[axbmcuser]

@altern8tube
Thanks for the useful and kind feedback.

1) subtitles mini submenu

I'll have to do some thinking and testing regarding this. Maybe i'll write some more on it at another time.
In any case: I additionaly highly recommend using and/or mapping the "long press CURSOR DOWN" on any remote control and keyboard to opening the subtitle dialog. Also "long press CURSOR UP" could then open open audio settings. (Alternatively said mappings could open AudioNextLanguage/NextSubtitle if one doesn'l like dialogs covering up the playing picture.

Two keymaps example variants just for thoughts:

xml:
<up mod="longpress">AudioNextLanguage</up>

<down mod="longpress">NextSubtitle</down>

OR

xml:
<up mod="longpress">ActivateWindow(OSDAudioSettings)</up>

<down mod="longpress">ActivateWindow(OSDSubtitleSettings)</down>

Side question, out of interest: What remote control do you use? Are you a mouse user? Being a mouse user maybe would explain a bit more why the mini submenu feels advantageous.

On Kodi DSPlayer 17.7  there also is a special audio/subtitle language dialog which can be opened via a key press, but i know that does not help on 18+19. :- )

2) Buffering indicator
Yep. Wouldn't be right to not have it. I'm quite used to it already due to using KODI 17 skin version which has it for some time now. I barely see the indicator ever though due to no buffering. : D

3) "New" unified seekbar
Yeah, i also really like the seek bar and fullscreen video UI concept a lot in it's current state.
It just feels right that the marker has the same color as the changed "go to time" on the left. Very glad that the redundant extra seekbar at the top right of screen is finally gone. : D

4) Auto hide VideoOSD buttons
Since your main version is KODI 18 is guess some changes may be a bit newer to you than to me (KODI 17). 
In short:
The now identical way the auto closing VideoOSD is behaving and fading out right now on all three KODI versions is the way i intended and tested it. : )

👍👍👊  

[altern8tube]

@axbmcuser 

i'm on an android tv box actually (mibox). it has a regular remote with all the usual buttons. actually, the reason why i love the old "mini submenu" for subtitles is the convenient and easy access. less clicks/button presses required to enable/disable or switch subtitles, and to go straight to the Download menu. also, it allows me to have a quick view of the current selected subs while still having the video playing on screen. 

it's nice to hear your thought processes behind some of the design elements. you certainly have the right eye for this. glad u're still working on Confluence! 🙏

[BoroSK]

Thanks to the author for the great work, I use kodi v19.

In the latest version, some view  types of serials/episodes cannot be switch (my favorite - the simple "LIST view" . is there any possibility that they will return in the next version of the skin?

For my absolute satisfaction, and the perfection of the skin, missing  the only  one available function in kodi 19, which is in the basic -default  estuary skin: choose & show rating to display for media items.

Boro

[axbmcuser]

Thanks for the feedback.

In the latest version, some view  types of serials/episodes cannot be switch (my favorite - the simple "LIST view" . is there any possibility that they will return in the next version of the skin?

I'll have a look if there is a solution which does not collide with my strong intentions regarding episodes view. No promises. Check back in the future on this and in the meanwhile enjoy the nice modern episodes view. 
 

For my absolute satisfaction, and the perfection of the skin, missing  the only  one available function in kodi 19, which is in the basic -default  estuary skin: choose & show rating to display for media items.

Could you provide a meaingful screenshot of what you described from estuary? I'd have a look. Thanks in advance!

[BoroSK]

 

For my absolute satisfaction, and the perfection of the skin, missing  the only  one available function in kodi 19, which is in the basic -default  estuary skin: choose & show rating to display for media items.

Could you provide a meaingful screenshot of what you described from estuary? I'd have a look. Thanks in advance!

here you go

https://ibb.co/tPSpPwf
https://ibb.co/x2SGkyM
https://ibb.co/FXDMFXC

when the function is activated, the value will be displayed in a small blue star in the poster

[axbmcuser]

@BoroSK 

Thanks for the screenshots! I put it on my notes for consideration/evaluation. No promises. 


More fixes and changes incoming soon for all 3 skin versions including improved support for the "Games" section of KODI 18+19. (Original Confluence doesn't really support "Games" and has broken Dialogs in that area)

[axbmcuser]

@altern8tube 

1) All skin versions (17/18/19) now have the full subtitles mini sub-menu back. Important: It's disabled by default, you can enable it according to the changelog below.

2) If you want to try a new fast+easy method without using discussed mini sub-menu (leaving it disabled in settings):
When you are focusing the Subtitle-Button in VideoOSD, you can now press DOWN on your remote/keyboard repeatedly to cycle through all subtitles. This is also fast, easy and works without opening any dialogs or having the redundant submenu enabled.
Again, just to be sure: This new method only works if your leave the sub-menu disabled (as now intended and recommended by default).

