WDLXTV - Moviesheets Vs Linksheets

The_King1 · January 31, 2014, 12:55pm

It’s named the same as the folder, except it obviously has the .mkv extension.

Drive: M:\

1st Folder: HD Movies\

2nd (genre) Folder: Classics\

3rd (Quad) Folder: Alien Anthology (Director’s Cuts) [1979-1997] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS & AAC\

4th (individual movie) Folder: Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS\

Actual movie file within that folder: Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS.mkv

So the path (in full) is 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\Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS.mkv

The linksheet in the .theme folder on my USB is also labelled: Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS.mkv

Hope this helps.

JoeySmyth · January 31, 2014, 1:31pm

So for this complex path directory with numerous Linksheets required …

i assume you have the following in your .theme folder

1st Folder: HD Movies

HD Movies “Linksheet (no extension)”

2nd (genre) Folder: Classics

Classics “Linksheet (no extension)”

3rd (Quad) Folder: Alien Anthology (Director’s Cuts) [1979-1997] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS & AAC

Alien Anthology (Director’s Cuts) [1979-1997] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS & AAC “Linksheet (no extension)”

4th (individual movie) Folder: Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS

Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS “Linksheet (no extension)”

Actual movie file within that folder: Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS.mkv

Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS.mkv “Linksheet (With a file extension)”

The_King1 · January 31, 2014, 1:38pm

Yep, that’s precisely the way I have it done, yet it still won’t display the Linksheet?

JoeySmyth · January 31, 2014, 1:43pm

i will test the directory structure tomorrow … It’s pretty late here …

And to be honest, i’ve never got that complicated in arranging my movies that

I have to drill down several folders just to “get” to the movie I want to play.

I like running _K.I.S.S. _technology i guess

The_King1 · January 31, 2014, 1:58pm

No worries. I like to ‘Keep it Simple’ too, it’s just the tril’s & quad’s that are causing a slight issue.

I was just going to scrap the quad folder and just have each movie on it’s own in the main directory (along with all the others) but I thought it would be easy enough to generate a quad or trilogy folder. Guess I got that wrong.

KAD79 · January 31, 2014, 4:52pm

I suspect it’s the special characters ( ) &

my wife downloaded some excercise video’s a few weeks ago and could not get them to play on WD

once I renamed the files, removing the special characters they played just fine on WD

The_King1 · January 31, 2014, 5:47pm

Hi KAD,

Nope, it ain’t the special characters. My entire naming system is based on this - year of the movie within and any special edition, director’s cut etc. within ( ). I have processed hundreds of movies thus far with this naming convention and all display and play perfectly, so I don’t suspect that is the cause on this occasion.

I have played around a little and noticed the following. First off, I responded inaccurately to JS earlier (apologies JS), I didn’t have a file (without the extension) within each folder. I’ve corrected this, but it still made no difference? Here’s the thing…

I no doubt read something incorrectly weeks ago when I was crunching through forums for info, but I thought that all linksheets (once named ‘identically’ to that of the movie - including the file extension) were just to be placed within the folder called ‘.theme’ on the root of my USB Stick? i.e. That within the ‘.theme’ folder, I wasn’t to set up any additional folders such as ‘HD Movies’, or genres such as ‘Classics’ etc., that everything just went into the ‘.theme’ folder on the root.

Furthermore, this is what I have been doing thus far and everything (with the exception of these trilogies, quadrilogies) displayed and played perfectly. So I went through a process of ‘trial and error’ and created other folders in the ‘.theme’ folder and then - nothing was displaying at all! I’ve now put everything back to the way it was and it’s all good again.

So the BIG Q is, where did I get it in my head to just rename the linksheets “exactly” the same as the movie file and then just place it directly in the ‘.theme’ folder on the USB root? This is what I’ve done and it works fine - except for the trilogies & quads. When I try following other instructions to place a copy of the linksheet (with no file extension) in each of the folders until I get to the folder in question - it still has no impact?

Never thought it would be this hard to get a trilogy to displace properly.

JoeySmyth · February 1, 2014, 1:22am

Ok, there is a small difference with 2.01.86-EXT3_Palace_Stock_Plus-0.0.4 Vs Standard Firmware

to clarify…

SMP
does not use an actual script for linksheets like the old WD Live or Live Plus does
so instead we’ll manually place sheets inside the theme and manually rename the sheets as needed

so to use create .theme
and manually (no upload) put all the theme data inside that folder (not zip’ed)
Basically, think of it this way
unzip the theme you want to use
then change the main folder name from TitanLive etc to .theme
and it will work

for linksheets the sheets must be renamed like this
Batman.m2ts_sheet.jpg becomes Batman.m2ts
the folder sheet Batman_sheet.jpg becomes Batman (no extension)
then the sheets with modified names get dumped inside the .theme folder

http://forum.wdlxtv.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=8707&start=0

