Changing Menu Pictures Question

I really like the option of being able to easily change the pictures used on the main menu for 'Movies', 'TV Shows', etc.

My question is what is the ideal size for the pictures if I want to use my own?

dtviewer Wrote:I really like the option of being able to easily change the pictures used on the main menu for 'Movies', 'TV Shows', etc.

My question is what is the ideal size for the pictures if I want to use my own?

Depends on your resolution. If you're pushing out the skin at 1080, use 1920x1080. at 720 use 1280x720. if you're on a different resolution, like a 16:10 ratio monitor, resize to your res.

However, as with all graphics, if the smaller size at your aspect ratio looks good, use it. It will be less intensive on your hardware. i.e. using the 720 size graphics on a 1080 may still look great, and may free up resources if you're pushing your system to the limit.
:o

Thanks for the response tmc701.

Guess I will try 1280x720 and go from there.

Pictures downsized to 1280x720 or just a little smaller worked out great.
They open instantly and look great.

Thanks again for the help.

I have a followup question on this topic, hoping for some help. I like multi-image backgrounds, but I find that a lot of the 16:9 images just look weird with the large vertical menu blocking off the left side of the background image.

Does anyone know the aspect ratio of the "usable" space occupied by the background image, to the right of the vertical menu? I'd like to try cropping the images, shifting them to the right and placing a vertical black bar under the menu.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: Bah, nevermind. Although I did identify the required operations in IrfanView to grab the center 4:3 (or whatever) chunk of an image, shift it to the right and place a bar on the left side, the whole thing is kinda moot since the menu briefly flies away to reveal the entire background image before transitioning to requested screen. I've also noticed that when you back out of a screen, a new background image flashes briefly before the menu appears and a second background image appears. I think I'll stick to static backgrounds for now.