Video thumbs....will this be implemented?

[Maddcow]

Hi all,
I'm a new MP user and was a little disappointed to find that unlike MCE, MP doesn't seem to automatically generate thumbnails of My Videos files. From searching this forum it seems to confirm that this is indeed the case so does anyone know if there are plans to implement this feature at some stage, or if there's a plugin that'll do this? From my searching it seems that this can be done manually but that's a real pain in the ass if you have a lot of files that regularly change.

Thanks
Gary

[jawbroken]

MediaPortal already does this for recorded TV, so perhaps this would be a reasonably easy thing to add? I know software developers hate it when people say this, though (I know I sure do). If anyone was thinking about implementing a plugin to do this the existing functionality in recorded TV would be a great starting point anyway, I would think, but I haven't taken a look so I don't know exactly how specialised the current implementation is.

[smnnekho]

thats what the movie database is for.

go to MP configuration --> Movies --> Movie database --> Settings / Scan

it'll scan your videofiles and grap online information like plot, actors etc AND thumb / Cover and save it into the database.

Further, a thumb (png or jpg) named the same like the movie file in the thumbs directory has the same effect

and even more further: there are also some plugins around, importing the databases of several movie / DVD collection databases like ANT movie catalouge, dvd profiler etc which may also serve your needs

edit: oh sorry; now i figure that with thumbs you mean "snapshots" from the video itself. in that case my advice isn't very helpful i guess - although in my opinion this is much better then having snapshots which bothers me even in recorded TV in fact (-;

[Maddcow]

Yep, I was referring to snapshots. It'd be nice to have the automatic snapshot-generating functionality that MCE has.......it just captures the first frame so surely this feature should be a piece of cake to implement? But as Jawbroken has said, I know that software developers hate it when people say this

[Khris]

Help me understand why this feature is important. Is the title not enough for people? I have never once thought that it would be nice to have a picture of the video file as I'm flipping through them......so perhaps someone could explain how this would be useful.

[Maddcow]

Originally Posted by Khris

Help me understand why this feature is important. Is the title not enough for people?

Why do a lot of people feel that it's important to have IMDB info, cover art, genre information, artist information, MP3 tags etc etc etc. Because the bar has been raised by other software and our expectations as users have risen accordingly. I know a LOT of people who like to see thumbs of their pictures, music files etc etc. Personally, I just like to see thumbs of my video files because it looks good and brings the window alive when I'm looking through my files. Often, a particular thumb may catch my eye and I realise that I need to check if a new episode is available for download, or that I haven't watched that particular file yet. We get a lot more information from pictures than simple text (like titles) can provide.

So this may not be much of a reason but it's MY reason, and other software like MCE provides this so why shouldn't MP provide it also, especially if it's easy to do which it seems like it is.

In any case, each to their own but if MP wants to compete with MCE and other media center software and keep its users happy, then I think you'll find with some searching on this forum that a lot of users DO seem to want it. There are quite a number of feature requests for this, most of them unanswered.

[Khris]

[quote=Maddcow;83535]

Originally Posted by Khris

and other software like MCE provides this so why shouldn't MP provide it also

I personally have a problem with this statement. Why should MP copycat MCE? MP should be built on it's own ideas and features, not based upon another piece of software.

MCE and other pieces of software have a much more simplistic configuration program, so should MP lock out a bunch of features to make it simpler for the average user?

Features like this (which not everyone will use) should be a plug-in, not part of the core program. There's nothing wrong with adding features via plug-ins (assuming they're properly coded and don't cause problems with the software), however adding features like this to the core program just add bulk, and system overhead.

Personally I would never use this feature as I don't need any more information other than the name of the file.......so to each their own!

Thanks.

[Maddcow]

Originally Posted by Khris

Features like this (which not everyone will use) should be a plug-in, not part of the core program. There's nothing wrong with adding features via plug-ins (assuming they're properly coded and don't cause problems with the software), however adding features like this to the core program just add bulk, and system overhead.

I agree with you. I obviously didn't clarify my thoughts because I also believe that it should be a plugin, not part of the core program. As you've pointed out, lots of people wouldn't use it so a plugin is the most obvious choice.

At least we agree Khris I'm with you - I don't want a whole bunch of core components that I can't turn off, which is why I love the MP plugin setup and config system.

[Khris]

My wishlist for MP really only contains one thing......I want a well written plug-in to transcode video files to either DivX, or WMV formats.

Until that happens, (and in my opinion) MP will trail in the footsteps of other PVR software programs.

[Maddcow]

Originally Posted by Khris

My wishlist for MP really only contains one thing......I want a well written plug-in to transcode video files to either DivX, or WMV formats.

That'd be great Khris. I'm with you on that one too. Just out of interest, what other PVR software can do this?