Topic: TV Shows in Theatre View - Season level heading (Read 8974 times)

cgroth · « **on:** July 11, 2013, 08:46:25 am »

Hi,

This discussion originally started here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=81829.0

but since it really concerns a different question than I started with in the other thread I thought it better to create a new thread.

It seems to make no difference what I put in the TV Show Template Caption for what is displayed at Season level. It does make a difference at the Disc level (which I guess most people maybe call Episode level?).

I am able to make changes at the disc level, but how do I get the text for the Seasons (see attached screen grab) to read Season X, just not X?

cgroth · « **Reply #1 on:** July 11, 2013, 03:33:06 pm »

I am on my way to solving this , but need more help. It seems that MC18 takes the name of the folder for each season, and strips the word "Season" from that value. So "Season 1" becomes "1", "Season One" becomes "One". I am trying to figure out how/where this is done, and then stopping that, since I haven't been able to otherwise add the word "Season" for the Theatre view of Series at Season level.

Can any one help me with either method?

Best
Chris

cgroth · « **Reply #2 on:** July 11, 2013, 03:51:00 pm »

I will continue discussing this with myself.... :-)

Actually, stripping the "Season" doesn't seem a good idea, because then MC18 will not display the Season Art. So, adding the word "Season" somewhere still seems to be the way to go. What I want this to look like in terms of text is like the second attached screen grab. The first shows what I have now.

MrC · « **Reply #3 on:** July 11, 2013, 04:20:04 pm »

I think part of the reason you're not getting the responses you need might be that there isn't enough usable data in your posts. There's some background story, and some screenshots of end results, but what's missing are the larger picture details and raw data. Let helpers interpret, you show the raw data as much as possible.

   - What exactly is your goal for this view (at each level of Theater View)?
   - What data do you have now for your files (e.g. Name, Series, Season, Episode, Disc #, etc.)?
   - What is the exact configuration of the given Theater View components (Captions, Categories, and any file info panel details, if relevant).

Without this stuff, others can only guess, and since you're making changes along the way, nobody can know your setup. As I mentioned in another post, I think you're doing to many things at once, and this is confounding your efforts and understanding. With a system this complex, and flexibility, you need to take each piece one step at a time.

Focus in this order:

   - Learn what fields are is necessary for organization, and their valid values.
   - Learn how view customization works (Standard and Theater), and each of their components that you care to modify.
   - Learn how to import or rip such that as much work as possible is automated for you (Carnac, Import Rules, Folder & File paths/expressions)
   - Learn about how automatic lookups work (Show and Movie info, Artwork).

Ask for help at each stage until things are clear. And always make one change at a time until you understand the interactions of the above, or you'll end up getting yourself lost, and worse, everyone else who will go off and eat pie instead. :-)

cgroth · « **Reply #4 on:** July 11, 2013, 05:39:04 pm »

Dear MrC,

What I want to achieve, in words, is to have displayed in Theatre View at Season level (i.e. the level below Series level), when there are more than one season so the season must be selected, not just the season number (X) but the text "Season X", so my wife understands what the number means. I have managed to do this now, see attached screen grab. However, in terms of "programming" or whatever you call setting up all the parameters of import, library tools etc, my solution is very inelegant, as it requires me to name the Season Art with the word "Season" repeated in the title of the jpeg (so the file name for My Name IS Earl Season 1 image is "My Name Is Earl - Season Season 1.jpg".

My file paths are like this:\\READYNASULTRA6\Video\Shows\My Name Is Earl\Season 1\Disc 1\VIDEO_TS.IFO for the file start start play of Disc 1 of Season 1 of my Name Is Earl. My system is disc based rather than episode based since all my content is ripped from my own DVDs using AnyDVD, rather than downloaded episodes from the internet or recorded TV shows.

So, the name of the Season, not just the number, is there in the path. During the running of Library Tools - Fill Properties From Filename (which I need to run to rename each of my discs from the filename VIDEO_TS.IFO to the more useful Disc X, where X is the number of the disc in multiple disc DVD sets), the nanm "Season" was stripped from the folder name of the disc in question, so the folder called "Season X" simply became "X". The reason for this I believe is the syntax of this line: \\READYNASULTRA6\Video\Shows\[Series]\Season [Season]\[Name]\

By changing the line to read: \\READYNASULTRA6\Video\Shows\[Series]\ [Season]\[Name]\ I managed to not strip the word "Season", so now Season 1 reads Season 1 and not just 1 in Theatre View at the season level. So far, so good. However, this means, like I predicted previously, that the Season Art names would not be matched to the season any more, because it seems that the matching of the Season and image name is done by stripping the word "Season" from the image name. I have no idea where that is done, or whether it can be changed. So I overcame this by adding an extra "Season" to the image name, so "My Name Is Earl - Season Season 1.jpg" becomes "My Name Is Earl - Season 1.jpg" after the mysterious stripping, and then matches the text for Season 1, which is now "Season 1" rather than just "1".

