WDLXTV - Moviesheets Vs Linksheets

Braumeister wrote:

If you got a NEW WD TV Live then I assume it is the SMP.

Thanks for your reply.  I have no idea what SMP is?  I’m assuming ‘streaming media player’?  All I know is it’s brand new and was bought to connect to my NAS and my network as my old TviX-6500 wasn’t up to the job.

JoeySmyth wrote:

Sounds like you have an SMP (and the only way to automatically generate Moviesheets is to use Thumbgen. Which is gonna take an awful lot and time and effort for 2000 movies/tv shows) 


I was hoping you weren’t going to say that! It’s gonna take even longer when we’re looking at a lot more files that 2000. (more like 5x that.)


JoeySmyth wrote:Also sounds like you were refering to " Moviesheets+"   which is homebrew software and only works on older devices*> * * *
Yep, Moviesheets+ - that’s it. Typical of my luck - only working with older devices. Thanks for the head’s up.> * * *
JoeySmyth wrote:

 

*

 

 

If your device does not look like this … then you’re in the wrong forum.

SMP Forum here: http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Streaming/bd-p/streaming_discussions

    • *No, my device looks more like this.> > Thanks. A Mod moved my thread to this forum - but in fairness, I wasn’t aware of the difference of SMP and the older device either. Do I ask a Mod to move it again or is it something I can do myself?

 

pearl wrote:> Agreed, but hopefully you have your naming convention down really clean.> * * *
My naming convention is uniform throughout all 10,000+ files I have.  i.e. ‘Homeland - 03x01 - Tin Man is Down’> > * * *

pearl wrote:Once I corrected that, I was ablet to really just let TG go and it did a pretty good job for 85-90% of the stuff on it’s own, and then I could just check them an clean up the incorrect ones.


What the bleep is TG?

pearl wrote:> Lastly, I eventually got turned onto TGMD files that get made for each video and hold the metadata. That has been the true save for me on this whole thing now. Once everything was correct, now I can just tell TG to run from the TGMD files and it will work perfectly on it’s own while I am at work or sleeping. A great tool.

Eh?  Was that English :)  “TG to run from the TGMD files”?

pearl wrote:>  

Get the naming straight (check thumbgen.org for info on that) and have TG make the metadata files when it runs. Then when you want to change themes, it will be a breeze in automated mode and they will all come out how you with the correct movies and TV Series names and episodes.

Sounds like what I’m after, but can you elaborate a little - me being the FNG n’all?

JoeySmyth wrote:

theRenamer works pretty good to *clean* movie / tv show filenames (and it’s free) :smiley:

 

for automatic scraping of … Movie Info / Posters /  Fanart / Actors / Boxsets etc  XBMC is still “The King” :wink:

Thanks for the tips (and links).  theRenamer seems fine and I’ll look up Thumbgen for more info on how files should be named - if all of mine are not sufficient.

Looking at XBMC - it appears to be it’s own software media player - i.e. no real need for a WDTV Live.  It’s open source and can run on media PC, windows, Linux, Mac, etc.  No doubt a very good piece of kit (and award winning), but given that I shelled out for a WDTV, I’d prefer to run with something designed specifically for that - rather than running open source software throughout my entire network.

What the bleep is TG?

it’s an abbreviation … just like SMP (Streaming Media Player)  TG = (ThumbGen)

 

Eh?  Was that English   “TG to run from the TGMD files”?

http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Hub-Themes/Is-metadata-tgmd-needed-for-properly-show-moviesheets/m-p/328573/highlight/true#M5578 

Just a reminder … if you go the “Linksheet” path i hope you are aware the SMP is crippled with a 30MB limit for Linksheets ? 

There is beta / homebrew available and telnet hacks to bypass this

(but i know nothing about that stuff because i own a HUB  (WDTV Live Hub) which doesent have the 30MB limitation for Linksheets)

Thanks for that JS.

Note sure which avenue to take now.  thought the whole Moviesheets+ thing was the answer, but due to my player/streamer, it’s obviously not.  Just tried ‘theRenamer’ on two folders just to see what would happen.  It changed ‘Homeland - 03x01 - Tin Man is Down’ to ‘Homeland.S03E01.Tin Man is Down’ (which I hate, but can live with).

I then went into my setting and changed the ‘get info’ settings to auto & manual (at different times) to see if my WDTV would automatically get any info at all on the file - but Zilch is happened?

so I’ve now got a renamed file to the S01E06 type format which I hate, but I’m still getting no info.  i.e. Read in another section of this forum ( http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Streaming/Automatic-Get-Content-Info-No-Longer-Works/td-p/601167) that the WDTV should be able to pull some form of info from sites like IMDB, TVDB, etc. on its own without even worrying about this Thumbgen and Moviesheets melarky. 

