Video Thumbnail Size on Samsung TV

[Gus]

First of all, i appreciate you're really busy at the moment, so no big hassle on this one...it's just i'm fed up with seeing poor scaled and blocky video thumbs/covers. I've tried dozens of diffent sizes and they all look blocky. The only resolution i can get to look half decent is 108x65. But i'm certain it should be more like 216x130 based on the actual image size on the 1920x1080 screen.

Anyway, is there a setting to customise the thumbnail size that is sent to the TV ? either in the GUI or in profile setting etc.
I know there is a function in Tools, Options but that wont go below 160 ?

I noticed in the samsungla profile there's a setting for JPEG thumb size (320x320) but i cant see a setting for Videos.

Again, no rush.

thanks

Gus

[Paul]

When you change the resolution in Options, you'll need to run Maintenance and update all information (this will, unfortunately, overwrite any custom artwork). That setting controls the actual thumbnails stored in the database. The size that's delivered to the TV is controlled in the device profile and that JPEG_TN setting is the one to tweak - it controls thumbnails for all modes (audio/video/photo). Of course the TV may resize the thumbnail further once it receives it...

[Gus]

Sound good thanks. when i change the resolution in the Options, do i have to run Maitenance for all, or can i just update one of my videos covers manually during my tests?
thanks

[Paul]

I'd just test it on one cover (I'd create a normal playlist, put one file in it and experiment away :) ).

[Gus]

Thanks Dennis, i did exactly that and tested on just 1 playlist and ran maintenance at each step.

For what it's worth (and sorry to be a pain i know it's not that important its just bugging the heck out of me), not matter what i do the cover image on the TV video list looks the exact same. bad and blocky. The only way the artwork changes appearance is to change the actual source image resolution and reassign. All the following makes no difference at all:

- Change Artwork Thumbnail Width and Height figures in Tools, Options, General. to the same as jpg
- Change Thumbnail sizes in Tools, Browsing Files, thumbail sizes (i know it doesnt matter about this one)
- Change device profile jpeg_tn to the same resolution as the jpg.

maybe someone else can post their experience with the Samsung C series. A jpg of 108x65 seems to be the best but i know for sure the onscreen version is more like 216x130.

as before, no rush, i know you're busy

Gus

[Paul]

Ok, to confirm whether the changes are taking effect, try renaming the .mzt file in Thumbnails folder (under the Transcoding folder) to .jpg and see what dimensions that is. Also, I'd check the logs to make sure the JPEG_TN is delivered with the new dimensions specified.

It's possible that the old thumbnail files are being used instead of the new ones (if you haven't cleared out the transcoding\thumbnails folders), so perhaps that's the issue here.

[Gus]

Ok Dennis, a 'little' progress...

I deleted all the .mzt files in the folders under Transcodingfiles, after a maintenance, i found a refreshed set of .mzt files in 2 folders:

c:\users\gus\appdata\local\conceiva\mezzmo\transco dingfiles\762F5820-C7CB-42bb-89A3-AFE9523FE7D5\thumbnails
c:\users\gus\appdata\local\conceiva\mezzmo\transco dingfiles\DAE6F66B-745D-46b5-930A-A570F45B8E3E\thumbnails

The first folder had 6 filenames similar to 17677-jpeg-160-160-24.mzt
The second folder had 6 filenames similar to 17677-jpeg-320-320-24.mzt

The jpg files in the first folder (files named ...160-160...) look blocky and horrible, the same as the TV shows them...except for the 108x65 file, it looks fine as on the TV
(all the other source images are above 160x160, and the .mzt files are now sized to 160x96 or 160x90, and look very blocky)

The jpg files in the second folder (files named ...320-320...) are all the same resolution as the source jpg and look fine, except one which was 432x260. It's .mzt file is now blocky and sized to 320x192.

My Tools, options, Artwork resolutions are set to 426x240 (because i cant set it lower that 160 in either x or y). It seems this is being ignored?

thanks for your time.

Gus

[Paul]

The Options -> Artwork resolutions are used when creating thumbnails from files (for the database) - this is updated with Maintenance (update all information). The setting in the device profile is used to resize those database thumbnails to whatever you specify there, so if the original image is not good (in the db), then the resized version will be even worse of course.

Try deleting all those transcoded thumbnails again. After that do maintenance on that file ro replace the thumbnail. Then try serving it again and a new thumbnail should be generated (which will hopefully look better).

[Gus]

Dennis,
i'm a little confused. The .mzt files in the transcodingfiles\thumbails folder only get created when my TV requests a folder list of video files. Until i turn on the TV there are no .mzt files available. Am i able to check the thumb size/quality of the db version after i run maintenance?
I did try to replace the .mzt file with a better quality version, but it got re-created and overwritten when my TV requested the folder list.
Will spend a bit more time on it tonight.
cheers

Gus

[Gus]

ok i have set resolutions the same in: gui artwork, jpeg_tn setting in profile and the jpeg itself, and now the .mzt files on the server look fine. The onscreen TV version now looks quite blocky instead of really blocky! if i adjust all the places i just mentioned then the TV thumb does look better or worse.
so i now just need to find the exact thumbnail resolution that the TV is resizing to. i've tried various combos including 213x120, 216x130 etc.

any thoughts?

thanks

Gus

[Paul]

Frankly, I'm not sure what the TV's built-in thumbnails are, but a rough estimate would be to measure your screen in centimeters (or inches), then we know it's 1920 pixels wide, so we can very roughly work out how many pixels per cm/inch you get. Then measure the thumbnail placeholder on screen and see what you get... not very scientific of course :)