movie collection includes many older and less popular movies so i have many posters that are around 750 px high. Do you think it would be worth it to bump up the resolution of these in photoshop even if i will be running my screen at 720p? I know that increasing the resolution is not the most ideal solution but would it be better than nothing?

[digitalhigh]

@djh_
When getting our posters ready for stark you told us that we wanted them to be at least 1080pixles in height. My movie collection includes many older and less popular movies so i have many posters that are around 750 px high. Do you think it would be worth it to bump up the resolution of these in photoshop even if i will be running my screen at 720p? I know that increasing the resolution is not the most ideal solution but would it be better than nothing?


If your screen resolution is at 720px and your images are at 750, then technically they'd get downscaled to fit the screen. And even if you were running at 1080, that's over 2/3 of the screen. If they need to be bigger than that, I don't think the scaling you could do with photoshop is going to be noticeably different than what XBMC will do.

Also, I'm in the process of uploading a LOT of HD posters to TMDB. I'm through the E section right now, so expect there to be a lot more selection in a few days.

[djh_]

@djh_
When getting our posters ready for stark you told us that we wanted them to be at least 1080pixles in height. My movie collection includes many older and less popular movies so i have many posters that are around 750 px high. Do you think it would be worth it to bump up the resolution of these in photoshop even if i will be running my screen at 720p? I know that increasing the resolution is not the most ideal solution but would it be better than nothing?

Try this:

1) Open image in PS.
2) Increase image size by 300% using Bicubic Smoother resampling.
3) Use the Stylize-Diffuse filter on the Anisotropic setting.
4) Decrease image size to 1080p dimensions (1080 vertical). Try Bicubic Smoother and Bicubic Sharper and see which looks best.
5) Use the Reduce Noise filter on a high intensity and play with the sharpness setting.

It won't work magic but it's a decent solution. Actually does work magic on certain hand-drawn images.

@digitalhigh: Did you speak to the movieposterdb guys in the end? Sounds like you did.

[onesojourner]

Will there be any way to distinguish between 720 and 1080? Pretty much all my movies are hd.

[Jiggles]

Whats up with the NDA and interested third parties?

[Jezz_X]

I didn't think it was fixable, tbh. It's more a problem with how IMDb discriminates between production companies and studios. (It doesn't.)

Well now thats different from the way I read it. It came across as you were saying that xbmc is pulling the wrong feild of information instead of the correct one. If the actual information doesn't exsist correctly in the first place then yes its not a bug

[vdrfan]

Well now thats different from the way I read it. It came across as you were saying that xbmc is pulling the wrong feild of information instead of the correct one. If the actual information doesn't exsist correctly in the first place then yes its not a bug

Same here, please add a new ticket describing the needed and/or wrong fields. Btw.. there's also a (imdb.com/title/ttxxxxx)/dvd site which has the correct studio name listed.

[djh_]

I'll pop a thing on trac about those IMDb fields generally. Not sure what specific changes to suggest, or even whether it's fixable.

Anyway, here's another screen with more specific HD flags:

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/435063/aeonscreens/aeonOne_flags4.jpg

[mkv1080p]

Beautiful but why do you have both dts and dd5.1 at the same time? Isn't it one or the other?

[djh_]

Nope. Often it's both. Well, sometimes.

Anyway, it's possible.

[Cranial]

Also, I'm in the process of uploading a LOT of HD posters to TMDB.

iMDB or MPDB?

[digitalhigh]

iMDB or MPDB?

http://www.themoviedb.org

Media Info Plus scrapes it for fanart and HD posters.

[thesuffering]

Nope. Often it's both. Well, sometimes.

Anyway, it's possible.
the short answer is the blu ray disc is encoded with both, and depending on which setting you choose you will get either dd or dts. both images show up as both are theoretically available on the blu ray disc. now on a rip i dunno, but i understand why he made it like that, and i like it.

[mkv1080p]

But xbmc can't do bluray and most scene rips come with just one or the other. In other words, can the latest Aeon auto-detect whether an mkv has dts or dd yet?

