Difference between revisions of "Gen3 Moviesheets"

Revision as of 08:56, 18 March 2015

Gen3 aka (WD Streaming Media Player or SMP) has official supported methods for moviesheets as well as WDLXTV theming methods.

Official Method for Moviesheets

To my knowledge all themes support the official method.

There is an official built in scraping tool to get and display moviesheets.

Limitations and Requirements on official Method

1. Media Library must be ON for the internal scraper to work

2. Moviesheets will not work with folders only with files.

3. Moviesheets are not static and use a fade in affect, they are not instant(ie. the scraper will download multiple background pictures. The WD will cycle through these backgrounds, WD uses the slideshow interval timer for this affect, which can be changed to a 5 min interval)

4. Synopics, Plot, Actors, Genre and other info are stored in a separate <filename>.xml

WDLXTV Methods for Moviesheets

WDLXTV introduced a method called "Linksheets"

Linksheets are nothing more than a special way to display your moviesheet.

Due to development and improvements in the process, there are 2 different idea's about how linksheets works.

We'll discuss both in a moment.

Linksheets Requirements

1. The theme in use must support linksheets

To be linksheets compatible the theme must include the following edits depending on which view is selected

<image image="@@browse_text" x="0" y="0" w="1280" h="720" bg="1"/>
<image image="@@focused_title" x="0" y="0" w="1280" h="720" bg="1"/>

2. If linksheets is going to be used combined with Media Library ON or with use of .xml files, then <filename>.xml must be edited

Linksheets will not work with Media Library or xml files unless <title>filmnamehere</title> is removed from your xml's

3. Naming Conventions

for Gen3 there is only one naming schema that should be used

Files

<movie-file-name>.<ext>_sheet.jpg
Example : Batman.mkv_sheet.jpg

Folders

<folder-name>_sheet.jpg
Example : Batman_sheet.jpg

4. Moviesheet Creation / and xml creation

The most common tool is a program called Thumbgen http://thumbgen.codeplex.com

A Linux Alternative can be found here http://forum.wdlxtv.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=5255

How to use Linksheets - V1 Recommended method

Settings

The following Settings are required for Linksheets V1 autoscanning

LINKSHEETS=ON

config_tool -c LINKSHEETS=ON

MSHEETMODE=sheet,wall,std - Choose one, it does not matter which one, legacy devices had different modes, gen3 only has 1 mode, it does not mater which you select, but you must choose one

config_tool -c MSHEETMODE=sheet
config_tool -c MSHEETMODE=wall
config_tool -c MSHEETMODE=std

GENMSHEET,LISTMSHEET,VIDMSHEET - for completeness, just go ahead and use all of these, but it's again legacy info, you just have to have at least 1 selected for this to work on Gen3 device

config_tool -c GENMSHEET=ON
config_tool -c LISTMSHEET=ON
config_tool -c VIDMSHEET=ON

All settings are available in WEC

Moviesheet Storage Location

The required storage location is usually the default in most programs, so you should not have to change anything.

Moviesheets for Movies go in the same folder right next to the movie

Moviesheets for Folder go inside the folder

Example Directory

-- ActionMoviesFolder
---- Batman.mkv
---- Batman.mkv_sheet.jpg
---- ActionMoviesFolder_sheet.jpg

Automated Linksheet Scanning

This happens at boot time and also the first time you access a network share

For automated scanning to work the theme naming convention must be <my-theme-name>.theme.linksheets Example : Coco.theme.linksheets

How to use Linksheets - V2 Depreciated method

This method works well for theme that use the following naming conventions .theme <my-theme-name>.theme

This is especially not recommend for any themes with the following name convetion <my-theme-name>.theme.linksheets

1. Manually Rename your files as follows. This was referred to as MSheetDir Method on prior devices.

Files

<movie-file-name>.<ext>_sheet.jpg  -- Change to --> <movie-file-name>.<ext>
Example : Batman.mkv_sheet.jpg  -- Change to --> Batman.mkv

Folders

<folder-name>_sheet.jpg  -- Change to --> <folder-name>
Example : Batman_sheet.jpg  -- Change to --> Batman

2. Next copy all the renamed files into the root of your theme Example theme folder

-- GoodBye Black Mamba.theme.linksheets (this is a folder)
---- meta.xml
---- (lots of other .xml files)
---- Batman.mkv (this is actually a .jpg moviesheet which was renamed)
---- ActionMovies (this is actually a .jpg moviesheet for a folder which was renamed)

.