[RELEASE] Video/Audio Screensaver: Directory
#16
I just installed your repo and tested this Addon on a Raspberry Pi running Openelec -- works great! I have a few questions/suggestions:

Question: Does this addon support playing all items within a directory/folder, or do you always have to create a SmartPlaylist?

EDIT/ANSWER: I can't believe I missed the other addon in your repo called "Video/Audio Screensaver: *Directory*". I think that will solve the question.


My use case:I'm trying to configure an XBMC setup (on a Raspberry Pi and small monitor) for a friend that automatically boots to the screensaver function and displays all media from within a folder (photos and video). Sort of like a dynamic digital picture frame. That media folder will be on a shared network drive (maybe even Dropbox) so that people can place family photos/videos in the folder. Every time the XBMC box starts up, it will begin the show with all the new/updated media. The user can exit the show whenever they want, and then use XBMC as usual. I think your addon will be PERFECT for this.

And THANKS for putting all your addons together - the InfinityList.com addon is really great.
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#17
After doing some more testing with this, I'm having some trouble getting it to work reliably with certain file types.

-I have a directory with various video files, but the addon does not recognize M4V or FLV files. It recognizes some MP4s and all of the MKV files I've tried, but it does not recognize any M4V or FLV files.

I've switched various files in and out of the folder and it seems that none of the M4V or FLV files are working. If I fill the directory with only FLV and M2V it gives a 'no videos found' error. I'm not sure what video formats are supported, so perhaps I just need to convert everything if these formats will not work. It is also possible that this could be a problem with my setup (Raspberry Pi with Openelec).


Last question: Would it be possible to add some sort of support for images? Perhaps some sort of context menu that allows you to choose what type of media you want to play/filter from the folder (Video, Audio, Pictures). For pictures a simple fade in/out with a fade duration option would be more than enough.


Thanks again for all the great work on this plugin.
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#18
Do those files play in XBMC outside of this screensaver add-on (Videos > Files)?
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#19
Good question. I tested all the video files by adding them in a new Video source folder. I tested the XBMC video folder again the addon screensaver -- here's what I was able to figure out:

AVI - Both good
MP4 - Both good
M2V - Both fail
FLV - Both good (after some troubleshooting)

There were some problems playing FLV files (no audio/video) but after even more troubleshooting this seemed to be an issue with the RPi -- I reformatted my SD card and put a fresh version of Openelec on it and that seems to have solved the issues with FLV playback.

So it just seems like these are unsupported file types within XBMC - glad you thought to suggest the check.


Still wondering from ASDE whether there's any chance for image support in a future release? Thanks for the help!
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#20
(2013-08-29, 22:14)dl371 Wrote: My use case:I'm trying to configure an XBMC setup (on a Raspberry Pi and small monitor) for a friend that automatically boots to the screensaver function and displays all media from within a folder (photos and video). Sort of like a dynamic digital picture frame. That media folder will be on a shared network drive (maybe even Dropbox) so that people can place family photos/videos in the folder. Every time the XBMC box starts up, it will begin the show with all the new/updated media. The user can exit the show whenever they want, and then use XBMC as usual. I think your addon will be PERFECT for this.
Yes, you should be able to to do this with this addon - maybe the simplest solution is to use it in combination with this addon.
If you only want to playback media files on startup, it should also be possible via the build in functions: PlayMedia() / SlideShow().

(2013-08-30, 04:07)dl371 Wrote: There were some problems playing FLV files (no audio/video) but after even more troubleshooting this seemed to be an issue with the RPi -- I reformatted my SD card and put a fresh version of Openelec on it and that seems to have solved the issues with FLV playback.

So it just seems like these are unsupported file types within XBMC - glad you thought to suggest the check.
I changed the filetype filter, so it's non case sensitive now. Maybe you had some files not played because of that. But what i read so far, the RPi still has problems with some files...

(2013-08-30, 04:07)dl371 Wrote: Still wondering from ASDE whether there's any chance for image support in a future release? Thanks for the help!
There is already a great image slideshow screensaver with a lot of settings/effects available - so i won't integrate image support...
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#21
(2013-09-01, 00:39)AddonScriptorDE Wrote: Yes, you should be able to to do this with this addon - maybe the simplest solution is to use it in combination with this addon.
If you only want to playback media files on startup, it should also be possible via the build in functions: PlayMedia() / SlideShow().

Thanks VERY much for the information. I hadn't considered Playmedia() or the addon you suggested -- that will make scripting this whole thing much easier, and I should have greater control over the process. I might try to map a keypress using GPIO output on the RPi so that pushing the button will start/stop the screensaver.


