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[timdog82001]

Hello!

I spent the past couple weeks in my spare time working on this mod which adds several options to MC360, the main one being the addition of closest thing I can currently get to the actual Xbox 360 Video Marketplace.  Plus, everything is compatible for 4:3 as well as widscreen.  Here is a list of the other mods included in this mod.  Absolutely everything can be disabled, and/or customized to meet your needs, and everything is done completely in skin.  Absolutely NO xml editing.  Here is a list of the mods included:

1.  XBMC Video Marketplace / Script  Marketplace
       
         -  a centralized spot where you can easily and elegantly access all media related scripts and video files, including Streaming TV packs.  Each button currently has 3 selectable categories: Single Script mode, Bookmark Mode, and Category Script Mode.  Single script mode allows you to launch a script directly from that button, bookmark mode opens up the video bookmark you specify in the settings, and category mode will open a dialog with other scripts to choose from.  This is so you can make the button say "Podcasts" or something, add the icon of your choice, and in the dialog you would add all your podcast related scripts.  This allows you to have your scripts navigable in a clean, organized manner, while still keeping them in the root of your scripts folder, where they need to be if you are to link to them from skins.  Completely customizable, even down to an option to rename the marketplace to your choosing and/or move it to the games blade. (for those of you who are interested in using this more as a "Script marketplace" or something similar, somewhat similar to the script favorites menu, but configurable in skin, and categorizable.  The marketplace is also great for wives, children, or girlfriends who can't easily navigate throughout the whole skin.  You can link to everything they'll ever need in one spot.  I'll probably be adding support for audio and picture bookmarks too.

2.  XBMC-TV - Your source for Broadband (200k+) LIVE video streams on XBMC

        -  Included as part of the Marketplace mod, XBMC-TV is a team project led by Akaigotchi to bring the first truly reliable Stream Pack to XBMC.  Although still very young, it already has about 500 stations, and there are entire "genres" of Streaming Video we haven't yet started attacking.  It is all separated up by country, and is automatically checked for nonfunctional streams which are promptly removed, so there is no worry of running into non-functional video streams (assuming you have the most recent version).  It currently is simply a pack of .strm files, but in the future will be evolving into a full blown script.  For more information on XBMC-TV, see the threads either here http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=582032 or on the official xboxmediacenter forums http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24486.  Updates are available via SVN (you can find information on that in the links above) or in a weekly snapshot uploaded every monday, available here: http://www.xbmc-tv.com/   Check it out!

3.  Separate TV Shows  / Movies buttons on media blade

        -  adds the option to link directly to your movies and TV show folders directly from the media home blade.

4.  Retro-X  Script Integration

        -  changes "Xbox Arcade" button in Games blade to launch the Retro-X script instead of going to your emulator folder.  (for those who don't know, Retro-X is a python script by chunk_1970 which allows you to launch all your emulator and python games from one spot. See original thread here: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=519798)

5.  Remote Computer Startup/Shutdown (WOL/SOL)

        -  Allows you to remotely start up or shutdown your personal computer over the network using your xbox and the sol and wol scripts, included in mod, as are all other scripts mentioned.  Everything needed is included, but refer to thread here for instructions on how to get that working, or read the readme.txt include here.  Requires a little fidgeting with settings on your computer.  http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=587192

6.  Media Center Extender mod

        -  Adds a button to the Media Blade which launches the Media Center Extender, allowing users of the Xbox Media Center Extender and Windows XP Media Center Edition to link to their computer like the actual 360, where they can stream video files, pictures and so on, and also, schedule and view recordings on live TV (which is obviously where the real advantage lies).  Though previously required some minor XML editing, this mod is now fully configured in-skin.  Though no longer completely acurrate, you can find the original thread here: http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=587425


Here are some screenshots:

To enable everything, there is a new category of settings in the Personal Settings in the MC360 Guide called "Skin Mods Settings."  Selecting this button will bring you to all the options for this mod.  I'll probably be cleaning this window up a bit in the future.

(IMG:http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/949/screenshot000zw6.png)

Media blade with Video Marketplace and Media Center enabled...

(IMG:http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/5469/screenshot001np9.png)


Here's the default setup you'll see when you first go into the Video Marketplace...