[Jezz_X]

sigh as explained in previous pages he is reading the filenames and using that to display images to its called

Moviename.bluray.720p.DTS.mkv or somthing like that
and yes MKV can have many streams I persoanly have some with 5 audio streams

[midgetspy]

I believe DD/DTS will be detected by XBMC and implementable in skins in the near future (there is a feature being worked on for it right now). Same for resolution, the only thing that will need to be scanned from the filename is the source (BluRay/HDDVD/HDTV/DVDRip). I've started renaming my movies to contain the source in the filenames already, I'm so stoked for this skin :0)

[ju1ce]

here's the backgrounds from the torrent uploaded to rapidshare..

http://rapidshare.com/files/180933768/games.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/180914693/pictures.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/180914691/music.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/180950767/tv-shows.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/180981509/movies_m-z.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/181174976/movies_a-l.rar


And that's all of them. Feel free to repost these in another thread if there's a better place for them.

[timdog82001]

Looks like skins can now have more than 10 views per window...

added: Ability to have more views than just id 50-59, using <views>45,69,200,5401</views>, which also allows one to alter the order in which they appear in the view by spinner. Addresses ticket #5216.

[digitalhigh]

Looks like skins can now have more than 10 views per window...

So no more "I had to remove this view in order to keep this one?"

Sweet.

[nekrosoft13]

here's the backgrounds from the torrent uploaded to rapidshare..

http://rapidshare.com/files/180933768/games.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/180914693/pictures.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/180914691/music.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/180950767/tv-shows.rar

I'll add the other 2 sections when they finish uploading. Feel free to repost these in another thread if there's a better place for them.

thanks, are those the backgrounds that you can download from Aeon website?

[onesojourner]

So it can distinguish between the two. Since your using the actual logos for DTS, Dolby and bluray would it be possible to use the full HD logo for 1080p content?

http://media.bestofmicro.com/Logo-Full-HD,8-R-10683-3.jpg

[Beatzeps08]

I think this logo is not in harmony with the Stark Skin. A Version in Grey would be an possibility maybe.

[digitalhigh]

@DJH -

A while ago there were a few pics of the weather screen with the conditional-based fanart. Those were based on the work that Nukka did, correct? Is this feature still going to be supported?

[timdog82001]

@DJH -

A while ago there were a few pics of the weather screen with the conditional-based fanart. Those were based on the work that Nukka did, correct? Is this feature still going to be supported?

actually i think they were just based on the time of the year so unrelated to nukka's work. I could be wrong, though.

[digitalhigh]

actually i think they were just based on the time of the year so unrelated to nukka's work. I could be wrong, though.

Oh...maybe I mistook the snow for being part of the weather conditions deal.

If not, it would be a sweet touch to add the weather fanart and video forecast items...

[Ilia]

Love the screens shots, I know its been asked, but I am dying to try this out.. any idea on a release date and if they will be an optimized version for AppleTV?

[robart]

I'll pop a thing on trac about those IMDb fields generally. Not sure what specific changes to suggest, or even whether it's fixable.

Anyway, here's another screen with more specific HD flags:



i think you have to configurate these icons manual? how will this work?
they look very nice :)

[onesojourner]

I think this logo is not in harmony with the Stark Skin. A Version in Grey would be an possibility maybe.

we're on the same page. I just meant this logo, color, size and texture would obviously need to be adjusted.

[Beatzeps08]

we're on the same page. I just meant this logo, color, size and texture would obviously need to be adjusted.

Jeah, that's it :)

[jeks]

I don't know if it's possible to add this: When you want to watch a movie and have it in 2 different format, SD and HD, to have the possibily to choose which version you want to watch. Why watching the movie in SD if I have it in HD? Because I use XBMC on Xbox and on a htpc via windows :P. Thx :)

[Hitcher]

I don't know if it's possible to add this: When you want to watch a movie and have it in 2 different format, SD and HD, to have the possibily to choose which version you want to watch. Why watching the movie in SD if I have it in HD? Because I use XBMC on Xbox and on a htpc via windows :P. Thx :)

I put my SD movies in a separate folder and only use that for the Xbox.

