Attention Themers 1.12.14 Mochi OSD

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live Streaming
81

@@browse_text

@@focused_title

are value’s hardcoded into the closed source binary dmaosd, which run the WD

we can’t easily change the value’s or how dmaosd handles them

as themer’s we just add the line to the appropriate xml

it’s possible that special characters may not work - I haven’t tried it

to be more exact the image file (movie sheet) must be named exactly as dmaosd displays the text for

@@browse_text

@@focused_title

if that includes a special character, then the moviesheet name must also include the special character

It’s also possible that we may need to plan for how dmaosd will interpret the special characters

in linux, while not advisable, it is possible to create a file name with (colon)  : as part of the file name

and I suspect if the sheet was created in linux with the exact matching name (including colon :  ), it should work

in windows, I believe it will give you an error message

example of another special character, which I tested successful on the older WD Live

is the character /

which is usually a delimiter for folders

under settings there’s a text value named “Audio/Video”

when creating a backdrop for this text value

I create a folder “Audio” inside the root of the theme, which dmaosd interprets the / as indicating a folder

inside the folder a single image titled “Video”

which dmaosd then displays as the image representing the string “Audio/Video”

edit: I think filesystem used will also make a different, i.e. Fat32, NTFS, ext3

82

That unfortunately confirms what I was thinking about the file names.  Did try renaming in windows but did get an error message (invalid character).  

I’m suprised that the values for @focused_tittle are stored on the device itself but I guess they have their reasons.  

Sounds like I’m going to need to get a virtual linux machine or use linksheets w/ the media library off.

Thanks 

83

might be Easier just to remove the : from the file name value in the xml

84

Unfortunately that does not work in views outside of the @@browsetext in the gallery view.  Other views that use @@focustitle don’t seem to reference the xml file created.  They seem to be looking at something else.  

I’ve removed and re-added the shares I’m working with (from a nas)  to try and reset the values.  May need to try again…to be continued

85

desertwedge wrote:
I’m suprised that the values for @focused_tittle are stored on the device itself

it’s not that the value itself is stored

think of @@focused_title as a script

we can call the script by adding the line in XML

but we can’t change what the script does

there’s code inside dmaosd which determines how it finds the value and what it displays

it’s this code we can’t change

or I should more accurately say, would be very difficult to change

1 Like
86

Both @@browsetext and @@focustitle look for the same thing (with the media library on), which is the in the metadata xml.

If the doesn’t exist then it looks for the “file name” and looks for that.  Actually it is really the reverse, but when the media library scans the xml it actually caches the and if it doesn’t exist then it just displays the file name.  You can actually see this with the media library turned off, it will display the “file name” then display the xml .

Also, yes you can add special characters like a colon in linux, however, if you regularly use windows then doing this is probably not a good idea, since those files may be seen as corrupt or unusable in Windows since it may see the naming as an error.

This best & easiest way to display your name is to make it a part of your moviesheet.  Depending on the layout and size of your moviesheet, you can either place the name were it should be on your moviesheet, or you can output your moviesheet as a png and place the movie name on a transparent portion of the moviesheet (needs to be in the upper or lower left or right hand corner of sheet), use “pan” and the width & height of only the portion of where the movie name is and then place it anywhere you want.

With CoCo (Linksheets) I place the movie name on the sheet, then use these lines:

Same thing with @@focus_title:

   
    <image image=“@@focused_title” x=“842” y=“0” w=“438” h=“720” align=“left” scale=“100” scale_type=“pan” selected_scale=“100” bg=“1” />

The first is to display the file/folder name if there is no sheet, the second to display the sheet.  Since the the sheet covers the file/folder name if there is a sheet, then the file/folder name isn’t seen if the sheet is displayed.  It’s also best leave out text scrolling if you are going to use full sheets as it will slow down thumbnail scrolling.

1 Like
87

Thanks Tinwarble & KAD79 for helping me sort through this.  FInally was able to get everything to display correctly. 

I had changed all the names in the xml files to remove colons & this did allow my linksheets to display in certain views (gallery & metadata_info). This is why I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t see the linksheets in other views such as large_video.  While I had removed & re-added shares to try and get the items to display, I had not cleared the media library.  So the title in the xml must have been cached as a part of the media library & this was what was referenced for views like large_video.

So in summary, do get any video with a colon in it’s property name to display a linksheet with the media library turned on, you need to:

  1. Edit the “title” line in a video’s xml file to match your linksheet name

  2. Clear the media library & let it rebuild.

Thanks again for your help.

88

Yes, you have to clear the media library before the sheets will display.

and linksheets can't coexist because even though you are changing the line from "text" to "image" the variable will still look for the in the xml.

Best thing to do is to use Notepad++ and use the “Find in files” to delete or modify the line.  In Notepad++ click on “Search / Find in files”, then choose the Directory where your xmls are located & in the “Find what” box type in:

.\*.

Then in the “Replace with” box you can either leave it blank or use something like:

<old_title>.*.</old_title>

Also, if you are going to use full sheets (1280x720) it’s best to delete the xml all together, because it doesn’t cache the rest of the xml metadata (only is cached, the rest is direct read) and this will slow scrolling way down.

