Cross Platform, Movie GUI Builder (Formerly for TViX only)
for Windows PC and Mac OSX (Tiger & Leopard)
Guy Kuo

************************************ Recent Changes ************************************
1.407 (Nov 2011)

Temp fix to allow manual function through 2012.
Pasting synopsis and image manually works.

************************************************************ ***************************


This program is a simple to use, Mac OSX or Windows PC platform, movie wallpaper generator. It simplifies creation of wallpaper and icon files for media players which can display custom graphics such as the TViX players. Mediagate players are supported using a special "Flat Media File" mode, and experimental HTM file generation allows use with Popcorn Hour (NMT) players.

The work of obtaining, cropping artwork, rendering a wallpaper, creating an icon, and keeping track of which movies need to be processed is done by this program. The program can automatically download cover art, synopsis and other information from the web. You can also manually edit movie movie information.

In manual mode, you follow the four, numbered steps. It starts the web search for you and automatically accepts text and pictures from the clipboard when the program is brought to the front. You can also drag and drop text and images from your browser into the program.

The program can speed processing for each film to under 30 seconds including obtaining cover art and descriptive text from the web. A large library can easily given a wallpaper GUI even if you have a Mac. For Windows PC users, this program delivers an alternative to WIB-T.

Several utilties are built into the program. For instance, you can also use this program to add an icon.tivx file to activate icon view for a folder on TViX players.

You can substitute your own background graphic instead of the default one. Your background can be assigned to the current movie, the current collection, or to be the default background. To add a background, drag a graphic which is wider than 700 pixels (or wider in aspect ratio than 4:3) into the Render window. The graphic will be accepted as a new background and remembered for later use. Your graphic should be 720 x 480 or 1280 x 720. If the graphic is a near fit, it will be reshaped to fit. Otherwise, it will be positioned without rescaling.

http://home.comcast.net/~indigokuo/MGB/sample002.jpg
Sample output wallpaper (original rendered at 1280 x 720)


************************************************************ ******************************
EMPTY YOUR BROWSER CACHE PRIOR TO DOWNLOADING TO ENSURE YOU GET A NEW FILE FROM THE SERVER
************************************************************ ******************************
Mac OSX Universal binary (Tiger or Leopard) can be downloaded from

Movie GUI Builder for Mac OSX (http://indigokuo.home.comcast.net/~indigokuo/MGB/Movie_GUI_Builder_MAC.zip)

Windows PC version can be downloaded from

Movie GUI Builder for Windows PC (http://indigokuo.home.comcast.net/~indigokuo/MGB/Movie_GUI_Builder_PC.zip)

(Note: PC users, you can delete included files whose names start with a period. These extra .files are sometimes in the zip archive but not needed on your PC)



(Note: This message is updated when the program changes. The discussion which immediately follows this post is regarding a much earlier version of the program. Posts near the end of this thread are much more current.)

YEAH THAT! :rolleyes:
Great initative!

I will download and try immideately when I get home from work.

Since it's soon christmas: ;)
is it possible to automate and integrate the text and cover art fetching also?


/J

Hi,

now I've tested it.
Very easy to use once I understood how you intended it to work.

Possible bug:
I'm using the PC version and it is impossible for me to make it render any text at all in the final Tvix.jpg.
The text is displayed fine in the window, but then it's gone in the jpg.

My wishes in the first post would be nice of course but isn't really that necessary since the tool is so simple to use. But I would really really like the ability to select backgound image ;)

Thank's for the program!
/J

Download the app again to get version 0.31 (empty your web browser cache first)

Fixed the problem with saving out the rendered text.

Also, the program now remaps black and white levels in the graphics to for correct video black to white range (16..235) instead of computer range (0..255). This avoids clipping of shadow and hilight details when viewed on a video display.

As indicated in the about.pdf file, you CAN change the background by placing a file called background.jpg in the same folder as my app. Your background will be detected when the app launches and replace my default background.

(Ignore following if running on a PC) Added a button to remove the annoying ._files which OSX likes to sometimes generate. The function only works if the volumes are mounted directly to your Mac. It won't work over NFS network mounts.

Got it!
Now it works :)

Again, thank's for the program!

I did read the about.pdf first, but admittedly a bit quick. Too quick it seems.
Changing background worked like a charm.

//J

Good. Glad it's now working for you.

Hint:

You can make the process more efficient by clicking on the Amazon DVD link at the top of the IMDB web page immediately after copying text on the IMDB site, but BEFORE switching back to my program to paste in the text. That way the Amazon page loads in the background while you take care of the text. When you flip back to the web browser, the Amazon page will probably be already for you to choose the DVD and then the cover art.

...And yes. Amazon gets a big percentage of my DVD orders.

I REALLY like this program. (I'm using .33b)

However, I don't get a background or the cover image in the tvix.jpg file or in the preview pane of the application. The folder.jpg file does contain the cover image so it is getting to your program from Amazon.

I'm using a PC with a NVidia 8800 GTS graphics card. What other information can I provide for you? Or am I SOL? :)

Sounds like your video driver doesn't like to do OpenGL rendering in an invisible window. Try downloading 0.34b. I've changed it to render in a visible window (causes some visual glitches in the GUI), but it might fix your problem. If that doesn't fix it, time to see if there is a better behaving OpenGL driver for your PC.

.34b Works great! Thanks. :D

Edit: .34b leaves a larger version of the cover image in the video_ts directory. Is it supposed to work like that? The about file doesn't mention it.

Odd. There isn't any code in the program to write out an additional file in the video_ts folder. Program doesn't even look inside or for that folder. Any chance you pasted the file into the directory when you looked inside of it? I don't see that happening here on my PC or Mac.

I don't think so but you never know. Let me try some more and let you know. I've been ripping DVDs all day so my brain is a bit like mush right now. :)

EDIT: The problem must have been somewhere between the keyboard and the chair. I can't make this happen again.

THANK YOU. This is a very useful tool.

One other thought since your system had problems when rendering with an invisible window. Dragging my program's window such that the preview pane is partially off screen may cause a similar problem. Some implementations of OpenGL may clip the rendering if part of it is off screen. The up side of OpenGL is that I can use hardware acceleration to get the nice rotation and reflection effect. It's a reasonable trade off for this limited applications.

(I don't use DirectX because I need the program to run cross-platform. Remember I started this to create a Mac usable tool. The PC operability is just a bonus of my often designing cross-platform)

Version 0.35b now defaults to generating folder.jpg at 88 x 136 instead of 100 x 136. The slimmer icon has the right aspect ratio to look correct on a 16:9 widescreen display. The old, 100 x 136 icon size made the icon graphics look horizontally wider than they should be.

You can still generate the 100 x 136 icons by unchecking the "Aspect correct icon for 16:9" checkbox.

If you have a large number of folder.jpg files already generated, the new "Rescale Icons in All Move Folders" button which will do a mass rescaling of the existing folder.jpg files to 88 x 136. "All" means all the movie folders within the current enclosing folder. This isn't quite as sharp as completely regenerating the slimmer icons from a big image, but produces good results with very little effort. Otherwise, you'd need to grab the graphics again from the web and redo everything. CAUTION: the rescaling is NOT reversible and is done on all movie folders within the enclosing folder. I did this on my system because I really dislike seeing images geometrically distorted.

Guy:
First of all, thanks for this great effort for the Mac community.
I downloaded version 0.35 and it won't launch. Also, the about.pdf won't open (but file about 1.pdf does open)
Your help will be appreciated, regards;

Moises

Sounds like something went awry with the download or unpacking. There isn't a 1.pdf file in the zip file.

Let's make sure you are downloading the Mac version.
Also, clear your download folder and try the download again.

Sounds like something went awry with the download or unpacking. There isn't a 1.pdf file in the zip file.

Let's make sure you are downloading the Mac version.
Also, clear your download folder and try the download again.

Guy:

-I am downloading the Mac version
-Cleared the download list and cache
-Downloaded again
-3 items on the folder after unzipping:
about.1.pdf (opens fine with Preview)
about.pdf (won't open at all)
TViX GUI Builder.app version 0.35 8.7 MB (will try to launch but fails)

Hope this helps, regards;

Moises

Guy:

It finally downloaded fine. Thanks a lot...

Moises

Hey Guy:

I already tried your program and it is quite easy to use and the quality of the TViX.jpg file produced by the program is excellent.

I have only one problem: the size of the picture that appears on the wallpaper seems to be a little bit too large, and the name of the .iso file at the top of the screen(all my movies are iso's) and the description of the folder that appears at the bottom of the screen, they both overlap with said picture.

Does this happens to you?

hanks again and regards;

Moises

Yes, I intentionally set a larger picture. I'm using video_ts folders and don't mind a little overlap. I still know which file to activate and don't care about seeing the file path at the bottom. What was more important to me was a bigger cover art picture - otherwise it wasn't worth doing it instead of a the default text list.

Hello ..

Great prog so far , but cant u fix so we can use own covers ?
And it sometimes takes a bit long time to have things copied .

If you have an image (.png, .jpg, whatever) of a cover, you just need to copy it to the clipboard before switching back to this program.

I have 3 covers of DVDs that I scanned into my PC and used them with this program without problem. I used the Windows Paint program to get them into the clipboard instead of doing the "go to Amazon.com" step.

I hope this helps.

Hi

Can someone explain to me what all these icon.tvix, folder.jpg etc files really does with the GUI?

I dont have time right now to try and figure out for myself what these files actually do, so if anyone could explain to me with words or maybe even some pictures, I would really appreciate it.

My structure is

Movies
------ Movie1
---------- Movie1.mkv
---------- Movie1.srt
------ Movie2
---------- Movie2.mkv
---------- Movie2.srt
TV
------ Series1
---------- Season01
--------------- Episode1.mkv
--------------- Episode1.srt
--------------- Episode2.mkv
--------------- Episode2.srt
------ Series2
---------- Season01
--------------- Episode1.mkv
--------------- Episode1.srt
--------------- Episode2.mkv
--------------- Episode2.srt
etc

Is this a good structure and how would it look if I used all the fancy possibilities to enhance my GUI?

