WDLXTV - Moviesheets Vs Linksheets

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live Streaming
41

@ritaben,

Hmmmmmmmmm, thank you so much for posting.  This makes a lot of sense.

I always wondered why various instructions were saying to rename a standard jpg (cover file/thumbnail) to remove the file extension completely.  I figured it was just the way the custom FW or theme worked, but it never made a huge amount of sense to me - how would any program know what kind of file it was?  Still, I’m only a NOOB, so just tried to follow everything and keep it as simple as possible.  I’ll also try your info on renaming the other ‘_sheet.jpg’ to just remove the .‘jpg’ to see how that goes, although the larger linksheet with all the info etc. was displaying ok.  Well, it will only display when I set my SMP to the largest display option.  Currently nothing is displayed when I change my display option to smaller icons/tiles.

Thanks for the tip on DeVicious’s Simplicity linksheet theme, I’ll take a look at this.

I’m sure I’m not out of the woods yet and will no doubt have other questions further down the line.  I just want to visually see that I have this part of it working properly before I start looking at genre folders and how that works and certainly before I start working on TG for the next 12 months to generate jpgs for the amount of stuff I have.  And that’s only after I sort out ALL of my folders.

Again, thanks for your post - I’m sure it will be helpful.

Actually…I was just about to post this when I took another look at the GBBM theme posted on this forum here.

I reckon I still have a minor display issue as follows…

Screenshot 1 on the link - I can see this.

Screenshot 2 on the link - I can see this also, except the smaller folder jpgs at the bottom of the screen are not displaying for me at the moment.

Screenshot 3 on the link - I haven’t implemented this yet.  Haven’t progressed onto my TV folders yet.

Screenshot 4 on the link - My ‘preview mode’ looks nothing like this?  I can see the TV on the right side of the screen, but it’s blank and does not generate an image.  None of the cover art is showing either, but I think you may have identified why.  But my background image looks nothing like this either.  i.e. It’s not black and theme related?  I still have my old wallpaper in the background - the one used with the original stock FW?

Screenshot 5 on the link - As above, my ‘small video browse’ looks nothing like this.  I know why the folder art is not displaying, but again - the background is my old wallpaper and not the GBBM theme?

Screenshot 6 on the link - Exactly as above on ‘large video browse’?

Screenshot 7 on the link - On ‘List View’, I can see the movie title and the 5 stars, but not folder image - again most likely because of what you identified.

The rest of the screenshots I can’t comment on as I haven’t progressed that far yet.

Apologies for the long post.

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42

My previous post should fix Scrrenshot 2

On the wdtv live hub a hidden folder called .wdtv creates a sub folder called Thumbs, this folder caches thunmbnails ( not sure about linksheets). It can be deleted and it regenerates itself. Maybe this causing your background problem.

If your linksheets are in the correct folder, which I presume they are because they show up in Screenshot 2, they should show up in the tv in Screenshot 4.

Cheers

Edit: If I remember in the SMP menu there is an option to change wallpaper/background image, check that out to see what it says.

43

Yep, I’ve seen the hidden folder .wdtv when browsing via my PC.  It’s been installed on each folder I had set up and subsequent sub-folders.  I’ve removed them from each folder and stored them in a backup file on my PC (just in case) and they have yet to regenerate, but I still have the background issue?

The view being displayed (or lack of) just seems like some of the .jpgs contained within DeVicious’s folder .theme\image’ (such as RV-BG-VIDEOBROWSE.jpg for example) are just not being loaded/displayed correctly? Might be the thumb drive, might be because the theme was initially designed for the hub and not the ‘live’ gen 3? I don’t know. :neutral_face:

I’ll work on renaming files and putting the folder/thumbnail .jpgs back into the correct folder and see what happens from there.

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44

Just some friendly advice …

As Pearl and I have said, it’s a good idea to generate *.tgmd files as well.

(these are metadata files which contain all scraped info,thumbnails,backdrops etc) 

Which you can then regenerate moviesheets quickly without having to be online and re-scrape your movies and tv shows.

Judging by your screenshot … you have not selected this option 

Anyways, it doesent affect anything ‘theme’ related … it just means if you decide to change themes or moviesheets in the future … you’ll have re-scrape everything all over again in Thumbgen.

