2014-07-22, 10:19
I'd like a strict standard on the following features:
1. Actor Photos
Implement an Actor folder in XBMC for downloading to. If multiple movies have the
same actor, XBMC will check that folder to see if that actor already has a photo. If not,
download it. If so, any movie with that actor will simply pull from the same photo.
Do this instead of just linking to an online photo which may vanish, had it's link
changed, etc.
2. File naming
Pick a standard name for files like Disc.PNG for the disc image, or logo.png. Make it
the same across the board. Some skins look for <Movie name>-Poster.jpg instead
of just poster.jpg, for example.
Just pick ONE name that the program always understands.
3. Speaking of file names...
Have a "collection.png" option. We can then have a folder hierarchy like so:
/Alien Collection
-collection.png
/Alien Collection/Alien (1979)
-fanart.jpg
-logo.png
-poster.jpg
/Alien Collection/Aliens (1986)
-fanart.jpg
-logo.png
-poster.jpg
You get the idea.
Anyhow, what I'm thinking about doing is creating a spot on my
domain to host "movie files" so folks always have a place to just
download all the files for a particular movie that they can just
copy directly into their folders without having to worry about
naming conventions. So if you have the movie "Kick Ass", you
can download the .zip files from my site and it will contain
the banner.jpg, clearart.png, disc.png, fanart.jpg, landscape.jpg,
logo.png, theme.mp3, and poster.jpg. If XBMC had a strict standard, this would
be an extremely easy process without having to worry about extra add-ons
and so forth.
EDIT
Almost forgot #4
I'll be adding an NFO file as well. What I'd like to see is XBMC recognize the
area someone is in (an option in XBMC) so that it can pull relevant data from
the NFO file while ignoring the option from other countries. Most notable example:
MPAA rating. Our rating system in the US isn't the same around the world. So in the
NFO file I could create tags for various ratings and XBMC would display only the relevant
one for a particular user.
1. Actor Photos
Implement an Actor folder in XBMC for downloading to. If multiple movies have the
same actor, XBMC will check that folder to see if that actor already has a photo. If not,
download it. If so, any movie with that actor will simply pull from the same photo.
Do this instead of just linking to an online photo which may vanish, had it's link
changed, etc.
2. File naming
Pick a standard name for files like Disc.PNG for the disc image, or logo.png. Make it
the same across the board. Some skins look for <Movie name>-Poster.jpg instead
of just poster.jpg, for example.
Just pick ONE name that the program always understands.
3. Speaking of file names...
Have a "collection.png" option. We can then have a folder hierarchy like so:
/Alien Collection
-collection.png
/Alien Collection/Alien (1979)
-fanart.jpg
-logo.png
-poster.jpg
/Alien Collection/Aliens (1986)
-fanart.jpg
-logo.png
-poster.jpg
You get the idea.
Anyhow, what I'm thinking about doing is creating a spot on my
domain to host "movie files" so folks always have a place to just
download all the files for a particular movie that they can just
copy directly into their folders without having to worry about
naming conventions. So if you have the movie "Kick Ass", you
can download the .zip files from my site and it will contain
the banner.jpg, clearart.png, disc.png, fanart.jpg, landscape.jpg,
logo.png, theme.mp3, and poster.jpg. If XBMC had a strict standard, this would
be an extremely easy process without having to worry about extra add-ons
and so forth.
EDIT
Almost forgot #4
I'll be adding an NFO file as well. What I'd like to see is XBMC recognize the
area someone is in (an option in XBMC) so that it can pull relevant data from
the NFO file while ignoring the option from other countries. Most notable example:
MPAA rating. Our rating system in the US isn't the same around the world. So in the
NFO file I could create tags for various ratings and XBMC would display only the relevant
one for a particular user.