Idea: Port LogoManager into common library and use it inside MP2-Server plugin (1 Viewer)

[offbyone]

Have you read the thread and seen that we created a webservice/site where you can now add logos for all the channels you are missing logos for And once anyone suggested a logo for a channel it will be found in MP (1 und 2).
the problem is not alone finding a logo, but the correct naming for everyone.

 

[morpheus_xx]

Imho, all images should have the same size and format (square, 512x512, png)? We can put the task on the user to create an image with this specification.
I can enforce that in the importer and suggestion page.

I don't think is needed or even desireable: all processing later adds borders automatically, so the logo is placed into center. For the 16:9 templates a square only brings the requirement to crop them back.

I think the repository shouldn't prefer any option (square, 4:3, 16:9), as it is a question of the image processing routine (and the template) what to do with the raw logo.

So I vote for keeping the images as they are provided, no matter of aspect ratio and size.

 

[mm1352000]

So I vote for keeping the images as they are provided, no matter of aspect ratio and size.

Agree, assuming there is no image processing - cropping or scaling - to do at runtime. However, sometimes the channel customises its logo for square and other settings. For example...

Square/4:3 optimised:

16:9 optimised (ignore the "tvCentral supporters" which is not part of the logo):

Can the repository handle this situation without having standard sizes and/or aspect ratios? If so, forget I even mentioned it.

 

[Vasilich]

at the beginning all logos had fixed 200x200 size.
After i changed LogoManager to center logo image on design background, i started to add (and later to swap old ones) logos in the format with maximal size 190 pixels (5 pixels each side are left for design edges to look nicer).
So i vote for adding logos as is i.e. no forced aspect ratio (surely without extra transparent space from any side).
The only thing is - we need to decide what resolution we want to have, because even hiquality setting for image scaling in .NET makes image worse (unsharp/with artifacts, depending on image), so the best quality is not to resize images programmatically.

 

[offbyone]

Currently all data has exactly 1 logo for a channel.
And that is also how the repository is now build. If we want to be able to assign more than one logo to a channel (maybe with a aspect ratio info to differentiate) then I can change the DB and implement that.
All we have to do is decide at one point what we want.
I have kept asking and as usual in the MP world, people jump on in the discussion only after something has been implemented. I do not want to stop you from making the comments, but just wished everyone would have participated earlier in the open discussion

 

[mm1352000]

but just wished everyone would have participated earlier in the open discussion

Sorry, I'm simply not able to keep track of everything that is going on that I might be interested in. It was just a comment, trying to engage and show interest/support; feel free to ignore.

 

[offbyone]

I will never ignore a useful comment with a good point about the topic.
[OT]
Just wanted to get the usual rant off my chest that everytime I decide to implement something for MP, it goes the same way: Ask for discussion before implementing anything (they way we all would agree it should be). Wait and hope... Few people join in, even fewer make good point what and how it should be done. Then implement it and commit something or visually show something. At this point suddenly 10 times more people join in and have an opinion how it should be done and better how much more would be nice to add. This is where the guy who just implemented it ask himself: WHY now AFTER I have coded it? IMHO this is one of the reason we loose devs.
[/OT]
So back to topic:
Do we need/want more than one logo per channel?
Remember I am only the tool here in this discussion - I will implement what everyone agrees/decides is the right way to go. Just remeber that you have rented the tool for a limited time and have to give it back!

 

[mm1352000]

After i changed LogoManager to center logo image on design background, i started to add (and later to swap old ones) logos in the format with maximal size 190 pixels (5 pixels each side are left for design edges to look nicer).
So i vote for adding logos as is i.e. no forced aspect ratio (surely without extra transparent space from any side).

Probably a dumb question, but how does this strategy handle coloured backgrounds?
Often a channel will pick certain colours to use as part of the logo and/or branding, and this might be used as the background for the logo. The tvCentral above is a good example. They use that green colour in all their branding. Without that the logo is not very recognisable.

If we ignore the background colour (treat as transparent) and/or crop too tightly the logo doesn't look right (IMO).
Also, my experience when creating my own logos in the past was that if you pick a fixed size for the logo frame and maximise the size of the logo within that frame, the result is that some logos look bigger than others (due to different font sizes and/or [maybe] more or less transparent pixels).
Not sure how to solve that problem other than to take the image as provided without any cropping or scaling...

 

[Vasilich]

if the coloured background is a recognizable part of a logo - then we shouldn't remove it.

the result is that some logos look bigger than others

that is only relevant for several logos belonging to the same provider - in that case we need to maintain these logos as a pack, trying to keep similarity and do not try to trim all possible free space.

 

[breese]

Wait and hope...

Some of us need to watch a topic to understand the wants, needs and what it does. Not until (especially for me) something goes Click! do I find something that might help with the discussion.

As for the size, aspect ratio, and channel name or number of logo's per channel:
It would be dreadful to have someone import Huge size logo's that I have to download and wait on to get them.
Questions:
Once a channel logo is downloaded, does it remain on my system?
Can they be downloaded to my server and the clients pull from my server?

Channel names and number of them. If there is an ABC HD for UK and for United States, will the system know if there is a difference if in fact the logo's are different?