Multiple Clients w/Gemstone Not Displaying Fanart

[clarenceb5]

Hi I've searched the forum for anyone else having a similar problem with Gemstone but I haven't had any luck, if someone knows of a post on this topic please point me to it for now here is my issues.

I have SageTV Media Server running as server service but I also use this PC as a SageTV client. I have BMT running and it works perfectly for fetching my fanart and video properties. At the time I did initial install of Gemstone on this local client all fanart is working without a hitch. I then install Gemstone on another SageTV Client on another PC in and at the time of initial install of Gemstone on this client all fanart is working without a hitch. I do not have BMT running on the 2nd PC running a SageTV Client, on this client I have Gemstone pointing to the BMT fanart on my server because I want all my clients to have the same fanart displayed as I have it on the server. But then I wanted to test using the Fanart Manager in Gemstone on the 2nd PC SageTV Client and now for that one show I no longer have fanart when using the SageTV Client on the server. So then I use the Fanart Manager in Gemstone on the server SageTV Client and then I no longer have fanart for that show on the 2nd PC SageTV Client. I have tried deleting all the jpg files from all the fanart Gemstone folders on the server and on the client and I've also deleted all the jpg file from the phoenix folder on the server. I've done a refresh of the fanart in BMT, as well as Clear Memory Cache, Clear File System Cache then Prebuild Cache and still I can no longer get that 1 show to display the fanart on the 2 SageTV Clients. Everyting refreshed 100% in BMT. Does anyone know what is going on here? What am I missing? All I want is 1 BMT installation on my server and each client to display the same fanart for all my shows and movies. I hope someone has some insight! Thanks in advance.

[Fuzzy]

A little hard to follow what you are saying, but I think you are saying the problem is only with a single show? Does this show have fanart in BMT?

[clarenceb5]

Sorry I know that was long winded!

And you are correct in my explanation the problem is only with 1 show but it is only with 1 show because I have only changed the fanart using Fanart Manager on that 1 show. For every show that I change the fanart using the Fanart Manager this will problem will occur. In my attempt to learn and figure out how/what Gemstone is doing I have caused this problem on other shows as well.

For all shows where I use the Fanart Manager to make changes to the shows fanart on my SageTV Server/Client computer the fanart no longer appears on other SageTV Clients on my network.

On another note, since deleting all the jpg files from the phoenix folders and doing the complete refresh in BMT I now only have fanart on my extender for the shows where I have changed the fanart on the server using Fanart Manager.

I hope I'm explaining the scenarios properly. Thanks.

Sorry I didn't answer your question but yes all my shows/movies display fanart in BMT.

[clarenceb5]

Is it necessary to have BMT installed even on the SageTV Client PC's?

[jusjoken]

Originally Posted by clarenceb5

Is it necessary to have BMT installed even on the SageTV Client PC's?

No it is not. My guess without getting logs or digging further is that perhaps there are cases where the default fan art item path is being stored and my guess is that the path to Sage on your server and client is different and causing the issue.

Let me know if this is the case and we can look into how to solve it.

k

[clarenceb5]

Thanks for offering your assistance. I'm not familiar with which log files keep the information required to troubleshoot my problem so if you could let me know I will provide them, also if any screenshots or config settings are needed to help troubleshoot I'm more than happy to provide them. Thanks.

[jusjoken]

For now just confirm my suspicions (or not) that your SageTV install path is different between your clients. If they are different then I likely don't need more info.

k

[clarenceb5]

All my SageTV installations are the default installation paths, I have both 64 bit and 32 bit Windows installations.

SageTV Server running on Windows 7 x64 is installed to "C:\Program Files (x86)\SageTV" on this machine I used Fanart Manager to set a default poster, banner and background on 4 different TV shows and the default selections are displayed. All other fanart is also displayed but does not show a check mark for a default on the poster, banner or background. Phoenix Core Services plugin has the following path for the Central Fanart Folder "userdata/Phoenix/Fanart".

SageTV Client #1 running on Windows 7 x64 is installed to "C:\Program Files (x86)\SageTV" on this machine I have not used Fanart Manager to set a default poster, banner and background on those 4 TV Shows and none of my fanart is displayed. Phoenix Core Services plugin has the following path for the Central Fanart Folder "userdata/Phoenix/Fanart".

