FanArt for SageMC - Tutorial & Finding Images

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by rerooks

So, somehow it is partially working. Any thoughts?

It's working as designed. With the phoenix API's the fanart folder structure was changed.

For TV Shows:

\CENTRAL_FANART_FOLDER\TV\SHOW_NAME\

Under SHOW_NAME can be three folders (backgrounds, banners, posters). The actual filename for the background/banner/poster(coverart) doesn't matter it just needs to be in the right directory (aka in your case with your background drop your "The Office.jpg" into the ..\backgrounds directory and all is well with the world.

PS - There is a script somewhere around here that automates converting the "old style" layout to the new layout.

[rerooks]

Okay, I was confused. I THOUGHT that the original format was that the fanart file was stored in the recording directories along with the recordings and the new directory structure was a central location under TV, Movies, and Music with the filename the same as the showname. Was I wrong, or is what you describe a third directory structure?

Also, I have noticed that BMT only seems to find TV shows that I have recorded, not movies that I have recorded off the air. Is this tool only for TV shows?

One more question...and I think I have read this...there currently is not a completely automated way to get cover art, right?

Originally Posted by razrsharpe

It's working as designed. With the phoenix API's the fanart folder structure was changed.

For TV Shows:

\CENTRAL_FANART_FOLDER\TV\SHOW_NAME\

Under SHOW_NAME can be three folders (backgrounds, banners, posters). The actual filename for the background/banner/poster(coverart) doesn't matter it just needs to be in the right directory (aka in your case with your background drop your "The Office.jpg" into the ..\backgrounds directory and all is well with the world.

PS - There is a script somewhere around here that automates converting the "old style" layout to the new layout.

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by rerooks

Okay, I was confused. I THOUGHT that the original format was that the fanart file was stored in the recording directories along with the recordings and the new directory structure was a central location under TV, Movies, and Music with the filename the same as the showname. Was I wrong, or is what you describe a third directory structure?

I didn't use the first fanart format so I can't comment definitively on what it was before. I think you could have fanart either centrally (centralfanart\SHOW_NAME.jpg) or with the recording but am not sure. I believe the old folder formats have been depreciated and the new format (described in my last post) is the only place fanart can be stored.

Also, I have noticed that BMT only seems to find TV shows that I have recorded, not movies that I have recorded off the air. Is this tool only for TV shows?

not sure about movies off the air (i don't have any) but it does work for videos (imported dvds/videos/bluray). I would check out the bmt thread: http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34301

One more question...and I think I have read this...there currently is not a completely automated way to get cover art, right?

Some people have been having issues with turning the automatic fanart features of the BMT plugin on but other people use it successfully. Personally i have been using BMT from the command line or the manual search from within sagemc.

[Brent]

I'll be updating the first post of this thread soon - hopefully with some useful information as the fanart methods have changed quite a bit (thanks to the great work of our 3rd party developers) and there are multiple ways to accomplish the task. Stay tuned

[jbuszkie]

I'll be waiting for that update! I can't for the life of me figure out how to do this!

I'm using MC_6_3_9a_23 with sage 6.5.9.204. I've manually downloaded
a jpg for the dark knight. I've called it "The Dark Knight.jpg", "The_Dark_Knight.jpg" "Dark Knight.jpg" "TheDarkKnight.jpg"

All were put in g:\centralfanart and in g:\centralfanart\Movies. None come up.

I've set in Settings>Main>GlobalU options>Display>Fanart options>Fan Art Backgrounds - enable
and the same path Fan Art central File path specified as g:\centralfanart

Now the dvd is stored as The_Dark_Knight\Video_Ts but I've saved the IMDB info so the title shows The Dark Knight in Sage

I've been using sage forever with the Non MC version. I'm trying to play with MC to see if it's something I want to change over. (Need WAF too) I feel like such a newbie all over again!

There are so many posts!! I eventaully want to get some automatic tool working to grab the fan art! Feeling overwhelmed!

EDIT: Never mind.... I just had to go a couple posts back to see that the directory structure had changed! I put the stuff in g:\cantralfanart\Movies\The Dark Knight\backgrounds
and it worked fine! now I just have to figure out how to get the automated version to work! Maybe I'll reread this whole thread!!

Jim

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by jbuszkie

now I just have to figure out how to get the automated version to work! Maybe I'll reread this whole thread!!

Check out the BMT (Batch MetadataTools) thread for automating the whole thing. sflamm wrote a pretty concise setup document (it should be linked in the first post): http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34301

[jbuszkie]

I had that thread open too! I just hadn't gotten around to reading it yet! I wanted to get one to work first!

Thanks for pointing in the correct direction! now I can just read that thread!

Jim

[panteragstk]

any chance of there being updated fanart packs? That would really be nice.

[venkman781]

I've been playing around with the fanart folders and seem to have encountered a strange issue. I am using Sage v6.5.15 and SageMC 6.3.9.

