Darklight for SMP (Beta) - (UPDATED 9/10/2012)

WD Legacy Products WD TV Themes
41

I am not sure how to get any lower, because if I push Select the movie just starts… and they are all in their own folders, shared on a network and in “My Media Library”… I can’t get any “lower” so to speak?

Edit: Ok I see what you are talking about now. If you click the “Green” (Left most) button, you can set the “Filter” to “Folder” sorting, even though it is still “My Media Library” and not the “Files” from the main menu… it is not using (at first glance) the reflective posters (thumbnails). However… why anyone would really WANT to use Folder view is almost beyond me. I would much rather have all of my files appearing “Virtually” in one collection/library, and be allowed to sort via Genre, search by words etc… and all the rest, instead of limiting myself to physical folders (which serve no real purpose if you can sort by Genre)… anyways… I do now see what you say about it not working in the Filtered “Folder” view of “My Media Library”, and it is a shame… but not a deal breaker, at least not for me!  :wink:

42

How’s you file stucture?  Also, I asked before but you haven’t answered.  What is you movie format, DVD format or a differnent format like (avi, mkv, mp4, etc.)?

I’m not doubting you, I’m just trying to get to the bottom of why you seem to be able see meta and backdrops on folders and no one else can.

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43

Ok, I see what’s happening now.

The reason people would want movies in folders is to not have them dumped all in one big pile.  If someone has like me who has well over 300 movies, then you don’t want to have to scroll through 150 just til’ you get to the “R’s”.  It’s much easier and cleaner to have you movies sort in Genre folders.  And yes you can sort by  Genre.  But why would you need to and why would you need to have each movie in it’s on seperate folder.  If you have them sorted by Genre folders, going from one Genre to another is just a back click away.

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44

No no… I can’t see them at folder level, those little locks proved it. (I did just edit my last post btw). And I did answer about my file types, grin, they are just regular .avi rips and once in awhile a .mkv rip. Nothing special by any means. As for file structure, I have perhaps 8 folders that are spread across my network, USB drive and NAS drive that simply hold movies all in their own folders, Shrek (2002)\Shrek (2002).avi   for example.  After a few days of reading threads and posts about what does NOT work and what cannot be done… I was just supprised I made some progress, sadly it is only in areas that I guess already worked for people using SMP’s, but perhaps they are not all aware of exactly what they can do because they read so much about what does not work for Gen 3… Frankly… now that I have movie sheets working I just need a HD TV to make it worthwile. If I could figure out how to manage everything for Media Browser and the WD TV SMP with one program I would be golden, but so far still using both MCM and TG.

45

See I DO want them all in one pile, because the software (generally) lets you either word search or Genre sort etc. So physically they are in differant locations, but virtually all in the same collection and that is where the true power of .XML and Metadata comes in… it lets you sort your files virtually without having to physically move them into Genre folders. – Granted I do use folders, but I use them in a totally diff. way… I use them for quality of the rips, ie. a dvd vs a blueray, I keep them seperate until I replace that dvd rip with a blueray rip. So many programs don’t like to easily leave things like [BR] or [DVD]  etc in the titles… they just seem to want Filename (Year).avi so for me at least it made the most sense while still allowing me to keep track of what I want to upgrade.

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46

Yes, and that is your choice.  But many like me don’t want them in a pile so we seperate them by Genre folders. 

But that’s a matter of choice, also no matter how you do it, you still can’t have the meta and backdrops display if your movies are in DVD format, so for those people it isn’t a solution anyway.

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47

Of course, it is every users choice until the software can actually do what we all want at the same time. :wink: But when a program can virtually join or sort files (ie. My Media Library, or Windows “Video” folder - to compile) why would the average person work twice as hard to seperate their files into limited single Genre folders instead of using the Metadata tags they have worked so hard to scrape for their files? As a side note, if you take 1,000 video files and slam them into one folder, vs single folders for each .avi (movie) file, windows loads that main folder a LOT slower and slams your PC trying to generate images and find out the specs on those files.  If you really think about it, it is like building a bridge but then throwing a rope across and climbing over a revine with that and ignoring the bridge. Use what the software lets us… then figure out workarounds (or recode) for what it doesn’t, but my gosh people, don’t use software only to ignore what it allows you to do and make more work for yourself!

But hey, I don’t want to step on toes, upset anyone… I am just grateful to find a forum that is making some progress towards what everyone wants in the end. ;)  It just kills me to see people use/write/contribute to a software/code base and then not use what they have been given while wanting more that they might not even need once they learn how to use that same program/code base. But it all comes down to personal coice and perspective, I suppose.

Speaking frankly for myself personally, I would love to see WD TVL SMP able to be updated for standalone use by the same program I can use to update Media Browser for Windows Media Center so that both my PC and my TV match without having to spend hours or days sorting, tweaking, and redoing things over and over just to learn the ins and outs of both while trying to use programs like ThumbGen and Media Center Master (both great) just to do what I would have hoped the WDTVL SMP and Media Browser would have done by default. :frowning: If all … 4? companies/authors could get together for a couple weekends, hammer out some standards and make things work together, my goodness… just imagine it. :slight_smile: – Assuming that WD is on board and actually makes some changes to the platform. :stuck_out_tongue:

