Is there a thumbnail generator addin?

[wayner]

If I understand it correctly if you have a folder.jpg file then you will that picture will be used for the folder and also for all files. For example, if I have a folder named "Dora" and files dora1.mpg, dora2.mpg, dora3.mpg, etc. then the folder.jpg file will appear for folder Dora when you are in the parent folder for Dora and the folder.jpy file will also appear as the thumbnail for all of the files wihtin a folder, unless you have separate thumbnail files called dora1.jpg, dora2.jpg, dora3.jpg, etc.

Is that correct?

If so - is there any way to change this, or to have a program generate thumbnails called dora1.jpg from a snapshot that was x seconds into the file? Several years ago I tried out Meedio for a while and it had such an addin.

Or is there another way to accomplish this. I am trying to make it easier for my daugher to select her shows but it doesn't help when all of the thumbnails are the same. She is used to Windows Explorer which uses folder.jpg only for the folder and not for all of the thumbnails within a folder.

[babgvant]

if there isn't a folder.jpg, sage will create the thumbnails for you if you set

video_thumbnail_generation=true

how far into the file is configured from

video_thumbnail_extraction_time_offset_sec=15

[wayner]

But the problem is that I want both a folder.jpg file and a relevant thumbnail for each show within the folder. I want my daughter to be able to choose the TV show wants by pointing to the folder which are organized by show - i.e. Dora, Wiggles, Wonder Pets, etc. In order for her to pick the folder she needs to see the photo.

And then once inside the folder I want different pictures for each show so that she can pick the show that she wants. I don't know that you can do that with Sage unless you generate a .jpg file that corresponds to every video file.

[babgvant]

Sage scrolls the thumbnails for the content within a folder on the folder in the video browser.

For e.g. I have a folder for "The Backyardigans" that Sage has generated thumbnails for, so I see a thumbnail from each show for a couple seconds. As long as the thumbnails are relevant (a picture of Boots or Isa) she should be able to select the right folder.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by babgvant

For e.g. I have a folder for "The Backyardigans" that Sage has generated thumbnails for, so I see a thumbnail from each show for a couple seconds. As long as the thumbnails are relevant (a picture of Boots or Isa) she should be able to select the right folder.

That sounds good except Boots and Isa are from Dora the Explorer- you probably meant Pablo and Uniqua

In my case this was more of an issue for MyVideos rather than RecordedTV as I use the AutoCompress utility to compress The Backyardigans to an avi file and copy to the Backyardigans folder on my WHS box. I also have a touchscreen monitor in our kitchen where my daughter selects shows using Windows Explorer. It is amazing how a young child can learn how to navigate a directory structure without any help from adults!

I am beginning to think that the best way to do this is to find a program that can be run from the command line that will generate a jpg file from an mpg, ts or avi file. I could probably have this run from something like SageJobQueue.

[babgvant]

My eg. was for the "My Videos", I have a similar process but handle the transcoding via my own application (DVRMSToolbox).

Are you using Sage in the kitchen? How is playback handled there if not (WMP?)

I wrote a POC app that generates thumbnails a while back, it might work for you.

[wayner]

I am using WMP for the playback in the kitchen as it was easy for my daughter to figure out - click on the icon in the middle of the screen to open up Windows Explorer and then just click on the show that you want and it will start in WMP. I also have Placeshifter installed on this PC so that would work if we wanted to but there isn't any remote control set up for this PC.

I will take a look at that app - thanks.

[babgvant]

If you set the view type to one of the "Icons" variants, explorer will generate the thumbnails for you.