View source for How to use Movie sheets







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B-RAD has recently announced the availability of Movie Sheets on the custom fw, here is a short demo of how it looks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNDQxnVkFEM

= Introduction =

Moviesheets are fullscreen, prerendered images which are displayed as background when you select a folder or media file.<br />

'''''It doesn't matter if you have all your movies in one dir or each movie in it's own dir!'''''

There are three basic modes:
* '''SHEET'''<br />In sheet mode you will see 7 thumbs or 7 list items (depending on thumb/list mode) at the bottom of the screen and the sheet displayed as background.<br />
[[File:Sheet_mode.png|none|200px|thumb|left|Sheet Mode]]

* '''WALL'''<br />In wall mode you will see 4x3 thumbs or 10 list items on the left of the screen and the sheet displayed as background.<br />
[[File:Wall_mode.png|none|200px|thumb|left|Wall Mode]]

* '''STD'''<br />In std mode you will see the normal thumb/list view if no sheet is found and a full screen sheet in foreground (overlaying the thumbs/list) if a sheet is found.
[[File:Std_mode.png|none|200px|thumb|left|Std Mode]]
<br />

There are currently two different ways to get Moviesheets displaying on WDLXTV: 
* '''LINKSHEETS''' (WDLXTV G2/LIVE/PLUS)<br />This is the "old" method of displaying moviesheets. It's a shell script which searches for sheets on your drives and link them in to the OSD. If you have a lot of media files this takes quite some time and this scan is repeated on each reboot.<br />'''''Linksheets works on G2, LIVE and PLUS in any newer WDLXTV version!'''''
** '''PRO:'''
***Very fast display of the sheets while browsing media files. There's almost no delay when the sheets are displayed.
** '''CONTRA:'''
*** Media/Sheet filenames '''MUST''' be unique!
*** Scanning on boot takes a long time (depending on how many files to scan)
<br /><br />
* '''WDTVExt MovieSheet plugin''' (WDLXTV LIVE only!)<br />This is a WDTVExt plugin which will search for sheet files dynamically while you are browsing your media files.<br />'''''MovieSheet plugin will ONLY work on 1.02.21 based firmwares!!'''''
** '''PRO:'''
*** No time consuming drive scan on boot
*** Ability to hide the movie name when a sheet is present
*** Ability to show full screen std mode sheet in wall and sheet mode
** '''CONTRA:'''
*** Currently only works with WDLXTV versions based on 1.02.21 firmware!
*** Sheets are displayed slower. The delay before they show up depends on the location (network/usb) and the sheet's filename.
<br />

'''You also have to understand that there are two different types of sheet files:'''
* '''file sheets'''<br />These are sheets for media files.
* '''folder sheets'''<br />These are sheets for folder (or directories).
<br />
There is a thread on the forum explaining the search algorithm used to search for sheets.<br />
[http://forum.wdlxtv.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1355 WDLXTV-G2/Live/Plus-0.4.2.1+ MovieSheets Naming conventions]<br />
'''''You should really read and understand it!'''''<br />
'''''These file naming conventions are valid for both versions!'''''<br />

= Important moviesheet note!!! =
* '''ALL''' moviesheets '''must be smaller''' than 500KB!
* WD TV Live v1.03.49 (and custom firmwares based on this) has a bug that doesn't allow you to show folder-thumbnails for the first two levels.
** This is fixed in wdlxtv release 0.4.7.0!
<br/>

= Setup =

I'm going to explain the setup for both versions based on the [http://wiki.wdlxtv.com/Set_SSH_password telnet] commands, on recent WDLXTV versions you can also configure most of these options in WEC (WebEnd Configuration) or by putting the commands used here in your [http://wiki.wdlxtv.com/S00custom-options S00custom-options] file.


