Now Playing Visualizer / screen saver (free w/source code)

[JerryGilmore]

I wrote this for myself, with some help from others in the forum and I wanted to share this with you.

This now playing script was designed with home theatre TVs in mind. The window goes full screen, uses a black background, shows the currently playing album art with song details in a large font. It then slowly moves around in a random pattern to prevent burn in. I understand this may not be a problem with modern TVs, but I don't want to take any chances.

If you have DirectX, the album art has a reflection, giving the display a fresh modern look.



The display automatically updates when a song starts and disappears when the stop button is pressed. You can control the player with a remote (as normal) and use the standard keys.

You can download it here http://www.jgilmore.com/MediaMonkey/NowPlaying.zip
The .zip file contains the .vbs script, some documentation, the necessary javascript file for the reflection effect and a "noArt.jpg" file.

I may enhance this in the future, so if you have any suggestions, please let me know. I would appreciate it if you make any changes, to send them my way so I can possibly post it up here as an enhancement.

Thanks,

Jerry

[Vyper]

Cool idea. I know you'll make at least one member very happy.

[Nicholas]

Allright!

Nice work, thanks for sharing!

[Eyal]

Nice! I like it. Thanks JerryGilmore.

I have DirextX 9.0 installed and nVidia GeForce GPU, but only see the cover art without frame, nor reflection effect. Any idea?

Suggestions:
- Would be nice to have an option to enable/disable it.
- A mmip installation package to ease installation.
- Set the animation speed through MM's options.

Tip: Press Alt-F4 to close the visualization without stopping the music.

Nice job.

Eyal :~)

[Peke]

Nice one really.

I'll add +1 vote for Eyal suggestions. If you need help ask. This would be very very useful when my friends come and as I listen to music 24/7.

[Lowlander]

Same here, Eyal made very good suggestions.

[JerryGilmore]

Thanks everyone! I'm glad you like it.

As for enabling/disabling. I agree. I'll add a keystroke to do that. For now, you can add the script as non auto and then enable it when you want it. However, you can't disable it afterwards . Nice enhancement.

If the reflection isn't working for you, it's most likely because the included reflection.js file isn't found by the embedded browser. Check the path in the .vbs source code to see if it's pointing to the script.

I'm not familiar with the MediaMonkey installer. I'll look for how to use it so the installation is easier. I've just started programming for MediaMonkey. My next project is learning how to write a real C++ add-in that will work with Media Monkey and WinAmp. This is not as easy as the .vbs stuff was. WinAmp has very little documentation on the SDK and it's hit/miss for me on event capturing and what not. Personally, MediaMonkey is much easier to program.

[tangotino]

This is script is what I was looking for with the above suggested enhancements would be better. Great job so far. Any new versions that would allow me to turn on/off or change how far off the screen the text goes? Basically, I would like to show the text the entire time...without it going off screen.

[Onweerwolf]

Interesting script. Would it be possible to have the Now Playing script visualize on a second monitor so MM can still be controlled from the first monitor?

[hans123]

In Windows 7 Starter on a Samsung N130 netbook screen (1024 * 600) the script works, but ...

The window where this screensaver runs is much larger than the actual screen, when I hook up an external screen the full 1920 * 1080 is used. On the standard screen I can see the screensaver disappear to the right and return.

The other script that does a Big Now Playing (viewtopic.php?f=2&t=45829) also assumes the large screen (1920 * 1080). It shows small fontsizes on the 1024 * 600 screen and large fonts on the large screen.

Did someone experience the same thing and found a fix for that?

Thanks for your response (especially on this old topic!)

[ttert]

Hi.
Is it possible to add rating and mood to th plugin?

Regards ttert

[dtsig]

I just tried this script and works pretty well ... but is it possible to get it to cancel on any click or keystroke ... or even esc. I could only get it to go away with alt-f4

[Breezer]

Very nice script, Thanks
Breezer