Digital Movie Poster K-Scape plug-in feature set help

[DMB]

Hello all. New member here and I would love to get feedback from the Kaleidescape community.
Firstly, full disclosure. I own a software company that develops.... well software. I will not name the company.
Second, I am not here to promote anything. I am only seeking for help on a project we are working on and it deals with Kaleidescape products.

Ok, with that said I did email the Admin about making this post but I've not recieved a reply yet so I thought I would make the post without company details and if I have violated any policies then I will immediately remove this post. Your feedback on this is greatly appreciated.

For all the Kaleidescape owners out there that also have digital poster boards running software that displays the now playing poster of the movie shown I have some questions.
Other movie poster software that displays this feature usually only shows the movie poster of the movie being watched. My issue with this is that the image shown is usually going to be a static image for the duration of the movie. Who is this intended for if you will be in your theater watching the movie and no one is outside watching the poster display? I would like to get opinions on how you use such a feature.
As mentioned we are developing a plug-in for Kaleidescape players but I want a much more robust set of features associated with this K-Scape plug-in. This is where thinking outside the box comes in. The first response I would assume get is "all you need is just the poster of the movie playing and nothing else". Well that's been done already. If a Kaleidescape user that also uses a digital poster display had a wish list of what he wants in his poster app what would that feature set be?
Think outside the box. Go crazy. Any idea can easily spur other ideas so don't hold back on your wish list.

With all that said, I know this post seems pretty cryptic but I don't want to violate any policies. I really only want to develop a K-Scape plug-in that is created directly with the help of K-Scape owners.

If the Admin, and the community say it's OK to continue this thread then I can give more details about us and our roadmap and hopefully together we can build a really nice feature for the K-Scape users.

Thanks all for taking the time to read thru this.

 

[MikeKobb]

Speaking personally (and not in any way for Kaleidescape), I think I can shed a little light on your first question (about displaying the current movie’s poster). Note that I do not have any digital poster frames at this point. I have backlighted frames that accept double-sided paper posters.

I don’t have any posters (digital or otherwise) inside my theater, because my theater is designed to minimize anything that would distract from the screen. However, adjacent to the theater is the concession area, and past that, the restroom. So, before the movie, people gather there to load up on popcorn and beverages. During the movie, people may leave the theater to use the restroom, or get some more refreshments. I think for all of those before/during cases, it’s nice to have the poster of the currently playing movie on display. If it’s a particularly prominent movie and I’m having people over, I will sometimes buy the double-sided paper poster and put it into one of my backlighted frames to help make it more of a special event.

I used to put together a schedule of upcoming movies and invite friends to RSVP for them. COVID kind of killed that but if I start doing it again, then I would have a list of upcoming movies that might be nice to display as a “Coming Soon” sort of thing.

 

[SimonSays]

I think overlaying the movie poster with its trailer in a frame, might be nice too. And then add info on actors, awards, ratings, ... All floating in frames with the poster on the background. And then it fades to just the poster for a short while, and then the frames come back... Alternating between "extra" and "Just poster"

 

[SimonSays]

That said, I'm curious about the paper poster with backlit frame that @MikeKobb uses. What does it look like and where do you get the posters from?

 

[DMB]

I think overlaying the movie poster with its trailer in a frame, might be nice too. And then add info on actors, awards, ratings, ... All floating in frames with the poster on the background. And then it fades to just the poster for a short while, and then the frames come back... Alternating between "extra" and "Just poster"

I like this idea. We currently have the movie info as a floating frame either on top of, or below the movie poster. Adding the trailer is a very nice touch.

 

[Mike_S]

I'd like to see some representation of total time and remaining time. Perhaps added into the pattern just mentioned.

 

[MikeKobb]

That said, I'm curious about the paper poster with backlit frame that @MikeKobb uses. What does it look like and where do you get the posters from?

Here's an example. There are a couple of companies that sell posters like these. They're the exact posters that are made for display in the movie theater. You have to look for "rolled, double-sided" posters. The price varies from maybe $25 or $30 to "don't ask, don't tell."

