iTV Theme & STV Import for SageMC

[Morgan111]

This theme was originally inspired by Apple's iTV set-top box. The idea for doing this theme started from discussion of the iTV here. It has a similar background and button look of iTV but using the SageMC STV. Creating a completely separate STV would provide more flexibility in the look, but could be a full-time job to maintain.

This new version of the iTV Theme does not require an import to be loaded. It is simple applied like any SageMC theme. It is compatible with SageMC 6.3.6 and above.

Thank you to MeInMaui for much of the work that had been done to creating the original glowing control graphics that has been used in here since the first version.

I will likely have some updates and tweeks later on and will plan to enhance the appearance and layout as the SageMC theme customization capabilities expand (more sooner than later).

The download can be found here.

Version History
0.1 - 10/12/06
-Initial Release

0.20 - 10/21/06
-Replaced missing diskbar graphics
-Updated miscellaneous graphics thanks to Mike
-Removed backgroundshading in movies, albums and pictures when unselected and displaying coverart
-Updated import file to align text in buttons and bars so that it does not appear in blue edges
-Updated import file to make OSD display color scheme more appropriate

0.21 - 10/23/06
-Major update of graphics from Mike
-Fix transparency of diskbar usage graphics
-Removed some (very slow) import to realign button text that is no longer required due to graphics update
-Add adjustment for new weather summary button on Main menu (new in SageMC 6.20)
-Now import copies theme graphics from Images_iTV folder. No longer required to modifiy properties file and "Apply" the theme type on Setup page.
-Adjusted Detailed Setup button text color to made it readable with black background
-Large fonts now should not cause bottom of text to cutoff
-Add Dirk's import utility library to download (0.21a)

0.22 - 10/24/06
-Added missing header lines from video screens
-Removed OSD dialog that says to restart SageUI for new graphics to show up.
(I could only get OSD to display when importing withing Sage Studio) Was that causing other problems? Don't know, but it's gone now.
-Added ability to disable iTV divider line and color from SageMC Options menu under Visual settings and Colors settings
-Graphics are unchanged from 0.21.

0.23 - 4/17/07
- Remove installation incompatabilities with Dirk's SageMC 6.3.2c STV

Update - 1/20/08
- Repackage graphics package structure and create theme.properties for compatability with SageMC 6.3.6+ STV
- Remove import file requirement
- Modify some controls graphics
- Incorporate all new menu icons


Instructions

• Download zip file from this page
• Extract the zip file in the root folder of your sageTV installation (....Program Files\SageTv\SageTv)
• Select iTV from the SageMC Theme page.

Tips
These are some ideas that I use that may be desirable to modify the iTV Theme display depending on your display and likes.

Fonts
Try a different font, like the Verdana font, and a reduced font size

Program Guide
Settings->SageMC->Main->Screen Specific Options->EPG->Guide Coloring Option=Property

Screen Background
The default background is a pattern that I ended up with by accident when playing with clouds and tiling but I lliked it. For a different look you can copy one of the optional files to background.jpg:
background1.jpg - solid black
background2.jpg - black with gray clouds

Menu icons
There are a a number of icons included for the menu items that I have purchased and included. To add any of them to a menu selection use the Edit Menu Item->Set Icon from the Main Menu Options.
I will be changing and adding some soon.










.
The download can be found here.

[JUC]

Looks Great. I just installed it on my laptop at work (couldn't resist) and can't wait to get this on my plasma at home.

what changes (if any) were made from sageMC 16x9 6.13 other than the header lines?
Thanks
JUC

[Morgan111]

Originally Posted by JUC

Looks Great. I just installed it on my laptop at work (couldn't resist) and can't wait to get this on my plasma at home.

what changes (if any) were made from sageMC 16x9 6.13 other than the header lines?
Thanks
JUC

That is the only thing it is changing so far.

[Kirby]

Looks good. Looking at the upcoming movies screen shot, looks like there needs to be some tweaking (if possible) to compress the movie title/time inward a bit, to get it all inside the black portion of the graphic? I wonder if thats anything that could be added (i.e. custom indent setting of X characters to be applied to both sides) to handle various button styles and user tastes.

I'll definitely have to install this one tonight!

