[Cinephile]

in my advancedsettings file, would this then allow the export function to export the images without the worry of degradation

Almost. Images are still optimised which means they are modified and resaved so there will be a very minor but constant degradation, but with the addition of those advancedsettings.xml settings, the size of the image is not changed so the amount of degradation is minimal. That degradation only comes into play when you rescan your movie and the local artwork (your exported artwork) and the artwork is recached and optimised again. In between scans it is the same image that is being exported.

Artwork beef can be set up to download the original artwork for you, then when you run your Export, answer No when asked to export artwork.

Interesting, I wasn't aware that images are subject to minor degradation after modifying advancedsettings.xml with 9999 entries. Since they aren't being resized when cached is it additional compression that causes the degradation?

When you say that Artwork Beef can be set up to download the original artwork for you, does that refer to one of the options within the add-on itself? Also, how would I go about AB overwriting all of my previously exported artwork?