(IMG:http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/6295/screenshot002ls8.png)

You can place the marketplace in the games blade instead, if you like, and can rename it to whatever you want.  He's a snapshot of it located in the games blade, renamed to "Script Favorites."

(IMG:http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/788/screenshot012dl8.png)


When you have video playing, instead of having the background visualization, the big eX button is replaced by the video, as you can see in this picture.  Unfortunately, there is a bug which I have no idea how to fix I noticed yesterday....When playing certain video files, a lot of the textures seem to disappear, and I have no idea why....Any ideas on this?  It only happens with certain files...I think possibly only files with higher bitrates or maybe just higher file sizes, because it only seems to happen with some movies, and not any tv shows.


(IMG:http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/2958/screenshot008jy2.png)


Here are a couple of screenshots of XBMC-TV...

(IMG:http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/5682/screenshot001ba9.png)
(IMG:http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/9310/screenshot004al7.png)
(IMG:http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/3218/screenshot003wk9.png)



You can customize it by clicking the button at the bottom of the main Video Marketplace window labeled "Customize Marketplace" which will bring you to a window like this.  Simply click on the button you want to customize to configure it to your liking.

(IMG:http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/3778/screenshot003mj0.png)

[KungFuGin]

Wow, impressive man. ETA?

EDIT:Oh! beat me to the post!


You released it!

Cool. Downloading now...

This post has been edited by KungFuGin: Mar 21 2007, 04:05 AM

[timdog82001]

Here's the window that pops up when you select a button in in the configuration window.  "Basic" icon and name are sort of like universal icons or names that replace the default ones if you don't select a mode, or if you select a mode but don't have any icon or name specified for that particular mode.

(IMG:http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/6595/screenshot005bb7.png)


Here you can see bookmark mode is selected and it has changed to be options for the Bookmark mode specific icon and name, instead of just basic, and a button appears below where you can select the bookmark the button will open.  You basically just select the "Link to video bookmark" button and type in the name of the bookmark you want it to open.  Of course, you must have already created this bookmark yourself in the video window.  It also does not currently work in Library mode, but this function should be added shortly as well.

(IMG:http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/2249/screenshot004gv1.png)


Here's an example of how you can customize it, using custom icons and labels...

(IMG:http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/4568/screenshot017vj8.png)


In category script mode, selecting a button would bring up a dialog something like this, once you've configured it.

(IMG:http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/1706/screenshot018wt9.png)


Here it is with the TV Show and Movie buttons enabled, and video marketplace disabled.  Currently, it's setup so that they simply link to bookmarks which you specify in the Skin Mods Settings.

(IMG:http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/9219/screenshot013bb6.png)


Here it is with absolutely everything enabled.  Notice the arrow to the right of the highlighted button.  This allows you to maintain use of the MC360 guide button while still using all the other features.  The same arrow appears over the Movies/TV Shows button when all features are enabled.

(IMG:http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/9881/screenshot015ry4.png)


This is the window that opens when you select Media Center....Thinking about removing it because, for one, its really just another step between you and launching the app, and two, although this is a replica of the same screen found on the actual Xbox 360, I think it only shows up there when you haven't yet configured it to sync up with your computer.

(IMG:http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/6687/screenshot016jj6.png)


You can see more pictures in the original threads, stated above, but here's a picture of the remote computer startup/shutdown mod.

(IMG:http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/3101/screenshot003vs2.jpg)

If you're wondering about the button icons seen in these screenshots, I made all of these (except the one with the xbox controller which is originally from the Live Place) plus many more, a bit over 30 total.  I have included these with the download in a folder called "Marketplace Icons."  If you have any requests for more, let me know on this thread, and I'll see what I can do.  I might want you to paypal me a dollar or or so to do it, if I can't find any good free stock photos, so that I can buy a good pic....I got most these off of stock xchange.  Pretty much everything is royalty free except for one which are actual logos like the PBS  and Comedy Central icon and so forth.

Here are some basic instructions for installation of this mod.  There will be readme's included as well, and I suggest looking at the original thread for the remote computer startup/shutdown mod for instructions if you plan on using that.  

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  FTP into your xbox and find the XBMC folder on your xbox.  Copy the XBMC folder found in this mod over the XBMC folder on the xbox. Note: no parts of XBMC itself are modified, this is simply so you can transfer all scripts and everything with one step.  If there are any scripts included with this mod that you already have on your xbox and would rather just keep the version you have, simply delete them from the mod before transfering over.

