FanArt for SageMC - Tutorial & Finding Images

[Halstead]

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

FYI, if there are any characters in the title that are invalid for windows file names, just strip them out. Also, if you are using the central folder, keep in mind that it should be local to each client you are using, not on the server (unless you are running the UI on the server or are using an extender or placeshifter client).

Aloha,
Mike

FWIW, I've tried listing it as
Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and that doesn't seem to work either. Other than that, this is a really great feature!

[benjamintm]

Really like the feature. It's something I've wanted for a while. That said, while I'm able to get it to work for my TV shows, I can't get it to work for Movies. I followed the GeekTonic guide, which is why it's working for TV shows. I can't seem to get it to work for Movies but I am able to get it to work for TV shows. While I doubt this should have an effect, all my movies are MKV encoded.

Also, should the Fan Art name (TheMovie.jpg) match the name of the movie (The Movie) or the name of the file (TheMovie.mkv)? Is Fan Art case sensitive?

Ben

[gibsonpa]

Originally Posted by Halstead

FWIW, I've tried listing it as
Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and that doesn't seem to work either. Other than that, this is a really great feature!

I can not get this to work either. Trying "Star Wars: The Clone Wars"....

[bialio]

I've got this to work for the actual Program info screen of Star Wars: The Clone Wars as well as Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. It's the screen that lists all the episodes that you have recorded that isn't working.

btl.

[benjamintm]

Originally Posted by Halstead

FWIW, I've tried listing it as
Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and that doesn't seem to work either. Other than that, this is a really great feature!

"Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles.jpg" worked for me, but only showed up with the individual episodes (even though I use a central Fan Art directory). The folder of episodes doesn't show the art even though the Boston Legal folder does.

Ben

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by benjamintm

That said, while I'm able to get it to work for my TV shows, I can't get it to work for Movies. I followed the GeekTonic guide, which is why it's working for TV shows. I can't seem to get it to work for Movies but I am able to get it to work for TV shows. While I doubt this should have an effect, all my movies are MKV encoded.

Same here, works for TV shows , but not movies. My movies are usually .avi's.

[jaminben]

I have over 100 DVD's, avi's, MKV's etc using fanart and they all work using the central folder. You just have to make sure the images are named the same as films.

Originally Posted by MeInMaui

keep in mind that it should be local to each client you are using, not on the server (unless you are running the UI on the server or are using an extender or placeshifter client).

Not sure if this is going to confuse the issue or not but you can actually use shared folders and you dont need to keep the fanart stored localy for PC clients. I have all my fanart stored on a WHS machine and it works fine for extenders and pc clients, it may run slightly slower on the extenders but the pc client is super quick.

[jm9843]

It's not working for me - could it have something to do with my directory structure? Or the resolution of the background image?

Fan art central directory is:
"\\localhost\Images\FanArt"

with the following subdirectories: "Film", "TV"

In SageMC options, I've specified "\\localhost\Images\FanArt" as my "Media Bkgrnd File Path". Also, I've enabled the "Global UI Options->Display->Media Based Backgrounds" option.

My actual video files are stored at \\localhost\Videos

with corresponding subdirectories "Film", "TV"

So an example that does not work is the following:

"\\localhost\Images\FanArt\TV\Dexter.jpg"

I'd then try to navigate (using File System/Folder view) to "\\localhost\Videos\TV\Dexter" to play, for example, the episode: "\\localhost\Videos\TV\Dexter\Season 03 (x264)\dexter.s03e01.720p.mkv"

I've tried this for both client and placeshifter connecting to a WHS based server backend. When doing the client test, I used the actual hostname in place of "localhost" in my unc paths. Latest version of SageMC (w/ default theme) and the latest betas of SageTV, Client, and Placeshifter.

I also tried the other method of placing "Dexter_background.jpg" in the "\\localhost\Videos\TV\Dexter" folder while clearing the "Media Bkgrnd File Path" option. Still no worky.



Confused.

[jaminben]

Originally Posted by jm9843

I also tried the other method of placing "Dexter_background.jpg" in the "\\localhost\Videos\TV\Dexter" folder while clearing the "Media Bkgrnd File Path" option. Still no worky.

If your placing the fanart in the same folder as your media just name the image "background.jpg"

So it will look like:

\\localhost\Videos\TV\Dexter\Dexter_so1_e01.mkv (episode)
\\localhost\Videos\TV\Dexter\Dexter_so1_e02.mkv (episode)
\\localhost\Videos\TV\Dexter\Dexter_so1_e03.mkv (episode)
\\localhost\Videos\TV\Dexter\background.jpg (fanart)
\\localhost\Videos\TV\Dexter\folder.jpg (coverart)

I've also noticed if you have Sage open and viewing the movie info whilst adding fanart for that movie it doesnt always work.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by jm9843

It's not working for me - could it have something to do with my directory structure? Or the resolution of the background image?

Fan art central directory is:
"\\localhost\Images\FanArt"

with the following subdirectories: "Film", "TV"

In SageMC options, I've specified "\\localhost\Images\FanArt" as my "Media Bkgrnd File Path". Also, I've enabled the "Global UI Options->Display->Media Based Backgrounds" option.

