2023-01-28, 20:38
As you have a Windows pc perhaps install kodi and use snipping tool to grab screenshots, highlight what you need and upload to imgur for sharing here.
2023-01-28, 22:14
It's been an awfully long time since I've tried to use Kodi for music, and I'm not in front of my Kodi box right now, so these comments are going to be very general.
First, I'm using Kodi on a 2019 nVidia Shield, not the latest one, but with the latest remote (the one with the Netflix button), so I'll refer to the centre button as OK, whatever that translates to on a keyboard (perhaps ENTER?).
With video, when a video file is highlighted, pressing OK begins playing the video immediately. While playing, pressing OK again brings up the OSD, which consists of the player controls and the timeline along the bottom, the file name along the top, and the ending time in the top right corner. This is exactly the same display that I would like to see when listening to an audio file, such as a lecture (and yes, I know this is completely different than when listening to music). I realize that an .mp3 has no chapters to display on the timeline, and no video to display, so I'd like to see just a solid background (blue, black, user configurable?), but I'd still like to see the filename and ending time. And the OSD should remain until the BACK button is pressed, just as in video.
Now with music, from memory, it seems to me that it is entirely focused upon a playlist, and that playlist is listed vertically on the right side of the screen, and on the left side of the screen is a vertical bar with some options? So it is necessary to move to the left bar, then move to the bottom, where there are player controls, and where on can then select to have the OSD displayed. To me, this is needlessly complex to simply show the OSD. Once displayed, the OSD (from memory) does have a timeline, but lacks the filename(?), and does not show the end time. Just my opinion, but I feel the UX/UI here could be better.
Okay, so for music, a playlist makes sense. But for many other types of audio, it does not. With lengthy audio (lectures, etc.), one isn't likely to want to play several of them, one immediately following another, in an unattended mode, as one may do with music. And again with lengthy audio, one is likely to be more interested in the ending time, than with music.
So what I envision is this: Kodi already has a Video mode and a Music mode. It would be great it if also had an Audio mode, which would function much like I've described above, and very similar to Video mode, but for audio files. This is not meant to be overly critical. Just sharing my feelings.
First, I'm using Kodi on a 2019 nVidia Shield, not the latest one, but with the latest remote (the one with the Netflix button), so I'll refer to the centre button as OK, whatever that translates to on a keyboard (perhaps ENTER?).
With video, when a video file is highlighted, pressing OK begins playing the video immediately. While playing, pressing OK again brings up the OSD, which consists of the player controls and the timeline along the bottom, the file name along the top, and the ending time in the top right corner. This is exactly the same display that I would like to see when listening to an audio file, such as a lecture (and yes, I know this is completely different than when listening to music). I realize that an .mp3 has no chapters to display on the timeline, and no video to display, so I'd like to see just a solid background (blue, black, user configurable?), but I'd still like to see the filename and ending time. And the OSD should remain until the BACK button is pressed, just as in video.
Now with music, from memory, it seems to me that it is entirely focused upon a playlist, and that playlist is listed vertically on the right side of the screen, and on the left side of the screen is a vertical bar with some options? So it is necessary to move to the left bar, then move to the bottom, where there are player controls, and where on can then select to have the OSD displayed. To me, this is needlessly complex to simply show the OSD. Once displayed, the OSD (from memory) does have a timeline, but lacks the filename(?), and does not show the end time. Just my opinion, but I feel the UX/UI here could be better.
Okay, so for music, a playlist makes sense. But for many other types of audio, it does not. With lengthy audio (lectures, etc.), one isn't likely to want to play several of them, one immediately following another, in an unattended mode, as one may do with music. And again with lengthy audio, one is likely to be more interested in the ending time, than with music.
So what I envision is this: Kodi already has a Video mode and a Music mode. It would be great it if also had an Audio mode, which would function much like I've described above, and very similar to Video mode, but for audio files. This is not meant to be overly critical. Just sharing my feelings.
2023-01-29, 00:52
To not have the queue to playlist behaviour then simply turn off the Queue songs on selection setting, see https://kodi.wiki/view/Settings/Player/M..._selection
To go straight with the full screen view with osd is the Visualisation window, for this enable Switch to visualisation on playback setting, see https://kodi.wiki/view/Settings/Media/Mu...n_playback However this setting is only available on v20, and from how you describe the playlist
window is sounds like you are using an old version.
