[mythtv-users] MythCenter-wide theme and preview image issue

Otto Kolsi otto at kolsi.fi
Mon Aug 21 09:38:48 UTC 2006


>>> In Watch Recordings screen all the 16:9 content is fine. But for 4:3
>>> programs the preview image is too high and part of the program
>>> description is hidden behind the preview image (if the program
>>> contains long enough description). This would be fixed if either the
>> Hrm. I adapated MythCenter-wide from MythCenter. I watch mostly
>> broadcast HDTV, so most of my stuff is in 16:9. I'd rather not have to
>> waste empty space for the few 4:3 stuff I record. Screen real-estate,
>> while more plentiful in -wide mode, is still somewhat scarce.
> 
> Well, I understand your point.. but I have maybe 50-60% of programs 
> still in 4:3. It would be nice to have this fixed one way or another.
>> I don't think the preview image height is forced to some specific set
>> of dimensions. I'm not a theme expert, but it seems that they are all
>> of the same width, and the height is calculated from that, to preserve
>> aspect ratio.
> 
> I think it would work better if the height would be fixed and width 
> would be calculated. There seems to be much more space in that direction 
> (wide-screen after all :). Well, I know nothing about theme internals so 
> there might be also some other issues involved..

I noticed the "real" reason behind this preview image issue. If program 
data contains subtitle, it's shown on the "Select a recording to watch" 
screen and both 4:3 and 16:9 preview images work correctly.

But.. here in Finland at least the DVB EIT program data does not contain 
subtitles, only titles and thus this breaks the preview image. If there 
  is no subtitle, description goes upwards on the screen and is 
displayed on the subtitle place. And if the description is long, it gets 
mixed with 4:3 preview image.

I see three possible fixes:
* always reserve the space for subtitles even if they do not exist
* keep the preview image height constant and calculate width
* limit the first line (or all lines) of description to not go too far 
right, to mix with the preview image

Now that my Myth system is working like a charm, there is time for all 
these tiny details :) I haven't have time to check out how themes work, 
so don't know if these solutions are doable or not.

I think this is mainly a PR issue :) I don't mind that much if small 
part of the description is not shown. But when you show MythTV to 
someone else, it's looking good, working well etc.. but then this kind 
of insignificant detail can be seen by everyone (even by your 
grandmother :) and it immediately gives them "there is something wrong" 
feeling..
-- 
   Otto


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