Folder.jpg for movie folders not used?

[Mercbac]

Thanks for all your work on this rtv!
I finally got around to testing this in a bit more detail and the system works; I don't even think that adding one more option under the movie config section is such a bad solution. However, I did find an exception, where .iso images do not keep their coverart in filmstrip view (or any of the other views). Even though it works fine for .avi files.
When hitting F3 the coverart does show up though, and going into the editor part of the config tool, I could not see a difference between a .iso and a .avi file under the coverart tab.

One other thing I tried was to switch Windows (Vista in my case) to the setting where it only uses icons for preview instead of thumbnails. This is where Vista moves away again from the folder.jpg logic that was introduced in WinXP. So my thought was that maybe by switching it off in Vista and making the OS behave more like XP again (in this particular feature then), maybe MP would mirror the OS behaviour. Well, that was a bad idea. It screwed up my movie db to the point where I had to restore it, because I could not longer enter into a movie folder in MP, and my TV Series plugin showed all the detailed data in gray text instead of the normal black (in the config for the plugin). In this case also, I had to restore a backup copy of the database.

So, alltogether, I don't know if the movie folder logic behaves the same for .iso and .avi files under XP. I could very well imagine this being some Vista thing, especially given the weird behaviour when changing the thumbnail / icon setting in Explorer.

[wdanen]

Just want to mention that rtv's changes have fixed the problem I was having. Thanks for all the hard work!

[Mercbac]

Well, I tested around with a few more options, and found that moving my MP database directory to my data partition (so out of C:\ProgramData\Team Mediaportal\Mediaportal\database) has made the whole thing less sensitive for hanging or disabling navigation, which I believe are both symptoms of a corrupted database, possibly caused by Vista's new security model. I tried running mediaportal.exe and configuration.exe "as administrator", and as my own user, being a member of local admin, which caused some of the databases to be created under the compatibility dir (under the Virtual Store). I wasn't happy with either, so I changed Mediaportaldirs.xml to have the database dir point to my data partition, and that works much better.

However... Hitting F3 on .img or .iso files (mounted via Daemon tools) still leaves me with a movie entry that does not show an icon, even though the coverart is successfully downloaded and all imdb info is stored in the db. This works fine for .avi files.
And the thing that started this thread (folder.jpg) also works fine in the 16551 SVN build that rtv made. It nicely displays my folder.jpg for each folder and subfolder.

So is there anyone using Vista who could repro this behaviour? That's the last little thing on my list before declaring 0.2.3.0 an absolutely perfect solution (for me at least).

[nickastaldo]

This build didnt' help me. I placed a folder.jpg in my folder, but MP still displays a blank folder. Was there a setting I was supposed to click after installing this build? Thanks for any help. By the way, I'm using XP.

[Mercbac]

Back from celebrating Christmas, I just found something very interesting: First my movie setup in MP:
I added two directories to my movie folders in the config tool, "Z:\Videos\Movies" (located on a NAS) which contains only .avi files and "E:\LocalFilms" (on a local disk in the machine running MP) which contains only .iso and .img files.

So my problem was that all my .iso and .img files did not get their coverart to show in any of the thumbnail or filmstrip views. Hitting F3 on them did however show the coverart on the IMDB info page. For the .avi files this all works fine. When I checked things out with Process Monitor I saw that MP was trying to read the coverart for one of my .img files from E:\LocalFilms, and sure enough, when I copied the two images from the "thumbs" directory where all the rest is located, and into E:\LocalFilms, MP was able to show the coverart even in thumbnail and filmstrip views for these files.

I am just puzzled as to why MP makes a difference in where it looks for thumbs. I did not see any difference in the coverart tab for movies under the config tool (compared that tab for a ".avi" and a ".img" file).

But at least I now have a solution that makes it all look nice!

[simmo]

Mercbac,

I have the same issue. All cover art for .iso files must reside in the same directory as the .iso files. Devs, would be nice to see this revert back to what it was previously.

[buffalome902]

Can anyoneone give me a recap on where this current issue stands, I am using the latest build. I have Moves such thta :
E:\Movies\Drama , E:\Movies\Action etc..... within each I have some Movioe Files and some folders with ripped DVD files..... in Media portal when displaying the folder MOVIES the various folders will , consistently show up with a picture or not,,,,I have attempted to determine why some folder show up with pictures and some do not and have not yet been able to esyablish a pattern. I hace also attempted to use the Folder.jpg approach and have found , thus far, under no circumsyancrsd is the foilder.jpg ever engaged........

[Mercbac]

buffalome902, It might be that your combination of single movie files in the same folder as subfilders with ripped DVDs is causing the problem. There is an option called "each movie has it's own directory", see also this related link.
I have not yet tried the SVN builds after jan 16th in which rtv made another fix for the display of thumbnails for image files, but the folder.jpg solution works fine for me (without having subfolders with ripped DVDs though, haven't tested that myself).
So as a test, you can try and seperate your ripped DVD folders from the single movie files to see if that changes anything.

[buffalome902]

Mercbac, Thankyou for the iseas, I will experiment with seperating the RIP Folders from the individual Movie(avi,mpeg,etc)( Files and see how it works, I will also play with the "Each Movie own Directory Oprion". I will write back afetr my tests, Thanx Again.

[buffalome902]

I promissed to get back and so I will. I have found that it is indeed the mixture of type MOVIE.avi..... and VOB type which create unpredictable results in the thumb creations. I have effectively corrected by the following....Example...I have a folder called "Comedy" within it are xxx.Avi files and sveral folders which contain VOB movue data. The secret is to load te database 2 times. first with only the .avi files then move the VOB folders into it and re scan....this seems to be a solution and or work around. Additionally I did find that by fiddleling around with the "thumbs" folder you c an effectiveley correct this as well.

I do now face another dillema. I have outgrown my 750 gig external hard drive which contains my videos. It was organizded such that D:\Movies\Comedy, D:\Movies\Drama, etc..... This design provided a very effective thimnail view while using Portal when I viewed as "source". .....Now I add a second Hard drive....say G: I create GL\Movies\Comedy... and I start5 to seperate/divide my movies amongst the 2 hard drives. I therefore have a G:\Movies and a D:\Movies. I add them both into the portal and view as Movies "source" I get displayed 3 entities as follows,,,e: (which is my DVD drive), D:\Movies and F:\Movies , naturally bothe the F and D default to a default Folder Ico "unfortunatley, and I would like to fihure out a way to chnge this so i can add a different thumb to each".

I didn't like this I de4a of haveing to break up the movie database into D and F. I attempted to use NTFS by making a virtual folder but that failed to resolve the iussue. I then cleared my database and added in folders seperatle such as D:\Movies\Drama, D:\Movies\SciFI, G:\Movies\Comedy.....BUT what i ended up with when i viewed via portal in the ahre view was a thast all the folders defaulted to their Default icon and would not use a Folder.jpg.......I tested further and found that "TOP Level" SHare views do not diaply folder.jpg's under any circumstances BUT all subsequent levels down do follow the protocol....... I then searched on the web to find any techniques to create a SINGLE LARGE Virtual DRIVE so that the physical seperation of movies would be transparent to Portal......I have yet to find a solution..... I found solutions such as creation a Virtual Drive , but none which allowed more than one physical drive to be encapsulated in the virtual drive. I am running XP and I heare that Vista can do this? i will look a bit further, into the Vista solution.

I can envision tyhis bercoming a more fequent propblem as media databases increase in size and out grow sing hard drive capacities...... Does any one have any thoujghts, ideas, work arounds, programs .......?\\I realize this is a lengthy description, but i know of no other way to describe it.

Thamx
Terence buffalome902