New for v6.2: Themed Graphics

[Opus4]

As the title says, version 6.2 now supports using themed graphic sets.

When you first start SageTV, the default graphic theme set will load. To change the theme, go to Setup -> Detailed Setup -> Advanced -> Select the UI Theme. There are 3 themes included:

• Standard SDTV - standard set of graphics for 720x480 SD TV (default).
• Standard HD720 - standard set of graphics for 1280x720 HD TV
• Standard HD1080 - standard set of graphics for 1920x1080 HD TV

If you download new theme sets, they will appear in this list when you choose the Detailed Setup option, without having to restart SageTV.

Choose the theme closest to the resolution you use most often.

Themes are located in the <install dir>\SageTV\STVs\SageTV3\Themes directory, with the names of the themes determined simply by the names of the subdirectories in that location. The Themes\Standard SDTV directory contains some new UI images, a theme preview image, and the full theme.properties file. That properties file contains some settings for various things such as the offset path from the STV file to the full set of weather icons, text colors, and so on.

Creating a new theme

To create a new theme, simply create a new directory under the <install dir>\SageTV\STVs\SageTV3\Themes directory, using the name of your new theme. You can change one or more UI image files and you can create a theme.properties file to change one or more properties. If an image file or a property setting is not found, the one from the default theme will automatically be used.

Exceptions:

The tvicon_anim png files must be a full set of 8, #0-7.

If you change the weather icons, you have to provide a full set and use theme.properties in the custom theme directory to specify the offset path from where the current STV is located to the weather icons.

New graphics are being put in the theme directories, but those are not the only images you can place in your own theme -- you can change almost any image found in the <install dir>\SageTV\STVs\SageTV3 or "Standard SDTV" theme dirs. When loading a theme, each image is searched for by checking the current theme dir, the default theme dir, then the STV's dir.

Notes

There are some images in the <install dir>\SageTV\STVs\SageTV3 directory that are not used by the current default STV. You can enable debug logging & check the log to see a list of images found when you load a theme.

Since this is a beta, there is still work being done on the menus and graphics. Theme settings in the default theme sets may be changed at any time.

- Andy

[kricker]

Wow, cool. BTW I like the look of new default theme. It looks more polished than in the past. Good work Opus4.

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by kricker

Wow, cool. BTW I like the look of new default theme. It looks more polished than in the past. Good work Opus4.

I'm glad you like it, but I'll say thanks on behalf of everyone at SageTV, since I'm not the only one who worked on it.

- Andy

[Deadbolt]

So will each STV have multiple themes...for different resolutions? Are STVs supposed to be the guts and the themes the Eye Candy?

[Opus4]

Originally Posted by Deadbolt

So will each STV have multiple themes...for different resolutions?

A custom STV doesn't have to come with a theme, and a custom theme doesn't need a new STV. Unless a new STV requires new images, it doesn't need a theme to go with it.

And, if someone wants to release a theme targeted to a specific single resolution, they can do that; there is no requirement to provide multiple resolutions. You could load any theme while using a different resolution & the images would be resized as needed. But, for something like the MVP, you are better off using a theme made for its output resolution. (i.e.: native sized images are faster, so that is why there are multiple sets in the installer.)

Are STVs supposed to be the guts and the themes the Eye Candy?

I guess you could look at it that way. The theme system has been designed to be able to be customized separately from the STV.

The STV provides the functionality and UI layout. (It obviously needs a set of images for it to work, unless it is designed to use no graphics for some reason.) You can change lots of stuff in the STV while simply using the existing images in the default theme sets.

Similarly, if you are happy with the default STV's layout & functionality, but you want a different look, create a replacement theme and use that instead. As I described above, you can change everything in a theme, or just the few images you want to be different.

Finally, each UI can use its own theme w/o affecting any other UI. If you want each of your MVPs, Placeshifter clients, or SageTVClient systems to have a different look, all you need to do is select the theme you want to use in each location.

Note: when changing a couple images for the default theme, make a new theme & use that one, don't just replace the original image. If you replace an image in one of the default theme dirs, it will get overwritten when you install the next SageTV upgrade.

- Andy

[nick_l]

As someone who was vocal about sage's need for themes separate from the stv process, I really have to say thank you for this. Unfortunately I am hesatant to mess with the success im having with 6.1.9 so I will probably wait till 6.2 comes out of Beta to take advantage.

Nick

[naln]

Just installed this beta yesterday and liked this feature! Great work!!

Thanks!

[Opus4]

Update for version 6.2.7: Many of the background color area fills have now been themed.

The theme.properties file in the "STVs\SageTV3\Themes\Standard SDTV" directory has color and alpha values defined for various types of color-filled areas.

- Andy

[Opus4]

I think I forgot to mention these changes for v6.3:

1. Themes can now have parents other than the default theme, so you can define a whole series of parent-child themes until the hierarchy reaches the top most parent. Anything a child theme doesn't define is inherited from its parent. See the ThemeParent property in the default theme's properties file.
   
   
2. Themes can use remapped images, so if an image is the same as another image, it can be mapped to be the same as the other image without having to include multiple copies of the same image. The default theme does not use this, but see the RemapImage property for a description and example.

- Andy

[iwanthtpc]

I've created my first theme and uploaded to share it with others. See it here I am looking for some help however. The OSD doesn't seem to allow its background to be themed, so either I'm doing something wrong or something else is going on that I don't understand. I know very little about Studio, but it appears this is linked to the LiveTVOSDTheme. If you take a look at the two images I've attached, you can see that the OSD background is still the default background color. Any help or guidance would be appreciated.

[Opus4]

The playback OSD has not been themed yet, since it has not been overhauled yet.

- Andy

[PGPfan]

Andy, by your 'yet' statements I understand that to mean it will get done eventually. Do you think we are looking at a few months, or next year's radar? Just a ballpark guess would be great!

Thanks!

-PGPfan