File and Folder Linksheets ALL go into the root of .theme

to clarify (ACTION, MYMOVIES, SCIFI are Folder Linksheets … Sub-Folder Linksheets also are placed here)

If your movies eg. trilogies are several subfolders deep … doesent matter, Folder / Sub Folder Linksheets ALL go into the root of .theme

There should ONLY be 2 Folders in the Root of the .theme (image & screenshot … nothing else!)

if you still have problems, hit PrtScn button and upload a picture of your .theme directory structure.

ritaben · February 1, 2014, 2:27am

The.King wrote:

No worries. I like to ‘Keep it Simple’ too, it’s just the tril’s & quad’s that are causing a slight issue.

I was just going to scrap the quad folder and just have each movie on it’s own in the main directory (along with all the others) but I thought it would be easy enough to generate a quad or trilogy folder. Guess I got that wrong.

Why not put the 4 movies in the 1 quad folder, or 3 movies in a trilogy folder. You get a linksheet and jpg for each movie without having to dig into another folder for the movie as Joey mentioned. Just like using a genre folder.

Cheers

The_King1 · February 1, 2014, 11:05am

Thanks for that JoeySmyth ,

The vast majority of your post made perfect sense and IS exactly what I have done from the outset.

The part I’m not fully understanding is where you say:

to clarify (ACTION, MYMOVIES, SCIFI are Folder Linksheets … Sub-Folder Linksheets also are placed here)

If your movies eg. trilogies are several subfolders deep … doesent matter, Folder / Sub Folder Linksheets ALL go into the root of .theme

There should ONLY be 2 Folders in the Root of the .theme (image & screenshot … nothing else!)

For clarity, I only have 2 Folders in the root of my .theme. They are image and screenshot - both of which came with the unzipped theme. So that’s ok.

The bit I don’t get is my quads or trilogies being several subfolders deep, and that they all go into the root of .theme. That can’t be duplicated as they would all have the same name.

So…my path to the Alien quadrilogy boxset is a few subfolders deep - as per previous post. If I am to name the folder sheet from: Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS.mkv_sheet.jpg to Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS (which I have done), this can only be placed in the root of my .theme folder once - otherwise I’ll get the standard message to say that the file already exists (when trying to place it in there again).

So therefore, when you say: If your movies eg. trilogies are several subfolders deep … doesent matter, Folder / Sub Folder Linksheets ALL go into the root of .theme - that’s not possible to follow as I can only have one thing in there with the exact same name. The only way around this is to create a new folder, which is a “no go” in the root of .theme.

For the record, I’ve already tried it with the one renamed folder sheet Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS (no extension) and also the renamed movie linksheet Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS.mkv both in the root of .theme and still - I can see the thumbnails on my palace, but not the linksheet info?

Stumped!

For clarity, here’s a printscreen…

The_King1 · February 1, 2014, 11:09am

Thanks Ritaben,

I thought about doing that initially, but I figured that one of the thumbnail .jpg’s wouldn’t show that way.

i.e. If you mock the setup yourself and just put all movies (.mkv’s, .mp4’s, etc.) into one folder instead of another folder deep, yeah - you can place the thumbnail .jpg’s for each movie in there no problem, but where would you stick the ‘folder.jpg’ for to display the quadrilogy thumbnail (as opposed to just showing the first .jpg within that folder automatically)?

I mocked it up myself, but there’s nowhere to place the quadrilogy folder thumbnail .jpg. Hence why I went down the road of another folder layer.

JoeySmyth · February 1, 2014, 12:15pm

Just quickly (in the middle of movienite tonight)

Maybe it’s some sort of Maximum File Path Character Limitation that’s causing the problem …

Kinda like Windows has a 255 Maximum File Path Character Limit ?

Try shortening your File and Folder names so they are well under this limit (‘spaces’ are counted as characters)

hey, it’s worth a try (do a test with the shortest possible names)

engineer14 · February 1, 2014, 1:24pm

@The.King

Hm, do I understand this right: you have different Folders with the SAME NAME and want Linksheets for them?

Well if so, this wont work, there is no way, forget about subfolders etc. Each Name can only be used once, no matter if it´s a file or a Folder.

The_King1 · February 1, 2014, 2:12pm

No worriers, I’ll try that (with the shortened name).

One thing though, still haven’t clarified the issue with folders/subfolders etc. i.e

So therefore, when you say: If your movies eg. trilogies are several subfolders deep … doesent matter, Folder / Sub Folder Linksheets ALL go into the root of .theme - that’s not possible to follow as I can only have one thing in there with the exact same name - otherwise I’ll get the standard message to say that the file already exists (when trying to place it in there again). The only way around this is to create a new folder, which is a “no go” in the root of .theme.