89

ok, so thought to myself, I’ll put this out here

while it’s not fully tested

I figure you guy’s will test the heck out of it, before I can get to it

****************************************

so Linksheets with Media library :slight_smile:

  1. in the theme xml delete these lines (i’ve only tested rv_gallery_page.xml
  1. add in the theme xml this line
  1. in the movie xml’s delete these lines
\*

*

  1. delete the folder .wd_tv from all your drives

why, I don’t trust WD’s clear media library function

I’ve seen it say clearing library, then start pulling cached items from these folders

  1. put your linksheets in your theme root

and yes this works on SMP from thumbdrive as well

  1. Rebuild media library

***************************************

so I’m unable to see any slow downs when these are done

only other change worth noteing is the displayed name

instead of Batman

it will display Batman.m2ts

i.e. .

90

One thing.  You should add this:

 

If you just delete the line it seems to still run in the background.

91

yep disabling items should work as well

interesting that you’re able to notice a difference between disabled and deleted

92

KAD — works great instant movie sheets thanks

93

KAD79 wrote:

yep disabling items should work as well

 

interesting that you’re able to notice a difference between disabled and deleted

Just applys to the “@@preview_rect_image” line.

94

Tinwarble wrote:

Yes, you have to clear the media library before the sheets will display.

 

and linksheets can't coexist because even though you are changing the line from "text" to "image" the variable will still look for the in the xml.

 

Best thing to do is to use Notepad++ and use the “Find in files” to delete or modify the line.  In Notepad++ click on “Search / Find in files”, then choose the Directory where your xmls are located & in the “Find what” box type in:

.\*.

 

Then in the “Replace with” box you can either leave it blank or use something like:

 

<old_title>.*.</old_title>

 

Also, if you are going to use full sheets (1280x720) it’s best to delete the xml all together, because it doesn’t cache the rest of the xml metadata (only is cached, the rest is direct read) and this will slow scrolling way down.

Thanks for the above suggestion, that is much easier than ensuring each linksheet file name matches the xml title name.

One off-topic question regarding thumbnails, has anyone looked at or seen any difference in either speed or quality  between using the .metathumb extension and the .jpg extension.  Just curious if this makes any difference to performance.

95

" … One off-topic question regarding thumbnails, has anyone looked at or seen any difference in either speed or quality  between using the .metathumb extension and the .jpg extension.  Just curious if this makes any difference to performance…"

I think the quality of the cached .metathumbs is not as good as png/jpegs files, because they are (too much) compressed.

Another interesting area:

The home screen , rv_home.xml

  • What about using linksheets there, too ?

An amazing design (for me, perhaps others, too) would be a music fanart wallpaper of the actual playing band as a dynamic backround. 

Scorpions-home.jpg
Scorpions-home.jpg1280×720 91.1 KB

Well this one is just an example, I cheated for illustration with a static “background” of the SETUP.

I have tried the variables 

@@browse_text

@@focused_title

… but there is no positive result. The variables don’t seem to work on rv_home.xml.

Does anyone have an idea about this ?

96

Yes, the quality of the .metathumbs aren’t as good as .jpgs.  Not really an issue of being compressed, but how their compressed.

I have tried the variables 

@@browse_text

@@focused_title

… but there is no positive result. The variables don’t seem to work on rv_home.xml.

 

Does anyone have an idea about this ?

Haven’t gotten that far yet, but I doubt that you can use those variables as they are most likely not recognized by the xml.  You would have to use either “@@album_name” or “@@artist”.

Like I said, I haven’t made it that far in development, but it should be possible. It’s just more difficult for music than for videos because music is dependent on tagging.

97

yeah, you’d have to use whatever @@variable of text is displayed on screen for music now playing

could be @@album_name or @@artist or any other music tag @@Song_name etc …

as for rv_home.xml it’self, have’t seen a reason to test anything on it yet

but that’s how I created eyecandy on the prior boxes, linking images this way to menu name value’s

98

Hhm, I have tried the whole day … so far haven’t found a solution to the original question for rv_home.xml

I tried rv_home.xml with “@@album_name” , “@@artist” and “@@songname” :cry:

But I got at least one working linksheet on album_playback.xml with “@@album_name”,

the same Joey already found out and posted about 50 messages before me.

It seems we can only have access to the music variables (via the tags in mp3 files) with media lib turned “ON” , so also music “linksheets” only seem to work with libary “ON”.

99

-note: I’m at work, can’t look at it now-

for rv_home.xml does it have a the song name displayed on screen or something

it’s wherever that @@variable is pulling from

could be one of the included xml’s

besides that, I would test with library OFF, first

media library caching causes all sorts of problems, IMHO

also be sure to delete all .wd_tv folders, yes, even with library off, and cleared media library, it will likely still pull from that cache

then you have to determine the correct naming for the sheets

could be songname or filename, this would be prefered

but it’s possible that it might follow the tags inside the mp3 files

so far, I’ve only managed to get linksheets to work when it’s displaying a file name

so similar to how in the movie xml’s can’t exist

I’d guess the mp3 might need to be stripped of there tags

100

Thanks for your “intermediate” information from work, KAD79…

Yes , according to the “” I have tried the filename.

This , with libary “OFF” is also my preferred szenario.

But regarding the correct filename I have some doubts now …

I tried with “holiday.jpg” and “holiday” for the music file “holiday.mp3” ,

continueing tomorrow …