I have a SH-5100

/Tobbe

Movies
icon.tvix <--- causes Movies folder to show icons instead of a text list of items
------ Movie1
---------- tvix.jpg <--- is the wallpaper shown when you open the Movie1 folder. Use to show Movie1 cover art and descriptive text
---------- folder.jpg <--- is the icon which represents Movie1 when the Movies folder is showing icons
---------- Movie1.mkv
---------- Movie1.srt
------ Movie2
---------- tvix.jpg <--- is the wallpaper shown when you open the Movie2 folder. Use to show Movie2 cover art and descriptive text
---------- folder.jpg <--- is the icon which represents Movie2 when the Movies folder is showing icons
---------- Movie2.mkv
---------- Movie2.srt

My program generates (and places) the tvix.jpg and folder.jpg files for you. It also can add the icon.tvix file.

Hi

Guy Kuo: Thanks for the answer. Will play around with your software tonight and see what it can do.

/Tobbe

guy, 1st i wanna thank you for creating tis GUI

i had some issues, i couldnt create a proper background
the background is all mess up :(

some sort like missing background pics

If I understand you correctly, you are trying to use a custom background.jpg with my program and having difficulty.

Some general hints:

1. Make your background 720 x 480 pixels in size. The program will try to scale any other size to 720 x 480. So, other sizes should theoretically work, but that would remove one variable.

2. The jpeg format you are saving in might not be what the program is able to read. Try using other jpeg options (change compression, progressive, etc) when you save out your background.jpg file from you image editing program which was used to create your background graphic.

This all of course assumes that indeed the problem you are having is with using your own background.jpg file with my program. Does the default background of my program work (when your background.jpg is NOT present)?

ur default background doesnt work either... :(

Then I suspect it is an OpenGL implementation problem with your video driver. The rendering system uses that for doing the graphical work. You might be able to fix it with a different driver. The Mac OSX implementation works well, but there are so many PC variants, I'm sure some will simply not be able to run my code.

sigh.... then i gues i gotta plug it to my mac then...
but my tvix HDD is NTFS, wouldnt tat bea problem to mac?

NTFS is a problem. OSX doesn't natively allow write operations to NTFS volumes. You can add the Paragon driver package and that will let your Mac read/write NTFS volumes.

Why not use efong's WIBT program? That is a PC oriented tool for doing this process. My program is a fast way to do it on a Mac that also runs on (but definitely not all) PC's. Try my program on your PC. If it doesn't work, just go on and try WIBT.

Thx a bunch. I love it.

guy, frankly i prefer ur steps , simple

efong is more of a pro tool , i tried WIBT as well , usable but not intuitive as urs...

Poki, can you post a screenshot of when you first have my program running and a sample of the resultant tvix.jpg file which is generated when you try to use my program (without a custom background.jpg). If I could see what you are ending up with, I might be able to understand what is happening on your PC. At this point I have no real clue what you are seeing nor what hardware/OS configuration you are using. Hence, no hope of fixing anything for you.

Thanks a bunch...this is absolutely awesome...I did over 60 films last night and my little boy totally loves the artwork for locating his favorite movies...My wife loves it as well.

Only question...I don't have .ISO files I actually have the full AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders w/ .IFO as exact backups of the original DVDs...Is there a way to associate the icon to the first .IFO in the VIDEO_TS folder?? It mucks up the GUI when you have to still open the underlying folders and then select the .IFO and hit play...

Your GUI is fantastic and almost too simple to use...works like a charm...

TVIX 4100 and TVIX 5000 owner
2 ReadyNAS NV+ (4TB and 3TB)
Windows PCs
Gigabit switches and routers w/ CAT 6 throughout the home

Excellent piece of software. spent the last few days chaning all the icons, is a lot more useable now.

Anybody know if there is a way of changing the TVIX menu screen when you first switch on as the graphics for that are pretty poor and would be good if you could replace those as well.

...I don't have .ISO files I actually have the full AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders w/ .IFO as exact backups of the original DVDs...Is there a way to associate the icon to the first .IFO in the VIDEO_TS folder??

Thanks. I'm happy to hear of people getting good use out of the program.

I also use full video_ts folders instead of iso's. If one was really motivated, it would be possible to set the video_ts folder to show its contents in icon view. Assign nearly empty icons to everything except the .ifo folder. Haven't done it myself, but should be doable.

If time permits, the results look good, and there is enough interest, that could be automatable.

Thank you for the prompt response and idea...I may give that a try and see how it ends up...time permitting of course...that is the beauty behind your GUI...very simple and fast..

guy, thanks, i will try and upload the pic

it looks great...

question: can it do 'batch' updates?.

I have a huge collection of movies. Each one is in a separate folder containing as well the .jpg cover art (same name as the movie) but of course the cover art is a 200x400pixel image of the... cover-art!

I would much prefer to have shown for each one an image like the one in your example: wallpaper with slicky image of the cover-art of the movie on the left and rest of the screen clean to show the title. But of course I wouldn't want to have to create each single one (>1000!) manually. Is there any way I could instruct the program to run through the folders and create a wallpaper attaching the 'local' .jpg??

it looks great...

question: can it do 'batch' updates?.



edit: Yes. Current version does bath processing. See posts near end of thread.

Hi Guy, am I doing something wrong as the screen cuts off the far right hand side of the image meaning the text continues off screen.

Have tried the zoom options but nothing seems to get it back. Any ideas?

Great programme by the way - thanks for the work so far.

Mike

Hi Guy, am I doing something wrong as the screen cuts off the far right hand side of the image meaning the text continues off screen....
Mike

From your location, you're probably using a PAL output. I wonder if the TVIX scaling to PAL line height also causes the right portion of a 720 x 480 wallpaper to be lost. Probably best answered by a PAL TVIX user who has created wallpapers.

You could try setting your TVIX to output 720P to see if that lets you see the entire wallpaper. I personally don't like that because the scaling done on a 720 x 480 wallpaper to make it 720P isn't very well implemented on the TVIX.

Hi Guy, I forgot about the PAL thing - this is probably the case as I live in the UK and have it set up to auto but no doubt the initial menu screen etc., is shown at PAL resolutions.

I found a cure - via the Plasma display I simply re-centered the display and it now shows everything fine.

Would it be an option to perhaps decrease the text font a point or two and leave a bit of a margin at all sides to take account of things like this? Also I notice the file description interferes with the movie text unless you press the up arrow to 'Up=Folder' meaning you have to either cut down on the amount of text you can input or put up with some overlap on to the file name details.

Still think it is a great addition to the TviX though! Many thanks again, Mike

I have a problem with the software. When choosing a folder of the movie (Doesnt matter which movie i choose its the same thing) The movie doesnt popup in the white list. That leads me to not beeing able to do anyting :(. Here is example which movies if tried like (letters from iwo jima,3.10.to.yuma.Bourne identity etc, can mention that they are x264 720p ripped but that shouldnt matter?

The only things which will show up in the list are FOLDERS which themselves contain the media elements. So, you choose the enclosing folder which encompasses a group of movie folders to use the program. The program also by default filters out folders which already have a wallpaper file.

When I have time, I'll see about making the text box bounds and font adjustable.

Hi Guy,

My friend recommended your software so I downloaded the PC version and tried to run it. I have a Tivx 4100sh. My movies (all .ISO) are in a folder called ISO. When I try to find them doing step 1 of your program, the ISO folder appears to be empty so the program isn't "seeing" the movies. I'm not terribly technical so my apologies if this is a dumb question. Any thoughts?

It isn't working because your file structure is...

iso_folder
___movie1.iso
___movie2.iso
___movie2.iso

The program expects each movie to have its own folder. That needs to be done in order to make the wallpaper and icon work.

The structure needs to start out as...


MyMovies
___Movie1Folder
_____Movie1.iso
___Movie2Folder
_____Movie2.iso

Nearly done with the update. Should be up late tonight.

Got the text font, text size and position adjustable as well as real time rotation, resizing and repositioning of the cover art. Just have to add some code so you can save your adjustments for reuse.

Hi Guy

Where did you get the background pic, its great?

Version 0.40 is up and should be accessible via the links at the beginning of this thread. Both Mac and PC versions work here, but I'm certain there will be niggles. The most annoying at present is the way line breaks don't always match between the editing window and the rendered version. Still working on that, but at least you can set the margins and get text to stay on screen.

There you go, now you can have a easy interface AND custom fit the text and graphics to your liking.

(The background pict in the program was taken a couple of years ago early in my room setup. Note the equipment rack that shouldn't be there. I like the background because you see the room in which you are seated.)

Hi Guy,

My friend recommended your software so I downloaded the PC version and tried to run it. I have a Tivx 4100sh. My movies (all .ISO) are in a folder called ISO. When I try to find them doing step 1 of your program, the ISO folder appears to be empty so the program isn't "seeing" the movies. I'm not terribly technical so my apologies if this is a dumb question. Any thoughts?

Version 0.41 of my program now has a batch function to convert a collection of iso files into the right folder structure. Look on the advanced controls panel. (Note: The advanced controls panel requires that you first select the enclosing folder on the main panel).

This saves the work of manually creating a new folder for each iso and moving each iso into its respective, new folder.

WARNING! The operation should only be done if you have your media files backed up. The program moves all the media files it finds into new folders. That would be a pain to manually undo.

Hello ..

Really like your prog , but i seems to have a prob gettings the movie pic in there .
I first select and copy the text and then later i do the pic , i copy that also and then bring up the program again .
I can wait all i want but it doesnt get in there ??

Hepl please ..

Are you sure the image is in the clipboard? It should detect it if its an image (don't copy a location of an image, but get the actual image in the clipboard)

Manually paste by using the step #4 button? If that doesn't work, then somehow the program isn't seeing an image in your clipboard.

aha ok ..
Maybe a dumb question , but how do i check if the picture is in the clipboard ?

Paste into another program which accepts images or depending on which OS you are running, you can look directly at the clipboard contents.

I'm sure you'll figure it out.

On screen wallpapers like....

http://indigokuo.home.comcast.net/~indigokuo/tvix/TViX.jpg

are awaiting you.

Hello again .
Its working now , i found out that i cant leave the text selected when trying to copy the pic .
Now another thing , i have nice covers stored on my server , can i use them also ?
And how , couse i tryed it with copy the pic and then wait for the prog to paste auto .
Doing manually , i tryed but i can never select button 4 when i turn of the auto copy and paste .

Otherwise very very nice work .

really nice program, just wish it would remember my movies folder.

regards,

-p.

