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[IAM4UK]

I have subscribed to SiliconDust DVR with 14-day EPG, and configured my computer per SiliconDust guidance, and configured MC 27.0.16 to use SiliconDust EPG.

In the Guide, within Theater View, the channel logos are not as they used to be when I used a different EPG method. The logos are tiny, and both the channel number and callsign are included with them. I can no longer find how to NOT display channel number nor channel name in the logo area of the guide. I also can no longer find how to change (or add missing) logo in Manage Channels.

Has this changed in a way that disallows that type of view option?

[RoderickGI]

Does "Options > Television > Guide > Hide channel names in Theatre View guide when channel logos are available" still work with a SiliconDust EPG?

[IAM4UK]

Does "Options > Television > Guide > Hide channel names in Theatre View guide when channel logos are available" still work with a SiliconDust EPG?

Actually, yes, that got unchecked with the switch to SiliconDust EPG, but it does eliminate the text.
But the logos are still tiny, and not evidently configurable (some are merely black, and cannot apparently be substituted)

[RoderickGI]

I would assume that a URL to the logos for channels is included in the EPG data supplied. That is how it works with XMLTV. MC then caches the image rather than downloading it every day.

XMLTV example from my feed:
        <channel id="9.yourtv.com.au">
                <display-name>Channel Nine Melbourne</display-name>
                <lcn>9</lcn>
                <icon src="http://img-store-prod.switch.tv/images/1de8cee9-8fa8-4920-81a2-ef5bb052e2e8/getimage.php%3FsiteID%3D288%26group%3DSTILL%26tag%3DIMAGE%26videoID%3D1466446" />
        </channel>

That gives me a nice logo. Click the link to see it.

So you might need to address the image size issue with SiliconDust. Unless the images are old ones from the cache. But if they look new they are probably what SiliconDust has provided.

If there is an XMLTV file left on disk for the SiliconDust feed you could have a look in it and check the image it includes.

No doubt Yaobing could clarify.

[IAM4UK]

I would assume that a URL to the logos for channels is included in the EPG data supplied. That is how it works with XMLTV. MC then caches the image rather than downloading it every day.

XMLTV example from my feed:
        <channel id="9.yourtv.com.au">
                <display-name>Channel Nine Melbourne</display-name>
                <lcn>9</lcn>
                <icon src="http://img-store-prod.switch.tv/images/1de8cee9-8fa8-4920-81a2-ef5bb052e2e8/getimage.php%3FsiteID%3D288%26group%3DSTILL%26tag%3DIMAGE%26videoID%3D1466446" />
        </channel>

That gives me a nice logo. Click the link to see it.

So you might need to address the image size issue with SiliconDust. Unless the images are old ones from the cache. But if they look new they are probably what SiliconDust has provided.

If there is an XMLTV file left on disk for the SiliconDust feed you could have a look in it and check the image it includes.

No doubt Yaobing could clarify.

Thank you so much for sharing your relevant and extensive knowledge of how things work with this program. Consistently so valuable, and you are generous to take time to do that.

[Yaobing]

RoderickGI is right.  The channel icons are supplied by SiliconDust.  We download them during EPG setup.

The reason why they look small is that they all come in 4:3 aspect ratio.  If they will supply links to both 4:3 and a wider version of them, I can add code to choose which one to use, depending on whether the user chooses to use channel name with the icon or the icon only.

Thank you so much for sharing your relevant and extensive knowledge of how things work with this program. Consistently so valuable, and you are generous to take time to do that.

I echo this sentiment.

[RoderickGI]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the feedback. 

[IAM4UK]

RoderickGI is right.  The channel icons are supplied by SiliconDust.  We download them during EPG setup.

The reason why they look small is that they all come in 4:3 aspect ratio.  If they will supply links to both 4:3 and a wider version of them, I can add code to choose which one to use, depending on whether the user chooses to use channel name with the icon or the icon only.
...

Is it possible to have the user option to manually provide (override) channel logos for some or all, similar to the way users could do that with other sources of EPG?

[Yaobing]

Yes.  You can always manually set channel logos, regardless of EPG source.

Go to "Manage Channels".  Right-click on a channel in the list, and pick "Channel Logo" submenu.

[RoderickGI]

Congratulations on how well this works by the way Yaobing.

I had a look at my TV Logo files when I read this question. What I saw is shown in the attached image. A mixture of actual image (PNG) files and strange PHP files with long extensions. I wondered what was going on there, whether MC wasn't parsing out the filename correctly when downloading. But no, MC is downloading exactly what the XMLTV.net site says are the image files. See XML sample below.

Well, perhaps not exactly. MC renames the files to match the channel name, so "524052_abchd_portrait_logo_t1.png" becomes "20 ABC HD.png", while "getimage.php%3FsiteID%3D288%26group%3DSTILL%26tag%3DIMAGE%26videoID%3D4987051" becomes "2 ABC (1).php%3fsiteid%3d288%26group%3dstill%26tag%3dimage%26videoid%3d1466379".

Even the special case of channel 22, "ABC COMEDY/ABC Kids VIC", works correctly, just creating a "TV Logos\ABC COMEDY\ABC Kids VIC" subdirectory, and putting the logo files in there. That may have been unintended, but it works!

So I see some weird file naming, but the TV Logo functionality still works fine, even with this weird logo image source address.


BTW I noted that just about all channels had two logo files, the current one having a suffix of "(1)", with the earlier image created on Sept 12th and the current one created on Sept 16th. I suspect those dates are when I ran the first and second channel scans using XMLTV.net. MC is probably just automatically adding the suffix rather than overwriting the file. It would probably be better if they were overwritten for logo files. I think other Cover Art does that.

I tried to force MC to download new versions by renaming the "Cover Art\TV Logos" directory and then running the EPG collection again, but that didn't download the images again. I lost my channel logos until I put the original directory back. A minor point, but if the logo files don't exist, shouldn't MC download them again? It did recreate the "TV Logos" subdirectory, but just didn't add the image files. Based on that testing I assume MC only downloads TV Logo images on channel scan, and not on EPG collection or change of the image URL.

I also noticed some Cover Art images for recorded TV programs in the TV Logos directory, which was very weird. They should have been next to the video files in the recorded TV program directory. A topic for another thread.


Thanks for your great work.


=================================================================================================
        <channel id="94.yourtv.com.au">
                <display-name>9Life Melbourne</display-name>
                <lcn>94</lcn>
                <icon src="http://img-store-prod.switch.tv/images/1ad476fe-518c-4435-a4a4-c873546d5e2c/getimage.php%3FsiteID%3D288%26group%3DSTILL%26tag%3DIMAGE%26videoID%3D1466449" />
        </channel>
        <channel id="95.yourtv.com.au">
                <display-name>9Gem HD Melbourne</display-name>
                <lcn>95</lcn>
                <icon src="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/nine-tvmg-images-prod/42/03/19/420319_9gem_t1.png" />
        </channel>
        <channel id="96.yourtv.com.au">
                <display-name>9Rush Melbourne</display-name>
                <lcn>96</lcn>
                <icon src="http://img-store-prod.switch.tv/images/48f04ab1-affe-471b-9231-60fddca39499/getimage.php%3FsiteID%3D288%26group%3DSTILL%26tag%3DIMAGE%26videoID%3D4987051" />
        </channel>
        <channel id="2.yourtv.com.au">
                <display-name>ABC Victoria</display-name>
                <lcn>2</lcn>
                <icon src="http://img-store-prod.switch.tv/images/4f5a0758-c28d-4619-b49e-40b15527870d/getimage.php%3FsiteID%3D288%26group%3DSTILL%26tag%3DIMAGE%26videoID%3D1466379" />
        </channel>
        <channel id="20.yourtv.com.au">
                <display-name>ABC HD Victoria</display-name>
                <lcn>20</lcn>
                <icon src="https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/nine-tvmg-images-prod/52/40/52/524052_abchd_portrait_logo_t1.png" />
        </channel>
        <channel id="22.yourtv.com.au">
                <display-name>ABC COMEDY/ABC Kids VIC</display-name>
                <lcn>22</lcn>
                <icon src="http://img-store-prod.switch.tv/images/da868b6c-d324-4467-9c52-b94ae4cb45bb/getimage.php%3FsiteID%3D288%26group%3DSTILL%26tag%3DIMAGE%26videoID%3D1466317" />
        </channel>

[Yaobing]

Well, perhaps not exactly. MC renames the files to match the channel name, so "524052_abchd_portrait_logo_t1.png" becomes "20 ABC HD.png", while "getimage.php%3FsiteID%3D288%26group%3DSTILL%26tag%3DIMAGE%26videoID%3D4987051" becomes "2 ABC (1).php%3fsiteid%3d288%26group%3dstill%26tag%3dimage%26videoid%3d1466379".

I noticed these weird filenames today, when I tried your link.  Clicking the link opens the image in my default browser, Chrome.  I right-clicked the image and choose Save Image as, and the long file name confused me a bit.  MC can read those images none-the-less.  Apparently we just treated everything after the '.' as file extension, or file type and used it as such.

Even the special case of channel 22, "ABC COMEDY/ABC Kids VIC", works correctly, just creating a "TV Logos\ABC COMEDY\ABC Kids VIC" subdirectory, and putting the logo files in there. That may have been unintended, but it works!

I added the feature of automatically searching for channel logos in the TV Logos folder some time ago.  I did not know putting the images in a subfolder even works.  EDIT: I just realized that your channel 22 has a channel name that has a slash.  So that is why you needed the subfolder because when putting the channel name in a filename, we unintentionally created a subfolder.

