Topic: get movie tv info... how do we get series cover arts to stick? (Read 6482 times)

HTPC4ME · « **on:** April 20, 2012, 05:33:30 am »

All my files have folder.jpg in appropriate folders since version 9.
When i use get movie tv info for tv series it builds all the episode thumbnails fine. but when i goto theaterview to view my series all it shows is the thumbnails, it doesnt bring up the folder.jpg for that appropriate Series i have saved in the series folder.

Also i think there is a bug with get movie tv info when searching for and building movie cover arts... every get movie search replaces my folder.jpg with just a movie thumbnail. and the only way to get my cover art back is to right click and rebuild thumbnail.

fitbrit · « **Reply #1 on:** April 20, 2012, 12:46:01 pm »

Yeah, I feel ya.
All my TV shows had carefully downloaded, high resoultion DVD cover art. If a season had multiple disks, each episode was tagged with the correct disk of the collection, i.e. episodes 1-4 had the right disk associated with them, as did 5-8 etc.. I did NOT want a thumbnail from each episode - I think a still from the action didn't really help much, and looked ugly. Then it was arbitrarily decided that that wasn't right and that TV episodes needed to have thumbnails if you wanted to get the other metadata.

Now you have the option of choosing not to get the thumbnail, but only if you collect the data for each file manually. Not going to happen with over 10,000 TV episodes in my library. In the end I decided that the metadata were more important to me than the cover art, so years of painstaking downloading of dvd covers went down the drain.

I've asked several times for us to be able to at least have the same control that we do in individual look-up mode in batch mode. I.E. To select a bunch of files, do a look-up and be able to decide whether we want the image file, the data or both associated with our videos. I'm dealing with the thumbnails instead of cover art now, and although it has less of a frosty reception than it once did, I'm still not sure that I'll actually enjoy it ever.

HTPC4ME · « **Reply #2 on:** April 20, 2012, 12:59:14 pm »

Thanks fitbrit for clarifying it's a known issue, i can now stop troubleshooting.

I should just stop messing with new features, and asking troubleshooting questions, and instead post polls to ask fellow users if it's safe to try new features. this is the second time in a week huge issues have arose (and i like you have a pretty decent size library that's taken YEARS not months to build and tag)... First new feature genre/artist allows for multiple entries but there are no tick boxes, and it re-writes all your genre artist tags in library forcing me to redo whole library back to keywords, and artistS, and now i try get movie info instead of the trusty autometa. and it replaces all my series covers.

I really wish things just worked before they were even released.

MrHaugen · « **Reply #3 on:** April 20, 2012, 01:04:06 pm »

Xtacbyme, I'm not sure what you're having problems with. But be aware that using a client server setup, you're forced to do the image updates on the server. The client will throw out the cover art and use the one that are synced from the server. Also remember that you might have to sync and restart the client to actually get the Cover art for the TV Shows.

And yes, you should REALLY start doing changes on a small number on files from now on. Big changes in MC continue, and unless you read all build info, you're bound to hit a few rocks. When you try out new things it's wise to take it slow. Especially if you are doing special things not considered quite "normal".

Yes, MC uses episode screen shots for individual episodes. I can not understand why people would want otherwise. Only thing I can think of is that some might not see this slight spoiler before they have watched the movie/episode. To be able to use DVD/Bluray cover art for each episode seems VERY strange to me, and I can not understand how people might find that better looking that a hand picked screen shot. It can actually tell you what episode it is just by taking a glance. A Cover art for the series will not. Normally people have a TV Show and Episode or TV Show, Season and Episode view for TV Shows. That way you have the best from the two. You get a nice cover art for the series, and you get a nice screen shot on the episode level. At least that is the way I feel it. Only thing I'm missing here is the Season cover art.

Despite this, I have to agree that the lack of controls of what is actually downloaded and updated with the scraper system is not comforting. It does create some problems indeed.