[digitalhigh]

For studio tagging, how specific do the names have to be, and what studios are there even pics for? I'm starting to go through my library and add the proper distributor's name in the studio section. i.e., "20th century fox" vs. "twentieth-century fox", or "MGM" vs "(MGM)"...etc.

[pletopia]

hehe .. love the sig digitalhigh

[Genetikal]

hi djh,
as well as the production logo can u put the year which the movie was made somewhere too?

[parena]

hi djh,
as well as the production logo can u put the year which the movie was made somewhere too?

I'd say it would get too messy with even more information. Besides, you can check the info on the movie by pressing "i" (or in Stark by pressing up, I think). With the format and everything, that's different, that's not information provided in a screen.

[soulless]

djh_ , could you upload some interface example video? (Vimeo,Youtube…)

Thank you and I wait the release. Excellent skin.

[minimalko]

djh_ , could you upload some interface example video? (Vimeo,Youtube…)

Thank you and I wait the release. Excellent skin.

why even bother reading this thread
There will be a video some point soon, but there's some retexturing that needs doing first. It is on the cards, though.

[tknice1]

Great job on Stark, it looks amazing! I would love to help If you release it in any kind of beta form.

In the meantime, my whole family is patiently waiting!

Tom

[soulless]

why even bother reading this thread
I follow this thread from September. After 4 month and more 40 page... Could I forget some post please? :stare:

Relax my friend. :no:

[JATWolf]

Will the new Aeon allow for paging through movies, or just do the regular scrolling by hitting the right direction pad until it arrives at the desired movie? By paging I am referring to the "InfoList" view in MediaStream that has that pink bar that goes quickly throught he movies instead of one by one. Then you click over to get it to one by one mode. Sorry if this doesn't make sense but was just curious about this feature in the new Aeon (which looks incredible by the way so far).

[djh_]

You mean a scrollbar? Yes, it has those.

[MrIcka]

Sweet work! I have been following this tread for a wile and I'm really impress about your work with this skin.

I like the list view with the roller, that's one thing I really don't like with Mediasteam, de tiny list view.
And a scroll bar for the coverflow view... excellent just the thing I miss i mediasteam.

And all the other views, wow!

I must build a xbmc htpc NOW, my xbox is getting old =)

Rock On you guys kick mediasteams ass... hehe

[Gamester17]

Request: Add "Home" and "Back" buttons (icons) to each view/section in order make the interface more touchscreen friendly, as suggested here => http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=37935

[onesojourner]

thats a good idea. xbmc/aeon in your car. now we just need some good gps support.

[cyberwizzard]

I think that is one for the user modifications that Aeon Stark will support :-)

But yeah, I've been thinking about a carpc myself. And with projects like NoHands (bluetooth carkit emulation) and Navit (turn by turn navigation) becoming more mature this might be a good solution for use in a car pc :-)

[Jezz_X]

Take this on no way as a critisim but I doubt AEON Stark will be very mouse freindly looking at the screenshots so touch screens will also probably be a no. I know current AEON dislikes the mouse lots

[djh_]

Jezz is right - Aeon's simply not designed to be used with a mouse. It's about as suited to mouse control as the Xbox 360 dashboard.

[onesojourner]

djh_ how is the progress going? Is the end in sight?

[parena]

Tsss... As if anyone is remotely interested... :D

(gimme gimme gimme)

[digitalhigh]

Tsss... As if anyone is remotely interested... :D



Duh. It's apparent nobody gives a crap about this skin.

"Page 48 of 48"

[Kingsley]

Still keeping an eye on the release of this!

The current Aeon is great, but it definately needs freshening up. Fingers crossed for a release soon!

Anyone got a screenshot of the wall view in Stark? I'll have a quick browse through here just to make sure there isn't a screenshot up already!

