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[CountryBumkin]

I'm trying out the TV Channel Logo feature, however the results are not as uniform as I hoped. The logos in the Theater View guide are not uniform in size so they look out of place.

I got TV Logos from logos.wikia.com which are .png and vary from 102x31 pixels to 102x102.
The smallest on (CBS, chn6) is 102x31 but it only shows a black box and the largest one (ABC) is 102x102 and it shows stretched (not square).

Overall it is a nice feature and I think it will be well received.

I assume it is important to use all the same size logos for display consistency - what is the preferred/recommended size?

[Yaobing]

I'm trying out the TV Channel Logo feature, however the results are not as uniform as I hoped. The logos in the Theater View guide are not uniform in size so they look out of place.

I got TV Logos from logos.wikia.com which are .png and vary from 102x31 pixels to 102x102.
The smallest on (CBS, chn6) is 102x31 but it only shows a black box and the largest one (ABC) is 102x102 and it shows stretched (not square).

Overall it is a nice feature and I think it will be well received.

I assume it is important to use all the same size logos for display consistency - what is the preferred/recommended size?

I think I used stretch option when displaying the logos.  If you could find logos that are approximately 3x4 aspect ratio, they would look better.  I should try finding a way to preserve aspect ratio when displaying the images.

[CountryBumkin]

I found some logos that are 64x64 pixels (which look pretty good) and others are 100x64 or 200x64 (I don't think it is possible to find logos that are all the same width as some are square and some are rectangular.

I suppose one could (or needs to) adjust the image sizes so they all match. I resized them all to be 64 pixels high but I can't do much about the width.

Lastly, it would be better looking, IMO, if the image did not fill the entire width of the grid row (a little space above and below the logos would be nice so the logos don't "touch" each other).

[JimH]

You could probably use a "blank" logo to get the columns to line up.

We'll work on this.  I agree with your comment about leaving a little space.

[jmone]

Thanks for the TV Logos - Looks good & I did not have to do a thing!.... they just appeared in the EPG (note: I'd already added the Logos as Coverart to each CH).  As noted the aspect ratio looks a bit odd (see my pic of how it looks in the EPG vs a Playlist).

[Yaobing]

I sort of arbitrarily gave the logos 1/3 of the cell width.  I will make them square, and shrink them a bit more.

[imugli]

Small Thing... Is it possible to have logos keep their aspect ratio i.e set the height but have a fluid width?

[rpalmer68]

OK, so I give up.  Where in the MC UI do I add the TV logos?

Shouldn't there be an option under "Edit Channels" to "Add/assign Logo"?

Thanks
R

[Yaobing]

OK, so I give up.  Where in the MC UI do I add the TV logos?

Shouldn't there be an option under "Edit Channels" to "Add/assign Logo"?

Thanks
R

In Manage Channels, select a channel, and right click on it.  The bottom of the main menu is "Channel logos".

Alternatively, you can create a "Channels" smartlist, and then use "Cover art".

[Yaobing]

I made this change:

Changed: Adjusted television channel logo display in Guide so that the logos keep their aspect ratio.  Also increased the border width around the logos so they do not appear touching each other.

I am reserving only a square area on the left side of the cell for the logos.  So images that are not square will appear smaller.  If this is not desirable, I can also try using flexible width (but that will take away more space from channel names).

I intend to add an option "Display only channel logo without channel name when the logo is available".  In that case I should definitely allow the logos to extend wider.

[CountryBumkin]

Thanks.
If your reworking the logo size anyways - I suggest something like is shown in "jmone's" post (the example on the right side). There the logos are about the same height as the Text. It looks good this way.

I don't know if there is a preferred logo size or not, but from my searching for TV logos, I see they come in formats and sizes.

In the little experimenting I did so far, it seemed the results were better when I resize dall my logos to all the same size (using Windows Paint program or similar).

