Apologies if this has been covered somewhere else. I have searched the forums without any success.
Just a little background;
1. I am running the current firmware 1.12??
2. I have three hard drives connect to the player via an USB hub
What I have done is play around with the .wd_tv cache folder to get the screens below (I know it takes time for the images to be approved). JoeySmyth has told me to open up a flickr account - sorry mate but I haven’t had time to look into how to do it yet.
I want the folder thumbnails/posters to be able to do the same. What I have found is when you delete one of the files that relates to a particular folder in the cache, the player replaces all files that relates to that folder when it caches them again (unlike when you delete a file connected with a movie file).
I want it to able achieve that it shows the poster as it is now and show the letter down the bottom.
Thanks mate, but I took your first suggestion in the other post and signed up to Flickr.
However, I believe the pictures above have already been approved and are displaying. From now on I will provide links as well as pictures within the post.
I hope that now the pictures are displaying, it makes what I typed make sense.
What I have done is make the thumbnail size 1280 x 500 in the rv_gallery_browse xml. What I have been able to for movie and TV show files is make a file movie.jpg then have the SMP cache that thumbnail. Then I go into the .wd_tv file and delete the 1280 x 500 thumb. I then make a different movie.jpg and have the SMP cache that. That is how I get the first screenshot. I personally don’t like backdrops as it makes the information to hard to read.
I don’t have xmls for the movie data - it’s all on the 1280 x 500 poster.
I know it’s a little tedious but what I have found is the scrolling and displaying is instantaneous. It’s a bit of work to start off with but as I add movies it only takes about five minutes to do.
The problem I am having is the folder thumbnails. When I do the above for the folder.jpg thumb the SMP will replace all the thumbs in the .wd_tv cache. I don’t seem to able to have different thumbs in the cache for the different size thumbs like you can for the movie/TV show thumbs.
I have even tried to go into the thumb file within the cache and just modify it but that does not work either.
I understand that this may be a firmware issue but is there a ‘workaround’ for this?
From your description, it sounds like your trying to make trickle sheets.
But what it seems you are trying to do, you are going about it the long way around. Are you using Thumbgen or manual making your sheet? You can’t have a thumb and a sheet, deleting anything in the cache replaces what it will display (ie: you can’t have a thumb and a sheet display).
There are 2 ways to do what you want, both involve changing the line in “rv_gallery_browse_page.xml” to this:
This will disable the backdrop.
Then either use a actual thumb for the thumbnail & poster and metadata xml (this is easier on the SMP and gives you the same view).
At the moment I am making the sheets through microsoft publisher. I am only doing this as I was just mucking around to start off with. I have only made about 10 this way just to see what happens.
I have tried to download thumbgen in the last few days and it won’t start up - I suppose that is another issue. I will get on the thumbgen forum regarding that one soon.
With the cache the way it is at the moment, I don’t have any thumbnail files next to the movie files within the folders that I am experimenting with. Within the movie folders are the movie files only. Once the SMP has cached the thumbs, I move the thumb files to my computer hard drive. The first screen shot is still working.
I only have a very general understanding of the methods that are talked about on the forums eg Cover trickle. I know that I should probably look these up and familiarise myself with them more but I am just experimenting at the moment with my very limited knowledge and experience. Maybe I am using the cover trickle method and not even realising???
I suppose you could say that I am trying to learn this the hard way. I thought if I do it this way I will not get lazy and just upload someone else’s theme and be done with it. I actually want to contribute something. Maybe one day I will be able to offer other people advice about this product.
I am trying not to take up too much of yours, or anybody else’s time for that matter, asking a thousand questions ( or dribbling on in posts like I feel that I have been). However, I am very grateful for any help offered.
I have been looking up the linksheet methods. Can you use linksheets for folders?
The way my SMP is set up I would only need them for folders (this may let me get around the 30MB limit issue). As I have said in the above post I can manipulate the .wd_tv folder for the other sheets such as the movie files as I have the HDD connect to the SMP via an USB hub (no NAS).