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by Kirby

Looks good. Looking at the upcoming movies screen shot, looks like there needs to be some tweaking (if possible) to compress the movie title/time inward a bit, to get it all inside the black portion of the graphic? I wonder if thats anything that could be added (i.e. custom indent setting of X characters to be applied to both sides) to handle various button styles and user tastes.

I'll definitely have to install this one tonight!

The button is just over-stretched horizontally.

When I get a chance I'll whip up a longer button so that it fits correctly.

Mike

[Kirby]

ohh ok, cool!

[Morgan111]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

The button is just over-stretched horizontally.

When I get a chance I'll whip up a longer button so that it fits correctly.

Mike

I think the button control will need a little padding of the text at the same to not extend as far to the left and right. I think that should be possible in the import.

[JUC]

I noticed that the iTVimport is named SageMC_iTV_import_1.xml.bak

I had to manually rename it and remove the .bak and it imported fine.
Juc

[Morgan111]

Ooops, good catch. You are probably missing some lines that should be in there. I have updated the download and will add just the xml to the top of this thread so you don't have to grab the whole thing again.

[ikarus79m]

I really like the direction you are going with this. Is there any chance that you will take this to the next level, breaking it further away from SageMC, and making an independent, even more customized theme from it? Right now it's such an "interesting" mixture of Microsoft and Apple :-)

I don't know if you have the time to do this, but I'd sure be cool to have another great STV other than SageMC out there.

[Enormous]

Originally Posted by ikarus79m

Is there any chance that you will take this to the next level, breaking it further away from SageMC, and making an independent, even more customized theme from it?

Originally Posted by Morgan111

Creating a completely seperate STV would provide more flexability in the look, but could be a full-time job to maintain.

From the sounds of this, I would say that may not happen (unless some other talented folks pick it up ).

[Morgan111]

Originally Posted by Enormous

From the sounds of this, I would say that may not happen (unless some other talented folks pick it up ).

Yeah, that about right. Unfortunately Sage is not such a skinnable product as something like Meedio was. If some new page comes along for some other package, you pretty much have to recode or revamp it for another STV. I would personally love to do it but it doesn't pay as well as my other job. I'm happy with SageMC features and organization, but it is nice to have a different looks to choose from.

[geogecko]

Ah, just found the thread!

Hope to get this installed this weekend!

Thanks Morgan!

[Kirby]

Well I've been running this all weekend and love it!

But I did find a missing graphic I think. When the preview window is playing a movie, and you are accessing various menus (or even on the main menu) and move the cursor down to select the preview, the title of the playing video doesnt highlight. In my case, it goes from a white to a bright white (but barely noticeable). Any way to get the blue glow around that text field too, when it has focus?

[geogecko]

You know, I've been noticing that in just plain old SageMC (with a sharp object theme...).

[Morgan111]

Thank you to Eric who is feeding me some great clipart that he is putting together for the theme. I am also planning to switch to a new name since it is not really just like iTV. Eric came up with a good one, iSageMC. I started going with that and will use that on the next release.

I started playing around with the layout some more. I like the changes but it is a little more challenging as just an import. I could just modify Dirks SageMC releases as they change and provide it as a whole STV, but I would rather not have to do that each time, and it would not be able to change the layout of any pages from other imports that are later loaded. I'll have to think about it. These are the type of changes I'm thinking about:

[Morgan111]

Originally Posted by Kirby

Well I've been running this all weekend and love it!

But I did find a missing graphic I think. When the preview window is playing a movie, and you are accessing various menus (or even on the main menu) and move the cursor down to select the preview, the title of the playing video doesnt highlight. In my case, it goes from a white to a bright white (but barely noticeable). Any way to get the blue glow around that text field too, when it has focus?

Hmmm, may be a Sage core issue with the color pallette. I look to see if there is anything that may not be right in the way the stv code is setup.

[Kirby]

I really like the new layout look. Hope we can use that sometime soon!

A few more observations:

1) When using the current layout, it appears that the bottom of the time (upper right corner) is being cut off. Not by much, took me a few days to even notice it, but its there.

2) Any chance we can get Mike to make a shorter hp_selection bar, much like in his other graphics packages?

As for the focus on the video preview, hopefully that js an easy fix.

[MeInMaui]

Originally Posted by Kirby

2) Any chance we can get Mike to make a shorter hp_selection bar, much like in his other graphics packages?

Possible?.......Yes.



Probable?.......






Of course.

[Kirby]

YAY!!!