My actual video files are stored at \\localhost\Videos

with corresponding subdirectories "Film", "TV"

So an example that does not work is the following:

"\\localhost\Images\FanArt\TV\Dexter.jpg"

I'd then try to navigate (using File System/Folder view) to "\\localhost\Videos\TV\Dexter" to play, for example, the episode: "\\localhost\Videos\TV\Dexter\Season 03 (x264)\dexter.s03e01.720p.mkv"

I've tried this for both client and placeshifter connecting to a WHS based server backend. When doing the client test, I used the actual hostname in place of "localhost" in my unc paths. Latest version of SageMC (w/ default theme) and the latest betas of SageTV, Client, and Placeshifter.

I also tried the other method of placing "Dexter_background.jpg" in the "\\localhost\Videos\TV\Dexter" folder while clearing the "Media Bkgrnd File Path" option. Still no worky.



Confused.

Aren't the subdirectories suppose to be called Movie, Music and TV? And if it is a PC client I think you want the Fanart on the local machine. And is TV defined as the Recording directory in Sage?

Gerry

[vexhold]

If I move the Art to the Movie folder and rename to Background.jpg it works. Just not in the central folder.

[jaminben]

The easiest way to get this working is to point SageMC to look for fanart in one directory.

So mine is :

\\Whs\Fanart

This will work for TV, movies & music.

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


If you want to split the directory into subfolders to make managing your fanart easier it would look something like this:

\\Whs\Fanart\TV
\\Whs\Fanart\Music
\\Whs\Fanart\Movies

However you do NOT point SageMC to the individual folders, so the path remains the same as above:

\\Whs\Fanart

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

So you can therfore use any subdirectory you like to split your fanart up.

I've just tried this and it works fine.

Example:

\\Whs\Fanart\aaaaa (TV)
\\Whs\Fanart\bbbb (Music)
\\Whs\Fanart\ccccc (Movies)

Aslo note that for pc clients you do NOT need to store the images locally. As I said above my pc clients all work fine with the fanart images stored on my Whs. I've also tested this with my Win2003 server with the same results.

[rlvogel322]

I don't post often, but "hats off" to Mike, Dirk and Brent.

Wow!

[jaminben]

Originally Posted by vexhold

If I move the Art to the Movie folder and rename to Background.jpg it works. Just not in the central folder.

If you've tried it once and it works with background.jpg dont try the same movie again, try another one instead. I found if it doesnt work first time then it wont work for that movie until you move it out of the movie folder, rescan sage for new media making sure the movie is completly removed from Sage. Once its no longer in the list copy the movie back to your movie folder and rescan again. The fanart should now work.


I posted this in another thread but thought more people may see it here and if Brent then wants to add it to his list he can. http://rapidshare.com/files/17075653...t_Pack_One.rar

Its my collection of 100+ fanart images that I've collected for what I consider to be the more popular films like Phontom of the Opera & the sound of music

[VikingCrown]

I am so glad this is possible now! It looks so much better!!!

How difficult would it be to reorganize the recorded tv screens to better take advantage of the Vignets (http://www.thetvdb.com/banners/fanar...e/73739-15.jpg) on the tvdb with the black areas on the bottom and on the right side to make things more readable and less cluttered? Or using these MediaPortal TVSeries Fan Art pages http://jossan.visse.nu/~spuck/FanArtVote/ with the blank areas on the right side (http://jossan.visse.nu/~spuck/FanArt...age.php?id=582) ? Perhaps take out the Filter and sort by stuff on the left and slide/shrink the episodes to the right and the descriptions centered on the bottom?

~ Brian

[jaminben]

Originally Posted by VikingCrown

How difficult would it be to reorganize the recorded tv screens to better take advantage of the Vignets on the tvdb with the black areas on the bottom and on the right side to make things more readable and less cluttered? Or using these MediaPortal TVSeries Fan Art pages Perhaps take out the Filter and sort by stuff on the left and slide/shrink the episodes to the right and the descriptions centered on the bottom?

See attached screenshot, took about 15mins. Obviousley theirs alot more to it than what I've done but it is possible.

[benjamintm]

Originally Posted by jaminben

See attached screenshot, took about 15mins. Obviousley theirs alot more to it than what I've done but it is possible.

See this is where a knowledge of how SageTV actually works :-). How can I get the menu moved horizontal for the episode lists?

Ben

[jaminben]

Originally Posted by benjamintm

See this is where a knowledge of how SageTV actually works :-). How can I get the menu moved horizontal for the episode lists?

I had to use studio to make that, which isnt too hard but what I did will have a major impact on other screens within Sagemc. I did it just to show that it can be done, proberly not by me as I dont have enough knowledge but we'll see.

[MeInMaui]

BTW, in case it isn't clear, only one level of subdirectories is supported for fanart. If you add any additional levels, your background will not be found.

I'm actually thinking that I will require subdirectories to be named TV, Music, and Video for the next release so that if a TV recording and a video have the same name then the backgrounds can be differentiated.

Aloha,
Mike

[VikingCrown]

jambien,

that is pretty much exactly what i was thinking, using something like the htext menu on the bottom and then info on the right once you get to the actual video file you are wanting to play. Then one screen back you could have the episode list on the right and maybe basic summaries on the bottom or even that htext menu again. What other effects did your change in studio have to the rest of the screens?