Hello again .
....i have nice covers stored on my server , can i use them also ? .

Try version 0.42 (now up on server).

You can now drag and drop an image file into the rendering window. The dropped file will be read and used as cover art for the wallpaper.

Drag and drop of text (NOT a text file) also now works for putting text into the synopsis edit field of the main window.

really nice program, just wish it would remember my movies folder.

-p.

This I don't quite understand. Do you mean remember across separate LAUNCHES of the program?

It does remember the enclosing folder until you specify another folder or quit the program.

Hi Guy

I can only get 35b from the first link. How do I get the latest version?

Empty your browser cache's local files and download again. Sounds like it's grabbing an old file.

I just checked both the PC and Mac download links they they are bringing down version 0.42

Try version 0.42 (now up on server).

You can now drag and drop an image file into the rendering window. The dropped file will be read and used as cover art for the wallpaper.

Drag and drop of text (NOT a text file) also now works for putting text into the synopsis edit field of the main window.

Nice Nice very Nice , now i can use my own HQ covers :)

This I don't quite understand. Do you mean remember across separate LAUNCHES of the program?

It does remember the enclosing folder until you specify another folder or quit the program.
I would like to the app to remember my movies folder between executions, just as you remember font settings etc.
My download folder is located deep within my C drive, and a typical use of the GUI builder for me is to launch it after having downloaded one movie.

I would like to the app to remember my movies folder between executions, just as you remember font settings etc.
My download folder is located deep within my C drive, and a typical use of the GUI builder for me is to launch it after having downloaded one movie.

Done.

Version 0.44 remembers the enclosing folder's location along with user settings. Settings are now loaded automatically upon program startup and saved upon quitting.

I have to move my "Start bar" from the bottom of my laptop screen to the side in order to see the buttons on the bottom ("Render and Save", etc.). Is there anyway to size the window so I can see the buttons without moving the start bar?

Try v 0.44. The window is shorter and should a bit better for you.

Edit. Just noticed the Comcast server had an older build. Download 0.44 again now to get lastest.

Done.

Version 0.44 remembers the enclosing folder's location along with user settings. Settings are now loaded automatically upon program startup and saved upon quitting.

<3

nice!

Noticed some visual problems in 0.44 due to making the window shorter. Some text elements on the advanced pane were messed up by shrinking the window.

Grab 0.45 from the server now.

Guy-

I must tell you that I love this app. Very easy to use and makes my library a pleasure to navigate. Is there any way to edit a TViX.jpg once it has been created? (If I relaunch the app on a different day and want to change or resize some text or replace the cover art).

Thanks for the hard work.

I'm afraid not. That would require my program to store and catalog the cover art and text for each movie - much more work than I can put into a quick, freebie tool.

The only thing you can do in that circumstance is to redo that particular film you wish to modify. You'd need to uncheck the "Show Only Unprocessed Folders" button so you can reselect the movie's folder for work.

Try v 0.44. The window is shorter and should a bit better for you.

Edit. Just noticed the Comcast server had an older build. Download 0.44 again now to get lastest.

Awesome. Thanks!

It never ceases to amaze me how nice and giving some people are in this world. It seems like such a simple program, but I couldn't do it. So I applaud Guy. Thank you!

Thank you very much for this awesome program Guy Kuo :) If I reformat my windows will this program still remembers my save setting?

...If I reformat my windows will this program still remembers my save setting?

I don't know.

The settings are in a file in your system's preferences folder. My suspicion is that a complete Windows reinstall could delete that folder, but I don't know one way or another.

I don't know.

The settings are in a file in your system's preferences folder. My suspicion is that a complete Windows reinstall could delete that folder, but I don't know one way or another.

Pardon me but where is this "system's preferences folder":)

Pardon me but where is this "system's preferences folder":)

Look inside C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Application Data

for tvix_gui_builder.pref

You could save that file somewhere and then restore it after reinstalling Windows.

thanks again.Truly appreaciate all your efforts :)

Improved drag and drop support. Now you can drag an image from a web browser directly into the Rendering window without invoking the clipboard.

Dragging text into the synopsis text field appends the text to the existing text.

Dragging text into elsewhere in the main window REPLACES the existing synopsis and renders a preview.

Added to Advanced pane controls to select between Amazon, IMDB, or Walmart as place to begin web search.

Improved drag and drop support. Now you can drag an image from a web browser directly into the Rendering window without invoking the clipboard.

Wow! :eek:

I've never seen that being possible anywhere. Maybe I'm just using old school programs.....?

/J

Version 0.51 can directly obtain, format and place text and large cover art from Amazon. This can be batch automated or with manual intervention.

Turn on assisted procurement by selecting "Amazon Assisted" on the advanced pane. By default, the program will also show the Amazon product web page in a browser window, but you can suppress the browser display. Suppression remains in effect only during the current run session. This is intentional and is meant to encourage purchase of DVD's from Amazon.

Text and cover art are automatically added when you click on a movie in your movie folder list. Typically takes 15 to 20 seconds per movie folder. The rendering is saved automatically for you, but you can still edit the text and change the graphics and manually save your rendering.

Text is trimmed for you at sentence ends to fit in wallpaper.

Automated processing doesn't always get it right for each film. So, review the program's work and do this only on data you have backed up.

Automated batch processing is supported for up to 20 movies per user click.

Amazon Assisted, Suppress Browser, and Batch Process All Movies options must all be selected in the Advanced panel to enable batch processing. Once those are set, clicking on any film name will start automated processing.

When batch processing is active, only unprocessed folders will be listed. Turning off "Show only unprocessed folders" disables batch mode.

I have purposely limited the number the number of movie folders processed in a batch to avoid overloading the Amazon servers with large batch jobs. You can, of course, start another batch by clicking on another movie name.

It's been pretty nifty watching wallpapers get generated without user intervention. For the most part it appears to work, but keep an eye on the results as the program works.

Hi Guy,

Many thanks for the changes including the ability to resize the text etc., - it is ideal now and provides the adjustments needed!

One thing - is there a way to load up the folders artwork and text I have already created for resizing? I have found problems with this unless I go in to each folder to delete what is already there and start over again.

Thank you again for this,

Best wishes

Michael

- just noticed there is another update ( I am on 0.45) and will try the new one.

Hi Guy,

....is there a way to load up the folders artwork and text I have already created for resizing? I have found problems with this unless I go in to each folder to delete what is already there and start over again.

If you wish to completely redo a folder which has already been processed, uncheck "Show only unprocessed folders" and you'll get access to folders which have already been "wallpaperized."

As for the first portion of your query, I can only provide a partial solution for already existing work. However, version 0.52 (just now up on server) saves the synopsis text and cover art for later reuse in later sessions. Two extra files are saved in each movie folder to accomplish this. (coverart.guikuo and synopsis.guikuo)

If "Use Local Text and Art" is on, the program will load the locally saved artwork and synopsis text. If no local data is loaded, the program will try to get it from the web.

(BTW, as a convenience, the search for local art will detect and use WIB-T folder.wig cover art that is present. However, my program will write out its own coverart.guikuo file to avoid interference. Also, I don't parse folder.wid files.)

hi

great program.. i love it

work fine with my dix files, bur i can't make it with my mkv files.
he don't work with mkv extension ?

hi

work fine with my dix files, bur i can't make it with my mkv files.
he don't work with mkv extension ?

As the program works with folders (indeed even works with EMPTY folders names as movies), I'm a bit lost as to what you were trying to get it to do with mkv files. For the program to work you have to have each mkv file INSIDE a folder like

Movie Title1\Movie Title1.mkv
Movie Title2\Movie Title2.mkv

The program does have a function for "Enclose Files in New Folders" to help arrange files so they are inside folders. That's about the only place where it explicitly works on files instead of folders, but I'm still not sure that is what you were trying to do.

tks for the help :) is work fine now.
i make something wrong, because with some divx i have it automaticaly make a folder for itch file

This program is great!
Like kromo, I LOVE IT!
First version, good, but the killer thing is the autofetch of data and text.
How I have waited for that.
:):):):):D:D:D:D

If you find a way to add the run time and render it at some appropriate place in the picture it would be EVEN better ;)

When I used WIB-T I usually placed run time as a field at the very bottom, below where the Tvix prints the path.
Another place I can think of is in the same height as the title but to the right end of the pic. I'm sure you find some good place for it.

br
/J

excuse me in my case the hardware failure was between the keyboard and the chair.
the soft is great.

Hi Guy, thanks for the latest update - how do you manage to turn these around so quick!

I do have a problem with the last two releases though - I am getting an error message that says "An exception of class. UnsupportedFormatException was not handled. The application must shut down. Exception Message: Passing non-absolute shell paths is not currently supported"

Any idea what is going wrong here - do I need to trash a preference file or something?

I am running 10.5.1 on a 2.8Ghz iMac.

Thanks again for a great program.

Mike

I do have a problem with the last two releases though - I am getting an error message that says "An exception of class. UnsupportedFormatException was not handled. The application must shut down. Exception Message: Passing non-absolute shell paths is not currently supported"

Any idea what is going wrong here - do I need to trash a preference file or something?

Mike

I think that is due to the way I saved out the filepath in the older versions not getting along with the current builds. I thought I fixed that problem, but if you happen to have a preference file holding the old format filepath, it could be the reason you are seeing this problem.

Go grab yourself version 0.53, then before you launch the new version, try trashing the file "tvix_gui_builder.pref"

It's inside your library/preferences/

That did it - trashing the preference file sorted it out. Off to try out the new version now!

Have a good weekend

Mike

I can't seem to get the program to launch under 0S X 10.5.1 on a macbook pro.

I get the .zip file,uncompress it, double click on the app, and nothing happens. In the Activity Monitor it just says, "Tvix GUI Builder (Not Repsonding)".

The about.pdf says I have version 0.52. This program looks fantastic, I can't wait to give it a whirl.

I just downloaded the .zip and have version 0.52 running under OS 10.5.1 on a MacBook and a MacBook Pro. So, the archive seems to be okay.

A MacBook Pro is about the last thing I'd expect to have trouble running it.

Time to ask the usual suspects....

