I have a number of movies that I have recorded OTA. I have been trying to make them consistently display information like the DVD would, or as much as possible. I have added some data to the file using EditDvrmsMetadata (synopsis, rating, actors, etc) and adding "WM/MediaIsMovie" flag where necessary.
I can get the folder to display cover art by just placing "folder.jpg" in the folder. That much is consistent. However, when I click on the movie (folder) in the "Video Library" strip, then the "i" button in the next screen, some things show up that I don't expect. For example, I edited "Happy Feet" and added the synopsis under "WM/SubTitleDescription" but what I see is a right-quote and a bunch of space. Also, instead of the "Happy Feet.jpg" I placed in the folder, it shows the default image of a movie reel (boring!).
I am trying to use VMC's default behaviours (maybe I'm just fooling myself) and would rather not throw an add-on at it until I have thoroughly exhausted alternatives. Someone out there must know the "secret key" (why it seems to be secret is beyond me) to where and how things get diplayed on the screen.
If someone could point me to the door, I could probably get through it. The problem is I haven't yet found the right door.
Well, I managed to finally find the "magic door"!
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384495(VS.85).aspx
Yahoo!
Important attributes:
Hope this helps someone else out there searching.
gildavis:Hope this helps someone else out there searching.
Pixelz:Certainly helped me, Thanks.
Pixelz: Interestingly for WTV files in Recorded TV that are movies, I can add a jpg with the same name to get artwork in the DVD Library too. But DVR-MS movie files in Recorded TV which I tag as WM/MediaIsMovie=True, do NOT appear (with or without artwork).
I don't know anything about WTV files except they are used in Windows 7 instead of DVR-MS.
More WM/MediaClassSecondaryID's:
gildavis:Did you also add WM/DVDID, WM/MediaClassPrimaryID and WM/MediaClassSecondaryID?
Did you also add WM/DVDID, WM/MediaClassPrimaryID and WM/MediaClassSecondaryID?
Pixelz:I did add a DVDID tag, but had no value so I left it blank.
More information:
I decided to try adding my movies directory to "more TV locations", because I like the way "DVD Library" shows things more than I do "Video Library". I'll put up with them also being in "Recorded TV" for now. It may get gruesome if I add more movies, though.
I can't tell where the cover art is for the "Movie Details" page. It seems to be the <moviename>.jpg until you select "cast + more", then for some movies it changes. I do not see any new entries in DvdInfoCache.
Any ideas?
Another resource with more on metadata:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms867702.aspx
Too bad it doesn't list any metadata specifically for Media Center. Not even a mention of MC.
Still no clues as to where the thumbnail that appears in "Recorded TV" lives. The ones made by VideoReDo or ones made on my XP machine do not show any pics in the "Recorded TV" strip. Only ones that were recorded by the VMC have thumbnails and not very good ones, usually.
gildavis: I decided to try adding my movies directory to "more TV locations", because I like the way "DVD Library" shows things more than I do "Video Library". I'll put up with them also being in "Recorded TV" for now. For a cover to appear in the DVD Library, you need a <moviename>.jpg in the directory along with <moviename>.dvr-ms. The <moviename> must match. I can't tell where the cover art is for the "Movie Details" page. It seems to be the <moviename>.jpg until you select "cast + more", then for some movies it changes. I do not see any new entries in DvdInfoCache. Any ideas?
I decided to try adding my movies directory to "more TV locations", because I like the way "DVD Library" shows things more than I do "Video Library". I'll put up with them also being in "Recorded TV" for now.
For a cover to appear in the DVD Library, you need a <moviename>.jpg in the directory along with <moviename>.dvr-ms. The <moviename> must match.
I suspect the cover art used for movie details depends on the movie format. For DVD VOB folders I think it uses a DVDInfoCache entry (if present) or else Folder.jpg -- whereas for .dvr-ms and .wtv movies it uses <name>.jpg for the Library Covers, but NOT for the Details page (where it always seems to default to a thumbnail, regardless of any cover art you supply).
gildavis: For a cover to appear in the DVD Library, you need a <moviename>.jpg in the directory along with <moviename>.dvr-ms. The <moviename> must match.
I have eliminated all extra files (jpg and xml) from the directory and now Vista manages to find the movie data by itself. I stopped the Yammm service since it kept changing the file name. If the DVDID, title and file name match up, Vista finds the rest by itself. However, it may be slow about it and it obviously won't work if you don't have an internet connection because it apparently does not cache the data in a way that it can reuse it.
Well, right after I configured all my Recorded TV movies with artwork for the DVD gallery, I upgraded to Windows 7 RTM. Unlike my Music Library which is on a read-only share, my DVDs Folder and my Recorded TV Folder were both writable. After the upgrade Win7 had trashed almost all the artwork with lo-res pictures from AMG, and trashed the synopses and cast-list, even where it had no matches of it's own.
So be warned. I'd recommend making your movie folders read-only for a Win7 upgrade, unless you don't have any meta-data you want preserved.
I've started fixing my DVD gallery, but the jpg's in Recorded TV seem to be ignored by Win7. Anyone know if Recorded TV movies can be manually configured post-Vista?