By the way:
A similar functionality is also on the VideoOSD "audio settings" button. If you focus it and press DOWN on your remote/keyboard, you quickly cycle through the audio tracks without opening any dialogs.


Changelog:

(2022-12-14)

- Change VARS PosterThumb, PosterThumbInfoDialog, FanartThumbnail so that fanart values are correct in very specific situations (could not use VAR due to KODI restrictions)
- Re-added full mini sub-menu for subtitles above subtitles button within VideoOSD (Disabled by default - now has an option to Enable it. Read below.)
- - Added new setting: Skin Settings -> General Settings -> Video OSD -> [Video OSD]  Enable mini sub-menu above subtitle button (Default: Off)
(KODI 17.6 has this option hidden since the menu is always enabled for that version which has no dedicated subtitle dialog compared to 17.7(DS)/18/19 and higher)

[SnakeCRO]

Thank you for bringing full subtitles mini sub-menu back.

[axbmcuser]

Thank you for bringing full subtitles mini sub-menu back.

You're welcome.

@all

Besides finishing up the next version with many further changes, i'm working on something i think is very useful:

It's an option regarding the "yellow rating stars" in the Movie Info Dialog.

Since this stars rating depends fully on ListItem.Rating (which is local/scraped imdb most of the time), these visually very prominent stars rating is often the very lowest, even if there is a much better rotten tomato score available.

The new option will be named something like "Enable best score star rating". Service+skin will convert+compare all available ratings (local and external) and always render the stars rating according to the highest of all scores, so that movies don't look worse on first sight than they might are.

[axbmcuser]

Upcoming changelog so far.
Quite a challenge to always release 3 different but feature identical skin versions + 2 corresponding addons with 2 variants (python 2 and 3) per addon.
But i'm on it


- Expanded Skin Settings feature: When "Always force Preset Views" in "General Settings" is enabled, you can now customize the IDs in "Advanced Settings"

- Skin Settings visually improved, reorganized and simplified (new tab "OSD + Dialogs", renamed "Experimental" to "Advanced settings")

- New Skin Setting: OSD + Dialogs -> Video Info Dialog -> "Use highest score for stars rating (*****)   (Default: On)"
(Service+skin will convert+compare all available ratings (local and external) and always render the stars rating according to the highest of all scores, so that movies don't look worse on first sight than they might are.)

- New Skin Setting: OSD + Dialogs -> Video OSD -> "Enable Post Credits Scene Icon (10min before movie end)   (Default: Off)"

- New Skin Setting: OSD + Dialogs -> Video Info Dialog -> "Enable Video Ratings   (Default: On)"

- Reworked all US MPAA + TV rating icons

Additional changes:

- Keyboard/remote shortcuts on Video OSD: When focusing the buttons "subtitle" or "audio settings", pressing DOWN on your remote/keyboard triggers "NextSubtitle" and "NextAudioLanguage" for quick cycling.
Opening the dialogs via regular pushing of the mentioned buttons is not affected and remains fully functional.

- "Show Dialog after playing a single Movie from Kodi DB" Skin Setting option "Cinema Screen" is now animated and darker

- Improved mood backgrounds conditions, removed disabling mood backgrounds in Skin Setting (pointless at this point)
- Added new defaultcolor "selecteddark" (used in Skin Settings rework)
- Switched Wall View IDs: "Wall 3x9" now: 908 before: 909, "Wall 4x12" now: 909 before: 908

- [VideoFullscreen] Year + Studio + Title now have a light font instead of regular
- [MusicVisualisation] Artist + Album + Year now have a light font instead of regular
- [VideoFullscreen] Studio only displays "StudioName 1 / StudioName 2" instead of the cluttered full string (Provided by service.cinema.helper addon)
- [DialogVideoInfo] Studio only displays "StudioName 1 / StudioName 2" instead of the cluttered full string (Provided by service.listitem.helper addon)
- [DialogVideoInfo] Reworked "Post Credits Scene" stinger icon
- [DialogVideoInfo] Improved grouplist stacking for video/audio/movie flags

- Improved Volume bar images and volume icon. Fixed a very rare issue with the volume progress bar scrubber which had a small visual glitch due to graphic rendering

- Very slightly reworked rarely used PlayerControls dialog

- Cleanup/removal of unused video view "PosterWrapView"
- Very slightly reworked some legacy video views regarding fonts, borders and separators

- Skin Setting "Darken Home Screen Background": Corrected "Medium" value (before: 50 like "Minimal" now: 62)
- Skin Setting "Enable Idle Timer for Home Screen UI Fade Out": Corrected darkening of background when in Idle state. Background is now a bit darker due to less fade out of the darkening layer.