To go straight with the full screen view with osd is the Visualisation window, for this enable Switch to visualisation on playback setting, see https://kodi.wiki/view/Settings/Media/Mu...n_playback However this setting is only available on v20, and from how you describe the playlist
window is sounds like you are using an old version.
2023-01-29, 00:59
Thanks for that. I'll try those setting tonight.
Yes, I'm using an older version, because I have disabled nVidia Shield updates, due to the extremely antagonistic forced ads on the new version. I know this is completely off-topic here, but does anyone know whether there is a way to update Kodi on the Shield, without allowing the Shield's android to update?
Yes, I'm using an older version, because I have disabled nVidia Shield updates, due to the extremely antagonistic forced ads on the new version. I know this is completely off-topic here, but does anyone know whether there is a way to update Kodi on the Shield, without allowing the Shield's android to update?
2023-01-29, 01:05
Is it the Shield firmware you do not want to update? If so then having Play store updates enabled should have no bearing on that as Play store is only for apps. However if you want to remain cautious then you can always get Kodi updates direct from our servers at http://mirrors.kodi.tv/releases/android/arm64-v8a/
2023-01-29, 01:05
(2023-01-29, 00:59)Positron Wrote: I know this is completely off-topic here, but does anyone know whether there is a way to update Kodi on the Shield, without allowing the Shield's android to update?try the android installer addon, works perfect without involving the play store - https://kodi.tv/addons/matrix/script.kod...oid.update
2023-01-29, 01:08
Or that if you need a bit of hand holding
2023-01-29, 01:36
(2023-01-29, 01:05)jjd-uk Wrote: Is it the Shield firmware you do not want to update? If so then having Play store updates enabled should have no bearing on that as Play store is only for apps. However if you want to remain cautious then you can always get Kodi updates direct from our servers at http://mirrors.kodi.tv/releases/android/arm64-v8a/
Thanks for that, I'm exited about getting Kodi updated! Yeah, I like to be cautious.
I downloaded onto my computer the latest (20.0) from your link, which gave me an .apk file, but I have no idea how to get that onto the Shield. I'll likely use the Kodi Android Installer mentioned in the previous post, as I guess it can all be done from within Kodi. Also, looking at the Shield forum, I'm seeing some threads saying that the playstore will no longer have any newer versions? 
2023-01-29, 01:37
(2023-01-29, 01:05)jepsizofye Wrote:(2023-01-29, 00:59)Positron Wrote: I know this is completely off-topic here, but does anyone know whether there is a way to update Kodi on the Shield, without allowing the Shield's android to update?try the android installer addon, works perfect without involving the play store - https://kodi.tv/addons/matrix/script.kod...oid.update
Thanks for that! I'll give this a try.
2023-01-29, 22:04
Oh, that went so smoothly! 
Big thanks to all the developers! 
So I set those settings as indicated, and now it does indeed begin playing the .mp3 immediately with the visualizer and OSD displayed. BUT... the OSD disappears after a few seconds. Is there another setting to keep the OSD on-sceen until the user cancels it? And finally, someone indicated earlier in this thread that adding the time remaining stuff would not be difficult; some help with that would be appreciated. Thanks again.
Big thanks to all the developers! So I set those settings as indicated, and now it does indeed begin playing the .mp3 immediately with the visualizer and OSD displayed. BUT... the OSD disappears after a few seconds. Is there another setting to keep the OSD on-sceen until the user cancels it? And finally, someone indicated earlier in this thread that adding the time remaining stuff would not be difficult; some help with that would be appreciated. Thanks again.
2023-01-30, 01:01
Press middle button and osd will reappear and this time it will stay there. To dismiss osd it's the back button.
[edit] It's late here and while the skin edit itself should be straightforward, I need to check the code and the explanation of how best to do it requires quite a bit of information. So I can't be bothered right now as it not far off bedtime, so I'll try and find the time tomorrow.
[edit] It's late here and while the skin edit itself should be straightforward, I need to check the code and the explanation of how best to do it requires quite a bit of information. So I can't be bothered right now as it not far off bedtime, so I'll try and find the time tomorrow.
2023-01-30, 19:24
I haven't got a lot time today so some very rudimentary instructions.
Firstly you need to get the skin files, although it's possible to transfer these off, in this instance probably best to get from source code.
