Bundle CinemaVision Add-On With Vero 4K+

Just updated to the latest KODI 18 test build of OSMC for the Vero 4K and everything is working great so far, except for the CinemaVision add-on. Evidently the log error states that, “ERROR: Control 201 in window 13001 has been asked to focus, but it can’t” which leaves me with with a blank, black screen and no audio just as it attempts to play movie trailers. I can exit out and use OSMC again at least, so it’s not a hard lockup.

Here’s my dilemma. CinemaVision is the only add-on I truly care about. It has become such an integral role in my home theater over the past few years and I’ve even purchased numerous personalised home theater intros through Fiverr and Ivipid to use with it. Guests were always impressed with how it all came together playing trivia and / or trailers & video bumpers before the feature film and how it was able to control my Hue lighting. It made everything feel like a true cinema experience.

Unfortunately, it seems like development of CinemaVision has halted over the past few months, with version 1.1.1a8 being the last version available for download on Github. It was working fine apparently with KODI 18.0, but had been broken since 18.1 was released. I was hoping that it would work again with 18.2 but, alas, it doesn’t look like it will, at least not in its current form.

https://github.com/CinemaVision/script.cinemavision/tree/develop-kodi18

My sincere request to @sam_nazarko and any other OSMC developers is this. Would it be possible to make a working version of this outstanding add-on and bundle it with OSMC? I know it’s a tall order, but given the fact that it’s open source, relatively small (about 1 MB if I recall) and a highly sought after add-on, to include a working version with OSMC would position OSMC to be THE go-to Kodi-based solution for home theater enthusiasts such as myself, even moreso than it already is. For consumers like us, OSMC would set itself apart from the competition even further, and that would be a very good thing. I know for a fact that I would buy another Vero 4K(+), and I’m sure you’d find a few new customers as well.

That’s a funny comment.
Yes a picture taken with a modern mobile phone is >10MB but that doesn’t make 1MB of source code a small project.
That equals to 40.000 Lines of code that someone would need to work on.

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The code is already there. A few bugs just need to be ironed out to work with KODI 18.1+ and to bundle it with OSMC would be a small size increase with big benefits for home theater enthusiasts.

bundling is bad is support is dropped from the dev. Plus every might not enjoy it as much as you do.

That’s true for every add-on. This one, however, has the ability to transform the average home theater into something that impresses all who see it in action.

Unfortunately, looks like their development team has no interest in getting it working on V18. As you pointed out, it’s opensource, so you could always jump in a help getting it working again. :grin:

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Exactly. That’s why I created this post.

For anyone interested, here’s version 1.1.1a8. It works with KODI 18.0, but not 18.1+.

https://cinemavision.tv/files/file/78-cinemavision-add-on-development-release/?do=download&csrfKey=a24712210043d7b066e27f89d33575ac

By you, @bmillham meant you, not osmc devs.

Honestly to me cinemavision looks like a feature rich skin which isn’t needed by the majority of the people who use osmc while the 4.9 kernel is for example.

Unfortunately it’s unlikely that we’d be able to find the time to develop this add-on. For sure we would not be able to develop it better than the official maintainers.

If it works with Kodi v18, then I suspect it’s just a matter of time before they get it to work with Kodi v18.1

Sam

What’s the easiest way to go back to the previous version of OSMC?

I’d like to second this request. For me cinemavision is also everything that makes a home cinema so special and guests were also very impressed with the Star Wars type intro I made.

Reinstall from Download - OSMC will be the simplest way.

If the addon is popular, I suspect the developers of it will be keen to keep it updated.

To my knowledge there was only one developer maintaining it. We haven’t heard from his sole liaison (Ragnarok) since last year.

So is it possible to run v18 on Vero 4K to have CV working? If so, how?

No, the upcoming update will be based on Kodi 18.2, not 18.0. The only way to get CinemaVision to work with the Vero 4K at this time is to unfortunately stick with the Kodi 17.6 version of OSMC.

What I’d love to see is @sam_nazarko and the OSMC team fork their own version to include with OSMC. It would make OSMC even more appealing to those of us with home theaters or who just want to create a cinema experience at home with movie trivia while popping the popcorn or getting settled in, and / or movie trailers and bumpers before the feature film begins. They could then market their next Vero product as the Vero 4K Pro Home Cinema Edition. There would be no other competitor on the market like it and I’d be the first in line to buy on day one. :slight_smile:

Despite having a home theater, I have zero desire to see time spent on the CinemaVision add-on by the OSMC development team. To be brutally honest, the vast majority of people that rip their BluRay discs to allow playback on a device like the Vero don’t want to see trailers, trivia, or anything else before the movie starts. If they wanted those things, they could just play back the original BluRay.

Since CinemaVision is completely open-source, if the add-on is truly popular, then someone will pick up the development to make it work with whatever version of Kodi is current at the time.

Kodi is installed on hundreds of millions of systems, so there are literally hundreds of “popular” add-ons that might not work when Kodi is updated. It only takes 0.1% of Kodi users using an add-on to have 100,000 disappointed people if an update breaks it. This makes it worth somebody’s time to maintain it, but not a team that has spent months just making sure that the base Kodi will work correctly on the hardware that OSMC supports.

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… the vast majority of people that rip their BluRay discs to allow playback on a device like the Vero don’t want to see trailers, trivia, or anything else before the movie starts. If they wanted those things, they could just play back the original BluRay.

Hi nabsltd, thank you for chiming in, but your statement quoted above reveals that you have absolutely no idea what CinemaVision is or what it does, nor do you appreciate the value it adds for those who enjoy it. I can use CinemaVision for pre-show movie trivia questions and answers, for short films, video bumpers, pre-selected movie trailers, and customised home theater intros. When the trivia is completed it automatically dims the Philips Hue lights in my home theater as movie trailers, bumpers and my HT intro plays, when the feature film begins it turns the lights off. If I have to pause the movie for any reason, it turns lighting on and then off again when I resume.

Sometimes people don’t want to sit down and simply watch a movie. They want to feel and share a real cinema experience at home, and that’s what CinemaVision does. Show me a Bluray player capable of doing even half of these things and I’ll sell my Vero 4K for one.

if the add-on is truly popular, then someone will pick up the development to make it work with whatever version of Kodi is current at the time.

And that first takes someone with the impetus to reach out to another developer or group and requesting them to help out, if possible. I’ve taken that step to reach out to the best development team I know, namely the OSMC team, because I believe it would be a value add to OSMC and the Vero line of products.

If @sam_nazarko and the team doesn’t want anything to do with it, I can understand. But I have to start somewhere.

If we supported this, there’d be nothing that makes it unique to OSMC. As is the nature of open source, so we wouldn’t be releasing any exclusive hardware.

But to be honest I would not know where to begin in maintaining this add-on. I don’t really know what it does, nor what is broken, which would make it hard to proceed. The fact that it is open source and support hasn’t been picked up yet may demonstrate that it is not widely used.

Instead of promising us funds for a new device for something we haven’t developed, maybe contact the developer and offer him a donation to support development.

I’m pretty sure the add-on will resurface again

Sam

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