Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[mrbaker55]

Hi,

i'm real new to MC. i have roughly 700 avi files that i have been trying to organize. I have spent several hours tagging the files with their respective cover art only to have the 'Library Restore' fail miserably.  Obviously my neglect with setting it up right has caused this, and so now here i am. I simply attached the cover art by method of - right click>Cover art>add from file, and then proceeded to attach every jpeg (all jpegs stored in seperate folder to avi files on hdd) to their respective movies.  The restores were staggered.  The first time it restored about 80% correctly, and then dropped roughly 20-25% over the next few restores, to the stage i'm at now - no cover art after all that work.

Any advice on the most effecient manner in which to tag my library of avi files with there movie covers would be appreciated. Or just the procedure to put in place to insure the library backup works as i'm quite happy to tag every file again.

I have found Alex B's links to cover art and read through most, but thought i would get a definitve 3rd party opinion before going through the whole process again.

Cheers and let me add, I've been looking for a media player w/library for ages to rival WMP11 and couldnt believe it when i found out about this little gem, talk about blowing away the competition!

Baker

[Alex B]

Welcome to the forum!

The restores were staggered.  The first time it restored about 80% correctly, and then dropped roughly 20-25% over the next few restores, to the stage i'm at now - no cover art after all that work.

What you mean by "restores"? Once a cover art link is created it does not automatically vanish without a reason. Naturally, if you trash the library and import the files to a new library it cannot contain the old image file links.

Also, how are the cover art files named? Do you use a certain system or is the filename more or less arbitrary?

The cover art link is stored in the file specific tags inside the library in the "Image File" field. If the image file is linked from the video file folder only the actual filename is stored. If the image file is stored elsewhere the complete path is included.

With a video file the actual cover art file is not used much. MC creates a cached thumbnail image for display purposes and this is used in MC's thumbnail views.

MC can rebuild the thumbnails by reading the linked image files again. For example, when a library is restored from a backup file the old thumbnail cache is cleared and MC builds new thumbnails. Naturally, the linked image files need to be available for this.

Any advice on the most effecient manner in which to tag my library of avi files with there movie covers would be appreciated. Or just the procedure to put in place to insure the library backup works as i'm quite happy to tag every file again.

How do you store the movie files? Do you have all 700 files in a single folder (or maybe in a few folders on several hard drives) or do you use some subfolder system?

I have mine in separate folders -- one folder for each full lenght movie or video series (TV series, splitted music video DVDs etc). I store the cover art files, possible subtitle files and related document files (downloaded IMDb or Wikipedia articles, reviews etc) in the same folder with the video file(s). I import all these files to MC and tag them so that I can use MC's tools for handling them.

Here is an example from my library:

[JONCAT]

Upon my library restore today, 60%+ video thumbs had to be rebuilt from scratch, even though my thumbnail folder remains intact.

I know that some files like .avi need to have tags stored in the library right? BUT, why do tehy need to be rebuilt from scratch via FFDSHOW unlike audio thumbnails; something I have seen repeatedly for years in MC.

Once the video thumbs are built, shouldn't they be saved somewhere?

I store all cover art as file in folder & in tags (when possible).

This wouldn't be a big issue, but honestly, I'm having a real slowdown on my quad-core when trying to rebuild video thumbs; my machine is unusable with various FFDshow installs and settings.

Hopefully, we can diagnose this problem and solve it, once and for all.

DC

[rjm]

When I restore a library and its thumbnail cache, none of my video (or any other) thumbnails get rebuilt. I suspect your thumbnail cache was modified or cleared. Did you load a different library before the restore? This might have wiped out your thumbnail cache.

To be safe in the future, you should back up both your library and your thumbnail cache.

[JONCAT]

Yeah that's what I do and did, it seemed to help although I did have some video thumbs that needed to be rebuilt.

After installing an MC update, it decided to use the default location even though my library is, and known to be, in C:\J River

Seems to be okay now, just having a lot of thumbs which can't be built; older Xvid, many DivX, and MJpeg.
DC

[mrbaker55]

What you mean by "restores"?

File > Library > Restore Library

Also, how are the cover art files named?

Mostly all are named the same as the file itself which is the movie title.

Do you use a certain system or is the filename more or less arbitrary?

No system yet.

With a video file the actual cover art file is not used much. MC creates a cached thumbnail image for display purposes and this is used in MC's thumbnail views.

I think i undertand, i have noticed the duplicates being created and named in numbers.  Im assuming these are the images that MC is actually using. After the restores failed I switched the default setting to my speciified location; as displayed below.