949×523 137 KB

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45

Thanks for the friendly advice - always welcome. :wink:

Just one thing - possibly two, (1) having read a bazillion posts over the last two weeks (and frying my brain completely at this point) and having read all .pdf’s that come with the various themes etc., there does not appear to be clear instructions as to what boxes in TG should be ‘ticked’ - and therefore, what files should be generated? 

When I select the profile in TG named: ‘Black Mamba V4 - Movie Sheets by DeVicious’, only the 4th & 5th boxes are auto ‘ticked’ (i.e. ‘Generate Moviesheet’ and ‘Generate Moviesheet for the extra location (See Advanced Options)’.

When I select the profile in TG named: ‘Black Mamba V4 - TV Season - Series Covers by DeVicious’, only the 5th & 7th boxes are auto ‘ticked’ (i.e. ‘Generate Moviesheet for the extra location (See Advanced Options)’ and ‘Generate Moviesheet for the spare location (See Advanced Options)’.

When I select the profile in TG named: ‘Black Mamba V4 - TV Sheets by DeVicious’, only the 3rd, 4th & 5th boxes are auto ‘ticked’ (i.e. ‘Generate .nfo file’, ‘Generate Moviesheet for the extra location (See Advanced Options)’ and ‘Generate Moviesheet for the spare location (See Advanced Options)’.

In fact, from the ‘Current Profile’ drop-down list, there’s very little info on the other Black Mamba options and whether any of these should be used?

If I knew which options in the current profile to choose and which boxes should be ticked, it would go a long way to getting this right from the offset.

(2) Getting back to your friendly advice, if I generate the TGMD file (Metadata File), you never said where this generated file should sit?  Is it needed inside the .theme folder on my USB Thumb Drive (running the theme to get past the 30MB limit), is it just a back up that I can leave on my PC somewhere, or where should it be in order for TG to see it and re-use it - should I ever decide to change themes again?

Thanks.

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46

The.King wrote:

(2) Getting back to your friendly advice, if I generate the TGMD file (Metadata File), you never said where this generated file should sit?  Is it needed inside the .theme folder on my USB Thumb Drive (running the theme to get past the 30MB limit), is it just a back up that I can leave on my PC somewhere, or where should it be in order for TG to see it and re-use it - should I ever decide to change themes again?

_ When you select the option to Generate it … then you will see where it goes _

It automatically gets saved in the same location of your media files.

It does not go into the “theme” folder … and sure, you can move and back them up to your PC if you wish

But when you want to re-generate any moviesheets … you will need to move them back to where your media files are.

(it’s easier to just leave them where they are … the WDTV ignores them anyways, so they won’t cause any grief)

Here’s a handy little FAQ about “.tgmd” located at the Thumbgen Website…

http://thumbgen.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63:art-metadata&catid=35:faq-general&Itemid=54

What is metadata (.tgmd)?

Sunday, 29 August 2010 14:12 ThumbGen

A metadata file (having .tgmd extension) can be generated (optionally but recommended) during processing of the movie files. It contains the .nfo file (movie info) and full size images for cover, background and 3 fanarts. Having this file will be very easy to reskin your sheets using another template via “Create from metadata” option in Files Browser. ThumbGen will use metadata information to generate new sheets (using the new template) without searching info/images again and without any user interaction being required.

Another advantage of the .tgmd file is that next time you want to adjust something about a movie you can instruct ThumbGen to load info/images from metadata (skipping this way the searching step) , modify some items and then generate a new metadata file with the modifications. 

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47

As ever - many thanks JoeySmyth

Would you or any others have any opinion of the other query, i.e. which boxes should be ‘auto-ticked’ in TG?

The.King wrote:

there does not appear to be clear instructions as to what boxes in TG should be ‘ticked’ - and therefore, what files should be generated? 

 

When I select the profile in TG named: ‘Black Mamba V4 - Movie Sheets by DeVicious’, only the 4th & 5th boxes are auto ‘ticked’ (i.e. ‘Generate Moviesheet’ and ‘Generate Moviesheet for the extra location (See Advanced Options)’.

 

When I select the profile in TG named: ‘Black Mamba V4 - TV Season - Series Covers by DeVicious’, only the 5th & 7th boxes are auto ‘ticked’.

 

When I select the profile in TG named: ‘Black Mamba V4 - TV Sheets by DeVicious’, only the 3rd, 4th & 5th boxes are auto ‘ticked’.

