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[Sandy B Ridge]

...... try listing TV channels in a smart list.  Just select "Media Type" to be "TV".  All your channels are listed in the smart list.  To make sure your smart list is setup correctly, you can check the "Filename" for each entry.  They have filename extension "tvlb".  The filenames all begin with "TV Channel" and ends with "([tuner type])", like

"TV Channel xxxxxxxxxx (ATSC).tvlb"
"TV Channel xxxxxxxxxx (Set Top Box).tvlb"

This post (and another today on a different thread) tickled my curiosity.

Since a simple channel list no longer appears in theaterview for TV (since the most excellent EPG appeared!), I wondered if one can create a custom view under Video (for example) using a smartlist and get a simple list of channels for 'flicking'. Sometimes I don't care what's on TV and I just want to watch whatever is on BBC for example and also some channels I don't bother with the EPG don't show up.

Since I am *still* without a key component of my HTPC (MoBo) I can't test it out.

Anyone clever out there?!

SBR

[rpalmer68]

I'd like to have a channel list too.

If the EPG is blank then I think Theater View should show a raw channel list by default, otherwsie there is no way of starting live TV from theater view when there is no EPG (which happened to me today).

R

[Yaobing]

Yes, you certainly can do it.  Here is how:

Tools > Options... > Theater View
Select Video under "Items to show", click Add... > Library Item.  Click Set rules for file display...

One rule you need: Media Type is TV
Add more rules (optional): TV Tuner Input Type is DVB-T etc.

Use Nest/Unnest button to put it under Video, or as a root item.

The attached image shows three items that I added as an illustration.  One as root item, "tv all channels", two under Video, "TV Channels" (which I should have named "Digital Channels", since I set input type to all digital types, i.e. ATSC, DVB-T, QAM, etc.) and "STB Channels" (for my stb and analog cable channels).

[Z0001]

I have followed Yaobing's instruction here and although I can make myself a label in Options for a Theatre View channel list view there is no content, ie no channels are listed. I tuned my tv card and there are definitely channels available and listed in the standard view, but not Theatre View.

Can someone help me populate it with channels, and also how do I make it just the favorites?

Thanks
Z

[NickF]

Did you set the rule for display?  The critical one is:
Media Type is TV

You cannot select based on the favourites marking.  I have achieved this by using a Custom Field and entering a value for the channels I want to display then filtering on that value.  I now have separate lists for TV and Radio.

Nick.

[Z0001]

Yes I set that rule. And I set the Channel list as a sub group of Guide, I also set under Details the Library Field "TV Channel". But in Theatre View it says there's are no items to display.

Do I need to set TV channels as the media type "TV" somewhere else in MC?

Thanks
Z

[Yaobing]

And I set the Channel list as a sub group of Guide,

That might be the problem.  Guide and other default items have their own special purposes and probably will ignore your nesting effort.  Try leaving "TV Channels" parallel with Guide.

[Sandy B Ridge]

I was messing about with TV channel smartlists and noticed that the [Image File] tag doesn't show and a 'CoverArt' option isn't in the right click option.

What I was trying to do was attach a CoverArt logo to the channels and display them in TheaterView as a 'coverart' view rather than a simple list.

Anyway, changing the media type to Video temporarily, adding a coverart, and changing back the media type to TV works OK, but it is a pain to do.

Any chance of exposing the [Image File] tag for [Media]=TV, and preferably allowing 'Coverart options' in the context menu?

Cheers!

SBR

[NickF]

In your TV channels files listing, display the "Image (small thumbnail)" field.  Click on a file and click on Tag in the bottom left pane.  You will see the default image of a TV screen.  Click on that and you will see a little folder icon just above it.  Left click on that and select "Add from file..".

I went through this last week and now have icons for all my TV channels.  These show in the channel lists in TheaterView but not in the Guide, unfortunately.  That would be a nice addition when Yaobing has time.

Nick.

[Sandy B Ridge]

In your TV channels files listing, display the "Image (small thumbnail)" field.  Click on a file and click on Tag in the bottom left pane.  You will see the default image of a TV screen.  Click on that and you will see a little folder icon just above it.  Left click on that and select "Add from file..".

I went through this last week and now have icons for all my TV channels.  These show in the channel lists in TheaterView but not in the Guide, unfortunately.  That would be a nice addition when Yaobing has time.

Nick.

Thanks NickF, you're a gent.

That'll save a bit of time.

BTW where did you dl the logos from? I got a rar from an avforum post which has some 300 x 300 logos, but mostly 80 x 80 which are a bit pants when scaled up.

