Overview

The MediaPortal TV Guide may be customized in a number of ways including the following:

• Number of entries per guide page
• Guide entry colorization, including by program genre

Guide page size

To be supplied.

Guide colorization

TV guide colorization is new as of version 1.3.0 beta and later.

MediaPortal provides the ability to map EPG program genres to one of seven available MediaPortal genre names. The purpose of genre mapping is to limit the number of genres that users see in the TV guide so that programs may be colored by genre.  For example the EPG provider genres Action sports, Aerobics and Archery can all be mapped to the MediaPortal genre name Sports, then the Sports genre may be assigned a color for easy identification of Sports programs in the TV guide.  See TV Guide for more information.

The TV guide provides for end users and skinners to enable and manage the coloring of program entries according to program genre.

Features include:

• Ability to define genre colors by the end user (and/or skinner).  Different genre colors may be defined for programs that are "on now" and "on later" (2 colors per genre).
• Ability to use end user controlled color values to colorize TV guide channel and program buttons (aside from genre coloring).
• Ability to use a highlight border for noting the selected program (since coloring the selected program, the legacy behavior, is now in conflict with the genre colored programs); this capability is also exposed to be used without genre colors.
• Ability to color all programs that have ended with a single color (e.g. Gray).
• Ability to specify programs as a "Movie" genre (and then to color "Movie" programs as desired).

The following additional MediaPortal capabilities support TV guide genre colorization:

• Uses SkinSettings.xml (which also support, for example, skin themes) - this xml file contains the critical information read by the TV guide.
• The MediaPortal FontEngine provides a texture blending mode.  This mode offers the capability to blend two textures alpha components (this is different than diffuse color blending, which considers only one texture color and a specified diffuse color).  This texture blending mode is exposed in the Image and Button3Part controls to support TV Guide.  The capability is exposed to Image as an "overlay" parameter on the <texture> tag.  When <texture overlay="my-image"> is specified then the texture and the overlay texture are blended through their alpha channels.  When the main texture is a solid white image and a diffuse color is specified (e.g., Red) then the overlay texture is blended with a Red texture.  This is the core enabling for coloring programs on the TV Guide.

Steps to color TV guide program genres

The TV guide genre map, genre colors, and default colors, and other options may be configured using the TV-Server Configuration tool and the MediaPortal Configuration tool.

In the TV-Server Configuration tool you can:

• Configure TV guide genre mapping; located at DVB EPG -> EPG Genre Map.

In the MediaPortal Configuration tool you can:

• Configure TV guide program color enable settings; located at GUI (select a skin) -> click button "Edit Skin Settings" -> TV guide -> Settings.
• Configure TV guide program and genre color settings; located at GUI (select a skin) -> click button "Edit Skin Settings" -> TV guide -> Colors.

Note: The genre coloring capability relies on the skin having been configured as descibed in this wiki topic.  If the skin is not configured to make use of the genre colorization capabilities then the configuration settings in this section will have no effect on the TV guide.

Genre mapping

About program genre names and MediaPortal genre names

The genre names that appear in the Unmapped Program Genres and Mapped Program Genres columns are read from the MediaPortal TV database.  When MediaPortal populates the TV database with TV program information (using any of MediaPortals EPG grabber facilities) some of that information includes the names of genres associated with each program in the TV guide.  It is possible that a single TV program can be associated with multiple genres.  The genres in the Unmapped Program Genres and Mapped Program Genres columns are referred to here as "program genre names".  In contrast, a "MediaPortal genre name" is any arbitrary name entered in the TV guide configuration panel (as described below).  MediaPortal genre names are used to aggregate one or more program genre names.

Steps for creating a genre map

Perform the following actions to map MediaPortal genre names with program (EPG provider) genre names.

1. Start the TV-Server Configuration tool.
2. Access the EPG genre map configuration (DVB EPG -> EPG Genre Map).
3. You must map at least one of the Unmapped Genres to a MediaPortal Genre for genre coloring to be applied in the TV guide. To map a program genre to a genre name highlight the desired genre name in the MediaPortal Genres column, then highlight a program genre name in the Unmapped Program Genres column and click the << button.  Do this multiple times to map more than one program genre name to the highlighted genre name. This allows for multiple program genres to be mapped to a single MediaPortal genre. To unmap a program genre highlight the program genre to unmap in the Mapped Program Genres column and click the >> button.
4. Choose a "Movie" genre by highlighting the desired genre name in the MediaPortal Genres column and clicking the Toggle movie button.
5. Any (or all!) MediaPortal genres may be disabled by highlighting a MediaPortal genre name and clicking the Toggle enabled button.

