Phuu, there are so many different opinions about file naming...
First: Excuse my not very perfect English. But I hope you understand me anyway.
I've many points to say about file naming. Some points are already sayed, some totally overlooked.
Point 1: ArtworkDownloaders file naming
Please forget the file names that AD has used. I've never understand why they was different from the names in the database (logo.png = clearlogo).
Point 2: Kodi database export and file naming
If you export your existing library in Kodi to single file(s) than Kodi always use the image "type" from the "art" table as suffix behind the file name, e.g. "Avatar-clearlogo.png". That should be the default and preferred file naming for images!
The reason is that only this scheme works with movies that are stored in a movie folder AND also if a user has multiple movies in a single folder. That's one of the reasons why AD never worked for users with multiple movies folders.
Also important is that Kodi use stacked file names for images and trailers since Kodi "Frodo". That means:
Code:
X:\Movies\Avatar\Avatar-CD1.mkv
X:\Movies\Avatar\Avatar-CD2.mkv
X:\Movies\Avatar\Avatar-poster.jpg
Code:
X:\Movies\Avatar.Disc1.bluray.mkv
X:\Movies\Avatar.Disc2.bluray.mkv
X:\Movies\Avatar.bluray-poster.mkv
X:\Movies\Die.Hard.Disc1.bluray.mkv
X:\Movies\Die.Hard.Disc2.bluray.mkv
X:\Movies\Die.Hard.bluray-poster.mkv
So "<stackedfilename>-imagetype.ext" is the only way that works in ANY case. IMHO this also settle the discussion about "logo.png" and "clearlogo.png"... the second one is the rigth one because ALL have this "type" name stored in the database (AD users as well)!
All other file names like "imagetype.ext", "folder.jpg" and so on can be keeped as fallback for users that what that.
The only exception whas the handling for VIDEO_TS and BDMV folder structures: in this case only the image type without <stackedfilename> has been used and the images has been saved into the "main" folder, e.g.:
Code:
X:\Movies\Avatar\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO
X:\Movies\Avatar\poster.jpg
Code:
X:\Movies\Avatar\VIDEO_TS.IFO
X:\Movies\Avatar\poster.jpg
Code:
X:\Movies\Avatar\BDMV\STREAM\index.bdmv
X:\Movies\Avatar\poster.jpg
That's acceptable since BDMV and VIDEO_TS has to be saved in a separate folder anyway. The only crappy thing about this two (or three with VIDEO_TS without a VIDEO_TS folder) is that the trailer, .actors, extrathumbs and extrafanarts folder will be saved/exported into the video file holding folder (\VIDEO_TS and \STREAM). I think that has also to be fixed to prevent the DVD and Bluray folder/data structure. They are video players that can't handle/play that folders with all the crap inside.
Point 3: Subfolders for Extrafanarts and Extrathumbs
There are many reasons to keep the existing subfolder idea, also the possibility to save Extrafanarts as "8NasfCr1bVIvRGhghBePRAWQ5LI.jpg" and Extrathumbs as "thumb#.jpg":
- Many users downloads all or many fanarts as Extrafanarts. It's horrible to have all this images belond the video file
- Extrathumbs should be "screenshots" of a movie that shows scene from the movie. In this case it's usefull that we can number it to show them in the correct sequence/timeline. Also I don't know if there is any skin that shows more than 4 images as preview belond the plot.
- Extrafanarts should be "synthetic" images (photoshoped and not scenes from the movie) and are displayed randomly as replacement for the normal fanart. So it's not important to have it numbered. Another major advantage is that we (or I in Ember Media Manager) can save it with the same file name that the provider like Fanart.tv/TMDB has it saved on the server. So on a re-scrape we are able to check if the image is already existing and can prevent to save the same image as "extrafanart1" and "extrafanart4".
Point 4: TV show images
Same issue because of AD. "charater.png" as file name and "characterart" as database image "type". IMO "imagetype.ext" is the correct one and Kodi already export all the extra images with the "type" as file name.
The season images should be "padded" to two numbers, otherwise the Explorer sort it like:
Code:
season1-poster.jpg
season10-poster.jpg
season2-poster.jpg
I think there are no tv shows with more than 99 seasons (or only a hand full... some japanese anime tv show for shure
)
Point 5: Movieset images
It's not a problem for an addon like MSAA to check the parent folder of a movie folder for movie set images. But it's a crapp for a media manager to check if the movie folder is inside a movieset folder. Also not all users want to save the movies inside another subfolder or have multiple sources and one of the movie is saved in one source and another movie of the same collection is saved in another source. So for me it was the easiest way to save all movieset images inside a common folder, named with the same scheme like I used for the movies: <moviesetname>-imagetype.ext, e.g.
Code:
X:\Moviesetimages\Die Hard Collection-poster.jpg
X:\Moviesetimages\Die Hard Collection-clearlogo.png
I mean it will be possible to add a "saved it in the parent folder of movie folder" and also add a check that the parent folder has the same name like the movieset, but we also need a fallback for users that want or can't use a movieset folder.
Conclusion:- "<stackedfilename>-imagetype.ext" is the only solution that works in any case
- as "imagetype" whe have to use the same name that's used in the database, otherwise we get multiple images after a database export from Kodi
I've made a list of all different file names that EmberMM, AD and MSAA used and what Kodi uses as export:
Link
As you can see, my one is the only one that uses the same file names like Kodi :-P
The "correct" image type names are:
- banner
- characterart
- clearart
- clearlogo
- discart
- .\extrafanarts\random.ext
- .\extrathumbs\thumb#.ext
- fanart
- landscape
- poster
- thumb (as episode poster)
Some other remarks:
I asked Fanart.tv and (maybe) also TMDB to add another "flag" to fanarts/backgrounds that we can unterscheiden between "scene" and "synthetic" fanarts to get a better result for Extrathumbs. Maybe someday we will get a perfect result.