1. Try making a new user account seeing if it runs under a generic account.

2. Temporarily disconnect external drives and volumes and see if that makes a difference.

3. Firewall? I doubt this is the problem since it is fine even even with the firewall set to only essential.

4. Failing the above fixing things, the next thing I'd do is let Onyx do its "automation" routines (also with maintenance scripts and clearing all caches)

Beyond that, I'm perplexed.

Oh.... Might be worth first downloading a fresh copy of the .zip and trying with a new copy.

Everything was working great until I downloaded the latest version. Now, I can't edit the image in the render window, such as rotate the image, or move it. Whenever I try to click on the render window, it makes that "swoosh" sound as if it is rendering and saving.

Everything was working great until I downloaded the latest version. Now, I can't edit the image in the render window, such as rotate the image, or move it. Whenever I try to click on the render window, it makes that "swoosh" sound as if it is rendering and saving.

Sorry to hear that. Try version 0.56. I've redone how some things are handled internally so the program should be more reliable.

Also added mechanism for dealing with bad preference files. If the program just won't launch correctly, hold down the option key as the program starts. You'll hear a beep and the program will load known good, default settings. (That's the Alt key for PC people). This lets you get around a bad or old preferences file without needing to search it out manually.

Note: Under OSX, I have noticed that some movies are very difficult for the program to automatically grab text and cover art. The program can hang or crash. Ironically, there doesn't seem to be that issue on the PC side.

Thanks guy for the suggestions... I made a new generic login, and it worked under that login. Then I switched back to my login, and suddenly it would work. go figure. This was using the latest release (I think .55).
Awsome program, thanks for all the hard work.

Hi All, is there a way we can change the green highlights when navigating on the system? I would like to change this color if possible.

Thanks,
Dave

Version 0.58 has important bug fix for Amazon Assisted mode. Prior versions could take interminable time or crash when certain specific movies were requested. Usual time to obtain synopsis text & cover art and then render is about fifteen seconds.

First of all, thank you for such a great program, I love it.

I only have one issue, with the more recent versions, it crashes everytime I try to paste my own art. If I allow it to automatically paste text and pictures, it works fine. But whenever I hit the "paste cover art, render & save" button, the program crashes. (therfore, i've reverted back to build 0.35b, which doesn't crash when I use that button).

Any ideas on how I can get around this, because I like the new interface much better. I'm on vista if that matters.

....whenever I hit the "paste cover art, render & save" button, the program crashes..... I'm on vista if that matters.

Good catch. It wasn't happening under OSX. It appears to be due to a difference in event firing order between the two platforms.

Version 0.59 should fix the crash under Windows when a manual paste is performed. Up on the server now.

Version 0.59 works perfectly, I no longer have any issues pasting cover art. Thanks again! :D

Glad it fixed the program for you.

Version 0.60 now provides much smoother upper and lower edges for cover art as it is rotated. Antialiased the jaggies away.

(Comcast servers are intermittently down. So there may be some temporary trouble with the download links)

Excellent!
So now you got time to add grabbing and displaying of the "Run time" as displayed by Amazon. :rolleyes:

One can always make a wish...
/J

What ARE you doing with the runtime anyway? I decided to go with a wallpaper GUI because the library got large enough that I couldn't reliably recall the films by title. The addition of cover art and synopsis is for jogging my memory. Beyond that, my DVD cataloging software on the Mac does a far better job at keeping stats and info than the TViX ever will.

hi

maybe a dump question, cna i change the image background of the soft, not the cover art.
make and past my own one.

tks

hi

maybe a dump question, cna i change the image background of the soft, not the cover art.
make and past my own one.

tks

Create a 720 x 480 size JPEG file and name it background.jpg. Place your background.jpg in the same directory as my application. The next time you start the program, your background.jpg will be used instead of the built-in background. (This is in the about.pdf instructions)

Guy--is there any particular reason why your software has to be on the Tvix unit? I have it in a separate file on my PC, and it all appears to be working fine. But I have seen a couple of times you mention having your program on the Tvix.

Thanks.

Guy--is there any particular reason why your software has to be on the Tvix unit? I have it in a separate file on my PC, and it all appears to be working fine. But I have seen a couple of times you mention having your program on the Tvix.

Thanks.


No. There isn't any need for my program to be on the TViX. It's just a program which runs on your computer and generates files for use with the TViX. If I seemed to indicate that it needed to be in the TViX itself, then that was a misunderstanding.

What ARE you doing with the runtime anyway? I decided to go with a wallpaper GUI because the library got large enough that I couldn't reliably recall the films by title. The addition of cover art and synopsis is for jogging my memory. Beyond that, my DVD cataloging software on the Mac does a far better job at keeping stats and info than the TViX ever will.

Hehe, yeah, maybe it isn't obvious. :p
I'm not interested in the full stats of the movie, just the length. It helps me decide what to watch depending on how late in the evening it is. I usually don't want to start watching a 2 ½ hour movie 9.30 PM a week day.
If the info is in the wallpaper it's easier to find that by just using the Tvix remote. :)

With old WIB-T I did like this:
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/949/tvixzx8.th.jpg (http://img153.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tvixzx8.jpg)
I'm not sure if the position is the perfect match on that pic. It ends up under the path if I remember correct. It should give you an idea though.

But I looooooooooooooove the autofetch feature of your program. :rolleyes:
Anyway. It's just a suggestion.

br
/J

I think that positioning is possible with some work. The trick is in adding that field without breaking the rest of my program. Possibly could do it by having an option to automatically take the last line of text in the synopsis and render it at the bottom. That would save me from building a new mechanism for storing another text field.

Actually where you put the text I have no opinion about. What I'm hoping for is that you would add the option to parse that from Amazon i the auto-fetch-process...

The text can be at the bottom of the image (or any other nice place) or just as a new line of text, last in the currently rendered synopsis field.

Like:
The Movie
Blah blah blah blah blah
Blah blah blah blah blah
Length: 167 min

Or if you prefer the term "Run time" as used by Amazon.

/J

Version 0.61 adds an option under "Amazon Assisted" (On the advanced pane) to enable automated parsing of run time. Run time is appended at the end of the obtained synopsis.

Wow! Now that's what I call service :D

You're faaaaast Guy! :)

Big thank's for the whole application and "my" feature!

/J

It was a much simpler thing to add once you reemphasized that you really didn't care where the run time was displayed

Hello ..
NIce progress u make with the prog .
Is it possible to add genre to it ? u know comedy drama and so .
Would be really great .

Excellent initiative!

Just invested into the Popcorn Hour A-100 and felt the need for a GUI-generator.

Is it possible to adapt this version to provide HTML output-files as well?

I am currently browsing for similar initiatives and of none are found, I guess I'll make a .NET application for this.

The movie-folder, ISO, jpg, etc structure is applicable for that as well.
One difference would be to generate a main HTML file for Movie listings though.

Thanks again for great job done,
Cheers,
- S

Excellent initiative!

Just invested into the Popcorn Hour A-100 and felt the need for a GUI-generator.

Is it possible to adapt this version to provide HTML output-files as well?

I am currently browsing for similar initiatives and of none are found, I guess I'll make a .NET application for this.

The movie-folder, ISO, jpg, etc structure is applicable for that as well.
One difference would be to generate a main HTML file for Movie listings though.

Thanks again for great job done,
Cheers,
- S

These two outputs HTML.
http://www.antp.be/software/moviecatalog/
http://xmm.sourceforge.net/
You can create the HTML layout as you want.

I once tried to use these tools to fetch data, generatea HTML page and create a 720 x 480 JPEG out of that, but never managed to get a good result on the HTML to JPEG step. Hoever, output HTML it's well capable of.

/J

Guy, if you would be willing to share the core code, i.e:

1) the code which does the OpenGL magic, text placement etc.; and
2) the code to access the various metadata off the web

as a library, then perhaps others could wrap their own UIs around it for the various different streamers.

I am imagining 'profiles' for players which can be wrappered into a library :D

At this point, I'm just about done with pushing the program further forward. Remember, its availability is a side effect of my needing a program for myself. Features that aren't directly useful to myself aren't likely to be added. It is a nice piece of kit, but not written in a style useful for export to other development environments.

However......

There does seem to be some utility in adding html files to the file structure so the entire collection can be reviewed on my local network's browsers. Is there documentation of the HTML file structure which the Popcorn expects? Does it have a call sequence to initiate media playback from an HTML file?

Thanks for this great skin maker, prior to this I was using a batch process in Photoshop, but although effective, was a little more time consuming.

However I am having a problem with your app on long file names, I run it from a MacBook Pro to an airport express disk, which is then networked to the TViX. For instance "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)" becomes Fear And Loathing In Las#5F67C" - which is just not as snappy.

Any suggestions?

Also I have an idea where you could pull poster images from, I use this : http://www.google.com/custom?aq=0&oq=fear+an&num=50&hl=en&safe=off&client=pub-6811780361519631&cof=FORID%3A1%3BGL%3A1%3BLBGC%3A000000%3BBGC%3A%23000000%3BT %3A%23cccccc%3BLC%3A%2333cc33%3BVLC%3A%2333ff33%3BGALT%3A%23 33CC33%3BGFNT%3A%23ffffff%3BGIMP%3A%23ffffff%3B&domains=www.impawards.com&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&q=fear+and+loathing+in+las+vegas&btnG=Search&sitesearch=www.impawards.com

At this point, I'm just about done with pushing the program further forward. Remember, its availability is a side effect of my needing a program for myself. Features that aren't directly useful to myself aren't likely to be added. It is a nice piece of kit, but not written in a style useful for export to other development environments.

However......

There does seem to be some utility in adding html files to the file structure so the entire collection can be reviewed on my local network's browsers. Is there documentation of the HTML file structure which the Popcorn expects? Does it have a call sequence to initiate media playback from an HTML file?

Hello ..

I found this http://www.networkedmediatank.com/viewtopic.php?t=120
On there forum , maybe it helps ?

Regards

Carlsberg112

That gives the info needed, I think, but I have no way to test the results here.

Try out the HTML generator function in version 0.63. (You need to generate the icons and wallpapers FIRST)

By loading index.htm here into a web browser I can see the movie icons on the left side of the browser window and clicking on any icon brings up the rendered wallpaper on the right side of the window.

The wallpaper and the "play" link in the folder.html files have the vod tag embedded so if that interpreted by your player while browsing, clicking on them should start it playing on your Popcorn MT. No idea if it will actually work since I'm writing HTML for a machine I don't have.