MediaPortal genres

This is a list of the available MediaPortal genre names. The configuration provides for a maximum of seven MediaPortal genre names however users may choose to use less than the maximum by highlighting a MediaPortal genre name and clicking the Toggle enabled button. When the MediaPortal genre is disabled (indicated by the red-x in the Enabled column) it will not be used in the TV guide for coloring programs, nor will it be displayed in the optional genre color map key.

MediaPortal genre names may be changed by clicking into the name to access text edit mode. Any genre name may be used and the name entered into this list is displayed in the TV guide when the skin displays the genre color map key or uses the MediaPortal genre name in the program description (e.g., for the highlighted program in the guide). Localized MediaPortal genre names are possible simply by entering the MediaPortal name using a localized character string.

Select one of these genres to view the Mapped Program Genres (those defined by your EPG provider).

Mapped program genres

This is a list of the EPG provider's genres that are currently mapped to the selected MediaPortal Genre. Mapped Program Genre names that are decorated with a '?' icon indicate that the mapped EPG genre name is no longer in the EPG providers list of genres.

Unmapped program genres

This is a list of the EPG provider's genres that are not mapped to any MediaPortal Genre.  This list is read from the MediaPortal TV database program information (where each program in the database has one or more assigned EPG provider genre names).

Note: The list of Unmapped Program Genres is not read from the DVB provider.

Automatically add programs with a movie rating to a selected genre

A single MediaPortal genre may be designated as the "Movie" genre by highlighting the MediaPortal genre name and clicking the Toggle movie button.  Only one genre may be designated as a "Movie" genre.  Selecting a MediaPortal genre name that is currently designated as the movie genre and clicking the Toggle movie button will result in removing this designation from all MediaPortal genres.

When a MediaPortal genre name is designed as a movie genre then all program entries in the EPG with a movie rating/classification are mapped to the this MediaPortal genre.  For example, in the United States if the program has an MPAA rating then it will be colored according to the designated "Movie" genre.  Any Mapped Program Genres are ignored in this case.

Steps for enabling program and genre color features

Perform the following actions to enable/disable various EPG coloring features.  These settings must be set for each individual skin since not all skins may support EPG coloring features and/or you may desire different skins to use different settings or colors.

1. Start the MediaPortal Configuration tool.
2. Access the TV guide coloring feature settings (GUI (select a skin) -> click button "Edit Skin Settings" -> TV guide -> Settings).
3. Click Enable guide coloring to enable the colors on the Colors tab to be used in the guide.
4. Click Enable program genre coloring to apply colors to program entries by genre (see Colors tab for color assignments).  Note that choosing to color programs by genre automatically forces the use of a program border to highlight the selected program.
5. Click Display genre color key to display a genre/color assignment legend on the TV guide window.
6. Click Border highlight the selected program if you desire to have the selected program in the guide highlighted with a "rubber-band" border.

Steps for setting program and genre colors

Perform the following actions to set guide colors.  These settings must be set for each individual skin since not all skins may support EPG coloring features and/or you may desire different skins to use different settings or colors.

1. Start the MediaPortal Configuration tool.
2. Access the TV guide coloring feature settings (GUI (select a skin) -> click button "Edit Skin Settings" -> TV guide -> Colors).
3. Enabled MediaPortal genre names (see explanation in Genre mapping, above) are displayed colored black.  Disabled MediaPortal genre names are displayed grayed out.
4. When Enable program genre coloring is enabled (see above) then the program genre colors are applied to the TV guide.  For each TV guide genre two colors should be assigned; On Now Color and On Later Color.  The On Now Color is used to color the TV guide program entry when the program is currently on.  The On Later Color is used to color the TV guide program entry when the program is scheduled in the future.  As an example; the On Later Color may simply be a muted or dimmed On Now Color - doing this may make the guide easier to read.  To set the On Now Color for a TV guide genre, click on the genre name in the Guide Genre column to highlight it.  With the genre name highlighted click the On Now Color button to access the color picker.  Choose a color using the color picker and click the OK button.  The selected color will be shown in the On Now Color column in the same row as the selected genre name.  Perform similar actions to set the On Later Color for the selected genre.

Settings on the Colors tab allow for specifying TV guide program colors for either programs that are not colored according to the program genre map or to all programs in the TV guide when genre coloring is not enabled.