Go to https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/releases/tag/20.0-Nexus and click the Source code (zip) to download.
Unzip the download and open the resulting folder and in there you should see a folder named addons
Within the addons folder there will be a folder skin.estuary and it's this you need to work on. You can copy this folder elsewhere to do the skin changes then delete the rest of what was downloaded if you want.
In the skin.estuary folder then a xml folder, this contains the xml files that define the look & layout of the skin.
In this case the file wanted is Custom_1109_TopBarOverlay.xml
To edit the file I'd recommend Notepad++
What need to be changed is this line https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/20.0-N...y.xml#L253
From
To
and that's all.
Now the bit more involved bit, and that's making this your own custom skin from a Kodi POV and moving it across to the Shield.
Going back to skin.estuary folder rename it to something that has meaning for you that it contains your skin mod e.g. skin.estuary.mymod
Then going back within the folder at the first level will be an addon.xml file.
Edit this from
To something like
Where id must match the what you renamed skin.estuary to.
Where name is the name shown in the GUI to identify the skin.
Now to get it on the Shield. For this it's back to using the Kodi File Manager adding special://home as a source. When opening this source there will be an addons folder, and this is where you need to transfer the skin folder e.g. skin.estuary.mymod
Once it has been copied across to the Shield you need to enabled it but first you need to close Kodi then reopen it. Then if you go to My add-ons and All you should hopefully see it listed with whatever name you gave it e.g. Estuary My Mod so select it, Enable it, and select Use to start.
Instructions not a verbose as I could be, but hopefully just enough for you to get this done. If not I'll be back
Firstly you need to get the skin files, although it's possible to transfer these off, in this instance probably best to get from source code.
Go to https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/releases/tag/20.0-Nexus and click the Source code (zip) to download.
Unzip the download and open the resulting folder and in there you should see a folder named addons
Within the addons folder there will be a folder skin.estuary and it's this you need to work on. You can copy this folder elsewhere to do the skin changes then delete the rest of what was downloaded if you want.
In the skin.estuary folder then a xml folder, this contains the xml files that define the look & layout of the skin.
In this case the file wanted is Custom_1109_TopBarOverlay.xml
To edit the file I'd recommend Notepad++
What need to be changed is this line https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/20.0-N...y.xml#L253
From
xml:<visible>Player.HasVideo + ![Player.HasGame | VideoPlayer.HasEpg]</visible>
To
xml:<visible>Window.IsActive(visualisation) | Player.HasVideo + ![Player.HasGame | VideoPlayer.HasEpg]</visible>
and that's all.
Now the bit more involved bit, and that's making this your own custom skin from a Kodi POV and moving it across to the Shield.
Going back to skin.estuary folder rename it to something that has meaning for you that it contains your skin mod e.g. skin.estuary.mymod
Then going back within the folder at the first level will be an addon.xml file.
Edit this from
xml:<addon id="skin.estuary" version="3.0.10" name="Estuary" provider-name="phil65, Ichabod Fletchman">
To something like
xml:<addon id="skin.estuary.mymod" version="3.0.10" name="Estuary My Mod" provider-name="phil65, Ichabod Fletchman">
Where id must match the what you renamed skin.estuary to.
Where name is the name shown in the GUI to identify the skin.
Now to get it on the Shield. For this it's back to using the Kodi File Manager adding special://home as a source. When opening this source there will be an addons folder, and this is where you need to transfer the skin folder e.g. skin.estuary.mymod
Once it has been copied across to the Shield you need to enabled it but first you need to close Kodi then reopen it. Then if you go to My add-ons and All you should hopefully see it listed with whatever name you gave it e.g. Estuary My Mod so select it, Enable it, and select Use to start.
Instructions not a verbose as I could be, but hopefully just enough for you to get this done. If not I'll be back
2023-01-30, 23:37
Wow, fantastic! Your instructions were excellent, and it is now working as desired. Thanks so much!
Your instructions were excellent, and it is now working as desired. Thanks so much!
2023-01-31, 02:56
Great that you got it working. While it would have been possible to edit the original Estuary it's tricky to do, and being the default skin if something were to go wrong then more difficult to recover on an Android device. So it's far safer to create your own version in this way. The other reason to do it this way is that it'll survive an upgrade if you decide to install a point release e.g. V20.1. However when it comes to a new major release eg. V21 then you'll have to repeat this process.