[djh_]

There is no Wall view, and I'll tell you why. The original Aeon one never worked properly, what with the empty borders and the horrendous juddering as you moved to and fro. The new Aeon recommends 1080p thumbnails which would absolutely murder that view. The wraplists and coverflows are fine as I'm using an alternative loading method, but that wouldn't be an option for Wall.

I know some skins have taken Wall and squeezed it into the screen edges, but I'm not enthralled by that solution. It's a compromise, and I'm not really accepting those this time. So when the time comes that XBMC can throw that many monster images around at a decent speed, and have them spill across the screen along both axes, then you'll see an Aeon Wall view.

Don't worry, though. You've only seen half of what the new Aeon can do.

[erikss0n]

Eagerly awaiting the second "half".... :grin:

[Weavus]

There is no Wall view, and I'll tell you why. The original Aeon one never worked properly, what with the empty borders and the horrendous juddering as you moved to and fro.
I never used Wall view in the original Aeon for exactly this reason so no big loss imo. It also confused both the wife and mother-in-law completely compared to the rest of the skin...

[tknice1]

Don't worry, though. You've only seen half of what the new Aeon can do.
This is driving me crazy. I wish this thread didn't exist and that Aeon Stark just appeared one day in all of it's glory.

p.s. I'm only half joking.

-Tom

[pletopia]

well thats HIGHLY disappointing

first i read there is no longer widecase support .. and now wall also has been dropped ??

bah .. thats two of the main views i use .. how else am i suppose to browse a 1300+ main movie library ..
yeah when i access sub views like by genre .. recently added etc .. i use wraplist views .. but for the main one .. too large

[Kingsley]

There is no Wall view, and I'll tell you why. The original Aeon one never worked properly, what with the empty borders and the horrendous juddering as you moved to and fro. The new Aeon recommends 1080p thumbnails which would absolutely murder that view. The wraplists and coverflows are fine as I'm using an alternative loading method, but that wouldn't be an option for Wall.

I know some skins have taken Wall and squeezed it into the screen edges, but I'm not enthralled by that solution. It's a compromise, and I'm not really accepting those this time. So when the time comes that XBMC can throw that many monster images around at a decent speed, and have them spill across the screen along both axes, then you'll see an Aeon Wall view.

Don't worry, though. You've only seen half of what the new Aeon can do.

Damn, thats a shame..thats the feature that brought me to XBMC, what with it being very similar to the high end Keliedascape!

Also much prefer it with the wallview hugging the edge of the screen, much prefer how its done in Horizonz..personaly preference though!

Cheers for the response mind you, looking forward to the release.
Still all secretive as to when its released?

[djh_]

well thats HIGHLY disappointing

first i read there is no longer widecase support .. and now wall also has been dropped ??

bah .. thats two of the main views i use .. how else am i suppose to browse a 1300+ main movie library ..
yeah when i access sub views like by genre .. recently added etc .. i use wraplist views .. but for the main one .. too large

1) Mod it.
2) Use Horizonz.
3) Use MediaStream.
4) Learn the ropes and make your own skin.

You have options.

[djh_]

I wish this thread didn't exist and that Aeon Stark just appeared one day in all of it's glory.

That can be arranged, you know. Maybe we should do a poll to see if others agree. I'm not taking the piss, btw.

[gyrene2083]

djh,

Your doing amazing work, don't let the eagerness of the users get to you. Take your time and make sure your happy with it, and like you said anyone else has comments or opinions can learn how to skin and insert their own options.

[parena]

That can be arranged, you know. Maybe we should do a poll to see if others agree. I'm not taking the piss, btw.

NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! The shear horror! :shocked:

:laugh:

[voiddreamer]

This is driving me crazy. I wish this thread didn't exist and that Aeon Stark just appeared one day in all of it's glory.

p.s. I'm only half joking.

-Tom

Hush you.

That can be arranged, you know. Maybe we should do a poll to see if others agree. I'm not taking the piss, btw.