Program button color

• On now - when the skin is configured to use colorized buttons but not color genres then the programs that are "on now" are colored this color.
• On later - same as for "on now" but applies to programs that are scheduled for the future.
• Ended - this color is used for all programs that have ended.
• Selected - when border highlight is not set this color is used for the currently selected program.
• Border highlight - when border highlight is set then this is the border color.

Channel button color

• Normal - the color used for all channel buttons.
• Selected - the color used for the selected channel button (if a channel button is selected).

Group button color

• Normal - the color used for the channel group button.
• Selected - the color used for the channel group button when the channel group button is selected.

Designing a skin for TV guide colorization

You skin must be explicitly designed to take advantage of TV guide colorization capabilities.  The following steps must be taken to enable your skin for TV guide colorization:

1. Modify TV guide skin controls - Modify program buttons defined in mytvguide.xml to allow color blending operations for application of colors.
2. Create border highlight image - Ensure an image texture is defined to allow for program button bordering.
3. (optional) Define skin controls for genre name and color key - Optionally setup the skin for displaying a genre name to genre color mapping legend.
4. Enable TV guide colorization - Set up and manage settings in SkinSettings.xml to allow end users to enable and disable TV guide colorization features.

Modify skin controls for TV guide colorization

All of the genre coloring support will result in a flat colored button (which may not be visually desirable) and so the support on Image and Button3Part controls for overlay texture blending comes in handy.  In mytvguide.xml skin file you may define a specific overlay texture for the TV guide buttons that will result in the flat colored button appearing to have specular highlights (depending on the content of the overlay texture; it should tend to be white with some transparency).  The example below specifies how to set the overlay texture and main texture properly (sample in red in the example below) for coloring TV guide buttons (channel and program).  In each case, the appropriate guide color is blended with the overlay texture and then that result is blended with the main button texture. The control id's that should be set for colorization are as follows:

• id = 35, template for program on now button
• id = 36, template for program not on now button
• id = 37, template for program notify button
• id = 38, template for program record button
• id = 39, template for program partial record button

It is important to note that these control templates (with id's 35 through 39) are not required to appear in mytvguide.xml.  The guide will render properly using the following default images in the TV guide button3part controls (from which each guide button is instanced).  The advantage of including these control templates is that it provides opportunity to customize the buttons by overriding the built-in defaults.

• tvguide_button_selected_left.png
• tvguide_button_left.png
• tvguide_button_selected_middle.png
• tvguide_button_middle.png
• tvguide_button_selected_right.png
• tvguide_button_right.png

<control>
    <description>template for program on now button</description>
    <type>button3part</type>
    <id>35</id>
    <textureFocusedLeft overlay="tvguide_arrow_left_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_left_colorize.png</textureFocusedLeft>
    <textureNonFocusedLeft overlay="tvguide_arrow_left_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_left_colorize.png</textureNonFocusedLeft>
    <textureFocusedMid overlay="tvguide_button_middle_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_button_middle_colorize.png</textureFocusedMid>
    <textureNonFocusedMid overlay="tvguide_button_middle_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_button_middle_colorize.png</textureNonFocusedMid>
    <textureFocusedRight overlay="tvguide_arrow_right_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_right_colorize.png</textureFocusedRight>
    <textureNonFocusedRight overlay="tvguide_arrow_right_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_right_colorize.png</textureNonFocusedRight>
    <!-- This icon is used for the hd program indicator -->
    <textureIcon2>tvguide_hd_program_on_now.png</textureIcon2>
    <icon2Align>left</icon2Align>
    <icon2VAlign>middle</icon2VAlign>
    <icon2OffsetX>10</icon2OffsetX>
    <icon2OffsetY>1</icon2OffsetY>
    <icon2InlineLabel1>yes</icon2InlineLabel1>
</control>

