Make fanarts to work fast in AppleTV, convertion tools and Instructions all OS
#1
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Since there are a few threads scatter around about this I will post the neccesary tools to convert and compress fanart for easy browse and flow in Apple TV here, like batches and scripts to make it work depends of the OS.

Nvidia Texture Tool 2 for Windows
Nvidia Texture Tool 2 for MAC/Linux

Windows
Windows batch download
batch features: detect and convert tbns->jpgs, detect if dds exist in folder so wont overwrite and ask for the deletion of the jpgs when finish.
First
Add this line to your AdvancedSettings.xml so XBMC could use .dds images instead of tbn.
Code:
<useddsfanart>true</useddsfanart>

Second
Edit the path to your Nvidia texture tools in the batch since I have a x64 system mine "Program Files" folder is named "Program Files(x86)" you may need to delete the "(x86)" part from the path. this is the line to edit just the path
Code:
for %%f in (*.jpg) do "C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA Texture Tools 2\bin\nvcompress.exe" -fast -bc1 %%f

Third
copy over the fanart from "userdata/Thumbnails/Video/Fanart" to your desktop for example and run the batch, the batch need to be in the same place as the images you just copy over. when finish copy the newly created dds files back to "userdata/Thumbnails/Video/Fanart". thats it.

MAC
Mac OS script
*Thanks to DV3B, if you optimized or change the script let me know.
The same instructions apply with a bit of changes accordingly to the OS like the path in the script.

Linux
If someone have a batch or script please post it.



More Reading
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=69222
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=59115

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jmarshall Wrote:Note that as of r28714, XBMC will create .dds versions (indiscriminately) of .tbn files at viewing time if you use the <useddsfanart> advancedsetting.
clearArt Concept
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#2
Thanks reaven for putting this info together. I'll give it a try tomorrow
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#3
I have a basic one for linux
save this in a file, and then
chmod +x <the file>

for file in $1/*.jpg
do
echo ${file} is about to be operated on!
nvcompress ${file} -bc1;
done;

alternatively you can use tbn2dds (i couldn't get it to work, but looks like it does error checking etc)

http://wyvern.midgaard.us/tbn2dds.sh

google it to find more info in google cache
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#4
thanks...
clearArt Concept
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#5
I've moved this the Fanart section but left a Sticky redirection in Alaska.
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#6
Note that as of r28714, XBMC will create .dds versions (indiscriminately) of .tbn files at viewing time if you use the <useddsfanart> advancedsetting.

Note that in some cases the DDS version may not be suitable due to quality being too poor. We need to identify a good benchmark for this so that we can have quality (at the expense of extra load time) where we need it.

If you find images the produce bad looking DDS equivalents, please make a note of them. I'll add some logging to dump out the error, so to work out the error that XBMC sees, just remove the .dds file and have XBMC regenerate it, then look in the log for the dds error.

Cheers,
Jonathan
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.


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#7
It works really well. But is I cannot get it to work for music fanart. Is it that dds support is not implemented yet for music library, or am I missing something?
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#8
Sounds like you ran the above scripts on your video fanart folder only.

To be clear: You do not need to do the above if you have XBMC r28714 or higher.
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.


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#9
jmarshall Wrote:Note that as of r28714, XBMC will create .dds versions (indiscriminately) of .tbn files at viewing time if you use the <useddsfanart> advancedsetting.

Note that in some cases the DDS version may not be suitable due to quality being too poor. We need to identify a good benchmark for this so that we can have quality (at the expense of extra load time) where we need it.

If you find images the produce bad looking DDS equivalents, please make a note of them. I'll add some logging to dump out the error, so to work out the error that XBMC sees, just remove the .dds file and have XBMC regenerate it, then look in the log for the dds error.

Cheers,
Jonathan
This is very exciting! Thanks Wink
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#10
jmarshall Wrote:Sounds like you ran the above scripts on your video fanart folder only.

To be clear: You do not need to do the above if you have XBMC r28714 or higher.

Yes I did run the scripts on my Music fanart folder. Fanart are showing at the Album detail/songs level but not at the artists or albums levels of the library Huh
I am running 27527. Not sure it is skin related because it does that in all skins including confluence.
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#11
Hitcher Wrote:I've moved this the Fanart section but left a Sticky redirection in Alaska.

thanks Hitcher !

jmarshall Wrote:Note that as of r28714, XBMC will create .dds versions (indiscriminately) of .tbn files at viewing time if you use the <useddsfanart> advancedsetting.

great news, thanks !
hope to get my hands on that svn as soon as it get avaliable on the nightlies.Cool

Quote:Note that in some cases the DDS version may not be suitable due to quality being too poor. We need to identify a good benchmark for this so that we can have quality (at the expense of extra load time) where we need it.
so you need to decide what level of compression XBMC is going to use without compromise too much quality and still get faster load times at least in the Apple TV.
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#12
I built r28744 yesterday and enabled dds thumbnails. I cannot perceive any quality loss, even when I'm 50 cm away from my screen. Some of the fan art seem to be a bit grained, but I have to check how the pictures look with the .tbn ones to compare.
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#13
Correct. Currently there's really only the one option (as fanart and thumbs generally have no alpha), DXT1. This works pretty well for the most part, though some images that have a large number of "constant" blocks may look quite blocky - this is where I notice the quality degradation, though to be honest I have to look quite closely.

I have a new metric that basically weights any block that is close to being a constant color 5 times higher than other blocks which seems to work OK. I'll get that into SVN later tonight.

Still lots of other stuff to work on (the whole thumbs db side of things) - atm if you change thumbs the .dds file isn't updated.

Cheers,
Jonathan
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.


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#14
jmarshall Wrote:Note that as of r28714, XBMC will create .dds versions (indiscriminately) of .tbn files at viewing time if you use the <useddsfanart> advancedsetting.

Is DDS now also coded for thumbs since r28714 or still only fanart?
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#15
i have downloaded the fanart folder run the script, deleted the jpgs and uploaded back to the folder.

I also created an advancedsettings.xml and placed it under the userdata folder root.

this is what it contains

Quote:<advancedsettings>
<useddsfanart>true</useddsfanart>
</advancedsettings>

it doesnt seem to work. i am using xbmc (SVN:26018) under ubuntu on my asrock ion 330ht-bd. should i update to another build? How do i update my current XBMC to the latest nightly build? Is there any way so can get notified or automate the process? Do i just download from here http://sshcs.com/xbmc/, this file xbmc_28614-1_i386.deb and do what?

And last, if i refresh the information from a movie, i must redo the batch process for every fanart? or should i start using ember media manager and start putting my movies into folders along with all their files, and disabling auto-scraping?

Thanks in advance


PS: if anyone can suggest the settings for ember media manager, for having smooth scrolling please share
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Make fanarts to work fast in AppleTV, convertion tools and Instructions all OS0