Transparent Media Background

[dnkelliott]

Hi All,

Just bought a BWV2 to replace my Topfield 7160 and WD TV Live. So far so good....

I do whoever find it a bit distracting looking through the Menu's and Media folders with the current program playing in the background... Is there a way to modify the transparency or opaqueness of the menu/media background or is there a way to force it to black? I have already found pressing Mute while looking for a show to watch is a much nicer experience for my ears, now just trying to make it easier on my eyes.

I was looking at Beyonwiz Skins if they might help me out here but I dont know how to instal them, nor am I sure they will be fully functional as they are 'home-made'.

Thanks in advance

David

[MrQuade]

You can't opaque the background with the standard skins.

IanSav's OverlayHD skin allows this though.

You can follow the comprehensive instructions in the linked post to install that skin if you like.

To automatically mute audio in menus, you may want to read this thread.

I don't have any experience with them though. For whatever reason, I don't find the background video/audio distracting.

[prl]

It's hard to see from this side of your screen what "Beyonwiz Skins" you mean. There are three skins that can be used with the Beyonwiz firmware, the two pre-loaded skins, easy-skin-u4 and Full-Metal-Wizard, and the OverlayHD skin written by IanSav.

All three skins are fully functional. There are some issues with using the most recent versions of OverlayHD, which Ian supports across several enigma2-based PVR firmware images, because its most recent versions now depends on some changes to code made in all the other enigma2 images that aren't in the Beyonwiz firmware.

I don't know what other skins you might be looking at, but they are extremely unlikely to be "fully functional". You'd probably find them more-or-less unusable.

Almost all of the software development for enigma2-based PVR firmware, like te current series Beyonwizes, is in some sense "home-made". Apart from low-level support by the manufacturers for the System-on-a-Chip devices at the heart of the PVRs, it's all Open Source.

Downloads of and discussion about OverlayHD can be found in OverlayHD Skin...

[dnkelliott]

Hi Guys,

(I'm a forum noob, as-in, never used a forum anywhere on the interweb... so I dont know how to reply to a part of your post, so bear with me please)

Thanks Mr Quade. I'll check out the links on how to mute the Audio in Menu's and I'll checkout the Skin's that PRL mentions are already installed in the firmware, just have to find out how to change between them.

Thanks PRL. Are you able to advise how to change skin if they are already installed in the firmware?

Cheers
David

[prl]

I dont know how to reply to a part of your post, so bear with me please)

Click on the double quote icon in the bar at the top of the post you want to quote. Edit out the text inside the [quote ...][/quote] markup that isn't relevant to your reply.

More advanced: Copy/paste the [quote] headers and the closing [/quote] to be able to reply to separate parts of a post, as I've done in this reply.

I prefer a double-newline after the closing quote marker (as I've done in this post). That gives a bit more space between the quote block and the reply text.

If you manipulate quotes like this the Review button at the bottom of the post composition screen is very much your friend.

Thanks PRL. Are you able to advise how to change skin if they are already installed in the firmware?

From live TV, MENU>Setup>AV setup>Skin setup. That allows you to select between the (default) easy-skin-aus and Full-Metal-Wizard skins. I prefer the latter, but neither has opaque screen backgrounds. OverlayHD will appear in the skin selection screen if you install it. As MrQuade says, it's the only skin that allows for opaque backgrounds.

IMO OverlayHD is the best technically constructed of all the three skins. It's the result of an almost complete re-write. I just don't happen to like some of the style choices. De gustibus non est disputandum.

[dnkelliott]

Thanks Guys.

To automatically mute audio in menus, you may want to read this thread.

I have found the link to enigma2-plugin-extensions-AutoMute_1.1_all.IPK and installed it with the instructions in the respective posts.

When we have finished recording for the night I will try installing the OverlayHD Skin as per prl's instructions and see if it is to our liking.

Cheers
David

[prl]

When we have finished recording for the night I will try installing the OverlayHD Skin as per prl's instructions and see if it is to our liking.

You'll find lots of knobs to turn in the OverlayHD setup

[dnkelliott]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your help on this initial setup. We now have the OverlayHD tweaked how we like it (Mid Black Backgrounds everywhere with Silver Text) and auto-mute for all menu's (then we un-mute in the guide if we want to listen).

I'll be sure to head back to the forum next time we have some questions

Cheers
David