Thumbnails Missing on network Share (1 Viewer)

[LooseStones]

I have just installed MP v1.2.1 and discovered if I place my video content on a remote system share (XP-sp3), my MP box does not create any thumbnails. If the same files are local all the thumbnails generate fine. I have tried mapping the remote to a local drive letter, used both the remote server name and its IP in the share reference, but no matter how I specify a remote share in config, I get no thumbnails.

The installation has not been modified with any new plugins or screens. Have I missed something in the setup that is specific to generating thumbnails from a remote share, or is this a limitation of the code?

Thanks

Bruce

 

[LooseStones]

Okay, obviously no one has any suggestions.
Maybe we could get a show of hands of those who have seen this situation but have no idea how to fix it.

 

[NickName]

Sorry, I have my videos on the same box as MP so thumbnails are created. They then display correctly on a remote box. I have seen issues with mapped drives and the issues vanish when the UNC (\\servername\sharename) path is used instead.
So you say you have no thumbnails? Can you play still play the (remote) movie? If you can't, then it is a problem with the path you are using.

I wish I could be more helpful.

Regards,

Nick Name.

 

[LooseStones]

The content plays perfectly in both scenarios. In the mediaportal configuration I have tried using both UNC and a local drive map, neither method resolve the problem . I did initially have some issues using a local drive maps and after reading the forum I decided to standardized on the UNC format. At first I thought the thumbnail issue was related to the skin I selected, but after I built a second client with the default skin and still no thumbs I knew the skin had nothing to do with it.

I discovered this issue while I was trying to resolve a codec problem I was having. I decided to copy a problematic video file from the server to the new client, then added the folder to the config. Once the codec issue was resolved I noticed the thumbnail was visible in mediaportal. I then added the file's remote location to the config (UNC) and confirmed the content now played. At this point I the thumbnail for the remote share file was not visible. This issue is not specific to one type of video container but happens on any content available on the server shares.

Fan art may be the final solution to this problem but it seems that each client fetches and manages its own image content. Having the same fan art content stored on four clients seems foolish. I am sure somewhere in the forum someone has provided a method to establish a central repository. But, until I have enough time to wade through the posts I will not be entertaining a fan art solution.

In the meantime we will live with no images ... unless you have some "try-this" suggestions.

Bruce

 

[mm1352000]

Hi Bruce

I'm no specialist in this area but I think that the thumbnail generator that MP uses is a 3rd party application (mtn.exe). You may be able to try running mtn (in the MovieThumbnailer subdirectory of the MediaPortal install directory) on the command line to figure out what its parameters are - it will likely have a parameter to specify the path and name of the video that needs the thumbnail to be created. If you can work that out then you can test whether the thumbnailer is actually able to create thumbnails for videos on shares (etc.) and prove whether it is an MP bug or a limitation of the thumbnailer we use.

mm

 

[LooseStones]

mm
Found some time to do a basic test with MTN using the minimal parms: 1 column 2 row output dir c:\test. Tested it first by creating a mapped drive X: and got the thumbs. Removed the map and used ip of the server in the mtn arg and also got thumbs. Not sure if clearing all the thumbs then starting in debug mode will provide any information, but I will give it a try. Any thoughts on other checks I can do?

 

[LooseStones]

Clearing the video thumbs did not help.