Themes Support and Use What are the facts

New to the community. Was very interested in themes. Im not sure if it is still supported or how to use them. It seems something has gone down between Wd and the main supporters and creators of the themes . Not sure what this means for any of it…  It seems there are 2 styles of themes … one requires use of movie sheets or supports them… and the other doesnt … is that correct … I wish there was a facts section to make this all easier. Any info about Themes how they are installed the diffrent options for useing them and what has gone wrong with all of it to cause people to dump WD?  Thanks all

Tinwarble is one of the Theme gurus that we have on the community, try sending a PM.

Screamin4 wrote:

New to the community. Was very interested in themes. Im not sure if it is still supported or how to use them. It seems something has gone down between Wd and the main supporters and creators of the themes . Not sure what this means for any of it…  It seems there are 2 styles of themes … one requires use of movie sheets or supports them… and the other doesnt … is that correct … I wish there was a facts section to make this all easier. Any info about Themes how they are installed the diffrent options for useing them and what has gone wrong with all of it to cause people to dump WD?  Thanks all

This is just my opinion:

One of our esteemed themers, DeVicious, has pulled her theme (Black Mamba). AFAIK she became disenchanted with WD because of their lack of support to the themeing community. WD makes changes to the firmware which drives these boxes. Mainly to make fixes to bugs and improvements for the end user. Lately they haven’t been doing a really good job as a lot o f people are having issues with the firmware releases. They have removed options that were beneficial to both the themers and the users. This has caused some themers to have to re-write their themes or find ways to work around the changes that were made. Understand that these people (themers) spend a LOT of time working on their themes and a change in the firmware, even a slight one, can totally ruin a theme. They also do all this for FREE, as a hobby. Some of the work you’ll see as you surf through this forum is really very beautiful and greatly enhances the the WD product and makes the end user’s experience much more enjoyable.

Themes are one of the features that helps sell the Hub and SMP. I would estimate that at least 60% of these units were sold because they have this feature. It’s a very big plus as not a lot of other brands offer this…I’m actually not sure if any other brands offer this feature.

So I would think that the fine folks at WD would make anyone who writes themes with any degree of proficiency a beta tester for the the firmware. Then put an ear to what they say is wrong or needs to be fixed or left as is so that the themes work and look as well as they possibly can. I don’t know that they don’t already do this but it seems to me that IF they have ANY people beta testing that are actively writing themes, they don’t listen to their concerns.

Don’t take this wrong…I’m not flaming WD here. I think they make the best media player on the market right now but I think they can do better than what we’ve all seen recently. It’s a shame when you loose talented people like DeVicious and I worry that others may become disenchanted and leave as well, leaving US with a just another blah box.

1 Like

Edit of a mail sent about a theme – thought here would also be appropriate

Hi

Thought it might be appropriate to send a few words of encouragement

I think many people appreciate this forum for themes and may not post in the forum.

I for one look forward to the work of themer’s, but know it is done in your spare time and for free, so just and wait for the theme to be available

There has been a lot of negative post recently ( understandable ) and the impression that themer’s may not be so active or even withdrawing from the community.

This would be a great shame for many people who really enjoy the Themes, make the product into something a lot more enjoyable.

So I for one would really enjoy and look forward to the talented to continue developing and making available to us less talented,

Thanks for all your efforts

WD DOES NOT SUPPORT THEMER’S!


flhthemi wrote:

Themes are one of the features that helps sell the Hub and SMP. I would estimate that at least 60% of these units were sold because they have this feature. It’s a very big plus as not a lot of other brands offer this…I’m actually not sure if any other brands offer this feature.> * * *>  > Really? Out of the thousands and thousands of these devices sold, only a minute percentage of people participate in these discussion forums at all. How are people coming up with these type of abstract assumptions. Id be willing to bet in the exact opposite direction, that people are buying the device because it will play their media on their stereos and TV’s. I am not saying that adding a theme is hard, but for the everyday user, are they really buying the device with the intent of downloading a theme, then making hundreds of movie sheets in Thumbgen? I highly doubt it. I think they are buying it, plugging it in to their TV, copying a bunch of music and movies to the internal drive and then using it as is, without even knowing how to use half the features. We, the small bunch here are the ones willing to modify and dedicate time to overhauling our HUBs. I’d say we are a very small percentage of the users out there who are motivated to even go through the process of installing additional themes from third parties.> Perhaps I am wrong about this, but I know a lot of people who buy devices and use them as is out of the box, never pick up a manual, and certainly never research how to optimize their units. I find that most people barely know how to use their IOS or Android phones, and they carry those with them all day every day.

 

-P

 

 

 >  

The main point is these wdtv hubs are advertised as a modifiable unit to create new themes and I bet that’s what attracted everyone on this forum to buy one. I know it did for me.

Really ?

http://wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=570

Don’t think I saw one thing on any of these pages about themes…

That’s because it has been removed.

When the HUB first came out it was advertised as having a modable UI.

Just like you use to be able to access themes from here:  http://www.wdtvlive.com/theme  which now just redirects to the community.

Yeah that was my point really…

I think the Theming days are done though, unless people keep on working with what can still be done.

OK I am brand new and have the issue the OP has.  It’s hard to know where to start with all this, and every forum seems to go straight to this big controversy over where themes are going and if WD treats contributors poorly. 

I would really like to know opinions on if it is worth it to set up a theme for my Hub at this point (just purchased it).  If I do not do this, does that mean these cool gallary views with the jpg images of the movie wont be available? 

Is there any particular post or set of posts anyone could direct me to that would give me groundwork for starting out with the Hub?  I am new to metadata, themes, and everything else really, and would love help knowing how to get all this for my movies and tv series. 

Its quite simple, instead of starting at the last thread of a theme in the Themes section, start at the first one, if there are download links it still works, if there are not try another.

Remember to look at the info and see what Firmware it works with and what it does not.

Also remember and trawl through the thread before you ask any questions.  :slight_smile: