aMPed 3.1 - superaMPed!Fanart or Not?Tech SpecsInstallationWhat's New?Unique FeaturesUpcoming ReleaseCredits
aMPed 3.1 - superaMPed!Released Jan 21, 2010.
Designed for MP 1.0.2, and tested on MP 1.1 (beta/SVN), aMPed supports up to 18pt font size for readability
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on even small TV screens.
With aMPed 3.1 you practically design the skin yourself! It's all done with ease using aMPedConfig, right from your desktop. Just choose your options and press ‘Save and Run’.
Select from two styles, three font sizes, four themes and four backdrop styles. Display fanart in most Music and Video windows. Choose your layout for Basic Home, TV Guide or Video Shares (covers or thumbnails). You can even select your own list widths and short date formats.
Change your selections as often as you like, or create designs for different rooms, moods or users. Create Basic Home layouts for each member of your family, with different fanart backdrops and options. aMPedconfig will automatically let you select them.
Fanart or Not?If you like a simple clean look, like the 2nd thumbnail to the left (of our beloved Canadian girl, Nelly Furtado), the default style displays large images such as movie or TV posters, DVD or album covers, artist images, and video or photo thumbnails. Or, you can turn on static or cycling backdrops if you wish. You can even create your own collection of backdrops to use.
If you like eye candy, just enable fanart and aMPed automatically adjusts the style and layout to look like the 3rd image on the left. The layout displays as much fanart as possible, in proper widescreen resolution, not dimmed or fully covered by text (in List views). In Icons and Filmstrip layouts your fanart is dimmed behind the images, but fully visible when you access the menu/details view using the left arrow key.
aMPed fully supports the new Fanart Handler Plugin by MP user cul8er, to display fanart in most Music and Video windows. Now you can download fanart for your music artists, and store all fanart in a central location. You can even select the resolution of images you wish to display.
Tech SpecsOfficially, aMPed 3.1 supports MP 1.0.2. But it has been tested and runs on MP 1.1.0. When MP 1.1.0 RC is released, the new features will be added.
All built-in MP plugins, Popular/Maintained Plugins, and many more are supported. See SupportedPlugins
InstallationJust use aMPedInstaller - the exe file you downloaded. For details, see QuickStart.
Please note that new versions of plugins sometimes require changes to skin files. So the safest way to avoid problems is to always use the version of the plugin supported by aMPed. Please see SupportedPlugins. Any plugin updates that require skin changes are in red text. This means you must use the version supported by aMPed for correct display.
What's New?aMPed 3.1 is 'superaMPed' with:
aMPedInstaller (NSIS) - aMPed can automatically backup your previous skin, preserve settings on reinstall, restore your date formats on uninstall and much more - thanks to MP user Chefkoch aMPedConfig - in addition to changing fonts, themes or layout options, you can now use aMPedConfig to choose Backdrops and Fanart options and to edit either Classic or revaMPed Basic Home layouts - all thanks to MP user Migue Basic Home Editor - incorporated into aMPedConfig, the Editor lets you quickly and easily move, edit, add or remove items on either Classic or revaMPed Basic Home layouts, as well as in Basic Menus such as Watch, Music, Games, News, System and Extra. Thanks to the new Fanart Handler plugin by MP user cul8er, which is included with aMPed, you can even choose random fanart backdrops from TV Series, Moving Pictures or any of the new Skin Fanart thumbs folders like Pictures, Music, Movies, TV, Games, Plugins and more. Skin - new layout with date on top left, current window/module top center Two styles - simple clean style with large images (default), or fanart style - aMPed auto adjusts the layout for you Wine Glass Theme Classic Basic Home layout with new images and backdrops News and System Menus, like the existing Watch, Music, Games and Extra Menus Backdrop styles - choose single image, cycling multiimage, or none or set fanart Fanart - aMPed 3.1 includes the new Fanart Handler Plugin by MP user cul8er. Use it to display cycling multiple fanart images in almost all Music and Video windows. Choose the fanart images and quality you wish to display, including random images on Basic Home. The Plugin even includes a 'scraper' for downloading Music Fanart from HTBackdrops.com. Support for Anime, Streamedradio, ScoreCenter and Web Browser plugins has been added All plugins have been updated to latest release including MovingPictures 1.0 beta. aMPedConfig autodetects your version of MovingPictures(0.75 or 1.0.1) and installs the correct skin files for you!
(See Changelog for full details)
Unique FeaturesTwo Styles - Large Images (default) or Fanart Layout - aMPed automatically adjusts the layout based on your fanart options Three font sizes - 12pt, 15pt (default) or 18pt for smaller 4:3 screens - text auto adjusts Four Themes - aMPed (default), Monochrome, Super Blue and Wine Glass, easily switchable in aMPedConfig Four Backdrop styles - Single image, Multi-image, Fanart or None (default) Details view - in List layouts, long scrolling text fields are displayed in an alternate details view by pressing the left arrow key Titles - Movie Names, Artist/Album Names, etc. are displayed in large text at the top of every window Lists display on the left so images are always visible even when accessing menus do not display thumbs too tiny to see on smaller 4:3 screens – they are always displayed much larger on the screen redundant data is not displayed in lists. Instead the data is displayed in much larger fonts usually beneath the title, so lists are clean, neat and easily readable with only title data. The 'Big Icons List' layout displays larger thumbs and all data if you prefer. Menus - scroll from top to bottom and vice versa Window Titles - every window displays the name of the window, the module and the number of items (wherever supported!) Media Overlays - when media is playing - displays even when accessing sliding menus Icons and Filmstrip layouts - fanart becomes fully visible when the sliding menu/details layout is accessed via the left key Details ticker - additional info scrolls across the bottom of windows rather than filling your screen with text Upcoming ReleaseMP 1.1.0 support with new skin features (shadow text, numbered lists, etc) Plugin support for ForTheRecord (4TR) and more Auto conversion of Blue3 skin files More backdrop options! Any good ideas users suggest
CreditsThe aMPed Team:
Dadeo - Project Coordination and Skin Design Migue - aMPedConfig and BasicHome Editor Chefkoch - NSIS Installer and invaluable technical support Reg, Marvenius, Photopeter and ixdvc - testing Joz (retired) - original skin design, including the basic concept design/layout for aMPed The Truly Great Skinners: Harley - for laying the groundwork for aMPed with the Blue3 skin and for his XFace installer which was the inspiration for aMPedInstaller Psycho Reptile - for the Monochrome skin - a guiding light - and the awesome graphics used in the Monochrome theme The StreamedMP team - for the new action button graphics and showing me how to use styles Catavolt - for showing how it should be done in PureVision 4:3
And finally thanks to Google for their space. [Less]