But is this needed? Will MC resize automatically and fit whatever logo size I have to the space provided on the guide - so they all look uniform?

[Yaobing]

You should not need to resize images.  If you are concerned about aspect ratio, you may try editing them.

I attach two screenshots, of what I have gotten so far, with channel name hidden and channel name shown.

Please note that hiding channel name is an option I just added.  It is not in build 26.

[CountryBumkin]

I like it.

[rudyrednose]

+1
Yaobing, even if MC resize, could you give us guidelines on preferable size for the channel icons ? 
So we can search for appropriate resolution icons on the web...

[Yaobing]

+1
Yaobing, even if MC resize, could you give us guidelines on preferable size for the channel icons ?  
So we can search for appropriate resolution icons on the web...

I don't think the resolution matters much, as long as it is not super low.  Treat channel logos the same way as cover art for audio.

Without actually searching the code, I estimate the guide grid is about 50 - 60 pixels high.  So a 64 x 64 would be fine.

You can experiment with a few channels first.

[DocLotus]

I've used this site for many years for channel logos for DigiGuide (they are of a consistent size & quality & should do very well for MC's Channel Logos).  They seem to have logos for every channel on the planet.

http://www.lyngsat-logo.com/tvcountry/tvcountry.html

[Castius]

So i grabbed my logos directy from my cable prover webpage
https://www.cox.com/residential/tv/channel-lineup.html
They're small but at least i know they're right

But they are png with transparency. MC is importing them and saving as jpg with a black background
So all the black logos don't look right.

[RoderickGI]

Is everyone getting TV Logos on their MC Clients?

I attached Logo Cover Art to my TV Channels using a Smartlist and the normal Cover Art functionality. I used the Server to do this, and the Logos showed up on my HTPC Server no problem. I updated my Workstation Client to a version that support TV Channel Logos, and it sees the logos in the Smartlist, but doesn't show them in the Guide.

I haven't tried everything yet to fix it I guess, but I was wondering if other people were seeing the issue.

PS: I should have noted that the logos also show up in Manage Channels on the Client. They just don't show up in the Theatre View Guide.

[CountryBumkin]

Same here. No icons on Client in Theater View.
I did not see them in Standard View>Television>Manage Channels either, then I used the Channel Logo>Quick Find, which add the logos in Standard View, but they still did not show in Theater View (after restart).

[Yaobing]

MC saves channel logo in your default cover art location.  My guess is that if that location is not shared with clients with the same drive letter, you would not get them.  I will need to see if that can be changed.

[CountryBumkin]

I don't know where TV "Logo" cover art is saved. My Series and Season Art is at D:\JRiver\Coverart\folder. If "TV Series" and "Seasons" Cover art is working on Clients, wouldn't that say that the location is being shared with Clients?

Anyways, thanks for adding this feature.

[RoderickGI]

MC saves channel logo in your default cover art location.  My guess is that if that location is not shared with clients with the same drive letter, you would not get them.  I will need to see if that can be changed.

I added the Logos using the Cover Art "Add from file" functionality. They were originally stored in a separate location, but when I selected the file, MC asked if I wanted to save a copy in my default Cover Art location, as set in Options. I clicked yes for all the Cover Art. MC then created a sub-directory of the Cover Art directory, and called it "Files".

So my Logos are now stored on the Server in the directory;
C:\Users\htpc\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 21\Cover Art\Files\

It also renamed the files to match the Database Key of the TV Channel. So an example logo file for my Channel "1 ONE", with a Database Key of 403925 is;
C:\Users\htpc\AppData\Roaming\J River\Media Center 21\Cover Art\Files\403925.jpg


That directory is definitely not shared with my Client, as Windows prevents sharing of the "Roaming" directory. Yet all of my other Cover Art works just fine. Besides, it was my understanding that MC served the Cover Art images to Clients via Media Server, and that sharing of directories holding that Cover Art was not required. Doesn't MC reference files on the server using MCWS and a file address commencing with "mp01://" for just this purpose?