However, this is all very roundabout and inelegant. I would be much more elegant, and easy, if I could somehow just add the word "Season" before the season number on the season level of Theatre View. However, since I don't know where to do that, this is the best I've come up with so far.

Obviously, if I either knew how to do this in a better way, or explain it in a shorter post, I would do so. I am sure it is frustrating for you to read how someone does things in such stupid ways, but I have little choice but to experiment and ask. With my learning curve, if I did one change, or asked one question, then waited for a positive response or answer before moving to the next problem, I will be dead long before my wife has a Media Center she can understand and operate...

MrC · « **Reply #5 on:** July 11, 2013, 06:24:51 pm »

Allow me (or others) to lead you step by step then...

Select one of your series and change your Fill properties from filename to this:

Template mode
Directories: Video\Shows\[Series]\Season [Season]\Disc [Disc #]\
Filename: leave unchecked

Season, Episode, and Disc # are all numeric values, so should not contain any leading text. Verify and show the field values for: Series, Season, Disc #, Name, Episode, and Media Sub Type. Easiest would be to use the Video > Files view. Include the necessary file list columns, and show a screenshot of that file list.

cgroth · « **Reply #6 on:** July 12, 2013, 04:47:51 am »

Quote from: MrC on July 11, 2013, 06:24:51 pm

Allow me (or others) to lead you step by step then...

Select one of your series and change your Fill properties from filename to this:

Template mode
Directories: Video\Shows\[Series]\Season [Season]\Disc [Disc #]\
Filename: leave unchecked

Season, Episode, and Disc # are all numeric values, so should not contain any leading text. Verify and show the field values for: Series, Season, Disc #, Name, Episode, and Media Sub Type. Easiest would be to use the Video > Files view. Include the necessary file list columns, and show a screenshot of that file list.

Dear MrC,

thanks again and still for your help! please see the attached. I believe it is working as it should, and as it did before. The special thing here is that I have no episodes (since that information would probably require loads of manual entry as this information is not contained in my files). The other special thing might be my use of the Disc # as the Name, as this is what I want displayed in Theatre View at the disc level. That way my wife understand what to press. What I am trying to achieve is a similar functionality/display at Season level.

What my wife is seeing now is:

Video > Show > Series > X > Y, where X and Y are just two numbers, making little sense to her.

What I want her to see is this:

Video > Show > Series > Season X > Disc Y, which will be easier to understand.

As I explained, I have managed this, but at the price of having to name all my Cover Art with an extra "Season" in there. Not a big issue, but obviously better to have a set up where the word is added once in an expression (or) during import, rathern than manual renaming. My problem remains; where am I supposed to enter the "Season" and "Disc".

Chris

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #7 on:** July 12, 2013, 06:32:48 am »

Quote from: cgroth on July 11, 2013, 05:39:04 pm

By changing the line to read: \\READYNASULTRA6\Video\Shows\[Series]\ [Season]\[Name]\ I managed to not strip the word "Season", so now Season 1 reads Season 1 and not just 1 in Theatre View at the season level. So far, so good. However, this means, like I predicted previously, that the Season Art names would not be matched to the season any more, because it seems that the matching of the Season and image name is done by stripping the word "Season" from the image name. I have no idea where that is done, or whether it can be changed. So I overcame this by adding an extra "Season" to the image name, so "My Name Is Earl - Season Season 1.jpg" becomes "My Name Is Earl - Season 1.jpg" after the mysterious stripping, and then matches the text for Season 1, which is now "Season 1" rather than just "1".

However, this is all very roundabout and inelegant. I would be much more elegant, and easy, if I could somehow just add the word "Season" before the season number on the season level of Theatre View. However, since I don't know where to do that, this is the best I've come up with so far.