Cheers

SBR

[NickF]

I use Lyngsat Logos:

http://www.lyngsat-logo.com/tv/a_1.html

It is the best site I have found for logos.  One thing you need to be aware of is that the png pictures mainly have transparent backgrounds.  If you load these into MC, it converts them to jpg and the result is a bit of a mess.  If you have a graphics package such as Photo Shop, create a background of the size and colour you want then paste the png on top, then save as a jpg for MC.

I have attached a couple of examples of mine.

Nick.

[Sandy B Ridge]

Oooo, they look nice!

Shame MC doesn't do png coverart properly. I think converting them manually to jpeg with a nice background for over a hundred channels is a bit much for me at the moment.

What would be superb is to have these submitted into jRivers cover art repository (is it called YADB?) and have them auto match with a couple of clicks!

SBR

[NickF]

So how does yadb get populated?  Can users load data into it?

http://www.yadb.com/

It says we can but doesn't say how!

I would be happy to upload all my logos.  They are obviously UK only and only the channels I am interested in.  With some structure, standards and a naming convention and community involvement, it could grow to make things that much simpler and more complete.

How do we make this happen?

Nick.

[mojave]

So how does yadb get populated?  Can users load data into it?

http://www.yadb.com/

It says we can but doesn't say how!

I would be happy to upload all my logos.  They are obviously UK only and only the channels I am interested in.  With some structure, standards and a naming convention and community involvement, it could grow to make things that much simpler and more complete.

How do we make this happen?

Nick.

Tools > Options > Online Metadata is where you set automatic submission in JRiver. You can also right click an album, etc. and click Library Tools > Submit Track Info To Online Database or you can click Cover Art > Submit to Internet. I don't know if logos would be uploaded, though.

[NickF]

Tools > Options > Online Metadata is where you set automatic submission in JRiver. You can also right click an album, etc. and click Library Tools > Submit Track Info To Online Database or you can click Cover Art > Submit to Internet. I don't know if logos would be uploaded, though.

Thanks mojave.  A problem at present is that TV Logos aren't treated like Cover Art.  With some changes to TV file structure, I suppose they could be but I think these TV files are somewhat different.  So JRiver will need to do some development to make this possible.

Yaobing, what do you think?

Nick.

[JimH]

Yaobing is somewhere in the Caribbean right now.  He'll be back in about a week.

The idea of adding these to YADB is a good one.  This concept keeps coming up and perhaps we need a general solution that can handle multiple data types.

[Sandy B Ridge]

I have attached a couple of examples of mine.

Once you have it sorted, it may be worth posting a screenshot of theaterview screen so we can ogle!

SBR

[NickF]

Once you have it sorted, it may be worth posting a screenshot of theaterview screen so we can ogle!

Work in progress:

Nick.

[Sandy B Ridge]

Hey!

That looks really good. I hadn't thought of doing it as a 'coverflow' view. But the 'What's on' info along the bottom makes it work really well.

Great stuff!

Now JRiver just needs to open up YADB to the coverart and add it automatically as part of the xmltvid lookup in the EPG setup, and we are all set! Please?

SBR

[NickF]

Now JRiver just needs to open up YADB to the coverart and add it automatically as part of the xmltvid lookup in the EPG setup, and we are all set! Please?

There are some real challenges (call them requirements) here, I think.  

• Governance needs to be considered.  I haven't tried this with Cover Art but I now understand that we can submit Cover Art into YADB.  So how is the decision made to use one submission versus another.  I am a long term user of MyMovies and they have moderators to agree use of submissions by new users.  Once you have earned points through contribution, your inputs may be used automatically.  There are also variations in Cover Art for the same album or DVD.  MyMovies uses bar codes to uniquely identify the disc.
• Naming needs to be addressed.  The same channel may be named slightly differently on different platforms - DVB-T compared with DVB-S so matching automatically to load at scanning time will be challenging.  I don't know whether there is any unique channel identifier across platforms.
• A minimum quality needs to be set in terms of resolution, amongst other characteristics.
• Style - do we want a consistent style across all logos?

I'm sure there are others.  Any suggestions, I will gladly compile into this list.

Nick.

[raym]

I went through this last week and now have icons for all my TV channels.  These show in the channel lists in TheaterView but not in the Guide, unfortunately.  That would be a nice addition when Yaobing has time.

Hi Yaobing, any clues when we might see TV icons in the Guide?

[HTPC4ME]

Hey guys. little confused...