My default Cover Art directory on the Server is only used for Series and Season Cover Art, as for Audio I use the setting of "In the same folder as the file", and I also have ticked the setting "Also store image in the file's tag".

As I said above, on the Client all the logos are visible in my TV Channel Smartlist and when I go into Manage Channels, also on the Client.

[contium]

In Manage Channels, select a channel, and right click on it.  The bottom of the main menu is "Channel logos".

So I have to manually add logos one at a time?

[JimH]

Yes, at this time.

[Yaobing]

The bug of channel logos not showing up in Guide on clients has been fixed in an upcoming new build.

[CountryBumkin]

Nice! Looking forward to testing this out.

[RoderickGI]

The bug of channel logos not showing up in Guide on clients has been fixed in an upcoming new build.

That wasn't a bug Yaobing. Just a minor unintentional functionality shortfall. 

[Delty]

I realize it's early in the dev cycle for this feature but I'm hoping in a future build it could just automatically use channel icons from the specified folder based on either the station ID or database key.  You would name your icons using either identifier and it would load them up by itself without having to visit each channel and select the one you want.

Thanks!
-=Delty

[Castius]

Just out of curiosity.

Both logitech and HDHomeRun are getting this icons from somewhere.
Does anyone know how these company are auto filling these icons?

[Ark :D]

Not sure, but auto-filling channel logos in MC would be -amazing-.

[CountryBumkin]

If we could upload our TV logos to JRiver (like we do for CD meta data) then others might be able to use it as the art in the database is built up.
The logos would need to be sorted by "station ID and perhaps Zip code", not "channel number" since my channel 6-1 (WKMG-DT in Orlando) has a different logo than channel 6-1 in Tampa. Etc.

[Delty]

Using Station Identifier (i.e. call letters) seems like they would make the most sense since they're unique to each station.

I have a couple of questions for the devs. Are/will transparent .png files supported?  Have you figure out what image dimensions work best yet?

Thanks!
-=Delty

[Yaobing]

I have a couple of questions for the devs. Are/will transparent .png files supported?  Have you figure out what image dimensions work best yet?

See my post here for the first question:  http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=102589.msg713879#msg713879

On second question, I guess you can do some experimentation.  If you plan to use "hide channel name" feature, then a landscape type of icon would be good.  Since the theater view grid is fairly small in pixels, a 64 x 64 should be sufficient.  Again, try it out.

[RoderickGI]

I am now using 162x130 pixels logos with rounded corners, and I think they look pretty good. Naturally they are scaled by MC to fit. You can download my logos to have a look here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=101878.msg711813#msg711813

Attached are a couple of screenshots from my MC Client workstation, running at 2560x1600 pixels, which will change the look a bit.

The first is with Channel names turned on, the second with Channel names turned off.

I will add a couple of similar shots from my 1920x1080 HTPC later.

[RoderickGI]

Attached are similar screenshots from my 1920x1080 HTPC.

Note that in all screenshots I deliberately made sure a channel that has no logo was visible, so you can see how that looks. Channel 76 is a new channel in our area and isn't even broadcasting programs yet. No logo either. I think they are still trying to create one!

[CountryBumkin]

Your TV logo art is real nice!

When the logo feature first came out I tried several different jpg and png sizes (top posts). But it didn't "seem" to matter much as MC was resizing whatever I used.

In your testing did you find that using a specific size (162x130) made a difference? Did you try other sizes? Yaobing said (from memory) that the logo space allotted on the guide is about 50 or 60 pixels high.

If it does, then any downloaded TV logo art should be resized before saving it - and if JRiver lets us upload out art to their database (for others to use) then, I assume, we would want to specify the correct jpg/png size.