You're doing very well so far. I gave this a try a while back and gave up. Showing "Season 1" instead of just "1" is more elegant. Your work so far, and Mr Cs advice, just goes to show enormous capabilities/customization available in MC - if you know how the program works. Unfortunately it is not easy for the computer-programming challenged. I'm watching this thread and will implement the solution on my own systems. Don't give up.

cgroth · « **Reply #8 on:** July 12, 2013, 06:45:46 am »

I am glad to hear that my uneducated approach can also be of benefit to others, not just frustration :-)

I am actually so impressed by JRiver MC 18 that I am test-implementing it as the main music player for my own HTPC, not just my wifes. Since my computer displays movies to a big plasma, using a Cinemar system which controll my disc changers and all other hardware adn ArcSoft for all ripped content, but also has a 1200x800 touch screen display built in (see attached), the JRiver should be perfect?

cgroth · « **Reply #9 on:** July 12, 2013, 08:26:43 am »

Quote from: MrC on July 11, 2013, 06:24:51 pm

Allow me (or others) to lead you step by step then...

Select one of your series and change your Fill properties from filename to this:

Template mode
Directories: Video\Shows\[Series]\Season [Season]\Disc [Disc #]\
Filename: leave unchecked

Season, Episode, and Disc # are all numeric values, so should not contain any leading text. Verify and show the field values for: Series, Season, Disc #, Name, Episode, and Media Sub Type. Easiest would be to use the Video > Files view. Include the necessary file list columns, and show a screenshot of that file list.

Dear MrC,

you'll be so proud of me (I think): I have managed to produce an Expression called SeasonName, which is the text "Season"+the numeric value [Season], so it reads "Season X". So now we have both the separated numeric season value AND the name I want to use for the season in Theatre View. I still haven't worked out how to place the expression SeasonName on the screen instead of just [Season] though...

Anyone?

cgroth · « **Reply #10 on:** July 12, 2013, 09:18:36 am »

More good news, I have now managed to put the SeasonName on the screen in the right place in Theatre View! :-) It seems to come at some cost, for about 50 % of my Season Art no longer loads..... Manually replacing it works, but it seems strange that only some of the manually added Season Art is lost)

Now I just have to work on getting my disc names back. Thanks to the insertion of MrC's line in the fill properties from file, I am back to having all disc named VIDEO_TS rather than Disc X. So I guess all the hard work means I am one step forward and one step back. Hopefully, however, both stepping forwards and backwards helps building my shape for the long run to come.

cgroth · « **Reply #11 on:** July 12, 2013, 09:57:06 am »

Finally! I think i have cracked the code now...

For theatre view, at least the way I have set it up:

1. Getting the season level text to read what I want, rather than the standard season number only: I added an expression (which I called SeasonName), using the expression editor. The expression I use reads: Delimit(Season [Season])

In Tools > Options > Apperance > Items To Show > Show > Series I have the value Series on the first line and my newly created SeasonName on the second.

2. To get the disc name to read "Disc X" as opposed to VIDEO_TS

In Tools > Options > Apperance > Customize file info panel > Templates > TV Show > Manage > Edit Template > Caption > Regular > Disc [Disc #]

Cannot promise this will work for anyone else, but here it did the trick :-)

MrC · « **Reply #12 on:** July 12, 2013, 11:20:05 am »

Great to see you're making progress.

The expression Delimit(Season [Season]) isn't quite right, as the way it is written doesn't serve the intended purpose of Delimit(). You want:

Delimit([Season], , Season/ )

This allows Delimit to output a value when [Season] is not empty, and suppress output when it is. The first version could output "Season " when [Season] is empty.

Your patience and persistence is admirable.

cgroth · « **Reply #13 on:** July 12, 2013, 12:03:31 pm »

Quote from: MrC on July 12, 2013, 11:20:05 am

Your patience ......... is admirable.

I showed this to my wife, and she said it confirmed her suspicion that the internet was full of men who wrote untruthful things....

On a more serious note: can anyone see any reason why doing what I have done above would stop the loading/showing of Season Art? Quite a few, but not all, of my series which have manually added art, that showed up before the changes to the way I display season, no longer shows up, unless I manuallty add the image as Cover Art for at least one disc in the season. If the change had affected all series/seasons it would be easier to pinpoint the issue maybe? For one series, with two seasons, the art for one of the seasons stopped showing, but not the other, and the image names are identical with the exception of the season number. Strange....