2.  FTP the "Marketplace Icons" and "XBMC-TV" folders to somewhere convenient on your xbox hard drive.  I simply placed mine in the root of my E drive.


3.  Make sure everything copied properly, and restart XBMC.

4.  Once XBMC restarts, go into Videos and select "Add Source."  Navigate to the XBMC-TV folder and select OK.  Make sure the Bookmark is named XBMC-TV and select "done."  Note: this is needed for the Video Marketplace default settings, otherwise one of the buttons will be broken.

5.  Go to the MC360 Guide by pressing Start on the controller or selecting the MC360 Guide button with the remote control.  Go to "Personal Settings" and then "Skin Mods Settings."  Configure things as you like.  Things are fairly self explanatory.  MCE stands for Media Center Extender.  WOL/SOL stands for Wake-On-LAN and Shutdown-On-LAN and enables the button to remotely start and shutdown your computer.

Movie / TV Show Button Instructions:

1.  Create 2 bookmarks that separately link to your TV Shows and Movies

2.  Enable option in Skin Mods Settings.

3.  Link buttons to appropriate Bookmarks by type in the name of the corresponding bookmark in the "Link to Movie/TV Show Bookmark" buttons.

Media Center Extender Instructions:

1.  Make sure you have Media Center Extender for Xbox installed in your xbox hard driveor in the DVD drive.

2.  Enable option "Enable MCE Button" in Skin Mods Settings.

3.  Select button "Specify Media Center folder..." and navigate to your Xbox Media Center Extender folder (probably named Media Center Extender for Xbox).  Select "done" and exit window.

4.  Navigate to Media Blade and select Media Center to launch program.


FUTURE POSSIBILITIES?


Let me know what you guys think about these features being added in the future.  Any other features you would like?  Assuming anybody even wants this mod in the first place haha


- Add bookmarks to category scripts dialogs


- Add ability to use library mode with bookmarks


- Add option to link TV Shows and Movies to scripts and to have custom names


- Clean up Skin Mods Settings window


- Make custom square image icon thing for marketplace.  I have almost no experience with Illustrator.  If someone wants to whip up a custom icon for the Video Marketplace and it looks good, I'd be happy to include it in place of the eX button, since that's somewhat redundant, already found in the XBMC Live Place.


- Evolve into more of a "Media Marketplace" and add options for music or picture bookmarks


- Add names of current script in catalog config dialog


- Ability to automatically look in multiple places for XBMC-TV folder (probably root of E and F drives) and default to looking for bookmark if its not located in either of those places.  Not sure if this is possible however, but if anybody knows how, let me know!

- Fix Launch Browser script to replace current "News Videos" button with "Music Videos" to replicate the actual 360 setup.  Not sure how likely this is to happen, since I know hardly anything about python...

- Skin all default scripts to match mc360 better?


KNOWN BUGS:

- Video preview doesn't fade with window changes.  Not sure if this is fixable, since it does it in the video playlist window too...

- Some textures randomly disappear when watching certain video files.  Help?  Not sure how to fix this.




This post has been edited by Jezz_X: Mar 22 2007, 09:50 PM

[timdog82001]

Damn, I missed the time to edit.  I forgot to change one thing before I uploaded so there's a missing texture.  Download this instead.  If someone would be nice enough to change the other download to match this one, I'd be very appreciative. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

haha

Also, I'd appreciate it if you guys posted any bugs you find.  There's bound to be some considering how many windows I added.  Also, any criticism, suggestions, requests, or comments of any kind would be great,  just post them here.

Tim

Edit:  Wow, i just noticed a bug that came out of nowhere, never seen it before and i've definitely had it with these settings before.  I'll be uploading yet ANOTHER one in a few minutes hopefully.  This always happens, I never find these till 2 minutes after I upload haha

This post has been edited by Jezz_X: Mar 22 2007, 09:51 PM

[timdog82001]

Ok, I really wish I could go back and delete my previous post and change the link in the one before, but anyway, here's the version you should download.  I don't expect to find any more screwups for a bit now.  This, obviously is the version you should download.  *sigh of despair*  Now, if somebody could change the link in the first post to THIS rather than the post before, that would be nice...


