Hello Everyone,
Here's a brief history so you get some idea of where I'm coming from.
3 Years ago I was introduced to XBMC. I purchased a softmoded xbox, and after a few long nights was able to figure out how to ftp into the xbox and acquire XBMC. I was eventually able to get my xbox connected to our family network and we have been playing our media files off of it ever since. I have LOVED having this media centre, and just a week ago purchased my second xbox so that I could setup our kids play room much the same. That is basically about as far as I've gone though.
I did try to search the forums a few times for my answers, but it seems that most of what I find sounds great... but is a bit too far over my head. I figured I'd post this general thread, and hope that some of you novice users could point me in the right direction!
Questions;
1) Thumbnails.
Only after purchasing this second xbox did I come to the realization that having thumbnails for my video files was an option. Since that time, i've figured out how to place a folder.jpg file into each folder and get an image appearing on XBMC. I had read on the wiki page that I could also have one folder with multiple videos and have each display its own image by doing the hercules.avi and herucles.tbn. I have tried this every which way I can think of, but for the life of me I can't get a .tbn file to show up for anything. Basically I have all the disney movies for my kids in 1 folder and was hoping to have pictures for the kids to view and click on to watch. Any suggestions? I read something about clearing the cache... and even went so far as to navigate into the userprofile/thumbnails folder but I couldn't really figure anything out once there. All I did see was a bunch of folders titles 1 - 10 and A-F. (not exactly but you get the idea). I'm not sure why under the "D" folder I don't see disney thumbnails, or why in all the folders combined there are only a handful of thumbnails titled very oddly.
Any direction would be greatly appreciated!
2) Distortion.
This is a strange one. I recently purchased a second XBMC. When the ethernet cord is NOT plugged in the screen appears crisp and clear. The second I plug in the ethernet cord, I get a bunch of faint lines that slowly move across the screen. It's almost as if the xbox is picking up the signals and displaying it? Has anyone run into this? I've tried googling for an hour and have had no luck.
3) General Setup.
Would love to start fresh and get pointed to a noobies guide to how to setup my media files properly. Basically I keep nothing on the xbox, and simply use it to access a 1 TB hard drive on my computer that stores all my media. I would love some advice on how to properly setup my media files, and take advantage of the thumbnail catalogs and all those other amazing features I've seen on this forum. I just don't know where to begin!
Thanks... I know this was painfully long, but I really appreciate anyone who has taken the time to read it and help a XBMC noob out! I have been blown away by the simple fact that XBMC exists, and am excited to become a part of the community.
All the best,
thec0wboy
Here's a brief history so you get some idea of where I'm coming from.
3 Years ago I was introduced to XBMC. I purchased a softmoded xbox, and after a few long nights was able to figure out how to ftp into the xbox and acquire XBMC. I was eventually able to get my xbox connected to our family network and we have been playing our media files off of it ever since. I have LOVED having this media centre, and just a week ago purchased my second xbox so that I could setup our kids play room much the same. That is basically about as far as I've gone though.
I did try to search the forums a few times for my answers, but it seems that most of what I find sounds great... but is a bit too far over my head. I figured I'd post this general thread, and hope that some of you novice users could point me in the right direction!
Questions;
1) Thumbnails.
Only after purchasing this second xbox did I come to the realization that having thumbnails for my video files was an option. Since that time, i've figured out how to place a folder.jpg file into each folder and get an image appearing on XBMC. I had read on the wiki page that I could also have one folder with multiple videos and have each display its own image by doing the hercules.avi and herucles.tbn. I have tried this every which way I can think of, but for the life of me I can't get a .tbn file to show up for anything. Basically I have all the disney movies for my kids in 1 folder and was hoping to have pictures for the kids to view and click on to watch. Any suggestions? I read something about clearing the cache... and even went so far as to navigate into the userprofile/thumbnails folder but I couldn't really figure anything out once there. All I did see was a bunch of folders titles 1 - 10 and A-F. (not exactly but you get the idea). I'm not sure why under the "D" folder I don't see disney thumbnails, or why in all the folders combined there are only a handful of thumbnails titled very oddly.
Any direction would be greatly appreciated!
2) Distortion.
This is a strange one. I recently purchased a second XBMC. When the ethernet cord is NOT plugged in the screen appears crisp and clear. The second I plug in the ethernet cord, I get a bunch of faint lines that slowly move across the screen. It's almost as if the xbox is picking up the signals and displaying it? Has anyone run into this? I've tried googling for an hour and have had no luck.
3) General Setup.
Would love to start fresh and get pointed to a noobies guide to how to setup my media files properly. Basically I keep nothing on the xbox, and simply use it to access a 1 TB hard drive on my computer that stores all my media. I would love some advice on how to properly setup my media files, and take advantage of the thumbnail catalogs and all those other amazing features I've seen on this forum. I just don't know where to begin!
Thanks... I know this was painfully long, but I really appreciate anyone who has taken the time to read it and help a XBMC noob out! I have been blown away by the simple fact that XBMC exists, and am excited to become a part of the community.
All the best,
thec0wboy