Chris

MrC · « **Reply #14 on:** July 12, 2013, 12:15:50 pm »

No, really, I am that 18-year old Victoria Secret model on page 8.

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #15 on:** July 12, 2013, 01:09:21 pm »

I'm following along on this too. MrC, the "correct use" of Delimit, as you provided above, does not work for showing the word "Season" prior to the season number. Perhaps Delimit is not the correct expression for this task or it is not being applied properly. Using the expression (as you stated) does not display the Seasons at all. I just get one long listing of the TV episodes.
The expression Cgroth posted "Delimit(Season [Season])" which is incorrect does display the word "Season" before the actual season number, so it's closer to what we want, but it doesn't work (or display) the Season Cover Art properly.

cgroth · « **Reply #16 on:** July 12, 2013, 01:33:20 pm »

Quote from: MrC on July 12, 2013, 12:15:50 pm

No, really, I am that 18-year old Victoria Secret model on page 8.

Exactly

cgroth · « **Reply #17 on:** July 12, 2013, 01:40:02 pm »

Quote from: CountryBumkin on July 12, 2013, 01:09:21 pm

I'm following along on this too. MrC, the "correct use" of Delimit, as you provided above, does not work for showing the word "Season" prior to the season number. Perhaps Delimit is not the correct expression for this task or it is not being applied properly. Using the expression (as you stated) does not display the Seasons at all. I just get one long listing of the TV episodes.
The expression Cgroth posted "Delimit(Season [Season])" which is incorrect does display the word "Season" before the actual season number, so it's closer to what we want, but it doesn't work (or display) the Season Cover Art properly.

On my set-up there is no difference, both expressions provide the same result, since all my discs in the TV Show category have seasons.

But I can definetly confirm that using the SeasonName expression, rathern than the Season numerical value, means that most Cover Art is not shown :-( And I still haven't found a way around this, so I may have to go back to the really incorrect method, having Season mean "Season X" rathern than "X", and renaming my art "yyyyyy - Season Season X.jpg", for at least that made it possible to both show Season Art and have the text read "Season X".

Or is there som ehidden solution I haven't stumbled blindly across yet....?

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #18 on:** July 12, 2013, 07:01:45 pm »

Okay, expression is working. Season "name" now displays the way I like.

What's the deal with getting the Season Cover Art to display now? How is MC linking to Season Art?
Is there anyway to display the path to the Season Art or an expression/function that MC is using - so I can figure out what needs to be changed/updated.

MrC · « **Reply #19 on:** July 12, 2013, 07:06:00 pm »

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Cover_Art#Cover_Art_Folder

Neco · « **Reply #20 on:** July 12, 2013, 11:20:08 pm »

Frankly I hope issues like these and other similar problems with lack of flexibility that users experience will be addressed in MC19.

It seems like every so (very) often, a thread like this comes up. I went through the same headache in my own thread when I was new as well.

cgroth · « **Reply #21 on:** July 13, 2013, 03:33:21 am »

Quote from: MrC on July 12, 2013, 07:06:00 pm

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Cover_Art#Cover_Art_Folder

MrC, the system in your link works fine if we (I assume CountryBumpkin is experiencing the same as me) use the Season field instead of SeasonName in the text below:
In Tools > Options > Apperance > Items To Show > Show > Series I have the value Series on the first line and SeasonName on the second.

But this only displays the season number as a numerical value (X), not the way we would like it; "Season X".

Assuming we still want to display the season with the text label "Season X" I have found two ways of doing son, none of them correct:

1. Use the Tools > Options > Apperance > Items To Show > Show > Series I have the value Series on the first line SeasonName on the second, and manually link the series art to at least on file of that series (following the link provided by MrC above on how to place the art in the correct folder), or
2. Assuming you have your files in a folder called Season X, (a) don't strip the text from the folder name to get the numeric value only and (b) name folder art images with an extra "Season", see above.

Since neither of these methods are "correct"; is there a correct way of achieving this? Or do we have to chose between being "correct" or getting the display we want?

Chris

PS

BTW, I figured out why not all seasons lost their season art when I switch to a "Season X" format for displaying the season number, those that 'survived' had their discs linked to image files.

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #22 on:** July 13, 2013, 10:28:55 am »

Quote from: cgroth on July 13, 2013, 03:33:21 am

BTW, I figured out why not all seasons lost their season art when I switch to a "Season X" format for displaying the season number, those that 'survived' had their discs linked to image files.

