Automatic brightness control

[JJZolx]

I have filed an “enhancement bug” for this behavior. So anyone who would see this enhancement in future release please vote on bug 17908: http://bugs.slimdevices.com/show_bug.cgi?id=17908

I wonder if we'll ever see any real enhancements to the Touch's interface. It's always seemed unfinished to me, and now appears to be nearly abandoned.

[Pascal Hibon]

I wonder if we'll ever see any real enhancements to the Touch's interface. It's always seemed unfinished to me, and now appears to be nearly abandoned.

That would be pitty. I don’t think this kind of modifictaion is very difficult to implement. And it makes a lot sense for Logitech to improve the user interface as it is something people take into acount when buying a product.

[505]

The beta version of the patch is ready for testing. You can test it by adding an additional repository to the plugin list (web interface > settings > plugins > way down below). The URL is:

http://server.vijge.net/static/squeezebox/repo-beta.xml

Go into the patch menu, uninstall the previous patch if that was applied, reboot, then apply the beta patch.

How it works:
The brightness menu has three menus: control, automatic, and manual. In control you can choose between automatic and manual mode. In manual, the settings for the previous version of this patch are stored. There you can set the brightness level and minimum brightness level, and when to use those (playing, stopped, off). Under automatic are five new settings. A minimum and maximum value when the screen saver is off, and a minimum and maximum value when the screen saver is on. Because many might be using the now playing screen saver, it is not always clear if the screen saver if active or not. Therefore, there is a fifth option, to always use the active min/max brightness when playing (as if the screen saver is actually off).

If you have any comments/bugs/ideas, please post them here.

[Pascal Hibon]

The beta version of the patch is ready for testing. You can test it by adding an additional repository to the plugin list (web interface > settings > plugins > way down below). The URL is:

http://server.vijge.net/static/squeezebox/repo-beta.xml

Go into the patch menu, uninstall the previous patch if that was applied, reboot, then apply the beta patch.

How it works:
The brightness menu has three menus: control, automatic, and manual. In control you can choose between automatic and manual mode. In manual, the settings for the previous version of this patch are stored. There you can set the brightness level and minimum brightness level, and when to use those (playing, stopped, off). Under automatic are five new settings. A minimum and maximum value when the screen saver is off, and a minimum and maximum value when the screen saver is on. Because many might be using the now playing screen saver, it is not always clear if the screen saver if active or not. Therefore, there is a fifth option, to always use the active min/max brightness when playing (as if the screen saver is actually off).

If you have any comments/bugs/ideas, please post them here.

Wow, that is fast!

I installed the beta version of the patch and this is what I observed (after configuring it):

1.I use the “Now Playing” screensaver with the analog VU meters when playing. The screensaver delay is set at 20 seconds. The brightness control works the same as the default automatic brightness control; the patch has absolutely no effect on it.

2. I also use a screensaver when the SBT is off (SDT weather with custom clock plugin). Trouble with that is that the patch now adjusts the minimum brightness as set in “minimum brightness (screensaver) control”. This is a behavior I don’t want. In the “OFF” state the brightness should be working as in the default automatic brightness control.

The patch as it is now doesn’t work for me because I always use a screensaver. I think most people always use a screensaver (in different states of the SBT). It means that the patch adjust the minimum threshold also when the SBT is off and thus makes the display too bright. It is strange though that the patch doesn’t work on the now playing screensaver.

Instead of acting on screensavers there should be a “minimum brightness when playing” setting and only use this minimum threshold when the SBT is playing. If the SBT is in a not playing state then use the default automatic brightness control.

[505]

1. True. Hadn't noticed that before, even with the old patch. The NowPlaying screen is not really a screen saver. I use a standard function to detect if a screen saver is running, and with the now playing screen is always returns false.
Still, in that case, the patch will always take the active brightness settings. These should still apply.

2. When a screen saver is on (e.g. the SBT is off), the patch can work as the default. Set the minimum and the maximum brightness setting, and it will stay between those values.

What you write below that, I think the current patch can do that (unless I'm still misreading your post):
For example:
- set active max to 100% and active min to 50%. Now, when playing, the brightness will never go below 50%.
- set screensaver max to 100% and screensaver min to 0%. Now, when not playing, it can take any brightness available.

[Pascal Hibon]

What you write below that, I think the current patch can do that (unless I'm still misreading your post):
For example:
- set active max to 100% and active min to 50%. Now, when playing, the brightness will never go below 50%.
- set screensaver max to 100% and screensaver min to 0%. Now, when not playing, it can take any brightness available.

That makes sense. I have now configured the patch like you mention above and that seems to do the trick. Will test it further to see how it goes.
Thank you for your efforts so far!

[Pascal Hibon]

I have been playing around with the plugin and I'm happy to report that the plugin does exactly what I was looking for. Thanks again for your help and efforts!

[505]

I have been playing around with the plugin and I'm happy to report that the plugin does exactly what I was looking for. Thanks again for your help and efforts!

Good to hear. The only 'problem' left is the now playing screen saver, which is not detected as a screen saver. There's a thread about this problem, and the bug report already has a patch to fix this.

It might not be a problem for you, but others might prefer it differently. I'm waiting on the developers to respond, if this is a true bug, and will be fixed in an official release. Otherwise, I might publish it as a separate patch, or as part of this patch.

[Pascal Hibon]

Good to hear. The only 'problem' left is the now playing screen saver, which is not detected as a screen saver. There's a thread about this problem, and the bug report already has a patch to fix this.

It might not be a problem for you, but others might prefer it differently. I'm waiting on the developers to respond, if this is a true bug, and will be fixed in an official release. Otherwise, I might publish it as a separate patch, or as part of this patch.

If the now playing screen would work as a regular screensaver then your plugin would not work anymore. Most states of the SBT are screensavers (playing, stopped and off). So there would be no difference between the SBT in the off state and playing state. Or am I missing something?

[505]

If the now playing screen would work as a regular screensaver then your plugin would not work anymore. Most states of the SBT are screensavers (playing, stopped and off). So there would be no difference between the SBT in the off state and playing state. Or am I missing something?

The automatic mode has an option to always thread the playing mode as active. If you enable that, and your playing, the active brightness settings are used, even if a screen saver is active. This could be useful if you are using a custom screen saver to display the information about the currently playing song.