That's a little drastic to a single negative response. I'm sure everyone that's eagerly awaiting this beautiful skin does not agree with him.

[QuietTime]

I don't think either response was a negative one. tknice1 was implying a release soon and so was djh_ .

The screens look great! btw. Eagerly awaiting a release no matter how much time. Cheers!!

[djh_]

I wasn't being negative, I just wanted to know if this is how people genuinely felt. I mean, there's isn't much more for me to say and I'm not sure how much is left to ask, so if you'd rather I shut up and get on with it I can do.

[timdog82001]

Damn, thats a shame..thats the feature that brought me to XBMC, what with it being very similar to the high end Keliedascape!

Also much prefer it with the wallview hugging the edge of the screen, much prefer how its done in Horizonz..personaly preference though!

Cheers for the response mind you, looking forward to the release.
Still all secretive as to when its released?

Honestly, i would be surprised if somebody DIDN'T post a mod to add wall view, which you could then add without sacrificing any other views due to the recent removal of the 10 view limit. You could even cannibalize a lot of code from horizons or the original aeon if you're feeling lazy.

Which gives me an idea...given the aforementioned now limitless view type capabilities, have you djh_ given any thought to a possible function to download new/extra user-created view types in-skin? Assuming the views use only default textures already included in aeon, all that would be needed is for these views to be self contained in a single includes file that could then be referenced in the includes.xml and the appropriate media windows, which I imagine an extremely simple script could add without difficulty. Even if they had additional textures it wouldn't really complicate things much. Just establish some basic guidelines for submission (ie, compatibility with widescreen and 4:3, no bugs, not total crap, etc) and I bet it would be quite popular. Just a thought!

[djh_]

I've thought several times about some kind of modular download feature. Not my call, of course, but that of the XBMC team. The way I envisioned it was as a truly object-orientated solution, with each mod including just the files, includes and controls that needed replacing. Then XBMC could override the existing code with any updated material.

Once Aeon's done I have three things I'll be proposing in a hopefully constructive manner. The first is the integration of emulators into XBMC, or at least enough functionality to go to the games window and just pick and play a game. That would go hand in hand with a scraper-driven game library, the website for which I'd happily set up.

The second is the feature you've described. The third is a proper fix for HD thumbnail/wraplist performance in XBMC, together with a new control for Wall views. I'm sure the team have the performance issue in mind, though.

[timdog82001]

You're trying to stay away from python scripts then, I take it? Can't say I blame you, though I have my doubts about XBMC ever adding official support for downloading mods (I think built-in scripts/skins downloading capabilities are planned however).

Regarding games, I'm sure you're aware but there are a couple users that have been working on adding emulator and game support to xbmc. There was also a separate member talking of possibly setting up a scraper-driven game site that posted recently, possibly using thetvdb's API as a basis.

See -> http://www.xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=40715 for progress on games and emulator library/launcher
and http://www.xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=43630&highlight=scrapeable thread from user looking into online games database

[natethomas]

Have you been following this thread, djh?

http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=40715

Interesting stuff on the game front.

edit: Oh! Timdog, you are too fast for me.

[pantherman007]

I wasn't being negative, I just wanted to know if this is how people genuinely felt. I mean, there's isn't much more for me to say and I'm not sure how much is left to ask, so if you'd rather I shut up and get on with it I can do.

I for one enjoy being teased by the occasional comment and screenshot. Especially after your disappeared for a while last fall and I started to worry that Aeon was dead or dying. Even if we're not close, I enjoy checking the thread for anything you want to throw our way.

[roeroe]

This skin is toooooooooooo gooodddddd i cant wait any longer :-) lucky Street Fighter Remix on Xbox360 keep me occupy and soon Street Fighter 4 ..bring out the good old days I spend in the arcade beating up people with Guile :grin:

[jeks]

Just to help us to be fully prepare when the release will come. What should be the size of each thumbnails for tv-series or other videos? Thx