In your TV channels files listing, display the "Image (small thumbnail)" field.  Click on a file and click on Tag in the bottom left pane.  You will see the default image of a TV screen.  Click on that and you will see a little folder icon just above it.  Left click on that and select "Add from file..".

I went through this last week and now have icons for all my TV channels.  These show in the channel lists in TheaterView but not in the Guide, unfortunately.  That would be a nice addition when Yaobing has time.

Nick.

How do I find/make TV Channels listing?
i'd like to add covers/images to all my OTA channels (22 available)

and so I understand... once i get Satellite/cable then all channels images/covers would have to manually be made for all channels available via TV channels listing image tag?
 
Thanks for clarification

[NickF]

Hey guys. little confused... How do I find/make TV Channels listing?
i'd like to add covers/images to all my OTA channels (22 available)

and so I understand... once i get Satellite/cable then all channels images/covers would have to manually be made for all channels available via TV channels listing image tag?
 
Thanks for clarification

The simplest way is to create a new Smartlist.  In Standard View under Playlists, right click Smartlists and select "Add Smartlist" and name it TV Channels.  Set Media Type is TV (uncheck audio).

Yes, you need to manually make the images but, as I have said, use Lyngsat Logos as your starting point.

It would be very nice to get a usable repository for these.  If anyone is in the UK, I have a set which I am prepared to share.

Nick.

[HTPC4ME]

thanks Nick, i have succeeded in making the smartlist. but im kinda stuck. when i goto smartlist/tv channels, and click on kare Hd (local OTA news channel) all of the icons for OTA channels show movie reels. when i click on tag, i'm not seeing an image small thumbnail option, and if i click on also show, there is not one available to select.
How did you accomplish changing the image thumbnail?

In your TV channels files listing, display the "Image (small thumbnail)" field.  Click on a file and click on Tag in the bottom left pane.  You will see the default image of a TV screen.  Click on that and you will see a little folder icon just above it.  Left click on that and select "Add from file..".

Also Nick you mentioned radio in a post here

You cannot select based on the favourites marking.  I have achieved this by using a Custom Field and entering a value for the channels I want to display then filtering on that value.  I now have separate lists for TV and Radio.

being i have the hauppauge 2250, and it has a FM port on it. i could install an FM antenna, and ALSO get my local radio stations? i've done a search in forum and wiki, but not finding how to implement radio into jriver. do you have any links for incorporating radio into jriver (standard view/Theaterview) i assume if possible and once setup, Radio stations would show up in audio under standard view/theaterview?

Thanks for your time.

[NickF]

In the left pane under tags, you are seeing the movie reel image icon for the selected channel.  Left click on that image.  You will now see an Image heading instead of Tag.  To the left of Image is a small icon.  Left click that and you will find an "Add from file" option.  Go to your channel logo location and load that file.  That should do it.

For Radio stations, these should behave like TV channels.  I have keywords set for TV and Radio, set up in the Smartlist, and use these to select the relevant channels for different guides.  I have a rule set in each guide setup like this:


[=TVInfo(ChannelKeywords)&DataType=[list]]=[TV]

[=TVInfo(ChannelKeywords)&DataType=[list]]=[Radio]


Thanks, MrC!


Matt introduced this feature a while back.  Very useful.

Nick.

[MrC]

Use [nobbc][/nobbc] around any [list] tag, which is reserved bbcode used by the forum software, and mucks up the expressions.

[Sandy B Ridge]

Also Nick you mentioned radio in a post here being i have the hauppauge 2250, and it has a FM port on it. i could install an FM antenna, and ALSO get my local radio stations? i've done a search in forum and wiki, but not finding how to implement radio into jriver. do you have any links for incorporating radio into jriver (standard view/Theaterview) i assume if possible and once setup, Radio stations would show up in audio under standard view/theaterview?

I think you're out of luck for FM radio. What works here on the UK is the fact that radio is broadcast along side the digital tv transmission on both terrestrial and satellite. The Digital TV tuning process happens to pick them up by accident because they look like the TV channels in every way except for having no video feed. So MCs tuner algorithm picks them up and they appear in the database undifferentiated from TV channels.

FM radio would need a whole new tuning algorithm.

SBR

[HTPC4ME]

beautiful! thanks nick!

and theater view looks pretty now as well


i made a channels view under Guide(it's not how i want it yet. still trying to figure out how to accomplish showing just the channel names & images i made with no guide info,EX... Only Kare 11).


the rules/view i have setup so far

[HTPC4ME]

FM radio would need a whole new tuning algorithm.

well then i'll save my money , and time until a later date...Thanks