HOW-TO create video-preview thumbnails on a PC for XBMC

hoki_goujons · 2006-09-22 07:38

This is a way of getting a thumbnail for videos that show a screenshot from the vid. I find it useful for folders of TV shows, where I forget which ep I'm up to if I just leave it as the name foo-s01-e01.avi Smile

You need ffmpeg on your PC, preferably in your path - put the exe in windows\system32 or add its location to your path.

Then open a command prompt, go to the folder containing your vids and do

Code:

for %i in (*.avi) do ffmpeg -i %i -f mjpeg -t 0.001 -ss 5 -y %~ni.tbn

That goes through all the avi files in the folder and creates a jpeg (actually with a .tbn extension for XBMC) of the frame 5 seconds in, with the same name as the avi. Then set that folder in XBMC to show in thumbs view and you're away!. Alter the number after '-ss' to change how far in you want the grab taken. Change *.avi to be whatever the extension of your vids is.

Not rocket science, but I found it useful and thought I'd share.

jgawera · 2006-09-22 13:48

Thanks, so simple, so cool.

kugai · 2006-09-28 07:36

Nice idea. Here are my embellishments.

You need quotes to deal with filenames with spaces:

Code:

for %i in (*.avi) do ffmpeg -i "%i" -f mjpeg -t 0.001 -ss 5 -y "%~ni.tbn"

And here is one for recursively doing directories:

Code:

for /r %i in (*.avi) do ffmpeg -i "%i" -f mjpeg -t 0.001 -ss 5 -y "%~di%~pi%~ni.tbn"

gzusrawx · 2006-09-28 19:07

Has anyone or does anyone know how to do this in linux?

Bazzio · 2006-09-29 16:53

"unable to find a suitable output format for 'videoname.tbn'"

i keep getting this error

any ideas?

hoki_goujons · 2006-09-29 21:24

Kugai - good stuff, I was just looking around for how to do spaces :-)

gzusrawx - Not off the top of my head. Some kind of find -exec with a bit of awk goodness to do the filename would be my guess.

Bazzio - are you using a current version of ffmpeg? Try changing '.tbn' for 'jpg' or try -singlejpeg instead of -mjpeg

sCAPe · 2006-09-30 01:04

Just wanted to say thanks to you guys for sharing your ideas and tricks. Wink

I just created a page in the online-manual for creating the preview-thumbnails.
http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/wiki/inde...thumbnails

Please have a look at that page and tell me if i have included any mistakes/typos.. Big Grin

Bazzio · 2006-09-30 11:33

no i dont think i do have the latest.
is is mplayer i need?
I cant seem to find just ffmpeg to put in windows/system32

if you could give me some links or explain this that would be great!
Thanks

Bazzio · 2006-09-30 16:39

ok i got the latest version sorted, but now i have a new error

"swScaler: 0x0 ( is not supported as output format
Cannot get resampling context"

hoki_goujons · 2006-09-30 20:37

sCAPe - I'm honoured :-) Looks good to me.

Bazzio - I don't know what that error is. Maybe your version is too recent (http://lists.mplayerhq.hu/pipermail/ffmp...13856.html) - what damn fool told you to use the latest version? ;-) The one I'm using is SVN-r5570, you can try mine if you like (http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~pravda/foo/ffmpeg.exe).
Have you tried it with a few different types of file?

jgawera Senior Member Posts: 221 Joined: Oct 2004 Reputation: 0 Location: UK	2006-09-22 13:48 Post: #2 Thanks, so simple, so cool.
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kugai Junior Member Posts: 7 Joined: Sep 2006 Reputation: 0	2006-09-28 07:36 Post: #3 Nice idea. Here are my embellishments. You need quotes to deal with filenames with spaces: Code: `for %i in (.avi) do ffmpeg -i "%i" -f mjpeg -t 0.001 -ss 5 -y "%~ni.tbn"` And here is one for recursively doing directories: Code: `for /r %i in (.avi) do ffmpeg -i "%i" -f mjpeg -t 0.001 -ss 5 -y "%~di%~pi%~ni.tbn"`
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gzusrawx Fan Posts: 383 Joined: Aug 2006 Reputation: 0 Location: Massachusetts	2006-09-28 19:07 Post: #4 Has anyone or does anyone know how to do this in linux?
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Bazzio Junior Member Posts: 29 Joined: Jan 2006 Reputation: 0	2006-09-29 16:53 Post: #5 "unable to find a suitable output format for 'videoname.tbn'" i keep getting this error any ideas?
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hoki_goujons Junior Member Posts: 15 Joined: Aug 2006 Reputation: 0	2006-09-29 21:24 Post: #6 Kugai - good stuff, I was just looking around for how to do spaces :-) gzusrawx - Not off the top of my head. Some kind of find -exec with a bit of awk goodness to do the filename would be my guess. Bazzio - are you using a current version of ffmpeg? Try changing '.tbn' for 'jpg' or try -singlejpeg instead of -mjpeg
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Bazzio Junior Member Posts: 29 Joined: Jan 2006 Reputation: 0	2006-09-30 11:33 Post: #8 no i dont think i do have the latest. is is mplayer i need? I cant seem to find just ffmpeg to put in windows/system32 if you could give me some links or explain this that would be great! Thanks
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Bazzio Junior Member Posts: 29 Joined: Jan 2006 Reputation: 0	2006-09-30 16:39 Post: #9 ok i got the latest version sorted, but now i have a new error "swScaler: 0x0 ( is not supported as output format Cannot get resampling context" (This post was last modified: 2006-09-30 16:44 by Bazzio.)
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