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48

One quick question, just a stray thought really… but if themes are nothing more then well edited .xml files with associated image files etc… how is it that the folder view can not be modified to suit whatever desires movie lumping/dumping (into one folder) people seem to want? Doesn’t each view have it’s own XML files and “rules” so to speak as to what is displayed, how it’s displayed… etc? Does it come down to some file is just not edited or structured correctly in the themes to place the correct files in the proper places to display? I am not trying to sound like a jerk, I just hate to give up and now this issue has me thinking :stuck_out_tongue: If it works in “Gallery View” of “My Media Library”, then simply sorting to another view like “Folder view” but still within “My Media Library” would seem to point to a faultly .XML… perhaps one that the end user can not edit without uploading a new skin version, but I bet you WD sure can even if we can’t :stuck_out_tongue:

49

Well, this has gotten off topic.  But to answer your question, first, the SMP/HUB is firmware based not software based and there are no “programs” involved.  Second, I don’t know where you would get that it involves any more work to add files to Genre folders or that it is in anyway limiting, since no matter how you structure your files, you still have the same options to search/sort your files (the xml data is still there, so it’s not a limitation).

“As a side note, if you take 1,000 video files and slam them into one folder, vs single folders for each .avi (movie) file, windows loads that main folder a LOT slower and slams your PC trying to generate images and find out the specs on those files.”

No, for one it’s not like a PC, for another, you are already doing basically the same thing (acutally worse, because you are telling the SMP to ignore your folder structure and use a virtual structure) by filtering it to “All”.   And when you filter by one Genre you are still doing the same thing as if all the movies in that genre were in one folder, except the SMP actually has to look at every xml file to find that genre you are filtering by.   And you are already using what the firmware allows you to do by filtering by “Folder”, so I’m not seeing where you see that it is something other than that.  Because, as I stated, no matter how you structure you files the same options are there, even though mine are seperated by genre folders I can still filter by  ALL, GENRE, etc., my folder structure does not limit that.

Also, here’s another thing to consider, many people want to sort there movies by whether they are standard def or BD.  This is something that can be done via folder filtering, but when you filter by all, genre, etc. they all get dumped together.

To answer your theming question. No, you can’t modify the folder view to suit what you want.  This is because there is no way to modify how folders are displayed alone.  Folders & files are linked together, so what ever you do for one is what is set for the other.  The problem though is not in how the theme xml’s are designed, but with how the firmware handles the varibles and with difference in how it handles folder and files.   So there is no way to change that within the theme itself.

But to get back on topic and as it’s been known for along time, you CAN NOT display meta and backdrops for folder.  Which was all I was concerned about to begin with.

50

Quick question.  How do I get the backdrops to be static?  At first Thumbgen was generating an XML with two backdrops.  The normal one, and the cover art.  I deleted the cover art backdrop from the XML but now it just animates the one backdrop.  I went through the WD options didn’t see anything that would relate to this.  Is this just a theme setting?

51

You can’t actually make the backdrops static.  The best you can do is make them semi-static.

To do this, on the HUB, select Setup, then select Photo Settings.  In the Photo Settings menu, select “Slideshow Transition” and set it to “Fade”, then select “Slideshow Interval Time” and set it for “5 minutes”.

Unless you are going to stay looking at one file more than 5 min. you want see the backdrop ever display anything but the main moviesheet in the meta xml.

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52

Hi just have a quick question on the genre thing i have like 20 movies on my harddrive all with movie sheets but when i go to view them by genre most of them are coming up as other only afew show up in their genres ,is that a movie sheet thing or smp problem???

Thanks

53

Ok, I’m not sure that you were clear in your question.  Are you having a moviesheet issue or a genre filtering issue?

If your asking why movies aren’t showing up in the their genre when you filter them that way, this is most likely due to how the meta xml is configured.  The SMP will only filter the first genre, it does not take into account the multiple genres that are in the xml.  So when you filter by genre it will place the files in the genre that is list first in the xml.

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54

Thanks for replying I understand so I have to change the XML order of the genres…

Thanks

55

Yep.

56

Thanks for the quick reply to my question, kudos to you good sir. :stuck_out_tongue:

Just tried to download the icons that you posted here.  Mediafire says invalid file.  You take that down?

57

Try it now, I’ve been having trouble with mediafire the last couple of days, but the link should be working now.

58

First of all, many thanks for creating this theme Tinwarble, it looks great.  It would look even better if I could get it working properly.

I’m not exactly sure how to generate cover boxes.  I’ve copied the “TW No Cover Box_SMP 194X369” folder to the \ThumbGen 1.2.10.0\Templates folder.   In the Moviesheet Editor section of Thumbgen I can see the Cover Box template from the dropdown menu along with the Darklight Moviesheet template.  I can generate a moviesheet with the Darklight template but I don’t know what to do with the Cover Box template.

I thought I might be able to choose the Darklight template, generate my moviesheet and then select the Cover Box temple to generate the coverbox.  When I did that I ended up with the main moviesheet as my cover box when viewed on the SMP.

I’ve obviously gone very wrong somewhere.

TIA

59

When in the movie sheet editor, click on the spare sheet tab and select  the “TW No Cover Box_SMP 194X369” from the drop down list - i think thats the step your missing.

Ray

60

@Mutt72,

Use the tutorial here: http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Hub-Themes/Video-Tutorials-nOOb-Centeral/m-p/283846/highlight/true#M4559

It will show you everything that you need to do to generate all the info you need.  This tutorial is for my Mojo theme, but everything is the same except for using the moviesheets and coverboxes for Darklight and generating the coverboxes as jpg, not png.