[IDEA] Renderer overlay alternative

[brotakul]

Hey Tim & community,

Would it be possible to change/replace the current screen overlay (don't know how else to describe it) that is displayed when audio renderers such as Spotify and Airplay are playing? 
As a showcase, I stream a lot of music through Airplay (from mobile or tablet) and during listening sessions I cannot use the moOde interface to either search through music shares that are mounted to the pi streamer or access the moOde menu to let's just say check the EQ settings or whatever. 

It would then be great, apart from somehow letting the user know that a renderer is used (with or without the overlay), to actually access and use moOde's interface and menus. Of course, if during use of such renderer, one would try and play something else from moOde's player, maybe a popup could be used to confirm the switch or simply stop the renderer and switch instantly to playing the local files.

I realize that such a proposal would require a more extended change in how moOde works during the use of renderers, but I believe it would be a change for a better user experience. I really hope others would also share the same opinion on this

Have a great day and thanks for this great piece of software!

[Tim Curtis]

There is a Preferences setting named "Renderer backdrop" that can be used to display an image of your choice instead of the the semi-transparent gray overlay :-)

The challenge with enabling access to the UI while a renderer is playing is that a change in settings, especially audio settings would likely cause breakage since the renderer needs exclusive control of the audio chain.