Skins and plugins

[adsum]

Hi, I have DVBViewer Pro 7.2.2.1. How do you import new skins and plugins? I see only 2 default skin options in OSD. I downloaded extra skins and plugins but cannot find any option to import and activate them.

 

Thanks!

[Griga]

3 hours ago, adsum said:

How do you import new skins and plugins?

 

OSD skin files are stored in a separate folder each within the OSDSkins sub-directory of the DVBViewer program directory (usually C:\Program Files (x86)\DVBViewer).

 

Plugins as DLL files are usually stored in the Plugins sub-directory of the DVBViewer program directory, except if a ReadMe file contained in the plugin download states something different.

 

DVBViewer loads skins/plugins automatically if they are located in these folders. Have a look at them, and you will see...

 

[adsum]

3 hours ago, Griga said:

 

OSD skin files are stored in a separate folder each within the OSDSkins sub-directory of the DVBViewer program directory (usually C:\Program Files (x86)\DVBViewer).

 

Plugins as DLL files are usually stored in the Plugins sub-directory of the DVBViewer program directory, except if a ReadMe file contained in the plugin download states something different.

 

DVBViewer loads skins/plugins automatically if they are located in these folders. Have a look at them, and you will see...

 

Hi, thank you for your answer.

I transferred several skins to OSDSkins folder but only XBoxHD worked. I tried to find some all dark theme but changing theme did not change much. Still fairly light theme overall.

I also transferred some plugins to plugins folder but nothing changed. Weather or news functions are not working. I used the search function for weather location and found the right city but no weather info. I`m not sure where the weather and news feeds should be showing.

[Griga]

21 hours ago, adsum said:

I transferred several skins to OSDSkins folder but only XBoxHD worked.

 

Please be more specific. Which OSD skin downloaded from where doesn't work? You may also want to check the OSD Skin forum.

 

21 hours ago, adsum said:

I also transferred some plugins to plugins folder but nothing changed.

 

Which plugins downloaded from where?

 

21 hours ago, adsum said:

Weather or news functions are not working.

 

Here it works pretty well. AFAIK the weather function requires "Weather Images for the HTPC" that can be downloaded from the DVBViewer Customer Area -> Skins. The weather folder contained in the ZIP has to be stored in the DVBViewer program directory (not in a sub-directory!). However, the uploader is to be blamed because he/she didn't provide a ReadMe that describes how it must be handled.

 

If a certain news feed entered on Settings -> Options -> News doesn't work, please provide its internet address. Otherwise I can do nothing about it. All the default news feeds (German and English )are working here. If you want to get help, be helpful.

 

[adsum]

On 11/4/2022 at 7:38 PM, Griga said:

 

Please be more specific. Which OSD skin downloaded from where doesn't work? You may also want to check the OSD Skin forum.

 

 

Which plugins downloaded from where?

 

 

Here it works pretty well. AFAIK the weather function requires "Weather Images for the HTPC" that can be downloaded from the DVBViewer Customer Area -> Skins. The weather folder contained in the ZIP has to be stored in the DVBViewer program directory (not in a sub-directory!). However, the uploader is to be blamed because he/she didn't provide a ReadMe that describes how it must be handled.

 

If a certain news feed entered on Settings -> Options -> News doesn't work, please provide its internet address. Otherwise I can do nothing about it. All the default news feeds (German and English )are working here. If you want to get help, be helpful.

 

Hi, thank you for your answer. I downloaded some skins like XBoxHD and frog OSD skin and unzipped them to C:\Program Files (x86)\DVBViewer\OSDSkins 
folder. They are showing as options in settings-options-OSD skins but when I choose and apply then nothing really changes. EPG and all other remains exactly the same look as in the default skin. I wanted to get darker skin as the default is too light.

 

I unzipped weather file to C:\Program Files (x86)\DVBViewer\weather but did not see any change at all. The search function finds the right city but nothing else happens. In news option I entered the same feeds that function fine in my feeds reader and have internet access but nothing happens. Not even the default German and English feeds function. I`m not sure where in the DVBViewer the weather and news should be showing? No matter what I try everything stays pretty much like default settings look. I tried to apply changes as administrator but that did not change anything.

 

I downloaded all the skins and plugins I tried from the members section. Are the other places to download them?

