Theme Question

Thanks again for the quick responses.  I did manage to find it elsewhere, but I wanted to make sure I had the most recent to go along with the version of mochi in the latest release.  I’m very familiar with XML, but not really sure of the purpose of the meta.xml file.  I guess I’ll figure it out with more research, I am just stumped as it is required if I just want to make subtle change to a theme.  Maybe it’s describing what theme the change applies to?  Just throwing out guesses here.

I’m also wondering if I’m asking an illegal question regarding how you and others are downloading it from your SMP’s as I’ve asked it twice now and no one has responded :slight_smile: Either that or it is just a dumb question…I don’t know :slight_smile:

I just download the GPL Code Package which Western Digital makes available in the downloads page :smiley:

http://support.wd.com/product/download.asp?groupid=1011&sid=161&lang=en

and extract the Legacy theme xml and graphics files  (which is perfectly legal) :smiley:

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Thanks again!  I will definitely check that out.

I assumed you guys also had a way you were actually accessing the file system of the SMP.  I come from a world that I’ve only used XBMC for the last 15 years or so, all on linux and before that on the original hacked XBOX itself.  So I was assuming there were ways you were accessing it outside of building custom firmware or utilizing the expoit script I’ve also read about.

Thanks again for helping out a WDTV newbie…but by now means a newbie to the hobby :slight_smile:

nmiller0113 wrote:

I assumed you guys also had a way you were actually accessing the file system of the SMP.

 

 

I’m pretty sure that’s how KAD79 is doing it 

 

(but the GPL Code Package contains a lot more graphics… havent checked wether there are more xml’s)

 

Download both mine and KADs links and compare the size and difference

 

 

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Yeah, your download is over double in size than his.  So I’m confused how that could be, but just do to my understanding of how this all ties together still.  If he’s downloading his straight from the SMP built from the same source your pulling yours from, why would yours have more graphics than his?  Is it just that his download didn’t include it even though all those graphics are still on his SMP?  I can’t make sense of why his wouldn’t include all those graphics.

I hope KAD responds as to how he does his download as well as I’d really like to know all my options and ways to browse the file system.  Thanks!

yes, I gain cmd line access, then copy everything

actually the first time I did this I used the cp command

http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Streaming/Attention-Themers-1-12-14-Mochi-OSD/m-p/499030#M13953

cp is very straight forward and resolves all symlinks

the second time I did this I used rsync

http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Streaming/Stock-OSD-Mochi-2-01-86/m-p/642509#M25988

this has good and bad

good is it’s a more accurate representation of exactly what is required

the bad, rsync does not resolve symlinks, instead I provided a list of symlinks and a word of caution about compatibility

symlinks don’t present a problem for anybody runing a linux distro, but symlinks are not supported in windows

symlinks also reduce the size of the osd, as they allow only needing 1 copy of each image

and if they are used in multiple places the symlinks, just point back to the original image reducing the size fo the archive

additionally, in the GPL code I’ve never looked, but I suspect there’s probably additional images which are not actually used, but that themer’s may find useful for developing their custom theme’s

in the future, I think I should try to remember to use cp

because, it will be more themer friendly, assuming that majority of themer’s are using a windows based OS

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Definitely familiar with symlinks.  That all makes perfect sense.

Care to share how you’re getting cli access :slight_smile: I’d definitely appreciate it!

Thanks again for the detailed response btw!

you’ve got some options for cmd line

easiest is a firmware I put out

http://forum.wdlxtv.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=8707

it’s beta, but very stable with no known bugs, other than bugs existing in official firmware

some of your other options includes b-rads alpha firmware, but is based on older firmware and is bug ridden

another option is to google SMP root exploit and you’ll get lots of hits about how to relatively easily gain root access while running an official firmware

note - I say relatively easy, I mean for somebody that is familiar with linux cmd line

most windows users, will probably be lost

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Man, you guys sure know how to make a WDTV newbie feel welcome.  Great answers and detail from all of you!  I have plenty of options.  I may go the exploit route, but your firmware does look impressive.  My reason for going this route was because the wife was sick of dealing with the little issues we’d always get from my 15 years of working with XBMC.  So I went to plex next and still had some issues.  Read some good things about WDTV so I thought I’d give it a shot, running stock firmware :slight_smile:

So far I’m very impressed with the latest SMP firmware and the built in scraper for all my movies.  It generated all the XML’s and placed them in my movie folder on my filer’s NFS share.  I believe these are called moviesheets??  I’ve read a TON about moviesheets vs. linksheets but don’t think I’ve got a full grasp on them or the meaning yet.  I read your post  http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Hub-Themes/Moviesheet-vs-linksheet-vs-whatever/td-p/543891 and it gave a good description between the two, though all the information I’ve read seems to overlap in some ways.  One way is I don’t understand why you’d need programs, like thumbgen to create moviesheets when the built in scraper seems to do a great job.  I also don’t understand why linksheets are faster as everything I’ve read makes me think they are XML files as well, just placed in the theme root rather than with the movies themselves.  All the XML files in my moviesheets just have links to external artwork and whatnot, so if linksheets are still XML’s wouldn’t that be the same?  Or do linksheets point to something local and that is why there 30MB limit comes into play, because I couldn’t imagine a bunch of small XML files could fill 30MB that quickly.

Maybe I’m just way off base in my thinking or followings…I’ll keep reading and likely post these questions in another thread as I wouldn’t want to get this one too off topic.  Anyway…thank you again for all your help!

nmiller0113 wrote:

Man, you guys sure know how to make a WDTV newbie feel welcome.  Great answers and detail from all of you! 

 

 One way is I don’t understand why you’d need programs, like thumbgen to create moviesheets when the built in scraper seems to do a great job.  I also don’t understand why linksheets are faster as everything I’ve read makes me think they are XML files as well, just placed in the theme root rather than with the movies themselves.  All the XML files in my moviesheets just have links to external artwork and whatnot, so if linksheets are still XML’s wouldn’t that be the same?  Or do linksheets point to something local and that is why there 30MB limit comes into play, because I couldn’t imagine a bunch of small XML files could fill 30MB that quickly.

 

1) You could use Thumbgen to create sheets that are specific to a theme, by using a template for that theme.

2) Linkhseets are JPGs not XMLs. They can be faster since they are always physically on the device, while the XMLs are wherever your movies are stored. Also the XMLs files need to be used to dynamically build what you see on the screen and call external files, while the linksheet being a JPG has already been created and is ready to go.

3) The 30MBs come into play with Linksheets since as JPGs that are 1280x720, they take up around 250k or more depending on the sheet. If you have a lot of movie and or TV episodes, you would fill up the space that is left in the 30MBs (after the theme itself) pretty quickly.

Good Luck

-P

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nmiller0113 wrote:

  All the XML files in my moviesheets just have links to external artwork and whatnot, so if linksheets are still XML’s wouldn’t that be the same?  Or do linksheets point to something local and that is why there 30MB limit comes into play, because I couldn’t imagine a bunch of small XML files could fill 30MB that quickly.

 

Maybe I’m just way off base in my thinking or followings…I’ll keep reading and likely post these questions in another thread as I wouldn’t want to get this one too off topic.  Anyway…thank you again for all your help!

Linksheets do not generate or need xml files for the theme to see them.  It is the linksheets that have to be placed in the theme folder on the usb drive that require the disk space.

The only xml files required are the ones in the actual theme.

Cheers

ps Pearl beat me to the reply

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well moviesheets and linksheets are very similiar

the term linksheets actually comes from a prior device, where in order to display moviesheets at all, custom firmware was needed and was accomplished by a script called linksheets, which created symlinks pointing to the moviesheets

fast fwd to new device and new options

why thumbgen, well it was always the defacto standard for WD moviesheets, but as already said prior devices required custom firmware, so there was no internal scapping engine

with the current SMP you have a couple of different components depending on the theme

xml data, some theme’s display xml data, this is a text based overlay

and if using the media library, it also allows sorting by these text based entries

things like actor, genre, year, etc …

some theme’s don’t display xml data at all

there’s where thumbgen is able to burn this data into the .jpg moviesheet

so while it’s not searchable/sortable it does get displayed when you see the moviesheet