Doesn't work for me. After hours of trial and error, I still can not get Season Art to display when I use the expression "Delimit([Season],,Season/)". If I switch back to the Library field "Seasons" it displays. I'm going back on the side-line until someone figurers this out for me. There is no way to change how MC links the Season Art jpg to the [Series] Season field. All of the Library tools available for Cover Art are for working with individual file/movie art - nothing helps with for Season art.

Maybe MC19 will add some user customization in this area.

cgroth · « **Reply #23 on:** July 13, 2013, 10:41:56 am »

Quote from: CountryBumkin on July 13, 2013, 10:28:55 am

Doesn't work for me. After hours of trial and error, I still can not get Season Art to display when I use the expression "Delimit([Season],,Season/)". If I switch back to the Library field "Seasons" it displays. I'm going back on the side-line until someone figurers this out for me. There is no way to change how MC links the Season Art jpg to the [Series] Season field. All of the Library tools available for Cover Art are for working with individual file/movie art - nothing helps with for Season art.

Maybe MC19 will add some user customization in this area.

Obviously I am the furthest thing from an expert on this issue, and therefore I cannot give you comprehensive and clear advice in technical terms on what you should do. However, I would love to be able to start contributing on this forum, rather than just asking silly questions, so I could either let you log on to my machine to see what I have done, and maybe spot a small but crucial difference, or I could try to have a look at yours?

Chris

MrC · « **Reply #24 on:** July 13, 2013, 11:50:19 am »

It has been mentioned in several threads.

At the category level, MC requires using the library field [Series] or [Season] to pull in series or season artwork.

However, the stock Shows > Series views have two categories: Series followed by Season. Each are defined as expressions, and not library fields, and are: TVInfo(SeriesDisplay) and TVInfo(SeasonDisplay). It appears JRiver made some changes such that this function, used this way, will trigger [Cover Art]\Series and [Cover Art]\Season lookups.

Matt has made clear that if you change the Series or Season fields or expressions to something other than those describe above, Series and Season art will not be used.

Currently the stock Video > Shows > Series view will trigger both [Series] and [Season] artwork, and the word "Season" will prefix the season number so that captions look like: "Season 1", "Season 2", ...

cgroth · « **Reply #25 on:** July 13, 2013, 12:13:35 pm »

Quote from: MrC on July 13, 2013, 11:50:19 am

Currently the stock Video > Shows > Series view will trigger both [Series] and [Season] artwork, and the word "Season" will prefix the season number so that captions look like: "Season 1", "Season 2", ...

MrC, what do you mean by "currently"? Are you talking about MC19? In my version 18.0.206 I will not get the words Season as a prefix to the Season number, unless I mess about with the home made expression SeasonName, which then causes the Season Art not to be included. I am talking about Theatre View. Am I missing something? I am not certain I understand the difference between "category level" and "stock Shows", but it seems that the term "Season" might either be a library field (which I guess is a given, nothing I can edit or screw up here) or an expression (where there is room for editing)?

In my Tools > Options > Apperance > Items To Show > Show > Series I have the value Series on the first line Season on the second. The Season here seems a library field. Should I remove it and add an expression called Season instead, which has the following text "TVInfo(SeasonDisplay)"?

If so we might have found the problem, at least for me?

Chris

MrC · « **Reply #26 on:** July 13, 2013, 12:21:31 pm »

See the attached MC18 screenshots.

MrC · « **Reply #27 on:** July 13, 2013, 12:29:10 pm »

More data:

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #28 on:** July 13, 2013, 12:43:06 pm »

Well that was easy. TVinfo(SeasonDisplay) !!!
Not sure how I got down the "Delimit" path. I must have missed this little piece of advice earlier.

cgroth · « **Reply #29 on:** July 13, 2013, 01:19:55 pm »

This works here too, in terms of getting the text right, but I still don't get the Season Art. If I use Season (the library field), the Season Art is loaded. So, I must still manually add images to the discs to have season art show up :-(

cgroth · « **Reply #30 on:** July 13, 2013, 03:08:52 pm »

So, I have four options, in Tools > Options > Appearance > Items To Show > Show > Series I have the value Series on the first line and on the second:

1. The library field "Season", which gives the numerical value of the season only, but which loads the correct Season Art.
2. The expression "Season" (TVinfo(SeasonDisplay)), which is "correct", but which does not load any Season Art on my PC
3. The home grown expression SeasonName (Delimit(Season [Season])), which gives the text Season X, but which requires the manual linking of at least one disc in the relevant season to an image to show Season Art
4. Use the incorrect Delimiter, which will not strip the text Season from the folder Season X, and which will load Season Art if the Season Art image contains an extra "Season" in the file name.