I suspect your thumbnail cache was modified or cleared. Did you load a different library before the restore?

Yes i beleive i may have once or twice.

To be safe in the future, you should back up both your library and your thumbnail cache.

How do you backup your thumbnail cache?

How do you store the movie files?

I have all movie files in 1 sinlge folder on my external HDD, all movie covers in 1 single seperate folder.

Here is a rough example of how i would like my library/view setup:

I forgot to mention with my original 'full restore' some, not many (roughly 5%) of the images were linked to the wrong file/movie.  After trying the same restore 2-3 times later almost every movie/file was displaying the wrong cover/art.

I have been testing the Library Backup/Restore again tonight. I attached roughly 20 images using the same procedure and it seems to be effectively restoring 95% correctly, with the reamining 5% showing up as wrong images/cover art.
For example: the movie '6th Day' is linked to the image of the movie '300'.  When i fix the error by switching the image to the correct one and then > File > Library > Backup, then Library > Restore the images are switched now the movie '300' displaying the image of the movie '6th day'.  As seen in the above image.  Upon further inspection i have discovered MC is saving over the thumbnails with the other different image.
For example: when i attach the cover art for the movie '300' MC autosaves its own duplicate (file name - 4_22_2007) in my specified folder. Then when i attach cover art for the movie '6th day' MC autosaves its own duplciate with the same file over the cover art for the movie '300'.  This is why MC cant save the two seperate cover art images. The same error seems to be occuring with the remaining 5%.

Not sure why it only happens with a select few, what would you suggest?

Thanks for your quick resonses and help, i work long hours and may not be able to reply until next weekend.

Cheers
Baker

[Alex B]

Now I understand better.

When you use external cover art the thumbnail cache is not a problem. MC creates new thumbnails in the application data folder quickly on the need basis. Only when you don't use external image files thumbnailing is slower because MC needs to start playback for creating the screen grabs.

The thumbnail cache does not contain individual image files. On XP it is located in C:\Documents and Settings\[your user name]\Application Data\J River\Media Center 12\Thumbnails (by default).

This thumbnail system is essential for quick display in views that contain lots of thumbnails. Accessing and reading the individual image files on the disk would be too slow.


Your main problem is the default cover art naming behavior that is originally designed for audio files. The naming scheme used is [Album Artist (auto)] - [Album].  If the Artist field is empty, the resulting filename starts with the separator and ends with the album name. Since the default album name is created from the last modification date, you may end up with MC overwriting existing cover art files.

However, you don't need to let MC create a copy of the cover art file you are linking. Just answer no to this question:



If you have previously ticked the "don't show this again" checkbox you can reset that in Options > General > Advanced > Reset all confimation messages...

The cover art links are stored in the "Image File" library field. You can add this column to a details view scheme or to AW > Tag for checking the contents.

Also, instead of using the menu command you can add cover art simply by dragging files from Windows Explorer to MC. Select the video file (or files) and drag & drop the cover art file in the Image display in Action Window. This will link it quickly without displaying the dialog box.  (AW > Tag > Image View -- click the small image placeholder on top left corner of the Tag window to open the display)

[mrbaker55]

Thanks mate, i've tested again and again and restore/image links are working 100% everytime, thnx again!

I've got a few other semi-related q's i cant find the answers to so i'll ask here and apologise in advance if i should have created a new topic.

When you drag the cursor over a thumbnail image sometimes MC offers you the full size image of that respective file in a quick pop-up hovering right in front of you, then once you move the mouse cursor off it promptly dissappears. Most times it doesnt offer this at all.  What defines this rule? is it the size of the image (does it need to be over a certain size) or something else? Its an excellent feature and im just wondering how to enable it every where i can.

I have many video files that are split into 2 avi files for the 1 movie.  Is there a way to link the second file to play in sequence after the first had been executed and ended, in a saved playlist or smartlist so that every time i execute that first (of two) file it will always play the second (of two) file, and hence an uninterupted movie. And moreover, i see no need to view both thumbnails (of the split files of the same movie) so if you can create this 'saved playlist' is there then a way to  retain it whilst somehow hiding the second (of two) files from the library. i can obviously simply delete the (second of two) file from the library database but im assuming it needs to stay imported in order to play in a playlist.  So perhaps i could just leave its feilds blank or hide it somewhere else in the library so its not viewable from the main collection? Ever tried this?, if not no worries leave it to me; as i said before im real new to MC and by the end of the year i'll no it inside out.

cheers