Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Install Movie Sheets and Thumbnails on WDTV
THIS IS PART 2!
If you haven't already gone through my first tutorial on how to install custom firmware on your WDTV you must do so now. This will not work with the stock firmware! You must be running modded firmware. That video can be found here:
How to Install Custom Firmware on Your WDTV
YOU NEED FILES!
Also, like my first video I have put together a packaged zip file that includes all of the files and software necessary for this tutorial. These programs and files are all freely available elsewhere but what I have put together is organized and complete. I will be referencing this throughout the tutorial and I recommend that you get it now from here:
Download -> WDTV Movie Sheets Software Pack
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OK, assuming you are running Custom firmware (either ext3-boot or B-Rad's WDLXTV) what we are going to do today is change our OSD (on screen display) to something cool and add folder images and movie sheets (information about the movie or tv show that is displayed when you open it) to our collection. This is a 4 step process.
What you will need (other than what I have already mentioned):
1. A hard drive with media files on it. (from here on will be referenced as "media drive")
2. Your 2GB or larger USB thumb drive that we used in our first tutorial with everything from that tutorial still loaded on it and intact.
3. The aforementioned software/file zip package. As I already noted the direct link for this is in the video description.
---------------------------------------------------
STEP 1: Copy the necessary app bins to your USB thumb drive. These are found in the "Step 1" folder. Then plug it into your WDTV to make sure it all works.
STEP 2: Arrange your videos on your media drive to work with TVIXIE
Step 3: Install TVixie (Found in the "Step 3" Folder)
STEP 4: Configure Tvixie and use it to create folder images and Data Sheets for your media. Then plug you media drive into your WDTV to make sure it all works.
---WHAT NEXT?----
Now that you have your fancy new interface installed which requires you to keep your thumb drive plugged in, some of you may be complaining, "Now I only have ONE usb port available..." Well... to that I say... there is hope! One very easy to implement feature of your custom firmware is its support for USB Hubs. I have a short, easy to read tutorial that talks about how to add one to your system so that you can plug in up to 8! total devices (well, 7 additional devices because one port is now permanently occupied).
Check it out here -> How to Add a USB Hub to Your WDTV.
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49 comments:
Feel free to post your questions :)
Followed this through until I got to the tvixie part...then hit a problem. I can't install the prog, it gets about 80% of the way, but then errors with the message "error 2738"
Could it be because it doesn't like my Win 7 x64 OS maybe?
NM....got around the prob after googling a bit. DL'd the bin file and extracted the files into my progs (x86) folder!
Ho hum.....seem to be talking to myself here but, it seems like I'm destined to fail on this.
When I copy the files over onto the thumb drive and unplug the power from the WDTV, insert the drive and power up - it eventually boots up to the custom FW interface and has a message that it's "scanning attached usb device" and that's how it stays! Left it for 10mins but it just keeps scanning the device with no result....
Anyone reading this blog got any advice/thoughts?
Sorry to leave you hanging... :)
A few questions to start off:
Do you have b-rad's custom firmware installed per my first tutorial on "installing custom firmware" ?
2nd... if you answered "YES" to the first question (and I am guessing based on what I am reading on your comments that you did)... Do you have the firmware + custom OSD/moviesheets stuff on a portable thumbdrive by itself (that is formatted to FAT32) and all of your media (movies, music, etc.) on a separate drive?
That is my recommended setup. You want to leave your "boot drive" with the WDTV Firmware and all the apps as a separate entity and you want it to be formatted to FAT32. This is part of that first tutorial.
If you answered "YES" to all of the above... My next suggestion would be to plug your media drive into your pc and run scan disk on it. Disk errors can cause the WD not to detect your drive. BTW this drive can be formatted to NTFS.
ALSO... you can try...
Turn your MEDIA Library "OFF"... If it is already off, try turning it "on" and then going to the main menu, waiting a second, then going back into settings and turning it "OFF".... See if after you do that if it doesn't detect things. Sometimes the media library stuff gets a bit odd. You can see one of my other articles on that topic...
Good luck with it. I will be periodically checking back in on here to see your progress...
Cheers,
Roman
Success!!
Hi Roman, thanks for getting back ;)
It was the media library at fault it seems. It was turned ON (I thought I'd seen that this was necessary for it to work in the first place??)
No matter, I went into the settings and turned it OFF and inserted one of the 3 thumb drives I'd tried several times already....but this time the modded interface appeared!
However...and there aways seems to be a 'however' for me it seems :( .....