 

In fact, from the ‘Current Profile’ drop-down list, there’s very little info on the other Black Mamba options and whether any of these should be used?

 

If I knew which options in the current profile to choose and which boxes should be ticked, it would go a long way to getting this right from the offset.

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48

OK, I have everything running as it should so far.

The custom FW is running fine, the GBBM theme is running fine.  I got my wallpaper issue sorted too.

Thumbnail/cover jpgs are displaying, linksheets (fanart) are displaying etc.  I’ve ensured TGMD’s are being generated for each movie I process so that I don’t have to do this all again.  So far, so good and it looks great!

I’m now moving onto Genre folders (I’ve already made and renamed several and moved all movies into whichever folder it’s best suited to) but now comes the tricky part for me - because I haven’t done this yet.

I need to create a small thumbnail/folder jpg for each genre and the larger (F1) fanart jpg for the backdrop when I go into each genre folder.  I’ve tried to follow Dev’s instructions as best as possible, but as ever - they’re always written from the viewpoint of someone who has done this a million times and/or even created it, as opposed to someone attempting it for the very first time.

So far, I’ve generated the F1 fanart - the larger photo that will be used as backdrop after going inside each genre folder.

I have not been able to generate the folder/thumbnail jpg for each genre folder though - and…

After both are created, where exactly do I place them in order for everything to ‘show’ as it should?  Can anyone tell me?

Hopefully, this will be the last thing I need to learn.

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49

@pearl, @JoeySymth, @ritaben,

With regard to my last post, would any of you have an idea of where the jpgs for genre folder go and if I need to rename their extension?

I have the jpg (F1 fanart) for each genre generated - as I followed DeV’s instructions, but it says nothing about where to place the jpg?  I’ve tried putting it in the same directory as the folder, but it didn’t show?

Would be grateful for any help/guidance…

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50

_I have the jpg (F1 fanart) for each genre generated …  but it says nothing about where to place the jpg? _

is this a Moviesheet / Linksheet  for a genre folder  ?    

if so … go back to page 4 and have another read … (also my post on page 2 of this thread as well)

Please check your Personal Messages (the little envelope icon at the top right of screen)

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51

Hi,

is this a Moviesheet / Linksheet  for a genre folder  ? 

I don’t think it’s either - it’s more like a linksheet though.  I’ve read through the entire list on instructions from DeVicious about 14 times now, but there’s no instruction about where to place each jpg?

The jpg was generated in TG via the ‘add-on’ Genre Folder bundle created for the GBBM Theme by DeVicious.  When you load this from your profile, it generates the larger jpg. (bottom right of TG) but doesn’t include any info or IMDB stuff as it is just generating a backdrop wallpaper etc.

While waiting for someone to reply here, I have figured out where to place the .jpg for the small thumbnail/folder for each genre and they display ok (well, I just have to find decent looking jpgs for each genre now, as the one’s  here are not so good and don’t display well due to their dimensions) BUT - I still haven’t worked out where to place the backdrop image - i.e. like below (which displays in the background after I open a genre folder).  Image taken from here.

genre backdrop.jpg

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52

a genre “backdrop” ie. 1280x720 is a Moviesheet / Linksheet and it needs to go into the theme folder

to review …

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.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Translated …

 

if you’ve got a 1280x720 genre backdrop ACTION.jpg   rename it to ACTION

 

ie. as explained … remove the file extension and place it in the root of the theme

 

(the same place where you have been placing all your File Linksheets)

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53

Just a quick Q…

Am I right to assume that where you have say, a trilogy or quadrilogy of movies - that a folder is required (a) for each individual movie and (b) that an overall folder is required to hold the 3-4 folders for each mvoie?

i.e. If I don’t have the folders, then won’t all of the thumbnails just be going into a general population and therefore would not be displayed as a quadrilogy etc.?

Say for the ‘Lethal Weapon’ movies, I want to acheive (a) a quadrilogy thumbnail and then within that / after clicking on that, (b) a thumbnail for each individual movie.  OR if I have another view selected - (a) as above thumbnail structure and (b) to display the Linksheet info, IMBD rating etc. for each individual movie.

I’m assuming that’s the case, but just wanted to ask in case there’s a different way to do it.

Thanks.

