XML Trick for Batch Process Music Videos

WD Legacy Products WD TV Themes
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To Explain Simply… I have hundreds of Music Videos that i want to Automatically Create Moviesheets for.

The Problem is Thumbgen only Scrapes info and Generates an XML for Movies and TV Shows.
So i use the Thumbgen ‘option’ for Auto ‘ScreenShots’  to create the Moviesheets.

The problem is, the WD Live Needs an XML file named the same as the Video File to Display it in full resolution.
Without an XML file the Moviesheet will not display correctly on the WD Live Hub ie. it will be Pixelated and only the Thumbnail will appear. (Due to the PNG renamed to JPG)

The ‘Trick’ is to create an ‘Extra Moviesheet’ that is 1x1 Pixel Resolution and Rename it to XML.
This XML file ‘triggers’ the WD Live Hub into displaying the Moviesheet Correctly and is not Pixelated.

The ‘Content Data’ contained inside the XML is NOT the ‘trigger’  (and the Content inside the renamed XML is code for JPG which the Hub simply ignores)

Below are pictures of Automatically Generated Music Sheets and Some Manually Selected ‘ScreenCapture’ all done in Thumbgen.

This process can be be used for any other type of video file as well. eg.Home Movies,Trailers,Clips etc

This Download Link Contains the Following:

Æonish Hub 169 Normal        ----------------- Template for Full Screen HD Video No Black Borders

Æonish Hub 169 High             ----------------- Template for Full Screen HD Video Small Black Borders

Æonish Hub 169 Extreme       ----------------- Template for Full Screen HD Video Big Black Borders

Æonish Hub 43                         ----------------- Template for Standard Def 4:3 Full/Letterbox

BLANK                                       ------------------ Template for 1x1 Pixel (This Gets Renamed to XML using the 1st Batch File)

ThumbgenSettingsAndGuide.jpg   ----------------- Thumbgen Settings Pictorial

TEXTREP.jpg                                       ----------------- Settings Pic of Freeware for Batch Replacement of XML Info (optional)

STEP1-JPGtoXML.bat                        ----------------- Batch File to Convert 1x1 Pixel Sheet to XML

STEP2-PNGtoJPG.bat                       ----------------- Batch File to Convert PNG to JPG

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?4nnyj3coyw5dgtp

All of the Above is for Intermediate to Experienced Computer Users and Live Hub Users.

I will provide more info soon. (busy Generating Moviesheets for my Hub)   :smiley:

5 Likes
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Thanks Joey, this is great for music videos.

Do you have an easy way of generating the sheets for the music files. It is very time consuming to find backdrops for all albums. Having a different/matching backdrop for each album is great but I would be happy to have a static backdrop (or maybe a few different ones) and have the album art display correctly for each album. Basically what I am trying to say is can Thumbgen generate the sheet using the embedded mp3 data for the album cover and a user selected generic picture for the backdrop?

Hope this makes sense.

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Thumbgen doesent recognize MP3 files (or any Music file for that matter)

The only ‘Trick’ Work-Arounds would be (just guessing it’s nearly Midnight here)

  1. Batch Rename your MP3 to AVI…  easy, takes a second or two

  2. Using XSLT code from Burich CoverTrickle Techinque… Place a High Resolution Music cover in the Folder of the Album.

  3. This High Resolution Picture could ‘Double’ as the Fanart & Cover in the Final Moviesheet.

  4. Then Batch Rename your AVI (Music Files) back to MP3

Sounds sort of ‘ok’ in theory… but it’s just a guess,  would have to try it out tomorrow.

I will let you know :smiley:

2 Likes
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Hi Joey

First, Great job

Just a question!

In your instructions you say that " The Extra Movie sheet template must be the “Blank” one provided.

Where is it? Can’t find it.

Txs for your answer and for the great work you do in here.

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@ jmp571

Doh ! … Sorry

Above Download Link Fixed

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Hi Joey

When trying to get the file, I get  " Invalid or deleted file ".

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Oh Dear, i think the Eggnog is getting to me :dizzy_face:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?4nnyj3coyw5dgtp

Working on ‘Music’ scraping…

  1. Using ID3 Album Art Extracter

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Graphic/Graphic-Others/ID3-Album-Art-Extractor.shtml

It Extracts ID3 Cover Art (Only Copies… doesent remove it)

It will create an Image named folder.jpg   …which is exactly what i want

  1. Batch Renamed the MP3 to AVI

  2. Using a 'Test XSLT" template i was able to create a MusicSheet from the folder.jpg

Couple of Problems to Solve.

  1. I only need “1” MusicSheet… unfortunatly it creates a sheet for every file.

  2. Need to find a way to Auto Create an AVI file with the Name of the Music Album Folder (this would solve problem 1)

EDIT: Found that creating a TXT file and renaming it AVI will work with Thumbgen.

3 Likes