When I select My TV > ShowName (under Recent Recordings), I see the banner for the show only one time. When I go back to the menu and then select the show again to see the Program Info, the banner is missing.

This is the only screen this happens on. When I select My TV > Recorded TV > ShowName, the banner appears consistently.

Any thoughts? The path is the default, not a mapped drive.

[razrsharpe]

are you running the latest pre-release of SageMC (version _41)? I don't have banners enabled so I'm not sure if it happens on my system. Most of the updates lately for SageMC have been improvements to the fanart so if youre not runnign the latest pre release i would upgrade to that.

[venkman781]

Originally Posted by razrsharpe

are you running the latest pre-release of SageMC (version _41)? I don't have banners enabled so I'm not sure if it happens on my system. Most of the updates lately for SageMC have been improvements to the fanart so if youre not runnign the latest pre release i would upgrade to that.

I did the upgrade to build 41 and made sure I have the BMI 2.3.1 installed, but to no avail. It's not a huge deal, but worth mentioning if it turns out to be a bug.

[razrsharpe]

there is a sagemc bug reporting thread around here somewhere... i would post it there

[tawd1992]

Originally Posted by razrsharpe

It's working as designed. With the phoenix API's the fanart folder structure was changed.

For TV Shows:

\CENTRAL_FANART_FOLDER\TV\SHOW_NAME\

Under SHOW_NAME can be three folders (backgrounds, banners, posters). The actual filename for the background/banner/poster(coverart) doesn't matter it just needs to be in the right directory (aka in your case with your background drop your "The Office.jpg" into the ..\backgrounds directory and all is well with the world.

Thank you so much. The only instructions I could find must have been for the old fanart setup & that directory structure obviously didn't work. It was driving me crazy that everybody else seemed to be able to get fanart to work. Your directions worked perfectly.

Is there is a preference where you can change the resolution for fanart? I've got a little border around my fanart pictures & it doesn't matter what resolution picture I use, SageMC seems to resize the same regardless. If I could just stretch the picture out a little more that would be great.

[himay]

This is a fantastic plug-in.

One question: on my server, the fanart takes up the whole background of SageMC. On my HD200, the fan art is inset, with the SageMC background visible behind it. Ostensibly, they're running the same SageMC STV version--what do I need to tweak on the HD200 to get the fanart to display in fullscreen behind videos?

Thanks in advance for anyone's help.

Himay

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by himay

This is a fantastic plug-in.

One question: on my server, the fanart takes up the whole background of SageMC. On my HD200, the fan art is inset, with the SageMC background visible behind it. Ostensibly, they're running the same SageMC STV version--what do I need to tweak on the HD200 to get the fanart to display in fullscreen behind videos?

Thanks in advance for anyone's help.

Himay

i would double check your overscan settings in detailed setup of the default stv. the fanart should scale to cover the full background on the hd200

[himay]

I was able to get it running by updating to the latest SageMC build--I had rebuilt my Sage server from scratch recently, didn't realize I hadn't done that.

All is well now, and thanks.

[rmac321]

Originally Posted by Brent

I'll be updating the first post of this thread soon - hopefully with some useful information as the fanart methods have changed quite a bit (thanks to the great work of our 3rd party developers) and there are multiple ways to accomplish the task. Stay tuned

Brent,

This would be such a useful update. Trying to gleen the necessary info from the very long BMT and Mediascraper threads is difficult because of all the changes that have occurred in SageMC and Phoenix in the last few months. It would be nice to have a new/updated version of your tutorial for a new Fanart install based solely on the new standards and folder structure.

Thanks in advance!

[xxLJLxx]

After reading and re-reading Brent's writeup and all of these posts, I still have an issue with my fanart. I am determined to get it working the simply way before I jump into automatically finding all of my fanart via BMT. I can successfully get my cover art to show for any movie but the backgrounds are whats giving me trouble. I have tried the Central directory and locally with the individual file. No luck. I'm sure it is some small mistake. Any type of help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm running -
SageTV V6.6.2.218
Java 1.6.0_14
SageMC 6.3.9a
sagemc.jar 6.3.8
df_sageutils.jar 2.2
phoenix.jar 1.38

[Brent]

xxLJLxx,
Can you tell me a little more about the issue you're having with fanart? Sorry I never got back to you on your earlier question.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by Brent

I'll be updating the first post of this thread soon - hopefully with some useful information as the fanart methods have changed quite a bit (thanks to the great work of our 3rd party developers) and there are multiple ways to accomplish the task. Stay tuned

Originally Posted by rmac321

Brent,

This would be such a useful update. Trying to gleen the necessary info from the very long BMT and Mediascraper threads is difficult because of all the changes that have occurred in SageMC and Phoenix in the last few months. It would be nice to have a new/updated version of your tutorial for a new Fanart install based solely on the new standards and folder structure.

Thanks in advance!

Months later I'm getting back to this. So much has changed with BMT that it makes things infintely better and will make this an easier update. Sorry for the very long delay...