INTERACT FORUM

More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 19 for Windows => Topic started by: Matt on August 13, 2013, 10:13:27 am

Title: NEW: Theater View fade-out
Post by: Matt on August 13, 2013, 10:13:27 am
MC19 will fade down the user interface elements in Theater View after 90 seconds of inactivity to prevent burn-in.  Any mouse or remote activity will cause the UI to return.

This behavior is optional in Options > Theater View > Behavior.

Here's a sample of what it looks like when faded down:
(http://files.jriver.com/images/2013/theater_view_fade_out.jpg)
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out (plasma burn-in)
Post by: 6233638 on August 13, 2013, 11:33:18 am
Some suggestions:

1. Fade out completely. Burn-in is not necessarily caused by bright objects, but can also be caused by wear over time.
2. 90 seconds seems fine to fade out the UI when idle. It would be nice if it faded out after say 10 seconds when you are actually playing media.
3. Can the UI be selectively faded? It would be nice if the track information (but not the navigation) faded in for 10s when the track changes.
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out (plasma burn-in)
Post by: glynor on August 13, 2013, 12:44:58 pm
1. Fade out completely. Burn-in is not necessarily caused by bright objects, but wear over time.

This is not entirely accurate, though pretty close.  But the devil's in the details...

Plasma lose brightness over time as they age.  However, this doesn't happen for the "entire display", but for individual pixels on the display individually.  Image retention is caused by a differential in the aging of individual pixels on the display (wear over time).  Plasma pixels "age" at varying rates depending on their brightness (voltage) at any given moment.  In other words, a white pixel "ages" (or fades, would be more accurate) more quickly than one that is dark (and a completely black one doesn't age at all).

Image Retention happens when you have adjacent pixels with a high contrast differential (dark next to white) because the white ones are aging more quickly than the dark ones (black ones are essentially off, in a very low voltage state, and are effectively not aging at all).  This means that the next time these two adjacent pixels have the same voltage applied (so they should be the same brightness if the panel was brand-new), then the ones that were bright for a while are "older" than the ones that were dark, and so the maximum brightness of some is lower than others.

But Plasmas also don't age in a linear fashion.  Brightness decreases as an inverse exponent of the pixel's "age", which means there is a curve with an initial steep decline in brightness, and then a long tail.  That's part
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out (plasma burn-in)
Post by: FastKayak on August 13, 2013, 01:28:10 pm
Firstly, I really like this feature.  Secondly I would like an option to fade text to nothing.  Eg, fade could be set to no, mostly, entirely.

Also, I have my theater view theme set to <fadeout cover art in playing now display> to <always>.  When songs switch the new text fadeout also has the cover art faded so it is nearly invisible.  I am requesting the cover art not be controlled with the text fade setting.

Thanks!

FastKayak / Larry
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out (plasma burn-in)
Post by: tls62dk on August 13, 2013, 05:02:03 pm
Very Nice! I have been looking forward to this feature for a long time.

I would also prefer to have the option to fade out entirely and to be able to possibly select a different fade out time. 90 seconds seems a little long to me, but maybe it's because I am just sitting waiting for it to happend.  :)

TLS
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out
Post by: raym on August 13, 2013, 06:21:37 pm
Some suggestions:

1. Fade out completely. Burn-in is not necessarily caused by bright objects, but wear over time.
2. 90 seconds seems fine to fade out the UI when idle. It would be nice if it faded out after say 10 seconds when you are actually playing media.
3. Can the UI be selectively faded? It would be nice if the track information (but not the navigation) faded in for 10s when the track changes.

What he said :)

But especially fade out completely.
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out
Post by: RoderickGI on August 13, 2013, 08:00:18 pm
MC19 will fade down the user interface elements in Theater View after 90 seconds of inactivity to prevent burn-in.  Any mouse or remote activity will cause the UI to return.

Thank goodness, and you Matt. I was worried about those white menu items always on display and the effect it would have over time.

I would suggest, however, and far more flexible approach:

At least two levels of fade, maybe with the possibility for more, in the same way rules can be added in a "Set rules for file display" dialogue.
Each level of fading has a time and opacity level associated with it.
Possibly allow selection of what on screen element should be faded, including at least the menus, background or whole screen.
Then consider fading other display types when certain conditions exist. Fading the screen in Cover View, or CD covers in Display View would often make sense when playing audio only. Naturally, fading a movie in Display View would not!  ;D

So, with two levels of fade, and just for menus;
After 10 seconds fade to 30% opacity.
After a further 60 seconds fade to 0% opacity.