So if you already have a set of images for your channels, you can just copy them into "TV Logos" folder.  As long as the file name of each image begins with the channel name, MC will find them.

BTW I noted that just about all channels had two logo files, the current one having a suffix of "(1)", with the earlier image created on Sept 12th and the current one created on Sept 16th. I suspect those dates are when I ran the first and second channel scans using XMLTV.net. MC is probably just automatically adding the suffix rather than overwriting the file. It would probably be better if they were overwritten for logo files. I think other Cover Art does that.

I tried to force MC to download new versions by renaming the "Cover Art\TV Logos" directory and then running the EPG collection again, but that didn't download the images again. I lost my channel logos until I put the original directory back. A minor point, but if the logo files don't exist, shouldn't MC download them again? It did recreate the "TV Logos" subdirectory, but just didn't add the image files. Based on that testing I assume MC only downloads TV Logo images on channel scan, and not on EPG collection or change of the image URL.

Yes, when loading EPG, we check if a channel's ImageFile tag is empty.  If it is empty, we download and use the new image.  It is a good idea to also check the existence of the file.

[Yaobing]

It is a good idea to also check the existence of the file.

Done.
Changed: MC will reload TV channel logos during EPG loading (if EPG data file contains the logo images) if previous image file is missing.

[RoderickGI]

Excellent. I'll check that out later.

[IAM4UK]

Yes.  You can always manually set channel logos, regardless of EPG source.

Go to "Manage Channels".  Right-click on a channel in the list, and pick "Channel Logo" submenu.

This does not work. I right-click channels in "manage channels," and I add from file the .png that is the desired channel logo. It never updates the logo.

[Yaobing]

I just tested again.  It works for me.   

[Yaobing]

OK, I see something that is not quite right.  When you pick a logo manually, you are asked whether you want to copy the selected image into the default coverart location.  Did you choose "Yes"?  Apparently choosing yes would cause it not to update.  Choose No, the image will update.  I will figure out why it is the case next week and fix it.

[RoderickGI]

Done.
Changed: MC will reload TV channel logos during EPG loading (if EPG data file contains the logo images) if previous image file is missing.

This didn't appear to work.

• What I did to test was close MC then rename the "TV Logos" directory that MC is pointed to as "TV Logos ORIGINAL". I use a custom "Cover Art" location in MC, rather than the default.
• Then I restarted MC and checked the TV Guide. It correctly showed the default TV Channel icon for all channels.
• Then I ran the Load Program Guide function. A new "TV Logos" directory was created in the correct location, but no files were placed in the directory when the function was run. I run an XMLTV collection from XMLTV.net, and an OTA collection for three radio channels.
• I tried running the EPG both with channel matching, and silently without channel matching, but neither downloaded new channel logos.

Do I have to run a new Channel Scan to get the new logos? Because I don't want to do that, at least not right now.



My testing also may have highlighted an issue with OTA EPG Collection. When all channels have a value in their [XMLTV ID] fields, the OTA EPG collection never completed.

The OTA EPG collection completed successfully when three channels had blank [XMLTV ID] values. As above, I only collect EPG using the OTA method for three radio channels, and they have empty [XMLTV ID] fields normally. But if I unintentionally run the Load Program Guide function without running it silently, the [XMLTV ID] values are overwritten by the XMLTV.net collection, and then the OTA collection never completes. That is a bit of a gotcha!

Also note that if I unintentionally run the Load Program Guide function without running it silently, and Cancel at the channel matching stage, the [XMLTV ID] fields are still loaded with values from the XMLTV collection process. I expected the Cancel to prevent the [XMLTV ID] fields from being updated, or at least back out the values.

[IAM4UK]

OK, I see something that is not quite right.  When you pick a logo manually, you are asked whether you want to copy the selected image into the default coverart location.  Did you choose "Yes"?  Apparently choosing yes would cause it not to update.  Choose No, the image will update.  I will figure out why it is the case next week and fix it.

I had indeed chosen "Yes" to that question.
I found after more experimenting that if I take the additional step of Removing Cover Art for the channel I just manually updated, then the manually added channel logo will appear as intended.

[Yaobing]

I had indeed chosen "Yes" to that question.
I found after more experimenting that if I take the additional step of Removing Cover Art for the channel I just manually updated, then the manually added channel logo will appear as intended.

Thanks for reporting back.  Yeah, that is what I found too.

[Yaobing]

Do I have to run a new Channel Scan to get the new logos? Because I don't want to do that, at least not right now.

No.  This is done in XMLTV loading stage, i.e. each time the EPG loading occurs we check the images.  The XMLTV file must contain channel icon URLs.

[RoderickGI]

No.  This is done in XMLTV loading stage, i.e. each time the EPG loading occurs we check the images.  The XMLTV file must contain channel icon URLs.

Okay. The XMLTV file does contain URLs. I'll test again with a "TV Logos" directory in place, but empty.