Overview of Y2M and YAMJ

[Ahari]

Hi,

I am very new to all this stuff. Please can someone help me get my head around all this jukebox stuff.

As I understand it, the jukebox works like this:
1. Y2M is a GUI and skin for YAMJ.

2. YAMJ scans your files and folders and uses that info to search various sources on the web for artwork and info.

3. YAMJ then converts all the info to an xml based jukebox.

4. When I click on the "Run YAMJ to Mede8er" button in Y2M, the YAMJ jukebox is scanned for all the info and artwork for the movies and converts them to jpegs which it then puts in the actual movie folders.

5. When I then browse the Mede8er with the remote, it shows me the generated jpegs from the actual movie folders and not the xml files from the YAMJ jukebox.

6. Because the jpgs are not interactive, the functionality from the xml based jukebox is lost. eg: clickable links for series and TV shows. All it does is plays the first playable file it finds in the folder even if the name is not the same as the title reflected in the artwork.

7. There are other GUI's for YAMJ such as Thumbgen, that allow you more control over the generated jpegs through templates, like choosing fanart and so on, but these still do the same thing in the end on the Mede8er - it just takes longer with all the fiddling and so on. You can get something more to your liking if you don't like the style or layout of the standard generated info pages from Y2M, but the functionality of the Mede8er itself is not affected.

8. If I manually change the jpegs in the movie folders, Y2M will not overwrite these when run again. To regenerate them, I have to delete the jpegs in the movie folders. If the generated jpegs are wrong, I have to fix the filenames or use .nfo files so that YAMJ returns the correct info on the next scan. The new info won't show up on the Mede8er unless I first delete all the old jpegs in the movie folders and then run YAMJ to Mede8er to recreate new jpegs from the new info. Sometimes I also have to delete the xml and associated files from the jukebox and rescan to correct the info they reflect.

9. If I fiddle with the xml files, they also won't be overwritten by YAMJ unless they are first deleted and YAMJ regenerates then on the next scan.

Have I got this all correct in my head or am I completely off course!?

Please help me with your comments and correct my thinking. Once I get this straight in my head, then I think a lot of the other problems and issues I am having will fall away or at least be a lot easier to solve.

Thanks in advance for you time 

[the-osiris]

hi Ahari,
These might enlighten you

1. Y2M is YAMJ GUI and Jukebox-to-Image converter.

2. Correct.

3. YAMJ build an HTML-based jukebox with XML metadata and images.

4. Correct. (also create custom XML metadata for X2 players)

5. Using favorites menu you will see folder.jpg, and pressing info/about button will show about.jpg. If you press view while in Media Library, and select movie view then set Show Movie Info, XML metadata will be use to show movie info.

6. Correct.

7. Correct.

8. YAMJ uses xml and data-cache stored in jukebox folder. You have option on Y2M to overwrite them. Any changes in YAMJ parameters, you have to delete jukebox and re-scan. If you have custom fanart/coverart, YAMJ has parameter to do so.

9. same as above

You have to understand YAMJ to get to know more, Y2M are only GUI and Converter.

[Ahari]

Thanks the-osiris for taking the time to reply to my post. It seems like you forum guys are as good as everyone says - one of the main reasons I went with the Mede8er.

It seems I am on the right track. Yay! All my reading is starting to pay off! 

I wish there was more condensed info out there for newbies to understand how it all comes together.

You have to understand YAMJ to get to know more

You are so right - I am fast discovering this; everything seems to come back to knowing how to use YAMJ properly.

I find the YAMJ info very technical and seems to be all over the place. Few simple guides to just "make it work" and I am definitely not a programmer!

8. YAMJ uses xml and data-cache stored in jukebox folder. You have option on Y2M to overwrite them. Any changes in YAMJ parameters, you have to delete jukebox and re-scan. If you have custom fanart/coverart, YAMJ has parameter to do so.

What parameter changes in YAMJ would require me to delete the whole jukebox and start again?

If so, would I have to delete all the images downloaded as well as that takes quite a while to re-scan?

Also, what parameter do you change to keep custom fanart, etc...?

Where and how do you change the parameters you mention? Is that the moviejukebox-Mede8er.properties file?

What about the moviejukebox-default.properties file? From what I understand, you use this one as a guide to find what you want to change and then put the new values in the moviejukebox-Mede8er.properties file. This avoids the changes being lost when upgrading. Am I correct?

I have no intention of fiddling with anything like that just yet - I'm just curious and trying to understand this stuff so I can get the most out of my Mede8er in the years to come.

Sorry for all the questions - I just read my post at it looks like I am bombarding you with questions!!  (hope you don't mind)

Thanks in advance 

[the-osiris]

What parameter changes in YAMJ would require me to delete the whole jukebox and start again?

Mostly, if you want to switch to any new skin

If so, would I have to delete all the images downloaded as well as that takes quite a while to re-scan?
Also, what parameter do you change to keep custom fanart, etc...?