I have read that they may be able to get around the 30MB eventually with a stable firmware but this could be some months away.
No Probs, i’ve posted an explanation of Linksheets a few times… Here’s a cut’n’paste of info if you missed it.
This is how Linksheets Work:
SHEETS FOR FILES: Rename the Moviesheet with a File Extension that matches your Movie File. eg. If you have… Watchmen.mkv then Rename your Moviesheet to Watchmen.mkv then cut and paste it into your Theme Folder.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SHEETS FOR FOLDERS: Rename the Moviesheet with NO File Extension eg. If you have… MYMOVIES folder then Rename your Moviesheet to MYMOVIES then cut and paste it into your Theme Folder. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The File Path to Place Moviesheets is the Root of your Theme folder (ie. where all the XML files are) .wd_tv\theme\My Theme\ [Place Movie/LinkSheets here]
I have got it working! In order not to go over the 30MB limit I have linksheets for the folders and as I said above, I have played around witht he .wd_tv folder for the files. I can do this as I have the HDDs connect to the SMP via an USB hub. This is just a little work around until it is possible to load more than 30MB.
I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank you for your help.
I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Tinwarble and KAD79 for their information.
If you would like I will post up some screen shots (and links) of what I have done when it is finished (I still have not been able to get thumbgen to work so I am using microsft publisher and have written a macro to part fill it out).
It is a very basic ‘mini theme’ though but this does keep the size of the file down.
Can folder sheets get working on SMP’s without custom firmware? I have a Gen 3 and not going to use Brad’s until it’s been weel tested and working fully.
@PGRated, what exactly are you achieving by playing with the .wd_tv folder? Is this how to get it working…hmmm off to look…
Can folder sheets get working on SMP’s without custom firmware? I have a Gen 3 and not going to use Brad’s until it’s been weel tested and working fully.
@PGRated, what exactly are you achieving by playing with the .wd_tv folder? Is this how to get it working…hmmm off to look…
yes, it’s possible
look at the scripts b-rad put together
instead of runing his exact scripts
run the cmds to spawn telnet session while running official firmware
once you’re into telnet you have 2 choices
1 symlink all your moviesheets to the correct name and location
2 set the theme path variable to point to a theme located on a thumbdrive
Do you have your HDDs connected directly to your player?
This method will not work if you do not have your HDDs connected up to the player via USB (in other words this method cannot be achieved if you ‘stream’ your media).
There are posts about this - this is how I found out about it - but I cannot for the life of me find those posts now.
@PGRated I have a Go Flex Home NAS connected to my router and the SMP is also connected to the router (both wired to the router). Does this make a difference? I don’t use a thumbdrive for my Themes…I upload them directly as .zips using the web interface.
Playing around with the .wd_tv folder isn’t theme related.
What happens is when you have your HDD with your media on it plugged directly into your player via USB the player caches your thumbs into a .wd_tv folder that is placed on your HDD. This is the folder that the SMP will use to display your thumbs. This is the folder that I play around with.
When you have your media files streamed, the player caches the thumbs onto its own memory. However, this type of caching is only temporary as once the memory is full it deletes the cached thumbs from its memory to make way for thumbs that you are currently using.
I am only using this method at the moment to overcome the issue of having a limit of 30MB on my SMP for themes. I am using linksheets for the folders (these linksheets are very basic) and these form part of the 30MB.
Once (I should say if - but I am thinking positively) it is possible to load a theme greater than 30MB onto my SMP I will probably not do it this way anymore and just use linksheets.
I assume the lines of xml code is there as I am using the latest Mamba theme (well modified graphics but haven’t removed code only added some).
I can’t get into the root of the theme. I think that’s where my problem lies. I need to read about it on WDTVLX. It’s been a while since I Telnetted into anything.
