It is entirely an issue of file and folder naming conventions. Possibly driven by linksheets script limitations or undocumented features
Important note: I cannot say I understand specifically how it works, but I have some ideas. If followed it is repeatable and consistent. All comments, corrections are welcomed.
For starters, here's my system info;
WDTV Live
Firmware: 1.05.04 WDLXTV (0.5.1.1)
Movie Sheets: Wall Mode
Video Repository: Windows Home Server (fully populated with working Movie and TV Sheets for Moviesheets+)
Repository sample directory structure (I’ll only show TV structure here);
\Videos\TV\TV Series\Season 1\TV Series Name Season 1_sheet.jpg ( -- Season 1 Sheet)
\Videos\TV\TV Series\Season 1\S01E01.avi ( -- TV show video)
\Videos\TV\TV Series\Season 1\S01E01.avi_sheet.jpg ( -- TV show video sheet)
I am not a Linux guru, but I know enough to get by. In search of DVD menu support I upgraded my WDTV Live firmware to B-Rad's most current, and began trying to get Linksheets Movie Sheets working. It has taken me quite a long time. I have read many different posts about migration, naming conventions and strategies but nothing worked for me unfortunately. ONLY my Movie Sheets displayed properly. The TV Sheets were messed up (wrong Season Sheet displayed, wrong Episode Sheet displayed, etc).
As stated above – my TV Shows and sheets were hosted in the following directory structure;
\TV Series Name\Season 1\S01E01.avi
\TV Series Name\Season 1\TV Series Name Season 1_sheet.jpg
(This does not work with Linksheets.)
HOW I GOT TV SHEETS WORKING:
As some have stated, file names AND folder names MUST be unique across the entire repository. But I found that alone was not enough to make my TV Sheets work.
For reasons I don’t completely understand, THREE things are required for TV Sheets to display properly;
1) The Season folder must be named properly and within limitations.
2) The Episode names and Season Sheet must be prepended with the same characters (do not start the file names with S01E01).
3) The Season Sheet must be prepended with the same string that prepends the Episode files, or the Season folder.
Season folder naming example;
- Cannot be “Season 1”
- Must be prepended with a short, unique string of no more than 4 characters, no spaces in prepended text.
Eg; \Eastbound and Down\EBD Season 1\
Episode file and sheet naming example;
- “S01E01 – Career Errors.avi” (will not work)
- “EBD S01E01 – Career Errors.avi” (will work)
- “Eastbound And Down S01E01 – Career Errors.avi” (will work)
- To work with the above two file examples, Season Sheet can be named either;
- “EBD Season 1_sheet.jpg” OR “Eastbound And Down Season 1_sheet.jpg”
Sample directory and file structure that DOES work with Linksheets / Movie Sheets;
\Eastbound And Down\EBD Season 1\Eastbound And Down S01E01 – Career Errors.avi
\Eastbound And Down\EBD Season 1\ EBD Season 1_sheet.jpg ( -- Eastbound And Down Season 1_sheet.jpg also works)
\Eastbound And Down\EBD Season 1\Eastbound And Down S01E01 – Career Errors.avi_sheet.jpg
I used 1-4a-rename a LOT to get my file renaming completed, some files were renamed manually. I am concerned about the TV episode output naming options in ThumbGen being insufficient to achieve this in future without a bunch of manual renaming work.
I sincerely hope this guide helps people to spend a lot less time on this than I did.
