[THEME] Music Layouts (clearart, cdart, bio, ect.) for MP 1.3 Beta - v3.0 - ALPHA TEST VERSION (2 Viewers)

[emphatic]

Re: [MOD]Music Layouts for 1.2b-clearart,cdArt, music tags-(test version v1.2)

The other thing I'd prefer is if it would read the artist genre from the tag rather than using what it gets from the scraper, so far all my artist have returned the genre Pop/Rock, for Avril Lavigne fair enough but Anthrax and the Distillers not so much.

I was thinking about this one. My concern is some people may not have all there genre's tagged correctly. The value is picked up from allmusic.com. Will have a think about what i can do.

How about having an alternative .xml file that uses the TAG genre so users can choose? If it's only one tag to edit, there are search/replace tools that can edit files without manual opening/replacing (DreamWeaver for example)

It is, but the aspect would be out unless i rework the skin file. I set the fanart handler to use a folder if no image is found, but then i do have fanart for 90% of my artists. I'll see what i can do

I say keep the fanart as artist image. If user's don't get fanart from Fanart Handler, it's very easy to register at Home - Home Theater Backdrops & Wallpapers and add missing fanart for your artists. And it's a gift that keeps on giving.

Emph

 

[Shangostar]

Re: [MOD]Music Layouts for 1.2b-clearart,cdArt, music tags-(test version v1.2)

It is, but the aspect would be out unless i rework the skin file. I set the fanart handler to use a folder if no image is found, but then i do have fanart for 90% of my artists. I'll see what i can do

I say keep the fanart as artist image. If user's don't get fanart from Fanart Handler, it's very easy to register at Home - Home Theater Backdrops & Wallpapers and add missing fanart for your artists. And it's a gift that keeps on giving.

Emph

It's not so easy when images for your artists just don't exist, especially in fan art resolution.

But i don't think it should be changed, it looks good when fan art is present and i did think about the aspect of the artist images wouldn't fit, all my artist images are 500x500 so would either be small or stretched.

If people listen to obscure music like I do then it's our own fault
Many of the artists don't have any info available for them on allmusic.com either.

I need to decide if I want the old style with an image for all artists but no info for any of them or the new style with fan art and info for some artists lol

 

[emphatic]

Re: [MOD]Music Layouts for 1.2b-clearart,cdArt, music tags-(test version v1.2)

It's not so easy when images for your artists just don't exist, especially in fan art resolution.

But i don't think it should be changed, it looks good when fan art is present and i did think about the aspect of the artist images wouldn't fit, all my artist images are 500x500 so would either be small or stretched.

If people listen to obscure music like I do then it's our own fault
Many of the artists don't have any info available for them on allmusic.com either.

I feel your pain. I'm not into mainstream stuff only myself, so I know the difficulties finding useful artwork. Some stuff I've found @ discogs.com then upscaled/filtered in Photoshop. You can PM me a list of artists and I'll have a look for you.

Emph

 

[Shangostar]

Re: [MOD]Music Layouts for 1.2b-clearart,cdArt, music tags-(test version v1.2)

Some of the artists I have got cd's by i cant even find a single mention of them online, not even a reference to the cd i have and therefore know they made, mostly the uk punk and ska music of artists that just dont make it despite them being really good as its just not a popular here in UK, they just basically cant afford to keep going as a band i guess.

For some of them I had to resort to taking a picture of the picture in the cd sleeve with a digital camera lol.

 

[Shangostar]

Re: [MOD]Music Layouts for 1.2b-clearart,cdArt, music tags-(test version v1.2)

Other Notes

-Album/Artist Info must be downloaded from within Mediaportal. Press the info button to download details, only can be downloaded 1 by 1. So download Artist info and for albums info that must be done seperate. Will eventually be automated via a plugin but may not be till MP 1.3.
-I intend to provide a cdArt/clear art auto downloader some time.




Enjoy!!!

Would it not be easier to try and approach the dev of the current fanart handler to include scraping for these things in their next release rather than you writing a new one from scratch?

or maybe work with them on including it. Would be easier for the end user not having more plugins to scrape for different things from different places.

 

[Mr. V]

Re: [MOD]Music Layouts for 1.2b-clearart,cdArt, music tags-(test version v1.2)

Would it not be easier to try and approach the dev of the current fanart handler to include scraping for these things in their next release rather than you writing a new one from scratch?

or maybe work with them on including it. Would be easier for the end user not having more plugins to scrape for different things from different places.

For the artist info. Jameson did post something about it a few posts back. Looks like he has it all under control.

Brief bit of info from me...
I really want to sort out scraping but the current implementation is pretty crap. What I will attempt to do is create a plugin that will automatically scrape using the existing allmusic scraper. (Not going to give any promises or timescales as it all depends on when I can find some spare time)

I would like to implement a proper script based scraping mechanism so we can have info from last.fm / discogs / allmusic / ... anything like this would be something for MP 1.3

As regards discogs though I have looked at this before and the data was pretty crappy. I would not bother with it myself but if I get time to create the whole scripting engine users could create their own scripts.