Almost forgot.... the program assumes and generates HTML assuming that the movies are full video_ts folders and targets
/VIDEO_TS/VIDEO_TS.IFO as the file to be played. If your media is not arranged that way, the playback link won't work.

New in version 0.64. Added ability to alter vanishing point of cover art. Previously, the vanishing point was always level with center of rendering window. Now, you can drag the vanishing point up and down by dragging mouse along right edge of rendering window.

Let's you change the shape of the artwork like...
http://indigokuo.home.comcast.net/~indigokuo/tvix/vanishingpoint1.jpg

to

http://indigokuo.home.comcast.net/~indigokuo/tvix/vanishingpoint2.jpg

Because artwork and text is also stored locally in the movie folders, it is now practical to re-render a large number of wallpapers after adjusting icon position, size, rotation, vanishing point or text position, etc. I've added a "Autosave Local Render" option which tells the program to automatically save renderings made with just the local artwork and text. Usually the program only renders but doesn't save. Enabling this option lets you re-render movies by just clicking on its name. Program doesn't batch process re-rendering, but it's easy to just click one movie after another.

Had to move some less used options to advanced pane to make room for "Autosave Local Render" option.

I can't download the PC version of this program from
indigokuo.home.comcast.net/~indigokuo/tvix/TVix_GUI_Builder_PC.zip
I only receiveing an emty file.:confused:

Is there anywhere else were can I download it?

Can anyone help me?

Thanks

Peder

Empty your browser cache and try downloading again. There was a problem on the server which should be corrected now.

Great!!
Now we also have Genre , u are the best !

Great!!
Now we also have Genre , u are the best !

It doesn't always work. Sometimes genres aren't on the Amazon site. Another quirk I've noticed is that search results from Amazon can vary slightly each time you do a search. That means you can sometimes get a different synopsis or cover art if you click and search again.

Empty your browser cache and try downloading again. There was a problem on the server which should be corrected now.

I'ts working now :)

Thanks

Peder

...I am having a problem with your app on long file names, I run it from a MacBook Pro to an airport express disk, which is then networked to the TViX. For instance "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)" becomes Fear And Loathing In Las#5F67C" - which is just not as snappy.


The filename truncation looks like OSX stepping in and truncating long names on a FAT32 volume. That's one reason I use regular old Mac HFS Journaled volumes and then share them to the network using an old G4 as an NFS server. You get to use long file names. So, on my setup "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)" isn't a problem at all. Unfortunately, that means adding another machine and setting up NFS shares.

Improved batch operations in 0.70. Batch jobs are now started with an explicit "Batch Process" button. Batch processing still needs to be enabled in the advanced pane. Up to 30 movie folder are processed at a time. Batch will do ENTIRE list if "Use local text and art if present" AND "autosave Render Local Text & Art" options are checkmarked. This allows rapid reformatting of an entire folder.

Guy, thanks, what you've said makes sense, although the disk is HFS+, and over Appleshare so you'd think it wouldn't happen. But obviously something in the network truncating long names.

Can I ask if you can find a way to parse information automatically from IMDB, or is that too against the rules. It would be great to get a synopsis, director name etc...

HFS+ volume? Does Finder handle the long names okay?

Can I ask if you can find a way to parse information automatically from IMDB, or is that too against the rules. It would be great to get a synopsis, director name etc...

+1

Great program, btw. Thanks for all your hard work.

Great program

Is it possible to add an option to check the movie file (avi) and auto add details like aspect ratio & resolution?

I have a fairly large qty of avi movies that I want to run in batch mode, so was hoping to avoid manually adding details for each one by looking in gspot or similar for each & every file.

Hi Guy,

Hope this is not going to be a major pain but have you any plans to make this superb bit of software available for the new 6500 that is just around the corner? I understand the resolution is different for the menu screens so I will want to transfer everything from the 5100 to the new unit when it arrives.

Oh, when are you going to put a 'Paypal donations link' on there too?!

Best wishes, Mike

... have you any plans to make this superb bit of software available for the new 6500 that is just around the corner? I understand the resolution is different for the menu screens so I will want to transfer everything from the 5100 to the new unit when it arrives.

Oh, when are you going to put a 'Paypal donations link' on there too?!


I have thought about the higher resolution for the 6500 wallpaper. I believe it is doable and could be quickly accomplished with a batch re-render using locally stored art and text. I'm sure there will be some visual issues to deal with in the rendering routines, but it is feasible -- just not a real priority without a 6500 here.

The ongoing effort is rebuilding the web parsing system. The original one in the program is very quick & dirty code. I'm currently rewriting it for some more flexibility, but it is a bit of work to build new parsers and the associated support code in the program.

Paypal.... not yet there, but as writing program uses more resources, it is decreasingly reasonable to keep it as freeware. Pats on the back eventually aren't enough to encourage additional effort and I'm stealing time from a "real" project.



Not planning on pulling data out of .avi's. That would require writing a lot of code for reading the data blocks from a file format I don't use. So, little ROI here for that.

Version 0.80 dramatically changes the "Assisted" parsing system to give more flexibility in selecting information sources. For each category of information (synopsis, genres, run time, etc.) the user can specify which web site to search first.

Program now controls use local text or art independently of each other. Useful if you already have locally stored art and want to get new text from the web, but don't want to change the artwork with automatically obtained ones.

WARNING. This version 0.80 is not compatible with the old preference file format and upon first execution should ignore your old settings. There were simply too many internal changes for me to preserve your old settings. I recommend using the "Reset Settings" then the "Save Settings" buttons once after starting this version to ensure no old settings are in effect.

HFS+ volume? Does Finder handle the long names okay?

Thanks for responding.

Yes normally, however I have seen it fail, and switch to the shortened name for a few seconds. Probably some airport disk error, to be honest it seems to be full of bugs.

Incidentally I am getting a 404 for downloading the latest Mac version. I have emptied the cache and tried it on separate machines.

Hi Guy ..

great update again !

Only a few prob's , in the advanced panel i choose assited, Runtime-none and Aspect-none but they come up anyway .
I wanted only genre and actors , i tryed different titels but no change .
I also saced settings afterwards .
Can u look into that ?

Regards

Carlsberg112

Hi Guy ..

... in the advanced panel i choose assited, Runtime-none and Aspect-none but they come up anyway .
I wanted only genre and actors ...
Carlsberg112

Did you also turn off "Use local text" ?

Did you also turn off "Use local text" ?

Yes i did that , i turned off so it got new info for everything .

I can't get that to happen on my PC here. Drag none to top of list and the program properly omits that item. Try downloading a fresh copy of the program and try again. Be sure to empty caches before re-downloading.

Well i tryed alot but i still get the aspect ratio that i dont want ..
And i cant get it to get genre and actors .

Edit :
Guy , i am sorry but i just figured out now that i had to slide the options to the top how i wanted it ..
Now it workes great !!

Thx .

Yes, those are search order lists. The program starts at the top of the list and searches down the list of sources until it runs out of places in the list or hits '-none-' This arrangement gives maximum user flexibility.

As you have discovered, in order to set a category off, you must to DRAG none to the top of the list.

BTW 0.81 is up. Batch operations now start with the movie you click instead of the first movie in list. IMDB synopsis retrieval is a bit better and some internal bugs fixed.

Yes, those are search order lists. The program starts at the top of the list and searches down the list of sources until it runs out of places in the list or hits '-none-' This arrangement gives maximum user flexibility.

As you have discovered, in order to set a category off, you must to DRAG none to the top of the list.

BTW 0.81 is up. Batch operations now start with the movie you click instead of the first movie in list. IMDB synopsis retrieval is a bit better and some internal bugs fixed.


Hello ..
Batch operations , is that sill limited to 30 ?

Batches can do ALL if you select Use Local Art, Use Local Text, and Autosave Local. That combination can still grab new material from the net if local material is missing.

However, if you want to reprocess and get new web material, you are limited to 30 at a time to keep users from battering the Amazon and IMDB sites. We don't want them to see a big load and start filtering against the program.

Ok , thx i uunderstand .
Testing now :-)

0.82 Adds ability to change backgrounds more easily. Drag and drop an image which is wider than 700 pixels into the render window and it will be used as the background. Smaller images when dragged and dropped are used as cover art.

Downloading it , and testing later .

0.83 improves IMDB parsing. Now properly handles titles whose searches immediately bring up the desired movie instead of a search results page. Previously, no info would be obtained from IMDB for such movies.

Real 1280 x 720 support not yet done, but temporary option in advanced panel will cause wallpaper output to be scaled up to 1280 x 720. The results are more blurred, but should be usable for testing on the 6500A

Tested and must say works great !

I have thought about the higher resolution for the 6500 wallpaper. I believe it is doable and could be quickly accomplished with a batch re-render using locally stored art and text. I'm sure there will be some visual issues to deal with in the rendering routines, but it is feasible -- just not a real priority without a 6500 here.


Looks like we need you on the beta team. That's really killer work and I'm looking forward to getting it loaded on a M6500A.

Thanks. Happy to hear you like the program.

One issue I foresee for when large TViX.jpg files are created is that some people will have a mixed environment of both 6500M and 5000 or older players. If they are all playing off the same server, the wallpaper will be the wrong size for one group of machines or another. One solution would be to have the newer machines look for a different filename. Then both classes of machines could work off the same servers by having two different wallpaper files. Of course, the firmware for both would also need to hide the one that is not being used.

Updated the user instructions in the latest packages on the server. Some behind the scenes changes inside the program as well, but version number not changed. When substantive changes or fixes are done, I increase the version number, but minor changes can go up without bumping the number.

I love your program!

I did a few movies in the normal manner and found it works well. The only painful thing was copying text of a website for instance synopsis and then going to a different part of the website, or a different website for things like runtime or genre etc. I couldn't paste those in as an "addition" It always overwrote whatever was there. I ended up pasting everthing into notepad then laying out the end result, copying again from notepad and clicking onto your program to add it... was I doing it all wrong? EDIT - don't worry, I just tried again and unchecked "Automaticaly paste text and pics" and I can selectively paste.... I should've tried that before!

I've started using assisted mode, and it's excellent! it adds in the runtime, genre, and actors nicely and I ususally just edit the synopsis a bit and it's done. I notice though when I'm cleaning up the text in the text "edit" window I can't scroll down if it goes past the bottom?

