Local caching of fanart.

[panteragstk]

I use a client for most of my viewing and for some reason the fanart isn't caching locally anymore and it is causing the spinning circle to show up more than it used to. Is there a setting to locally cache the fanart so my ssd can actually benefit my system? It used to work, but after a reinstall it stopped.

Thoughts?

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I use a client for most of my viewing and for some reason the fanart isn't caching locally anymore and it is causing the spinning circle to show up more than it used to. Is there a setting to locally cache the fanart so my ssd can actually benefit my system? It used to work, but after a reinstall it stopped.

Thoughts?

Fanart was never cached locally... but it used to be cached in memory (the fanart paths, not the physical files). I removed the in memory cache as of the last release for 2 reasons.

1. The in memory caching was causing an issue with episode fanart
2. The in memory caching was not reflecting changes made to the fanart outside of bmt (unless a restart was issued)

I didn't suspect that the in memory cache would have much of an effect for most people, so, i'll keep on this trend to see if this issue is localized to just a couple people or not.

I am working on some other options as well, but I need the new caching solution to be a little more robust than the old solution that was just removed.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Fanart was never cached locally... but it used to be cached in memory (the fanart paths, not the physical files). I removed the in memory cache as of the last release for 2 reasons.

1. The in memory caching was causing an issue with episode fanart
2. The in memory caching was not reflecting changes made to the fanart outside of bmt (unless a restart was issued)

I didn't suspect that the in memory cache would have much of an effect for most people, so, i'll keep on this trend to see if this issue is localized to just a couple people or not.

I am working on some other options as well, but I need the new caching solution to be a little more robust than the old solution that was just removed.

Well, that answers that question. Thanks for the quick response. It is odd in the way that it slows things down. I doesn't cause problems, just the annoying circle of death when pushing play or scrolling through video lists.

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Well, that answers that question. Thanks for the quick response. It is odd in the way that it slows things down. I doesn't cause problems, just the annoying circle of death when pushing play or scrolling through video lists.

I think this is probably because of how the fanart is resolved. ie, since there are multiples of each piece, then the apis need to load all the files in the fanart dir, and return it. When the paths were cached, it would have done this at least once, but then it would never have to scan the directory again.

I am working on a solution.

[OneOfMany]

I also use ClientPCs exclusively. I have considered using a utility such as SyncToy to keep my client fanart directories in sync with my central fanart directory. However, I am thinking that this may not work properly.

If I understand correctly, all of the plugins that display Phoenix fanart use the Fanart path to look for and load the images. This path is the global fanart path, and in my case points to a share on my server - \\SERVER\Fanart. If I were to cache a copy of this directory on my client, the path would inevitably be C:\Fanart. With this mismatch, the plugins that display the fanart would not look locally.

What I am going to try is to change this line in my clients property file

phoenix/mediametadata/fanartCentralFolder=C\:\\fanart

Although the info may not be updated immediately, I am thinking it will significantly increase the responsiveness of fanrt loading

Grant

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by OneOfMany

I also use ClientPCs exclusively. I have considered using a utility such as SyncToy to keep my client fanart directories in sync with my central fanart directory. However, I am thinking that this may not work properly.

If I understand correctly, all of the plugins that display Phoenix fanart use the Fanart path to look for and load the images. This path is the global fanart path, and in my case points to a share on my server - \\SERVER\Fanart. If I were to cache a copy of this directory on my client, the path would inevitably be C:\Fanart. With this mismatch, the plugins that display the fanart would not look locally.

What I am going to try is to change this line in my clients property file

phoenix/mediametadata/fanartCentralFolder=C\:\\fanart

Although the info may not be updated immediately, I am thinking it will significantly increase the responsiveness of fanrt loading

Grant

I actually used to store a copy of all my fanart locally on my client, but it never got updated due to the central directory on the server being configured to the \\server\fanart where as the client fanart directory was set to a local dir. It worked quickly, but not an optimal solution...

[OneOfMany]

I am currently not at my home network location (darn work lol), so I cant confirm the operation as working on my client/server operation, however, I think this may do it.

Installed SyncToy

Setup a folder Pair from using the Echo variable (this simply keeps destination folder same as source)

Opened Task Scheduler (Win7) and
Create a Basic Task (Name/Description) -> Next
Trigger - When I log on -> Next
Action - Start a Program -> Next
Program/Script - Browse (I just installed in a root dir) "C:\SyncToy 2.1\SyncToyCmd.exe" (must use the Cmd version)
Add Argument - -r
Finish

For my purposes, the login setting will work fine, since I set my clients to logoff after a period of inactivity. I also opened Task Scheduler and set the "hidden" option so it's transparent. That coupled with the Automatic Recanning by Sage should keep things fairly updated.

I will test it tonight and report back my "hopefully" positive findings.

Grant

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by OneOfMany

I am currently not at my home network location (darn work lol), so I cant confirm the operation as working on my client/server operation, however, I think this may do it.

Installed SyncToy

Setup a folder Pair from using the Echo variable (this simply keeps destination folder same as source)

Opened Task Scheduler (Win7) and
Create a Basic Task (Name/Description) -> Next
Trigger - When I log on -> Next
Action - Start a Program -> Next
Program/Script - Browse (I just installed in a root dir) "C:\SyncToy 2.1\SyncToyCmd.exe" (must use the Cmd version)
Add Argument - -r
Finish

For my purposes, the login setting will work fine, since I set my clients to logoff after a period of inactivity. I also opened Task Scheduler and set the "hidden" option so it's transparent. That coupled with the Automatic Recanning by Sage should keep things fairly updated.

I will test it tonight and report back my "hopefully" positive findings.

Grant

Any luck?

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Any luck?

Just a word if you are using diamond the fanart is already scaled and cached locally.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

Just a word if you are using diamond the fanart is already scaled and cached locally.

Good to know. I solved the issue by duplicating the fanart directory on my client. I don't know why it slowed down so much just because of that. Fixed now though.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Good to know. I solved the issue by duplicating the fanart directory on my client. I don't know why it slowed down so much just because of that. Fixed now though.

The only reason I can think is because you are maybe using another fanart plugin that isn't caching it locally on top of diamond?

If fanart is not kept local it is slow as crap. That is why SMM and diamond always keep a local cache automatically. That and scaling reason of course.

[OneOfMany]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Any luck?

Actually, I have it setup on my notebook (testbed) and it appears to be successfully updating the fanart into my local directory as desired.

However, I am in the process of finally upgrading my live setup to v7, and spent the last night reading the 17 pages of the Comskip plugin to get that baby operational on the server and one of my clients. Yay.

I changed the line in my client SageClient.properties:

phoenix/mediametadata/fanartCentralFolder=C\:\\SageTV7\\SageTV\\LocalFanart

I should be able to get a few fanart UI plugins installed on my live setup to confirm it works.

Grant