 

[topfox124]

I'd like to see some representation of total time and remaining time. Perhaps added into the pattern just mentioned.

This is present in the movieposterapp application. It puts a bar at the top of the poster that shows start time and projected end time with a progress bar.

 

[topfox124]

I have two digital movie posters, one on each side of the entry door. With my existing app when not playing a movie both posters are random, so very rarely showing the same movie, but it happens some times. There is also an option to have one screen show the movie poster and the second screen to show trivia questions about the movie when not watching a movie, which I think is a cool feature.

It would be nice if while playing a movie I could have it play the poster for the movie I’m watching on one screen and then on my second have it continue to cycle through other posters or do the random trivia about the movie I’m watching on the second screen. I currently can’t do this today when I use the Kscape plugin with my existing app.

 

[MikeKobb]

That said, I'm curious about the paper poster with backlit frame that @MikeKobb uses. What does it look like and where do you get the posters from?

I don't want to hijack the thread, but I can't go back and edit my prior post to add this image that shows what the paper posters look like in a darkened room. I couldn't find it when I was looking for it earlier.

 

[superpoppa]

Something I would like would be an option to display now playing with details and trailers like posted above.

Another option to maybe cycle the last 5 movies downloaded maybe as a poster option for upcoming movies (because usually that’s what I’ll be playing next).

 

[ht guy]

Hey Mike, that looks like a great way to show what's playing! (...and envy-causing concession area - wow!)
Well done!

 

[StanfieldNC]

Hey Mike, that looks like a great way to show what's playing! (...and envy-causing concession area - wow!)
Would you have a link you'd be willing to share for the back-lit frame?
Also, do you have a fave poster source for the double-sided posters?

I have a double sided frame with neon. I use ebay to find my posters. "DS 27 40" is the search I use.

 

[DMB]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions.
What we came up with for our K-scape plugin I think will delight Kaleidescape users.

The plugin will be interactive, meaning there will be some level of user control. One thing I did not want to do was to crowd the display with a lot of information. A clean view is a priority.
The user can cycle which "Display View" he wants to be displayed on the movie board:

POSTER VIEW: displays a full poster image of what is playing.
DETAIL VIEW: displays the movie poster on the upper part of the screen with the movie details on the lower part.
OVERLAY VIEW: displays the movie details in a semi-transparent window above the entire poster.
TRAILER VIEW: displays the movie poster on the upper part of the screen and plays the movie trailer on the lower part. I've attached an example shot of the view. Don't mind the image being squished.

There are a few other cool features which will make it into the final plug-in. The run-time will be included. I do not intend for the run-time display to be always on. You will be able to turn it on or off at will thru the app. This is for keeping the display from looking too crowded. The upper and lower banners, ie NOW PLAYING, MOVIE NIGHT, etc will also be user selectable and independent from the banners in any other views. In other words the K-scape plug-in will have it's own display view and controls.
There are other controls and features that will make it in but I won't get into those at this time.

The plug-in should be released next week or so and can be upgraded anytime with newer features and functionality using our apps "auto-update" feature. I'd still like more suggestions for features that Kaleidescape owners would want. My intention is to have a K-scape plugin that is built with the Kaleidescape community so if you have any more suggestions please chime in.

Thanks all for the help.

 

[thrillcat]

If you're able to get any sort of collaboration with Kaleidescape, I would think the cool feature could be rotating posters through:

• A user specified "Now Playing"
  • for display before the movie is playing
  • perhaps this could be pulled from what movie is currently pulled up in the kOS UI, but this would still require the theater being powered up before guests arrive, which could end up being an hour or more
• A group of "Coming Soon" that is pulled automatically & directly from the user's recent downloads, perhaps even their K Wish List
• A second monitor output for trailers that correspond with the poster screen.

I'm not a fan of the Split View options for poster/trailer or poster/info. But I'm also not the target audience since I don't have a place for digital posters. But I do have a couple friends with them, I've always thought they're pretty cool for those with the space.