Just fading the menus after 90 seconds is a nice start, but why not make it flexible and universal from the start?
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out (plasma burn-in)
Post by: elderavelas on August 24, 2013, 02:59:26 pm
I am requesting the cover art not be controlled with the text fade setting.

+1

Thanks
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out
Post by: Supersnake on August 25, 2013, 12:23:22 am
Considering how long people sit in front of their computers and continuously use their browsers, I'm wondering why all of us aren't having our menu bar, tool bar or task bar icons burn in?  
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out
Post by: Hendrik on August 25, 2013, 12:47:14 am
Considering how long people sit in front of their computers and continuously use their browsers, I'm wondering why all of us aren't having our menu bar, tool bar or task bar icons burn in?  

Burn in is only really a problem with plasma screens, which are not really used as PC monitors.
LCD screens as used in PC monitors are usually pretty resistent to burn in.
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out
Post by: Supersnake on August 25, 2013, 01:04:44 am
Burn in is only really a problem with plasma screens, which are not really used as PC monitors.
LCD screens as used in PC monitors are usually pretty resistent to burn in.

Thanks, I forgot about that. And kudos to Glynor for his typical attention to detail in specifying plasma.  :)
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out
Post by: tls62dk on August 25, 2013, 04:12:26 am
For me it is more than just a matter of preventing burn in on my plasma screen. I think Playing Now looks much nicer without the menu hanging at the top of the screen.
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out
Post by: _mulder on August 25, 2013, 04:49:38 am
I totally agree. Mainly the main reason why I wanted that feature.
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out (plasma burn-in)
Post by: jdizzy623 on August 28, 2013, 11:57:20 am
Some suggestions:

1. Fade out completely. Burn-in is not necessarily caused by bright objects, but can also be caused by wear over time.
2. 90 seconds seems fine to fade out the UI when idle. It would be nice if it faded out after say 10 seconds when you are actually playing media.
3. Can the UI be selectively faded? It would be nice if the track information (but not the navigation) faded in for 10s when the track changes.

#1 - Fade completely would be awesome! (more of a distraction when you can barely see it)

#2 - Would like this also but user defined through Behavior 10s/15s/30s/90s

#3 - At the least, album cover/track info should show and then fade as usual - also would abide by above settings
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out
Post by: Micromecca on September 16, 2013, 12:13:35 pm
Finally! thank you for adding this. I have payed for (another) upgrade just for this feature.

As already mentioned though, we really need the option to set the level of text transparency level so that it can be removed altogether if required.
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out
Post by: Chico on September 17, 2013, 04:52:10 pm
Agree on all of the above!
Thanks for adding the feature, it's long overdue.
Need to fade completely if desired
Fade time variable
Display only new tracks for variable time then fade

Chico
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out
Post by: leftside on September 27, 2013, 02:20:00 pm
This is good news. Reason enough for me to upgrade from V17.

I like some of the suggestions here as well for enhancements to the fade-out. I presume some of these enhancements will come with later upgrades/releases.
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out
Post by: marko on September 28, 2013, 02:12:17 am
Presume nothing, never be disappointed :)
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out
Post by: FastKayak on October 18, 2013, 01:59:09 pm
Any chance we could have this feature improved finished?  It would seem simple to add the fade-to-nothing option many of us asked for......

FastKayak / Larry
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out
Post by: leftside on October 18, 2013, 04:00:43 pm
The fade-in is great, but the picture to the right of the screen is still bright:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/w9odlvubup3rn0r/IMG_000752.jpg (https://www.dropbox.com/s/w9odlvubup3rn0r/IMG_000752.jpg)

Is it possible to fade that as well?
Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out
Post by: NorCalJason on February 17, 2014, 11:38:06 am
What's better than a theater fade out?

A slide show of the cover art!  An animated (fade in/out) slideshow screensaver with cover art applicable to the media fold you're in. 

Example:

Pause in Movies, show movie cover art
Pause in TV shows, display TV show cover art
Pause in Music, show cd cover art

This would for sure stop any IR, AND, it would look really cool.

Title: Re: NEW: Theater View fade-out
Post by: Chico on January 14, 2015, 12:20:13 pm
Any chance we could have this feature improved finished?  It would seem simple to add the fade-to-nothing option many of us asked for......

FastKayak / Larry

+1

I'd love to have the option to have the text fade completely and reappear on KB/M/TS events.  Maybe have the title and artist appear briefly on change of file.