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54

yeah, this is more about personal preference

but yes you can create a folder for series

Leathal Weapon

–Leathal Weapon 1

-----Leathal Weapon.mkv

–Leathal Weapon 2

-----Leathal Weapon 2.mkv

at this point, it’s all preference

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55

Thanks for that KAD - I’ll have a play around so, see which works out best. 

Was just checking in case there was a “right” way to do it.

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56

Hmmmm,

Ok, so I have one folder set up for ‘classics’ and within that folder are tonnes of .mkv’s, .mp4’s, etc. and their thumbnails generated by TG.

In that very folder I have another folder set up for a quadrilogy and inside that I have had to place each movie in a separate folder so that the thumbnails can display corrrctly. i.e. I’d like to have a thumbnail showing the quad cover on my palace and then by clicking on that,  have four separate thumbs for each movie in the quad. This I have achieved without issue.

The problem I’m having is - the linksheets won’t generate/display, despite being renamed correctly and placed on the root in my .theme folder (along with all other linksheets). Obviously the additional folders set up in order to display the thumbs correctly is causing the linksheet to ‘not see’ the file?

Has anyone come across this problem before and how did you resolve it? Better yet, if anyone has duologies, trilogies or quads set up, what route did you take to get everything to display correctly?

Thanks.

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57

Linksheets should work not matter how many folders / sub-folders you have.

But when you say …

_Obviously the additional folders set up in order to display the thumbs correctly is causing the linksheet to ‘not see’ the file? _

 

You have named the Linksheet with a file extension ?

 

Folders = No file extension on the Linksheet

Files = Linksheet must have a file extension  eg. avi, mkv, mp4, wmv etc

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58

my thought

  1. wrong naming convention was used - like what Joey said

  2. you have xml’s, dmaosd is looking for the title tag from xml instead of linksheet

—solution to #2, delete the xml’s or at least the title tag’s from the xml’s

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59

Hmmm, thanks for the posts, but I’m still drawing a blank here…

The naming convention for this Quad is the exact same as the other couple of hundred movies I have processed so far - and all which display perfectly.  That’s why I’m stumped, particularly when you say "Linksheets should work not matter how many folders / sub-folders you have".

The path for the quad in question is this:

*M:\HD Movies\Classics*

Within that main folder, I have hundreds of .mkv’s, .mp4’s, .srt’s, and all .jpg’s for the thumbnails - which obviously have the .jpg file extension.  These all display perfectly well on the palace.

Also in that main folder with all the .mkv’s, .mp4’s, etc. is - the new folder I set up to display the quadrilogy in question, so the path to this folder is like this:

M:\HD Movies\Classics\Alien Anthology (Director’s Cuts) [1979-1997] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS & AAC

This is just a standard folder.

Within that folder, I have the quadrilogy thumbnail (named ‘folder.jpg’) which displays perfectly well and I also have four other standard folders set up - one for each movie - so that I can house their individual thumbnail .jpg’s.

So, when I go into one of the movie’s folders - say the first ‘Alien’, the path would look like this:

M:\HD Movies\Classics\Alien Anthology (Director’s Cuts) [1979-1997] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS & AAC\Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS

Inside that folder I have; (1) the movie file itself, a correctly named .mkv file. (2) a TG generated thumbnail with the same naming comvention and a ‘.jpg’ extension - which displays perfectly well.  That’s all that is inside the folder (the TGMD file was moved to another location where I have all TGMD’s saved.)

Inside the ‘.theme’ folder I have on the root of my USB, I movied the linksheet for the movie to there and I renamed it to be exactly the same as the movie - including the .mkv file extension, just like I’ve done for hundreds of movies.

The result…

The palace displays the quad thumbnail.  By ‘selecting’ that thumbnail, I then see the four other thumbnails - one for each movie, but none of the linksheets are showing?  So, I only have the thumbnails showing, despite everything being named correctly and seated correctly - hence the post, as I figured that it was due to the folders and sub folders.

Hope this illustrates what I did a little clearer.

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60

So, when I go into one of the movie’s folders - say the first ‘Alien’, the path would look like this:

M:\HD Movies\Classics\Alien Anthology (Director’s Cuts) [1979-1997] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS & AAC\Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS

 

where is the video file in this example  ?  please add an extension so we can see (eg.mkv, avi, mp4 etc)

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