Only Display Fanart for Movies?

[bigo93bronco]

I recently started using BMT, and the only issue I haven't figured out yet is what to do about my movies. I use the default STV and folder view for all of my media. Inside the video library are folders for all of my archived TV shows, and one called "movies". My movies are arranged like this: Movies/moviename/movie1, folder.jpg, metadata.

The issue with this, is that you have to get down to the 2nd level before you can see the metadata for the movie. I want to continue using the folder.jpgs for my TV shows, because they are retrieved much faster. I would like to use fanart for the movies, but keep the TV shows using th e folder.jpgs that are allready in place; is this possible?

[Fuzzy]

I suppose you could delete the [CentralFanartFolder]/TV folder. There are filters in BMT to limit BMT's auto scanning to Movies only, or TV only, or both... but then you won't receive the metadata for the TV shows either.

That said, i think if you've got a fanart plugin installed, it's still going to check for fanart every time, so you'll still get whatever slowdown you seem to be having now (I've never noticed any sort of slowdown with fanart enabled, especially using PC clients).

EDIT: Of course, there's always the option of using separate views for your TV shows (Cough cough... the TV views) instead of folder view...

[bigo93bronco]

lol......I don't see how you could find anything that way though. You can't fit as many items on the screen at the same time, and the thumbnails aren't as big. The folders just work perfectly for me, because I can get at least 16 large folders/thumbnails on the screen at a time. We like to browse for stuff by looking for the thumbnail, so they need to be big and clear enough to read. The difference between the central fanart and folder-level jpgs is night and day for me. If the fanart was faster I would gladely switch over to it. The images seem to darker and less defined too for some reason. I may just have to accept that I will have to click movies twice before I can see the metadata for them; the TV shows are unaffected of course.

[PLUCKYHD]

What addin you using? If your fanart is located on a network and the addin isn't caching it. It can be terribly slow on a pc.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by bigo93bronco

lol......I don't see how you could find anything that way though. You can't fit as many items on the screen at the same time, and the thumbnails aren't as big. The folders just work perfectly for me, because I can get at least 16 large folders/thumbnails on the screen at a time. We like to browse for stuff by looking for the thumbnail, so they need to be big and clear enough to read. The difference between the central fanart and folder-level jpgs is night and day for me. If the fanart was faster I would gladely switch over to it. The images seem to darker and less defined too for some reason. I may just have to accept that I will have to click movies twice before I can see the metadata for them; the TV shows are unaffected of course.

I think I asked you this in another thread and never got a response... but what screen are you seeing where you can't customize the number of items on?

I ask, because even the default recordings screen can be set to show a up to 66 items on the screen at a time (6 colums of 11 rows). obviously, without decent fanart, it'd be hard to discern one item from another with them that small - but it's no different than the folder view.

[bigo93bronco]

I was using the phoniex plugin for the default STV while testing fanart (I have it disabled at the moment).

Fuzzy - I finally understand what you mean now. I had forgotten that you could show thumbnails in the TV recordings. I disliked that option in the past, because I didn't like seeing the video "clips" for recordings. I suppose if I get fanart eunning more smoothly, I could have a subfolder for actual recordings, and another folder for library content. The recordings would also show cover art with fanart operating, so that would resolve that issue. Do you have any pictures posted around here of your solution?

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by bigo93bronco

I was using the phoniex plugin for the default STV while testing fanart (I have it disabled at the moment).

Fuzzy - I finally understand what you mean now. I had forgotten that you could show thumbnails in the TV recordings. I disliked that option in the past, because I didn't like seeing the video "clips" for recordings. I suppose if I get fanart eunning more smoothly, I could have a subfolder for actual recordings, and another folder for library content. The recordings would also show cover art with fanart operating, so that would resolve that issue. Do you have any pictures posted around here of your solution?

My solution is to use the Malore menu's for my recordings. the two-pane format, to me, just makes more sense for TV shows (or anything that can be well grouped).

Here's a quick shot from my dev machine (my main uses the view bars to break down to 6 different filters (Me, Wife, Both, Sports, Kids, Other).

[bigo93bronco]

Hmmm there is potential there, but I still need to get the fanart retrevial time down. I looked in the cache folder on the server, and it does appear to be caching the images. I am very interested in getting the banners to work. I would like to have them in the recording section (like yours), and at the top of the EPG, and perhaps at the top of the video library (if I continue using it).

My biggest issues are:
speed up fanart retrevial
figure out why the images are darker and less-defined
swap out some of the images it retrieved (a few are not as good as the ones I allready have)

Here's how we use the video library:

[PLUCKYHD]

Have you tried diamond at all?

[bigo93bronco]

I tried it out before I figured out how to use/control fanart. It didn't want to load my folder.jpgs (maybe by design) and I haden't configured fanart, so it was hard to judge. I really don't want to switch to a completly different inteerface, because I have ours adjusted just the way we like.

[bigo93bronco]

Well, I finished retrieving metadata for all of my movies, and it turns out that navigating one extra level to see the details is no big deal. I guess if I ever see a plugin or something to do this I may give it a try, but I am completely happy with it the way it is after all. There is one other item I am curious about, but that requires a new thread.