[screensaver] alternatives to the default screensaver

I've added them to the standard package list (you'll need to do a package list update)
 
Is it possible to adjust the time it takes for the screensaver to activate? I would very much like it to kick in as soon as 10 seconds after I start playing music rather than sit watching my album covers move around the screen like the old tv ping pong game! (anyone remember that)?
Thanks Geoff
 
Geoff said:
Is it possible to adjust the time it takes for the screensaver to activate?
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No, the screensaver package, simply replaces the set of images generated by Humax with a new set, the 3 Minute delay and the way the pictures are moved around the screen are part of Humax's core program and is not determined by the screensaver package
 
Ezra Pound - my Dad has recently acquired an HDR Fox T2 to replace his failed Youview box and likes the glass blue screensaver but finds it a bit bright for him. Would it be possible to make a dimmer version of this?
 
The Glass Blue screensaver is the only one I didn't create, but as Thouky hasn't posted anything for over 4 years, he is probably not contactable, I'll have a look at the files

EDIT

My initial search found a post from 2012, however, another look found posts only a year old, so maybe he is still contactable
 
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These 2 screensaver behaviours were pointed out some time ago:
Black Hole said:
After all this time, the behaviour of the screensaver has gone unnoticed as a bug:
...
  • During playback of an audio-only recording, the music slide is replaced by the screensaver after a couple of minutes.
  • During live play from a radio service, the screensaver kicks in even though the on-screen info is changing.
...
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And behaviour #2 was deplored here, with which I'm entirely in agreement (almost as if Humax programmers had no idea that there could be dynamic MHEG-5 displays with radio, likely because it seems to be a UK/EIR/AUS/NZ/SA/HK thing):
emma h said:
hey folks,
rather than customising it, i'd like to skip back to switching off the screensaver please:

Your deduction is also right, Brian, as this is exactly when I see the screensaver: it arrives when i listen to the radio via my TV (e.g. UK Freeview channels 700 onwards). This is a problem for me cos the BBC radio channels i listen tend to display track & artist info, which i find really useful. If the DJ forgets to mention who's playing, i can just read it from the screen, & if it's a groovy tune, i can then hit the web & find out more. for me, track & artist display is the single best improvement of digital radio from analog (there are others, but this is my absolute fave by miles).

But the clock screensaver does not switch off when the track data updates, so the only way to see it is to press any button on the remote every time the track changes, which is tedious.

i don't want to see the screensaver when i listen to the radio. it is unasked for & unwanted, no matter how beautiful we can make it.
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And then there was a suggestion, but I couldn't see any sign of a follow-up:
af123 said:
...
With the new ir package, it would be possible to write something that kept pretending to press a remote control key every minute which would stop the screensaver kicking in. It might not even have to be a real key - I'll have a play.
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Something like this?
Code: 
#!/bin/sh
# Disable screensaver for radio channels
# requires WebIf, IR packages

is_radio() {
        # See http://tinyurl.com/DigitalUK-LCN-Policy, Schedule 2 (PDF)
        [ "$1" -ge 700 -a "$1" -le 750 ] 2>/dev/null
}

get_chan() {
        local stat
        local chan
        stat=`status|grep 'Watching '`
        #expecting nothing, or "Watching chan: programme description"
        chan=${stat#Watching }
        if [ "$chan" = "$stat" ]; then
                # not Watching (aka Listening)
                echo ""
        else
                echo ${chan%%:*}
         fi
}

while true; do
        is_radio `get_chan` && ir BOOKMARKS
        # assume screensaver kicks in after 3 minutes = 180s idle
        sleep 175 
done

The BOOKMARKS (0x6b) remote command was the only one I tried that appeared to do nothing while delaying the screensaver and not interfering with possible Red Button and TSR operations (what's it for, anyway?it only makes sense for playback, when it skips to the next bookmark, if any).

I suppose this could be packaged up with a WebIF settings plugin to enable and disable it.

Further exercise: analyse the status message "Playing <file>" to find the mentioned file in the directory structure (assuming no synonyms with different contents), determine if it's audio only and apply the dummy ir command if so to fix the same issue with behaviour #1 listed by BH. Or is there an easier/more reliable way?
 
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Had a request from She Who Thinks She Should Be Obeyed - is there a Christmas Screensaver?

Now I know there isn't, but I am wondering if it would be practical to decorate any of the existing forms with Santa hats, or splashes of snow.

I happen to use the Blue neon and ordinary Neon on my machines, so those would be my first preference for modification.

An alternative would be a bunch of elves with their arms in the positions of the wedges in the 'wedge' version, to signify the different numbers, as though they were doing semaphore.

That would suggest doing a totally new screen saver image set of jolly Jack Tars with semaphore flags 'sending' the appropriate numbers for those with a nautical bent.

Sorry, I'm not artistic, otherwise I would try and initiate this by doing up a set of images.
 
That first set isn't bad - the 10 can easily be converted to a 0. If there is a consensus that they are festive enough, I'm happy to tweak it to a 0 if somebody else can pick up the rest of the job.
 
Black Hole said:
That first set isn't bad - the 10 can easily be converted to a 0. If there is a consensus that they are festive enough, I'm happy to tweak it to a 0 if somebody else can pick up the rest of the job.
Click to expand...

I agree, the other two would become too small I suspect. The first one would suit Her Ladyship I think. Thanks for looking those out Luke and to BH for offering to do the conversion.
 
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