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More on Logos...

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 5:50 am
by marvin-miller
Or should I say Moron logos ? :oops:

OK, in the docs for EPG123 it seems to say that it will automagically include logos in the .mxf file. I have no idea what this means but.....

I'm trying to get logos in the guide. So according to the docs you need to create a logos directory in the EPG folder, which I did, I then copied the nice METV logo you provided in the other post and then fired up the guide but there is no logo for METV.

Am I misunderstanding everything or doing it wrong?

BTW, I renamed it KVOSCAB.png because this is the call sign of the station.

Re: More on Logos...

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 6:56 am
by garyan2
Here is what needs to take place for a custom logo to be in the guide.

1) place custom logo in the .\logos folder as a png with the name being the call sign of the station ... you got that. :thumbup:
2) make sure the checkbox in the epg123 GUI to include .\logos is checked ... you got that? :wave:
3) perform an update ... don't think you got that. :thumbdown:

The .mxf file is the file generated by epg123 that contains all your guide listings and will be imported into WMC. In order for the logo to be a part of it, it has to be updated when steps 1 and 2 are complete.

Re: More on Logos...

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 6:57 am
by marvin-miller
OK, I think I got it to work. I just kept copying the logos over to the ./logos directory and then renaming them (removing the -1 from the name). Still nothing in the guide. So then I fired up EPG123 and told it to save and execute and now I have all my logos.

The issue is 99.99% of them are 360x270 yet when they display in the guide they are really tiny. What would be the proper sizing for them to show up in the guide? Only the METV one you made actually looks right but it's also the only one that's a rectangle. Every other one is 360x270

BTW, my mistake was #3 :oops: :crazy:

Re: More on Logos...

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 7:09 am
by garyan2
Right. All the logos downloaded from Schedules Direct are 4x3 which will make them look tiny ... especially if there is blank space around the logo.

To make it look right, I use Paint.NET and basically follow the below steps:

1) crop image to just the logo (remove empty space around logo)
2) resize to 42 height while maintaining aspect ratio if width turns out to be 96 or less, otherwise resize to 96 width
3) if height <42, change canvas size to 42 height distributed from center image (you'll figure it out)
4) if you did #3, delete painted area that was added top and bottom of logo
5) Save as .png

I'll get a guide thrown together soon to demonstrate better.

Re: More on Logos...

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 7:16 am
by marvin-miller
That's what I don't get - the stock ones from SD are 360x270 yet they appear smaller on the screen. At that size, you'd think they'd be huge in the guide. If I make them 42 high they will actually appear larger?

You'd think there would be a registry setting in Media Center to set the icon sizes.

Re: More on Logos...

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 7:22 am
by garyan2
marvin-miller wrote:That's what I don't get - the stock ones from SD are 360x270 yet they appear smaller on the screen. At that size, you'd think they'd be huge in the guide. If I make them 42 high they will actually appear larger?

You'd think there would be a registry setting in Media Center to set the icon sizes.
There's only so much room in a row to display the logos ... the problem is not their size, it is the ratio and the empty space. They need to be cropped. You can compare the download MeTV logo from SD in the .\sdlogos folder with the cropped and resized one I posted. Don't pay attention so much to the size ... it is all about the crop and canvas size.

Re: More on Logos...

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 7:28 am
by garyan2
Actually might be able to understand better here ...
METVN_before.png
METVN_before.png (3.48 KiB) Viewed 934 times
METVN.png
METVN.png (3.44 KiB) Viewed 934 times

Re: More on Logos...

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 7:28 am
by marvin-miller
Yeah, but the METV one was an easy one because it's a rectangle to start with :lol:

This one's a little harder....
Image <=== Stupid image - won't show up

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8ZUlB ... sp=sharing <==== But it can be seen by clicking that link

Re: More on Logos...

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 7:45 am
by garyan2
Sometimes you got to get a little creative ... with logos that have a bit of text, it can be hard to read in the guide. Here are 3 quick ones to see how they look.
FNC-1.png
FNC-1.png (3 KiB) Viewed 924 times
FNC-2.png
FNC-2.png (3 KiB) Viewed 924 times
FNC-3.png
FNC-3.png (2.17 KiB) Viewed 924 times

Re: More on Logos...

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 7:52 am
by garyan2
Figured I'd add a fourth just for completeness. For the white logos, the lettering is transparent so your guide color (blue) will be showing through.
FNC-4.png
FNC-4.png (2.06 KiB) Viewed 920 times
OR, if you still want a splash of color.
FNC-5.png
FNC-5.png (2.3 KiB) Viewed 919 times

Re: More on Logos...

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 1:20 pm
by 12noon
Alternatively, you can save yourself a few hours and pay $5 for My Channel Logos. ;) It does all the logos automatically and has a few extra features on top of that. That's what I did. Full disclosure: There are a few logos still missing from my guide, so I probably need to rename some or create a couple, but I've been too lazy to look into that.

Re: More on Logos...

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 2:19 pm
by garyan2
Or both. I used some logos from MCL but since I am OTA, a lot of my logos weren't available from them. I had to create probably half of them.

I pretty much only use MCL to give me more rows in the guide and mini-guide.

Re: More on Logos...

Posted: Sat May 06, 2017 12:11 am
by garyan2
For the logo DIY'ers who are looking for even more options, I go here and usually get some real good quality svg images to work with. http://logos.wikia.com/wiki/Logopedia

Re: More on Logos...

Posted: Sun May 07, 2017 3:57 pm
by IT Troll
For UK people I have posted additional Freeview logos in the MCL thread. They never seem to get added for some reason.

http://www.thegreenbutton.tv/forums/vie ... 62#p111962

These are the higher resolution 75 x 225 pixel logos which I guess get scaled automatically depending on display resolution / DPI.