SageTV Client #2 running on Windows 7 x86 is installed to "C:\Program Files\SageTV" on this machine I have not used Fanart Manager to set a default poster, banner and background on those 4 TV Shows and none of my fanart is displayed. Phoenix Core Services plugin has the following path for the Central Fanart Folder "userdata/Phoenix/Fanart".

On both client machines if I map a network share to the server so that I can make the Central Fanart Folder path to the server "z:\Program Files (x86)\SageTV\SageTV\userdata\Phoenix\Fanart" then I end up with fanart only on TV shows where a default is not set in the Fanart Manager.

I know this is more information than you requested but I felt it may be usefull. Thanks again for your help.

[Fuzzy]

What I have always done is set up a share directly to my Fanart Directory (which is actually M:\FanArt on the server) called FanArt. My server is called SageTV. Then, the fanart folder on all clients and the server gets set to \\SageTV\FanArt . This eliminates any mapping issues, or path discrepancies.

[jusjoken]

I too use a similar setup as Fuzzy mentions.

As info, what Gemstone does for the "default" fanart item is it just uses the "first" item it comes by in the fanart folder, UNLESS an "override" for the default has been set using BMT, Gemstone or some other tool using the phoneix calls. For Gemstone to keep track of this "override" it needs to store a "key" to this fanart item in the Wiz.bin as user data related to the media item (movie or tv item) and that "key" is really the path to the fanart item (with a little extra logic included too).

So.... a few things to keep in mind....

- you want that "key" to be the same regardless of the client - I can look over the code (actually phoenix code) to see if we can improve the handling of this but having a "common" share like Fuzzy mentions really helps keep this simple.

- if you set a default and then later change the fanart folder path... you need to set the default again to change the default stored in the Wiz.bin

Note: you don't have to set a default if you are Ok with the first item listed in the Fanart Manager being the one that will display. I usually just use Fanart Manager to delete the foreign language fanart items and only on occasion use the set default if I am really partial to a specific fanart item.

k

[clarenceb5]

Alright so I've followed your suggestions.

I have setup the Fanart folder on my server (I call mine SageTVServer) to be shared and on the server in the Central Fanart Folder setting I entered "\\sagetvserver\Fanart", then still on the server I did "Clear Memory Cache", "Clear File System Cache" and then "Prebuild Cache". Now when I view my TV Shows I see all the fanart for each show and it looks like it is choosing the first item it comes by in the fanart folder.

I then go to one of my clients and I set the Central Fanart Folder setting to "\\sagetvserver\Fanart" and still on the client all the shows that I had not changed any default using Fanart Manager are the same fanart as what is displaying on the server the first item it comes by in the fanart folder. But the shows I had previously changed the default in Fanart Manager are still not displaying the fanart.

Still on the client if I select one of the shows that is not displaying the fanart and go into the Fanart Manager for that show I do see the fanart for the posters, banners and background and none is selected as default but still it is not displaying the first item it comes by in the fanart folder.

Is there a way to reset the key to the fanart in the Wiz.bin file?

I just checked on my server and noticed that the banner, poster and background in Fanart Manager for one of those shows I changed to a default are still set as default showing a check mark but they are not the fanart chosen to be displayed.

[jusjoken]

I don't believe there is a way to "clear" the Wiz.bin setting other than go to each item and set a new default.... you could look in BMT and see if there is a batch tool there to do this but as I am not home right now I cannot check myself (I doubt it). Perhaps we need to consider this to be added to Gemstone but I would have thought that if the code could not find a valid "override" item it would have used the default (first item). I guess I need to check that code too.

Another thing to keep in mind is the Fanart Cache is per PC client and not just on the server. Extenders and Placeshifters share the Server cache BUT every PC Client stores a local fanart cache built from the central fanart folder EITHER on first use OR through the pre-build process launched PER client.

k

[jusjoken]

Can you advise if the items your are changing the default on are TV Series items or Movie items... I don't think you mentioned that yet. I assume TV as you mentioned Banners in the Fanart Manager but please confirm.

If TV... I assume you are at the Series level changing Fanart Defaults.... not the Season level... please confirm.

And... the defaults you are changing.... are they always Poster or other types.

Thanks
k

[clarenceb5]

I have been changing the default on posters, banners and backgrounds for TV at the series level as well as at the season level. I noticed that even though I could set a different default for a background at the season level it never actually changes when I go into the season view it was always the Series defaulted background that is displayed.