And is it just me or has the latest FW 2.01.86 just screwed everything up?  My WDTV was working fine until it updated, now it NEVER remembers by network password and it continually keeps changing my screen output on boot-up.  i.e. Always previously set to 1080p (50Hz), whereas now my startup screen has a pink hue and it’s either 480p or 720p.  When I go to ‘force’ 1080p settings, it says my Tv is not compatible?  (I have a brand new 65" 1080p 3D Smart TV and had no issues with this or my share password before the latest 2.01.86 FW update!)

well going a little off topic from Moviesheets / Linksheets i’m not sure what to advise…

i lost my content scraper (on the HUB) after the TMDB changed their API  (i just use TG to do that now for me … on the HUB at least … yes i got the PINK Screen issue several times with latest firmware … rolled back and it has never been an issue since)

It’s probably a HDMI handshake issue which can probably be solved if you set the Resolution to “AUTO”

(personally though, i prefer setting things manually … as i saw some micro-jitters on some movies, setting to a Manual setting resolved it)

just my 2 cents … when scraping TV SHOW’s did you change the *MetaSource* to the TVDB ?

eg. video_playback_metadata_change_scraper_f.png

Lastly if you’re having grief with the latest firmware … you could always try rolling back :neutral_face:

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5860

Thanks again for your reply.

To be straight up, I don’t even know if there was a ‘manual’ with my WDTV Live - but I should probably flick through it.  Usually I breeze through these things and normally throw away all manuals.  I’m not an IT dude, but I did build my own PC and set up my entire Smarthomes Network with a couple of miles of Cat6.  Anyway, I say that because on the WDTV, there only seems to be one default metasource.  When I try to look for another one, it says something about not content connected or available, as if it’s looking for a USB drive or stick?  So I’ll have to figure that out.

I’ve just fooled around with TG for a few seconds and developed a gen or moviesheet (whatever it’s called for a season of say Homeland.  All is fine and I can see it on the WDTV Live when I head down to my conema room, but I don’t really see the point at the image on-screen is the size of a matchbox and despite changing the ‘view’, it’s never going to be full screen and readable.  (Hence where I thought the custom FW’s would come into play?)  Ooo yeah, and TG generated a jpg and a TGMD file automatically - whatever that is.

When you ask if I changed the *MetaSource" to the TVDB, do you mean on the WDTV Live, on TG or on theRenamer?

I suspected it may be a handshake issue but I doubt it as all my Baluns are HDCP compliant and I stuck an extra filter onto each of them and also onto my Matrix.  I’ll rollback to a previous FW release and disable ‘autoupdate’ to resolve this.  Any info/help you can give on obtaining a decent looking moviesheet (that’s big enough to read) would be much appreciated.  Thanks in advance for your help with this.

You can also use WD Live Info Editor. You can leave the naming of the file as you want you will just need to be more selective as to what you enter in the search window. E.G. for Inspector Morse S01E01 ******* just enter morse and it will provide broader search results, then pick morse, season then episode.

WD Live Info Editor

@The.King

You can select the language and download the user manual here

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/?id=282&type=25

When you ask if I changed the *MetaSource" to the TVDB, do you mean on the WDTV Live, on TG or on theRenamer?

 

On the WDTV Live

@JoeySmyth:

Thanks for your reply.

Yeah, the metasource on the WDTV Live is TVDB - there is no other option.  As per my last post - “I say that because on the WDTV, there only seems to be one default metasource.  When I try to look for another one, it says something about no content connected or available, as if it’s looking for a USB drive or stick?”  Therefore, I have no idea how to install/select a different MetaSource - even if I wanted to.

The bottom line now being that - (a) I have messed around with TG for a few seconds and seem to be able to develop sheets, thumbs without any issue, but (b) because I apparently can’t use moviesheets/linksheets via a custom FW [WDTVLX] (because of the type of newer ‘WDTV Live’ streamer I have) I have no practical way of displaying any sheets/thumbs I can create in TG that are readable.  i.e. When I flick through the 4 or 5 default display options on the WDTV (usually via the yellow button) the screen image display cycles through the list of TV programs I have in the folder from small tiles, to larger tiles, etc. (see below examples from Google) - yet none of them will give me a full screen where I can actually see and READ the sheets/thumb I generated with TG.

