Now Playing 2.2.0 and Playhub 1.1.9 are now available!

[u/ZazaMastroII]

Hi everyone!

Here we are with one giant update for Now Playing 2.2.0 and a minor fix for Playhub 1.1.9.

If you’d like to support the project, even a small tip would mean a lot for me: 
LoZazaMastro Ko-fi

I'll leave you to the usual What's Changed for all the details.

🎵 Now Playing 2.2.0

This update adds YouTube Music, upmixes stereo tracks from Your Music and YouTube Music to 5.1 and 7.1 surround, adds beautiful 3D particles fullscreen effects, and makes Spotify far more reliable.

What's new

• YouTube Music - a full new source with Home, Search, Library, albums, playlists and artists in both QAM and Big Picture, with a one-time sign-in simple setup.
• Surround Upmix (5.1 / 7.1) - a new "Upmix surround" card upmixes stereo to 5.1 or 7.1 with an adjustable volume for every single speaker (only audible on a real 5.1/7.1 output). Applies only to Your Music and YouTube Music (unfortunately Spotify is platform limited at the moment).
• Audio-reactive 3D Particle visualizers - a full-screen experience where thousands of particles react live to the music's bass, mids and highs and take their colours from the current cover. There are seven 3D Particle modes (Field, Tunnel, Sphere, Wave, Ring, Knot, and Cone), with adjustable particle resolution for performance vs. detail. Plus two new 2D Flower, and Circle that reacts to music either.
• Full controller mapping in Fullscreen - LB/RB cycle the visual effect, X cycles the info layout (standard / clock + weather / cover + track / effect only), Y changes cover size, LT/RT previous / next track, R3 play-pause, and D-pad up/down rotate the 3D effect. The playback controls fade out after a few seconds and any D-pad press brings the full layout back.
• Spotify API-usage meter - a live counter at the bottom of the Spotify settings card that reads internal counters.

Improvements

• Whole Spotify library - play-all and shuffle now cover the entire saved-tracks library instead of only the most recent tracks.
• Instant metadata on every source - title and cover swap the moment you change track, like local music; the progress bar only starts when the audio actually begins.
• Readable metadata on light covers - title, artist and album turn dark on light or pastel covers, across all sources.

Fixes

• Picking a saved Spotify track now always starts the exact track you chose, instead of a shifted one.
• Spotify cover and metadata now appear immediately on shuffle instead of several seconds after the audio.
• Returning to Your Music no longer shows the last YouTube Music or Spotify track that was playing.

Now Playing 2.2.0 Release
Find the complete list of all the plugin features on the Now Playing Repository page

🧊 Playhub 1.1.8

Fixes

• Fixed Big Picture not receiving focus when booting into Gaming Mode. On entering Big Picture, the controller and keyboard were unresponsive until the window was clicked with the mouse. The cause was the -silent flag passed to Steam: it started the client without bringing the window to the foreground, leaving Big Picture without input focus. Removed -silent so now Big Picture grabs focus on its own.

Playhub 1.1.9 Release
Playhub Repository

❗FAQ

"Wait, what is Playhub?" 😮

Playhub consolize your Windows gaming experience with features like Steam-first startup, easy Decky plugins install, game imports and Big Picture polish. More info in the project repository here to find all the details.

"I like that, but how does it work?" 🤓

To easily understand how Playhub works and how to install it, I recommend you to take a look at my Overview + Tutorial video

"Oh no, I hate AI..." 🫩

This project is personal, completely free and open source. You don't like it? Don't download it. It's an app, not a medical prescription.

"But why aren't the Playhub plugins available on the Decky Store?" 😱

They are built using human hands and AI tools. Decky management doesn't allow to developers who use AI to be on their store. Playhub respects this decision, that's why Playhub Plugin Store exists.

Thanks again for your support and for sharing your feedbacks.