Overview

Learn how to navigate and use all the features of revaMPed Basic Home layout.

revaMPed Basic Home

The revaMPed Basic Home layout is a vertical text Menu with sub menus all in one window.

All plugins or MP features supported by aMPed are listed on the default revaMPed menus.

If you don't have a plugin installed or enabled, don't worry. You don't have to remove it if you don't want to. Pressing Enter/OK on the menu item will do nothing.

Note: You may customize revaMPed Basic Home to display only the menu items you wish, and link them to the features you use.  See the tutorial revaMPed.

The Home or Main Menu

The Main Menu, or Home Menu displays seven main menu items.  Why seven?  That's all that will fit on a 4x3 screen using 18pt font.  Also, the odd number allows the focused item to display in the center of the list.  The default item is always the center or fourth item when you first load MediaPortal. 

1. Weather - if you have the Infoservice plugin installed, the current weather will display at the top of the screen on the Home
2. Menu name  - vertical headers disply the menu name  to the left of the menu items,  so you always know which menu or sub menu you are viewing.
3. Navigation guide - simple navigation guide instructions display on the bottom bar showing the navigation options available, such as <- Prev | Next -> which means press the left arrow for the previous menu, and right arrow for the next sub menu.  The Navigation guide will always tell you when a sub menu is available.
4. Tickers - if you have the Infoservice plugin installed and enbaled, a ticker will display the RSS feeds you have configured scrolling across the bottom of the screen. If you have twitter feeds enabled, they will display just above, or a ticker of your recently added TVSeries and Movies will display.
5. Menu item*s - navigate to a menu item using the up/down arrow keys, then press the *Enter/OK key to open the related window (hyperlink).
   • For example, pressing Enter/OK on Music will open the Music window using the layout you last selected i.e. Artists/Albums/Genres/Shares etc.
   • The default 'links' are always MP related windows. For example, 'News' will open RSS News, not the !Infoservice plugin.
6. Items in light blue text are only Sub menu items only, pressing enter on them will do nothing, but pressing the right arrow key will open the sub menu.
7. Menu Icons - an icon image (or hover image) related to the Menu item you have selected will display in the lower right of the screen. This icons visually identlfy each feature or plugin and display on the top of the related window. For example, The Music icon image will display at the top of all Music windows.
   • Media Overlay  - when video, tv or music is playing, the media overlay window will display instead of the Menu Icons.
8. Actions Menu - use the left arrow key to navigate to the Actions Menu
9. Sub Menus - use the right arrow key to access the related Sub Menu such as Music
10. aMPed Logo - displays at the top right and slowly changes color - no your eyesight is not failing!

You may use the Editor to change which items are opened by any menu item. For example, if you don't use RSS News, you may change the 'News' item to open InfoService and remove Infoservice from the 'News' sub menu.

Actions Menu

Access the Actions Menu by pressing the left arrow key from the Home Menu

1. Close MediaPortal
2. Switch to standard Home screen
3. Shutdown your PC or
4. Display Fullscreen video/TV when video/TV is playing

Sub Menus

aMPed supports up to three levels of sub menus, so even the most advanced users can display all their plugins. You can configure each sub menu to display different backdrops, such as Music fanart downloaded by the Fanart Handler plugin on the Music Sub Menu.

Use the left and right arrow keys to navigate sub menus in revaMPed.

1. <- Prev - use the left arrow key to go back to the previous level menu
2. -> Next  - use the right arrow key to go to the next level sub menu if one is available

Returning to Sub Menus (Remember Last Focused Item)

Since MediaPortal 1.1.0, you can select an option in MediaPortal Configuration > General settings to enable the option "Allow remember last focused item on supported window/skin.  This feature is supported in aMPed on the revaMPed layout.  This means, if you are viewing Music, and press the back key, it will return to the revaMPed sub menu you were last viewing, and the item you last used will be in focus. 

If you prefer returning always to the Home Menu, then disable this option in MediaPortal configuration.