- Removed many unnecessary label shadows (shadowcolor)
- [Slideshow] Removed the "Music Info Overlay" in Slideshow when playing music in the background
- [Slideshow] Changed "play" button for paused videos in slideshow

[altern8tube]

@axbmcuser thanks so much for re-enabling the mini sub menu for subtitles! i think the DOWN key press is a fantastic idea, and although i'll still be using the mini sub menu over that for subtitiles, it certainly comes in very handy for switching audio tracks. well done! 👏

i did notice that the "Download" option on my mini submenu is greyed out and can't be selected. i still have to go into the main Subtitles dialog to click "Download". just wondering if it's just me cos nobody seems to have reported that (i'm on Kodi 18 btw).

also, i noticed that the "idle" timer for the "Download" subtitles dialog seems to be too short. this happened to me a few times. i'm in the middle of searching, selecting, or downloading a subtitle and the dialog window just disappears and goes back to the main video. i did not have this issue previously. not sure if the timer used to be longer or paused in previous version when in the "Download" dialog.

the latest changelog packs quite a punch! thanks again for the hard work and taking our feedback into consideration.

[axbmcuser]

@altern8tube 
The changelog got much longer the last few days.

Thanks for the useful information regarding the potential issues. I'll have a look.

[Trespasser]

axbmcuser,
Just wanted to express my appreciation for ZEITGEIST. It fit the bill for what I needed in a Kodi skin.
Thank you.

[axbmcuser]

@altern8tube 
Improved in new version:
- VideoOSD does not auto close anymore when one of the typical dialogs like subtitlesearch, video settings, bookmarks or similar is open
- Subtitle mini sub-menu Download button is now enabled even for Player.IsInternetStream playback

@Trespasser 
Glad to hear. Thanks for taking the time for the feedback. Feel free to push some "thumbs up"-buttons on posts you like. Always appreciated!

@ ALL

Important Note for the new versions:

If (only if!) you are using a custom <videolibrary> <listitemseparator> in your "advancedsettings.xml", please have a look at the "ListItem Helper" addon settings and enter the exact same listitemseparator string as in your "advancedsettings.xml".
Most likely this will concern very few people, but just wanted to let you know.
It is important so "ListItem Helper" can split the strings correctly and use the result for a simplified skin experience.


Now online for all Kodi versions (Kodi 17, 18, 19, 20)   (all releases feature identical):

- A Confluence ZEITGEIST (KODI 17)   3.5.13
- A Confluence ZEITGEIST (KODI 18)   4.4.13
- A Confluence ZEITGEIST (KODI 19+20)   5.4.15

- Cinema Helper (KODI 17+18)   1.0.8 (Python 2)
- ListItem Helper (KODI 17+18)   0.3.16 (Python 2)

- Cinema Helper (KODI 19+20)   2.0.8 (Python 3)
- ListItem Helper (KODI 19+20)   1.3.15 (Python 3)


Changelog: (version numbers vary for different Kodi versions!)

Code:

3.5.13 (2022-12-24)

Hotfixes for 3.5.12

- [DialogVideoInfo] Fix rare stacking condition for rating stars. If no rating, hide the unneeded horizontal space as intended to avoid weird empty visual space.
- [VideoFullScreen] Fix Clock Label visible condition
- [VideoFullScreen] [DialogVolumeBar] Fix rare Mute Label y-position condition

3.5.12 (2022-12-24)

- Expanded Skin Settings feature: When "Always force Preset Views" in "General Settings" is enabled, you can now customize the IDs in "Advanced Settings"

- New feature/Skin setting: "Use highest score for stars rating (*****)   (Default: On)" for DialogVideoInfo
This option will automatically convert+compare all available ratings (local and external) and always render the stars rating according to the highest of all scores, so that movies don't look worse on first sight than they might are.

- Skin setting change: Home screen options -> "Date/Time type" now defaults to "Time only" (Before: "Date + Time")
- - Additional corresponding change: Time is now at most exlusively displayed on Home screen or VideoFullScreen/MusicVisualisation regardless of the above mentioned setting. (No display on any further dialogs) Changed for simplicity and coherence.
! Attention: Please re-check your desired setting for this option after this change.

- New feature "PostCreditsScene detection" (supported by service.cinema.helper):
This feature now shows the (reworked) post credits scene "stinger" icon in [VideoFullscreen] when movie progress is within the final 30 minutes. Just open the VideoFullscreen Info or VideoOSD itself and look right besides "End time". Functioanlity depends on the common movie tags aftercreditsstinger/duringcreditsstinger and is enabled by default.
Additionally, you can activate a corresponding new Skin setting: OSD + Dialogs -> Video OSD / Fullscreen -> "Show Post Credits Scene Icon (10min before movie ends)   (Default: Off)" which shows the same icon on top of the playing movie once for some seconds, exactly 10 minutes before movie ends. This additional setting is optional and disabled by default.