I would like to go from these…

Default 3.jpg

Default 2.jpg

To this…

TV sample.jpg

TV sample 2.jpg

i.e. TG seems to be one part of the puzzle - creating sheets/thumbs - which I can do without issue.  But I appear to need something else to change the default display or theme or something in order to get away from the crappy default WDTV display, so that I can actually display what TG has generated.  Hope that makes sense?

in addition to everything i said … you also have use a modified (custom) theme to display Linksheets

(search the Live Hub Theme Forum and the SMP forum for themes that support them)

“Linksheets” will not display using the Default (Mochi) Theme

“Moviesheets” will … but they only work in Gallery View / have 3 Second Delay / They Only Work for Files they won’t work with Folders / Path Links to Moviesheets must be included in Movie.xmls eg. <backdrop>The Worlds End_sheet.jpg</backdrop>  (there is a setting in TG for this)

Here’s how Linksheets work in Theme XML code: Linksheets work with Files and Folders / Display Instantly / Movie.xml’s are not required for Linksheets

 

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]

This relates to the WDTV Live Hub … WDTV SMP users must zip the theme with no compression and upload it via a web browser

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally the “Theme” designer includes these lines of XML code into their Theme which makes the “Linksheets” appear

 For Gallery View: <image image=“@@browse_text” x=“0” y=“0” w="1280"h=“720” scale=“100” bg=“1”/>

 For All Other Views: <image image=“@@focused_title” x=“0” y=“0” w=“1280” h=“720” scale=“100” bg=“1”/>

 

 

_ don’t forget what i said about the 30MB Limitation for Linksheets on the SMP
_

_   _

That requires hacks to bypass… (that will allow the theme to run off a thumbdrive)

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

In closing … generating a Moviesheet/Linksheet is not difficult … but  *HOW* it gets displayed on the SMP

is the critical factor.  (as decribed in the 2 two different implementations above)

_ phew … _ have a good read  :neutral_face:

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Thanks again - I think :)  My brain is hurting after reading all that, but I appreciate you helping me out and responding.

Looks like Linksheets is the way to go as you say they will work with files and folders.  Will defo require the hack though as I doubt 30mb will get me very far?  Pity I can’t use any of the 30TB I have for this, but the hack will work fine I’m sure.

I did have a look around the forum and found something called ‘goodbye Black Mamba’ which was a custom something or other.  Not sure if that will work with my WDTV Live though?  Once I start seeing all that ‘code’, I begin to get worried though.  Pity there’s not a decent YouTube video for how to do exactly what I’m after - which if I’m right is the following…

  1. Custom Theme such as ‘goodbye Black Mamba’ - if it will work with my WDTV Live.

  2. Renaming stuff and figuring out where to add the codes above.

  3. Using TG in conjunction with the custom theme above.

  4. Implementing the hack to get past the 30mb limit on my SMP.

Pity they don’t just have it working like this out of the box - would save a tonne of time researching and reading pages and pages of stuff.

I think your in luck, if your going to look at the hack

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

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@KAD79,

Thanks for your post.  There was a lot of into in there which made my head hurt and the sight of scripts usually scares me off.  As per your advice - “Don’t Change system files, unless you know what you’re doing”, I wouldn;t be entirely up to speed with the capabilities of a WDTV Live SMP, but I don;t intend to stay a novice for long.

Am I right to assume that you have developed/amended a workable version of WDTVLX for a Live SMP?  If so, happy days - many thanks.

I’m just downloading it now - can you tell if there are instructions contained within the zip?  I’m hoping there’s some tutorial in there to get me started - especially if scripts are involved.

Thanks.

there’s basic instruction in the zip file

of coarse for more questions, etc

please post to wdlxtv.com forum

The.King wrote:

 

  1. Custom Theme such as ‘goodbye Black Mamba’ - if it will work with my WDTV Live.
  1. Renaming stuff and figuring out where to add the codes above.
  1. Using TG in conjunction with the custom theme above.
  1. Implementing the hack to get past the 30mb limit on my SMP.

 

 

Joey and KAD have given you a ton of info to go through. Have fun doing some reading. :stuck_out_tongue: I am running a linksheet theme on my SMP so will add my 2Cents.

I have tried two linkheet themes on my SMP so cannot speak to all of them, but you brought up Black Mamba and that is one I have used on the SMP, as well as Simplicty.

To address your list:

1) The version of the Black Mamba theme you would want to use is called “Good Bye Black Mamba”, and it does work on the SMP. I am currently using Simplicty on my SMP with good success as well. I am sure many other Linksheet themes will work fine but cannot confirm from personel experience. The space issue will be a problem but we’ll get to that below.

2) If you install that specific theme (GBBM), you would not have to change any of the theme code. As it is already a linksheet theme, it will by default know how to present the sheets. I believe this would be the case for all Linksheet themes. You will have to do the file renaming that Joey wrote about, and then place the files in the theme’s root directory on your SMP. That theme does come with an instruction manual on how to do this.

3) That theme has a “bundle” for Thumbgen that will set it up to be used correctly for the theme. Once you have installed the bundle, you will have the options to choose templates for Movie linksheets and TV Show linksheets that are designed to match the theme. You will not have to do any real configuration of Thumbgen.