 

[DMB]

If you're able to get any sort of collaboration with Kaleidescape, I would think the cool feature could be rotating posters through:

• A user specified "Now Playing"
  • for display before the movie is playing
  • perhaps this could be pulled from what movie is currently pulled up in the kOS UI, but this would still require the theater being powered up before guests arrive, which could end up being an hour or more
• A group of "Coming Soon" that is pulled automatically & directly from the user's recent downloads, perhaps even their K Wish List
• A second monitor output for trailers that correspond with the poster screen.

I'm not a fan of the Split View options for poster/trailer or poster/info. But I'm also not the target audience since I don't have a place for digital posters. But I do have a couple friends with them, I've always thought they're pretty cool for those with the space.

Great suggestions.

 

[HCS]

Wow, can't wait for this to be availble. I currently use the Show Time app via a Mac using a Samsung Frame TV in a cinema room. The Samsung panel has a matte look (I also dim the brightness) with no reflection but it really does look like a poster frame and often tricks viewers until they see the poster change dynamically.
Using the app, I found the movie running time display to be very distracting (top part of the banner). After working with the Roomie team, they deployed a version that just shows the movie poster.

What I would like to see -

1) User choice to view your own Kaleidiescape purchased movies or movies due to be released in cinemas, displayed as poster art with customisable cycle times.

2) When selecting a movie (not playing), the default cycle view stops and the user can either choose (via settings) for the trailer to play followed by the static movie poster, just the static movie poster or the top/bottom view shown above.

3) When the movie is played, the user can choose (via settings) the options mentioned in point 2 and ideally the strato info view as a small banner which has the running time, time left, time passed, etc at the bottom of the screen, this shouldn’t be too distracting when the movie is playing on screen.

3.1) If the user selects the standard movie poster view when a movie is being played, it would great to cycle other posters for the same movie every 15 odd minutes or so.

4) I also think the 'Now Showing' banner (first image on this post) at the top of the screen isn't really in keep with high end cinema rooms but I understand if it needs to be there to remove unessary space (poster aspect ratio of 1.5 vs tv ratio of 1.78). My preference is to have the banner removed and blow up the image even if it means that the trade-off is to crop edges.

5) If a banner needs to remain for static movie posters, it would be great to see a summary of the K system - number of movies downloaded, size of storage and free space and/or Rotten Tomatoes ratings (already part of the K movie summary)

 

[DMB]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. The K-Scape plug-in is almost complete with only minor adjustments needed. I think it will make the K-Scape users very happy. Below are some screenshots of the K-Scape plug-in showing the 3 "Display Views", the Credentials screen, and the Trailers screen.
How it works.... I wanted to give K-Scape users quite a bit more control over their plug-in than I normally would allow because I like keeping things simple. This by no means makes the plug-in any more difficult to use since most features are automated, but it also gives users something more than just showing posters. Also note that over time we can still continue to polish and and features to this plug-in thru our Auto-Update feature of the app.
Credentials screen: just as it implies....enter your Kaleidescape IP address, password, and Unit ID. Connection made. Easy peazy.
Get Trailers: This will search for every trailer online that matches all the movies you have in your library automatically.
Display Views: 3 user selectable views here...."Banner View", "Detail View", and "Trailer View". These views will be how the plug-in looks on your screen.
There will be 1 more view...."Poster Wall View". Displays a scrolling view of all your Kaleidescape movies in your library.

We do plan to add some more views like "Favorites View", "Music View", etc. These will most likely come in the form of an update if we run out of time for the roll out. Also to note is that in the Banner View the user has the option to select which upper and lower banners to use independently from any other view in the app. Basically each "View" has it's own memory...posters, trailers, k-scape, plex, etc are all independent of each other. You can also choose to just turn the banners off altogether for a clean poster image ( albeit stretched to fill the entire screen).

I'll keep the community up to date as I make more progress.
Thanks all for your sugesstions.

 

[SimonSays]

What's the "control protocol device ID"?

 

[Transepoch]

One of the ways to identity K devices, listed on the Control tab of the device's settings under the WebUI.