<control>
    <description>template for program not on now button</description>
    <type>button3part</type>
    <id>36</id>
    <textureFocusedLeft overlay="tvguide_arrow_left_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_left_colorize.png</textureFocusedLeft>
    <textureNonFocusedLeft overlay="tvguide_arrow_left_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_left_colorize.png</textureNonFocusedLeft>
    <textureFocusedMid overlay="tvguide_button_middle_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_button_middle_colorize.png</textureFocusedMid>
    <textureNonFocusedMid overlay="tvguide_button_middle_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_button_middle_colorize.png</textureNonFocusedMid>
    <textureFocusedRight overlay="tvguide_arrow_right_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_right_colorize.png</textureFocusedRight>
    <textureNonFocusedRight overlay="tvguide_arrow_right_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_right_colorize.png</textureNonFocusedRight>
    <!-- This icon is used for the hd program indicator -->
    <textureIcon2>tvguide_hd_program_not_on_now.png</textureIcon2>
    <icon2Align>left</icon2Align>
    <icon2VAlign>middle</icon2VAlign>
    <icon2OffsetX>10</icon2OffsetX>
    <icon2OffsetY>1</icon2OffsetY>
    <icon2InlineLabel1>yes</icon2InlineLabel1>
</control>

<control>
    <description>template for program notify button</description>
    <type>button3part</type>
    <id>37</id>
    <textureFocusedLeft overlay="tvguide_arrow_left_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_left_colorize.png</textureFocusedLeft>
    <textureNonFocusedLeft overlay="tvguide_arrow_left_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_left_colorize.png</textureNonFocusedLeft>
    <textureFocusedMid overlay="tvguide_button_middle_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_button_middle_colorize.png</textureFocusedMid>
    <textureNonFocusedMid overlay="tvguide_button_middle_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_button_middle_colorize.png</textureNonFocusedMid>
    <textureFocusedRight overlay="tvguide_arrow_right_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_right_colorize.png</textureFocusedRight>
    <textureNonFocusedRight overlay="tvguide_arrow_right_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_right_colorize.png</textureNonFocusedRight>
    <!-- The textureIcon is used for the notify indicator; these attributes help position the icon -->
    <iconAlign>right</iconAlign>
    <iconVAlign>middle</iconVAlign>
    <iconOffsetX>10</iconOffsetX>
    <iconOffsetY>0</iconOffsetY>
    <iconInlineLabel1>no</iconInlineLabel1>
</control>

<control>
    <description>template for program record button</description>
    <type>button3part</type>
    <id>38</id>
    <textureFocusedLeft overlay="tvguide_arrow_left_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_left_colorize.png</textureFocusedLeft>
    <textureNonFocusedLeft overlay="tvguide_arrow_left_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_left_colorize.png</textureNonFocusedLeft>
    <textureFocusedMid overlay="tvguide_button_middle_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_button_middle_colorize.png</textureFocusedMid>
    <textureNonFocusedMid overlay="tvguide_button_middle_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_button_middle_colorize.png</textureNonFocusedMid>
    <textureFocusedRight overlay="tvguide_arrow_right_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_right_colorize.png</textureFocusedRight>
    <textureNonFocusedRight overlay="tvguide_arrow_right_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_right_colorize.png</textureNonFocusedRight>
    <!-- The textureIcon is used for the record indicator; these attributes help position the icon -->
    <iconAlign>right</iconAlign>
    <iconVAlign>middle</iconVAlign>
    <iconOffsetX>10</iconOffsetX>
    <iconOffsetY>0</iconOffsetY>
    <iconInlineLabel1>no</iconInlineLabel1>
</control>

<control>
    <description>template for program partial record button</description>
    <type>button3part</type>
    <id>39</id>
    <textureFocusedLeft overlay="tvguide_arrow_left_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_left_colorize.png</textureFocusedLeft>
    <textureNonFocusedLeft overlay="tvguide_arrow_left_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_left_colorize.png</textureNonFocusedLeft>
    <textureFocusedMid overlay="tvguide_button_middle_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_button_middle_colorize.png</textureFocusedMid>
    <textureNonFocusedMid overlay="tvguide_button_middle_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_button_middle_colorize.png</textureNonFocusedMid>
    <textureFocusedRight overlay="tvguide_arrow_right_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_right_colorize.png</textureFocusedRight>
    <textureNonFocusedRight overlay="tvguide_arrow_right_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_arrow_right_colorize.png</textureNonFocusedRight>
    <!-- The textureIcon is used for the partial record indicator; these attributes help position the icon -->
    <iconAlign>right</iconAlign>
    <iconVAlign>middle</iconVAlign>
    <iconOffsetX>10</iconOffsetX>
    <iconOffsetY>0</iconOffsetY>
    <iconInlineLabel1>no</iconInlineLabel1>
</control>

Create border highlight image

When TV guide colorization is in effect the use of a program guide color to highlight the currently selected program (where the cursor is) is not typically useful as it blends in with other guide colors and no longer offers the attention getting highlighting it intends.  Use of a program button border as a highlight is much more effective in this situation.  The border is drawn completely around the selected program guide entry.  In order to have program bordering in effect you must do one of the following:

• Enable program genre coloring (which forces use of the border), or
• Specifically request to use a program border using the skin setting #skin.tvguide.useborderhighlight

The texture image name used for program borders must be named tvguide_highlight_border.png.  If an image by this name does not exist in your skin then enabling program bordering will have no effect.