== Main Options (used by both versions) ==

* '''MSHEETMODE=[sheet|wall|std|'']''' (empty string means off)
This config setting configures the sheet mode.
 config_tool -c MSHEETMODE=sheet
<br />

The following config settings define on which browse mode sheets should be used (Listview or Thumbview).
* '''VIDMSHEET=[ON|OFF]'''
Use sheets for the video thumbs browse mode.
 config_tool -c VIDMSHEET=ON
* '''LISTMSHEET=[ON|OFF]'''
Use sheets for the video list browse mode.
 config_tool -c LISTMSHEET=ON
* '''GENMSHEET=[ON|OFF]'''
Use sheets for audio/photo thumb browse mode.
 config_tool -c GENMSHEET=ON


* '''MSHEETDIR'''
Configure a central sheet repository. The sheets will be searched in this dir instead of the folder the media file resides in.<br />
(In this example it's a network share mounted as ''sheets''.)
 config_tool -c MSHEETDIR='/tmp/media/usb/sheets'


== LINKSHEETS specific options ==

In order to get Linksheets working you have to set these two options:

* '''LINKSHEETS=[ON|OFF]'''
 config_tool -c LINKSHEETS=ON


* '''SHOW_FILESIZE_SETTING'''
This setting is very important if you are using LINKSHEETS!<br />
'''''LINKSHEETS won't work if SHOW_FILESIZE is enabled!'''''

 config_tool -c SHOW_FILESIZE_SETTING=0


=== Important LINKSHEETS Notes ===

* If you are running 1.03.49_WDLXTV_LIVE-0.4.5.3 you may have to disable WDTVExt (it isn't supported/included in this firmware anyways...)
 config_tool -c WDTVEXT=OFF

* Wait until the linksheets scan process is finished (all LED's stopped blinking) before you browse your files.

* To rescan a directory for sheets manually you can execute this command in telnet/ssh (example will rescan all usb drives and xmounts)
 linksheets /tmp/media/usb



== MovieSheet plugin specific options (1.02.21 based WDLXTV only) ==

The MovieSheet plugin offers some extra options which are not available with linksheets.<br /><br />

* '''DEFAULTSHEET'''
This option allows you to have a default sheet displayed when no other sheet can be found.<br />
Eg. this will display your background image when no sheet is found:
 config_tool -c DEFAULTSHEET='image/villa_bg.jpg'


'''''The following options are Expert Options!'''''<br />
'''''Keep your hands off these settings until you have your Moviesheets up and running and know what you are doing.'''''<br />
'''''If you don't understand something in the explanation of these setting, they are not for you!'''''<br />
'''''I'm serious, I won't help anyone who uses these setting but hasn't gotten basic Moviesheets to work!'''''<br /><br />

* '''MOVIESHEET_HIDE_TITLE=[ON|OFF]''' '''''(1.02.21 based WDLXTV 0.4.3.1+)'''''
If this option is set to yes the filename display below the thumbs will be hidden if a sheet is displayed.
 config_tool -c MOVIESHEET_HIDE_TITLE=ON


* '''MOVIESHEET_FORCE_STD=[ON|OFF]''' '''''(1.02.21 based WDLXTV 0.4.5.3+)'''''
This will enable a special mode which makes sense if you have a folder structure where each movie is in it's own folder!<br />

Remember there are two different sheet types (file/folder)?<br />
If you have set your sheet mode to sheet or wall mode and enable this option, the plugin will search for std mode file sheets although we are in sheet or wall mode.So you must have a sheet file that complies with the std sheet naming convention for this to work.<br />
The effect is the following:
While browsing the folders of your movies you get the typical wall or sheet display, but when you enter a folder and select a file it will display the fullscreen std mode sheet in foreground instead of the wall or sheet mode file.
 config_tool -c MOVIESHEET_FORCE_STD=ON


* '''.force_std_mode'''
If you create a file called '''.force_std_mode''' inside a folder,it triggers the same mode as '''MOVIESHEET_FORCE_STD''', but for a single folder.
 touch /tmp/media/usb/movies/NiceMovie/.force_std_mode


* '''MOVIESHEET_DEBUG=[0-5]'''
This enables the debug log. If you have problems and want to find out what is going on and why your sheets don't display, set this and have a look at '''/tmp/dmaosd.log'''.
 config_tool -c MOVIESHEET_DEBUG=5

= Examples =

== Example LINKSHEETS setup ==
 config_tool -c WDTVEXT=OFF
 config_tool -c SHOW_FILESIZE_SETTING=0
 config_tool -c LINKSHEETS=ON
 config_tool -c MSHEETMODE=sheet
 config_tool -c VIDMSHEET=ON
 config_tool -c LISTMSHEET=ON
 config_tool -c GENMSHEET=ON


== Example MovieSheet plugin setup ==
 config_tool -c WDTVEXT=ON
 config_tool -c MSHEETMODE=sheet
 config_tool -c VIDMSHEET=ON
 config_tool -c LISTMSHEET=ON
 config_tool -c GENMSHEET=ON


