Are you interested in Diamond Theme Updates?

Perhaps a premium version 4 while leaving V3 in trunk?

I'd say, keep Diamond v3 as is and free for as long as it can be. Revamp v4 and make it a premium plugin.

That way people that cannot or will not invest in a premium theme can stick with Diamond as it is. Supporters can benefit from v4 that contains bug fixes where v3 might be lacking with new features and/or looks.

I can’t believe people complain about paying a small price for such an awesome piece of developing! We spend hundreds on htpc’s and thousands on home cinema kit yet when we get asked for $5 for the software that really makes our kit come to life we moan! I'd b more than happy to pay for this, just to support all the hard work that is put into it!

I wouldnt have a problem paying for diamond theme. It is my main theme apart from on my dev machine. I currently alter diamond to suit my needs so i assume that diamond would not be included in trunk any longer to alter? If not this isnt a huge problem for me. My main ‘tweaks’ are as follows if you are interested. Maybe you would be interested in adding some of these config options in further releases? Again, no problem if not.

• Config option to have 10 star rating system as oppsoed to 5
• Config option to choose your colour of stars (I currently have them set as gold)
• Config option for Next / Previous / Delete items
• Config option to choose the size of the MPAA icon. I currently have this set to 55 since the standard was a little too small in my humble opinion. I have also added the UK MPAA icon set.
• Config option to add tagline(s) Option for scrollable if multiple taglines or choose top most tagline to be static or choose random static tagline.
• Config option to add a last played panel Item.LastPlayedString
• Config option to add a Production Year panel Item.ProductionYearString
• Config option to have a continuing/ended panel for TV Shows

Soultaker, you have been working on MediaBrowser for how many years? I think it’s almost 3 years in May (correct me if I'm wrong). Diamond the theme itself is currently in it’s 3 version, so if you work on this again I take it you'll be working on v4.

So if you want to work on Diamond v4 and make it a premium theme I'm not sure how people could be upset with you. Wanting to receive compensation for the time and testing involved in creating/revamping a theme only seems fair in my eyes.

Isn’t Diamond now included with the trunk source? I find it pales in comparison to your modern works. If your going the paid route, id rather your skills were aimed at a whole new theme or plugin. Time permitting…

Iv been a chocolate user since i started with media browser, but recently decided to give diamond a try after setting up a friends htpc and being impressed with the look. My only problem so far is the ehs screen, im not a big fan , but i think the actual views are as good if not better than every othetr theme iv tried

I’ve just updated Diamond for Apollo and someone’s been kind enough to add the “next” and “previous” buttons that Diamond has been lacking.

Here’s a BIG THANKS to whoever made those changes. :D

I’ve tried other themes but I always end up coming back to Diamond, I find it’s design just so easy on the eyes, the size of the icons and the colours are just perfect.

I love the ehs of diamond just the way it is. It’s one of the main reasons I use it.

It’s the only theme I have ever used and don’t want to change. I love the look and am happy to pay.

I don’t see anything wrong in charging for your theme if you choose to go that route. For people who are not interested, there are still plenty free themes around and honestly I don’t get the complain of a few (that have seen on some thread).

I love Diamond but I don’t think it should take time away from other endeavors. If you have some great ideas already kicking around and want to tweak the theme, go for it. It’s good enough to make it a premium theme.

I would say create a new theme.

well i would love to see some minor bug fixes.
It’s still my main theme.

still my main theme and would be happy to pay for some enhancements.

I would like to see development as I still use Diamond as my main theme

ST – I've never used anything but diamond. Love it. How much would you be charging for the updates?

A couple months ago I had a very brief window where I was looking for plugins to work on and thought it may be a good idea to revisit Diamond in some form. Since that time, however, I’ve been very busy with the design/coding and release of the Jade theme. In addition to Jade I’ve been working on my first non-theme plugin (FindArt), trying to get our system installer program up and running, incorporate some game time stuff in my other themes, and for lack of better term ‘other stuff’ as well.