Define skin controls for genre name and color key

The TV guide genre names and associated colors may be dispayed as a key or legend on the TV guide window.  The genre color key is contructed using several template controls as described below.  All genre color key entries are contructed from these template controls regardless of the number of genres defined.  The genre color key is composed of an image for the color indication and a label for the genre name. The genre color key is constructed as a single row composed of a number of genre color key entries (image and label).  The pattern of  "image label" repeats for as many genres as are defined. The control id's that should be set for the genre color key template consist are as follows:

• id = 110, template for genre color key image; the color of the genre
• id = 111, template for genre color key label; the name of the genre

MediaPortal generates new controls (image and label) for each additional genre entry using control id's starting with 112.  For example, the second genre color key entry will use control id's 112 and 113.

The control attributes listed below are the only attributes read for each of the genre color key entries.  The position of the entire genre color key is based on the x,y position of control 110.  The y position of the label may be adjusted using control 111.  In this example the visibility of the genre color key is controlled by the value of a skin setting named #skin.tvguide.showgenrekey.  This value may be toggled (between true/false) using a checkbutton contol as shown below.

<control>
    <description>Template for genre key color</description>
    <type>image</type>
    <id>110</id>
    <posX>464</posX>
    <posY>750</posY>
    <width>32</width>
    <height>18</height>
    <texture overlay="tvguide_button_middle_colorize_overlay.png">tvguide_button_middle_colorize.png</texture>
    <visible>skin.hassetting(#skin.tvguide.showgenrekey)</visible>
</control>
<control>
    <description>Template for genre key name</description>
    <type>label</type>
    <id>111</id>
    <posY>745</posY>
    <textcolor>FF6aa5cb</textcolor>
    <font>AvalonLight10</font>
    <TextAlignment>left</TextAlignment>
    <TextVAlignment>middle</TextVAlignment>
    <ShadowAngle>0</ShadowAngle>
    <ShadowDistance>0</ShadowDistance>
    <ShadowColor>ffffffff</ShadowColor>
    <visible>skin.hassetting(#skin.tvguide.showgenrekey)</visible>
</control>

Example of using a checkbutton control toggle the display visibility of the genre color key.

<control>
    <description>Show genre color key</description>
    <type>checkbutton</type>
    <id>9</id>
    <label>Show Genre Color Key</label>
    <font>font12</font>
    <width>956</width>
    <height>52</height>
    <posX>736</posX>
    <posY>584</posY>
    <textXOff>28</textXOff>
    <textYOff>8</textYOff>
    <markalign>right</markalign>
    <markvalign>top</markvalign>
    <markWidth>33</markWidth>
    <markHeight>21</markHeight>
    <markXOff>30</markXOff>
    <markYOff>10</markYOff>
    <textureFocus>settings_button_focus.png</textureFocus>
    <textureNoFocus>settings_button_nofocus.png</textureNoFocus>
    <textureCheckmark>settings_checkmark_checked.png</textureCheckmark>
    <textureCheckmarkNoFocus>settings_checkmark_unchecked.png</textureCheckmarkNoFocus>
    <textcolor>ffffffff</textcolor>
    <textcolorNoFocus>ffffffff</textcolorNoFocus>
    <selected>#(skin.hassetting('#skin.tvguide.showgenrekey'))</selected>
    <onclick>#(skin.togglesetting('#skin.tvguide.showgenrekey'))</onclick>
    <onleft>10011</onleft>
    <onright>2</onright>
    <onup>8</onup>
    <ondown>2</ondown>
    </control>

Enable TV guide colorization

Turning on and off the features for TV guide colorization may be implemented in a skin using the following skin settings.