The_King1 · February 1, 2014, 2:20pm

@engineer14 ,

Nope, you got that wrong. I do not have folders with the SAME NAME at all (Windows wouldn’t allow that anyway). The point I was trying to make to JoeySmyth was: the renamed folder linksheet he was referring to (eg. the one without any file extension) which goes into the ‘.theme’ folder on my USB root can only go in there once and that if I try to put it in there again and again, Windows will obviously tell me that the file already exists. See my reply to his post above this one.

As per the last couple of posts, I have given the ‘path’ for the movies in question, but I can’t get the linksheets to display?

i.e. I have a quadrilogy box set in the folder “M:\HD Movies\Classics.…” etc. (see top post on page 7 of this topic) and whilst I can get all thumbnails to display, the linksheet will not?

@JoeySymth mentioned that because the movie is a few levels down in a sub-folder on my palace, I would have to place the renamed linksheet (in this case: Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS.mkv) and also a renamed folder linksheet (in this case: Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS) within the ‘.theme’ folder on the root of my USB to get it working. I have done this, but the linksheet info still will not display?

engineer14 · February 1, 2014, 2:45pm

I still don´t get it, sorry. Of course you can have Folders with the same name in windows, just not in the same Folder.

Why on earth would you want to put the same File into the .theme Folder again and again???

The_King1 · February 1, 2014, 2:46pm

I’m not sure if it’s worth pointing this out or not, but as no one was able to clarify which of the boxes in TG should be ‘ticked’ (in the top left direction beside the icon for ‘Generate them! (and go to next)’, I have just gone with the default that came with the GBBM theme instructions and therefore, boxes 4, 5, & 6 are ticked (moviesheet, moviesheet for extra location and TGMD).

Up to now, the thumbnail generated by box 4 has stayed ‘as is’ and displays the thumbnail. The sheet generated by box 5 has been renamed to exactly the same as my movie and place in my ‘.theme’ folder on the USB root and the TGMD I have backed up in another location. By doing this, everything as worked perfectly - except when I come to the quadrilogies & trilogies.

I don’t want to get ‘off topic’ as per the other posts, but just wanted to mention this in case it was relevent.

The_King1 · February 1, 2014, 2:56pm

@engineer14:

I’m sorry that you don’t get it - I don’t think it can be explained any better (reading over the last number of posts.)

“Why on earth would you want to put the same File into the .theme Folder again and again???”

I don’t, but JoeySmyth said in a recent reply: “If your movies eg. trilogies are several subfolders deep … doesent matter, Folder / Sub Folder Linksheets ALL go into the root of .theme”

(a) I was told to rename the folder linksheet to remove all file extensions - in this case: Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS)

(b) I was told to put this in the ‘.theme’ folder on my USB root.

(c) I was told that no matter how many folders / sub-folders linksheets I have, they all go into ‘.theme’. (What other folder linksheets am I supposed to have except that in (a) above?

(d) When I place the renamed folder linksheet ((a) above) and the renamed file linksheet (i.e. Alien (Director’s Cut) [1979] 1080p BluRay x264 DTS.mkv) into the ‘.theme’ folder on my USB root - THE LINKSHEET WILL NOT DISPALY.

JoeySmyth · February 1, 2014, 3:10pm

Ok, I’m gonna have to call it “quits” … 100% works perfectly fine on the WDTV Live Hub … No problems

I just created a rough / quick demo of a file / folder linksheet theme (i just renamed some linksheets from other movies and a few generic folder images ) with the exact naming the The.King is using … and a small demo folder with one dummy movie file in it.

Here’s a screenshot of the theme contents …

And here’s the theme and demo i used

http://www.mediafire.com/download/t8bubssrn8f3w8z/theme%26demo.zip

The file/folder path for the demo folder on the Live Hub looks like this …

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

I get a folder and file thumbnail for every view and a folder and file Linksheet also for every view.

I will have to pass this one over to KAD79 to test on his 2.01.86-EXT3_Palace_Stock_Plus-0.0.4 for SMP

because it definatly works on the WDTV Live Hub without any problems

The_King1 · February 1, 2014, 3:18pm

@JoeySymth,

I think it may have been you who said to me (a few hundred posts ago) that a picture paints a thousand words.

Thank you for clarifying and taking the time to perform a test and show a print screen.

What your picture showed is completely different to how words can read which are always open to misinterpretation. This was not the way I had it set up, so I’ll give it a try shortly and see how it goes. I’ll post back in due course.

Thanks again - appreciate the effort.