For the clearart and cdArt. I do think its a good idea if this could be implemented in the fanart handler. I'll ask. But for now when time allows i will do some minor changes to TV series clearart downloader as it uses the same websites as the music images.

Also i havn't forgotten about your previous requests, just been a bit busy with real life ATM. So for the short term i will look at some fallback options when no fanart is available. Any changes now will be aimed at 1.2RC since this is very close to release. (the skin is working great under MP svn)

In the meantime, my plan;
1. Update to 1.2RC (done)
2. Implement suggestions
3. Add online video support (music search simlar to trailer search in moving pictures)
4. Finish all screens
5. Rework clearart handler for music images
6. Rework skin files to allow customization of views. (list view with artist image, fullscreen view, fanart view)

Thsi is tonnes of work for me, but i am enjoying it. So to get to step 5, could take months. Should have a new realese by 1.2RC or mayb before at step 3.

 

[Shangostar]

Re: [MOD]Music Layouts for 1.2b-clearart,cdArt, music tags-(test version v1.2)

Would it not be easier to try and approach the dev of the current fanart handler to include scraping for these things in their next release rather than you writing a new one from scratch?

or maybe work with them on including it. Would be easier for the end user not having more plugins to scrape for different things from different places.

For the artist info. Jameson did post something about it a few posts back. Looks like he has it all under control.

Brief bit of info from me...
I really want to sort out scraping but the current implementation is pretty crap. What I will attempt to do is create a plugin that will automatically scrape using the existing allmusic scraper. (Not going to give any promises or timescales as it all depends on when I can find some spare time)

I would like to implement a proper script based scraping mechanism so we can have info from last.fm / discogs / allmusic / ... anything like this would be something for MP 1.3

As regards discogs though I have looked at this before and the data was pretty crappy. I would not bother with it myself but if I get time to create the whole scripting engine users could create their own scripts.

For the clearart and cdArt. I do think its a good idea if this could be implemented in the fanart handler. I'll ask. But for now when time allows i will do some minor changes to TV series clearart downloader as it uses the same websites as the music images.

Also i havn't forgotten about your previous requests, just been a bit busy with real life ATM. So for the short term i will look at some fallback options when no fanart is available. Any changes now will be aimed at 1.2RC since this is very close to release. (the skin is working great under MP svn)

In the meantime, my plan;
1. Update to 1.2RC (done)
2. Implement suggestions
3. Add online video support (music search simlar to trailer search in moving pictures)
4. Finish all screens
5. Rework clearart handler for music images
6. Rework skin files to allow customization of views. (list view with artist image, fullscreen view, fanart view)

Thsi is tonnes of work for me, but i am enjoying it. So to get to step 5, could take months. Should have a new realese by 1.2RC or mayb before at step 3.

You done excellent work so far, time frame to completion doesn't really matter. it's good to know someone is working on improving the music section.

I been going through all my artists slowly and getting the downloading the info for the ones it's available for and also went through on all music and got the clearart and cdart for all the ones available, since you have spent so much time making it i thought i should spend a little time making use of it. It's looking really good.

Also, I really wouldn't spend too much time working on the artist image/fanart thing I asked about, not worth the extra time just for 1 request.

 

[emphatic]

Re: [MOD]Music Layouts for 1.2b-clearart,cdArt, music tags-(test version v1.2)

Would it be possible to have a vinyl disc instead of the spinning CD? As an alternative?

Cheers
Emph

 

[Mr. V]

Re: [MOD]Music Layouts for 1.2b-clearart,cdArt, music tags-(test version v1.2)

Would it be possible to have a vinyl disc instead of the spinning CD? As an alternative?

Cheers
Emph

Yes. This is something i already had and never used. Just replace the file in your SMP media directory and clear the cache.

Sorry havn't tested it yet, but it should work fine.

 

[Mr. V]

Re: [MOD]Music Layouts for 1.2b-clearart,cdArt, music tags-(test version v1.2)

You done excellent work so far, time frame to completion doesn't really matter. it's good to know someone is working on improving the music section.

I been going through all my artists slowly and getting the downloading the info for the ones it's available for and also went through on all music and got the clearart and cdart for all the ones available, since you have spent so much time making it i thought i should spend a little time making use of it. It's looking really good.

Also, I really wouldn't spend too much time working on the artist image/fanart thing I asked about, not worth the extra time just for 1 request.

Thankyou Shangostar for you great feedback.

Since you mentioned it the artist image/fanart has started to bug me. Its quite easy to add a fallback option. I had two ideas.

1. Use the artist image and slightly horizontaly strech (so its barely noticable say 10-15%) and mask the top and bottom. This will mean some picture may miss out on the top of a face of someone. Sort of like a non-linear strech.

2. The other idea was to keep the aspect as a square and fill in the gap with some sort of common image.

My thoughts are the first option would look the best.

Let me know if you can come up with anything.