What can explain why alternative 2 doesn't work on my PC when alternative 1 does? Both 3 and 4 are functioning workarounds, but require extra manual work in the use of Season Art. None of these are very elegant or intuitive.

MrC · « **Reply #31 on:** July 13, 2013, 04:15:09 pm »

Quote from: cgroth on July 13, 2013, 03:08:52 pm

... which gives the text Season X, but which requires the manual linking of at least one disc in the relevant season to an image to show Season Art

This is likely part of the problem. You're using the softish-term "linking". What does that mean exactly? You set the cover art of the files at this level to be the season art? There is no way to "link" images in MC otherwise.

Cover art in this case should be per episode, for each episode. Check these.

cgroth · « **Reply #32 on:** July 13, 2013, 04:33:27 pm »

Dear MrC,

I have no episodes, just discs. By right clicking of the disc file in Standard View > Video > Files > Covert Art > Add from File I create a link/path/connection/reference/relationship (I am out of English synonyms, but I guess you get my point) between that file and an image file which I have placed in the Season folder of Covert Art. This causes the image to be displayed not only for the disc in question (leaving the other disc in the same season with the generic reel image), but also for the season. Now, if I remove the Covert Art link (or whatever it is to be called) the image disappears not only from the disc, but also from the season. However, if I use the library field "Season" instead of the expression "Season", then the image will load for the season. So, the same image, in the same folder, with the same image name, will be loaded - or not loaded - by the same term, "Season", depending on whether that term, applied in the same place, is an expression or a library field. This is what seems strange to me, since it seems to not happen to others?

The reason that I don't want to use the library field is that it labels the discs as X, Y and Z only, instead of "Season X", "Season Y" and "Season Z".

best
Chris

MrC · « **Reply #33 on:** July 13, 2013, 05:16:33 pm »

Link disc artwork to your VIDEO_TS file using Add from file, for each disc you have. Don't link to the Season artwork. Leave that using the standard naming convention mentioned in the Cover Art wiki article. Disc artwork you should link by using Add from File, or by using Find in Cover Art Directory - this all depends on your settings. In other words, you want and need two different pieces of cover art: season art and disc art.

cgroth · « **Reply #34 on:** July 13, 2013, 05:29:02 pm »

Absolutely, but the only way to get Season Art is to link that art to a disc, otherwise it wont load, unless I use the library field version of "Season". That is what is so strange!

MrC · « **Reply #35 on:** July 13, 2013, 05:35:56 pm »

I think Reply 26 & 27 demonstrate that the system works. When it doesn't work, one has to look for other explanations.

It is possible the artwork was cached and needs to be rebuilt.

Try using the method that I've proven works, and then replacing the season artwork with some new test file artwork. Navigate up and out of the Season level, and then return. You should then be able to see the new test artwork showing up at the seasons level.

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #36 on:** July 13, 2013, 05:39:21 pm »

Chris, are you inserting disks in a drive every time you want to watch a show - or did you rip all the disks to the computer?

alspoll · « **Reply #37 on:** July 13, 2013, 09:44:28 pm »

Just want to make sure I understand what works and what does not...

If I use

if(isempty(TVInfo(SeriesDisplay)),[Name],TVInfo(SeriesDisplay))

I do not get series artwork to show up. Is it true to say when evaluating an expression in this manner that the artwork will not be rendered as it would if I had only used TVInfo(SeriesDisplay)?

TIA,

AL

MrC · « **Reply #38 on:** July 13, 2013, 11:46:41 pm »

Exactly. That won't work. That expression is not one of:

[Series]
TVInfo(SeriesDisplay)

It is not the evaluation that triggers the lookup - it is the actual library field or usage of TVInfo(SeriesDisplay).

Consider this - how does MC know to lookup Series art? It isn't because the category is named with the title Series, as you can title the series label with anything. The only possibility remaining is by selecting the Series library field; its sole usage when in a category or theater view will trigger the lookup. And the simple expression TVInfo(SeriesDisplay) also does.