Download INSTEAD INSTEAD!

This post has been edited by timdog82001: Mar 21 2007, 04:58 AM

[KungFuGin]

Great! You should use a different file Hosting Site though.

Either Fileden is crap or i'm just getting low download speeds.

[timdog82001]

hmm, well I think it said it has a maximum download speed of about 100kbps for non subscribers, is it going slower than that?  I originally tried using rapidshare but it wasn't working for some reason.

That having been said, I'll probably be adding this to the XBMC-TV SVN soon, since Akaigotchi offered to do so, and that way you could stay up to date easily with the skin mod and anything I add, and also with new channels added to XBMC-TV

By the way guys, all those links are the same haha.  I didn't realize at the time that File Den just replaces the file you already uploaded with the new one if you upload a file with the same name

[ScrewinGates]

very cool mod man.using it since last night.good job

[Jezz_X]

QUOTE(timdog82001 @ Mar 21 2007, 02:28 PM)

Ok, I really wish I could go back and delete my previous post and change the link in the one before,................

I just did it for you and removed the old links

[FourTwentySmiles]

timdog.....I consider myself new to this, first mod was 7 months ago. I made a mod in my script that turned my music button into a tv show button. Crude mod...but works. And looks nice. Anyway.....do you think I would enjoy this mod more as apposed to what I have now? Could post a pic if you'd like. I use my 300 Gb Hdd as a media source on vacations, and like having movies and tv shows. But never music.

[MGSolidus2]

Maybe it's just me but I don't know how to get to the "skin mod" settings. I press start, Personal Settings, and it's not in there. Any help?

[timdog82001]

QUOTE(MGSolidus2 @ Mar 23 2007, 07:45 AM)

Maybe it's just me but I don't know how to get to the "skin mod" settings. I press start, Personal Settings, and it's not in there. Any help?

You must be missing a file.  Try to FTP everything over again, or even download everything again and FTP it all over.  Let me know if this still doesn't work..

QUOTE(FourTwentySmiles @ Mar 23 2007, 01:47 AM)

timdog.....I consider myself new to this, first mod was 7 months ago. I made a mod in my script that turned my music button into a tv show button. Crude mod...but works. And looks nice. Anyway.....do you think I would enjoy this mod more as apposed to what I have now? Could post a pic if you'd like. I use my 300 Gb Hdd as a media source on vacations, and like having movies and tv shows. But never music.

Well, I would think of it as a more enjoyable mod, since if you ever by any random chance want to use music, you can, plus it has lots of other options available, and you can disable and enable the button at a whim. but if you don't want a separate movies section in addition to the TV sections, that isn't possible at the moment, they go hand in hand.  a TV and Movies button, or just a videos button.  If you're wondering which one you'll like more, why not just back up your modded home.xml and then install my mod and see what you think?  Then, if you don't like it, it would only take a minute to download the newest mc360 and reinstall your mod, and you're back where you started.

I just noticed you said you made a mod in you "script." that turned the music button into a tv show button...Did you actually mean script there?

Also, MGSolidus2, I assume you tried restarting XBMC after you installed it?

Anyway...if you guys have any more questions, feel free to ask

[FourTwentySmiles]

Basically what I done was added an AdvanceSettings.xml to the XBMC/Userdata folder that recognizes .avi as a music file. Changed what folder it looked for music in to F/television (instead of F/Music). Then changed button title and description in home.xml so the button says T.V. Shows and so on. Now when I want to watch, say Family Guy, I can highlight the folder and press Y button and it puts all the episodes in the playlist (like it would for music) and plays them back to back. It really is a great mod and it lets me have one button that goes directly to movies and another to go directly to T.V. series.

[FourTwentySmiles]

I D/L'd your mod. GREAT WORK!!! Puts my lil rinky dink mod to shame. Played around with it and its going to work out just the way I need it to. Thanks alot timdog....you really fulfilled what I needed in "MY" MC360 experience.

[timdog82001]

awesome, I'm glad you like it.  If you have any requests for features, let me know, and I might add them in.  Though, it might be a little while before i'm doing any work on it.  I'm coming down with the flu after studying too hard the past couple days for finals.  At least I got A's on all five tests...damn it, though.  I don't want to be in bed now that I'm free.