I like this TV logo feature but IMO the Guide doesn't look right unless all the channels have logos (or none have logos). And finding logos for some of the sub-channels is hard. Sometimes I go to the channels website and try to copy a logo off their webpage, which doesn't always look so good. Maybe I should create a default "No logo" jpg to use when I can't get a real logo to keep Guide aligned.

[RoderickGI]

Your TV logo art is real nice!

Thanks mate. 

In your testing did you find that using a specific size (162x130) made a difference? Did you try other sizes? Yaobing said (from memory) that the logo space allotted on the guide is about 50 or 60 pixels high.

If it does, then any downloaded TV logo art should be resized before saving it - and if JRiver lets us upload out art to their database (for others to use) then, I assume, we would want to specify the correct jpg/png size.

MC doesn't resize the image until it actually loads it. When I allowed MC to copy logo files into the correct "Cover Art\Files" subdirectory, as per my post above the files were saved at the original size, 162x130. They were just converted from PNG to JPG images.

I didn't try a whole range of sizes, as I would have just been editing the image files I found, and hence losing quality. But I did find some excellent PNG format logos for my channels on the MSN site (who would have thought) that were 1440x1080 PNG images with full transparency behind the logo, rather than just around the edges. They worked great, but because there is no support for transparency, and much of the image was transparent, they didn't look good in the Guide. If transparency was supported, I might try them again, but having a standard size and shape, with the rounded corners that match the Guide bar shapes, and a consistent background colour seems to work pretty well anyway. I may still stick to that even if transparency was supported. But I would like transparent corners where they are rounded.

So I don't think the size matters all that much to MC. It seems to convert them to a size that fits. But having a consistent size to start with may make the display size look more consistent.

I like this TV logo feature but IMO the Guide doesn't look right unless all the channels have logos (or none have logos). And finding logos for some of the sub-channels is hard. Sometimes I go to the channels website and try to copy a logo off their webpage, which doesn't always look so good. Maybe I should create a default "No logo" jpg to use when I can't get a real logo to keep Guide aligned.

As above, I found good logos on the MSN site. Take a look at this page, if it will display for you. MSN might try to switch to America. Try it anyway: http://www.msn.com/en-au/tv/tvlistings

The small logos on the left, imbedded into the purple/magenta background, are actually high quality 1440x1080 images, when downloaded using a right click, "Save picture as". If the equivalent web site is available for your area, you may be able to find consistent, quality images on it. The MSN images are actually from Freeview here in Australia, but are obviously near original art quality. MSN must have insisted on good quality or I was just lucky. I could easily take those images, add a boarder, fill the background and create good quality logos of any suitable size.

I agree it looks a bit strange to have one channel without a logo, and I will be making up a dummy logo for my Channel 76 when I get a moment. Maybe you have prompted me to do this today. 

Epilogue:
Actually, I jumped to the MSN site from the mc2xml page, since that's where I was looking. I just went back to the mc2xml section for Xbox One and clicked the link to the US source, which took me to the US MSN TV listings. The logos there are awful.

[imeric]

Automatic download of Icons?

I tried a couple of free TV softwares over the weekend and one of the neat feature they have is the automatic download of channel icons. Very neat and they look good. I think they use the url in the XMLTV.xml file (or else not sure)

Realising it's probably not an easy thing to implement can we have a look at it or add it to the TV "to-do list"?
First step could be to use the link in the XMLTV file if present.
thx

[Ark :D]

Automatic download of Icons?

I tried a couple of free TV softwares over the weekend and one of the neat feature they have is the automatic download of channel icons. Very neat and they look good. I think they use the url in the XMLTV.xml file (or else not sure)

Realising it's probably not an easy thing to implement can we have a look at it or add it to the TV "to-do list"?
First step could be to use the link in the XMLTV file if present.
thx

I would love this as well.  I'll admit it, I am too lazy to set up channel logos/icons manually. 

[JimH]

We'll try to do this when we have time.

[Ark :D]

We'll try to do this when we have time.

Hey Jim, any movement on this item?  Just curious, thanks!