I am in progress of refreshing all my fanart in BMT and Gemstone after setting the new Central Fanart Folder to my \\sagetvserver\Fanart share. I will post back my results.

Oh I just remembered a question I had, what is the bmtfanart folder used for? I believe the posters I set as defaults get put into the bmtfanart folder when I set this default in BMT?

[jusjoken]

Originally Posted by clarenceb5

I noticed that even though I could set a different default for a background at the season level it never actually changes when I go into the season view it was always the Series defaulted background that is displayed.

This is a bug.... so I don't forget to fix this please add an issue for this specific item on the issues site.

Thanks
k

[jusjoken]

Originally Posted by clarenceb5

Oh I just remembered a question I had, what is the bmtfanart folder used for? I believe the posters I set as defaults get put into the bmtfanart folder when I set this default in BMT?

Not sure.... might need to ask that on the BMT forum... my guess is it is just internal to bmt to keep track while you are managing fanart items within BMT.... just a guess though.

It has nothing to do with Gemstone's handling of the fanart items though. And to be safe.... you should set the defaults from within Gemstone only. Both BMT and Gemstone use the phoenix calls for fanart, however, the interface is different so not certain you can properly set season vs series fanart defaults from within BMT... or at least at one point you could not.

k

[clarenceb5]

Done opened it in the issue site, it is issue 130.

[clarenceb5]

Still cannot set series vs season level defaults in BMT but I did notice that when I set a default poster, banner and background in BMT before doing the prebuild in Gemstone after the prebuild is complete when I go into Gemstone Fanart Manager the defaults I had set in BMT end up as the defaults for Season 1 of the show (check marks visible) and not the defaults at the series level (no check marks).

[jusjoken]

Originally Posted by clarenceb5

Still cannot set series vs season level defaults in BMT but I did notice that when I set a default poster, banner and background in BMT before doing the prebuild in Gemstone after the prebuild is complete when I go into Gemstone Fanart Manager the defaults I had set in BMT end up as the defaults for Season 1 of the show (check marks visible) and not the defaults at the series level (no check marks).

As I said, you need to set defaults from within Gemstone Fanart Manager as the UI in BMT really has no current way of determining if the default you set on TV items is for the Series or the Season. By the looks of your result it is setting it for the first Season it finds but that is only a guess. Regardless, the Gemstone UI should be used for this as it specifically sets the default dependent on the settings you pick in the Fanart Manager (Series, Season 1 etc.)

k

[clarenceb5]

Alright, so now I'm only attempting to set defaults via Gemstone Fanart Manager and for the most part it seems to work but there are some problems.

I have set default posters, banners and backgrounds at the series and season level via Gemstone Fanart Manager using SageTV Client on my SageTV Server, here is what displays:
I have episodes from seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
I have set the default series poster and it is the one being displayed.
I have set the default season posters and each season is set to a different poster. Seasons 1 and 2 are displaying the default poster I set which also happen to be the first poster in the list. Seasons 3, 4, 5 and 6 are not displaying the selected default posters but are still displaying the poster that was the first in the list before I chose a default poster.

I have set the default series banner and it is the one being displayed.
I have set the default season banners and each season is set to a different banner. Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are displaying the banner I selected as default. Season 6 is not displaying the banner selected as default but is displaying the same banner as is set as default for the series banner.

For backgrounds I already talked about in a previous post.

Do the other SageTV Clients on my network duplicate these defaults that are set at the server or are the defaults replicated to the clients? I am asking because it appears to me that the selected defaults on the server are also the same selected defaults on my 1 client and for the most part the same posters, banners and backgrounds are the same on the client as they are on the server with a few exceptions.

On the client;
The series poster is not displaying the default selected series poster but it seems to be selecting the one that was the first one in the list before I select a default on the server.
The series banner is not displaying the series banner but it seems to be selecting the one that was the first one in the list before I selected a default on the server.
The season posters are displaying the same posters as I have set on the server with the same problem with season 6.
The season banners are displaying the same banners as I have set on the server with one exception, season 6 is not displaying the default selected banner but it's also displaying a different banner than what is being displayed for season 6 on the server.
For the backgrounds it is the same problem as is on the server.

Boy I hope that is clear and makes sense. I hope it doesn't sound like I am complaining because I do not intend for it to be that way, I really just want to help make Gemstone better because it is a way better interface than the default STVi.

Thanks for all your great work.