[jonathan.holvey]

Edit: See work-around below.

Hi,

I'm not sure this is a problem with the iPlayer add-on or XBMC itself, but I thought I'd see if anyone has any ideas before posting a bug report for the add-on. So...

I am having an issue with the thumbnails from BBC iPlayer video streams showing up correctly in the video OSD. The most annoying part is that I have several computers, all running Windows 7 and identical XBMC build numbers (Git:20130127-fb595f2) with the same version of the iPlayer add-on (v2.4.17), but only one of these computers will show the correct thumbnails in the OSD. The others all show the correct thumbnail in the library menu, but a generic video icon in the OSD.

I have checked the log files from both systems and there are several lines that look interesting. The following was taken from the working system's (System A) log file:

Code:

12:57:20 T:6828  NOTICE: iplayer2.py: INFO thumb =http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/images/episode/b01qh3bb_512_288.jpg   summary=In the world's most volcanic region, South East Asia, Prof Brian Cox explores the thin line that separates the living from the dead, posing the enduring question: what is life?
12:57:20 T:6828  NOTICE: iplayer2.py: INFO Reusing existing thumbfile =C:\Users\Jon\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\userdata\Thumbnails\Video\0\0c9e17c2.tbn for url plugin://plugin.video.iplayer/?pid=b01qh3bb&feed_channel=bbc_two
12:57:20 T:6828  NOTICE: iplayer2.py: INFO URL Fetch took 0.03 sec for http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/images/episode/b01qh3bb_512_288.jpg

The systems which don't work (System B) have an additional line directly beneath this:

Code:

12:57:20 T:6828  NOTICE: iplayer2.py: INFO URL Fetch took 0.00 sec for http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/4/mtis/stream/b01qh3b6

And later on, while displaying the OSD on System B:

Code:

12:57:23 T:6640   ERROR: Texture manager unable to load file: C:\Users\Jon\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\userdata\Thumbnails\Video\0\0c9e17c2.tbn

I have checked and the 0c9e17c2.tbn thumbnail file is present in System A, along with many others in subfolders of the ...\Thumbnails\Video\ folder, whereas System B has only a ...\Thumbnails\Video\Bookmarks\ folder, and no thumbnail files at all. Interestingly, if I copy 0c9e17c2.tbn from System A to System B then the thumbnail for that particular stream will show correctly in the OSD.

I have also checked the script which generates the Reusing existing thumbfile log on System B, and it is identical to that on System A.

Lastly I have checked the results of backing up and removing the ...\AppData\Roaming\XBMC\ folder and starting from scratch. After installing only the iPlayer add-on the behaviour of System A and System B is the same, and neither system will show the correct thumbnail in the OSD.

From here I don't know what to do. Is this being caused by some kind of user setting, or is it more complicated? I would be very grateful if anyone has an idea which will shed some light on it.

Cheers,
Jon

[jonathan.holvey]

While playing around with this problem I have stumbled across the cause and an easy work-around.

It seems that if the directory that the thumbnail is to be stored in does not exist then the thumbnail file will simply be lost. You can get round this problem by creating all the necessary folders inside ...\XBMC\userdata\Thumbnails\Video\. These should be named 0-9 and a-f, making a total of 16 new folders. The quickest way to do this (on Windows) is to open the command prompt and enter the following:

Code:

cd %appdata%\XBMC\userdata\Thumbnails\Video\
md 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 a b c d e f

[Khad]

Hello,

Same problem here, hardware is a Pivos XIOS DS Media Play and software is XBMC Frodo. Some movies had thumbnails on OSD, some hadn't.

Your workaround worked fine, thank you very much !

Khad

[Khad]

Ooops, the problem is still here.

I can see all the thumbnails when browsing videos, but some movies don't display the thumbnail on osd (skin is confluence).

I can't see any error in the log.

Any clue ?

[jonathan.holvey]

I now think that the issue is due to a typo in the plugin. Removing the string "Videos" from line 862 of default.py results in everything working as expected. I'm assuming that this change results in the plugin re-using the thumbnail from the menu, rather than creating a new one inside the ...\Thumbnails\Video\ folders, which should never have existed in the first place.

I've informed the developers and they are going to look into it.

I can see all the thumbnails when browsing videos, but some movies don't display the thumbnail on osd (skin is confluence).

Note that this issue only relates to the iPlayer plugin for XBMC.