(2013-09-01, 00:39)AddonScriptorDE Wrote: I changed the filetype filter, so it's non case sensitive now. Maybe you had some files not played because of that. But what i read so far, the RPi still has problems with some files...

I updated the add-on to test with your new file naming, but I am having a problem in the "Settings" -> "Directory" section. Would it be possible to allow the user to manually enter a directory path, instead of being forced to choose from the file navigator/directory?

In other words, could you present the user with the same menu that appears on the "Add Video Source" menu in the standard 'Videos' section in XBMC? That way the user can manually enter a path, or choose to use the file navigator (see attached image).

The reason I this is useful is because my file path is not available in the directory navigator. I'm using a Samba share, and I have to enter the actual IP address of the path in order for the share to work properly. Just choosing the share from the navigator doesn't work, because I can't specify an IP or valid path.

Thanks again!

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#22
(2013-09-04, 06:32)dl371 Wrote: I updated the add-on to test with your new file naming, but I am having a problem in the "Settings" -> "Directory" section. Would it be possible to allow the user to manually enter a directory path, instead of being forced to choose from the file navigator/directory?

In other words, could you present the user with the same menu that appears on the "Add Video Source" menu in the standard 'Videos' section in XBMC? That way the user can manually enter a path, or choose to use the file navigator (see attached image).

The reason I this is useful is because my file path is not available in the directory navigator. I'm using a Samba share, and I have to enter the actual IP address of the path in order for the share to work properly. Just choosing the share from the navigator doesn't work, because I can't specify an IP or valid path.
Only pre-defined dialogs are accessible via the addon settings. So, i can't implement the same dialog as "Add video source" uses...
You should be able to browse for your network share (with the current dialog) - it's working for me. If you really have some network issues and cant browse for the share,
you have to edit the "videoDir" setting in ".../XBMC/userdata/addon_data/script.screensaver.video_folder/settings.xml" manually.
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#23
Great screensaver! I use it all the time.
Won't work with some recent nightlies like: XBMCSetup-20131006-a451f13-master.exe 07-Oct-2013 07:58
Always get this error http://pastebin.com/U13zQX27
Win7 x64 using portable mode. Audio set to analog direct sound 2 channels. Tried WASAPI, DS, HDMI, different devices, all same error.
If I install this nightly XBMCSetup-20130929-494c67a-master.exe 30-Sep-2013 07:40 it works properly again.
Sometime after that nightly, it stopped working. Maybe something in the audio engine changed? Something is breaking it. Any ideas?
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#24
If I delete lines 86, and 87

match=re.compile('(.+?) dB', re.DOTALL).findall(currentVolume)
currentVolume = int((float(match[0])+60.0)/60.0*100.0)

it works again with a current nightly. But then I lose the options for volume control.

Anyone know how to resolve this code? I know nothing about writing any code. Doesn't seem like it would be too hard to fix.
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#25
(2013-10-10, 19:44)Dixon Butz Wrote: If I delete lines 86, and 87

match=re.compile('(.+?) dB', re.DOTALL).findall(currentVolume)
currentVolume = int((float(match[0])+60.0)/60.0*100.0)

it works again with a current nightly. But then I lose the options for volume control.

Anyone know how to resolve this code? I know nothing about writing any code. Doesn't seem like it would be too hard to fix.
The volume string seems to has changed in the current nightlies.
When i wrote the addon, this was the only solution i found after a quick search. I will have a look at it again.
If there is no better way of getting the volume, i will just edit the regex string to match both versions...
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#26
I'm trying to download/install this screensaver. I managed to install the repo, but this particular add-on is not showing up. I tried to download it from github and install it manually but I'm getting an invalid structure error....

Any ideas?

Thx.

Chris.
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#27
(2013-12-22, 01:20)ckm5 Wrote: I'm trying to download/install this screensaver. I managed to install the repo, but this particular add-on is not showing up. I tried to download it from github and install it manually but I'm getting an invalid structure error....

Any ideas?

Thx.

Chris.
If my repo is empty, try a "Force refresh" via the context menu (key 'c'). Or is only this addon missing?
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#28
No, it's not empty. There are a lot of addons marked as broken, but some are OK and do install, but I don't even see this particular addon.....
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#29
(2013-12-22, 02:19)ckm5 Wrote: No, it's not empty. There are a lot of addons marked as broken, but some are OK and do install, but I don't even see this particular addon.....

Are you on Gotham build?
I'm running Frodo and they are there.

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#30
(2013-12-22, 02:19)ckm5 Wrote: No, it's not empty. There are a lot of addons marked as broken, but some are OK and do install, but I don't even see this particular addon.....
I guess you are using gotham. I now updated the addons so that they are working on gotham too.
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[RELEASE] Video/Audio Screensaver: Directory1