Bulk fetching images for dvr-ms files
April 28, 2008
When using Windows Media Center, there is a hidden option to make it display a “my dvds” menu item. As well as DVDs, it also shows all your recorded films.
By default there is no thumbnail image displayed for these recorded films (which end in the “dvr-ms” extension):
You can make a thumbnail be displayed by downloading the appropriate cover art jpeg image, and name it the same as the film’s file, but with the “.jpg” extension, instead of “.dvr-ms”.
I have well over a hundred such films, and it was going to take all night to download each film’s cover from amazon/google, so I’ve created a program which does it in bulk. You chose a directory containing your dvr-ms files, and for each film that doesn’t already have an image, it looks up the film name in Google Images, and lets you choose the appropriate image:
After you click on the image you want, it creates the JPEG file for the film, and carries on to the next film. It uses the metadata in the DVR-MS files to determine if the file is a film, and only prompts you for films.
You can download the program here. Download it to your computer before running it. It is written in C# and is free for you to use — use it entirely at your own risk– feel free to report bugs here though.
May 6, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Damian,
Just downloaded Beta 4. Apparently Beta 3 had an issue…which I experienced. Beta 4 on the other hand
WORKS FANTASTICALLY!!!!
Cudos mi amigo.
GeekDad_4WD
(rocking out as I type :-)
June 12, 2008 at 7:05 pm
I’ve had quite some luck getting DVR-MS files to automatically display images (downloaded from AMG, I think). I wanted to show my offline library, so I created blank DVR-MS files and filled them in with the movie information - it works great. I can only get my dvd to show them if I put the files in the \Users\Public\Recorded TV directory - which means they also show up in recorded tv.
How were you able to get my dvd to find DVR-MS files outside of the recorded tv directory? Or do you know of a way to get recorded tv to either group or ignore dvr-ms files?
I’d be happy to send you examples of DVR-MS files that will automatically download images, cast info, reviews and similar movies if you’d like.
Thanks,
Jeff
June 12, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Hi Jeff,
I think I just added a new location for TV under the Settings menu.
Cheers,
/Damian
June 13, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Hello Damian,
Thanks for the fast response. Do these movies also show up under Recorded TV? If not, is there any way you could send me the metadata they contain (via private email).
As far as getting the cast, cover, reviews and similar movies to show up - it looks like the “Title”, “WM/OriginalReleaseTime”-(year only), “WM/MediaIsMovie”-(True) need to be set. Then it will look it up from AMG’s database. I’d be happy to send you a blank DVR-MS file with the required metadata if you’d like to try it.
Thanks,
Jeff