thumbgen also allows for template design

which is way many themer’s will remove the xml entries from their themes

this means users should use thumbgen to create the moviesheets

but allows the themer to create a customized look for moviesheets that will match their theme

most people tend to prefer this, customized streamlined look

as for linksheets on the SMP

this is achieved by adding some theme entries

so when using linksheets you must select a theme that supports linksheets

and while it’s possible to use xml’s with linksheets the normal recommended way is that you delete all xml files

and rely soley on the WD’s abiliyt to display a .jpg

the limitation on SMP is that maximum theme 30MB

and all those .jpg linksheets that you create have to go inside the theme

it’s pretty common for the theme itself to take 15 - 20MB

so you’re left with approx 10MB div by size of the .jpg’s and you run out of room very quickly

why are linksheets faster, they don’t rely on the photo slideshow function

there’s no 1 - 2 second delay for them to be displayed

they are displayed immediately

edit: and you both beat me :laughing:

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And that’s where my blocker, as far as understanding the difference, was.  For some reason I thought I read earlier that linksheets were XML’s as well.  This makes sense as to why they are faster and also why the 30MB limit comes into play.  A linksheet is just a jpg with all the information displayed in that single file / picture.

Since I’m using the latest standard firmware and default mochi in gallery view with media library turned on and the internal scraper are the XML’s being generated considered moviesheets still?  And last, but not least, do the links in the XML’s have to be to external jpg files?  I only ask because it appears from everything I’ve read on thumbgen it downloads those which in my opinion would definitely be faster if the jpg’s were stored locally my movie files on my NFS shares.

Wow…I replied back and had three more replies with some EXCELLENT detail.  You guys really do rock!  Thanks again!

KAD79 wrote:

 

edit: and you both beat me :laughing:

Nothing like a good healthy competition to see who can be helpful first. Not something you see on a lot of forums these days :smileyvery-happy:

Ready, Set, Goooooooooo

-P

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a moviesheet or a linksheet

is the .jpg image usually 1280 x 720

the xml’s are just xml’s that point to a moviesheet

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LOL

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Just to throw a spanner into the works :smileyvery-happy:

A Linksheet can also be a PNG image.

In my testing on the WDTV Live Hub they appear to be faster and more responsive compared to JPG (i sent Pearl this little test folder … although he wasn’t getting the significant speed increase i was … overall he did agree)

Here’s a comparison Theme and Test Folder:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/51901g0omi3quuo/SPEEDTEST.7z

One big problem with PNG (easily solved) is … When using Thumbgen to generate PNG Moviesheets it does not use any Compression !

PNG Linksheets of a size of 1MB and over will not Display (Thumbgen typically generates 2+MB PNG Moviesheets)

However, batch processing these Moviesheets using Irfanview reduces them back to 300-500kb

A Before and After Comparision:

2.44MB PNG MOVIESHEET BACKDROP (Thumbgen)

510KB PNG MOVIESHEET BACKDROP (Post Processed with Irfanview)

Lastly, here’s a “speedtest” video of  something i was tinkering with…

PNG Linksheets 1280x610 … WDTV Live Hub Firmware 2.07.17

(60MB HD MKV Video+Sound) http://www.mediafire.com/download/v74pjsdgfgtggq2/AeonishMkII.mkv

Another “Design” benefit on PNG Linksheets is Aplha Transparency (Thumbgen template using seldom used “Bitmap Masks”)

png’s, I like it :slight_smile:

this could easily allow themer’s to create some very interesting layering effects

another piece of WD history

why were moviesheets always traditionally .jpg

because average .png size is very large by comparison (although joey demonstrates ,they can be shrunk down)

original WD Live and Live Plus supported moviesheets/linksheets up to a maximum size of 500KB

Ok I have spent a little time playing with this now.

Is there anyway to fix a backgroud with this Theme and not use my selected one shown on all the other WD TV views ?

I single coulour would be fine IE BLACK

I notice some times it shows a Black border around some of the cover art where is this in teh XMl so I can remove it ?