And finally, another "what about" type request.... I like the ratings, synopsis etc of movies on rottentomatoes.com... any chance of adding that website as one of the options for assisted mode?

There will soon be a change in the way the text field handles scrolling so you can more obviously scroll. Right now you can scroll by using the arrow keys to move the carat up or down beyond the visible text. I'll be switching to a scrollbar and losing 1:1 mapping of text (on the Mac) of text between the edit and render windows. This is needed to eventually support rendering at 1280 x 720.

I have slated rotten tomatoes as one of the next sites to get a parser. Also am also adding director to the parsed info. The addition of categories and websites takes a good deal of coding for each change. So please understand if I don't add everything people ask for.

To better support players other than the TViX units, the next version will also let you specify the name for the wallpaper and icon output files.

I'll post when the update is ready.

Hey thanks for your hard work this prg., is great. I have a question. this is how my screen looks


http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/6427/mytvixfu5.jpg

See at the top where the name of the file batmanbegins.m2ts runs into the text. Also at the bottom it show date created with the size of the file at the botton. I didnt see that in the screen shot Guy has. Am i doing something wrong? Or do i just have to adjust my images so that they dont cut into the text. (would rather get rid of the batmanbegins.m2ts and file info)


http://img233.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mytvixfu5.jpg

You need to adjust your text and cover art positioning to avoid the material which the TViX player places atop the wallpaper. You can't move the TViX generated material. The default arrangement of text and graphics is the one I use to avoid most of the overlap problem. Once you create an arrangement that fits, you can batch re-render using local art and text to make all your wallpapers in the same style.

Version 0.87 is up. This adds Rotten Tomatoes as a websource and moves further towards supporting the 6500M and non-TViX players.

Edit: Will now automatically override old preferences upon first launch of 0.88 and later

Ok thanks Also once again thanks for the great program

the only problem i have is when i go to reset the settings and save new setting the program closes on me

Ok i think i fixed it i found the preferences and deleted them from the app data folder and then rest and that seemed to work

Version 0.88 should take care of the program closing upon attempt to save settings problem under Windows. You should no longer need to manually go in and delete the old preferences file.

Just read that HTML frames cause the Popcorn Hour to crash. The HTML I'm generating uses frames so they probably won't work with the Popcorn Hour. They do work with regular PC browsers. The HTML files are a quicker way to browse through your work (on your computer) rather than on the TViX itself.


Version 0.90 does actual rendering at 1280 x 720 to support the M-6500. Text and icon settings are stored separately for 720 x 480 and 1280 x 720 output sizes. If 1280 x 720 is selected, the output icon is also appropriately made wider to acommodate square pixels on the display.

This is a great utility.
One wish though. Could you spare a line for the imdb rating and number of voters.
Regards

This is a great utility.
One wish though. Could you spare a line for the imdb rating and number of voters.
Regards

+1 (wife likes to check on the rating before choosing that nights movie) :)

+1 also on the great app - thanks for all the hard work. :D

Tolax

This is a great utility.
One wish though. Could you spare a line for the imdb rating and number of voters.
Regards

This would be great.

My one wish would be for MPAA ratings (R,PG,PG-13) since we have kids this would help big time.

Thanks for the Great program, I have been using WIB-T but this is so much easier.

User rating from IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes added.

You may need to click on "reset settings" once to get the new search list to populate. I think the program will do it automatically, but if the Viewer Rating list is empty, clicking on reset settings will force it to populate.

...My one wish would be for MPAA ratings (R,PG,PG-13) since we have kids this would help big time...

MPAA is now parsed from Amazon and IMDB in version 0.92

You probably should have both sources listed in case one source does not list the MPAA information so the program can fetch from the other.

Guy, between 0.91 and 0.92 (only two updates today?) ;) you removed IMDB and put Amazon in for the ratings. Any reason for this? In my experience the Amazon ratings are usually more indicitive of the quality of the DVD rather than the Movie itself. IMDB is the most accurate 'user' rating system I would suspect.

Of course if we could have all three....... (I would still only use IMDB though) :)

Cheers

Tolax

Guy, between 0.91 and 0.92 (only two updates today?) ;) you removed IMDB and put Amazon in for the ratings.... Tolax

Tolax, my mistake. It's now fixed and a new Amazon viewer rating parser added.

V 0.95 sets the Viewer Ratings list to all three (IMDB and R.T and Amazon)

Also add ability to change color of rendered text to acomodate lighter backgrounds. Click on the small rectangle next to "Text Color" at bottom of main pane of editor window. Option-click or Alt-click on text color control rectangle resets font color to video white rgb(235, 235, 235)

Takecontrol, thanks for the reminder of how WIB-T output looked.

http://indigokuo.home.comcast.net/~indigokuo/tvix/WIBTsample.jpg

WIB-T inspired me to do a Wallpaper GUI, but I wanted it to run on my Mac too. Now the results are...

http://indigokuo.home.comcast.net/~indigokuo/tvix/rendering2.jpg

User rating from IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes added.

You may need to click on "reset settings" once to get the new search list to populate. I think the program will do it automatically, but if the Viewer Rating list is empty, clicking on reset settings will force it to populate.

Thank you for adding the MPAA rating:)

Thanks for all your hard work and this great program!

I am having a problem with v .96 on pc. I cannot save my settings even though i use the save settings button when I restart the program it is back to the defaults. What am i doing wrong?

See if deleting the preferences file manually corrects the situation for you.

It's probably stored at owner/Application Data/tvix_gui_builder.pref

Are you running XP or Vista?

I tried deleting that file manually, but it did not fix the problem. It turns out that all of my settings are saved except for the text font and size, everything else is fine. When I opened the .pref file with notepad I can see that it has my text preferences saved but the program will not load them.
Unfortunately I have Vista
Thanks for your quick response

The fonts settings are saved regardless what it says whe you open the program. I mean if you save helvetica, it will use helvetica next time even if it says Arial.
Hope this helps

having the same problem as misterg100 and I'm using win xp.everything else is ok except the text font size.

Got it. The menus were not getting updated during loading of settings. Version 0.98 fixes that problem.

Thanks it works great now with v .98, and thank you for your quick response to my problem.

Thanks it works great now with v .98, and thank you for your quick response to my problem.

Great. You're welcome.

If anyone is using the program to render higher resolution output for the M6500, pick up the latest build of 0.98 which went up (silently) tonight. The version number is still 0.98 because the fix affects few users. The problem fixed was during change of rendering resolution. The render window did not always update correctly the first time a resolution was picked. The updated build takes care of that glitch.

where can you download the lates program then??

Download via the links in the first post of this thread.

thanks for the latest update and the prompt fix. :)

Thanks

Hi Guy, got hold of a 6500 today and already starting to use it with the higher resolution setting.

One issue so far with this - the image file is a bit big once it is rescaled and tends to overlap the file name information when it is on the top and bottom of the screen. Can you either offer an option to resize the graphic or other such control?

I should think some of this is down to the fact that you don't have a 6500 to test it with - as mentioned before you should give some though to a Paypal donation button as I am sure there are many here that would like to reward you for your efforts so far. Perhaps that new 6500 may be with you quicker than you thought!

Best wishes

Michael

One issue so far with this - the image file is a bit big once it is rescaled and tends to overlap the file name information when it is on the top and bottom of the screen. Can you either offer an option to resize the graphic or other such control?

I should think some of this is down to the fact that you don't have a 6500 to test it with - as mentioned before you should give some though to a Paypal donation button as I am sure there are many here that would like to reward you for your efforts so far. Perhaps that new 6500 may be with you quicker than you thought!

Best wishes

Michael

Already built into the program. You can move, resize, rotate and reshape the cover art image to place it to avoid the TViX generated material. I don't have a M6500 to preset the positions for that model.

Click and drag your mouse in the rendering window to alter the cover art.

Upper left corner - resets
Left edge - drag up/down to change size of art
Bottom edge - drag left/right to rotate art
Center of window - drag to reposition
Right edge - drag up/down to reshape art.

We'll be considering the donation issue as the beta approaches its expiration date. (see about panel)

Thankyou for the RT options, especially the tomatometer :D:D:D

I notice on the WIB-T screen it has the year of release... is it easy to add that into your program?

+1 for donation

Adding the year is possible, but will require a major rework of how I'm storing the data for later use. That's assuming we want the output to continue looking nice. I could put it into the bottom like the other data pieces, but I don't like how that would look. So, adding the year behind the title means a non-trivial amount of work.

I'd be happy with the year added to the end of the synopsis like the one attached, or mixed in with the genre etc would be OK.

I thought I had the tomatometer returning the actual %figure, but now it seems to be just returning the viewer votes... did the last update change anything?

The program didn't change, but Rotten Tomatoes did. The website changed some format in the web pages so the parsing system wasn't picking anything up. What was showing up is info from another site but mislabeled as a Tomatometer rating. Working on a fix...

I'd be happy with the year added to the end of the synopsis like the one attached, or mixed in with the genre etc would be OK.

There's something in v 0.99 which should make you happy. I recommend enabling more than Rotten Tomatoes for the year search. Some movies don't list it so letting the program search several sites improves your odds.

The RT non-fetch problem is also fixed.

I'm happy :D

Thankyou!

Thanks for the instructions to resize the graphics Guy - it took me a few goes to master this as the thing was flying all over the screen when I tried to click and drag etc., Once you get the technique it is quite easy!

Thanks again, Mike

where do i find version 0.99 Downloaded on the first post but got 0.98 then

wrong place :-)

Thanks for the instructions to resize the graphics Guy - it took me a few goes to master this as the thing was flying all over the screen when I tried to click and drag etc., Once you get the technique it is quite easy!

Thanks again, Mike

Mike, could you PM me the contents of your tvix_gui_builder.prefs file? I'd like to copy your settings for the M6500 and put them into the program as a reset default which takes effect if the program is rendering for the larger size. Because you have arranged the graphics and text to fit for the 6500, your settings should work well as a default (and gets you YOUR settings as a one click default)

The file is at owner/Application Data/tvix_gui_builder.pref. You should be able to open it in notepad or your browser. Just copy the contents and paste into a PM. Thanks

where do i find version 0.99 Downloaded on the first post but got 0.98 then

Your browser is loading from cache instead of downloading. Empty your browser's cache (delete local files) and try downloading again.