HTPC4ME · « **Reply #4 on:** April 20, 2012, 01:30:11 pm »

Hi Carl,
Thanks for reply.
thats where I tested the get movie/tv info (via server)

I use to have all tv shows setup with tv series cover art for each series & season, and for each episode (see screen)

Then i tried the get movie info, (spent over 3 hours again trying to get my season cover images back/ a bunch got deleted(that i actually made in photoshop, due to the season/series not having cover arts available in the past)
I do agree with you the feature of episode thumbnails is stellar. but one needs to be able to see the series, and season covers... otherwise it just looks unfinished in my opinion. (see screens)

this image shows series season covers as folder.jpg.(they use to all be nice and neat (and i made the season covers due to the fact they are not available anywhere.. and season 4 cover is gone now due to my own fault, of doing get movie/tv info, then choosing covertart/remove covert, then trying to rebuild.. but i accidently removed my folder.jpg notice also season 2 has diffrent cover now.. even though that's not the folder.jpg i originally made.

This image shows how all my other series are (without the neat thumbnails for each episode/the old trusted way) I would ideally like the episode thumbs to be there... but would rather have my top structure look neat. then all garbled up like image 2

MrHaugen · « **Reply #5 on:** April 20, 2012, 01:41:18 pm »

I see what you've done, and I agree. Season art is. I've just dropped the idea because JRiver have not added it yet, even though it's free and available on theTVdb. It's just to much trouble, and I've now just decided to live with bad season structure and better looking episode lists. It's there I spend the most time anyway. It's a shame that we can't do both though.

XBMC, Plex and others have probably had it for many years. It's one of those eye candy things that get people impressed, and it's informative at the same time.

HTPC4ME · « **Reply #6 on:** April 20, 2012, 01:46:02 pm »

Just glad i got answers, now i can stop wasting time troubleshooting.

And yes would look stellar if covers and thumbs worked
Thanks Carl

rick.ca · « **Reply #7 on:** April 20, 2012, 04:27:57 pm »

I don't use the MC meta data system for this and a number of other reasons. I'm thankfully no longer familiar with the annoying details of the issue, but, FWIW, your analysis and conclusions seem correct. If I were you, I would continue to press for change. This is not rocket science. The TVDb has default series, season and episode art. That's obviously what most users would want and expect to see in an application that organizes series by Series, Season and Episode. Even those who prefer different art (e.g., DVD covers for seasons and an their own screen shots for episodes) need a system that manages the covers accordingly.

HTPC4ME · « **Reply #8 on:** April 20, 2012, 04:29:34 pm »

Rick, still using pvdimport? or something else?

rick.ca · « **Reply #9 on:** April 20, 2012, 05:30:59 pm »

Quote

Rick, still using pvdimport?

Yes, and I use dummy files to represent series. (I suppose I could do the same for seasons, but I don't bother. The only meta data available for them is a cover, and I would have to get those manually.) I then "trick" MC by setting [Media Sub Type] to 'TV Show' for the dummy series records, and 'Other' for the actual episodes (using an Auto-Import rule). That prevents MC from messing up my preferred Theatre View views for Series (I use the view scheme that shows a row of thumbnails for each category—because it gives me an idea of the number of episodes available for each series), while still getting TV Series backdrops (because any selection always includes one record with a [Media Sub Type] of 'TV Show').

Clear? If you're considering doing the same, you're duly warned.

HTPC4ME · « **Reply #10 on:** April 20, 2012, 05:36:02 pm »

Quote

Clear? If you're considering doing the same, you're duly warned. Grin

lol... no I'll stick w/ what i've been doing(no time to learn a ANOTHER proggy) until changes are made then i'll dive into changing everything over. JRiver's going the right direction... hopefully movement continues on at a steady pace.

Matt · « **Reply #11 on:** April 23, 2012, 04:07:47 pm »

In a coming build:
NEW: Added support for season images (use naming like: [Cover Art Folder]\Seasons\Seinfeld - Season 3.jpg).

For now, you'll have to populate the Seasons folder by hand. We'll add tools and automation for this with time.

NickF · « **Reply #12 on:** April 23, 2012, 04:18:23 pm »

Matt,

Does the same apply for Series and Series Art?

Nick.

Matt · « **Reply #13 on:** April 23, 2012, 04:21:43 pm »

Quote from: NickF on April 23, 2012, 04:18:23 pm

Does the same apply for Series and Series Art?