When I ran TVixie and checked all the same searches as you in your video, I was getting only one or two results out of all 5 categories!!
Amazon hardly EVER returned anything, nor surprisingly did IMDB...
After a bit of trial and error, I found I could usually get results in almost all 5 categories by ticking Tmdb for everything...
I've a couple of concert DVD's that unsuprisingly never found any results with any of them.
Also, is there a way with TVixie to manually edit results (as some fields had things like Cast or Country missing) before clicking in 'Finish'?
Thanks anyway for the suggestion with turning off Media Library - at least I can boot off the thumb drive now...
Cheers Roman, and I hope you have a happy new year...All the best!
Congrats!
That media library is a hellish pain most of the time... :).
Did I at some point in the video mention it needing to be on? If so I need to overlay and "edit" on youtube to tell people otherwise.
Tvixie can be hit-or-miss at times and your best chance is simply trial and error. Perhaps because you downloaded a newer version some things have changed?
I don't know how to (or if it is possible) manually enter information. I had never thought to try. I occasionally get some garbage output from Tvixie (odd lines of code or url's) but for me it has been the easiest tool to use and I get pretty decent results.
Happy New Year to you as well and have fun with your modded device :)!
I plan on releasing some more vids so check back from time to time. If you don't have your device networked yet you should definitely check those vid's out. I have a computer and my wife has a laptop with media on it. She loves it because she doesn't have to bother with transferring the files to a drive every time she rips or downloads a new video, she just puts it in her shared folder and starts playing :).
Cheers!
Roman
I've ditched tvixie as it was a bit flakey for me...I've instead found WDTV Movie Sheet Generator a much better prog - and easy to edit the movie info how you like.
I had tried the movie sheet generator in the past but I wasn't a huge fan (I like the fact that Tvixie is pretty automated) but perhaps the movie-sheet generator is much more automated than it used to be?
Anyhow, I will take a look at the movie sheet generator again and if I like it perhaps I will do another video on an "alternate" method for getting movie sheets.
I am glad you are enjoying it and it is working well for you. Thanks for the heads up on the software, I am always open to new stuff that works and works well :).
Did you network your device by any chance? I am wanting to get some feedback from some folks on the wireless networking vid and the video streaming tutorial.
Anyhow, glad to hear things are working smoothly for you!
Cheers,
Roman
Cool blog and video the best on youtube. Anyway i would recommend WDTV Image grabber as it is almost 100% automated has a wide selection of skins for movie sheets and you can customize your own. BTW do you know why my movie sheets are beinng cut off when using the "revamped" style? I TRIED ADJUSTING MY SCREEN RESOLUTION SO IT FITS EVERYTHING IN BUT THE PICTURE LITERALLY ENDS THERE. ANY IDEAS? oh sorry for writing in caps lol all the best
@ stewartie4
Try using TVixie (or maybe you have) and tell me if you still have the same problem... It might just be improperly formatted images :)
That is what I've got off the top of my head. Good luck with it and please post back and tell me what you find out.
Thanks for the props btw :) and the suggestion on software.
Cheers,
Roman
Yeah tried TVixie but I like something instant ( you need to customize each sheet with TVixie) anyway solved the problem: the sheet i was using was for WDTV Live not my 1st Gen WDTV. Thnaks
@stewartie4
NICE FIND! btw ... I am trying out the WDTV Image Grabber and am liking it a lot! Nice clean sheets with all the info displayed and not a bunch of extra tvixie files :)... Now to see if it will actually work on my device lol :)
yeah it blew me away too so small... no installation required and the quality you get is really good. I'm now trying out thtvdb grabber v3 for tv movie sheets its not as mind blowing but when you read the readme and change the template from the awful default one its really good! anyway good look with wdtvimage grabber!
@stewartie4
No kidding! - BTW I am having no problem using the "revamped" template on my WDTV Generation 1?
As long as the image is the correct resolution it should display correctly.
I like the look of the "revamped" style sheet but I ended up switching to cinema anyway. Revamped puts the movie poster on the right... most background images have the focus of the image on the right (the main character, the cool scene, etc...) and it looks kinda dumb lol.... Cinema doesn't look nearly as nice but it does keep the movie poster on the left so most background images look really good.
I know you can do custom sheets but I have a pretty large library and didn't want to mess with selecting the correct background for every single one... again (after tvixie)...
I have been looking for/wondering about something similar that was MADE for TV shows and easy to use. I am going to check out what you recommended and may make another tutorial video exclusively about TV sheets if it works. The movie sheets vid is one of my most popular :)...