You can copy your custom images for both about.jpg (fanart) and folder.jpg (covertart), just place both images on movie folder, rename it with same filename of the movie, and add fanart at the end of filename for fanart

Example :
My Movie Bluray.mkv --> movie file
My Movie Bluray.jpg --> custom coverart file
My Movie Bluray.fanart.jpg --> custom fanart file

Where and how do you change the parameters you mention? Is that the moviejukebox-Mede8er.properties file?
What about the moviejukebox-default.properties file? From what I understand, you use this one as a guide to find what you want to change and then put the new values in the moviejukebox-Mede8er.properties file. This avoids the changes being lost when upgrading. Am I correct?

moviejukebox-Mede8er.properties is generated from Y2M, moviejukebox-default.properties is default config file, you have to create a new one, moviejukebox.properties.

All scraping parameter is refer to moviejukebox-default.properties/moviejukebox.properties/moviejukebox-Mede8er.properties file, for customizing skin using skin-user.properties (from skin.properties - at skins folder).

[Ahari]

Hi the-osiris ,

Thanks so much for your patient and careful answers! It is much appreciated!!

[the-osiris]

always a pleasure .. 

[Ahari]

I'm still struggling with getting Y2M to bring up artwork, etc for the extras on the DVD.

For example, the movie Up (2009) has some extras (two shorts: Dug's Special  Mission and Partly Cloudy).

I want to keep them and be able to select them for play from the artwork similar to if it was a movie.

How can I do it? I am tearing my hair out and have tried everything I can think of!!   

Please help me get this working.

[the-osiris]

For extra scene (from DVD/Movie/Bluray) you have to put it into another folder as a new movie, and put an .NFO file with imdb id.
For Dug's Special  Mission using http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1537759/ - and Partly Cloudy using http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1425244/ - but I'm afraid that it has no Poster/Fanart image, you have to make it yourself.

[Ahari]

Thanks for the reply!

So separate folders is the only way to get art for extras?

Do the extras folders have to be at the same level as the main movie folder or can they be nested inside the main movie folder?

I think I may also put all the movie shorts in a separate "Shorts" genre folder. If I do this, then each short will need it's own folder inside this "Shorts" folder. Is that right?

Why does it not seem to work if I put this link http://www.themoviedb.org/movie/24589 (for Dug's Special Mission) in the nfo? It has great art! Yamj doesn't seem to find it! Does Yamj only look at imdb links or something?

I'm still confused!

[Ahari]

Sometimes I put the imdb link in an nfo file and the artwork from themoviedb website is still downloaded.

For example:
I put http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1107859/ in an nfo file and the incorrect artwork from http://www.themoviedb.org/movie/14452 comes up!

What gives? Anyone know what YAMJ is doing and what websites it searches for info and artwork?

[Ahari]

Can anyone help with this?

[the-osiris]

Just put IMDb link in NFO file, if cover/backdrop art is missing, you can manually edit/insert those pic.

[Ahari]

Thanks the-osiris. I have tried that.

Sometimes I put the imdb link in an nfo file and the artwork from themoviedb website is still downloaded.

For example:
I put http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1107859/ in an nfo file and the incorrect artwork from http://www.themoviedb.org/movie/14452 comes up! Huh

What gives? Anyone know what YAMJ is doing and what websites it searches for info and artwork?

Just put IMDb link in NFO file, if cover/backdrop art is missing, you can manually edit/insert those pic.

I want to try and avoid manually inserting pics as I have also tried that, but then they get deleted all the time by YAMJ and I am back to square one!

Do you have any idea when to put what link in the nfo file?

Thanks!

From trial and error, I think that for movies YAMJ seems to get the data from imdb and the artwork  from themoviedb. With TV series YAMJ seems to go direct to thetvdb regardless of what is in the nfo file!

I assume that for TV series I should not put in the imdb link, but rather a link to http://thetvdb.com/. Am I correct? This seems to work .

For some other movies that aren't on imdb, I tried putting in links to other websites, but YAMJ ignores these.

"When to use what links" is the question. At the moment I am merely going on trial and error.

I can't seem to find any info on this. Hope you can shed some light on this.

[Ahari]

From trial and error, I think that for movies YAMJ seems to get the data from imdb and the artwork  from themoviedb. With TV series YAMJ seems to go direct to thetvdb regardless of what is in the nfo file!

I assume that for TV series I should not put in the imdb link, but rather a link to http://thetvdb.com/. Am I correct? This seems to work .

For some other movies that aren't on imdb, I tried putting in links to other websites, but YAMJ ignores these.

"When to use what links" is the question. At the moment I am merely going on trial and error.

I can't seem to find any info on this. Hope you can shed some light on this.

Can anyone offer some help?

[Gilly]

The larger artwork about.jpg background picture seems to come from a different source. It seems to use the film name that is on the tag (or header info) of the file.

I am going thru my films checking where this picture is wrong and in all cases it is because the filename in the tag was wrong. See the thread where I start off talking about abcAVI tag Editor for where I discover this. http://www.mede8erforum.com/index.php/topic,6946.0.html

Maybe if you check a tag on one of the movies you are having problems with it might help you find a solution. Only a suggestion.