== Example file structures ==
Here are some example file structures for different modes:


=== Sheet Mode ===
{| cellpadding="5" rules="cols" border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; border-color: #000; empty-cells:hide"
!style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0 1px 1px 0"|File
!style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0 1px 1px 0"|Description
|-
|Movies||<i>folder</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982||<i>folder</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner.avi||<i>media file</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner.avi_sheet.jpg||<i>generic file sheet</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner.jpg||<i>file thumb</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner-1982_sheet.jpg||<i>generic folder sheet</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/folder.jpg||<i>folder thumb</i>
|}


=== Std Mode ===
{| cellpadding="5" rules="cols" border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; border-color: #000; empty-cells:hide"
!style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0 1px 1px 0"|File
!style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0 1px 1px 0"|Description
|-
|Movies||<i>folder</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982||<i>folder</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner.avi||<i>media file</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner.avi_sheet.std.jpg||<i>std file sheet</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner.jpg||<i>file thumb</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/folder.jpg||<i>folder thumb</i>
|}


=== Sheet/Wall/Std Mode combined setup ===
This setup let's you switch between modes...

{|cellpadding="5" rules="cols" border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; border-color: #000; empty-cells:hide"
!style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0 1px 1px 0"|File
!style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0 1px 1px 0"|Description
|-
|Movies||<i>folder</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982||<i>folder</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner.avi||<i>media file</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner.avi_sheet.sheet.jpg||<i>sheet mode file sheet</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner.avi_sheet.std.jpg||<i>std mode file sheet</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner.avi_sheet.wall.jpg||<i>wall mode file sheet</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner.jpg||<i>file thumb</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner-1982_sheet.sheet.jpg||<i>sheet mode folder sheet</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner-1982_sheet.wall.jpg||<i>wall mode folder sheet</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/folder.jpg||<i>folder thumb</i>
|}


=== Sheet Mode with Std Mode file sheets ===
'''This does <u>NOT</u> work with LINKSHEETS!'''
{|cellpadding="5" rules="cols" border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; border-color: #000; empty-cells:hide"
!style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0 1px 1px 0"|File
!style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0 1px 1px 0"|Description
|-
|Movies||<i>folder</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982||<i>folder</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/.force_std_mode||<i>options file</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner.avi||<i>media file</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner.avi_sheet.std.jpg||<i>std mode file sheet</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner.jpg||<i>file thumb</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner-1982_sheet.sheet.jpg||<i>sheet mode folder sheet</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/folder.jpg||<i>folder thumb</i>
|}


=== Sheet Mode with central sheet repository ===
(MSHEETDIR='/tmp/media/usb/sheets')

{|cellpadding="5" rules="cols" border="1" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; border-color: #000; empty-cells:hide"
!style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0 1px 1px 0"|File
!style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0 1px 1px 0"|Description
|-
|sheets||<i>folder</i>
|-
|sheets/Blade.Runner.avi_sheet.sheet.jpg||<i>sheet mode file sheet</i>
|-
|sheets/Blade.Runner-1982_sheet.sheet.jpg||<i>sheet mode folder sheet</i>
|-
|Movies||<i>folder</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982||<i>folder</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner.avi||<i>media file</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/Blade.Runner.jpg||<i>file thumb</i>
|-
|Movies/Blade.Runner-1982/folder.jpg||<i>folder thumb</i>
|}
<br />


= Generating the sheets =

Now you need to generate the actual data for your movie collection. The easiest available way to do this is via the "ThumbGen" utility (you can [http://www.thumbgen.org/ get it here]).

To use ThumbGen for movie sheets (and not just thumbnails) you must have some kind of template, and you can find some of these [http://wdtvforum.com/main/index.php?topic=5787.0 on the wdtvforums here] (thanks to QuickSurfer for the great post).


= Links =

* [http://forum.wdlxtv.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=41&start=0 Moviesheet HowTo]
* [http://forum.wdlxtv.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1355 WDLXTV-G2/Live/Plus-0.4.2.1+ MovieSheets Naming Conventions]
* [http://forum.wdlxtv.com/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=2079 LINKSHEETS for IDIOTS ]
* [http://www.thumbgen.org ThumbGen]

--[[User:Recliq|Recliq]] 14:16, 8 January 2011 (UTC)