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A Mac and Windows Movie Wallpaper GUI Generator for Media Players

391K views 1K replies 233 participants last post by  prebber 
#1 ·
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.



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


Windows PC version can be downloaded from

Movie GUI Builder for Windows PC


(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.)
 
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#27 ·
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.
 
#29 ·
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.
 
#32 ·
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.
 
#33 ·
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
 
#34 ·
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.
 
#35 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by humorme201 /forum/post/12597404


...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.
 
#38 ·
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??
 
#41 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by michaelm2007 /forum/post/12630637


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.
 
#42 ·
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
 
#43 ·
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?
 
#44 ·
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.
 
#45 ·
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?
 
#46 ·
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
 
#47 ·
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.
 
#49 ·
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.)
 
#50 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Max_Anderson /forum/post/12673245


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.
 
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