Mike, could you PM me the contents of your tvix_gui_builder.prefs file?

All done Guy and sent to you as a PM.

Cheers

Mike

Mike, your text and icon settings for 1280 x 720 resolution are now the defaults when settings are reset while in 1280 x 720 rendering mode.

Version 1.00 b001 also should take care of the incorrect size upon launch issue when 1280 x 720 was last used.

Notice that you can specify the wallpaper output name separately for SD and HD resolution outputs. If DVICO ever implements separate names for SD and HD wallpapers, that will be useful. For now, that filename adjustability should also allow non-TVIX players to also take advantage of this program's output.

Mike, your text and icon settings for 1280 x 720 resolution are now the defaults when settings are reset while in 1280 x 720 rendering mode.

Version 1.00 b001 also should take care of the incorrect size upon launch issue when 1280 x 720 was last used.


Hi Guy, many thanks for this and congratulations for making it to v1! The size issue has been fixed and the positioning is fine for the 6500.

Have no issues at all with it (one for you - the version number has gone from the top of the screen) and the software has done a great job on my movie collection.

- What's next? How about an option for music? Perhaps a search through folders etc., to provide a similar icon driven (with album artwork) interface? Just a thought!

Best wishes, Mike

Wow, what a nice program! Finally my Tvixes will put the HTPC asleep! I realize the effort doing this, thanks!

As everyone else, I have a suggestion though :) :o
I have made it into practice to name my directories with the year of when the movie was released, which makes imdb hits closer to 100%, "The Haunting (1963)" for example. But Amazon does not like this, and I will not be presented with any good cover art.
So, I may rename all my folders, but then it would be nice, should there be multiple hits (remakes etc), to have a dialog to choose the correct movie to go for?

Thanks, it's been quite a departure from the original Mac only program I made only for my personal use.

Grab 1.00b002. That makes the version info show up again and.....

Vespaman, your Amazon vs year in the folder name problem is largely solved, but not quite in the manner you asked. The program now strips off the year from the keywords when searching Amazon so you'll now get info and cover art from Amazon. I've really tried to stay away from a multiple hit window because that would open up some difficulties. As it stands, the program does pretty well and I don't mind manually fixing up the few it gets wrong.

Fantastic app Guy - many thanks!

Would it be possible to add the option to select amazon.co.uk (for UK specific cover art)?

Agree Fantastic program - Would also like to select from amazon.co.uk.

Anyone got any backgrounds for a 6500 they would like to share?

Ps Sort yourself out a Paypal link :-;

Would it be possible to add the option to select amazon.co.uk (for UK specific cover art)?

This would be nice for those of us in the UK. Also amazon.co.uk tend to use 'proper' cover art rather than the ones turning up on amazon.com which has cover art with a DVD coming out the side.

I have to say though that I find myself turning more and more to google images in order to find the movie poster. This shows up really well on the menu screen plus the actual title page.

For those in the homeland of the MPH and Aston Martin..... Download 1.00 b003 :)

All pounds & feet here.
Thanks very much

Once again ....thank you for the great app.

One new issue i'm having, with the newer builds. Please look at the screen shot below, this is my wallpaper as it shows up in the render screen. The black bars on the top and bottom are not apart of the actual wallpaper file. When I render the wallpaper, the black bars are included in the tvix file. Why is this happening. I tried going back to a previous version (such as .84.84.0) and that version doesn't have an issue. Am I doing something wrong???

The background.jpg file i'm using is 720 x 480. The TVIX GUI Builder is also set to output as 720 x480. Am I doing something wrong???

http://www.hostdump.com/images/43363render.jpg

Hey Guy,
Great application.

Found a possible problem with the 6500 usage.

When creating thumbnails for the folders ...i.e option add icon.tvix to enclosing folder button, it creates the file icon.tvix but when loading the root folder via the 6500 it causes the unit to crash.

This used to work fine on the 4100, any ideas?

It would be nice to get this running as it gives a great feel to the listings screen, rather than browsing folder names, you can browse thumbnails.

Got another person to test on their setup, it crashed his 6500 as well.

All the best,

Thanks for your hard work.

Advocate86

Not sure this is going to help but it is not crashing on my 6500 FM 1.1.32.

amazon.co.uk working great - thanks again

Wizzo,

Thanks for that, I will have to roll back my FW and see what happens, but it is crashing with firmware 1.1.33 which will be dvico's next release, currently it is in beta state.

Will test and report back.

All the best,

Advocate86

I can't do much about the M6500's firmware crashing, but I have fixed jiffyj's wallpaper problem in 1.00 b004 The problem was caused by some changes made for the HD 1280 x 720 resolution. Should work properly with SD 720 x 480 again.

...I have to say though that I find myself turning more and more to google images in order to find the movie poster. This shows up really well on the menu screen plus the actual title page.

Don't forget that you can always drag and drop an image from your browser into the render window when the need to manually help the program arises.

I can't do much about the M6500's firmware crashing, but I have fixed jiffyj's wallpaper problem in 1.00 b004 The problem was caused by some changes made for the HD 1280 x 720 resolution. Should work properly with SD 720 x 480 again.

I grabbed 1.00 b004 today, however, the problem still exsists. I reset the settings & deleted the pref file to be sure, and verified that it says 1.00 b004 at the top of the window. But the render screen still has the black bars on top and bottom.

I grabbed 1.00 b004 today, however, the problem still exsists. I reset the settings & deleted the pref file to be sure, and verified that it says 1.00 b004 at the top of the window. But the render screen still has the black bars on top and bottom.

Sorry, I should have been more specific about how to fix the problem. The builds with the problem scaled the background image incorrectly and created a background.jpg file with black bars. The new version doesn't do that any more. However, the old, bad background.jpg won't get replaced with a good one until you tell the program to replace it by dragging a fresh background image into the Render window. Otherwise, it keeps grabbing the existing, bad, background.jpg that was generated by the older build.

Edit: Found another reason for the black bars to occur upon startup. Fixed in b005

Wow, have to say great job! I used WIB-T before, which was a great initiative but the application you've built and the support given is amazing. Thank for all your efforts, this has boosted the fun just browsing my tvix!

http://indigokuo.home.comcast.net/~indigokuo/tvix/settings.jpg

Added new setting under the 720 x 480 rendering size called AR Correct Wallpaper. This changes the contents of the rendered wallpaper to have correct aspect ratio when seen on a 16 x 9 display. If you wish to render in the old style, turn OFF this option. Note: this option has no effect on 1280 x 720 wallpaper rendering.

The reason this is needed to make text and artwork appear correct instead of too wide is that the pixels in 720 x 480 are NOT square when seen on a 16 x 9 screen. In order to look correct, the graphics and text need to be rendered slightly narrower to look correct on the TViX's output to a 16 x 9 screen. The original rendering scheme for 720 x 480 ignored this effect and produced output which has slightly too wide appearing text and graphics.

Couple of tips for 6500 users...

My 6500 was also hanging when displaying images. Once I resized all the graphics though to the new 1280 size it all started working again (it still gets confused and shows the wrong icon sometimes but at least it does not hang).

When I looked at the 'backgrounds though half the text was missing after some head scratching I realized that on my computer monitor the larger 'rendering' window was actually slightly off the screen. Dragging the window around so that it was completely displayed on the monitor solved that issue as well.

We move forward again........

tolax

Couple of tips for 6500 users...

......When I looked at the 'backgrounds though half the text was missing after some head scratching I realized that on my computer monitor the larger 'rendering' window was actually slightly off the screen. Dragging the window around so that it was completely displayed on the monitor solved that issue as well.......

tolax

That is a good tip. Some Windows PC video drivers won't render the pixels which are off screen. Others work just fine whether or not the rendering window is completely visible. Varies with the OpenGL implementation.

Hi
I wonder if i have missed this one.
But how do you go back to using the original backgroud if you had changed it with another photo?
Regards,

.....But how do you go back to using the original backgroud if you had changed it with another photo?

The program uses its built in default if it doesn't find a background.jpg file in the same folder as the application. So, to go completely back to the default background which is built in, quit the program and then delete the background.jpg file.

That's the only way to go back to default. If you're using your own backgrounds and don't want the default one, just drag your new background into the render window (provided the new file is over 700 pixels wide).

For those in the homeland of the MPH and Aston Martin..... Download 1.00 b003 :)Many thanks!

I may be doing something wrong, but if not, would it be possible to have the opportunity to edit the automatically generated render before it makes the changes to the folder!?

Hi

First i must say excellent work Guy ! Thanks

I have one question about batch jobs. I don't now if I'm doing something wrong or is bug possible ?

If starting batch job on for example 5 movies, start with first movie on the row i get this results :

1. movie - default wallpaper ( wallpaper when you start the program )
2. movie - wallpaper from the first movie
3. movie - wallpaper from the second movie .... and so on ..

Okram:rolleyes:

Hi

First i must say excellent work Guy ! Thanks

I have one question about batch jobs. I don't now if I'm doing something wrong or is bug possible ?

If starting batch job on for example 5 movies, start with first movie on the row i get this results :

1. movie - default wallpaper ( wallpaper when you start the program )
2. movie - wallpaper from the first movie
3. movie - wallpaper from the second movie .... and so on ..

Okram:rolleyes:

Are you sure that is what you are ending up with? More likely you are getting confused by what you are seeing on screen during the fetch and render process. For only a very brief moment during batch operations does the currently visible rendering match what is actually stored. Most of the time, you're looking at material which lags behind as the program fetches material from the web.

Check your actual folder contents and tell me if indeed you are seeing the wrong wallpaper stored in each folder.

No I'm not talking about what i see on the screen during the fetch and render process...
This is a actual folder contents.

3.10 to Yuma - default wallpaper
Click - 3.10 to Yuma wallpaper
Man to Land - Click walpaper

and so on .....

I did try this couple of time and every time i get the same results

I have all my movies on tvix M6500 hard drive and I do this directly in the movie folder on tvix.

Please do the following and let me know what you end up with. It will help me figure this one out. Haven't seen this before.

1. Turn on Use Local Art
2. Turn on Use Local Text
3. Turn on Autosave Render Local Text & Art

That combination tells the program to use the locally stored material so we don't have to worry about web fetches.