 

I wonder why there are no import/export function in settings for skins and plugins?

Edited November 7, 2022 by adsum

[Griga]

14 hours ago, adsum said:

I`m not sure where in the DVBViewer the weather and news should be showing?

 

In the OSD. Press Esc for opening the OSD main menu, select Media Center and in the Media Center menu News or Weather. That is the default location. It can be changed on Settings -> Options -> OSD Menu.

 

[Griga]

17 hours ago, adsum said:

I downloaded some skins like XBoxHD and frog OSD skin and unzipped them to C:\Program Files (x86)\DVBViewer\OSDSkins 
folder. They are showing as options in settings-options-OSD skins but when I choose and apply then nothing really changes. EPG and all other remains exactly the same look as in the default skin.

 

Here the Frosch Skin works (at least under Windows 2000 ) :

 

 

The frosch directory must be a sub-directory of the OSDSkins directory. You need to press OSD menu (which is mapped to Esc by default, see Options -> Input) to enter the OSD menu.

 

However, I don't know what the scripts in the frosch ZIP are supposed to do and if they are important for the skin functionality. They have to be stored in the Scripts sub-directory of the DVBViewer program directory, where they would replace the sample scripts. I would rather make a backup first. The skin description states that they are optional.

 

[burton0110]

New user so appologies if my question is answered elsewhere:

Is there a way of reskinning the EPG window to make it easier on the eye, attatched image of the objects I'd like to put in dark mode if possible. 

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

Best wishes

Chris

[Griga]

59 minutes ago, burton0110 said:

Is there a way of reskinning the EPG window to make it easier on the eye

 

Not really "reskinning", but you can influence the timeline colour scheme. First you need to know that the timeline (right-click) context menu provides a "Simple Timeline View on/off" switch. Try which one you like better.

 

The colours for both views can be tweaked in the file setup.xml (located in the DVBViewer configuration folder, see Help menu). Please read more about it here. Basically the following steps are required:

• To be on the safe side, make a backup of your setup.xml file.
• Make sure that DVBViewer is closed before you change the file.
• Copy the Timeline and Timeline2 XML sections to the setup.xml (see link above). Integrate them in the same way as other sections are stored.
• Find an online colour designer in the web that provides RGB hex values for selected colours (there are lots of them, because they are needed for web design)
• Change the hex values in the Timeline and/or Timeline2 section accordingly. However, there is one drawback: In "simple timeline off" mode DVBViewer uses a genre specific colour for the inner area, if EPG genre information is available for the programme. These colours can't be changed. So you rather may want to use the simple mode, where the DataColor and DataAltColor entries take effect throughout (Alt = alternating). The appended digits 1 or 2 (e.g. DataColor1, DataColor2) refer to the start and end colour of the colour gradient.
• Launch DVBViewer and check how it looks like.

...maybe not exactly what you were looking for, but it gives you the chance to become the first creator of an alternative timeline design

 

[burton0110]

Hi Griga

Thankyou for your reply, will be sure to have a play around with this when I have a free afternoon, and if something useful comes out will gladly share it here (though from a read of your instructions it will be my first time trying something like this so expecting color spaghetti on atleast the first week or so of trying) 

Thanks again

Wishing you a great Sunday

Chris

[burton0110]

Had a good play around in an attempt to get as close as able to the Win10 default dark-mode - See image attatched

Thankyou again Griga for your advice - will leave some notes here, incase anyone else out there wants to do the same (probably myself a few years from now when I've completely forgotten what I did)

Method 1: Replacing your setup.xml file (location: DVBViewer taskbar>help>configuration folder) with the one here attatched.