• #skin.tvguide.usecolorsforbuttons - if "True", then colors will be used to colorize all program buttons.  In the event that no colors are defined (see TV guide colors, below) a default set (built in) of colors is used (based on the Default skin).
• #skin.tvguide.usecolorsforgenre - if "True", then genres of programs will be colored according to the genre-color map.  If a genre does not have a color then a default color is selected.  #skin.tvguide.usecolorsforbuttons must be set to "True" for this setting to be considered.
• #skin.tvguide.useborderhighlight - if "True", then the selected program in the guide is highlighted with a border.  If #skin.tvguide.usecolorsforgenre is "True" then borders are used regardless of this setting.  The image used for border texture must be named tvguide_highlight_border.png.
• #skin.tvguide.showgenrekey - if "True", then a genre/color legend is displayed on the TV guide.  The skin must support the implementation for the key to be displayed.

The values of these skin settings are written to the booleansettings section of SkinSettings.xml as follows:

  <section name="booleansettings">
    <entry name="#skin.tvguide.usecolorsforbuttons">True</entry>
    <entry name="#skin.tvguide.usecolorsforgenre">True</entry>
    <entry name="#skin.tvguide.useborderhighlight">True</entry>
    <entry name="#skin.tvguide.showgenrekey">True</entry>
  </section>

These skin settings are able to be used in conjunction with GUI controls by using skin settings functions.  This enables the end user to turn on or off TV guide colorization (this must be explicitly provided by the skin designer).

Settings in SkinSettings.xml

This section documents the settings that are managed by MediaPortal (in SkinSettings.xml) for TV guide genre mapping and colorization support.  By managing these settings in the skins SkinSettings.xml file it is possible to have different color setting for each skin (this allows skin developers and/or end users to choose colors or hues that complement the theme color of the skin).

Important notes:

• This section is informational only and does not include any required steps for the enabling of a skin for TV guide colorization.

The following sections of settings are managed:

• TV guide colors - specifies the colors to use when coloring TV guide programs.

TV guide colors

The genre-color map defines a mapping between the genre name and two colors; an "on now" color and an "on later" color.  This provides for the "on now" programs to stand out from the programs that are on later (say a dimmer color).  This mirrors the legacy behavior of the guide to have brighter colors for "on now" vs. "on later" (see Default skin guide as an example).

The genre-color map must appear in the tvguidecolors section of either (or both) the MediaPortal.xml file.  Each genre color entry is a CSV list of two colors; the "on now" color and the "on later" color (in this order).  If no "on later" color is specified then the "on now" color is used for both (although, the first time the settings file is written by MediaPortal the "on later" value will be filled in to equal the "on now" value).  The entry names 0 through 6 correspond 1:1 to the genremap defined in MediaPortal.xml.

The tvguidecolors section also includes the following values.  For each of these colors (including the genre colors) the color is set as the button diffuse color.  If you desire true color rendering (you set Red and you want a Red button) then the texture for the button must be solid white (0xFFFFFFFF).  Any other button texture color results in a diffuse blend of the color with the texture (can result in very interesting effects, like neon coloring etc.)

• guidecolorchannelbutton - the color to use for channel buttons (vs. program buttons).
• guidecolorchannelbuttonselected - the color to use for a selected (highlighted) channel button.
• guidecolorprogramselected - the color to use for a selected (highlighted) program button.
• guidecolorprogramended - the color to use for a program button where the program has already ended.
• guidecolorborderhighlight - the color to use for the program/channel button border highlight.
• defaultgenre - a two entry map (on now/on later) color entry for programs that have a genre with no defined color map.
• genre{n} (e.g., genre0) - a two entry map (on now/on later) color entry for programs that are assigned to genre 'n' in the color map.  The ordering of these genre colors (0..6) maps to the order in which MediaPortal genres are displayed in the MediaPortal Configuration tool GUI.

Following is an example of the tvguidecolors section of SkinSettings.xml.

<section name="tvguidecolors">
    <entry name="guidecolorchannelbutton">ff0e517b</entry>
    <entry name="guidecolorchannelbuttonselected">Green</entry>
    <entry name="guidecolorprogramselected">Green</entry>
    <entry name="guidecolorprogramended">Gray</entry>
    <entry name="guidecolorborderhighlight">99ffffff</entry>
    <entry name="defaultgenre">ff1d355b,ff0e517b</entry>
    <entry name="genre0">Chocolate,Chocolate</entry>
    <entry name="genre1">Aqua,Aqua</entry>
    <entry name="genre2">Purple,Purple</entry>
    <entry name="genre3">Maroon,Maroon</entry>
    <entry name="genre4">LightGreen,LightGreen</entry>
    <entry name="genre5">Gold,Gold</entry>
    <entry name="genre6">DarkGreen,DarkGreen</entry>
</section>