This perfect storm of work has severely impacted my ability to dedicate any time to working on Diamond. Looking at this realistically I can only see myself working on Diamond after:

1. Game Time support added to Jade, Lotus, Sapphire.
2. Alpha release of FindArt
3. Designs for my ‘other stuff’ have been finalized.

Sorry – it was never my intention to tease you. :–(

I agree! I'd have no problem with a re-vamped Diamond going to a pay model. You spend a lot of time and resources on these themes, I'm sure.

Mike

its defo my fave theme and use it on my main room setup! id pay for an update…..bring it on!

Been thinking about this a bit. If you are going to possibly be working on it, I have a couple of recommendations.

1. AlwaysShowDetailsPage – could you make it so the TV section mimics the movies section in regards to this command. I mean when this token is set to false I only see the details page for movies if I have a mymovies.xml file for them. However the TV section behaves differently when set to false. I never see a details screen for episodes even though I have metadata for the episodes. When set to true I obviously see detail screens all the time, but for my kids content and home videos I would prefer not to see a details screen since there isn’t any metadata to begin with and I've got permissions locked down so you can’t delete it anyways.
2. Poster view – There seems to be some space between the bottom poster image and the item counter that is wasted. Can you make it so that the posters when in horizontal scroll cover more of the screen towards the bottom.
3. Details View – Could you have a toggle for the details view between TVs and Movies? In Movies I prefer the minimized details window that shows more of the backdrop. However in TV episodes I prefer the larger details view with less view of the backdrop so that I can read what the episode is about.

I thought quite a bit about what you could improve on a theme that is just about perfect and that’s all I could come up with(tailored to my niche preferences of course). Really hoping you've decided to work on it now, and can’t imagine why anybody would expect this as a free plugin.

For the time and effort that goes into developing themes and add-ons, a measly $5 each from a fairly small user base adds up to one helluva miserable hourly rate which most people wouldn’t work for. Just be grateful that these guys are improving the media experience more for the love of it than for the money.

I haven’t used it in a while myself so I'm not sure. I'd say yes if there are some known bugs as to sort those out, but no if everything works correctly and it would just be to add some features.

Diamond is the only theme I use and would be happy to pay. One of the things that keeps it’s going for me is that scrolling in the views is less demanding than most of the other themes I've used. It still looks great on my old integrated nvidia 8200. As long as that scenario stays the same I will keep upgrading and happily pay for it. Don’t use EHS either so can’t comment on that.

Diamond is still my favorite, use it all the time. I'd pay for a better version, I just dont know how you could make it better!

Diamond is the first theme I tried and always come back to. I believe that if you use a product and like it then you should have no problem donating to the upkeep of that product.

I would pay for an upgrade and just incase you are interested in ideas could you add something into the config that lets me move the position of the menu (coverflow) up or down on the screen

I love diamond! the only things i think it is “missing” are next/previous and a delete option if that is enabled in MB. I dont mind paying for plugins but I wouldnt want to pay to much extra if all I got was those 2 features. I would gladly pay a buck or two but no more.

diamond is still the best theme on mb, i cant stand the themes that cover the entire or majority of the backdrop image. makes no sense to me. its clean and crisp. perfect…..

don’t over analyze it, it does not need it. i love seeing most of the backdrop.

thanks for the work….

ST, I had started another thread a couple of months ago about DIAMOND THEME: Coverflow non-focus covers transparent

Is this something you think you'll be able or interested in working in for the Diamond update?

Hi Soultaker.

I have always used the DIAMOND theme, as have my friends & family since I introduced MB to them. So between us we have 7 HTPCs running MB with the DIAMOND theme :–)

We are all happy with it, and will continue to use it.

What enhancements are you talking about thought, any suggestions ??

If new-DIAMOND (v4) is better than what I have, I don’t have any problem paying for it.

TIA.