Sequentially, manually click on the films so they get processed one at a time.

See if the results are correct. This will let me isolate something going on with the batch processing logic vs the data render/save process.

If the results are correct, then use the same settings and once more run in batch mode.

Check if the results are any different between batch and single manual sequential

Fantastic program--easy to use and the results are very professional looking. Not sure if this is a bug in the program but I noticed that several of my movie files(out of 260+) do not display a movie cover image--just a folder image. I deleted them and started over following the same method I had done for the other movie folders that display correctly but still cannot get am image to display on the folder. Any thoughts?
Thanks

On some films, the search on Amazon doesn't result in definitive hit. In such cases, you don't automatically get cover art. That means manually dragging in cover art from a web browser.

One way of quickly looking through all the resultant wallpapers is to use the program HTML generation system. Then open the index.htm file in a browser. You can then go through all the wallpapers and verify the results after a batch run.

Guy.....
I looked through this forum but didn't see a link to download the Tvix GUI Builder. Sounds like it's available, I just don't know where. Thanks, John

Guy.....
I looked through this forum but didn't see a link to download the Tvix GUI Builder. Sounds like it's available, I just don't know where. Thanks, John

It is on the first page under the pictures. Look a little further on and you will see a line of text seperated by two lines of **********. A line or two further and there you go!

Thanks so much.... that's what I get for setting my preference to show most recent posts first.........Found it!

I did some test by your instructions and this is what i end up with.


1. Show only unprocessed folders - off
2. Automatically paste text and picts - off
3. Use local art - on
4. Use local text - on
5. Autosave - on

Manual processing each movie one by one... and the outcome is same as before.

3.10 to Yuma - default wallpaper
Aliens vs Predator - 3.10 to Yuma
American pie - Alien vs Predator
Children of Man - American Pie
Click - Children of Man

When i check folders Click wallpaper wasn't save anywhere. I left all wallpaper in folders and start batch processing with first movie and this is outcome.


Batch processing


3.10 to Yuma - Click wallpaper
Aliens vs Predator - 3.10 to Yuma
American Pie - Alien vs Predator
and the rest like on manual processing... the difference is only on first movie...


P.S. When i try manual once again, I do the manual saving after automatic saving for each movie...then every
wallpaper was in right folder.

Interesting... Is this under Vista or XP?

I downloaded Guy Kuo's TVIX GUI Builder app and instructions.

Just to make sure I am clear on this. I was under the impression (mistaken?) that movies HAD TO go into a folder named "VIDEO". So, when I set up that folder on my 6500A, I called mine "VIDEO" (not looking for trouble).

After reading Guy's instructions, seems like I could call my top level folder "My Movies" (instead of VIDEO) and it could be the enclosing folder for all of my individual movie folders. Or, do I need the "My Movies" folder inside the "VIDEO" folder? :confused:

under XP

.... was under the impression (mistaken?) that movies HAD TO go into a folder named "VIDEO". So, when I set up that folder on my 6500A, I called mine "VIDEO" (not looking for trouble)....:confused:

You can name your enclosing folder whatever you want. The requirement is that each movie's folder (the folder which contains the movie's media file or files) must be named to identify the movie.

My_interesting_Things_to_View could be your enclosing folder.

Inside of that you would have your movie folders like...

Superman

Inside of the your Superman folder you'd store your video_ts or iso, etc. files

The thing you cannot do is name the movie folder in a manner which cannot be used for looking up the movie on the web. In other words a movie folder for Superman shouldn't be named oddly like "Superman is my favorite"

That's because the program uses the name of the movie folder to find things on the web.

Thanks, Guy!! And thank you for making your application available. I'll be "exercising" it this weekend!

under XP

Fascinating. I think on your particular configuration the program's rendering and saving threads are somehow getting out of sync. The program is advancing to the next folder out of step with the saves. I'm looking into how this is happening as we've not run into that before.

When working with GUI builder and my TVIX box I'll be using a laptop with a wireless interconnection to the internet. I have connected that laptop to my TVIX with both USB A-B and with LAN crossover cable. I have a fixed IP address set up and have successfully used my FTP client to work with the TIVX.

Can I just connect to the TIVX with my LAN crossover cable and use the GUI builder or do I need to use the USB connection? My preference is LAN because my cable is longer and I can work on it from the comfort of my easy chair. :)

This is going to be a fun weekend!

I think you'll need to do it via the USB. The program needs read/write access to the drive as a normal volume. It won't work over FTP on a LAN. It's not an issue of wireless vs wired, but rather one of whether the drive appears on the host operating system as a mounted readable & writable volume.

If you have a utility which can make an FTP server (the TViX on a LAN) appear to Windows as a mounted volume, then it might work. Without such a utility, you have to use the USB drive mode of the TViX.

For this reason (and to be able to play back all my media on my laptops and other computers) most of my media is kept on an NFS server instead of the drive within the TViX. In fact, I'm planning on eventually removing that drive so I can do just what you want - access everything over wireless.

Fascinating. I think on your particular configuration the program's rendering and saving threads are somehow getting out of sync. The program is advancing to the next folder out of step with the saves. I'm looking into how this is happening as we've not run into that before.

I have seen the exact same behavior but since no one else was reporting a problem I figured it was something I was doing wrong. I am using Vista BTW.

I have seen the exact same behavior but since no one else was reporting a problem I figured it was something I was doing wrong. I am using Vista BTW.

Good. Another data point. Looks like an even firing sequence problem in the Windows version. I think I know where it is happening.

okram and kemac,

Please try version 1.01 b002. I think it will solve your problem, but unfortunately, I havve not been able to replicate the issue here so I can't verify the fix.

Repost of Message by JCTarvin in the M-6500A thread.


I downloaded the Tvix GUI builder app from mppclub.com. Also got a nicely written set of instructions by Hi-Jack that specifically address the 6500A.

Question 1: It seems the GUI Builder uses the movie info file. Does that still work if the media file is an .iso? I guess it would as the .iso should contain the VIDEO_TS file folder.... right??

Question 2: Have to build your own for .avi movies, right?

Question 3: Seems like 1280 x 720 is a weird aspect ratio. DVD box images that you can snag off the internet are not in that format. I'm good with PhotoShop, so can I just make a black 1280 x 720 image and drop my XXX x 720 DVD box image on top and save it as a flattened jpeg?

Repost of Message by JCTarvin in the M-6500A thread.

Question 1: It seems the GUI Builder uses the movie info file. Does that still work if the media file is an .iso? I guess it would as the .iso should contain the VIDEO_TS file folder.... right??

No. My TGB program doesn't actually use any of the media files. It merely uses the name of the movie's folder to form the search key when looking on the web for information. There isn't a particular file you need to create. You just have to make certain your media files are in movie folders, one movie folder for each movie.

Question 2: Have to build your own for .avi movies, right?

As per above, no you don't have to build a move info file. The program does build and store two files (coverart.guikuo and synopsis.guikuo) after it has processed a movie

Question 3: Seems like 1280 x 720 is a weird aspect ratio. DVD box images that you can snag off the internet are not in that format. I'm good with PhotoShop, so can I just make a black 1280 x 720 image and drop my XXX x 720 DVD box image on top and save it as a flattened jpeg?

1280 x 720 is 16:9 a common display ratio for home theaters and HDTV. I don't quite understand what you are trying to do with the described Photoshop manipulation.

okram and kemac,

Please try version 1.01 b002. I think it will solve your problem, but unfortunately, I havve not been able to replicate the issue here so I can't verify the fix.

The first move worked fine, however the second and subsequent movies would have the tvix.jpg of the previous movie. Deleting tvix.jpg and re-rendering fixes the current movie until moving on... Thanks for looking into this!

This might take a few rounds to figure out. My next suspect is the OpenGL driver getting its back and front buffers mixed up. 1.01 b003 tests that theory by forcing the Windows version to render the frame twice before saving.

Hello Guys,

Firts of all thanks for the incredible works. You prog really rocks.
If you have time to had some french site like amazon.fr or allocine.fr it will be very kind :)

Once again thanks for the really good work

Best Regards

Jeff

Hi Guy,

I have just started to see a new problem with the software when used with my 6500. It occurs when browsing folders and you will see a whole screen full of the same image for each folder regardless of content. For instance, I have a kids folder and within that the various films they watch such as Snow White. In this case you will see a whole screen full of the image that is present for Snow White! The quick cure to this is to go in to another folder where you will see the correct image, return to the main viewing screen and they will all be back!

This can happen with a whole screen of the same image or, occasionally, simple two images the same for neighboring folders. Always the fix described above cures it.

Is this an issue with the 6500 or the software?

Cheers, Mike

This might take a few rounds to figure out. My next suspect is the OpenGL driver getting its back and front buffers mixed up. 1.01 b003 tests that theory by forcing the Windows version to render the frame twice before saving.


Hi Guy


I tested new ver. 1.01 b003 now and i confirm, it works just fine now... with manual processing and with batch job.

All wallpapers are in correct folders. I forgot to tell in former posts that i use wireless connection from laptop to tvix trough samba server on tvix.

Great job... think about for PayPal option for contribution.

Thanks :)

Hello - I love this application, but it seems to have changed in a critical way.

I think it is great that it can look for artwork, but I used to be able to copy and paste my own artwork in if I wanted, (mainly because I always find the Amazon artwork really poor - I prefer the film posters, to the ugly DVD cover) - apparently this no longer works.

Is this deliberate - or is there an option I'm missing?

DukeV, you can still drag and drop your artwork to the redering view and it works fine for me.

Hope this help.

Regards

Hello - I love this application, but it seems to have changed in a critical way.

I think it is great that it can look for artwork, but I used to be able to copy and paste my own artwork in if I wanted, (mainly because I always find the Amazon artwork really poor - I prefer the film posters, to the ugly DVD cover) - apparently this no longer works.

Is this deliberate - or is there an option I'm missing?

I do this all the time as I too prefer the movie poster images (see a few earlier posts for this). I tend to let it process in batch mode then go back over to correct where needed. I then alternate switching the 'automatically paste text and pics' option as I don't always want to replace all of the text (for instance when the synopsis is a bit out). So, turn the option off for inserting portions of text then back on when I am off hunting for the images - works great!

Mmmm.... Desn't seem to work for me - I have attached a bug report generated.

Thanks everybody.