Series artwork has been supported for most of v17. Auto-import can download series art automatically, or you can use Cover Art > Get From Internet to download it manually.

HTPC4ME · « **Reply #14 on:** April 23, 2012, 04:59:50 pm »

just to clarify...

Quote

Added support for season images (use naming like: [Cover Art Folder]\Seasons\Seinfeld - Season 3.jpg).

will this fix work for those of us who have been using season cover art as folder.jpg? Thanks for clarifying

Matt · « **Reply #15 on:** April 23, 2012, 05:08:36 pm »

Quote from: xtacbyme on April 23, 2012, 04:59:50 pm

just to clarify... will this fix work for those of us who have been using season cover art as folder.jpg? Thanks for clarifying

For Series and Season images, you have to use the naming as defined by JRiver:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Cover_Art#Cover_Art_Folder

I will update the Wiki to include the information on Season artwork (I posted it above) once the feature is out of beta testing.

HTPC4ME · « **Reply #16 on:** April 23, 2012, 05:10:56 pm »

ok thanks Matt, not to be pushy... but could please include steps for those of us who have are whole library setup as folder.jpg, so we can transition over easily? As I sit now. i would have no clue how to move forward.
Would be greatly appreciated.

Matt · « **Reply #17 on:** April 23, 2012, 05:21:30 pm »

Quote from: xtacbyme on April 23, 2012, 05:10:56 pm

ok thanks Matt, not to be pushy... but could please include steps for those of us who have are whole library setup as folder.jpg, so we can transition over easily? As I sit now. i would have no clue how to move forward.
Would be greatly appreciated.

You might start a new thread and describe the naming you're using today for series and season artwork. Please include a few real-world examples and the full paths (directory + name) to the files.

Thanks.

HTPC4ME · « **Reply #18 on:** April 23, 2012, 05:23:43 pm »

ok, will do
Thanks

MrC · « **Reply #19 on:** April 23, 2012, 05:42:49 pm »

Quote from: xtacbyme on April 23, 2012, 05:10:56 pm

ok thanks Matt, not to be pushy... but could please include steps for those of us who have are whole library setup as folder.jpg, so we can transition over easily? As I sit now. i would have no clue how to move forward.
Would be greatly appreciated.

Once you post, I share a method you can use to copy or move your Folder.jpg Artist files in your Music tree into the Artist cover art folder using Rename, Move & Copy. The same method can be used for other variations.

MrHaugen · « **Reply #20 on:** April 24, 2012, 02:55:11 am »

This is GREAT news. Thank you Matt. This is one of the very few missing images I still had on my wish list.

I wonder if this is why I had so many episode Thumbnails with season covers yesterday? I upgraded to build 132 and imported about 200 episodes. Almost all got Season images instead of the screen grabs from tvdb. That is not exactly as I wanted

It can be that sickbeard added some folder.jpg's as well. I think it might have done this all along, but that MC never picked it up. The reference to the actual screen grab is present in the sidecar, so it should not happen... I removed the folder.jpg's and updated library from tags, and it was all well.

HTPC4ME · « **Reply #21 on:** July 19, 2012, 01:17:42 am »

Hey Guys.. I'm finally ready to move all my TV Season Folder.JPG's from each folder on each hard drive over to a designated "Cover Art" folder.

And i could use some assistance please.

I have 9 HDD's that have movies, home videos, tv shows on them (all scattered) and in each HDD are folders setup like this... Weeds/Weeds - Season Numbers/then episodes in each of those tv show Season i have them all setup as folder.jpg

Is there a way for me to somehow import all these folder.jpgs into jriver then auto name them to the season name, then cut them all from there locations and insert them into the cover art folder/S you guys suggest here - http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/TV_Shows_-_Series,_Seasons_%26_Episodes

One thing to note... I do NOT have Series Art due to having my whole library setup as Weeds/Weeds - Season Numbers/then episodes( i ONLY have Season Art work) will i have to go on a manual internet search for SERIES artwork as well? Or will the season folder.jpg's Suffice?

Thank You

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Author Topic: get movie tv info... how do we get series cover arts to stick? (Read 6482 times)