Method 2: Amend your setup.xml file (location: DVBViewer taskbar>help>configuration folder)

To edit your own scheme, we used www.color-hex.com to find and compare Hex palates

Color codes used are:

131313 (off black) for background

FFFFFF (white) for text

474747 (dark grey) for boarders

Note changing the value on this line from 0 to 1 will get all the yellow blue and whatever colored squares to match your color choices (see Griga above)setup.xml

<entry name="SimpleTimeline">1</entry>



</section>
  <section name="Timeline">
    <entry name="TimeColor1">131313</entry>
    <entry name="TimeColor2">131313</entry>
    <entry name="Channelcolor1">131313</entry>
    <entry name="Channelcolor2">131313</entry>
    <entry name="ChannelAltColor1">131313</entry>
    <entry name="ChannelAltColor2">131313</entry>
    <entry name="DateColor1">131313</entry>
    <entry name="DateColor2">131313</entry>
    <entry name="LeadingColor">FFFFFF</entry>
    <entry name="HeaderColor">FFFFFF</entry>
    <entry name="TodayColor">FFFFFF</entry>
    <entry name="DataColor1">131313</entry>
    <entry name="DataColor2">131313</entry>
    <entry name="DataAltColor1">131313</entry>
    <entry name="DataAltColor2">131313</entry>
    <entry name="DataFontColor">FFFFFF</entry>
    <entry name="DataSelectColor1">131313</entry>
    <entry name="DataSelectColor2">131313</entry>
    <entry name="FrameDataColor1">474747</entry>
    <entry name="FrameDataColor2">474747</entry>
    <entry name="FrameChannelColor1">474747</entry>
    <entry name="FrameChannelColor2">474747</entry>
    <entry name="FrameHeaderColor1">474747</entry>
    <entry name="FrameHeaderColor2">474747</entry>
    <entry name="LeadingWidth">130</entry>
    <entry name="HeaderHeight">30</entry>
    <entry name="RoundedCells">1</entry>
  </section>
  <section name="Timeline2">
    <entry name="TimeColor1">131313</entry>
    <entry name="TimeColor2">131313</entry>
    <entry name="Channelcolor1">131313</entry>
    <entry name="Channelcolor2">131313</entry>
    <entry name="ChannelAltColor1">131313</entry>
    <entry name="ChannelAltColor2">131313</entry>
    <entry name="DateColor1">131313</entry>
    <entry name="DateColor2">131313</entry>
    <entry name="LeadingColor">FFFFFF</entry>
    <entry name="HeaderColor">FFFFFF</entry>
    <entry name="TodayColor">FFFFFF</entry>
    <entry name="DataColor1">131313</entry>
    <entry name="DataColor2">131313</entry>
    <entry name="DataAltColor1">131313</entry>
    <entry name="DataAltColor2">131313</entry>
    <entry name="DataFontColor">FFFFFF</entry>
    <entry name="DataSelectColor1">131313</entry>
    <entry name="DataSelectColor2">131313</entry>
    <entry name="FrameDataColor1">474747</entry>
    <entry name="FrameDataColor2">474747</entry>
    <entry name="FrameChannelColor1">474747</entry>
    <entry name="FrameChannelColor2">474747</entry>
    <entry name="FrameHeaderColor1">474747</entry>
    <entry name="FrameHeaderColor2">474747</entry>
    <entry name="LeadingWidth">100</entry>
    <entry name="HeaderHeight">22</entry>
    <entry name="RoundedCells">1</entry>
  </section>

[burton0110]

Thanks again to Griga for the guidance

Enjoyed customizing the EPG and find i am using the scheduling recordings window a fair bit, is there a way of recoloring this one too? Have attatched an image of the objects I'd like to customize into a dark mode kinda look if possible?

Best wishes

Chris

[Griga]

11 hours ago, burton0110 said:

Have attatched an image of the objects I'd like to customize into a dark mode kinda look if possible?

 

No. But DVBViewer automatically adjusts to a Windows design with dark background, e.g. the high contrast mode:

 

https://www.dvbviewer.tv/forum/topic/59624-dvbviewer-600/?do=findComment&comment=478823

 

On 1/13/2019 at 7:09 PM, hackbart said:

• Added/Fix: General: Color management that enhances the DVBViewer appearance in case of Windows designs with a dark background. Several DVBViewer defined colors that don't correspond to system colors are now adjusted to the Windows design. The color definitions for bright and dark designs can be tweaked in the file setup.xml. More information about it will be published on demand.

 

You can see an example here:

 

https://www.dvbviewer.tv/forum/topic/61879-dvbviewer-für-sehbehinderte/#comment-477430

 

However, this doesn't mean that you can influence all colours, because generally DVBViewer uses system colours for the window background, text etc. Only DVBViewer "special purpose colours" can be tweaked.