Thanks,
Roman
I can't get the movie sheets working with my G2. WDLXTV is installed, media library is off. I can see the movie covers as I scroll through them, but it doesn't pull up the background.jpg. Is there something I'm missing in the config coding? I'm running 4.5.3.
Thanks!
@Chris
As far as the config coding goes, if you used my software pack it should already be done. If you want to check it... open up the
LaurentG.conf.txt
file in a text editor and search for
TRIGGER_FILE=
this should be immediately followed by (and without any spaces)
"background.jpg"
(should look like this TRIGGER_FILE="background.jpg" )
Make sure your folders have the "background.jpg" file in them and named exactly.
Also, double check and make sure you copied over everything from my software pack to the appropriate places on your drive.
Is the lilibabe osd mod working for you?
I usually recommend that people who keep having trouble should just reformat their thumbdrive and start the videos over. Often times folks miss a step or a file here and there.
Tell me what you figure out :)
Good Luck,
Roman
Hey roman,
I installed movie sheets from here:http://www.wdtvlive.net/showthread.php?349-Taurus35-IMDb-Revolution-Movie-Sheets./page3 but when I try to use them instead of it looking like that, flat folder images appear down the bottom, over other images!! any ideas? thanks
Actually scrap that last post :P
Now all I need to know is how to have a folder image for m3u files (playlists) thanks.
@stewartie4
I don't really use M3U files that much so I have no real experience with them. In short... I have no clue :)
Do feel free to share on here if you figure out a way to do it. In fact, if you wanted to write a "plain-text" tutorial I would be happy to make a page for it and give you due credit.
Although I don't use them, I am sure other users do and would be interested.
Thanks,
Roman
Hi Roman,
Thanxx man, Godd work. I want to ask 2 q's.
1. Can I use latest version of Tvixie from their site instead of in ur pack.
2. With wireless pack can I use torrent d/l? If yes how?
@ Yogesh
Thanks for the thanx :)
To answer your questions...
1. Yes, if you are comfortable downloading their latest and greatest software from their site, feel free, in fact I actually had someone on here suggest a much BETTER program called wdtv-image-grabber. I now use that for all my movie-sheet creating needs as it is much faster/easier to use. I will say this, I know the version in my pack works :)... But, I doubt getting the newest version will hurt, on the contrary it will probably make things better...
2. I have answered this question several times before and have given mixed answers because I have mixed feelings. The short answer is yes, but you need a program on your device called R-Torrent... but I have never gotten it to work very well. Anyhow, see what I said here:
----------------------------
@ Doohyun
In regards to running a torrent client directly on the device... I probably am not going to do a tutorial... The reason being I have never had much success with it. It is fairly complicated (no big deal, we have done other complicated things) BUT it also tends to lock up or severely slow down the device. I really only want to advise people on how to do things that have a reasonable amount of stability.
If you want to do some more research, the program that is used is called RTorrent.
However, I am still toying with the idea of doing a tutorial on dowloading .torrent files to a watch folder on your networked computer from the WDTV device. A torrent client on your PC would then start downloading to a folder that is shared with your WDTV making your video instantly available once it is finished downloading. I have had a modicum of success with this method in the past but it does slow down the boot time of the device significantly.
----------------------
So there is a "better" way to do Bitorrent in my opinion, but it still tends to bog the device a bit. I really just recommend using a good RSS feed (www.eztv.it is amazing), Utorrent, and setting up automatic downloads to a network share that is visible on your WDTV.
Anyhow, I have given you plenty of stuff to "google" for the time being. A tutorial like this would be a major undertaking and as this website isn't exactly profitable :) I can only spare so much time for it.
Hi Roman,
I installed custom firmware and pasted all osd mode files on Thumdrive. But it reboots with custom FW only and not with osd mode. What am i doing wrong?
Problem solved after pendrive change.
@Yogesh
Seems like pen drive issues are a fairly common problem :/... I have gotten enough people with the same story now that it makes me think I should perhaps make a post about :)
Thanks for the info!
-Roman
Hi Roman thanks for hard work .. I have your program install for a few mth now running smoothly . Just for last few days my player will not show the movie info only the movie cover . I tried rebooting, turning media on /off with no luck . Any suggestions, thanks .
@ MS. Case
Erm... This can be a frustrating issue. I have had the same problem myself so I feel your pain. Honestly, after a few reboots mine usually come back up.
Do keep your media library turned off...
My suggestion to you, if rebooting isn't working. Is to try these things in order...
1. Try turning your WDTV off and unplugging it, then disconnecting the external drive with your media files (music, movies, etc.). Leave your thumbdrive with the OSD files and other stuff plugged in.
Then plug the WDTV back in and let it boot-up. Once it has fully booted up, plug your Media drive back in and let it scan and find everything. See if that fixes it...
2. If that doesn't work... My next suggestion is to re-download the files for this tutorial and re-copy them onto your Thumbdrive, overwriting the ones currently on there and then trying to restart it with that plugged in. There is a chance things perhaps got corrupted?
3. If all of this doesn't fix the issue you can copy all of the files off of your thumbdrive onto another thumbdrive and try that out. Lots of people find that using a newer/better thumbdrive fixes odd problems. I suggest this last of all because it might mean buying a new thumb drive. If you have to do this, be sure to reformat the new drive using the program and method I provided in the first tutorial.
-You could just try just reformatting your current thumb drive first and then recopying the data back onto it.
Tell me if any of this works for you :)
Good luck!
Cheers,
Roman
A possible alternative to TVixie? I've got my media organized and ready to give it a shot
Hey Brad,
Did you get my emails? I attached the other program and actually provided a download link in the last email I sent. You should be all set. It is a pretty easy program to figure out but feel free to shoot me any questions as the come up :)
Cheers,
Roman
Hello roman i try to load the new osd but i dont have sucess i have de custom firm of your tutorial then i put all files from step1 on device and the wd just enter normal anda the osd dont,t chage like your
Hey Roman, great work on the tutorials but I'm having a problem with loading the new OSD. I installed the new Firmware (B-Rad) without a problem then when I added the OSD (all files from folder "Step 1" from "WDTV-MovieSheets-SoftwarePack" ) to my thumb-drive (then plugged into my WDTV) it did nothing..still have the same OSD. I tried to use my WDTV gen1 without the new OSD but the movie background/details are not shown (only the movie thumbnails)(i've read the other comments about reboot/restarting, tried it, and it didnt work). I'd appreciate any help or insight to this dilemma
^Fixed it...For other having problems with your WDTV detecting your new OSD...Be sure that your Flashdrive's/Thumbdrive's name does NOT have any spaces (Ex: My USB drive was called "USB Disk", then renamed it to "WDTV"). It fixed it for me :)
Hello Hippo tanks for your information it´s work very well tanks again
You are very welcome Nuno, happy to help. Cheers
Hippo can you please tell me if is possible to have internet with an adapter usb/rj45
@ Hippo
In all the months of messing with this device I NEVER REALIZED THIS COULD CAUSE A PROBLEM!
Cheers on the great find! Thanks for sharing your success with everyone else!
-Roman
@ Hippo
I am going to make a post about this as soon as possible :)
-Roman
For me results what hippo say my flash drive have the name new volume and i change to wdtv and the osd change to the new one
once again tanks for the great job done
I modded my WD TV (Gen 1) late 2010 and everything worked flawlessly. About a month ago the movie data sheets and OSD mod has stopped working. The custom firmware still works and I can play movies the UI has reverted.
@ Sean
Very odd? Perhaps try to load the OSD mod files (and other files) onto a different thumb drive? If the thumb drive you are using got corrupted somehow that would explain it.
That is my first best guess. I have had issues with my mods going in and out from time to time as well it seems. It is a very frustrating issue :(...
Cheers,
Roman
Your blog has been very helpful. I'm still working on getting my wdtv to have Internet. For now I am working on the movie sheets. I have the covers working but I don't have the movie info. Is it something wrong on the flash drive or with the program Tvixie?
Thanks,
Thanks, BTW to organize media into folders it saved a ton of time to use a program called FiletoFolder for anyone whose files weren't already in folders :)
@Roman Finally got around to trying out a different flash drive. My initial drive that worked then failed was an HP. The second drive I tried was a SanDisk. The third was another better quality HP drive and is now working again. Thanks for the work!
why is it i keeping getting files corrupted every time i try to extract can somebody please help me?
The movie sheets software package is being corrupted when I try and extract them
Files corrupted
When I go to my movie file on my WDTV, the sheets work but at the bottom the file name of my movie is showing. Do you know how I can fix this??
Very informative and easy to follow instructions. You have spent a lot of time on this and I hope everyone appreciates the effort as I do.
By far not a nb but not a pro either....
By far not a nb but not a pro either....
Sorry, I hope saying the above hasn't been mistaken. The sentence is a reference to my knowledge.
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