As an aside, TVInfo(SeriesDisplay) returns Series if defined, otherwise Name, so the expression is a lot of extra baggage to essentially do nothing more than TVInfo(SeriesDisplay) anyway.

cgroth · « **Reply #39 on:** July 14, 2013, 02:51:29 am »

Quote from: CountryBumkin on July 13, 2013, 05:39:21 pm

Chris, are you inserting disks in a drive every time you want to watch a show - or did you rip all the disks to the computer?

Everything is ripped, almost 1,700 discs.

cgroth · « **Reply #40 on:** July 14, 2013, 03:05:50 am »

Quote from: MrC on July 13, 2013, 05:35:56 pm

I think Reply 26 & 27 demonstrate that the system works. When it doesn't work, one has to look for other explanations.

I agree!

Quote from: MrC on July 13, 2013, 05:35:56 pm

It is possible the artwork was cached and needs to be rebuilt.

?

Quote from: MrC on July 13, 2013, 05:35:56 pm

Try using the method that I've proven works, and then replacing the season artwork with some new test file artwork. Navigate up and out of the Season level, and then return. You should then be able to see the new test artwork showing up at the seasons level.

I will experiment

cgroth · « **Reply #41 on:** July 14, 2013, 05:53:39 am »

Quote from: MrC on July 13, 2013, 05:35:56 pm

Try using the method that I've proven works, and then replacing the season artwork with some new test file artwork. Navigate up and out of the Season level, and then return. You should then be able to see the new test artwork showing up at the seasons level.

Dear MrC,

I have tried exactly what you suggested. I even navigated to the main menu and back, then closed MC18 and restarted it, and nothing changes.

I have attached 6 screen grabs. The first (CT1) shows my season level with the Season expression (CT2), with the expression text you have suggested (CT3). In CT4 I change the Season text/label/text/field (whatever it is) from the expression to the library field. CT5 looks exactly the same as CT2, but the Season is now the library field seen in CT 4, not the expression seen in CT3. And CT6 shows what the result is, the Season Art is there! I have done no linking on disc level, no changing of image files or anything else in between capturing CT1 and CT6 than the change between CT3 and CT4, i.e. deleting the Season expression and adding the Season library field. If I go the opposite way the Season Art disappears, and if I go back it reappears. I can reproduce this until I am blue in the face, it seems 100 % consistent: using library field Season turns Season Art on, using expression Season turn Season Art off.

Why this is I don't know, but it isn't a big issue. I will just do it an incorrect way, until/unless I find any negative effects. The most tempting way is to use the incorrect Delimit expression, as this allows me different Season and Disc art, and only requires me to name the images in the Season subfolder of the Cover Art folder with an extra "Season".

The most important thing for me know is to set up the play of my ripped DVDs and BluRays with ArcSoft. How do I do that? :-)

cgroth · « **Reply #42 on:** July 14, 2013, 06:07:18 am »

Sorry, forgot to add the screengrasb, but I also solved the problem!

I think you were correct MrC in thinking it had to do with cacheing (if that is a verb?). I moved the Season file, then tried to restart Theatre View when there was no Seasons folder, so even using the library field Season didn't work. Then I moved the folder back, and changed to expression Season, and now everything seems OK.... :-)

Thanks for the hint. With a little of your IQ and a little of my trademark thrashing we solved it

CountryBumkin · « **Reply #43 on:** July 14, 2013, 06:27:00 am »

Quote from: MrC on July 13, 2013, 11:46:41 pm

Exactly. That won't work. That expression is not one of:

[Series]
TVInfo(SeriesDisplay)

It is not the evaluation that triggers the lookup - it is the actual library field or usage of TVInfo(SeriesDisplay).

Consider this - how does MC know to lookup Series art? It isn't because the category is named with the title Series, as you can title the series label with anything. The only possibility remaining is by selecting the Series library field; its sole usage when in a category or theater view will trigger the lookup. And the simple expression TVInfo(SeriesDisplay) also does.

As an aside, TVInfo(SeriesDisplay) returns Series if defined, otherwise Name, so the expression is a lot of extra baggage to essentially do nothing more than TVInfo(SeriesDisplay) anyway.

alspoll,
it's same process to display "Season X" - as in MrC's post number 27, just edit Season to add the expression TVInfo(SeasonDisplay).

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: TV Shows in Theatre View - Season level heading (Read 8974 times)