- Skin Settings visually improved, reorganized and simplified (new tab "OSD + Dialogs", renamed "Experimental" to "Advanced settings")

- New Skin Setting: OSD + Dialogs -> Video Info Dialog -> "Use highest score for stars rating (*****)   (Default: On)"
(Service+skin will convert+compare all available ratings (local and external) and always render the stars rating according to the highest of all scores, so that movies don't look worse on first sight than they might are.)

- New Skin Setting: OSD + Dialogs -> Video OSD / Fullscreen -> "Enable Post Credits Scene Icon (10min before movie end)   (Default: Off)"

- New Skin Setting: OSD + Dialogs -> Video Info Dialog -> "Enable Video Ratings   (Default: On)"

- [Textures] Reworked all movie and tv show certification rating graphics for: (US) MPAA, (GER) FSK, (UK) BBFC, (US) TV rating system

- Improved Out Of The Box Experience: When loading a TV show Episodes dialog window, the first episode will always be selected. This workarounds/fixes the KODI selection-history bug which otherwise would result in poor user experience in this regard. (Supported by service.cinema.helper)


Additional changes:

- Keyboard/remote shortcuts on Video OSD: When focusing the buttons "subtitle" or "audio settings", pressing DOWN on your remote/keyboard triggers "NextSubtitle" and "NextAudioLanguage" for quick cycling.
Opening the dialogs via regular pushing of the mentioned buttons is not affected and remains fully functional.

- "Show Dialog after playing a single Movie from Kodi DB" Skin Setting option "Cinema Screen" is now animated and darker

- Improved mood backgrounds conditions, removed disabling mood backgrounds in Skin Setting (pointless at this point)
- Added new defaultcolor "selecteddark" (used in Skin Settings rework)
- Switched Wall View IDs: "Wall 3x9" now: 908 before: 909, "Wall 4x12" now: 909 before: 908

- [VideoFullscreen] Year + Studio + Title now have a light font instead of regular, removed year label for simplicity
- [MusicVisualisation] Artist + Album + Year now have a light font instead of regular
- [VideoFullscreen] Studio only displays "StudioName 1" instead of the cluttered full string (Provided by service.cinema.helper addon)
- [DialogVideoInfo] Studio only displays "StudioName 1 | StudioName 2" instead of the cluttered full string (Provided by service.listitem.helper addon)
- [DialogVideoInfo] Visually reworked stars rating
- [DialogVideoInfo] Reworked "Post Credits Scene" stinger icon
- [DialogVideoInfo] Improved grouplist stacking for video/audio/movie flags

- Improved Volume bar images and volume icon. Fixed a very rare issue with the volume progress bar scrubber which had a small visual glitch due to graphic rendering

- Very slightly reworked rarely used PlayerControls dialog

- Cleanup/removal of unused video view "PosterWrapView"
- Very slightly reworked some legacy video views regarding fonts, borders and separators

- Skin Setting "Darken Home Screen Background": Corrected "Medium" value (before: 50 like "Minimal" now: 62 as originally itended)
- Skin Setting "Enable Idle Timer for Home Screen UI Fade Out": Corrected darkening of background when in Idle state. Background is now a bit darker due to less fade out of the darkening layer.

- Removed many unnecessary label shadows (shadowcolor)
- [Slideshow] Removed the "Music Info Overlay" in Slideshow when playing music in the background
- [Slideshow] Changed "play" button for paused videos in slideshow

- [DialogVideoInfo] Changed font face+size of main buttons

- Reworked and improved VideoOSD and MusicOSD total width and button positions
- Reworked VideoFullscreen and MusicVisualisation label positions and VideoFullscreen font style of SeekNumeric (now more simplified and without shadowcolor, using top fadeout for contrast purposes)

- [VideoOSD] [MusicOSD]

- [Textures] Reworked all star rating graphics
- [Textures] Added a 8K flagging icon for listings

- [MusicVisualisation] [MusicOSD] reworked stars rating

- Skin setting: OSD + Dialogs -> Video Information Dialog -> "Show movie file name" now defaults to "Off" (Before: "On")
- New Skin setting: OSD + Dialogs -> Video Information Dialog ->  "Use highest score for stars rating (*****)   (Default: On)"
- New Skin setting: OSD + Dialogs -> Video Information Dialog ->  Enable Video Ratings   (Default: On)"

- Updated very rarely used background "mood_background_default.png"

[axbmcuser]

If there is need for any hotfixes for the new releases, please let me know with detailed information and screenshots.

Otherwise:

Happy holidays to you all!