4) KAD gave you the link above to the info you need to work on the 30MB limit and has had a big hand in that side of the WD world as you can tell be the link. I’ll let you evaluate if that works for you and you feel comfortable going through the process. Down the rabbit hole you go…

@KAD - does SAMBA work on that implementation?

I love linksheets and to me it’s worth whatever it takes to get them running. If not though, moviesheet theme with the XMLs on your drives still look great and do not require any hacking of your SMP to get them to work.

Your other option would be to find and buy a WD LiveHub. Since there is an internal drive that the themes can fit on, linkhseets are simple to install and use, no hacking required. You could either sell off your SMP, or use it in another room as a client to the HUB. The Hub is by far my favorite device in the WD media player lineup.

Good luck on whatever path you decide to take.

-P

yeah, the most recent release

has no known bugs - other than what bugs official firmware has

so yes - samba works

wireless works

netflix, and other services work

additionally, I think the most usefull feature for noobs is

if you create “.theme” folder on the same thumbdrive as the firmware provided

the theme path will automatically be set to use .theme

so user’s don’t actually need telnet to get linksheets working on SMP

just boot that firmware and create .theme folder to contain the theme and reboot

Wow, truly amazing work. thanks for sharing!

-P

@pearl;

Huge thanks for your post and detailed info - really made sense without any tech jargon and good to know the GBBM theme worked for you also on a SMP.

So, to make sure I have everything right before I begin this…

  1. Turn off and remove media libary on my existing WDTV Live setup as all of those auto-generated MetaThumb files and XML files are no longer required if I am using WDTVLX FW, Linksheets, GBBM Theme bundle and TG.

  2. Remove all existing (old) MetaThumb and XML files that were auto-generated by my WDTV Media Libary from each of my folders.

  3. Download the 2.01.86-EXT3_Palace_Stock_Plus-0.0.4 (380MB) file from the link KAD79 kindly provided.  Follow the included instructions etc. for booting and this will give me WDTVLX Firmware on my WDTV Live SMP - instead of the crappy stock FW.  (If I have any issues, post in the WDTVLX forum as opposed to here.)

  4. Download TG and open.

  5. Download GBBM Theme Pack from here ( http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Hub-Themes/Theme-GoodBye-Black-Mamba-LinkSheet-Updated-Dec-14th/td-p/510386), follow the instructions and add the theme pack to TG.  (a) In the pdf instructions, it says something about renaming but as I don’t have a current moviesheet, I assume this won’t apply to me?  (b) When links and instructions refer to putting things in the ‘Theme Root Folder’, I know this is usually the uppermost (beginning) folder, but can someone please give me an example of the ‘path’ for clarity? 

i.e. Say all of my movies/TV programs are in separate folders on Drive L (my NAS) -

“L:\HD Movies”

and or

“L:\HDTV\Homeland.Seasons 1-3.[HD]”

…if I am creating sheets for Homeland, is there a folder that will be auto-generated by WDTVLX, GBBM and/or TG that I move all of these files to, or what?

  1. Check forums and YouTube etc. for a better understanding of TG and how to utilise it properly.

  2. Figure out the workaround for the 30MB limit on my SMP (or 13MB limit when using GBBM Theme).  After reading the links provided, it only seems possible to work-around this limit with a USB Stick permanently inserted into the back of the WDTV Live.  Is there no other way around this?  Considering my WDTV Live is directly connected to a 6TB NAS (and my NAS directly networked to a 30TB Tower Raid) is it not possible to set up a folder somewhere on any drive and point the WDTV Live to this for all the Linksheet info I generate?  If not, I can dig out an old USB key, but the folder option would be easier and more future proof - especially when looking at thousands of Linksheets.

  3. The Linksheet step-by-step guide (pdf) says: “5. copy the renamed movie sheet into the root folder of the theme…done”.  Where is the root folder of the theme?

Step-by-step (pdf) guide that came with GBBM Bundle.

Steps 1 & 2 - fine. 

Step 3 - confused.  The ‘cover box’ & ‘sheet’ are the exact same jpg for a start (I thought they would be different) as in, I thought one would look like the image in the bottom right corner of TG - the main sheet in MovieSheet Editor.

Step 4 - ok I think.  I changed the moviesheet file extension .jpg to (in this case) .avi, but do I only change the extension?

Step 5 - as I written above, copy the renamed moviesheet to where?  What root?

Step 6 - fine. Changed (removed) .jpg extension.  It now just reads ‘folder’.

Sorry for all this, I’m just trying to get off on the right foot here.  A bit like a learner driver - we were all one once, now they just annoy everyone, so sorry if this post is VERY Noob.  Hopefully it will really explain things for other Noobs just getting started.

@KAD79;

Many thanks for your posts also and for pointing me in the right direction.  And to @JoeySmyth too, who gave me a lot of info (and a headache which I clearly asked for :smiley: )

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